Amid the renewed feud between Donald Trump and one-time “first buddy” Elon Musk, the world’s richest man is now expressing some contrition over his wild antics at this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference, which saw him wielding a giant chainsaw on stage.
With the president’s signature “One Big, Beautiful Bill” lumbering to the finish line this week, Musk reignited his hostilities with Trump over the legislation, which had simmered down about a month ago after the former DOGE figurehead had previously lashed out over the megabill.
“If this insane spending bill passes, the America Party will be formed the next day,” Musk tweeted on Monday night to his 220 million X followers. “Our country needs an alternative to the Democrat-Republican uniparty so that the people actually have a VOICE.”
Thinking the dispute was over after Musk deleted his most inflammatory online attacks last month and publicly apologized for them following a phone call, Trump has since returned fire and even suggested that he’d “take a look” at deporting the billionaire. Additionally, the president has threatened to turn Musk’s government dismantling brainchild against the Tesla CEO.
“We might have to put DOGE on Elon,” Trump said on Tuesday. “You know what DOGE is? DOGE is the monster that might have to go back and eat Elon.”
While the tech mogul said it was “so tempting to escalate this” over Trump’s deportation threat but that he’d “refrain for now,” Musk did respond to one critic who brought up his CPAC performance.
Reacting to Musk’s tweet about the debt ceiling being the “only thing that will actually force the government to cut waste and fraud,” an X user noted that maybe Musk “shouldn't have taken the chainsaw on stage and acted a fool,” adding that the former Trump adviser “could have gotten more done if you weren't so worried about looking cool.”
“Valid point,” Musk replied. “Milei gave me the chainsaw backstage and I ran with it, but, in retrospect, it lacked empathy.”
During his February appearance at CPAC, Musk was gifted a large power tool by Argentine President Javier Milei, which had become a symbol of the populist leader’s political campaign. Clad in a Dark MAGA baseball cap, all black attire and sunglasses, Musk pranced around the stage while swinging his new gift around. Many took it as a metaphor for Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency’s effort to slash the federal budget.
“This is the chainsaw for bureaucracy,” he excitedly shouted.
“I have become the meme. Yeah, pretty much,” Musk exclaimed while the CPAC crowd cheered him on. “It’s like, there’s living the dream and living the meme, and it’s pretty much what’s happening, you know? I mean, DOGE started out as a meme, think about it, and now it’s real. Isn’t that crazy? But it’s cool.”
Following the event, the SpaceX founder would briefly change his X profile picture to him holding the chainsaw, adding the caption: “Dogefather.”
