Elon Musk Wielded a Chainsaw Onstage at CPAC — What Did He Do That For?

During a recent appearance at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), Elon Musk appeared on stage and did a lot of different stuff. He wore sunglasses throughout the interview, seemed to stumble on his words at several points, and led some people to believe he had done the interview while on drugs.

While the drug piece is an unknown, we do know that at the end of the interview he took some time to walk around on stage with a chainsaw in his hands. Here's what we know about whether his decision to wield that chainsaw reflected any deeper meaning.

During his appearance, Musk was greeted by Argentine leader Javier Milei, who told Musk that he had a gift for him. He then brought out a red chainsaw emblazoned with the slogan "Viva la libertad, carajo," which translates to "long live liberty, damn it."

While that slogan is itself one meaning for the chainsaw, the chainsaw was also symbolic of all the work that Musk has been doing inside of the federal government through DOGE.

One could say that he has been going through various parts of the federal bureaucracy with a chainsaw, and Musk highlighted that very metaphor during his time on stage.

“This is the chainsaw for bureaucracy,” he said.

So there was definitely some pretty straightforward, obvious symbolism at play, but the chainsaw also represented something else that went a little bit more unspoken.

Namely, the chainsaw represented an idea of masculine dominance. Musk and many on the right are trying to reclaim "manhood," and the violence and power of the chainsaw make an obvious metaphor for that kind of overt masculine strength. Musk wanted to hold a giant chainsaw onstage because he felt it made him look cool and strong. Of course, the chainsaw's size and shape might also have something to do with it, but we'll leave that bit up to Freud.

Before he walked around on stage with a chainsaw, Musk actually gave some remarks in which he discussed his work with DOGE and his dismal view of the Biden administration.

“A lot of people don’t quite appreciate that this was an actual real scam at scale to tilt the scales of democracy in America,” Musk said, accusing the Biden team of allowing migrants into the country to swing the election.

Musk said this act was "treason," but it also apparently didn't work, so that's a relief if you're inclined to believe this claim for which there is no evidence.

When asked to walk through how his brain works, Musk replied simply “My mind is a storm. It’s a storm.”

The American people are now in that storm with Musk. The world's richest man is also one of its most powerful, and he's doing whatever he wants inside the federal government at the moment.