'Win-win-win mode' Musk takes centre stage for Maga celebrations

What do you give the man who has everything? A ballroom of conservative activists found out this week when Elon Musk was presented with a chainsaw by Argentina's president, Javier Milei, who has used it as a symbol of his push to impose fiscal discipline.

- David Smith

Wearing sunglasses, a black Maga baseball cap and a gold necklace, Musk giddily wielded the chainsaw, which had the words "Long live freedom, damn it" written on its blade. "This is the chainsaw for bureaucracy!" he declared. Members of the audience shouted: "We love you!" Musk replied: "I love you guys, too!" And he quipped: "I am become meme."

The head of Tesla and SpaceX had been fully embraced by the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), long a window on the soul of the Republican party and Donald Trump's support base. This year's conference at National Harbor in Maryland was a four-day celebration not only of Trump's return to the White House but of the rise of global rightwing populism. Attendees praised the shock-and-awe approach of Trump's first month in office, described by the vice-president, JD Vance, as "a hell of a lot of fun".

Brett Hawkes, 69, from Rockville, Maryland, hailed the "blitzkrieg"; Christopher Cultraro, 19, from Easton, Pennsylvania, called it "phenomenal"; Adelbert Walker, 72, from Petersburg, Virginia, said: "He's keeping his promises. He's going about his agenda at warp speed."

The enthusiasm extended to Musk and his so-called "department of government efficiency", or Doge, which has slashed the federal government and fired thousands of workers in ways that are being challenged in the courts. Musk, the world's richest man, who has blocked food and medicine for the world's poorest by gutting the agency responsible for delivering US aid, told CPAC: "We're trying to get good things done, but also, like, you know, have a good time doing it and, you know, and have, like, a sense of humour." Republicans who took the stage to heap praise on Musk and Doge included Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary; Pam Bondi, the attorney general; Mike Johnson, the House of Representatives speaker; Rick Scott, the Florida senator; and Eric Schmitt, the Missouri senator.