Video News Clips: In Their Own Words

Corporate Media Losing Their Minds Over Elon Musk’s Chainsaw-Wielding CPAC Appearance

(Screen Capture/CSPAN)

The corporate media just cannot seem to have any fun with the viral images of Elon Musk wielding a chainsaw onstage at Thursday’s session of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).

Musk made a surprise appearance at CPAC wielding a chainsaw gifted to him by Argentinian President Javier Milei to symbolize the dismantling of bureaucracy. While taking Musk’s bit very seriously, the corporate media repeatedly lamented President Donald Trump’s administration’s mass layoffs in the federal government to eliminate wasteful government spending conducted by the Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

CNN host Brianna Keilar suggested that Musk’s chainsaw act was “insensitive,” while CNN political commentator Van Jones complained that Musk and Trump are allowing for “complete chaos” to take place for working Americans.

“There’s a smart way and a dumb way to do anything,” Jones said. “And, what they’re doing by the Nazi salute and the chainsaws is they want us talking about stuff that at the end of the day doesn’t matter, we won’t remember in a week. Here’s what’s not gonna be forgotten. There are hardworking veterans in the United States right now who are having a hard time seeing a doctor because there’s been so much chaos in our government. There are nurses, there are people who are trying to keep our water safe … there’s complete chaos.”

Jones said Trump and Musk are currently hurting people by reducing the size of the federal government.

“Is there waste, fraud and abuse? There is in every country. But you cut it with a scalpel, you don’t cut it with a chainsaw,” Jones continued. “And you cut fat. These people are cutting fat, muscle, bone and marrow. When they say there’s gonna take $1 trillion out, that’s gonna hurt a lot of people and by the way, go to Congress.”

WATCH:

MSNBC’s Ari Melber appeared taken aback by Musk’s chainsaw and spent the segment alleging that he made false claims about Democrats wanting illegal immigrants to vote in elections.

“In a sign of the time in an election where conservatives did very well, you can sort of see the vibes, there’s Elon Musk doing his thing like acting like with the chain, the political rockstar he wants to be. He also brought a chainsaw for part of his entrance, that is his way of discussing slashing government spending,” Melber said during his show’s monologue.

WATCH: 

While airing a photograph of Musk with the chainsaw, MSNBC anchor Joe Scarborough alleged that the tech mogul is “proud” to endanger Americans’ lives and safety.

“Show that picture of Elon Musk again if you will, you might as well just send that to Democrats for the 2026 campaign where he’s holding up a chainsaw [and] is very proud that working Americans are actually having their medical research cut, working Americans are actually having [Centers for Disease Control] cut with a possibility of a major epidemic sweeping across the country, where TSA is getting cut so lines to visit their families [will take] longer, [it will] possibly be less safe getting on airplanes [with] air safety also being cut,” Scarborough said.

WATCH:

The Independent published a headline on Friday titled, “Horror fans react to Elon Musk’s chainsaw stunt: ‘Why is he acting like Leatherface?’ The article quoted social media users accusing Musk of badly mimicking serial killer Ed Gein, who became the subject of the 1974 film, “Texas Chainsaw Massacre.”

Ashley Allison, Obama-era White House senior policy adviser, said Musk’s chainsaw moment was “making a joke” of the alleged suffering Americans are going to experience by DOGE’s cuts.

“I’m not surprised,” Allison said on “The Source with Kaitlan Collins.” “I mean, this is their performers and that was another show. But I have something to tell the American people. That show is on tour, it is coming to an American city near you and they are going to cut your Social Security, they’re going to cut your Medicaid, they’re gonna cut your Medicare, your Section 8, and you’re not gonna get money, your prices are not going to go down. So, perform all you want, I think we need to continue to remind the American people that this has real impact on their lives and it’s not just going to stop in Washington, D.C.”

“And they’re not just people you want to take a chainsaw when we talk about violence and all the rhetoric and whatnot, like, we’re talking about human beings and their jobs and their children and their mortgages and their groceries they have to pay he’s saying he’s slashing. So, I’m not surprised by his performance, but his actions have real life consequences and he’s making a joke of it,” Allison continued.

WATCH:

Trump told Fox News’ Sean Hannity on Tuesday that any cuts to Social Security, Medicaid or Medicare are off the table. Musk stated during his CPAC interview that DOGE will “save” Social Security and Medicare because the cuts will ensure that the government spends less money on paying off the national debt.

Later in the night, CNN’s Abby Phillip alleged that Musk is not taking the matter of laying off federal workers seriously, stating that it has bene carried out with “utter chaos” and “little care.”

“Everything’s fine, even if you agree with shrinking the government or rooting out wasteful spending, it’s fair to say that this has been utter chaos with zero oversight and very little care,” Phillip said in response to the chainsaw video. “And we’re talking about people’s lives here. Tonight alone, thousands of IRS employees have been fired and sources are describing emotional scenes playing out in the workplaces across the country. Employees are crying, managers are crying, and many are angry, kicking chairs and throwing books over how they have been treated.”

WATCH:

Since Jan. 20, DOGE has laid off over 200,000 federal employees across more than a dozen agencies. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) laid off between 120 and 150 probationary employees in Denver, Colorado, in response to Trump’s orders to layoff government employees, and about 300 probationary employees at the Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) have been laid off. Dozens of staffers at the Department of Education have also had their roles eliminated.

Mass layoffs and firings are way more common in the private sector than for government positions. In 2024, a total of 16.4 million private sector workers were laid off and discharged, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The local, state and federal government had a record-high number of 23.5 million employees at the end of former President Joe Biden’s administration, with just over 3 million people being employed at the federal level. Federal employment reached its peak in May 1990 with 3.4 million workers.

The newly established agency further dismantled the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) for wasting billions of taxpayer dollars on left-wing causes abroad, including sex change operations in Guatemala and distributing over 60 million condoms and IUDs overseas.