Elon Musk Takes Part In Interview During 2025 CPAC Conference

Elon Musk, CEO of Telsa Motors, made a surprise appearance with Newsmax host Rob Schmitt Feb. 20 at the Conservative Political Alliance Conference (CPAC) to give a special update on the Department of Governmental Efficiency (DOGE). 

Schmitt greeted the crowd first and was met with cheers from the audience after announcing that Musk would be joining him on stage. The tech titan, clad in all black, waved to the crowd after stepping on stage and revealed that Argentinian President Javier Milei would be coming to the stage to give Musk a gift. 

Milei then came onto the stage, handed Musk a new chainsaw and shook Musk’s hand before waving to the crowd and taking his leave. Musk then raised the chainsaw into the air and proclaimed that it was “the chainsaw for bureaucracy” to the rest of the audience. 

Musk set the unusual gift down on the stage before beginning his discussion with Schmitt. Musk said he is “living the meme,” since he created the concept of DOGE as an online joke and admitted that he never thought he would be where he is today: working as the senior adviser to the president. 

He then thanked the audience for their support and said comedy and freedom of speech must be returned to the present culture. He said he felt the political system was “heading for a point of no return” with the way the former presidential administration had proceeded and thought it was “essential” that President Donald Trump secured the presidential bid. 

Schmitt asked Musk what made him decide to enter the political sphere and publicly support the Republican Party. Musk said he deviated from being “politically neutral” with democratic-leaning ideals after he felt that people’s individual liberties were being threatened. 

“We need to restore the fundamental elements of what made America great, which is freedom and opportunity,” Musk said. 

Musk transitioned to discussing the deception he uncovered while working with DOGE regarding legacy media companies and the Democratic Party. He said he discovered that large media companies have been funded by American citizens’ tax dollars. Musk said “freedom is priceless” and should not be controlled by mainstream media or government. 

“All … of this sort of federal money going to media companies is what helps explain why the legacy media all says the same thing at the same time,” Musk said. 

Schmitt then asked Musk about the possibility of sending Americans dividend checks. Musk said Trump supported the idea of sending these checks in the future because of the economic reductions that Musk and others have accomplished through DOGE; however, he did not officially confirm if this would happen in the near future. 

As for the update regarding DOGE, Musk said the department has also discovered several areas of excessive spending within the government. He said he was surprised by the government’s “scale of the expenditures” when he visited D.C. and said billions can be saved if people choose to be caring and competent. 

He said monetary waste is all around D.C., and explained that with the help of DOGE, he has found $200 billion of “COVID payment fraud.” Musk said “fraudsters” had taken advantage of COVID-19 pandemic payments and moved the money out of the country. 

He also said the Biden administration used FEMA money to put up illegal migrants in “luxury” hotels. The billionaire said federal employees associated with FEMA went against one of Trump’s executive orders last week and sent $80 million to continue funding these hotel stays. 

Musk asserted that the Biden administration wanted more illegal immigrants to enter the country to create a “giant voter importation scam,” detailing that migrants were flown into predominantly swing states to further the former presidential administration’s plan to doctor future elections by bribing potential voters. 

Musk said this scheme is real and it was being used to “tilt the scales of democracy in America.” He said the Biden administration also tried to attack him by suing his company, SpaceX, because they were not “hiring asylum seekers.” However, Musk said this lawsuit was nonsensical, as it would have been illegal for the company to hire these individuals. He also noted that he felt he was harassed by the former presidential administration because he supported Trump. 

Schmitt asked Musk what his thoughts were on the claims others have made about Musk’s intentions to oversee social security records. Musk explained that his intentions are not to take other people’s money or to steal their information, rather, he saw that the United States has a severe fiscal issue that needs to be addressed. He said DOGE’s plans to cut down Medicare and Social Security are what will eventually save these departments in the future. 

“If the country goes insolvent, if … all of the money is just spent on paying interest on debt, there’s no money left for anything, so that’s … the reason I’m doing this, because I’m looking at the big picture here … our debt (is) getting out of control …,” Musk said. 

Davis is the Editor-in-Chief of the Liberty Champion. Follow her on X.