The Worst Thing About Elon Musk Is That He Got Away With All of It

“This is the chainsaw for bureaucracy! Chainsaw!” Musk, clad in black sunglasses, a black “Make American Great Again” hat, and a black coat, shouted from the stage at the Conservative Political Action Conference in February, pretending he was a rock star as he waved around a chainsaw he received as a gift from Argentinian President Javier Milei just seconds before. (Months later, Musk would regret this stunt, claiming it lacked empathy, as if he has any, and Milei would require a multi-billion dollar bailout from the U.S. government.)

As surreal as that moment was, it wasn’t nearly as surreal as Musk thanking supporters of Donald Trump on Inauguration Day a month before with two unmistakable Roman salutes, a gesture best known for its association with the Nazis. Both incidents would foreshadow the disaster that would be the tech oligarch’s time in government.

Musk would spearhead the Department of Government Efficiency, designed to eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse. DOGE, named as such to copy an old internet meme, was Musk’s reward for spending $250 million to get Trump elected. He would get to run the powerful government agency while claiming to have no official position with the government, insulating him from any and all ethics requirements. For the next few months, the tech oligarch would oversee ransacking of the federal government and workforce, bringing on his preferred hires, a group of twenty-somethings with no government experience, but extensive ties to Musk’s companies and fellow fascist tech CEO Peter Thiel. One called himself “Big Balls” online and was involved in a cybercrime ring prior to joining DOGE.