Elon Musk made a bizarre appearance at the conservative CPAC conference on Thursday and promoted a racist anti-immigration conspiracy theory in the process.
Musk walked on stage and was gifted a chainsaw by Argentine President Javier Milei. The tool was apparently a “chainsaw for bureaucracy" meant to symbolize the cuts to government made under the Department of Government Efficiency, the group Musk was appointed to lead by President Donald Trump that has been creating havoc across the country.
The multibillionaire then turned to one of his core issues: promoting racist conspiracy theories.
Musk accused the Biden administration of being lax on immigration enforcement as part of a plot to seed Latino voters who will eventually vote for the Democratic Party throughout the country.
“The incentive is to maximize the number of illegals in the country, that is why the Biden administration was pushing to get as many illegals as possible and spend every dollar possible to—because every one of them is a customer,” Musk said.
The theory that there is part of a plot to replace white voters with Latino ones through immigration is a debunked right-wing conspiracy theory known as “The Great Replacement.” The theory has made the rounds in extremist circles for decades and has been popularized in recent years by leading Republicans like Trump and conservative outlets like Fox News. The shooter who killed 23 people at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, in 2023 cited the Great Replacement as justification for his act of mass murder.
Musk also lied and said that the Biden administration created the CBP One app used by Immigration and Customs Enforcement to facilitate easy immigration.
In fact, CBP One was launched in 2020 under Trump and has been used to more efficiently process migrants seeking asylum within the U.S. by scheduling appointments as part of the immigration parole procedure, but it is far from a fast or easy process. Trump and Vice President JD Vance have also promoted conspiracies related to CBP One.
Musk claimed that the purported immigration activities pursued by Biden were an act of “treason,” which is a crime punishable by death.
As Musk was promoting his falsehoods on Thursday, it was revealed by a ProPublica report that Trump has provided millions of taxpayer dollars to fund DOGE’s activities while shielding the group from scrutiny, even as they interfere in tax-funded government business.
Voters have begun to confront Republicans in response to DOGE’s overreach. Georgia Rep. Rich McCormick was heckled at a town hall meeting in his heavily Republican district as voters there complained about Musk’s unaccountable “chainsaw” approach.
Meanwhile, DOGE reinstated staffer Marko Elez after he recently resigned in response to reports that he supported a “eugenic immigration policy.”
Trump has empowered Musk and DOGE and at CPAC he reveled in his new platform of power and influence while doubling down on conspiracy and bigotry.
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