- Javier Milei and Elon Musk's chainsaw moment at CPAC highlights their populist, anti-bureaucracy alliance.
- International conservatives unite at CPAC, with Liz Truss accusing former President Joe Biden of undermining Western values through foreign funding.
- Republican leadership embraces Musk while escalating media tensions over press' refusal to say "The Gulf of America."
The 2025 Conservative Political Action Conference is underway and has already delivered a wide range of scenes, from Elon Musk and Argentina President Javier Milei’s bringing a chainsaw onstage to Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., talking about his son’s basketball games.
The conference is set to end Saturday evening, with President Donald Trump scheduled to speak on the final day.
Here are five moments that have made headlines so far.
1. Javier Milei gifts Elon Musk a golden chainsaw
In 2024, Argentina’s President Javier Milei became the toast of CPAC when he declared his intention to slash spending in his country.
On Thursday, Milei revisited that theme when he found Musk in a room at the conference center and presented him with a chainsaw with “Viva la libertad, carajo!” written on its bar. Milei wielded a chainsaw during his 2023 campaign for president.
As Musk walked onto the main event stage Thursday evening, Milei handed him the chainsaw. Musk then held it aloft saying, “This is the chainsaw for bureaucracy,” to audience applause.
2. Former British Prime Minister Liz Truss: ‘We want to be part of the second American Revolution’
Liz Truss, who briefly served as prime minister of the United Kingdom in 2022, gave a speech, focusing largely on free speech in her country.
Truss said there are anti-West organizations who have targeted democracy in the U.K., laying some blame on the Biden administration.
It wasn’t just autocratic regimes funding nongovernmental organizations targeting British people, “it was actually the United States of America under President Joe Biden through USAID,” she said.
“Now did you know that American taxpayer dollars were funding the BBC? Did you know they were funding the Tony Blair Institute? Did you know they were funding Rory Stewart’s wife?” she asked.
“It’s incredible,” she continued. “We thought you were our friends, but American taxpayer dollars were actually funding anti-West ideology.”
Then the former PM referenced Vice President JD Vance’s speech at the Munich Security Conference. She said she agreed that the most pressing issue is current attacks on free speech. “JD Vance is right,” Truss said. “We have seen what independent media has done for the United States, and we want some of that.”
3. Ted Cruz and Pam Bondi talk border, DOJ and Eric Adams
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi spoke Thursday about Bondi’s recent promotion.
Podcast host Ben Ferguson, joined the pair on stage and asked Bondi what labeling cartels as terrorist organizations could do.
“It gives us the ability to go after them more, anywhere in the world and treat them as terrorists,” Bondi said. “They are terrorists. If you’re bringing fentanyl into this country and killing our kids, you’re a terrorist and we’re coming after you.”
Later in the conversation, Cruz asked Bondi if the Department of Justice is worse, better, or about the same as she had expected.
“It’s worse, meaning that department had completely lost its mission of fighting violent crime. Look what they did to President Trump,” Bondi said. “But most people, the majority of the people are great people who went to law school, became prosecutors, became law enforcement officers to fight crime.”
Then, Cruz asked Bondi why New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ charges were dropped, and Bondi said, “It was an incredibly weak case, filed to make deportation harder.”
“That’s why they did it,” she continued. “They took one of the biggest mayors in the country off the playing field to protect their sanctuary city.”
4. Speaker Mike Johnson talks about DOGE and a return to Founding Fathers’ ideals
Newsmax host Rob Finnerty sat down with House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., on stage Thursday to talk about how DOGE is returning the country to what the Founders envisioned.
He described a recent conversation he’d had with Musk. “I said, ‘You think of this like a scientist and a data analyst, and I think of it like constitutional law attorney. Elon, what we’re going to do here is bring back the Founder’s original intent for the federal government.‘”
“The Founders wanted a lean, small federal government, and they wanted most of the power pushed down to the states,” Johnson explained.
Elected members of Congress were entrusted to closely monitor the federal government, but “the problem,” as Johnson described it, “is Congress has not been able to do that because they’ve been hiding the evidence. They’ve been hiding the ball.”
“Elon’s on the inside, and that’s why the Democrats are so nervous. He is right over the target right now,” Johnson said.
Karoline Leavitt speaks on Associated Press lawsuit
After refusing to use “The Gulf of America,” Associated Press reporters’ access to Trump’s events, the Oval Office, and Air Force One were revoked.
“We are gonna keep them out until such time that they agree that it’s the Gulf of America,” Trump said Tuesday, per Politico.
The Associated Press announced Friday they were suing the Trump administration over their exclusion on First Amendment grounds.
On stage Friday at the CPAC conference, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said, “Upon driving over here from the White House, I learned that I have been sued by The Associated Press. We’ll see them in court.”
“We feel we are in the right on this position, and I said in my first briefing at the podium, we are going to ensure that truth and accuracy is present at the White House every single day,” she said.