Kinzinger: Musk's chainsaw moment will feature in Democratic attack ads

Former Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) said Sunday that tech billionaire Elon Musk’s recent moment with a chainsaw at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) will be featured in Democratic attack advertisements in coming campaigns.

“Elon Musk smiling and giggling on the stage of CPAC with a chainsaw, that is going to come back in every commercial against every Republican candidate about, ‘Yeah, you didn't get your Social Security check on time?’ or, ‘You know veterans that have taken their own life? This guy was laughing about it on the stage with a chainsaw,’” Kinzinger said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

Kinzinger, now a CNN political commentator, has also been critical of Democrats in recent weeks, saying they have appeared "surprised and flat-footed" in response to Musk and President Trump's initial efforts to gut the United States Agency for International Development and gain access to sensitive data at the Treasury Department.

Argentina's president, Javier Milei, gave Musk the chainsaw at CPAC. Musk lifted the chainsaw while a crowd cheered, exclaiming, “This is the chainsaw for bureaucracy."

The tech billionaire has led efforts to cut the federal budget and workforce. On Saturday, Musk gave a warning to federal employees about a new policy requiring them detail their work in an email or risk losing their jobs.

“Consistent with President @realDonaldTrump’s instructions, all federal employees will shortly receive an email requesting to understand what they got done last week,” Musk said in a post on his social platform X.

“Failure to respond will be taken as a resignation,” the tech billionaire continued.

Musk didn’t outline any more details on X, but a copy of a message that federal employees were sent has been reviewed by The Hill.

“Please reply to this email with approx. 5 bullet points of what you accomplished last week and cc your manager. Please do not send any classified information, links or attachments,” said the email, setting a deadline of Monday at 11:59 p.m. EST.

The Hill has reached out to the White House for comment.

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