WATCH: Elon Musk wields ‘chainsaw for bureaucracy’ on stage before speaking at CPAC

Wearing his trademark black “Make America Great Again” hat, billionaire Elon Musk began his appearance at the Conservative Political Action Conference by brandishing a chainsaw that was given to him by Argentine President Javier Milei.

Watch Musk’s remarks in the player above.

The chainsaw was used by Milei during his 2023 presidential campaign to symbolize his proposals to shred the bloated Argentine state. Milei came on stage Thursday and passed the power tool to Musk.

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The red chainsaw swung by Musk was engraved with Milei’s slogan, “Viva la libertad, carajo,” which is Spanish for “Long live liberty, damn it.”

Musk, who has become Trump’s close adviser spearheading a massive effort to cut spending and downsize the federal government, was set to meet with Milei, who is in Washington to attend the conference.

Musk was announced as a speaker for the conference earlier on Thursday by Mercedes Schlapp, a CPAC organizer. The scheduled meeting between Musk and Milei was confirmed by a person who insisted on anonymity to discuss an event that hadn’t yet been announced publicly and said the meeting was private and had been planned for weeks.

Milei was the first foreign leader to meet with Trump after he won the election, but before he took office. He was also invited to the inauguration. A self-described “anarcho-capitalist,” Milei has received praise frequently from Musk for implementing a series of austerity measures, laying off tens of thousands of government workers, freezing public infrastructure projects to fix Argentina’s long mismanaged economy.

Associated Press writer Adriana Gomez Licon contributed to this report.