John Oliver figuratively went for the jugular on Elon Musk’s dismantling of the federal government during his monologue on Last Week Tonight on Sunday, zeroing in on Musk’s literal handling of a chainsaw at last week’s CPAC convention while bellowing, “Chainsaw!”
“OK. First: Is it possible that Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, thinks the sound a chainsaw makes is ‘Chainsaw!’?” Oliver asked. “And second, I’m not legally allowed to say what I want to happen there, but I can and am thinking it really hard right now.”
Musk, wearing sunglasses and a gold chain, was gifted the chainsaw by Argentinian President Javier Milei at Thursday night’s Conservative Political Action Conference, a reference to Musk’s slashing of key federal U.S. agencies.
Oliver, who had appeared in a glowing 60 Minutes profile hours earlier, conceded the chainsaw metaphor fits the moment, since Musk’s DOGE minions have been “cutting hastily, and without a lot of precision.” In some instances—including oversight of America’s nuclear arsenal and responding to the avian flu outbreak and the National Park Service—the Trump administration was forced to quickly backtrack.
Oliver singled out the lost jobs at the National Park Service and U.S. Forest Service, more noticeable for their immediate response.
“You are bullying America’s best dorks,” Oliver said, then introduced as evidence a 2024 PSA from Badlands National Park workers warning visitors not to touch the wildlife. “That’s perfect. Protect those dweebs at all costs.”
Park rangers winning their jobs back demonstrated two things to Oliver: “1) This administration can be swayed by public pressure and 2) They have no idea what they’re doing.”
Even DOGE’s own receipts prove their failings, massively overstating their cuts at $55 billion when their actual accounting only shows closer to $2 billion in actual savings.
“There hasn’t been such a stark disconnect between marketing and reality since it turned out the Glasgow Wonka Experience was actually this,” Oliver said, as the screen showed a lone woman in an Oompa Loompa costume standing behind a barely decorated table. “Right now, we all are her.”
