knew how lucky we were. we knew how lucky andy was to have health insurance to allow him to get care to hopefully save his life and how lucky we were to have flexibility with our jobs that allowed him to focus on a full-time job trying to get better and me to focus on the full-time job of caring for him, of loving him and marrying him and eventually when he found out his cancer was terminal to walk him to his passing and i decided to run for office because i do not believe that in delaware, our state of neighbors or here in the united states, the wealthiest most developed nation on earth that that type of care should be-- that that should be the law of the land. >> wat 9:30 eastern on c-span. >> tesla ceo elon musk talked about his efforts to slash government spending as head of president trump's department of

government efficiency. this is the conservative political action conference in national harbor, maryland. ♪♪ >> one second. hey, guys. [cheers and applause] we've got one more-- we've got one more surprise in case this wasn't enough. i'm going to let elon do it. who else is here? >> well, president has a gift for me. >> the president of argentina, you know that, guys. why don't we bring him out. >> yeah. [cheers and applause]

thank you. >> this is the chain saw for bureaucracy. >> all right. i love it. >> mr. president, thank you so much. >> all right. thank you, sir. i love it. we love it. all right. they want it right here. >> all right, great. a little stage prop. >> we love you, elon! >> i love you guys, too.

[cheers] thanks, guys, have a seat. so that was something. i am the meme. >> pretty much. >> there's living the dream and living the meme and that's pretty much what's happening, you know. >> i think you're-- doge started out as a meme. >> think about it. [laughter] >> and now it's real. is that crazy? >> it is crazy. >> but it's cool. >> let me ask you this, a year ago if someone had told you you'd be at c-pack-- cpac and working with the president to sled the swamp, whatever you want to call it. would you believe it.

>> no. >> me neither. >> but it's cool, awesome. thanks for your support. you guys are -- you know. so i mean, we're trying to get good things done, but also, like you know, have a good time doing it and you know, have like a sense of humor, you know? so like, i mean, the-- sort of the left wanted to make comedy illegal. you can't make fun of anything. comedy sucks, nothing is funny, can't make anything funny. legalize comedy, legalize comedy. >> and we've shifted the culture in the last couple of months. the whole country has shifted dramatically because of that election. >> freedom of speech, you know, having fun again, it seems like we should have a good time, now? >> i mean, it's a great time.

everybody in this place is so excited and when you talk to conservatives, everybody's happy. >> yes. >> and everybody feels this great sense of relief because we were going to hell for about four years, and felt bad, especially toward the end, it felt really bad. >> yeah, i thought we were sort of heading for a point of no return, really, you know? and so, that's why it was so intentional that president trump win the election and that there would be a republican majority in the house and senate, which thanks to you, that's been accomplished. >> yeah. >> i want to ask you, one of the biggest questions i have for you, politically, you weren't really on one side or the other, and a businessman. now you're on a side and chose and side. you're sitting here in a maga hat. how did that happen? what was the-- >> it's like dark maga.

>> was there a moment it changed? >> yeah, when i realized it was a -- i mean, i guess politically neutral for quite a while, you know, leaning a little democrat, you know. >> and how did that happen? did they go crazy? >> yeah, they did go crazy. >> and that whole culture and you know, trying to stop freedom of speech and infringe-- in general infringe upon people's personal freedoms. they just want state control, state control of what you say, they want to, you know, take away your guns and the reason they want to take away your guns, nothing you can do to oppose them. so, it's sort of like, i just

like-- we need to restore the fundamental elements of what makes america great. which is freedom and opportunity. >> we're seeing a lot of these freedoms disappearing in the west. it's not just about america, we're all watching europe and knowing they're 1500 years ahead of us because they got the start and they're starting to devolve and happening for years. >> and in europe they put people in prison for memes. that's insane. >> they're collapsing. it's a collapsing society, it feels that way. >> it feels like-- >> france was nicer 50 years ago than it is today. >> yes. >> i don't think you can question. >> so, but, yeah, really-- love you, too. [cheers] >> i mean, i really just wanted to do useful things,

like basically build products, provide products and services that are good and that wasn't really that interested in being political. it just like-- at a certain point there was no choice. so, yeah. >> can i ask you, on the same side of that coin, what's it like going neutral to vilified, largely vilified by the media. >> wait, i am? what? no. really? [laughter] >> turn on some of these channels, they're angry at you. does it bother you at all? >> i mean, were they chanting for my death, i suppose that's a little-- >> not good. >> and those are just not that good? you call that a death chant? please. >> they've been singing a lot. >> a lot of music lately and not good music either. and i would say watching what you're doing with doge, it's

just, people love it. i mean, i've always looked at the government and-- [cheers and applause] i've always looked at the government and i've seen this big machine that -- and they waste because nobody cares, there's more money coming and they don't care. you're cutting this out. everybody in the country knows the government is full waste, fraud and abuse and the americans are loving it. watching their reactions politically to this, i don't know how you're going to sit there and scream and complain because they're cutting waste out of the government and try to win another election? how do you try to win on that? >> i'm not sure how much of the left is even real, you know? >> how much was propped up by our money, you know? >> yeah, yeah, like you see like these sort of fake rallies with hardly any people and the media will like frame it you know, like get all six people in the frame.

because nobody else is there. it doesn't have popular support. but there's -- then you learn that there's hundreds of billions of dollars go to the so-called ngo's and it's your tax dollars that are funding things that are fundamentally anti-american. >> and propping up their narrative. a lot of that government money has been propping up a left i don't think is as strong as i think they made it seem. >> in fact, a mass amount of your tax dollars are going to the media companies directly from the government. >> the government wants to take over media. that's why we have x and there was a member-- >> freedom is priceless, priceless. [cheers and applause] probably one of most important investments this country has seen. if you've got to protect the first amendment, there's not

much more than that. >> and there's criticism, that a huge-- 44 billion now to eight cents. >> it's not worth eight cents. >> but there's-- but it was essentially that, you know, by freedom of expression and-- >> that's gone. it's all over and quick after that. >> yeah, you know, it's the-- all the sort of federal money going to media companies is what helps explain why the legacy media all said the same thing at the same time. >> yeah. it's like weird. you put them up-- like when-- >> they're mouthpieces for the state. >> for the state.

and that's what we've-- it's scary. >> and i like when the-- they're saying threat to our democracy, but you just replace democracy with bureaucracy, it makes a lot of sense. >> it makes perfect sense. >> bureaucracy. >> let's talk about the doge dividend checks everybody is talking about this week and i know you tweeted out, does everybody want like a $5,000 check and the best part knowing where it came from, five grand from last year. >> it's money taken from things that are destructive in the country and that's awesome. >> have you talked to the president-- >> that's like victorious. that's like the spoils of battle. >> i like that. is there traction on that? >> yeah, yeah, so-- >> yeah? >> i talked to the president and he's supportive of that, and so, it sounds like that's

something we're going to do. as we're finding savings, that's going to translate directly to reduction in tax, yeah. >> so i think they fired 6,000 people at the irs today. >> yeah. >> and i think that lutnick talked about they're thinking about shutting down the irs. [cheers and applause] i think it's fair-- i think that people should realize, the amount of money that we-- we send washington five or six trillion a year, that's an ungodly amount of money. like a trillion seconds is like 30 years or something like that. that's how much we send them and seem never to have enough. there must be a lot you can cut. >> absolutely. what's the most surprising thing you've encountered when you go to d.c.? when we're in d.c.? the most surprising thing is the scale of the expenditures and actually, how easy it is to -- with just when you add

caring and competent where there was absence before, you can actually save billion of dollars, sometimes in an hour. like it's wild. >> and then they scoff at it and say a few billion here or there. the way they talk about it, you can see they don't care. it's such little money compared to how much they're used to wasting. that's what's scary. >> exactly, but obviously, it just shows that they really lack empathy for the average taxpayer who is working hard and paying taxes and then they say, oh, a million dollars doesn't matter. i think it matters a lot to people, you know? so what are you talking about? >> i'd like to have it. [applause] >> let me ask you a question. you know, i know the president fairly well, watched him survive two assassination attempts. the second-- had the first one not happened, the second one would have gotten him. without those extra guys they would have never seen that gun poking through the fence at the

golf course. >> yeah. isn't it mind blowing that this happened. and by the way, why don't we still know nothing about that guy in buffalo? what's going on. >> kash is going to get to the bottom of it, yeah. >> [cheers and applause] confirmed just a couple of hours ago, but i saw the security detail that you had come in is enormous. >> it's not that enormous, maybe it should be bigger, i don't know. >> i think could probably afford it. how concerned are you about your safety? you are a wanted man. are you-- >> yeah, so look, i'm open to ideas for em proving security. i have to tell you. like, i don't actually have a death wish, i think. but you know, it's not that easy so, yeah, i mean, but i have like-- i've had people like the president from el salvador

managed to put in prison like 100,000 murderous thugs and he was like, he called me and said i i'm worried about your security. you're worried about my security? what? okay. you know. >> yeah, talk about guts to do that down there, and then survive. >> i was like, how did you put all of those thugs in prison without dying? seems like that would have not been easy. >> the president has-- one of his top attorneys is investigating chuck schumer, on scotus, saying basically we're going to bring a fight to you, the rhetoric. you guys are screwing with things that are not supposed to be messed with and a lot of people that don't want that to happen. >> we're fighting matrix big time here. it's got to be done. >> yeah. >> and it certainly does. what's going on with-- tell us about fort knox. >> yeah.

>> kentucky, it's a military base, it's a ton of gold, tons and tons and tons of gold. >> 5,000 tons of gold give or take. >> are in the ground in like, it's a very secure. >> we all want to see it. >> i'd love to see it. >> this is your gold, by the way. it's the public's gold. >> do you think it's not there? >> i don't know. i just want to see it. >> yeah, we want to see it make sure that somebody didn't spray paint some lead or something, is this real gold? bite the bar, you know. >> didn't dent. >> and obviously, part of this also is like, let's, you know, let's have some fun and, you know, like i said, all of this gold at fort knox, it's the public's gold. it's your gold. so i think you have a right to see it, you know? yeah. i think we should do it and then the president last night was like hoo-- i think he's in favor of it. a live tour, like see what's

going on, open the door, what's behind it, you know, i think-- i'd watch that. >> are you kidding. >> yes. [applause] >> what does 5,000 tons of gold look like? is this the size? >> it's got to be pretty big, now, other stuff in there, like walk around, maybe they've got some other stuff there. >> are you thinking about auditing the federal reserve as well? >> yeah, sure. >> regulation of the economy. i imagine you think the waste has got to be everywhere? >> yeah, the waste is pretty much everywhere. how can you find waste in like d.c.? like it's like being in a room and the target, the walls, the roof and the floor are all targets, so you're going to close your eyes and shoot in any direction. you can't miss, you know? so it's pretty wild. like you push on things a little bit and you save billions of dollars, like just a little bit. >> wow, scary, isn't it? >> that's why i say.

it really is underrated, if you add caring and competence, it improves. and we're finding so many things and we share with the public, we post everything we learn, you know. [applause] >> you can see it. you know? and it's like-- totally wild like we did just-- we just did like checked the data base on social security, how many americans, alive americans eligible for social security are there. according to the data base over 400 million. wait a second. >> how many again? >> and then found like one person in there like 360 years old. i'm like, did they know ben franklin. >> the revolution. >> america didn't exist before that time. so-- >> and you know, maybe it's just me, but i think it's a red

flag, i don't know. >> are there discussions that there were checks going to those people or any of those people? >> well, yeah-- >> i guess that's the question, right? i get the social security security administration is dumb, are they paying those people? >> a lot of money going out from the social security administration. >> 70 billion waste a year. >> and i think the estimates from government accountability office is over 500 billion dollars in 40 years, 500 billion with a b. >> in how long a time? >> per year. >> per year on social security. >> no, on all-- >> on all government. >> on all entitlements, yeah. it sort of actually makes sense when you look at things from the top level $7 trillion in spending from the government. what percentage do you think is

fraudulent? okay. exactly. like a conservative estimate of the $7 trillion, would be 10%, conservative. >> probably higher than that. a quarter on every dollar. >> and if it's only 10%, 700 billion in fraud. >> and it's easy to take advantage of the federal government. very easy. >> look at covid. everybody got rich during covid. it's unbelievable. >> we-- it looks like in terms of covid payments, there was something like $200 billion of covid payment fraud taken by fraudsters out of the country. >> out of the country. >> that's like, i think, if it's fraud, at least it should be domestic. so, you know. so they managed to get 200 billion out of the country. what? didn't we notice that?

>> let me ask you. let's do immigration here for a second. you know, there's this move now trump's laters thing, he's going to cut funding, any kind of money that ends up in the hands of illegal immigrants. if you're sunday funding sanctuary cities and states, these hotels and that's federal money. if you have a hotel in new york city in the hotels, that's fed money, not state. and it's hard to deport 15 million. but let's see, seems like the move it let's make it so they leave on their own. if there's no longer a dole system, can't get their hands on hotel rooms and money they're going back, especially if there's no work. >> i think it's important for people to understand that the biden administration sent any possible money they could-- if there was money they could send to facilitate and amplify illegal immigration, they sent it.

okay? they took money from fema meant for helping americans in distress and sent that money to luxury hotels for illegal immigrants in new york. that's an outrage. they actually did that. and not only that, even after president signed the executive order saying it has to stop, the fema-- the sort of whatever deep state bureaucrats, still pressed send on $80 million last week to go to the roosevelt hotel in new york and other places, last week. and now they're mad that it got stopped and trying to sue to have it restored. so, the gumption is unreal. >> creating new voter class, do you think that's the role, to open the border, new voting class? >> you just need to look at

basic incentives. >> the benefits. >> so if the incentives, fundamentally, it's the probability that an illegal is going to vote democrat at some point, whether it's-- eventually to become citizens and the problem 80, 90%, look at california super majority dems, and then the incentive is to maximize the number of illegals in the country. that is why the biden administration was pushing to get in as many illegals as possible and spent every dollar as possible, every one is a customer, every one is a voter, so the whole thing was a giant voter importation scam. >> pretty obvious. >> very obvious. and then they actually created the cbp1 border app thing where they could-- they would literally fly people in. at the point which people are being flown in at your expense.

>> sending planes. >> flying over the border. >> literally fly them in. >> no other country in the world would do something like this. >> and then we found there was like 100 million dollar contract given to some guy in london, actually, oddly enough, for the cvp1 app so they're flying illegals into the swing states and if you've got like a marginal victory of maybe 20,000 people and you fly 200,000 illegals into that state, it's not going to be a swing state for long. >> change the numbers eventually. >> yeah, maybe in four, eight years, it's a matter of time. >> it's a long game. >> it's a matter of time. it might take a year for them to get the green card and five years for the citizenship. it's an investment that's guaranteed to pay off. just a question of when. >> they all remember who brought them in and let them

in. >> exactly. >> i want to go back and talk about biden-- >> it's a big deal. a lot of people don't quite appreciate that this was an actually real scam at scale to tip the scales of democracy in america. >> treason. >> treason. >> (applause) >> one more biden question. i remember when they would do the electric car stuff and box you out even though you have the only electric car that anybody wants. >> yeah. >> you said, i think this week, that you think that biden left these astronauts in space because he didn't want you to give an opportunity to save them, make nasa look bad, and the private sector and make you look good? do you believe that? >> i-- >> and why would he want you to help them come down. >> biden was attacking me at next level. the problem of justice or injustice under the biden administration was-- i mean, they were suing spacex

for not hiring asylum seekers, and we said it's illegal for us to hire asylum seekers, rocket science is advanced weapons technology so we can only hire permanent residents or citizens, so we're damned if we do, damned if we don't. so, how can they sue us for not hiring asylum seekers when it's illegal for us to do so. there was a big department of justice or injustice against spacex. it was obviously an antagonist ic section. and astronauts were supposed to be up there for eight days and now eight months. does that make sense? we could have brought them back sooner, but they didn't want anybody who supported president trump to look good, basically.

that's the issue. . >> the-- a lot of them are saying right now the reason that you want to get into social security, that you want to get into all of these different, into treasury and things like that, you're looking for personal information to make more money. >> i've never met somebody as rich as you that cares r less about money, you're always sleeping on a couch, and you could buy the entire thing. you do don't care about money and-- >> listen if i some social security, i could finally buy some nice things. >> and we're going to leave this here. a reminder, you can watch all of our programs on c-span.org. we take you live to maryland's national harbor for day two of the conservative political action caucus, always known as cpac. this morning,