The annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) kicked off last Wednesday and ended Saturday — and the good mood among Republicans that has been prevalent since November seems to be holding strong.

Vice President JD Vance was one of the speakers, and he outlined the issues Americans are facing and how they are all connected. For example, if we unleash American energy development, grocery prices should come down because farmers and transportation companies won’t have to pay so much at the pump. And if the government, via the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), cuts out the pork, then that’s more money being directed toward lowering the deficit.

Vance was also provided an opportunity to defend his speech at the Munich Security Conference. Europeans didn’t like the righteous lecture — particularly the Germans. Except for Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who defended Vance’s speech, saying that Europe was being “sacrificed on the altar of wokeness, bureaucracy and mercantilism.” She added, “If those who were outraged had showed the same pride when Europe lost its strategic autonomy, tying its economy to autocratic regimes, or when European borders and our way of life were threatened by mass illegal migration, now we would live in a stronger Europe.”

Most notably, Vance, who is Catholic, also used the opportunity to talk about his faith. Unlike the ostensibly devout “good Catholics” Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi, Vance has been known to quote great Catholic thinkers such as Thomas Aquinas and articulate his faith unabashedly. CPAC was no exception. He noted that Christianity hinges on the reality that “the Son of God became man, He died, and then He raised himself from the dead”; that because of Christ’s sacrifice, we don’t need to fear death but rather the losing of our soul; that our focus as human beings should be to honor God in all we do.

The funniest CPAC moment happened when Elon Musk, the head of DOGE, was gifted a chainsaw by the president of Argentina, Javier Milei.

For context, Milei is famous for carrying a chainsaw on the campaign trail to illustrate how he was going to reverse Argentina’s economic disaster by cutting off the unnecessary parts of big government. As our Thomas Gallatin noted recently, “Milei can be credited with turning the nation away from imminent disaster toward an economic recovery and promising future. Before Milei took office, inflation was averaging 25% per month, but it has now decreased to less than 3%.”

Llegó la motosierra a DOGE…!!!
The Chainsaw has arrived at DOGE…!!!

VIVA LA LIBERTAD CARAJO
Cc: @elonmusk pic.twitter.com/jr7vwwGFKU

— Javier Milei (@JMilei) February 20, 2025

This is so epic. The president of Argentina @JMilei presents Elon Musk @elonmusk with a golden chainsaw.

A chainsaw to CUT bureaucracy. 🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲 pic.twitter.com/wJCIJfhMjJ

— Patriot Lady (@angelwoman501) February 21, 2025

Musk, who is doing something very similar within the executive branch, was thrilled by the gift and raised it in the air, saying, “This is the chainsaw for bureaucracy.”

President Donald Trump also spoke at CPAC. He set the stage in his usual colorful manner, saying: “He was ‘Sleepy Joe,’ but he was crooked as hell. He was a sleepy, crooked guy. He was a terrible, terrible president. He was the worst president in the history of our country — I don’t care, I’ll say it.” He finished up his musing with, “I have to clean up the mess. I’m cleaning up the mess, and it is a mess — on the border, with inflation. Every single thing he touched turned to sh*\t — everything.”

That’s when Trump began talking about policies that he and his team are keeping front and center, like the border, the economy, the gender wars, and — most importantly — fighting for the American people on every front.

Overall, it was a great CPAC and an exciting start to President Trump’s second term.