On Saturday afternoon, on the south lawn of the Texas State Capitol in Austin, 3,500 people braved the heat to watch Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren roast President Donald Trump and his “First Buddy” Elon Musk.
“Donald and Elon are bullies,” Warren told the crowd, whose cheers were audible from blocks away. “They think calling people names or waving a chainsaw makes them look manly.”
Warren was referring to the (Buenos Aires-made) chainsaw Musk was wielding as a prop at February’s Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), which was meant to symbolize the slash-and-burn approach the Tesla billionaire has taken to reducing the size of the federal government. Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency has slashed more than 60,000 jobs since Trump took office in January, prompting scores of lawsuits and pushback from Democratic lawmakers who have said the job losses endanger vital services to Americans.
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The enthusiastic crowd showed its support for Warren by holding up signs with messages like “No Kings,” “Deport Elon,” and “You’re Fired.” The rally was organized by the Travis County Democratic Party. Texas lawmakers Rep. Lloyd Doggett and Rep. Greg Casar were also in attendance.
“Congressional Republicans collectively are known as spineless wimps who are working with Trump to roll through tax cuts for billionaires,” Warren screamed into her mic.
She urged members of the crowd to be the brave ones and stand up to the president and his cronies by calling members of Congress and protesting in public.
“We are right here right now to say out loud: Donald and Elon must follow the law,” she said. “We are right here right now to say out loud that Donald and Elon may scare a bunch of wimpy senators and representatives, but Donald and Elon don’t scare us.”
Warren was in town for SXSW, an annual tech and film festival held in Austin. She headed from her rally to the convention center, where she taped a live podcast with award-winning journalist Kara Swisher.
Warren, who received a standing ovation as she walked into the ballroom, started her remarks by attacking “co-presidents” Trump and Musk, as she repeatedly referred to them.
“Did anyone ever meet a bully back in seventh grade? This is who these guys are,” she explained, and was met with roaring laughter. “I think the thing these guys care about the most is whether or not you will bend the knee. They want everybody in this country to bend the knee: They want the billionaires to come and bend the knee, they want leaders from all over the world to come and bend the knee.”
Warren then proceeded to deliver a scathing, hour-long review of many of the actions the Trump administration has taken in the last few months.
There are the tariffs on Canada and Mexico, many of which Trump reversed this week after the stock market tanked and foreign leaders reciprocated. Warren said the reversal was because Trump can’t stand not to be liked. “He wants to be popular,” she said. “He wants our approval, goddammit. So don’t give it to him.”
However, Warren did share the one time she expressed a kind of approval in Trump’s presence, by clapping loudly during his joint address to Congress last week when he said the United States should support the war in Ukraine. “I clapped and I clapped loudly, and evidently, I got under his skin,” Warren said. “So it was all in a good night’s work.” Trump responded by belittling her publicly and bringing back a familiar nickname: “Pocahontas.”
Warren also had a laundry list of complaints for Musk: She attacked his recent disbanding of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the government agency she helped create after the 2008 financial crisis. “Since Elon and his little band of hackers have taken over the CFPB, they have tried to shut it down,” she said. “It’s a heyday right now for the scammers. The cops have been moved off the beat.”
She said Musk’s goal was to have no oversight when he launched X Money, a virtual wallet where users can send money to one another directly. “He wants to be able to scam you in any way possible without a financial cop looking over his shoulder.” she said.
Warren expressed regret for voting yes for Marco Rubio’s confirmation for Secretary of State. “He was not my fave, but I figure Republican Secretary of State, you could do a lot worse,” she said. “I was wrong.”
There was one group she would not attack.
Despite prodding from Swisher, Warren refused to condemn the Democratic party, which has been criticized for not having a unified, aggressive approach to Trump and Musk’s takeover of the United States government.
“I’m just not here to criticize people who are trying to fight back against Donald Trump,” she said. “If you want to turn the heat on Democrats? Fine. I’m good. I’m ready for that. I love a good fight, but it’s the Republicans right now who are empowering Donald Trump, and they need to answer for it.”
The audience seemed less satisfied with that answer, which produced the meekest applause of the day.
