A gigantic white sculpture of Elon Musk’s smirking face is causing a stir after it sprung up in Yellowstone National Park over the weekend.
The replica of the Tesla CEO’s head sailed through the park on the back of a trailer Saturday after previously making appearances at Arches, Yosemite and Mount Rainier national parks.
The statue – made of a combination of 3D-printed foam, wire rebar, wood and epoxy – may be an ode to Musk, but not in a positive way.
Beneath the huge bust a sign reads ‘Make America Wait Again’ – a parody of Donald Trump’s tagline, ‘Make America Great Again’.
‘Now With Longer Lines Thanks To DOGE Cuts!’ the spoof sign continues.
The bold art display was created to troll Musk for his contribution to Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
According to its organizers, the statue spent the day in Yellowstone ‘lording over the long lines and congested trails while bragging about cutting staffing and resources’.
In an email sent to Cowboy State Daily from an email address labeled ‘Giant Elon Head’, the statue’s organizers said: ‘We want to bring back awareness to the absolute insanity of the world’s richest man haphazardly firing tens of thousands of employees across the federal government and the chaos that has ensued.’
The organizers, who did not reveal their identities, continued: ‘One strikingly visual and fun way to do that is by showing the arrogant smirk of that billionaire in overcrowded parks now affected by staffing shortages in their high season.’
‘We think this political pop-up protest is more interesting when the statue speaks for itself,’ they added.
‘There is fun to a mystery and it’s not really about us.’
Park visitors had mixed opinions of the sighting of the Musk bust.
One visitor, Nancy Charmichael, told Deseret News she found the funny side.
‘I think everyone thought it was kind of cool. I don’t think anyone was upset,’ she said.
‘Maybe it was meant to be a serious thing, but personally, I just thought it was funny and something you don’t see every day.’
But others branded the artwork ‘bad’ and dismissed the idea the park appeared to be struggling with staffing shortages.
In a post on X, one person wrote: ‘I am at Yellowstone right now and came into the park this morning. I can tell you there was ZERO line and we were helped by a friendly, polite young lady.’
Another X account commented: ‘Bad artwork by TDS artist makes the rounds at the National parks! Coward artist won’t use his name – I wouldn’t either with that travesty – who is that supposed to be as it sure doesn’t look like Elon Musk?’
After Trump took office in January, Musk was put in charge of DOGE, with the goal of modernizing federal technology and enhancing governmental efficiency.
Under Musk’s leadership, DOGE slashed almost 280,000 job across 27 government agencies, according to a report released by Challenger, Gray & Christmas in April.
Over 90,000 more cuts were expected to be made that same month.
Many of the job cuts affected US natural preserves.
The National Park Service has lost 13 percent of its 20,000-strong workforce since Trump took office in January, according to the National Parks Conservation Association.
Much of the decline is attributed to job eliminations and staff taking buyouts offered by DOGE.
According to Reuters, the workforce has been stretched so thin at national parks this Spring and Summer that all staffers, even scientists, have had to take shifts cleaning whatever bathrooms are still open, as DOGE shut many public restrooms down too.
Because of federal regulations, Musk could only remain in his post for 130 consecutive days as a special government employee.
On his last day with DOGE on May 30, Musk claimed his team’s efforts had saved $160 billion for taxpayers.