On Saturday, at the behest of unelected billionaire Elon Musk, the Office of Personnel Management emailed over 2 million federal workers, with the subject line “What did you do last week?” demanding they list roughly five tasks they accomplished in the past week. To up the stakes, Musk posted on his X platform, "Failure to respond will be taken as a resignation."
And the outrage has been swift.
The unions for two groups of government employees—the American Federation of Government Employees and the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees—filed a lawsuit on Sunday, saying that OPM’s demand “has not complied with any procedural requirements” under the Administrative Procedure Act, which states that it must first provide a notice-and-comment period beforehand.
“Once again, Elon Musk and the Trump Administration have shown their utter disdain for federal employees and the critical services they provide to the American people,” AFGE President Everett Kelley said in a press release. “It is cruel and disrespectful to hundreds of thousands of veterans who are wearing their second uniform in the civil service to be forced to justify their job duties to this out-of-touch, privileged, unelected billionaire who has never performed one single hour of honest public service in his life.”
Federal agencies such as the FBI, State Department, and Pentagon are also reportedly blowing Musk off by instructing their employees to ignore his ridiculous request.
“The FBI, through the Office of the Director, is in charge of all of our review processes, and will conduct reviews in accordance with FBI procedures,” wrote newly confirmed FBI Director Kash Patel in an email. “When and if further information is required, we will coordinate the responses. For now, please pause any responses.”
On Monday, the Trump administration reportedly plans to walk back the order, according to Politico. It plans to give the agencies some allowance in how much they adhere to the request.
However, that’s unlikely to stop the backlash.
Activists took to the Reddit page for 50501—which stands for 50 protests, 50 states, one day—to share the email address provided in the OPM email (hr@opm.gov), with the goal of “flood[ing] the servers” with spam. Nearly 500 comments have poured in on one Reddit thread, with users sharing that they were signing up the email address for erectile dysfunction products, sex shop email lists, and hair plug advertisements.
“I spent a while signing him up for support groups for men with botched penile implants,” one user wrote.
“Be careful though with what email you use! A throwaway is best and definitely nothing associated with your professional/work lives,” another user wrote.
Democratic senators also hurt Musk’s feelings on X over the weekend.
After Washington Sen. Patty Murray’s scathing speech on the Senate floor in which she blamed Musk’s anti-government workings on his allegedly poor reading comprehension skills, Musk replied to her on X and asked, in a not-at-all-triggered way, “What did you get done this week?”
“I work for the people of WA state, not you,” Murray replied.
Democratic Sen. Tina Smith of Minnesota
Democratic Sen. Tina Smith of Minnesota was also on the attack.
“This is the ultimate dick boss move from Musk - except he isn’t even the boss, he’s just a dick,” Smith wrote on X on Saturday to a screenshot of Musk’s threat to federal workers. Her phrasing here—calling Musk, well, a dick—is becoming popular on the left.
“I bet a lot of people have had an experience like this with a bad boss - there’s an email in your inbox on Saturday night saying, ‘Prove to me your worthiness by Monday or else.’ I’m on the side of the workers, not the billionaire asshole bosses,” she added.
However, some are willing to challenge Musk.
Ever the sycophant, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. reportedly instructed his 80,000 employees at the Department of Health and Human Services to comply. And even Democratic Rep. Gerry Connolly of Virginia, who beat popular New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for a leadership position, told workers to give in to the absurd demand.
Musk might think he’s running a tech start-up where employees jump at his every whim, but the federal government doesn’t work like that. With unions, lawmakers, and even entire agencies openly defying his ridiculous demands, it turns out civil servants aren’t as easily bullied as Tesla interns.
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