Elon Musk has snapped back at the ‘incompetence’ of the workforce for failing to reply to his email
Elon Musk has fired back with another ultimatum to federal employees after his controversial email asking staff to report their progress or face dismissal sparked backlash.
On Saturday, February 22, Musk sent an email to U.S. government workers that made it clear: failure to respond would result in losing their job.
The email demanded that federal staff list five tasks they’d completed within the past week, with a hard deadline of 11:59 pm on Monday. Those who didn’t comply were told they could consider themselves resigned.
Musk later explained that the real purpose behind the demanding email was to see “who had a pulse and two working neurons” and to determine which employees were actually checking their emails.
“This was basically a test to see if someone could respond to a simple email,” Musk said. “A lot of people are in for a rude awakening. They don’t get it yet, but they will.”
However, not everyone was impressed. A senior Defense Department official told CNN it was the “silliest thing” they’d ever seen in their career, and the FBI even advised staff not to respond.
Unfazed by the backlash, Musk has now issued a fresh ultimatum to those who ignored the email. Taking to his social media, the 53-year-old billionaire slammed the “incompetence” of workers who failed to comply with his request.
Musk didn’t hold back, writing: “The email request was utterly trivial, as the standard for passing the test was to type a few words and press send! Yet, so many failed even that basic task, with some managers even encouraging it. Have you ever witnessed such INCOMPETENCE and CONTEMPT for how YOUR TAXES are being spent?”
In response to the backlash, Musk clarified that the deadline would be extended, stating in another tweet: “Subject to the discretion of the President, they will be given another chance. Failure to respond a second time will result in termination.”
While the move has garnered some detractors, it seems President Donald Trump is backing Musk’s stance. During a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron, Trump responded to the situation, hinting at his approval of Musk’s approach.
Trump weighed in, commenting: “What he’s doing is saying, ‘Are you actually working?'” (via AP). “And then, if you don’t answer, like, you’re sort of semi-fired or you’re fired, because a lot of people aren’t answering because they don’t even exist.”
On his social media platform Truth Social, the president expressed his satisfaction with Musk’s approach but suggested there was still more potential to be tapped. He encouraged Musk to get even more aggressive in his efforts.
According to NBC News, Musk’s DOGE initiative, which is focused on reducing costs, plans to feed the responses from the emails into an AI system. This will help assess whether employees’ activities are truly mission-critical, as reported by TheDailyMail.
