An emboldened Elon Musk is as soon as once more directing federal staff to justify their existence in writing — or face dismissal.
Musk made his renewed demand in a social media put up Monday after President Donald Trump appeared to contradict different senior administration officers and approve the directive that the billionaire initially despatched out to employees over the weekend.
“Subject to the discretion of the President, they will be given another chance,” Musk wrote on X. “Failure to respond a second time will result in termination.”
As the top of DOGE, Musk has sought to drastically shrink the federal workforce, shedding 1000’s of employees and threatening to chop whole businesses. It’s unclear what authorized authority, if any, he has to sack federal staff who refuse to conform along with his demand.
Trump praised Musk’s method on Monday. “I thought it was great because we have people that don’t show up to work and nobody even knows if they work for the government,” he stated.
“Elon Musk is traumatizing hardworking federal employees, their children and families,” Home Minority Chief Hakeem Jeffries stated Sunday. “He has no legal authority to make his latest demands. We will block him in Congress and in the Courts. Again.”
Everett Kelley, nationwide president of the American Federation of Authorities Workers, a union which represents 800,000 federal employees, condemned Musk’s “chaotic and callous treatment of federal employees” and described the unique directive as a “cynical attempt” to scare employees into quitting.
The newest model drew scorn from Brittany Holder, a spokesperson for AFGE.
“If we took the time to comment on each and every ridiculous thing that Elon Musk tweets out, we’d never get any work done,” Holder stated. “Our stance will forever remain the same, AFGE will challenge any unlawful discipline, termination or retaliation against our members and federal employees across the country.”
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