To no surprise, Elon Musk admits that his productivity email wasn’t legit at all
The Trump administration is once again attempting to turn defeat in victory through trolling.
After Elon Musk sent out a mass email to federal workers telling them to justify their jobs or be fired, the federal government was thrown into chaos. To the multitude of workers that left him on read, Musk sent a followup email giving employees a “second chance” to prove their worth to the Trump administration or be terminated. While Musk’s email appeared to be intended as an ultimatum, the billionaire’s blast-out message was undercut by the Trump administration, which declared that responding to the email was “voluntary.” Donald Trump further confused things by telling federal workers that they would be “sort of semi-fired” if they refused to answer. In short, it was a mess that stymied the “efficiency” that DOGE was sworn to engender in the U.S. government.
Now according to Elon Musk, the email didn’t matter at all.
After reporter Billy Binion wrote on X that Musk’s email scheme was logistically “stupid” because the administration couldn’t possible read the millions of responses that the message demanded, Musk declared that the message was “a check to see if the employee had a pulse and was capable of replying to an email.” Considering that email correspondence is literally how the federal government functions, it’s safe to say federal employees are well versed in writing an email response – they just weren’t sure Musk’s message warranted one.
Musk insinuated that he wouldn’t even bother getting an AI (i.e. an LLM or Large Language Model) to read the responses, though DOGE is reportedly considering using AI to sift through the responses regardless. Musk went on to say that the “mess will get sorted out this week,” omitting that he was the one who created it in the first place. Musk summed up his message with a standard Trump administration threat of retribution, saying that “people” were in for a “rude awakening and strong dose of reality” before concluding with the comicbook villain foreshadowing his evil plan statement: “they don’t get it yet, but they will.”
No, they probably won’t.
While the president has promised sweeping changes to American government policy (and successfully implemented some of his most horrific ones) the Trump administration’s bark sometimes proves to be worse than its bite. Trump spent his re-election campaign promising to batter America’s economic rivals with tariffs and catapult the U.S. economy into global supremacy, but that didn’t happen. Trump’s tariffs against Canada and Mexico were over as soon as they began, and the president walked back his plan after threat of economic retaliation.
Trump decided to put a pause on the tariffs for 30 days, and spun the postponement as a successful business deal as Canada and Mexico both promised to aid the United States in border security. Trump claimed it was a win against the nearly non-existent Canadian fentanyl trade, as fentanyl that crosses the Canadian border accounts for less than 1% of all fentanyl sold in America. The Trump administration has since postponed its tariffs against Mexico and Canada again, pitching April 2nd their new date of initiation. “April 2 … for everything,” said Trump of the tariffs at a Cabinet meeting in the White House. With the way Trump keeps backtracking, I wouldn’t be surprised if Trump misquotes Justin Timberlake in March to give a new date for tariffs: “it’s gonna be May”.
Like Trump, Elon Musk has seen policy blow up in his face too. One such explosion nearly went atomic after DOGE fired and scrambled to rehire 300 National Nuclear Security Agency workers responsible for overseeing the U.S. weapon’s arsenal. While Musk promises a “rude awakening” for federal workers, he and the rest of the Trump administration have been left sleepless by their own.
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