Musk’s DOGE Gets Run by Feds, Issues Second Toothless Ultimatum

The fallout from Elon Musk’s poorly-planned, terribly executed, and sadly-worded weekend email to federal workers continues. After many federal department heads told workers to ignore the original email, Donald Trump came out yesterday to say that workers “should” respond, but he stopped short of a full endorsement and, very notably, Trump did not tell various agency and department heads to force employees to answer the email, nor did he say they were right to allow people to “pause” it – he only said that people “should” answer.

As said, mid-morning on Monday, Trump did support Musk but only in the most tepid way possible and Trump didn’t do anything to sort through who was right or wrong to tell people to ignore it, which would have consequences later in the day. As Grok sums it up:

Trump backed this move publicly, calling it “pretty ingenious” during a February 24 Oval Office press event with French President Emmanuel Macron. He framed it as a way to check who’s actually working, saying, “A lot of people aren’t answering because they don’t even exist,” and praised the “genius” in sending it, though he offered no evidence for his fraud claims.

Of course the fraud claims do not exist and it’s interesting that Trump immediately referenced jobs not existing as a possible reason for people to not respond. He avoided having to settle the dispute among people like FBI Director Kash Patel and Musk over who needed to answer what email while pretending to fully support Musk. By Monday evening, after agencies like the FBI, Pentagon, and State Department told staff not to reply—and OPM clarified responses were voluntary, Musk went nuts and resubmitted another Tweet – although no one has seen a second email. In Grok’s usual “Anti-Musk” tone:

On X, he posted that, “subject to the discretion of the President,” workers would get “another chance” to respond, but failure to do so a second time would still mean termination. He called the initial email a “trivial” test, implying the bar was low—just “type some words and press send.” This shift dialed back the immediate firing threat, aligning with Trump’s authority while keeping the pressure on, even as the White House and OPM softened the original ultimatum. It’s a classic Musk pivot: double down but tweak the play when the heat’s on.

Subject to the discretion of the President, they will be given another chance.

Failure to respond a second time will result in termination. https://t.co/04xzgScXfj

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 25, 2025

So that is a pretty weak response, actually. Remember, this is the post in response to departments sticking to their guns, stating that the email would be ignored (As of Monday night) and that comes after Trump “backed Musk up” – so this tweet, while sounding plenty threatening, isn’t the actual second chance because that would have to be a direct email. That email hasn’t yet been sent. If it never gets sent, this will have to be seen as a major blow to DOGE. From a report in Newsweek, we see Musk sent out a second tweet rather than a second email:

The new threat came after Musk wrote on X that his “email request was utterly trivial, as the standard for passing the test was to type some words and press send!” “Yet so many failed even that inane test, urged on in some cases by their managers,” he added. “Have you ever witnessed such INCOMPETENCE and CONTEMPT for how YOUR TAXES are being spent? Makes old Twitter look good. Didn’t think that was possible.”

Because as things stand right now you have the FBI, State, and DoD, all covering employees that do not respond, there is nothing currently out there pushing this issue forward. Musk will have to issue another email today (Tuesday) because the courts are going to catch up to this today or tomorrow at the latest, they won’t allow this to continue without being addressed with clarity.

Some responses on social media:

lol there's so much going on here.when is second chance. what does termination actually mean. Musk is literally attempting to make himself look important and in charge when multiple agency heads have told him to fuck off.

— Schnorkles O'Bork (@schnorkles.bsky.social) 2025-02-25T01:00:45.113Z

That is a very good point. He won’t stop.

How dare they disrespect the man not in charge!

— Rob Honeycutt (@robhon.bsky.social) 2025-02-25T01:40:36.239Z

Musky-Smell threw a little fit about agency heads telling federal workers that responding to his threats was voluntary. Musk said that, based on a presidential directive (known only to him) that everybody ignoring him would get a second chance! It's starting to sound like a Bugs Bunny skit.

— Mostly True News (@mostlytruenews.bsky.social) 2025-02-25T02:47:03.050Z

I mean look I’m glad he fell on his ass here, but something Musk might know if he’d ever bothered to actually raise any of his kids is that if you threaten a consequence that you don’t intend to or don’t have the power to enact, all you’ve shown is that your threats, however vociferous, are empty.

— Rachel Klein (@racheleklein.bsky.social) 2025-02-25T05:53:29.297Z

And my recommendation to you is to take this opportunity to email Elon yourself, whether you work for the federal government or not (He’s surely happy to judge you one way or another, right?):

You really can just email Elon Musk at [email protected]

— ☀️ Jon Schwarz ☀️ (@schwarz.bsky.social) 2025-02-23T16:56:54.367Z

So, yes, email him and let him know what you did with your week and see how far that gets you! Meanwhile, we will keep an eye out for a court order today or a follow-up email. If Musk fails to send out a second email today, it is likely that DOGE will have suffered a massive, stinging defeat, despite Trump’s assurances on Monday – leading one to question whether Trump’s word is really enough right now…

God Bless: I can be reached at [email protected] and on Twitter-X at @JasonMiciak and please follow me on Bluesky.

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