President Donald Trump used a reference to Spongebob Squarepants to make fun of government employees upset about an email from the Department of Government Efficiency questioning their weekly achievements.
The president posted a modified screenshot from the Nickelodeon show on his Truth Social platform. It depicted Spongebob contemplating with a notepad and pencil.
The edited image featured a list titled ‘Got done last week’ with entries such as ‘cried about Trump,’ ‘cried about Elon,’ and ‘made it to the office for once.’
Trump’s post came as DOGE chief Elon Musk defended his late Saturday night email to all federal employees, asking them to list five things they did this week.
It was sent by the Office of Personnel Management’s human resources department, and gave federal workers a deadline of Monday at 11:59 p.m. EST to send back their explanation of work.
Musk said in a post to X that if workers fail or refuse to respond it would be ‘taken as a resignation.’Â
Some federal employees have since claimed the emails are ‘harassment’ and say the requirement to justify their weekly tasks amounts to a ‘hostile work environment.’
‘This is the ultimate d**k boss move from Musk – except he isn’t even the boss, he’s just a d**k,’ Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.) posted in response to the directive from Trump’s ‘first buddy.’Â
President Donald Trump invoked Spongebob Squarepants to mock federal employees who are outraged by a Department of Government Efficiency email asking what they ‘accomplished’ over the course of the week
The commander-in-chief took to his Truth Social platform on Sunday to share an edited screenshot from the Nickelodeon cartoon
‘It feels like harassment, especially sending it out on a Saturday and boasting about it in advance on X so that everyone could be checking their email [that] afternoon in anticipation of its arrival,’ another federal employee told Business Insider.Â
A third, who works for the Centers for Disease Control, said they ‘can only imagine how many people they’ll fire based on the responses/non-responses to this.’
Several unions representing federal workers have even objected to the email, with the National Treasury Employees Union calling it ‘yet another attempt by the administration to scare hardworking civil servants who deliver for the American people every day.’
In a letter on Sunday, the American Federation of Government Employees also argued that the email ‘fails to identify any legal authority permitting OPM to demand the requested information.
‘Federal employees report to their respective agencies through their established chains of command; they do not report to OPM,’ the letter says.
‘The email was nothing more than an irresponsible and sophomoric attempt to create confusion and bully the hard-working federal employees that serve our country.
‘By issuing this directive, OPM is actively pulling federal employees away from their critical duties without regard for the consequences,’ it added.
‘As just two examples: a VA surgeon’s attention belongs in the operating room and an air traffic controller’s attention on keeping the skies safe, not on dealing with this unclear and unlawful distraction.
‘The request and the resulting confusion is not just inappropriate – it is disruptive to essential government functions,’ the union argued.Â
Elon Musk, the head of the Department of Government Efficiency, has called his request ‘a trivial task,’ and noted that his DOGE workers have already received a ‘large number of good responses’
Newly-appointed FBI Director Kash Patel has even urged agents to ‘pause any responses’ until the bureau can come up with a coordinated response.
‘All FBI personnel may have received an email from OPM requesting information,’ he wrote in an email obtained by NBC News.Â
‘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,’ he said.
‘When and if information is required, we will coordinate the responses. For now, please pause any responses.’
Supervisors at the Department of Justice similarly told employees to leave Musk’s email unanswered while they await further clarity on the situation, Newsweek reports.
At the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration – which houses the National Weather Service, some managers initially cautioned against replying to the email, apparently thinking it was a phishing attempt.
One NOAA employee even told WIRED they were cautioned not to log onto their work email after receiving it.
The email came from the human resources department at the Office of Personnel Management
But Musk has called his request ‘a trivial task,’ and noted that his DOGE workers have already received a ‘large number of good responses.’
‘These are the people who should be considered for promotion,’ he insisted.
Nonprofit President of Brownstone Institute Jeffrey Tucker also said the email from DOGE ‘is completely conventional in the service industry when there’s new management.’
‘It is only causing screams and panics because it is government,’ he added.
Another post Musk highlighted on his X account detailed how the task to detail their accomplishments from the week is common in the ‘private sector.’
‘It’s standard practice to report what you’ve accomplished to your manager,’ Ana Mostarac posted. ‘And if you’ve been a manager, you know how crucial it is to clarify expectations and priorities on a regular cadence.’
‘Now, government sector employees are being asked to do the same,’ she continued. ‘The request is being labeled ‘harassment’ and described as creating a ‘hostile work environment,’ with some even suggesting a class action lawsuit for ‘undue stress and financial harm.’
‘Why should government sector employees be held to a different standard? If anything, shouldn’t they be held to a higher standard, given the importance of their work?’ she questioned.
