It starts with Project 2025. Right off the bat, the Project 2025 book claims Federal workers are not held accountable. I previously wrote about that propaganda book here. As any Federal worker knows, all employees of the U.S. government receive an evaluation every year. Many private employers cannot make the same claim. I just concluded a lawsuit against a major employer in San Antonio with hundreds of employees who have never conducted a job evaluation.

That sort of stereotypical view of Federal workers is now manifested in the form of one Elon Musk, owner extraordinaire and overall rich guy. Pres. Musk views Federal workers as the adversary. According to the New York Times, Mr. Musk said this about Federal workers, “Very few in the bureaucracy actually work the weekend, so it’s like the opposing team just leaves the field for 2 days!”

Every Federal worker takes an oath to the U.S. Constitution. There are some bad Federal employees. But, in my experience, not many. They are evaluated every year. A bad worker becomes bad only if indulged by the boss. Since supervisors change with some regularity, there is just not a lot of indulgence. The only team opposing Federal workers is the team found in China, Russia and North Korea, maybe also in Iran.

Traveling HR Team

The deferred resignation offer – known as the “Fork in the Road” email – reflects Pres. Musk’s lack of respect for Federal workers. With no warning and little explanation, Mr. Musk sent an email to every Federal employee regarding a life-changing sort of decision. I wrote about the “Fork in the Road” email here.

It is very unusual in the Federal workforce for such a major decision to receive so little support. When I was called to active duty in 2003, we had about 500 Reservists suddenly on active duty. Someone had to explain to us about Tri-Care health insurance and TSP retirement accounts. Ft. Hood sent down two persons, probably from OPM, to my unit in Houston. They drove about four hours to present a one hour block of instruction on our benefits and answer questions – with powerpoint slides and hard copy handouts. They knew, with so many Reservists coming from so many parts of Texas, with a diverse civilian jobs, there would be plenty of questions. The entire briefing actually took about 3 hours with all the questions.

That is a typical Federal response to a major change in fringe benefits. That sort of extra effort reflects a respect for workers. That sort of respect seeks to keep employees feeling like the employer cares. Employees who feel valued always perform better. But, now under Pres. Musk and co-Pres. Trump, all some 2 million employees received last week was a one page email – with some FAQ’s. That email was thrown together at the last minute. So, one huge question remains unresolved even today: who is eligible for this “Fork in the Road” offer? Every agency has some mission-critical positions, which cannot remain unfilled for any length of time. Agencies are still working on which positions are mission critical.

Contrary to what Pres. Musk and co-Pres. Trump believe, the first measure of any governmental agency is not efficiency, but effectiveness. Can a given agency deliver the services it promises? Without those mission-critical workers, any agency would fall short. As of Feb. 3, two or three agencies had identified which positions are eligible for the offer. But, a great many still have not, even now days into this offer.

Gloating

Pres. Musk also gloated about what he had done to another agency:

“We spent the weekend feeding USAID into the wood chipper. Could have gone to some great parties. Did that instead.”

New York Times, Feb. 5, 2025, p. A12. On behalf of Federal workers, I would like to express my regret that Pres. Musk missed some great parties. But, let me take this opportunity to remind him that he was speaking cavalierly about some 10,000 employees and their families. I hope Pres. Musk can find some time in the near future to attend some of those “great parties.” I would remind him that anyone who takes an oath to the U.S. Constitution, gives up higher pay in the private sector, who often do in fact work weekends to provide services to you and myself, are the “opposing team” only if you do not support said Constitution. After all, its Pres. Musk who owes $1.4 billion to a Chinese bank, not Federal workers.

Starlink

And, now we have some indication for why Pres. Musk holds such hatred for Federal workers. The IG for USAID was investigating USAID’s oversight of the public-private partnership between Musk’s Starling and the Ukraine government. See Gizmodo report here, Mr. Musk did in fact describe USAID as “evil.” of course, it is illegal for Pres. Musk to perform government work with such an obvious conflict of interest. But, if co-Pres. Trump will not enforce the law, no one else is interested in doing so at present.