Days after billionaire Elon Musk sent an email to federal employees asking them to list the tasks they performed over the weekend, a woman compared the situation to "living in North Korea."
In a video, the woman, a federal employee, expressed concerns, saying, "The feeling of absolute existential dread that I felt typing out a response to that email is something that I wish I could convey to everyone because it felt like such a glimpse into the reality that they are trying to create and it was terrifying," she said. "It felt like you would do what I say or else."
The email that we received did not say that failure to respond would be taken as a resignation, she said, adding, "But the post on X did say that. And leadership at my agency is pretty much like the email is authentic, but we don't know if the threat is or is not, We are going to respond, but kind of left it up to each of us to decide what to do."
The employee lambasted the Tesla CEO's actions, saying, “Like this whole thing is, it is an exercise for them to show us how much power they have and how little we have and how we must do what they say. And it's so insane because again, who the f**k is Elon? Like, and how does he get to decide that he is the king of the federal employees, king of HR, um, at the office of personnel management. And he gets to tell us, send us email or you're fired.”
Out of touch with reality, to say the least https://t.co/n0rYd2ROiY pic.twitter.com/dozJ53SN5M
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 27, 2025
“It felt much like I would imagine living in a place like what I always imagined North Korea to be like, would be like, um, where the energy is. Yes, master. Your wish is my command,” she added.
She added that these people had no expertise outside of tech and were taking away the careers of lifelong federal employees. "These are people who have worked their lives to have the careers they have, who have gone to school for this, who have built a career over years, years, decades," she said.
Soon after the video started making the rounds on social media, Elon Musk shared a BBC report from 2023 about North Korea. The headline read, "North Korea: Residents tell BBC of neighbours starving to death."
"Out of touch with reality, to say the least," Musk wrote to hint at what the situation in a dictatorship was like.
The Musk email, with the subject, "What did you do last week?", sparked anxiety among employees and led to massive pushback for such measures from the head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Earlier this week, Musk was at the centre of all attention at President Trump's first Cabinet meeting of his second term. During the meeting, Musk explained that he sent the mail after Trump asked him to be "more aggressive" towards making the government institutions effective and efficient.
