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Donald Trump's SpongeBob meme
US President Donald Trump used a meme to mock federal workers outraged by an email from the department of government efficiency (DOGE) asking them to list their accomplishments for the week. The president’s post came as Elon Musk defended the controversial directive, which some employees have called “harassment.”
Taking to Truth Social on Sunday, Trump shared an edited screenshot from the popular Nickelodeon cartoon SpongeBob SquarePants. The meme showed SpongeBob deep in thought with a notepad, while his friend Patrick Star held a list titled “Got Done Last Week.” The entries included “cried about Trump,” “cried about Elon,” “made it to the office for once,” and “read some emails.” The list ended with “cried about Trump and Elon some more.” These entries were seemingly aimed at those criticising the email.
Trump’s post appeared to back Musk, whose department sent out the controversial email to all federal workers over the weekend. The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) required employees to list five accomplishments by Monday at 11.59 pm, a move Musk described as a “very basic pulse check.” He added that failure to respond would be “taken as a resignation.”
'No obligation to respond'
The directive sparked outrage among federal employees and unions. The American federation of government employees (AFGE), which represents 800,000 workers, strongly opposed the request. In a letter to OPM’s acting director Charles Ezell, AFGE President Everett Kelley wrote: “We believe that employees have no obligation to respond to this unlawful email absent other lawful direction.”
The National Treasury Employees Union also slammed the move, calling it “yet another attempt by the administration to scare hardworking civil servants.”
Some federal workers have called the request a “hostile work environment,” and agency leaders at the FBI, department of defence, and state department have reportedly told staff not to respond. The newly appointed FBI director, Kash Patel, advised agents to “pause any responses” while the bureau formulates a coordinated reply.
Democratic senator calls Musk a ‘d**k boss’
Democratic senator Tina Smith also weighed in, blasting Musk’s directive as “the ultimate d**k boss move.”
“I bet a lot of people have had an experience like this with a bad boss—there’s an email in your inbox on Saturday night saying, ‘Prove to me your worthiness by Monday or else.’ I’m on the side of the workers, not the billionaire a**hole bosses,” Smith wrote on social media.
A federal employee from the Centres for Disease Control said they feared mass firings: “I can only imagine how many people they'll fire based on the responses/non-responses to this.”
Musk defends ‘trivial task’
The tech billionaire has brushed off the outrage, calling the request “a trivial task.” He claimed DOGE had already received “a large number of good responses” and suggested that those who responded properly should be considered for promotions.
Supporters of Musk’s directive argue that such accountability is standard in the private sector. Nonprofit executive Jeffrey Tucker noted that similar requests are common when new management takes over. “It is only causing screams and panics because it is government,” he said.
Others questioned why government employees should be exempt from workplace accountability. “It’s standard practice to report what you’ve accomplished to your manager,” Ana Mostarac wrote on X. “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?”
"Asking a government employee what they accomplished last week is 'psychological terrorism,'" said Mostarac in another X post.
Several government agencies have taken steps to block or ignore the email. Some department of justice employees were told not to reply until further clarification.
