An already bewildered federal workforce is grappling with the same scenario Twitter employees faced just over two years ago: Quit or commit to the new mission.
An email sent this week to 2.3 million government workers, with the subject line "Fork in the Road," resembles one sent to employees of the social media platform in November 2022 after Elon Musk took over, and that episode offers some insight into his influence over president Donald Trump, reported Axios.
"If Musk's takeover of Washington is anything like his takeover of Twitter, federal workers — and Americans more generally — had better buckle up," the website reported. "His 'slash first, ask questions later' management style has already been reflected in some of President Trump's biggest moves."
The email was sent Tuesday by the Office of Personnel Management, which is now stuffed with Musk allies and loyalists and seems to be a key component of his slash-and-burn Department of Government Efficiency, and gave federal workers nine days to quit and get paid through September or accept a new "performance culture," which could result in their jobs being cut or downsized anyway.
"It had Musk's fingerprints all over it," Axios reported. "Some Twitter employees who left in the chaotic period after Musk purchased the company, renamed it X and fired or drove out thousands of workers say they were promised severance packages that failed to materialize."
However, Musk doesn't own the U.S government and many federal workers belong to unions, and the changes he wrought at Twitter – which he eventually renamed X – has driven away millions of users and most of its blue chip advertisers.
"Applying such radical, sudden changes at the scale of the federal government is far more difficult — as the second Trump administration learned this week when it issued then rescinded a sweeping memo freezing hundreds of billions in spending," Axios reported.