Dem Senator Slams Elon Musk Message As a 'D*** Move' - Musk Skewers Her

On Saturday, Senator Tina Smith (D-MN) launched a rather ineffective broadside at DOGE chief Elon Musk. She should know when she's fighting out of her weight class, but Elon Musk quickly provided a lesson. First, Senator Smith took to X to lambaste a message Elon sent out to the federal workforce; her message carried an emotional age of about 12.

This is the ultimate dick boss move from Musk - except he isn’t even the boss, he’s just a dick. pic.twitter.com/3fSs2ud7Cz
— Senator Tina Smith (@SenTinaSmith) February 23, 2025

Elon Musk wasted no time in firing back:

What did you get done last week?
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 23, 2025

That's the best one - direct and to the point - but Elon wasn't done yet. He replied to some of Senator Smith's other critics as well, and there were a lot of critics.

This email is a very basic pulse check https://t.co/4qEKErwSuE
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 23, 2025

"Pulse-check" is an apt metaphor. If someone doesn't respond, they aren't paying attention. If they aren't paying attention, they aren't doing whatever it is their job is. If they aren't doing their job, they don't need to be receiving a paycheck from the American taxpayers. Street 'em.

The reason this matters is that a significant number of people who are supposed to be working for the government are doing so little work that they are not checking their email at all!

In some cases, we believe non-existent people or the identities of dead people are being used… https://t.co/Rj5Xe6vYZB
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 23, 2025

Musk's full post reads:

The reason this matters is that a significant number of people who are supposed to be working for the government are doing so little work that they are not checking their email at all!
In some cases, we believe non-existent people or the identities of dead people are being used to collect paychecks. In other words, there is outright fraud.

If that's the case, the "pulse check" tactic is a brilliant one, and will save lots of time in determining where to look for this fraud. Can you imagine if Musk and DOGE had to wait for reports from layers of supervisors on this topic instead of using this "pulse check"?

RedState's own Susie Moore chimed in as well:

I practiced law for almost 30 years. I had to document my accomplishments daily - in 6-minute increments.

People flipping out over a simple request like @elonmusk made sound like entitled brats.
— Susie Moore ⚾️🌻🐶 (@SmoosieQ) February 23, 2025

This is not at all an uncommon practice. I worked as an independent corporate consultant for over 15 years, and while not all of my clients requested such an accounting, it wasn't at all uncommon to have one request documentation in 15- or 30-minute intervals. It's just not that onerous a task, and in a mammoth organization like the federal government, it will certainly provide a great tool for sorting the wheat from the chaff.

And there's almost certainly a LOT of chaff, even after the Trump administration's first month of effort.

Thousands of Federal Employees Dismissed As Trump Begins First Round Reducing Government

Senator Smith, we might note, has little experience in the private sector. She apparently worked for General Mills in Minnesota for a time, then went to work as Vice President of Planned Parenthood of Minnesota before moving into politics. She has probably never had to account for her time, and it's questionable as to whether she has ever had her continued employment dependent on actually producing some value for her employer - at least, not since she left General Mills.

Employees are accountable to their employers. In the case of government workers, we are their employers. President Trump is the man we chose to oversee our employees. He has assigned Elon Musk and the DOGE to examine the federal payroll and eliminate the dead weight. That's a worthy task, and the president seems determined to get it done. This is something that should have been done decades ago. And Senator Tina Smith should be ashamed of herself, for her immature comment, unworthy of a member of the United States Senate, and revealing of her abysmal ignorance of basic employment practices.

This seems appropriate: