It’s often said that a government only has as much power as the people are willing to give it, and Elon Musk’s takeover of much of the federal government might just end up proving that concept. A labor lawyer said that Musk’s most recent demand is so illegal that it even has his allies jumping ship.
Musk is once again in the headlines — which is part of the point of his antics in the first place — for making yet another absurd demand of federal employees. In an email sent over the weekend, Musk demanded federal workers justify their jobs, and failure to do so would be taken as resignation.
The email, which a worker at the FAA leaked to the press, includes legal jargon about not speaking about the email, as well as a two-page non-disclosure agreement. Workers were given a deadline of 11:59 PM today, Monday, February 24, 2025, to respond, or lose their jobs.
“Consistent with President @realDonaldTrump’s instructions, all federal employees will shortly receive an email requesting to understand what they got done last week,” Musk wrote in an X post. “Failure to respond will be taken as a resignation.”
Lawyers, experts, and legislators, including those aligned with the Trump Administration, immediately spoke out urging workers not to comply with the order. Luis Osorioa veteran attorney who’s worked in labor law for more than 21 years, went one step further: He said workers shouldn’t even dignify the email with a response, let alone compliance.
: Woman Shares The 6 ‘Key Secrets’ ChatGPT Told Her Americans Need To Know About Their Country Right Now
“Please listen carefully: You don’t need to reply (expletive) to Elon Musk,” Osorio pointedly said. “When he’s sending you a non-disclosure agreement, he knows what he’s doing is breaking the law.”
“He’s telling you, ‘Hey, don’t tell anybody about this.’ That’s all that you need to know.”
The move is so illegal that even Kash Patelthe far-right conspiracy theorist Trump appointed to be FBI Director, quickly issued a statement telling FBI employees to ignore Musk’s requests. “When and if further information is required, we will coordinate the responses,” he wrote. “For now, please pause any responses.”
Osorio explained this is because Musk’s email is a form of “constructive dismissal,” the legal term for situations in which an employer creates a work environment so hostile that workers resign. “This is what he’s doing,” Osorio said. “He is making all of these people’s lives impossible to the point where they’ll quit.” Constructive dismissal is flatly illegal, and the repercussions are likely to be sprawling.
“You can sue him, literally,” Osorio said of Musk’s email. “You have a right to your position as a government employee. It’s completely different than (the private sector). Elon just doesn’t understand how this (stuff) works.” Osorio said that what Musk is doing is so illegal, in fact, the backlash will likely not stop at just lawsuits. “You’re going to see Congressional hearings on what he is doing.”
This, Osorio said, is why even Kash Patel and figures within the State Department seem to be panicking about Musk’s actions, because they may incriminate them, too. “(Patel) is a MAGA nutjob, sure,” Osorio said. But he’s also a lawyer, which means “he understands something called ‘vicarious responsibility,'” the legal concept that a person can be held legally responsible for the actions of another based on the relationship between them.
As FBI Director, and thus a high-level leader of the Department of Justice, “(Patel) knows that if Elon creates a bunch of (nonsense) across all government agencies, and he allows this to happen on his watch, he is gonna be responsible and be part of that lawsuit as well,” Osorio said. “And he is not interested in getting sued by federal employees.”
: People Outraged By How Much Trump’s Super Bowl Appearance Potentially Cost Taxpayers — ‘Where’s DOGE Now?’
It appears to have become the default among most people who oppose this administration to immediately throw up their hands and whine that “they always get away with everything” and assume that there will be no repercussions. Osorio got this exact pushback from commenters on TikTok, too.
But this is flatly false. The administration has already had just about everything they’ve tried to do either flatly overturned or substantially delayed by the courts — including by the radically right-wing, bespoke Supreme Court Trump handpicked for himself.
Of course, both Trump and JD Vance have signaled their willingness to ignore court orders, but they are highly unlikely to actually do so. Four Republican Senators have pushed back on those threats — one more than the GOP’s three-seat majority. Without the Senate on its side, the Administration is unlikely to succeed at such a level of lawlessness. That is surely why they have since moderated their tone on this issue.
The simple fact of history is that eventually, authoritarian governments fall, and when they do, A LOT of people end up in jail (or worse). And that means, “everyone folds. Everyone draws the line somewhere,” as Osorio put it in another video. “No matter how loyal you are … at some point, you’re gonna be like, ‘uh, this is as far as I take it.'”
The fact this moment of clarity seems to have already arrived for some key members of the administration only a month in should give those who oppose it hope, not despair. The defeatist insistence that they have total impunity and all is utterly hopeless is both counterfactual and counterproductive — and exactly what they need you to believe in order to pull off their stunts. Stop helping them do it.
: The Richest Man In The World Says ‘We Have To Reduce Spending To Live Within Our Means’
John Sundholm is a writer, editor, and video personality with 20 years of experience in media and entertainment. He covers culture, mental health, and human interest topics.
