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.
Elon Musk wasted no time in firing back:
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.
"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.
RedState's own Susie Moore chimed in as well:
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.
See Related: Hilarious: Here's the Dumbest Attack on DOGE, Courtesy of Eric Swalwell
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: