After nearly 24 hours of chaos due to a memo freezing federal assistance, along with the portal for Medicaid assistance being shut down in 50 states, a district court issued an order staying the freeze subject to a hearing next week. (This could set up a much larger battle over the Impoundment Act and separation of powers). The Trump Administration immediately tried to blame the media for the chaos and confusion their own wide-sweeping order and accompanying actions has caused.

To add further fuel to the fire, an email was sent to millions of federal employees offering 8 months severance pay for those who agree to resign by February 6:

Fork in the Road

Frequently Asked Questions

Below is the email that was sent to federal employees on January 28, 2025 presenting a deferred resignation offer. If you did not respond to that email and wish to accept the deferred resignation offer, you may do so by following these steps.

1) Send a email to hr@opm.gov from your government account. Only an email from your .gov or .mil account will be accepted.

2) Type the word “Resign” into the “Subject” line of the email. Hit “Send”.

Imagine spending years in public service, only to receive an email saying things were about to get more difficult in the workplace, but that you can end it all by replying with a single word—“resign”—within days.

Commentators on social media quickly pointed out that the tone, wording and even title (“Fork in the Road”) of the email mirrored an email Elon Musk sent to Twitter employees back when he took over that company.

Compare for yourself. Here’s Musk’s email:

Subject: A Fork in the Road

Going forward, to build a breakthrough Twitter 2.0 and succeed in an increasingly competitive world, we will need to be extremely hardcore. This will mean working long hours at high intensity. Only exceptional performance will constitute a passing grade.

Twitter will also be much more engineering-driven. Design and product management will still be very important and report to me, but those writing great code will constitute the majority of our team and have the greatest sway.

At its heart, Twitter is a software and servers company, so I think this makes sense.

If you are sure that you want to be part of the new Twitter, please click yes on the link below:

Anyone who has not done so by 5pm ET tomorrow (Thursday) will receive three months of severance.

Whatever decision you make, thank you for your efforts to make Twitter successful.

Elon

Now compare it to yesterday’s email:

2) Performance culture: The federal workforce should be comprised of the best America has to offer. We will insist on excellence at every level – our performance standards will be updated to reward and promote those that exceed expectations and address in a fair and open way those who do not meet the high standards which the taxpayers of this country have a right to demand.

3) More streamlined and flexible workforce: While a few agencies and even branches of the military are likely to see increases in the size of their workforce, the majority of federal agencies are likely to be downsized through restructurings, realignments, and reductions in force. These actions are lilkely to include the use of furloughs and the reclassifications to at-will status for a substantial number of federal employees.

4) Enhanced standards of conduct: The federal workforce should be comprised of employees who are reliable, loyal, trustworthy, and who strive for excellence in their daily work. Employees will be subject to enhanced standards of suitability and conduct as we move forward.

Whichever path you choose, we thank you for your service to The United States of America.
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Upon review of the below deferred resignation letter, if you wish to resign:

1) Select “Reply” to this email. You must reply from your government account. A reply from an account other than your .gov or .mil account will not be accepted.

2) Type the word “Resign” into the body of this reply email. Hit “Send”.

THE LAST DAY TO ACCEPT THE DEFERRED RESIGNATION PROGRAM IS FEBRUARY 6, 2025.