Trump's Response to Mass Firings: SpongeBob

Federal workers are still trying to make sense of an email request seemingly sent on behalf of Elon Musk's DOGE over the weekend that asked them to send five bullet points of what they'd accomplished during the previous week (followed by conflicting guidance from multiple agency heads to not reply to that email). President Trump himself weighed in on Sunday—by reposting a SpongeBob meme mocking those upset about the directive. The meme, which the Daily Beast notes originally appeared on a right-wing X account, shows the famous animated character ostensibly toiling over his own list, while another character (Patrick Star, speculates Salon) shows off the one he's working on.

Among the five bulleted items on the mystery character's list, entitled "Got Done Last Week": "cried about Trump," "cried about Elon," "made it into the office for once," "read some emails," and "cried about Trump and Elon some more." "Silly meme dictatorship" is how one Reddit commenter described Trump's latest stunt. CNN notes that Trump's post came on the same day that Utah GOP Sen. John Curtis asked Musk to "put a dose of compassion" into the mass firings carried out by DOGE. (More President Trump stories.)