President Donald Trump is still trying to distance himself from Elon Musk. On Tuesday, his administration ended one of Musk’s most ridiculed initiatives: a mandate requiring federal workers to send weekly emails listing their accomplishments or face termination.
The Office of Personnel Management announced the end of the so-called “5 things” emails, an initiative that was launched by Musk during his time at the Department of Government Efficiency and quickly became a bureaucratic punchline.
“We communicated with agency HR leads that OPM was no longer going to manage the 5 things process nor utilize it internally,” OPM Director Scott Kupor said in a statement. “At OPM, we believe that managers are responsible for staying informed about what their team members are working on and have many other existing tools to do so.”
He added that the agency would support departments “as they transition to rigorous performance management to include regular check-ins.”
While some agencies, including the Defense Department, already stopped requiring the emails, the formal move makes clear that the Trump administration is distancing itself from one of Musk’s more unpopular ideas—and, by extension, the Musk era in federal government.
The “5 things” directive was one of Musk’s signature DOGE initiatives. Rolled out in February under the guise of increasing accountability, it caught agency heads off guard and confused federal workers. Emails with subject lines like “What did you do last week?” were often flagged as high priority, directing employees to list five accomplishments. Musk claimed it was at Trump’s direction, warning that failure to respond would be considered a resignation.
But within days, OPM quietly loosened the policy. Agencies were told that responses were voluntary and that ignoring the emails wouldn’t cost anyone their jobs. The entire scheme never recovered. Confusing, mocked, and largely ignored, the initiative came to symbolize the overreach—and dysfunction—of Musk’s short-lived career in public service.
Its formal end now serves as a definitive break, or at least the performance of one.
The shift comes just months after Musk’s stint in the Trump administration ended in controversy. What had started as a close alliance between Trump and his “first buddy” quickly turned into a bitter, public split.
Musk criticized Trump’s “One Big, Beautiful Bill” as an “abomination,” while Trump withdrew Musk’s NASA nominee, Jared Isaacman, and later threatened to pull billions in federal contracts from Musk’s companies.
And Musk didn’t hold back. He accused Trump of being named in the Epstein files, claiming that’s “the real reason they have not been made public.”
Since then, Trump has fluctuated between criticizing Musk publicly and extending olive branches. He once hawked Teslas on the White House lawn—even buying one for the White House—only to float the idea of selling or giving it away a few months later. After Musk announced plans to launch a third party, Trump called it “ridiculous,” saying that such ventures never work. For once, he might be right.
Even Trump’s allies are eager to distance themselves. Kupor, who took over OPM in July, made sure to emphasize during a press appearance that, “I have zero personal relationship with Elon Musk. I have talked to Elon Musk once on the phone in my life.”
And while Musk claims he’s stepping back from politics, his retreat hasn’t been without issues. Tesla is struggling, his political prospects have dimmed, and now one of his core workplace policies has been officially scrapped.
Though the White House didn’t respond to Daily Kos’ request for comment, the message is clear: Trump’s team is trying—at least for now—to disconnect from Musk and everything he brought to the Trump administration.
Whatever happens next in the Musk-Trump saga, at least for now federal workers can finally breathe a sigh of relief.