The one thing we can count on from Rep. Nick Begich III is he’ll be a loyal cheerleader for whatever Donald Trump says or does. And he’ll do it without requiring any evidence to support the president’s claims of success or his accusations of wrongdoing against his opponents.
We know that because he’s never had the courage to refute the lies Trump told about the 2020 election. More recently, he refused to challenge the ones about the Jan. 6 insurrection and the war in Ukraine.
Earlier this month, Begich went on the Republican-friendly “Fox and Friends.” In response to questions about the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) that’s being run by Elon Musk, he explained they’re “looking at opportunities to cut waste, fraud and abuse. And when those opportunities are identified they are giving those recommendations to policymakers who do control those levers.”
But Congress wasn’t consulted when Musk ordered the terminations of thousands of federal probationary status employees. During a virtual town hall last week, Begich indicated he learned of the firings from posts on social media.
The next day on Alaska’s New Source, he suggested they were justified because “the federal workforce exploded under the Joe Biden presidency.” That’s not true. According to the Congressional Research Service, federal employment increased 1.2% during Biden’s first three years in office. That’s just a fraction of one percent more than it did during Trump’s first term.
The letters sent to most employees indicated they were being fired because of concerns about their job performance. That wasn’t true. What really happened is they were targets of an executive order Trump issued on Feb. 11 calling for “large-scale reductions in force (RIF).”
But RIFs are a complex process that the order said would to be “consistent with applicable law.” On Wednesday, the administration issued a memo giving federal agencies until March 13 to submit reorganization plans for review and approval. Firing probationary employees before that work had been approved was premature.
A second phase plan is due by April 15 and will be implemented by Sept. 30.
But as we saw again last weekend and on Monday, Trump’s timeline was too slow for Musk.
“Consistent with President @realDonaldTrump’s instructions, all federal employees will shortly receive an email requesting to understand what they got done last week. Failure to respond will be taken as a resignation.”
After several departments directed their employees not to respond, Musk tried again. “Subject to the discretion of the President, they will be given another chance. Failure to respond a second time will result in termination.”
As Conor Friedersdorf pointed out, it would have been a supreme waste of time and money for the nation’s 14,000 air traffic controllers to take even 10 minutes to read the message and respond by stating they were controlling air traffic. There are dozens of similar examples to support his conclusion that Musk’s ultimatum “makes sense only as a troll or a publicity stunt.”
DOGE isn’t doing much better on the fraud, waste and abuse side of their work. Musk claims they “bring the receipts.” It’s all posted at doge.gov, but without any evidence supporting their findings. And the number of miscalculations and misrepresentations uncovered by fact checkers combing through the website is evidence of a lack of quality control.
Or, put another way, they’ve been transparently inefficient in trying to identify inefficiencies.
The worst mistake was what Musk suggested could be “the biggest fraud in history.’ He claimed DOGE uncovered millions of Social Security payments being sent to people as old as 150. Trump thought it was proof “We have a very corrupt country.” But the truth is DOGE’s admittedly “cursory examination” led to a conclusion that was completely wrong.
Yet despite the mistakes, the contradictions between presidential directives and Musk’s actions, and unnecessary chaos Muck has created, Trump remains impressed. At his first cabinet meeting, he asked if anyone was “unhappy” with DOGE’s work. When they all responded with applause, he said “I think everyone’s not only happy, they’re thrilled.”
And although every member of Congress has a constitutional duty to serve as a check on the president, such evidence-free proclamations is all Begich needs to make believe he’s doing his job.
• Rich Moniak is a Juneau resident and retired civil engineer with more than 25 years of experience working in the public sector. Columns, My Turns and Letters to the Editor represent the view of the author, not the view of the Juneau Empire. Have something to say? Here’s how to submit a My Turn or letter.
