DOGE’s Latest Cut: Glenn Youngkin’s Balls

Summary

Bulwark Takes: Episode Summary - "DOGE’s Latest Cut: Glenn Youngkin’s Balls"

Release Date: February 25, 2025
Host/Author: The Bulwark
Participants: Tim Miller, Andrew Egger

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Introduction

In the February 25, 2025 episode of Bulwark Takes, hosts Tim Miller and Andrew Egger delve into the controversial handling of federal workforce reductions in Virginia by Governor Glenn Youngkin. The discussion critically examines Youngkin's strategies to manage the fallout from mass job cuts and explores the broader political ramifications within the state.

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Governor Glenn Youngkin’s Response to Federal Job Cuts

Tim Miller initiates the conversation by referencing the episode's headline, humorously attributed to Sam Stein, highlighting Youngkin's approach to addressing the abrupt firing of federal employees:

"[00:50] Andrew Egger: That was one where Sam came up with it and then we all spent like 15 minutes trying to talk ourselves out of it and think of something better and never could. So it's pretty good."

The core of Youngkin's strategy revolves around the launch of VirginiaHasJobs.com, a platform designed to assist displaced federal workers in transitioning to the private sector. Youngkin's administration aims to soften the blow by providing resources such as resume-building tools, virtual job fairs, and partnerships with major employers like Capital One.

Andrew Egger provides a detailed critique of this initiative:

"[02:54] Andrew Egger: ...the amazing kind of way to thread the needle that he and his team have hit upon... We're rolling out all these resources. ... this time next year you might be saying this is the best thing that ever happened to you."

However, Tim Miller and Andrew Egger argue that the approach is both condescending and out of touch with the real needs of the affected federal employees. They illustrate this point by mocking the superficiality of the resources offered:

"[03:25] Andrew Egger: It's like, good thing I've made the economy so good that this is gonna be so easy for you now... Here's some tips for how to buff up your resume... it's like giving these mid-career federal employees... baby birds kind of just breaking out of the shell."

The hosts highlight the disconnect between high-level promises and the tangible support required by highly specialized professionals, such as NIH scientists, who face job losses without equivalent opportunities in the private sector.

Critique of VirginiaHasJobs.com

The discussion takes a humorous yet scathing turn as Andrew Egger dissects the quality of the resources provided:

"[05:08] Tim Miller: ...Glenn Youngkin and his vest coming into a factory that's being shut down and being like, guys, we're going to find a new career path for you."

Moreover, the episode points out the poor execution of the initiative, exemplified by non-functional links shared by Lieutenant Governor Winsome Sears:

"[08:51] Andrew Egger: ...she cuts like a two-minute video... every single link that she linked to goes to a broken 404 webpage not found government page."

This failure underscores the administration's lack of preparedness and genuine commitment to aiding displaced workers, leading to further frustration and skepticism among the affected populace.

Political Implications for Virginia’s Governor's Race

The episode transitions to the political fallout of Youngkin’s handling of the situation:

Tim Miller emphasizes the timing and significance, noting Virginia's upcoming off-year governor's race as a critical battleground influenced by these job cuts:

"[10:14] Tim Miller: ...Abigail Spamberger is the almost certain Democratic nominee... Winsome Sears... almost certain Republican nominee... this time around. We'll be covering the Virginia governor's race more."

The hosts analyze how the mishandling of the federal workforce reductions could erode Republican support, particularly among white-collar voters in the D.C. suburbs, a key component of Youngkin’s initial electoral success.

Andrew Egger concurs, suggesting that the administration's failure to effectively manage the job cuts undermines the competent technocratic narrative that Youngkin sought to project:

"[11:23] Andrew Egger: ...this just completely blows up the competent technocratic economic argument... It's almost like so bad for Republicans that it's not like Democrats can even like pleasantly surprise this November."

This misstep is poised to become a significant liability for the Republican Party in Virginia, potentially serving as a canary in the coal mine for national Democratic strategies.

Humorous Takeaways and Concluding Remarks

Throughout the episode, Tim Miller and Andrew Egger employ humor to underscore the absurdity of the situation, making the critique both engaging and relatable:

"[12:46] Tim Miller: ...you'll be covering the Virginia governor's race more... getting to read Glenn Youngkin's private equity PowerPoint message to the fired NIH scientists."

In closing, they acknowledge the bleakness of the situation for federal employees but find solace in the ability to find humor in political failures:

"[13:16] Andrew Egger: We gotta take our laughs where we can get them right now, right?"

Tim Miller wraps up the episode with a light-hearted remark, maintaining the balance between critical analysis and entertaining commentary:

"[13:25] Tim Miller: All right, brother. Thanks. Andrew Egger, everybody... the absurdity is something some of the rest of us can get a smile out of."

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Notable Quotes

• Andrew Egger on the condescending nature of VirginiaHasJobs.com:
  "[02:54] ... Here's here kind of the language that you probably were used to using when you were a government employee... you're not going to want to do that out here."

• Tim Miller mocking the mismatch of skills being redirected to unsuitable jobs:
  "[05:32] ...like, can't even imagine a person that would find this to be a useful tool."

• Andrew Egger on the political strategy fail:
  "[11:53] ...they are working toward ultimately the same aim, which is, you know, maximizing their own."

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Conclusion

The episode "DOGE’s Latest Cut: Glenn Youngkin’s Balls" offers a sharp and humorous critique of Governor Glenn Youngkin’s handling of federal workforce reductions in Virginia. By dissecting the ineffectiveness and superficiality of the administration’s response, Tim Miller and Andrew Egger highlight the potential political repercussions that could influence Virginia’s upcoming gubernatorial race. The discussion underscores the challenges Republicans face in maintaining support amidst policy failures, offering listeners both insightful analysis and relatable humor.

Transcript

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[Tim Miller]

Void where prohibited by law 21 + terms and conditions apply hey guys, Tim Miller from the Bulwark back with another buddy, Andrew Egger in his Morning Shots newsletter this morning, which you should subscribe to. Go to thebork.com if you haven't the headline was this and you will see why it piqued my interest immediately. Doge's latest Cut Glenn Youngkin's Balls. So I don't know, I don't know. Was that your headline? Did you come up with that or does Sam Stein get that credit?

[Andrew Egger]

That was one where Sam came up with it and then we all spent like 15 minutes trying to talk ourselves out of it and think of something better and never could. So it's pretty good.

[Tim Miller]

The eunuch Youngkin image is nice. Basically what you guys write about is his response to many of his constituents getting capriciously fired by 23 year old vapors. And rather than standing up for him, for them, for his constituents, he did something else. So talk to us about that.

[Andrew Egger]

Yeah, so this has been kind of a theme coming out of the Governor's mansion in Virginia for the last few days. Obviously, Virginia has a very disproportionate share of workers in the federal government, especially up in Northern Virginia, but kind of throughout the state as well, one of the highest per capita states in America. And Glenn Youngkin, being kind of like the technocratic Republican that he is, has not wanted to kind of push back on this Doge stuff. He's not wanted to kind of poke the bear with any of that. But also he's got all these five workers that he's got that he's has to deal with. So the amazing kind of way to thread the needle that he and his team have hit upon, which they kind of rolled out yesterday at a press conference, is basically saying like, yeah, you know, Elon is rooting out all of the waste, fraud and abuse and we understand that that means a lot of our people are going to be fired. But don't worry, you People, we're going to make the transition to private sector life as serious seamless for you guys as possible. We're rolling out all these resources. We're going to do this big event that's sponsored by Capital One, which is one of the biggest employers in Virginia. And we just want you guys to know this isn't the end. Things are bright in your future. It might feel bad now, but if you just give it a little while, buff up your resume, get out there, get on some, we'll host some virtual job fairs for you, stuff like that. This time next year you might be saying this is the best thing that ever happened to you. So that's kind of the strategy they have landed on in Virginia.

[Tim Miller]

Here where I live, I am dying just thinking about, I mean like I break out into hives just thinking about a job fair. Like the notion of a job fair being an effective way to help these people find jobs. I like the cheery name they gave this project, Virginia has Jobs. And so if you can go to VirginiaHasJobs.com if you're a federal employee and they're going to help you find a new job, talk to us about some of the tips, some of the really not at all condescending tips that they have [e-mail] it's kind of a tone.

[Andrew Egger]

Deaf pitch to begin with. It's like, good thing I've made the economy so good that this is gonna be so easy for you now. There's all kinds of openings and stuff and then the minute you start digging into any of the stuff they're standing up, it just becomes like more and more sort of like condescending and weird and kind of paternalistic because it's like, it's basically like giving these mid career federal employees who've just been fired, like the kind of advice that I would have gotten in like a job like career services when I was in college, you know, like getting ready to apply, like, you know, here are some tips for how to buff up your resume. You know, like here kind of the, here's kind of the language that you probably were used to using when you were a government employee. But things are a little different out here. We use different terms and you know, you're probably going to want to get it down to one or two pages. We know you federal employees like to like to have those long resumes, but you're not going to want to do that out here. I mean, it's like these people who are, have just been capriciously fired from their life's work so far are like baby birds kind of just breaking out of the shell and blinking in the sunlight. Here's what you need. And I mean, some of the advice is so silly and specific. I'll just read you. There's, like, one random passage from their resume. Updating tips and tricks. Start by analyzing each job posting to identify the key skills and qualifications they are seeking. Customize your resume for each position by highlighting the most relevant skills and experiences listed in the job description. I'm just, like, imagining, like, some, like, fired USAID guy who's, like, furiously, like, scribbling down notes as he's reading that page. He's like, all right, I know now my entire sector has been nuked from orbit. There's no one in the world doing the work that I am qualified to do now because it's just. It's just been uprooted. But I think this is going to be really helpful for me. So thank you. Glenn Youngkin.

[Tim Miller]

And it's just such a classic finance vest guy. You can just imagine Glenn Youngkin and his vest coming into a factory that's being shut down and being like, guys, we're going to find a new career path for you. Being a loan officer, have you ever done any database management? I just think about this.

[Andrew Egger]

Are you considered learning to code?

[Tim Miller]

Yeah, Right. It is. If you think about the specific examples and think about the types of people that are losing their jobs in Northern Virginia. Like, imagine again, these aren't just random people losing their jobs. Imagine you're an NIH scientist. You're a scientist at the National Institute for Health with a specialty in infectious disease or a specific type of infectious disease. And Glenn Youngkin's like, go to VirginiaHasJobs.com and maybe Capital One will have a spot for you as a bank teller. If you buff up your resume, it's just like what it is just completely disconnected from the reality. It's, like, impossible to even imagine a person that would find this to be a useful tool. Maybe if you're going to try to create some government efficiency, if you're Glenn Youngkin and fire wasteful government workers, you might want to start with the people that were writing down the advice on this website. VirginiaHasJobs.com right?

[Andrew Egger]

Right. Yeah. It really is kind of an amazing thing that you're going to start from this posture of, here are, like, my two goals. I'm Governor Glenn Youngkin, and here are my two goals. One is that I have to somehow stop these people from being mad at Me and not voting Republican this November. And the second thing is that I cannot stick up for them as not being wasters, fraudsters and abusers of the public dole at all. Because if I suggest that any of these people who are being fired shouldn't have been fired, my future in Republican politics is over. And rather than just kind of like keep his head down and just kind of like shamefacedly kind of tiptoe on by the whole thing, he's like, no, you know what? I think I can thread this needle. I think I can roll out the correct therapeutic language and roll out the correct just like affect and the right resource package to where we're gonna make this whole thing better. We're gonna fix it. I did not write about this in the piece, but something that just kind of occurred to me when you were talking about the fleece vest guy. It really is. I mean, like, Glenn Youngkin comes out of private equity, right? And like, like he and Elon are kind of like the two poles of the kind of like, you know, zero marginal cost economy that JBL likes to talk about. Like, like these two kind of titans of the new. Of the new industry. And the one guy who's like, very just kind of like warm and, and like has this, has this, you know, affect of really caring about the people that he's talking to versus the guy who is like, you know, the God of tech and everyone who is around him at all times must be supplicants and all that. But in the end, I mean, they are, they are working toward ultimately the same aim, which is, you know, maximizing their own.

[Tim Miller]

And they're using the speak. You know, there's plenty of. And we do this here because there's plenty to eye roll out when it comes to woke speak. There's plenty to eye roll out. But here is, you know, kind of the type of speak that was very popular to make fun of when I was growing up in the 90s and 2000s, but has gotten out of vogue, which is PowerPoint corporate retreat speak. And that's what this website is. It's just the white milk drinking version of woke speak. But this is like the businessman's version of it. We're gonna do some very generic corporate retreat speak to try to make you feel better about the fact that I'm getting rid of all your jobs.

[Andrew Egger]

Maybe the best thing in the whole rollout was not anything that happened at this press conference yesterday. It wasn't even Youngkin. It was the Lieutenant governor of Virginia, Winsome Sears, because she recorded this video basically in the same vein, right? Basically she said we know there is concern about the federal government workforce transition as well as people looking for work and new career opportunities. Like it's all like that. But then, so she cuts like a two minute video basically just saying we feel your pain. And then she links on Twitter on X, the everything app to a bunch of resources. She said if you've been affected by federal workforce changes, the Virginia Employment Commission offers unemployment benefits and job assistance. Link. The Virginia Workforce Connection provides a comprehensive job search platform for displaced workers. Link. For a quick reference guide on available assistance for federal workers, check out this Virginia Works resource link. Then there's another link for veterans seeking employment, another link for small business and supplier diversity. And the punchline is that all? Every single link that she linked to goes to a broken 404 webpage not found government page. I mean it's like, is truly like, like, like it's bad idea in concept. Bad, bad rollout and just horrible execution like on every level of this like operation make federal workers not be mad at us. The Republicans in charge of the state of Virginia, just from top to the bottom.

[Tim Miller]

Great job, Glenn and Winsome. One last thing. There is a more timely political consideration here in your commonwealth, Virginia because they have the off year governor's races. So Abigail Spamberger is the almost certain Democratic nominee, congresswoman, kind of a moderate Democrat and from northern Virginia, Winsome Sears, who you just mentioned, lieutenant governor, black woman is the almost certain Republican nominee. Tbd. You get surprised in politics. But like the, this is very relevant, right, Because Youngkin wins on kind of like the first year backlash to Biden overreach in a bluish purple state. Right. Like a purple leaning blue state. Youngkin wins. And now we have like these firings happening that are disproportionately affecting Virginia and like the first major election of Trump 2.0 will be happening in the state with Spamberger and Sears. So it's I think even more significant then like a similar story is happening in Maryland, but politically it's more significant in Virginia.

[Andrew Egger]

Yeah. And it's almost like so comical and so you know, just obviously bad for Republicans standing in the state just because that was kind of the Youngkin coalition. Right. Is that he peeled back a lot of these kind of white collar, you know, D.C. suburbs type voters who had kind of gone Trump to Biden and then he was able to kind of get them back on Team Red by, by basically being like competent technocratic economic Republican policy like chamber of Commercial plus.

[Tim Miller]

Some Covid culture war stuff.

[Andrew Egger]

Yes, exactly. Plus culture war. Plus kind of like anti woke stuff specifically. And it was like, oh, maybe that works. Maybe that's like a new model. But then obviously this just blows stuff like this just completely blows up the competent technocratic economic argument, which is a huge part of that. And so it's almost like so bad for Republicans that it's, that it's not like Democrats can even like pleasantly surprise this November. I've seen a lot more commentary that's like if Democrats do not clean up in Virginia, like Genghis Khan coming down from the step, right? Like, like what is the point of them as a party? Like how are they, how are they supposed to function anywhere? You know, so that's, that's like, it's almost like should be so much of a gimme that that that they can either like meet expectations or disappoint. Right. So it's not necessarily awesome to be that canary in the coal mine for Democrats this time around.

[Tim Miller]

Well, I mean they'll take anything. Democrats will take a win where they can get it. All right? So don't try to take the shine off it. And it hasn't happened yet so many months away. We'll be covering the Virginia governor's race more. Thank you, Andrew Agar for bringing a little glimmer to my eye this morning. Getting to read Glenn Youngkin's private equity PowerPoint message to the fired NIH scientists. I know bleak for the federal employees, but the absurdity is something some of the rest of us can get a smile out of.

[Andrew Egger]

We gotta take our laughs where we can get them right now, right?

[Tim Miller]

All right, brother. Thanks. Andrew Egger, everybody. Subscribe to the feed. We'll see you soon.

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