Jacob Soboroff
Appearances
The Rachel Maddow Show
Special coverage of Donald Trump's address to a joint session of Congress
Yeah, they sure did, Steph. And I have to say, it was really an extraordinary experience to spend time with these four really remarkable individuals. For people that weren't watching earlier in the broadcast, I want to reintroduce them to you all very briefly. Starting here in the lower right-hand part of your screen, it's Nigella Nakuna, who was fired from the U.S.
The Rachel Maddow Show
Special coverage of Donald Trump's address to a joint session of Congress
Digital Service, which was the precursor to Doge, to her left. is Alex Taylor, who was fired from the U.S. Geological Survey. Behind Alex is Jesus Murillo, fired from HUD. And Catherine Steele was fired from the U.S. Forest Service. I want to ask a broad question first. It might sound cheeky, but I really do mean it sincerely.
The Rachel Maddow Show
Special coverage of Donald Trump's address to a joint session of Congress
Does anybody feel like they understand better why they were fired after watching the speech tonight? Nobody. Yeah. Okay. Jesus, let me start with you here. I said before you were a presidential management fellow. This is a very elite program within the federal government to bring in the best and the brightest.
The Rachel Maddow Show
Special coverage of Donald Trump's address to a joint session of Congress
The entire program has been terminated after 48 years under Democratic and Republican presidents. When President Trump said about the federal bureaucracy, my administration will reclaim power from this unaccountable bureaucracy, it bugged you in a particular way.
The Rachel Maddow Show
Special coverage of Donald Trump's address to a joint session of Congress
And you said a large portion of your time was actually... responding to congressional inquiries about whether or not the money was being spent appropriately in the case of the housing and urban development department.
The Rachel Maddow Show
Special coverage of Donald Trump's address to a joint session of Congress
So what you're saying is the Trump administration canceled the presidential management fellows, um, program, uh,
The Rachel Maddow Show
Special coverage of Donald Trump's address to a joint session of Congress
Forest Service. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the only time we heard anything about public lands was when President Trump renamed a national wildlife refuge in Texas to honor the victim of a killing by an undocumented immigrant. We didn't hear anything about federal lands otherwise, did we?
The Rachel Maddow Show
Special coverage of Donald Trump's address to a joint session of Congress
I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that it didn't seem like wild lands, the land management agencies, were even on the radar of the president in this speech at all.
The Rachel Maddow Show
Special coverage of Donald Trump's address to a joint session of Congress
Najela, let's talk about you are at the U.S. Digital Service, the precursor to Doge. But one of your main focuses was on making the immigration system, including the enforcement system, more efficient. And the president touted all these accomplishments that he said were accomplishments about immigration, about deportations, closing the border. The part that
The Rachel Maddow Show
Special coverage of Donald Trump's address to a joint session of Congress
watched you react to most strongly was when he said, the media and our friends in the Democrat Party keep saying we need new legislation. We must have legislation to secure the border. But it turned out that all we really needed was a new president. What bugged you so much about that?
The Rachel Maddow Show
Special coverage of Donald Trump's address to a joint session of Congress
Which you yourself have been working on in terms of efficiency.
The Rachel Maddow Show
Special coverage of Donald Trump's address to a joint session of Congress
For a very brief moment, and Rachel referenced this earlier, you worked for Doge because the U.S. Digital Service became Doge. And when the president said that he has saved, I want to make sure I get this right, hundreds of billions of dollars, your reaction was you just shook your head.
The Rachel Maddow Show
Special coverage of Donald Trump's address to a joint session of Congress
All right. And let's go to Alex Taylor, who's our geologist again in the group. We heard President Trump talk about something you worked directly on, which was critical earth minerals. He said that he was, quote, expanding critical minerals and rare earths. But he fired you. That's what you were working on.
The Rachel Maddow Show
Special coverage of Donald Trump's address to a joint session of Congress
You also were particularly seemed annoyed by the statement that he made about thousands of federal workers not showing up to the office because the work that you do and your colleagues do with the U.S. Geological Survey is not done in the office. It's largely done in the field. I've
The Rachel Maddow Show
Special coverage of Donald Trump's address to a joint session of Congress
It really is a profound honor to have spent this time with you guys. And again, I just want to say, for me personally, on behalf of I'm sure so many people that are watching, I'm really sorry about the situation that you guys are in and really wishing you guys all the best. Thank you guys very much. Steph, back over to you.