Some Alaskans were bursting to ask tough questions of their congressman, Nick Begich, at a virtual meeting he held Monday night.
He hadn’t said much to publicly address constituent concerns since the Trump administration began firing federal workers and freezing grant funding, so there was pent-up demand. More than 3,000 people participated in what was billed as a telephone town hall.
“Tonight we’re going to discuss my work so far in congress, Alaska’s priorities and most importantly I’m going to be taking your questions,” he told them.
But the format of the virtual meeting left Begich and his staffers firmly in control of the microphone, and for many participants, it was an exercise in frustration.
For one, the telephonic system didn’t work for a lot of people, so they tuned in via a livestream on Facebook, where they could write a comment but couldn’t ask a question directly.
Judging by the more than 2,000 comments received, much of the online audience wanted to hear Begich answer challenging questions about the job losses, frozen funds and what they see as illegal executive overreach.
“When are you going to express your authority to hold the president accountable to the Constitution?” one Facebook user asked.
Some people were more blunt. Some swore.
The Begich staffer who moderated put all questions in gentle terms.
“Congressman, we are getting a lot of engagement on your Facebook page, where we are streaming this telephone town hall,” The moderator said. “We've got a comment here from Shannon Turner. She says, ‘So glad finally cutting government spending.’”
Begich acknowledged that thousands of people have called his office about the spending freeze and job losses. He said the administration has to shrink government to bring the national debt down and control inflation.
“The only way to get that under control is to trim government back to a rational size and reduce some of the spending. And that is, that is what is happening,” he said.
Begich also encouraged Alaskans to see this as a turning point, a new beginning.
“One of the things that's been highlighted by some of the recent actions that we've seen over the last few weeks is just how federally dependent Alaska is,” he said. “And it's important for us to think about this as an opportunity to diversify our economic base.”
Begich had his defenders.
“DOGE is doing an awesome job!!” one wrote, referring to the Trump administration’s Department of Governement Efficiency and its downsizing campaign. Another said she’d vote for Begich again and again.
But the Facebook comments were mostly critical, especially as the moderator let through questions that some viewers complained were softballs. Those included: How do we contact your office, and what does America First mean to you?
“Yeah . . . that was definitely a softball question,” a Facebook user wrote.
“Are you even going to address any of the concerns being brought up ... or just continue cherry-picking the softballs from your supporters?” another commenter wrote.
Then the moderator put a man named Joel through.
“Joel, it looks like you've got a question about bipartisanship and working across the aisle. Is that correct?” the moderator asked.
“That's right,” Joel said.
But he quickly shifted to a different topic.
“I'm a lifelong Republican,” Joel said. “But I am in the majority, I think, with a lot of Americans, a lot of Alaskans, that are really concerned that we have an executive branch that is more than willing to push or remove the guardrails that are on the executive branch and what we need from Congress and from the courts is to play that checks and balances role, not not to oppose obviously —”
He broke off. Listeners heard nothing but static.
“Joel, looks like we may have lost your line,” the moderator said. “If you're still there … Joel? All right, looks like we may have lost Joel.”
The fury arising from the Facebook comments was palpable.
“The first real question and they lost the line!” one person wrote.
“Joel had the first question that I care about!!!” said another listener.
Begich responded to what he heard of Joel’s question. He gave a three-minute discourse on the Constitution and the separation of powers.
“If the Congress or the executive branch steps outside of its constitutionally defined boundaries,” Begich said, “the courts step in and realign and say, ‘Hey, you're out of bounds.’”
Trump has said he’ll abide by court orders, but he and Vice President JD Vance have also suggested that they might not. No one on Begich’s telephonic town hall had a chance to ask about that.
But the question was all over the Facebook comments.
“If Trump defies the courts, WHAT WILL YOU DO?” one participant wrote.
