Paul Begala, a Democratic strategist, criticized the teenage adviser who is known by a controversial nickname online. Edward Coristine, a 19-year-old high school grad, college dropout and DOGE worker known online as “Big Balls,” is now listed as a senior adviser at the State Department's Bureau of Diplomatic Technology. “Who the hell voted for Mr. Musk?” Begala asked during the heated discussion. “Who the hell voted for – excuse the phrase – a guy who calls himself ‘Big Balls,’ a 19-year-old kid going in there and trying to fire cancer researchers and scientists and teachers and agricultural specialists? It's appalling.”.
Coristine was reportedly fired last year from an internship after he leaked information to a rival firm. Begala, who appeared on CNN alongside Republican strategist Brad Todd, said earlier in the segment that he agreed with DOGE’s mission to cut federal spending, but not the way Musk team is going about it. “I have a pro tip for President Trump: If you want to reduce the federal workforce, maybe a good idea, try going the constitutional route,” Begala said.
The former adviser said that the Clinton administration reduced the federal workforce by passing the Workforce Restructuring Act of 1994 in the Senate, which he said resulted in the lowest headcount of “any president since Eisenhower.”. And “we still took care of special needs kids and our veterans and created 30 million new jobs,” Begala said. “So you can do this, but you've got to follow the Constitution.”.
Bloomberg reported Coristine was previously fired from a cybersecurity internship after being accused of leaking company secrets to a competitor, though he claimed to have "never exploited it.”. An unidentified federal worker claimed at a recent town hall meeting in Leesburg, Virginia that seasoned federal workers have been forced to justify their jobs in 15- minute sessions with “19-, 20- and 21-year-old” Doge staffers with little or no work experience of their own.
