Fired in Trump's chaotic purge, an Army vet says he's never felt more betrayed
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
It's been more than two weeks since Mike Macans learned — for the first time — that the Small Business Administration was firing him from his job as a disaster recovery coordinator based in Anchorage, Alaska.
Still, the government hasn't sent him the documents he needs to claim unemployment. He's gotten no official word on when his family's health insurance will be cut off.
"They locked me out of all my systems," says Macans. "The only place I've gotten any help is online — on frickin' Reddit."
The Trump administration has fired tens of thousands of federal workers over the past two weeks as part of a seemingly indiscriminate purge of probationary employees, typically those in their first or second year on the job.
The mass firings have been marked by so much chaos and sloppiness that some agencies have recalled employees that they terminated days or even hours earlier.
Labor unions have asked a federal court in San Francisco to order the government to stop the firings and rescind the terminations that have already occurred. Attorneys in Washington, D.C., have filed a classwide complaint , asking the Office of Special Counsel to intervene.
Meanwhile, anger among the fired is on the rise.
"Don't abandon and villainize the very people that have served this country and work to bring services to our citizens," says Macans.
One piece of a broader strategy
The terminations are just one part of the Trump administration's broad effort to slash the federal workforce of 2.3 million people. In late January came an ultimatum to federal employees: Resign from your jobs with pay and benefits through September, or risk being laid off. It has put thousands across government on administrative leave , unable to do their work.
And this past weekend, billionaire Elon Musk — a special adviser to Trump — issued another ultimatum to remaining employees .
In a post on X, formerly Twitter, Musk suggested that workers could lose their jobs if they didn't respond to an email blast from the Office of Personnel Management asking for a list of five things they did in the past week. With the legality of the ask in doubt, some agency leaders have told their employees not to respond.
Now jobless, Macans' top concern is health insurance. His wife, a cancer survivor, needs costly medications to keep her autoimmune disorder under control. The couple have a 5-month-old and a toddler.
"Just the disregard for the impact that this has, on not only the employee but his whole family, is astounding," says Lara Macans, his wife.
A perfect fit for the job
Macans' job with the Small Business Administration was his second stint serving the country. His first was as an airborne infantryman with the U.S. Army, stationed at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson outside Anchorage.
After five years in the Army, he took a job in security on Alaska's North Slope followed by a role in emergency management with the state government, a job that made him feel like he could really make a difference.
"Alaska has every possible disaster threat you could think of, from volcanoes to hurricane to tsunami, earthquake, fire, flood — you name it," he says.
Macans' job involved helping communities navigate state and federal grants to repair roads, bridges, buildings, dams, seawalls and other infrastructure. He quickly built a network in the disaster recovery space, including with people at FEMA and the Small Business Administration.
Then last August came an opportunity to fill a brand new position with the Small Business Administration. Macans was hired as recovery coordinator for Region 10, covering Alaska, Washington, Oregon and Idaho.
He describes it as "the phone-a-friend" for the region. He provided guidance after the initial shock of a disaster had passed, helping businesses build resilience and address other long-term needs.
His deep knowledge of Alaska's wild weather and terrain, as well as its diverse population, made him a perfect fit for the job.
"We had talked like — this is going to be your career. You're going to retire from this job," says Lara Macans. "That was really exciting."
Fired, unfired and fired again
Macans was first informed he was being terminated on Feb. 7. An email arrived in his inbox late that Friday afternoon with the subject line "Notification – Termination of Probationary Period."
An attached letter told him: "The Agency finds that that [sic] you are not fit for continued employment because your ability, knowledge and skills do not fit the Agency's current needs, and your performance has not been adequate to justify further employment at the Agency."
It gave him a termination date of Feb. 21.
Like so many federal employees who've been fired this month , Macans was stunned.
In his six months on the job, he'd had no complaints about his performance. His first evaluation, posted the following week, described him as "an exceptional asset to the Agency," someone who is "always up for a new challenge, completes work to a high standard, and proactively generates opportunities to build and maintain relationships that facilitate the delivery of SBA's disaster loan program."
When Lara, a part-time nurse, came home from her job that afternoon, she knew immediately something was wrong.
"That's when he dropped the bomb," she says. "I couldn't even believe it."
It was a bad weekend. Macans was angry. He couldn't sleep.
"You turn off the lights and try to go to sleep, and you're just left alone with your thoughts," he says. "There's nothing to do but stew."
Then on Monday came another surprise. A colleague told him something was up. More guidance was coming about the termination letters sent Friday.
"Sure enough, an hour or two later, we got that email that said it was sent in error, and as such, 'It is not currently in effect,'" Macans says. "Well, what does that mean?"
He wasn't too reassured. The following afternoon, he received a third notification, and then a fourth, confirming that he was, in fact, being terminated, effective close of business that same day, Feb. 11. The two letters were nearly identical.
"That is literally the last official correspondence regarding my employment status that I received from the SBA," he says. "There's absolutely no follow up."
Fortunately, Macans had gotten a head start on saving his employment files.
"Because they fired me and then unfired me, I immediately started forwarding everything I could to my personal email," he says.
He has appealed his termination to the Merit Systems Protection Board, the body set up to handle labor disputes within the federal workforce, though he's not optimistic he'll get his job back.
"Never felt more betrayed"
Meanwhile, Macans says his trust in government is shattered.
"I've never felt more betrayed in my entire life," he says.
He's sympathetic to the view that there should be changes to how government bureaucracy works and how money is spent.
"I think those are very fair criticisms of the government," he says. "I am trying to be part of the solution."
For now though, he has started looking for a new job.
"You know, family of four. We need a paycheck coming in, and we need health care," he says. "When it really comes down to it, I'll do whatever I need to do for them."
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In other 'news', DOGE has become the face of epic incompetence.
Just another sob story the leftist media is so famous for.
If he wasn't fired for cause, maybe he spent to much time preparing for Hurricanes in Alaska? he should be fired for cause now.
I wonder how many Federal laws he violated here?
Oh darn, did Macans make the oft error in the use of hurricane instead of cyclone 3 of which crashed into Alaska 2024-25? Quaint bit of cherry-picking George.
People who never lived there or know anything about it make assumptions. Bad assumptions.
Words have meanings, If he is preparing for Hurricanes he is a fucking Moron who needs to be fired.
Alaska was out of Sharpies ... some fool in the WH cornered the market.
Hopefully that sounded funnier in your head.
Although it sucks to lose a job through =no fault of their ow (maybe), this is nothing more than a sob story the left wing media is trying to push to act like these poor, poor veterans are the only ones going through. It is by far not.
I did 20 years in the Navy. Unfortunately, I had a job that was not transferrable to the civilian world, so I piddled in retail for ten years, up until 2015.
I decided to go into Occupational Therapy after watching therapists work with patients in the SNF my wife worked at the time.
I worked for my first rehab facility for three years until I was unceremoniously called into the director's office, where I was told I was being laid off due to changes in how Medicare required patients to be treated, ie, more group therapy and less individual sessions, therefore, not as many therapists were needed. I was the last to be hired so I got the boot.
It took me 4 months to get another job, not because no one wanted to hire me, but because all the rehab facilities in the country essentially did the same thing and it took that long before a therapist was needed, and even then it was only as needed, not full or part time.
These sob stories mean very little to the public work force because millions of them have gone through similar circumstances, even veterans
The only ones these stories touch are the triggered that live on blaming Trump for something...anything.
Leftists have no room to bitch about this.
I remember a short 4 years ago when Biden cancelled the Keystone pipeline.
Leftists told them to stop bitching and learn how to code.
Now it is their turn to learn code....and not on the taxpayer's dime.
This same sad story is being repeated by tens of thousands of necessary public sector workers, especially by veterans who voted for Trump...
How do you know they are necessary?
"especially by veterans who voted for Trump."
In the words of leftists to those that lost their jobs when dementia Jow cancelled the Keystone pipeline. "Learn how to code".
I saw a plea from some three time Trump supporter openly begging Trump for his job back. Groveling and worshipping Trump simultaneously isn’t a bad strategy, since that is fuel for Trump’s ego. I won’t be surprised if we see a follow up thank you from this Trumptard for getting his job back. Trump would do it just for the liberal outrage alone.
In this case, it seems, necessity is in the eyes of the "afflicted". Your posit falls short...........way short of reality.
Side note: I love it when GovCo "employees (ours actually in reality) face the same daily uncertainty that the rest of us do.
what's Alaska going to do when the hurricane hits LOL,
Break open the last case of paper towels from FEMA 2.0.
Former Trump White House chief of staff John Kelly is blasting his onetime boss over disparaging remarks he says the then-president repeatedly made about service members and veterans and for what he called Trump's untruthfulness about his positions on various groups as well as on abortion.
In a statement to CNN published Monday, Kelly delivered a scathing criticism of former President Donald Trump while confirming reporting in The Atlantic in 2020 that detailed the comments he made during his presidency.
"A person that thinks those who defend their country in uniform, or are shot down or seriously wounded in combat, or spend years being tortured as POWs are all ‘suckers’ because ‘there is nothing in it for them,'" Kelly said of Trump. "A person that did not want to be seen in the presence of military amputees because ‘it doesn’t look good for me.’ A person who demonstrated open contempt for a Gold Star family — for all Gold Star families — on TV during the 2016 campaign, and rants that our most precious heroes who gave their lives in America’s defense are ‘losers’ and wouldn’t visit their graves in France.”
The Atlantic reported that Trump privately made damning statements against U.S. service members and veterans, such as the late Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who had been a Vietnam prisoner of war, and former President George H.W. Bush, who was shot down as a Navy pilot in World War II. During a visit to France in 2018 for the centennial anniversary of the end of World War I, Trump also reportedly called Marines who died at Belleau Wood “suckers” and fallen soldiers at Aisne-Marne American Cemetery “losers.”
Kelly also slammed Trump as someone "who is not truthful regarding his position on the protection of unborn life, on women, on minorities, on evangelical Christians, on Jews, on working men and women. A person that has no idea what America stands for and has no idea what America is all about."
He continued, “A person who cavalierly suggests that a selfless warrior who has served his country for 40 years in peacetime and war should lose his life for treason — in expectation that someone will take action,” an apparent reference to Trump's recent statements about Army Gen. Mark Milley , who just retired as the chairman of the Joints Chief of Staff. “A person who admires autocrats and murderous dictators. A person that has nothing but contempt for our democratic institutions, our Constitution, and the rule of law.”
“There is nothing more that can be said,” Kelly added. “God help us.”
Reached for comment by NBC News, Steven Cheung, Trump campaign spokesperson, said: "John Kelly has totally clowned himself with these debunked stories he’s made up because he didn’t serve his President well while working as Chief of Staff."
Kelly, a retired four-star Marine general, left as Trump's chief of staff in 2018 . His tenure had been marred by conflict, with reports at the time describing disagreements between Kelly, Trump and West Wing staff.
Kelly found himself in the crosshairs of his former boss in 2020, when Kelly came to the defense of then-Army Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, who had reported his concerns about Trump’s July 2019 call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. During the phone call, Trump asked Zelenskyy to investigate Joe Biden, his son Hunter and Democrats. The phone call led to Trump’s first impeachment by the House, but the Senate later acquitted Trump on two charges, of abusing his power and obstructing Congress.
During Kelly’s time in the Trump White House, speculation grew that he was exhausted and frustrated with his role as well as with Trump’s mercurial temperament.
Kelly first served in the Trump administration as secretary of Homeland Security. Trump appointed him as chief of staff in July 2017 after his predecessor, Reince Priebus, was ousted after six months on the job.