Fox News’ Jesse Watters Makes Plea to Trump Over Pal Who Is Victim of Musk’s DOGE Job Cuts

Martin Holmes February 20, 2025, 7:41 am

Fox News host Jesse Watters has spoken out about Elon Musk‘s DOGE cuts after the recent federal employee layoffs affected one of his military veteran friends.

Watters made an on-air plea to President Donald Trump on Wednesday’s (February 19) episode of The Five, urging him to be “less callous” when it comes to making these cuts. This came after a report revealed that the Pentagon had drawn up a list of probationary employees who could be targeted.

“Let me tell you a story about Chris. Chris was a guy I met at a shooting event in New Jersey,” Watters began, per Mediaite, referring to a veteran of 20 years who found out this week that his job at the Pentagon is set to be terminated as part of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) initiatives.

Watters continued, “A 20-year veteran of the U.S. Military, one of the guys who has killed a lot of bad guys. Put his life on the line. He punched out after 20 years of working for the Pentagon. And he’s only been there a few months, so his probationary period, he just found out he’s probably going to get laid off. He’s going to get DOGE’d.”

The host went on to say he received a text from his friend, saying, “Jesse, this is not good. I’m really sad. I’m upset.”

Jesse Watters says he has a friend who is a veteran who is afraid they are going to fired because they are probationary employee at the Pentagon: Veterans should get priority. Because if you’re going to go out there and kill enemies, put your life on the line, you should not be… pic.twitter.com/pIiPAHhTcM

— Acyn (@Acyn) February 19, 2025

“This guy is not a DEI consultant. He is not a climate consultant. This guy is a veteran,” Watters added. “So when you’re talking about DOGE-ing people, veterans should get priority. Because if you’re going to go out there and kill enemies, put your life on the line, you should not be in the same category as people that are doing DEI.”

Speaking to his The Five co-host Harold Ford Jr., Watters said, “Now, Harold and his ilk, they like to talk about the slash and burn corporate ethos – he just needs to be a little bit less callous with the way, Harold, we talk about DOGE-ing people. I want that to sink in.”

When Ford Jr. told Watters he was “arguing with himself,” Watters hit back, “No! I am not guilty of that. I finally found one person I knew who got DOGE’d, and it hit me in the heart.”

“Talking about big-ticket items, right? Let’s talk about those,” he concluded. “The Pentagon, you have a weapons program in some influential congressman’s district, it is showing no promise in the theater of war. You cut that! And that’s big savings! So, besides saving my friend, Chris, we want bigger dividend DOGE check rebates. I don’t want to pay down the debt, put it back into the economy.”

Viewers took to social media to call out Watters, with one X user writing, “Everything is fine….until it affects you.”

“As per the usual, the GOPA only cares about something when it comes close to home,” said another.