Jesse Watters from Fox News voiced disapproval towards Donald Trump for cutting his friend, a 20-year veteran, from Elon Musk’s Pentagon cuts in an effort to save money.
Recently, a report disclosed that the Pentagon had supplied the Trump government with a list of employees on probation who might be impacted by upcoming reductions in the government workforce.
During an episode of The Five, Watters criticized the administration’s strategy and shared the personal experience of his friend who was at risk of being included in the cost-cutting initiative known as ‘DOGE.’
‘Let me tell you a story about Chris,’ Watters said. ‘Chris was a guy I met at a shooting event in New Jersey.’
Panelist Harold Ford Jr interjected and asked: ‘Was Chris in the interview or another guy? Male or female?’
‘Let me finish,’ Watters mocked. ‘A 20-year veteran of the US 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.’
Watters said that his friend had texted him, distraught over the recent move to cut those like him.
‘He texted me and said, “Jesse, this is not good. I’m really sad. I’m upset.” This guy is not a DEI consultant. He is not a climate consultant. This guy is a veteran,’ Watters said.
‘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,’ Watters argued.
The host turned his attention back to his panel and jibed at Ford Jr that ‘Harold and his ilk, they like to talk about the slash and burn corporate ethos.’
‘He just need[s] to be a bit less callous with the way, Harold, we talk about DOGE-ing people. I want that to sink in,’ Watters continued.
‘You’re arguing with yourself!’ Ford Jr. exclaimed.
‘No! I am not guilty of that,’ Watters replied. ‘I finally found one person I knew who got DOGE’d, and it hit me in the heart.’
The host turned the conversation to where he believed the ‘big ticket items’ for cost-saving initiatives lie, that would spare the likes of his friend Chris.
‘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!’ he proclaimed.
‘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.’
Despite Watters’ objection, the Department of Government Efficiency claimed to have already saved taxpayers $55 billion in less than a month.
Musk has reportedly wanted to flaunt the staggering savings by floating the idea of ‘DOGE Dividends,’ which would grant a $5,000 payment to every America.
DOGE claimed the savings were found through a combination of detecting and deleting fraud, canceling contracts and leases, and selling assets.
Investment firm CEO James Fishback had an idea for how to make Americans aware of how much of their money was being saved.
‘President Trump and @ElonMusk should announce a “DOGE Dividend”—a tax refund check sent to every taxpayer, funded exclusively with a portion of the total savings delivered by DOGE,’ he wrote.
Musk replied, curious, but said that he ‘will check with the President.’
Fishback added: ‘American taxpayers deserve a ‘DOGE Dividend’: 20 percent the money that DOGE saves should be sent back to hard-working Americans as a tax refund check.’
‘It was their money in the first place! At $2 trillion in DOGE savings and 78 million tax-paying households, this is a $5,000 refund per household, with the remaining used to pay down the national debt. Elon Musk, let’s do this! This is how we rebuild trust in our government.’
DOGE – nicknamed the ‘nerd army’ – also ended grants, fired federal employees, changed some programs and saved money with regulatory reforms.
‘DOGE’s total estimated savings are $55 billion,’ read a message on the official doge.gov website, citing data since February 17.
It said users of the website could expect updates twice a week, promising additional information and improvements with time.
The savings were mostly made in the US Agency For International Development (USAID), the Department of Education, the Office of Personnel Management, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Department of Agriculture.
Savings listed on the website features millions of dollars in canceled contracts for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) training as well as ending subscriptions for Politico and other news organizations.
The cost saving initiatives are continuing to axe thousands of workers, as The Internal Revenue Service is expected to be firing 6,000 employees on Thursday, the New York Times reported.
The effort is expected to impact mostly recent hires in the IRS as the Trump administration has started to slash mostly probationary workers across a series of agencies who do not enjoy the same job protections as more seasoned colleagues.
It comes in the midst of tax filing season, which has sparked concerns about how it could impact Americans dealing with the IRS in the weeks and months to come.
Some Democrats and former IRS officials have warned cutting workers could lead to longer waits for Americans to get information and could potentially impact the wait times for receiving a tax refunds.
According to the messages reviewed by the New York Times, IRS managers started asking employees to report to the office in the coming days and to bring their government-issued equipment with them.
IRS employees had been holding their breath and waiting for the shoe to drop as Trump and Republican allies have targeted the agency even before DOGE started mass firings.
