Jesse Watters Says DOGE Cuts Go Too Far In On-Air Plea

Fox News host Jesse Watters said Wednesday that people need to be more sensitive when it comes to discussing the mass federal layoffs by President Donald Trump’s nonofficial Department of Government Efficiency after he “finally found one person who got DOGE’d and it hit me in the heart.”

Speaking out on “The Five,” the conservative commentator ― who has advocated for the cuts and criticized Democrats for being too sensitive about them ― argued that there should be exceptions for some workers after hearing from one military veteran who was targeted by DOGE because he’s only a few months into his job.

“When you’re talking about DOGE’ing people, veterans should get priority,” he said. “You shouldn’t be in the same category as people that are doing DEI.”

Watters was referring to diversity, equity and inclusion workers who were given pink slips last month after Trump eliminated the federal government’s diversity and inclusion programs.

But probationary employees who have held federal jobs for less than a year are also being indiscriminately laid off. Their numbers are estimated as being in the hundreds of thousands.

Workers affected by the layoffs are in departments like Health and Human Services, Defense, Veterans Affairs, Education, Energy, Homeland Security, Agriculture, the Internal Revenue Service, National Park Service and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

“He texted me and said, ‘Jesse, this is not good. I’m upset. This is really sad,’” Watters said the veteran named Chris told him.

Watters went on to tell his co-host Harold Ford that they need to be more sensitive when it comes to discussing these layoffs going forward.

“We just need to be a little bit less callous with the way, Harold, we talk about DOGE’ing people. I want that to sink in,” he said, prompting Ford to accuse Watters of being a hypocrite.

“You’re arguing with yourself,” Ford retorted.

“I am not guilty of that!” Watters said.

Watters accused Democrats on Tuesday of being overly sensitive and upset about the layoffs while arguing that some of those being let go are being given cushy buyout packages and severance.

“Every department should have to justify themselves,” he said in another Fox News segment last week that defended DOGE’s job cuts.

“We are not picking on people. Every department is going to get DOGE’d,” he said. “We have to stop this insane spending.”