Jesse Watters begged Trump to spare his veteran friend from federal workforce firings. Now he's back to defending mass firings.

Watters urged his colleagues to be “less callous" discussing mass layoffs. Within days, he argued that the workers being laid off “either have a winning attitude, or the attitude of a loser."

Written by Helena Hind

Published

Fox News’ Jesse Watters has rejoined the chorus of right-wing media figures praising the Trump administration for gutting the federal workforce after displaying a rare moment of compassion on-air, pleading for his veteran friend to be spared from the purge of probationary employees. 

After arguing last week that his colleagues should be “less callous” when discussing federal layoffs, Watters spent every following day defending mass firings as “basic arithmetic” and calling civil servants “entitled” with “the attitude of a loser.” 

  • Jesse Watters complained that his friend, a veteran and probationary federal employee, was at risk of getting fired

    During the February 19 edition of The Five, Watters mentioned his frustration with the likelihood that his friend, a 20-year military veteran, would be swept up in Trump’s mass purge of federal probationary employees — recent hires with fewer protections than more senior employees and can be fired at-will.

    From the February 19, 2025, edition of Fox News' The Five

    JESSE WATTERS (CO-HOST): Let me tell you a story about Chris. Chris was a guy I met at a shooting event in New Jersey last year.

    ...

    He was a 20-year veteran of the US military. He was one of these guys in one of these elite units. Killed a lot of bad guys, put his life on the line. And now, he punched out after 20 years, and working for the Pentagon. And he's only been there a few months, so he’s probationary, and he just found out he's probably going to get laid off. He's going to get DOGE’d. And he texted me and he said, “Jesse, you know, this isn’t good. I’m upset. This is really sad.” And this guy’s not a DEI consultant. This guy’s not a climate consultant. This guy is a veteran. 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 and put your life on the line for this country, you shouldn’t be in the same category as people that are doing DEI. 

    Now, Harold and his ilk like to talk about the slash and burn corporate ethos. We just need to be a little bit less callous with the way, Harold, we talk about DOGE-ing people. Okay? I just want that to sink in. 

    HAROLD FORD JR. (CO-HOST): You’re arguing with yourself!

    WATTERS: I am not guilty of that. I finally found one person I knew that got DOGE’d and it hit me in the heart.

    “This guy is a veteran. So when you're talking about DOGE-ing people, veterans should get priority,” Watters implored. “We just need to be a little bit less callous with the way, Harold, we talk about DOGE-ing people. … I finally found one person I knew that got DOGE’d and it hit me in the heart.”

    Mass government layoffs disproportionately target veterans. According to the National Federation of Federal Employees union, the federal government is the single largest employer of veterans in the United States, who make up roughly 30% of the federal workforce. As the union warned in November 2024, “an estimated 481,950 veterans will be laid off” if the Trump administration follows through on its proposed 75% cut to the federal workforce. 

  • Watters has disparaged federal employees and celebrated mass firings every day since his short-lived epiphany

    Watters’ compassion did not last long. The next day, the Fox host justified gutting the federal workforce on his eponymous prime-time show by comparing it to mass layoffs in the private sector. 

    From the February 20, 2025, edition of Fox News' Jesse Watters Primetime

    “Americans are getting laid off all the time in the private sector,” Watters pointed out. “Mass layoffs. The Washington Post just laid off 4% of its workforce. Are fired writers being interviewed on 60 Minutes? No. Southwest Airlines just laid off 15% of its workforce. That's, like, the one airline that hasn't crashed. What's the difference?” 

    Watters continued to double down in the following days, claiming on February 21 that “these layoffs aren’t personal. They’re not even really political. It’s basic arithmetic.” The following Monday, he repeatedly argued that federal workers who “think you’re entitled to your job” require an “attitude adjustment.” “You either have a winning attitude, or the attitude of a loser,” Watters chastised. 

    On February 25, he characterized federal employees refusing to name five of their accomplishments as lazy or basically nonexistent, then played a clip of a TikToker claiming that “our government is filled with the most incompetent and most lazy people and an occasional hard worker.” The next day, on The Five, Watters defended firing national park rangers.

    Watters also echoed his colleagues like Sean Hannity, who last week told a caller on his radio show pleading for veterans’ jobs to be spared, “There will be other opportunities.”