Jesse Watters was all for DOGE - until cuts impacted his friend: ‘Need to be a little bit less callous’

Watters suggested people should be more sympathetic toward some employees facing job cuts as a result of DOGE

Fox News host Jesse Watters implored people to be “a little bit less callous” when speaking about the people facing job cuts at the Department of Government Efficiency as he sympathized with a friend working at the Pentagon anticipating being laid off.

Watters, who previously championed Musk’s task of cutting the federal workforce, deviated from his usual rhetoric blindly backing DOGE during Wednesday’s episode of The Five, saying, “I finally found one person I knew who got DOGE’d and hit me in the heart.”

He asked his colleagues to “be a little bit less callous” when talking “about DOGE-ing people” because he knows someone who may lose their job.

Jesse Watters urged Elon Musk's DOGE to give veterans priority as the tech mogul continues to spearhead efforts to shrink the federal workforce (Fox News)

The Fox News host said a veteran he met last year, named Chris, started working for the Pentagon a few months ago and learned that probationary employees were among those on the chopping block for DOGE.

“He texted me and he said, ‘Hey Jesse, this isn’t good. I’m upset. This is really sad.’” Watters said.

“This guy’s not a [diversity, equity and inclusion] consultant, he’s not a climate consultant. This guy is a veteran. So when you’re talking about DOGE-ing people, veterans should get priority,” Watters added.

DOGE officials were at the Pentagon Tuesday to receive lists of probationary employees who could be at risk of being let go, according to the Associated Press. Non-uniformed personnel who are new to their jobs are among those first on the list of being axed.

Musk and his team seek to make drastic cuts to federal spending and identify what they believe are “waste, fraud and abuse” to make the government more efficient and help direct spending toward President Donald Trump’s agenda.

One method of doing so is going into federal agencies or departments and firing employees who do not align with Trump’s agenda – such as people who run DEI departments.

Many Trump allies have cheered on DOGE’s efforts, including Watters who, last week, called Musk a “corporate turnaround artist” and said he and Trump were “inspiring every American leader to set their standards sky-high.”

But after hearing from his Pentagon friend, Watters insinuated people should be more sympathetic when speaking about impacted employees.

The Fox News host then quickly pivoted back to cheering on DOGE, suggesting the team should make bigger cuts to programs in order to save more money