DOGE job cuts bring pain to Trump heartland
PARKERSBURG, WEST VIRGINIA—Jennifer Piggott proudly hung a red-and-blue Donald Trump campaign flag outside her one-story home during the November election race. Now, after she was abruptly fired from her civil service job, her days of supporting the President are over.
Piggott is among more than 125 people dismissed in February from the Treasury Department’s Bureau of Fiscal Service (BFS) in Parkersburg, West Virginia, unsettling a community that voted overwhelmingly for Republican President Trump.
“Nobody that I’ve talked to understood the devastation that having this administration in office would do to our lives,” Piggott, 47, told Reuters in an interview, saying she would not have supported Trump if she knew then what she knows now.
“As much as I think that President Trump is doing wonderful things for the country in some regards, I don’t understand this at all,” she said.
Piggott worked at the BFS for five years and had recently been promoted. That promotion made her a target as the Trump administration began firing thousands of probationary federal workers—a group that includes new hires but also existing workers moving from one internal position to another.
Renunciation
The renunciation of allegiance to Trump by Piggott, a churchgoing conservative and three-time Trump voter, comes as political analysts are parsing early signs of a possible backlash in Republican strongholds where the government-slashing efforts of the President and his cost-cutting czar Elon Musk are beginning to be felt.
A White House spokesperson told Reuters that Trump had been given a popular mandate to overhaul the federal government to combat waste, fraud and abuse. Trump edged out his opponent, Democratic former Vice President Kamala Harris, by 1.5 percentage points in the November contest.
“The personal financial situation of every American is top of mind for the President, which is why he’s working to cut regulations, reshore jobs, lower taxes and make government more efficient,” Harrison Fields added.
The Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) did not respond to requests for comment.
Spokespeople for Riley Moore, who represents Parkersburg in the House of Representatives, and Sen. Jim Justice did not respond to requests for comment. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito told Reuters that while she understands the concerns some have about the DOGE cuts, she supports the Trump administration’s efforts to “rightsize” government.
Trump spoke at length about eliminating unnecessary programs during his address to Congress on Tuesday but made no mention of the mass government firings that have roiled the country. So far, 100,000 workers have been fired or taken a buyout.
Attitudes unchanged
Reuters/Ipsos polling shows Americans’ attitudes toward Trump are so far essentially unchanged since he began firing federal workers in February. As of March 4, his approval rating was holding steady at 44 percent.
West Virginia is also strong Trump country. He won the state in November with 70 percent of the vote, among his biggest victories.
Still, the economic impact of the mass dismissals across America may not be felt immediately.
A handful of Republican voters who lost their federal jobs joined Democrats for a rally of more than 100 people protesting the cuts near the two BFS office buildings in Parkersburg last week, cheering on a local union leader as he criticized Trump and Musk while standing next to a large “Fat Cat” balloon.
Support for Trump’s shrinking of government can, however, be heard in places around Parkersburg—a middle-aged couple singing DOGE’s praises over breakfast at a local diner.
In interviews with three dozen workers, business owners and politicians in Parkersburg nearly all said Trump’s focus on cutting government spending was a worthy goal.
