These federal workers supported Trump. Guess what happened next
This is an occasional roundup of people who voted for Donald Trump and are shocked to find out no one is immune from the damage and pain he causes. Many are now grappling with the consequences of their choice as it affects them and their loved ones—and possibly regretting their vote.
Last fall, West Virginia voter Jennifer Piggott was a self-described “MAGA junkie,” proudly flying a Donald Trump flag outside her home in Parkersburg. Trump rewarded her loyalty by firing her and thousands of other government workers.
Speaking on CNN, she said, “I was a MAGA junkie.” And regarding Trump firing her, she added, “I cried. It’s scary, you know, it’s a really scary thing, and I was embarrassed.”
Now she regrets voting for him.
“To cut the knees out of the working-class Americans just doesn’t make sense to me,” she said. “I expected more from President Donald Trump.”
Having now spoken out against Trump, she’s now facing death threats by the MAGA faithful. After all, cults don’t take kindly to those who leave their fold. She told CNN her home has also been vandalized.
Yet my give-a-fuck reservoir is empty.
She voted for Trump three times. She voted for him in 2016, when his campaign ran on little more than blatant xenophobia. She did so again, in 2020, despite Trump suggesting people inject bleach to combat COVID-19 (among a billion other outrages). And she did so yet again, in 2024, despite … everything.
She seemingly was never “embarrassed” about any of that. In fact, she was happy with those votes. That is, until she lost her job. Suddenly, it was all about her. Other people being hurt? Hell yeah, sign her up! But her being hurt? How could Trump do such a thing?! She hates him now!
Like so many others, Trump voters only care about his destructive policies when it directly impacts them.
Why would Piggott think Trump would behave any differently? He and Elon Musk promised to cut trillions from the federal budget. What made her think her job at the Treasury Department’s Bureau of Fiscal Service was the magical unicorn job that would be spared those cuts?
That’s right—she didn’t think. She just assumed it was other people’s jobs that would be lost, and she would’ve cheered those on. She literally says that: “I expected that you would do what was right and cut waste and fraud and all of those things that you promised us before we elected you in office, but you’re not doing that—you’re creating a disaster and I don’t know what America is going to look like if this continues.”
She ain’t wrong. Trump is indeed breaking America, but not for the reasons she says. She’s crying about her own job. Me, I’m distraught that so many in this nation won’t think outside of themselves, and that people like Piggott would be perfectly happy if only she herself hadn’t suffered the consequences of her vote.
Same goes for Malia McCool, who wrote an op-ed in the Hartford Courant crying about losing her job despite years of worshipping Education Secretary Linda McMahon.
I am a Connecticut native and a lifelong Republican. As far back as middle school, I publicly championed conservative values like self-determination and self-reliance.As a teenager, I vividly remember vocalizing my support for Education Secretary Linda McMahon in a Social Studies class project during her 2010 Senate run. I was adamant on proving that the youth of America wanted a conservative future.
And yet, in a cruel and ironic twist, last month Secretary McMahon fired me from the U.S. Department of Education as part of the broader Trump agenda to root out civil servants who he perceives are part of the “deep state.”
It’s not all that ironic, actually. If you are part of the party of small government, why would you think your government job would be safe? It’s downright idiotic.
“Stopping waste would involve scrutinizing the contractors that dictate the operations of nearly every public-facing government agency, including the IRS, Veterans Affairs, and FEMA,” she wrote. “Instead, Trump has turned the federal government into Elon Musk’s personal piggy bank and treats the contractors as if they are the constituents. Stopping fraud means offering American students a safe, low-cost pathway to higher education. Instead, Trump is making student loans cost more by blocking income-driven repayment plans.”
Why would she think a grifter like Trump or his boss, Elon Musk, would care about her? Why would they care about affordable student loans? And given that she works for the Department of Education, didn’t she see ALL THE TIMES Trump talked about eliminating it? For example, at a September rally in Wisconsin, he said, “I say it all the time, I’m dying to get back to do this. We will ultimately eliminate the federal Department of Education.”
Malia McCool, he was talking about you. Congrats, you voted to end your own job.
But don’t worry, she’s still a good conservative. It’s just that Trump and Musk are doing conservatism wrong, see? She’ll be happy to vote for the next fool who promises to hurt the right people, just not her.