Final November, Jennifer Piggott pulled the lever for Donald Trump a 3rd time. However the church-going conservative, the center of the president’s base, says she’s going to by no means do it once more.
Piggott was one among 125 individuals just lately fired from the U.S. Treasury Division’s Bureau of Fiscal Providers in Parkersburg, West Virginia, Reuters experiences. Practically 4 p.c of the state’s workforce is or was employed by the federal authorities. Solely two states, Virginia and Maryland, have a better proportion of federal staff.
So Elon Musk‘s unprecedented elimination of civil service jobs — about 30,000 staff have been fired by the Musk-led Division of Authorities Effectivity since mid-February — will impression West Virginia greater than most states, mentioned West Virginia College economics professor John Deskins.
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“If the federal layoffs occur, we stand to undergo a disproportionate share when these jobs disappear, when that revenue disappears, when that spending leaves the state financial system,” Deskins instructed Reuters.
And the job losses are simply getting began. One other spherical of cuts has been ordered in any respect federal businesses for March 13.
Which makes West Virginia an fascinating case examine. Few states turned out bigger margins for Trump; 70 p.c of its vote went to the president, and in three elections, he’s by no means obtained lower than 68 p.c of West Virginia’s vote.
Thus far, help for Trump’s agenda stays robust. Nationally, a Reuters ballot discovered the president’s approval score holding regular at 44 p.c.
“I’m so grateful that Trump is pushing via regardless of these unhappy tales,” wrote a feminine Trump supporter on X. “After all, it’s unhappy when somebody loses a job, however we MUST lower down the scale of presidency. It takes some severe cajones to do what he’s doing, and I certain as hell recognize it! He’s doing precisely what most of us who voted for him needed him to do.”
In West Virginia, the place Reuters just lately interviewed three dozen staff, enterprise homeowners, and politicians who reside in Parkersburg, practically all agreed that Trump’s give attention to reducing authorities spending was a worthy purpose.
“Slicing prices and waste and fraud …we love that large image,” mentioned Piggott, 47. “I really like that image. We had been enthusiastic about that as a result of it’s true.”
However voting for Trump once more – “voting for Elon Musk, primarily, to wreck individuals’s lives,” Piggott mentioned – is one thing she mentioned she simply can’t do.
Despite the fact that Trump loyalists have proposed a constitutional change permitting the president to have a 3rd time period, because it stands now, Trump can’t be re-elected president.
Piggott, who labored for the bureau for 5 years and was just lately promoted, mentioned most individuals assume authorities staff knew this was coming.
“However we didn’t,” she mentioned. “No person that I’ve talked to understands the devastation that having this administration in workplace would do to our lives.”
“As a lot as I feel that President Trump is doing great issues for the nation in some regards, I don’t perceive this in any respect,” she added.
Requested if she felt betrayed by the president, Piggott replied, “Completely, sure, I really feel somewhat bit betrayed.”
However Piggott shouldn’t anticipate to get a lot sympathy. Thus far, she’s obtained a chilly response from Trump opponents on-line who’ve seen the Reuters report.
“She voted for Trump as a result of clearly his insurance policies had been purported to have an effect on different individuals she doesn’t know or them over there, not her,” wrote one critic on X. “Play silly video games and win silly prizes. SMH.”
“They refused to pay attention and now they acquired what they deserved,” opined one other never-Trumper. “I wager you they’re gonna begin voting Democratic in 2026.”
