I could not find specific data on chainsaw ownership per capita in West Virginia, but I have to believe it is very high. We have a significant forestry industry, where chainsaws are essential tools, and we are a rural state where folks have chainsaws for cutting firewood, clearing heavy brush and cutting down old trees.
We know that chainsaws are powerful and practical tools. But now we are finding out—here and elsewhere—what happens when that kind of power is used on people. Elon Musk wielding a chainsaw at the recent CPAC meeting was a metaphor for how he is cutting government jobs.
The most recent example in West Virginia came at the Bureau of Fiscal Services in Parkersburg, where at least 80 and perhaps as many as 200 good paying federal jobs are being eliminated through actions by DOGE, Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency.
“President Trump and his administration are delivering on the American people’s mandate to eliminate wasteful spending and make federal agencies more efficient, which includes removing probationary employees who are not mission critical,” said Anna Kelly, White House assistant press secretary.
Wood County is a deeply red county in a deeply red state. Donald Trump received 71 percent of the vote in the last election. So, what happens when the person the vast majority of voters supported starts doing what he said he was going to do?
Scot Heckert is a member of the West Virginia House of Delegates representing Wood County. He is a Republican, but he has been taken aback by the federal job cuts in his community.
“Small business will suffer, unemployment and the need for social services will increase. The very states that voted for this administration are the states being hit the hardest,” Heckert told our Brad McElhinny. “Meanwhile, [the people] making these ‘chainsaw slashing’ decisions from their gold adorned offices, as well as those in Congress who continue to support them, are laughing all the way to the bank.”
U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito was more nuanced when she was asked about the layoffs on MetroNews Talkline earlier this week.
“I can tell you, I’m concerned anytime we have job loss in and around whatever part of our state, but I also know that the president ran on making this government more efficient, more accountable, and stretching the dollars farther than we have before,” she said.
U.S. Senator Jim Justice spent his eight years as governor saying he was looking out for “Toby and Edith,” the fictional West Virginians who needed his help meeting their basic needs. He also spoke out strongly against layoffs and tried to intervene to prevent job losses.
As McElhinny reported, there are more than 17,000 federal jobs at agencies or offices in West Virginia, while as many as 33,000 residents in the state work at federal agencies. What will Justice’s position be as Musk’s DOGE cuts continue to impact the Tobys and Ediths of our state?
It is reasonable to argue that the federal government is too big, with too many employees—about three million not counting active duty military. The Department of Veterans Affairs alone employs 487,000 individuals. But it is one thing to cheer on swamp draining and rightsizing government, but quite another when the cuts actually occur in states and communities where good jobs are hard to come by.
West Virginians know how to use a chainsaw, and it is an essential piece of equipment for cutting wood. Now, well-meaning West Virginians and political leaders have to decide whether they support using a chainsaw to cut federal jobs in our state.