In the latest Trumper tale of woe, a disabled military veteran in Virginia is struggling with what he plans to do next to provide for his family after he was fired on Monday by DOGE, the make-believe “Department” Trump invented to reward Elon Musk for the $290 million he spent electing him.

The unnamed (by his request over fears of retaliation) man has been a disabled veteran for 13 years and an information technology technician with FEMA for two years. He was unceremoniously fired by email.

The message, which came from Acting FEMA Administrator Cameron Hamilton, was featured in a report from Washington, D.C. news station WTOP:

The Agency finds, based on your performance, that you have not demonstrated that your further employment at the Agency would be in the public interest. For this reason, the Agency informs you that the Agency is removing you from your position,” the email said. “Until the probationary period has been completed,” a probationer has “the burden to demonstrate why it is in the public interest for the Government to finalize an appointment to the civil service for this particular individual.”

The other reason the man didn’t want his name used was because he will likely file an appeal to the Merit Systems Protection Board. The basis of that appeal seems pretty solid — he was not in a probationary term. He had already been upgraded, due to his longevity at the agency, to “career conditional,” which is past the probationary period.

In one more year, he’d have qualified for “career” status. But that’s not all. He got stellar performance reviews, and has veteran and disabled status, although those last two considerations have been deprioritized by the administration as part of their anti-DEI moves.

“I was all in the range of fours, which means exceeding expectations,” the man said.

Indeed, WTOP actually physically saw the man’s performance reviews, and they were just under the absolute highest marks possible. His reviewers described him as a “leader” and said he “demonstrated professionalism” in core competencies. They said he “performed very well and is a valuable member of the group.”

Under Department of Homeland Security rankings, his performance reviews netted him marks just below “Achieved Excellence,” which is the best possible review you can have.

If that makes it seem like DOGE is just sending out form letters to huge swaths of federal employees in agencies that Donald Trump doesn’t like for political reasons, it’s probably because that’s exactly what’s happening. And not just at FEMA. You’ve undoubtedly already heard about the more than 300 employees at the Department of Energy who were likewise fired for “poor performance,” only for the administration to be informed they were integral to our nuclear program.

I’m not even sure that Donald Trump knew that the Department of Energy dealt with the US’s nuclear program. That’s hilarious, since way back in his first term, the guy he picked to run it, former Texas Governor Rick Perry, also didn’t know that, and had called for the Department to be abolished entirely.

But the man in Virginia is the one hurting now. I’m not sure how much sympathy I have for him, after reading WTOP’s account of what he and his wife said — that they supported Trump, but thought they would be safe from massive cuts that hurt other families across the country.

“I voted for Donald Trump. But this is not what I was expecting,” the man said. “We didn’t think they were going to take a chainsaw to a silk rug.” His wife chimed in with her belief that his 13 years of military service in the Navy and Air Force Reserves, with an honorable discharge as an E-4, would have offered him more protection against DOGE cuts.

“I recognize there are a lot of cuts that need to be made, but this is not the one that you think will happen to your family,” she said. “I encouraged him to take the job there, because he loved working for the agency, and I think it has a good mission.”

Unfortunately, Donald Trump doesn’t agree. In his announcement of plans to cut FEMA, he spouted disinformation about FEMA being politically motivated, and spread lies about them spending federal money on undocumented immigrants specifically.

Mostly, Trump hates FEMA because the California wildfire event is poised to be the most expensive recovery in history, and Trump hates giving federal aid to any state that didn’t vote for him in the presidential election.

In the end, it doesn’t even sound like the anonymous man is that mad at the president or Elon Musk. “Employees need to make sure that their records are up to date and correct,” he said. “Make sure you are keeping copies of all your personal files, awards and all of that.”

Oh, and don’t expect to fall back on the fact that you voted for the guy who’s doing the stuff you don’t like. He didn’t care about you before you checked that box for him in November.