They voted for Donald Trump for president and for a change in the direction of the federal government. But this wasn’t the kind of change they had in mind.

Laid off by the administration in recent days from their U.S. government jobs, the Trump voters expressed dismay at what they said has been an unfocused, counterproductive and callous slashing of the federal workforce.

Rather than advancing the efficiency President Trump has said he desires, the fired workers said taxpayers will be losing important services that, for example, helped military veterans cope with financial hardships, searched for drought- and pest-tolerant crops and assured that medical providers got Medicare reimbursements.

Some of the workers are appealing to get their jobs back, while others said they are not sure what to do — deeply discouraged that their attempts at public service appeared to be spurned by the new president and some of the public.

“I was thinking that there would be changes,” said a Department of Agriculture researcher in the mid-Atlantic region who studies drought- and pest-resistant crops. “But instead of being focused, this is just going completely off the rails, chopping and slicing up parts of the government that are protecting Americans.”

The worker — who asked to remain anonymous to increase his chances of regaining his job — said he twice voted for Trump and was disturbed at how much authority over government reductions the president had turned over to his chief cost-cutter, Elon Musk.

“They are just in this shock-and-awe mode, with no concern about all the damage that is being done,” the employee said. He had been let go, despite more than a decade at USDA, because a shift to a new job position technically made him a probationary employee, subject to removal. “No one is asking how they are going to put all this, to put Humpty-Dumpty, back together again,” he said.

Trump and Musk and their supporters have argued that deeply entrenched government workers have, in many cases, been doing more harm than good. They say that only bold action will help reform the bureaucracy and bring about lasting change.

The Trump administration earlier reported that more than 75,000 federal workers had accepted a buyout offer — agreeing to leave immediately but get paid through September. An independent tracking service found that more than 31,000 other probationary workers had been targeted for cuts, including 6,700 at the Internal Revenue Service, 5,400 at the Defense Department, 5,200 at the Department of Health and Human Services and 3,500 at the U.S. Forest Service.

The Trump administration backed off of another job-cutting move — sending notice that the National Park Service would be able to hire 7,700 seasonal employees, after earlier sending notices that extra employees, who run parks in the high spring and summer seasons, would not be brought on board.

“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, an assistant press secretary for the White House.

Trump has signaled that, if anything, he would like even bolder reductions in government. “Elon is doing a great job, but I would like to see him get more aggressive,” he wrote Saturday on his Truth Social website.

He also posted an image of the cartoon character SpongeBob SquarePants that appeared to mock the plight of federal workers, who had been asked by Musk to enumerate their job accomplishments of the last week. The post implied the workers did little, other than “read some emails” and “cried about Trump” and “cried about Elon.”

Jocelyn Steward, a health insurance specialist with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said she thought it was the Trump administration that had lost the focus on the proper priorities.

Steward, who voted for Trump for president in three straight elections, said she believed job cuts would focus on early retirements and workers who underperformed. But she said she lost her job, helping military veterans and other understand their benefits, even though she was just in training and had met all her job requirements.

“Layoffs aren’t easy on anybody. But there has been zero compassion for anything or anyone in this process,” said Steward, who lives and works in Georgia. ”A lot of these federal workers are doing good work. Please just show a little empathy.”

Steward said she had consistently voted as a Democrat but felt that, as a Black woman, the party had taken her vote for granted. She voted for Trump, hoping for change, in 2016, 2020 and last year. But she now feels Musk has helped lead the president astray.

“I would love to see Trump remove him and put himself back in complete charge,” she said. “I believe it’s going to ruin his presidency.”

Steward said the Republicans had not focused on some of the issues they emphasized during the campaign, particularly inflation.

“There is still a problem with jobs, having enough higher paying jobs, and bringing down the price of goods and services that normal Americans have to deal with on a day-to-day basis,” Steward said. “There has been nothing done on that. And that’s where I am really upset, probably even more so than losing my job.”

U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Santa Clara) assembled a group of fired government workers Tuesday for a videoconference with reporters. A couple of the workers, who said they voted for Trump, expressed dismay at the scattershot dismissals of probationary workers.

“I agree with the general philosophy of improving government efficiency, but obviously disagree with the methodology,” Michael Graugnard, a Republican lawyer who lost his job at the Agriculture Department, wrote in a chat during the call. “My role was primarily ensuring government programs serving rural/agricultural communities were carried out legally and properly, and I cannot reconcile how blind-fire terminations impacting that kind of oversight work can further the overall goals of the administration.”

Graugnard said he did not regret voting for Trump and would not drop his affiliation with the Republican Party. But he felt that the termination of probationary employees did not “comport at all with the actual goals of the administration.”

Another Trump voter described how he had served with the military in Iraq and Afghanistan, suffering post-traumatic stress disorder, and recently found fulfillment at the Veterans Affairs Department, helping others work through financial difficulties.

“I mean, I’ll recover, but this, this was really a job that meant a lot to me,” said the worker, who identified himself only as Mike. “It was a way for me to give back, to help veterans that are struggling, and that was something I felt that I did a very good job at.”

He said he had “proudly” voted for Trump. “But at this point, I mean obviously, I never would have expected things to go this far. I’m still in shock,” he added. “To say whether I regret that vote, I don’t want to go as far as to say that.”

Khanna said that he supported cutting waste but that the Trump firings had proceeded without “thought or planning” and had jettisoned some “top performers” who were “doing incredible work and getting incredible reviews.”

He asked Trump to reinstate the workers and to “have a rational process going forward.”

Trump administration officials said the probationary period of employment constitutes a continuing part of the job application process and workers should not consider it “an entitlement for permanent employment.”

The White House said it intended to “ensure the federal government operates at the highest possible standard to better serve the American people.”