Capitol Report
By State Representative, Leon D. Young
Leon D. Young
They come and for whatever reason they go. This has been the ongoing spectacle at the White House. Donald Trump’s White House is a more chaotic one than we’ve been used to. That’s not to say that every White House isn’t a chaotic one, but Trump’s is a cut above the rest. And one of the main reasons why the Trump White House has been branded as “total chaos” is the staggering number of departures that we’ve seen since his inauguration on Jan. 20, 2017. So how many people have left Trump’s White House since he began his tenure as president? A lot, is the official answer.
As of March 6, 2018, a grand total of 19 Trump White House officials have either resigned or been fired from their posts. Those that have departed vary greatly when it comes to their seniority levels, as well as how dramatic their exits were. But there have been some high-ranking officials that have left, which raises major red flags as to how stable this administration is.
Things have gotten so dysfunctional that you can expect a new person to announce that they are leaving the White House pretty much every day at this point. When these departures first started happening they came as a shock. But now that the media is used to these announcements, everyone is seemingly asking the same question — who will be next to go?
The answer to that question is up in the air at this point. But we do know everyone that has left, so here are a few of the most notable White House staff exits that we’ve seen to date. Here’s an abbreviated list of some of the high-profile departures:
• Gary Cohn was the president’s top economic advisor, but on March 6 he announced that he would be leaving the White House, making him the 19th Trump staffer to part ways with this administration. There wasn’t a specific reason given as to why this decision was made, but we know that it comes just days after Trump decided to announce new tariffs on steel and aluminum on March 1.
• Hope Hicks was the White House communications director and said on Feb. 28 that she would be leaving the White House. Her resignation was something of a shock considering that she has been one of Trump’s most loyal advisers and has been working with him since he was on the campaign trail. Her resignation came a day after Hicks gave an eight-hour testimony to special counsel Robert Mueller, who is leading the investigation in possible collusion between the Trump presidential campaign and Russia, in which she admitted to telling “white lies” for the president. That raised some eyebrows.
• Rob Porter was a high-ranking White House official who resigned on Feb. 7 following domestic abuse allegations made against him. Two former wives claimed the abuse in interviews with DailyMail. com, published on Feb. 6.
• Omarosa Manigault the former Apprentice star served as the director of communications for the White House’s Office of Public Liaison until she was reportedly ousted by Chief of Staff John Kelly in Dec. 2017. Omarosa went on to compete in Celebrity Big Brother, where she notoriously said that leaving the White House felt like she “got freed from a plantation.”
• Steve Bannon the former White House chief strategist severed ties with Trump’s administration on Aug. 18, 2017. Considering Bannon’s significant ideological background as the Executive Chairman of the controversial alt-right website Breitbart, this was a departure that virtually everyone was glad to see happen. According to The New York Times, tensions between Bannon and other prominent members of the White House prompted the decision for him to leave.
• Anthony Scaramucci, or “The Mooch” as people have called him, only served 10 days as communications director before he was fired by Trump on July 31, 2017. Perhaps the most ridiculous White House tenure in history, his departure came just hours after General John Kelly was sworn in as the new chief of staff.
• Sean Spicer resigned as White House press secretary on July 21, 2017. He was one of the more colorful members of Trump’s cabinet and will always famously and forever be known for his outlandish press briefings. Apparently, the tensions between Spicer and Trump is what led him to resign.
• James Comey the former FBI director was fired by Trump on May 9, 2017. Trump justified his decision by citing his mishandling of the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server. The decision was alarming, as Comey also happened to be leading an investigation into the Trump campaign’s possible collusion with Russia during the 2016 presidential election.
• Michael Flynn resigned as national security adviser on Feb. 14, 2017, the first major departure that we saw from Trump’s administration. The resignation came after he reportedly lied about his contacts with Russian officials to Vice President Mike Pence. Flynn has since pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI, with the news of his plea breaking on Dec. 1, 2017 following his indictment by special counsel Robert Mueller.
According to this delusional president, the energy in the White House is tremendous and the staff turnover is no big deal. Trump now alleges that “so many people want to come in [to the White House]. I have a choice of anybody. I can take any position in the White House and I’ll have a choice of the 10- top people.”
This, of course, is another blatant Trump lie. In truth, this is a White House that’s spinning out of control like a bad soap opera. It’s no wonder Trump and his administration can’t get its act together, as the country languishes further and relinquishes its leadership role on the global stage.