Donald Trump is in no way a feminist. He said it himself. But the president has often pointed to the fact that he has hired and promoted women to try to avoid criticism of his policies and personal conduct over the years.
During his second term, however, there is one characteristic common to most of those who have left the Trump administration.
In just a few months, half of its eight senior female officials resigned or were fired.. All were replaced by men. Several other women in his administration also left, voluntarily or involuntarily.
On Friday, Trump was forced to deny reports that he was considering replacing Susie Wiles, his White House chief of staff and the first woman to hold the position. “She’s going to be here for a long time,” he said.
Meanwhile, many top male officials, from Trump’s Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who repeatedly drew global condemnation, to widely ridiculed FBI Director Kash Patel, have survived intense scrutiny and repeated calls for their resignations. – and yet remain in office.
Katie Zacharia
The latest female victim is White House Press Secretary Katie Zacharia, who was fired on Friday just five days after taking office. After a difficult start to the mandate, triggered by a broad reaction criticized the White House’s first press At Tuesday’s briefing, she also faced questions about her legal qualifications after admitting she failed to pass the bar exam. The ensuing semantic battle over whether she’s a lawyer or not, or a lawyer, I put it in a pickle – even with the right-wing cable network Fox News.
Zacharia had succeeded Karoline Leavitt, who said in August that she had chosen to resign from her position after 20 months so she could spend more time with her young family.
Kristi Noem
In terms of firings, the first domino to fall was former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who was the face of Trump’s mass deportation campaign until her unceremonious firing on March 5. Her tenure has been marred by controversy, largely amid a national outcry over federal immigration enforcement operations that killed two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis (one of whom Noem called a “domestic terrorist,” without any evidence)., and coincided with a sharp decline in national support for Trump’s immigration agenda.
His suggestion during a March congressional hearing that Trump knew about his decision to approve a contract for a $220 million ad campaign to encourage immigrants to “self-deport” — which prominently featured Noem on horseback — reportedly left Trump “pissed” and appeared to be the straw that broke the camel’s back. General leadership failures under Noem have also come under scrutiny., and questions the influence of her adviser, Corey Lewandowski, who also left his post when she was ousted.
Noem was reappointed as special envoy to the so-called “Shield of the Americas” coalition and, after that agreement expired last month, now plays a vaguely defined advisory role. Markwayne Mullin succeeded him as DHS secretary.
Pam Bondi
Next came former attorney general and Trump loyalist Pam Bondi, who was forced out in April after a turbulent 14 months in which the president grew increasingly frustrated with his mishandling of the Justice Department’s long-awaited release of the Epstein files. The Epstein issue became a huge political liability for Trump and infuriated his Maga base, and he also felt that Bondi had not pursued his political enemies enough.
Bondi revealed a month after his ouster that he had been diagnosed with thyroid cancer. His deputy, Todd Blanche, took office in August.
It is worth noting that Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick came under public scrutiny after details were revealed regarding his past ties to Jeffrey Epstein and visits to his private island. On the other hand, the White House supported him after Democrats called for his resignation.
Lori Chavez-DeRemer
Also in April, former Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer resigned after an investigation by the Labor Department’s inspector general led to a series of allegations of misconduct, including having an affair with a subordinate and consuming alcohol on the job. She was replaced by Keith Sonderling.
Kash Patel was also allegedly drunk or absent from work.. He denied the allegations, and remains director of the FBI.
Tulsi Gabbard
A month later, in May, Tulsi Gabbard resigned as Trump’s national intelligence director.
While she officially cited her husband’s rare cancer diagnosis, Gabbard was reportedly forced to leave the country after a tumultuous stay during which she was largely sidelined as Trump launched attacks on Venezuela and Iran. She had already declared before Congress that Iran was not building a nuclear weapon.
Gabbard was replaced on an interim basis by Bill Pulte, a Trump loyalist with no prior intelligence experience, and ultimately by Jay Clayton.
Kimberly Guilfoyle
Earlier this week, the Trump administration asked longtime Trump ally Kimberly Guilfoyle to resign as U.S. ambassador to Greece after weeks of reports that she requested payment from a Trump donor in exchange for access to administration officials.
The only male senior official to have been somewhat punished by Trump since his return to office is Mike Waltz. The then-national security adviser was fired in May last year after he inadvertently added a reporter to a Signal group chat in which Hegseth disclosed secret war plans.
Waltz had been on the ice with Trump for some time, and the president was reportedly annoyed by Waltz’s hawkish stance toward Iran. Signalgate simply sealed its fate.
But he did not disappear into an obscure advisory role; Waltz was appointed to the post of United States Ambassador to the United Nations. Hegseth, meanwhile, was allowed to weather the controversy and – several controversies later, including allegations of war crimes – remains in office.
Democrats highlighted double standard that Trump appears to only fire women in his administration – even those who are ultra loyal to him, and decidedly less incompetent than some of their male colleagues.
“If you’re a man in the Trump administration, it seems like they’re rewarding bad behavior,” Democratic congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez observed in April.
“I wouldn’t say I’m a feminist,” Trump said in a 2018 interview. “I mean, I think that might be going too far. I’m for women. I’m for men. I’m for everyone.”
But not everyone can stick around.
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