President Trump has replaced one-third of his senior White House staff, including four Cabinet secretaries, since returning to office. It’s a remarkably stable pace compared to Mr. Trump’s first term.
It also puts him on par with other modern presidents.
Nearly a year and a half into Mr. Trump’s second term, senior staff departures, excluding Cabinet secretaries, stand at 34%, according to data compiled by the Brookings Institution.
During Mr. Trump’s first term, his turnover rate was 68% after his first two years. Not only did Mr. Trump forgo the rival power centers, the steady flow of staff shakeups, and the firing-by-tweet that characterized his first term, but his turnover is also the same as or lower than that of his recent predecessors.
After two years, President Biden’s turnover rate was 43%; President Obama was at 24%, President George W. Bush was at 33%, President Clinton was at 38%, President George H.W. Bush was at 35%, and President Reagan came in at a whopping 57% turnover rate, according to the Brookings Institution.
However, Mr. Trump is losing Cabinet secretaries at a record pace. In the past three months, Mr. Trump has fired Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Attorney General Pam Bondi, and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard resigned, citing her husband’s cancer. Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer resigned amid ongoing investigations and allegations of misconduct.
During his first term, Mr. Trump lost two Cabinet secretaries during his first year. No other president dating back to Mr. Reagan had a Cabinet member leave during their first year.
In fact, Mr. Trump’s four Cabinet secretary departures are more than Mr. Biden and George H. W. Bush had during their single term in office. It also exceeds the number of departures during Mr. Obama’s two terms and ties Mr. Clinton, who had four Cabinet officials leave during his eight years in the White House.
Presidential historian Craig Shirley dismisses the cabinet departures as an aberration because of a variety of circumstances, such as health issues that are affecting Ms. Gabbard’s family.
He said that the churn of non-cabinet-level officials is in line with other administrations, historically speaking.
“This is very, very typical. The first year and a half is always a shaking out period where people find their sea legs, people realize they don’t like the job for whatever reason,” Mr. Shirley said, noting that Mr. Reagan, President Eisenhower and President Nixon all had higher turnover rates during their first year.
The stability in Mr. Trump’s second term, he said, is somewhat surprising given the chaos of firings and resignations during the president’s first term.
“It’s his management style. He doesn’t want complacency,” Mr. Shirley said. “You want people on their toes, working hard. Resignations and firings have a twofold effect. It gets the offending person gone and sends a message to the people remaining to mind their Ps and Qs.”
Trump critics, including congressional Democrats, have capitalized on the fact that all of the Cabinet officials who have left the administration have been women and replaced, at least temporarily, by men. They’ve accused Mr. Trump of running a misogynistic administration.
“I see a theme. He will throw the incompetent women under the bus a lot faster than the incompetent men,” Rep. Jasmine Crockett, Texas Democrat, wrote on X.
Rep. Yassamin Ansari, Arizona Democrat, compared the four women who exited the administration to some of the male Cabinet members who’ve stumbled, but remained in the administration.
For example, FBI Director Kash Patel prematurely announced the arrest of the wrong suspect in the investigation of the murder of conservative activist Charlie Kirk and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth may have put U.S. service members at risk using the Signal messaging app.
Democrats have also called for the ousting of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, whom they accuse of lying about his contacts with deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Mr. Lutnick said he cut all ties with Epstein in 2005, but later admitted to vacationing with his family at Epstein’s private island in 2012.
“Noem and Bondi were both awful and committed egregious, impeachable offenses. But … it’s just the women getting fired? Kash Patel and Pete Hegseth each have a laundry list of scandals under their belts and should be fired as well. Hmmmm,” Ms. Ansari wrote on X.
The criticism will likely fall flat with voters in this year’s midterm elections, said pollster Pat McFerron, who has conducted polling in Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma.
“This isn’t even a top 20 issue with voters,” he said. “If I were a Democratic operative, I’m not sure [the departures] are what I’d use to attack Trump. I would talk about the economy, but if I want something sensational, I’d talk about the White House ballroom.”
The recent exodus belies the stability in the first year of Mr. Trump’s second term. Some of that stability has been credited to White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, the first female to hold that job, who helped fill positions with people loyal to the president.
In 2017, high-profile exits included chief of staff Reince Priebus, chief strategist Steve Bannon, White House press secretary Sean Spicer, communications director Michael Dubke and communications director Anthony Scaramucci, who lasted 11 days.
Mr. Trump himself appeared more forgiving of mistakes compared to his first term. Former national security adviser Mike Waltz, for example, was responsible for the major scandal of the second term when he inadvertently added a journalist to a group chat to discuss secret plans for airstrikes on Houthi rebels in Yemen.
Mr. Waltz was removed from his position but given the consolation prize of becoming the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, a Senate-confirmed position.
Sometimes turnover can be helpful to an administration, Mr. Shirley said.
“When [the new staff] comes in, they’re better,” he said. “They’ve gotten a good lay of the land. They’ve gotten a good briefing. They know their jobs and what’s expected of them. They are not flying blind like first-time staffers. They have a better vantage point.”
Some of the key figures who’ve left Mr. Trump’s second administration include:
• Tulsi Gabbard, director of national intelligence.
She worked to overhaul government intelligence agencies, while managing staff reductions and budget cuts. She also reportedly clashed with the administration over the Iran war. When announcing her resignation May 22, Ms. Gabbard cited her husband’s illness. The resignation takes effect June 30.
• Marty Makary, Food and Drug Administration commissioner.
He announced 50 agency reforms, reduced drug review times and removed warnings about health risks for estrogen labels. He also drew criticism from Republicans for not reversing a Biden-era rule that allowed abortion drugs to be mailed. He resigned May 12 after clashing with Mr. Trump over the president’s directive to fast-track approval of fruit-flavored vapes, which Mr. Makary opposed.
• Lori Chavez-DeRemer, labor secretary.
She backed dozens of workplace regulations. She resigned in April amid allegations of improper behavior, including claims she had an affair with a subordinate, drank alcohol on the job, and made staff run personal errands.
• Pam Bondi, attorney general.
She oversaw the firings of top Justice Department officials and opened investigations into several of Mr. Trump’s political foes, including former Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and former FBI Director James Comey. She was also accused of mishandling files related to Jeffrey Epstein, drawing criticism from the right and the left. Mr. Trump fired her in April. She currently serves on the Presidential Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, an advisory panel focused on artificial intelligence policy.
• Kristi Noem, secretary of homeland security.
She carried out Mr. Trump’s immigration enforcement policies. She came under fire after two U.S. citizens were killed by federal immigration officers in Minneapolis in January. That scrutiny only intensified after she spent $220 million on an ad campaign in which she was prominently featured. Mr. Trump fired Ms. Noem in March. She currently serves as Special Envoy for the Shield of the Americas, a multinational security coalition operating out of the State Department.
