The Scapegals
Since returning to the White House, Trump has refrained from the firing sprees of his first term, but he has shown a remarkable willingness to discard his female senior administration officials when they displease him.
Key points
- But even at the time of the Noem-Bondi double exit—Noem left in March, Bondi in April—a Trump official told me the administration risked the appearance of firing only “attractive” women, while allowing Trump’s top men to remain.
- It is not particularly difficult to list various sins and missteps involving many of Trump’s top male officials that, in most other administrations, would be grounds for serious reflection, if not outright dismissal.
- Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth—who had not managed an organization larger than about 100 before becoming the Pentagon chief—is the face and top cheerleader for the administration’s unpopular war in Iran, which helped doom Republicans’ midterm chances.
Additional details
- Including Wiles, Trump has fired or pushed out at least half a dozen top women this term, including Attorney General Pam Bondi, Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, and White House Press Secretary Katie Zacharia.
- (Chavez-DeRemer’s husband has denied the accusations through an attorney, and the police investigation of the reports has since been closed.) Like I said: These records are hard to defend.
- One of the few senior men to have been jettisoned is Mike Waltz, Trump’s first national security adviser, who was binned after less than four months, following his Signalgate mishap.
- Zacharia—who failed the California bar yet repeatedly referred to herself as a lawyer—was fired after five days on the job following a disastrous debut at the podium.
- But Wiles—whom Trump jettisoned last week after Republicans’ devastating midterm losses—likely had at least one thing working against her: that second X chromosome.
How this summary was made: extractive summary — built from the sources' own reporting. It is drawn only from the reporting of the sources listed below — read the originals for full detail. How we summarize →
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