Another Trump official exits in scandal

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I will remember former Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer less for her tenure than for her casual deployment of the diminutive term “sauvi B” — which no person over 27 should use, especially during the workday.

Chavez-DeRemer resigned Monday amid an internal investigation into her conduct. In addition to instructing staff to buy her bottles of sauvignon blanc on work trips, Chavez-DeRemer allegedly stashed liquor in her office, encouraged young female staffers to “pay attention” to her father and husband, had an affair with a member of her security detail, and arranged work travel to visit family and friends.

It’s a pretty wild story, all told. And while the specifics are unusual, the broader pattern is not. Across both of his terms, President Donald Trump has repeatedly nominated high-level officials who have later flamed out amid controversies or clashes with the president himself. In just the past eight weeks, three Cabinet-level officials have resigned or been forced out of the administration.

Who’s in, who’s out. Trump previously ousted Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, the erstwhile face of his mass deportation campaign, and Attorney General Pam Bondi, who served as one of Trump’s defense attorneys during his first impeachment trial in 2020. Noem fell out of the president’s favor over a $220 million border security ad campaign that prominently featured her (among other more consequential missteps). Bondi was fired over her handling of the Epstein files, which alienated a large segment of Trump’s core base, and her failure to prosecute his political enemies.

They’ve been playing musical chairs outside the Cabinet, as well. According to the Brookings Institute, which has analyzed White House turnover going back to the Reagan administration, roughly a third of Trump’s “A Team” — the staffers who occupy the highest positions within the Executive Office of the President — have left the White House since January last year. While eight of those people were promoted into other positions, 22 resigned or were pressured to do so.

Trump’s turnover record. That turnover rate — 20% in the Cabinet and 32% among top executive staff — actually represents a marked improvement from Trump’s first term.

Turnover on the “A team” then was a whopping 92%, according to Brookings, and 14 Cabinet members left over that same period. (Remember Rick Perry? Betsy DeVos? Rex Tillerson? To say nothing of the various former Cabinet officials who have since reinvented themselves as Trump critics and pundits.) Trump still oversees a pretty volatile staff relative to other presidents, however; on average, just 10% of executive staff turn over in a president’s first year.

Trump’s loyalty test. It’s also worth considering why stability improved in Trump’s second term. The president didn’t choose better-qualified or credentialed staff necessarily; he chose more deferential ones. As Reuters put it in a story about Trump’s early search for staff in 2024, “One quality is absolutely paramount: unquestioning loyalty.”

That emphasis on personal allegiance has apparently helped reduce policy disagreements and interpersonal squabbles in the top tiers of the administration. But it hasn’t necessarily protected even Trump’s personal friends and associates from getting the axe. Bondi had known Trump for over a decade, for instance. And another rumored departure — Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick — is Trump’s longtime friend. FBI Director Kash Patel, who has published several fawning children’s books about Trump, may also be on the chopping block next.

I, for one, will be pouring out a glass of sauvi B for them.