No West Wing chaos, Trump says
WASHINGTON— President Trump once presided over a reality show in which a key cast member exited each week. The same thing seems to be happening in his White House.
Trump’s West Wing has descended into a period of unparalleled tumult amid a wave of staff departures, yet the president insists it’s a place of “no Chaos, only great Energy!” The latest to announce his exit is Gary Cohn, Trump’s chief economic adviser, who had clashed with the boss over trade policy.
Cohn’s departure has sparked internal fears of an even larger exodus, raising concerns in Washington of a coming “brain drain” around the president that will only make it more difficult for Trump to advance his already languishing policy agenda.
Multiple White House officials said the president has been pushing anxious aides to stay on the job.
“Everyone wants to work in the White House,” Trump said during a news conference Tuesday. “They all want a piece of the Oval Office.” The reality is far different. Vacancies abound in the West Wing and the broader Trump administration, with some jobs never filled and others subject to repeat openings. The position of White House communications director is soon to be empty again after the departure of its fourth occupant, Hope Hicks.
“They are left with vacancies atop of vacancies,” said Kathryn Dunn-Tenpas of the Brookings Institution who tracks senior-level staff turnover. Her analysis shows the Trump departure rate has reached 40 percent in just over a year.
“That kind of turnover creates a lot of disruption,” she said, noting the loss of institutional knowledge and relationships with agencies and Congress. “You can’t really leave those behind to your successor.”
Turnover after a year in office is nothing new, but this administration has churned through staff at a dizzying pace, and allies are worried the situation could descend into a freefall.
One White House official said there is concern about a potential “death spiral” in the West Wing, with each departure heightening the sense of frenzy and expediting the next.
Multiple aides who are considering departing, all speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss internal matters, said they didn’t have a clue about whom the administration could find to fill their roles. They said their desire to be team players has kept them on the job longer than planned. Some said they were nearing a breaking point.
“You have situations where people are stretched to take on more than one job,” said Martha Joynt Kumar, director of the White House Transition Project.
She cited the example of Johnny DeStefano, who oversees the White House offices of personnel, public liaison, political affairs and intergovernmental affairs.
“Those are four positions that in most administrations are each headed by an assistant to the president or a deputy assistant,” Kumar said.