I'm sorry, please stop shaking your head again.
Remember this guy?
That’s Sean Spicer, who served as the White House press secretary...until he resigned
after some testy encounters with the press.
Well, how about Hope Hicks, White House Communications Director?
She resigned amid rising tensions in the administration.
Then there’s “The Mooch”— otherwise known as Anthony Scaramucci.
White House Communications Director for only 11 days before getting fired.
Staff Secretary Rob Porter?
Quit after allegations of domestic abuse.
NSC Staffer Rich Higgins? Booted.
Omarosa?
Resigned to take...a different position.
If it seems like there’s been a ton of turnover at the White House, well, there has been.
In fact, Trump’s White House has seen more turnover in its first year than the past five
administrations.
So, is this normal?
High staff turnover at the White House isn’t necessarily unusual.
Newly-inaugurated presidents often fill some spots in their administration with campaign
staff, and later replace them with more seasoned picks.
but, the SHEER NUMBER of people leaving the Trump administration is unusual.
I think the turnover is high and it's not just high it's off the charts.
That’s Kathryn Dunn Tenpas.
She researched turnover among the president’s most influential staff going back five administrations.
Since Reagan those five presidents the highest turnover rate during that first year was Ronald
Reagan at 17 percent.
I calculated the same data for President Trump and his turnover rate during that first
year was 34 percent.
So he doubled the previous highest rate of turnover and just for the sake of comparison the
low turnover for a year one turnover is
President George W. Bush who had a low turnover of 6 percent.
So you can see that the 34 is clearly an outlier.
So there’s two potential factors contributing
to this high turnover rate.
Drain the swamp.
First, on the campaign trail, Trump promised to “drain the swamp”.
You're right about the swamp, say it again.
And put a premium on loyalty.
So, much of his initial staff were campaign holdovers without government experience.
Another factor was Trump’s rocky first year in office.
Warmongering against the dictator of North Korea -
Rocket Man is on a suicide mission for himself.
- a bitter rivalry with the press -
Quiet, quiet quiet.
- and of course the massive ongoing investigation into Russian meddling in American affairs
created a, well, let’s say hostile work environment.
Get that son of a b***h off the field right now. Out. He's fired.
But putting aside the question of “normal,” at the end of the day, does any of this matter?
When a very senior level person leaves there's often a domino effect in which some of his
junior staffers will leave as well, because the incoming person
wants to build their own staff.
Then, of course, all these new hires need to be trained and brought up to speed, which
puts pressure on other staffers who need to step in order to pick up the slack.
And there's aspects of the job that can’t be learned.
The most senior people are leaving.
They tend to have a little bit more expertise.
Oftentimes they have close relations with the president and a good rapport with the
president and those kinds of qualities and skills are not easily replaceable.
All this results in a White House that is increasingly isolated and unable to pursue
its goals.
It is true that most of Trump’s departures happened early in his first year.
And these staff changes can be a way for Trump to change course in the face of low approval
ratings and a stagnant legislative agenda.
But with senior aides losing their security clearances, and rumors swirling about even
more resignations, there’s no indication that the Trump Administration is stabilizing.
I think when you get to this high level of turnover then that raises questions
as to how well his staff can perform and how well they can advance his agenda.
If the door keeps you know revolving and people are in and out in and out you don't
have any institutional memory you're losing expertise that you had
and it just makes your job more difficult.
Hey guys, thanks for watching this video.
I just wanted to share a quick story with you.
While I was making this, staffers were leaving the White House so frequently,
that I had a hard time keeping the prop and the script updated, which is pretty wild.
So if you want to keep up to date with the comings and goings of the White House,
make sure to check out vox.com, we'll be tracking that there.
So, stay tuned.