Dead In The Water : With or Without

"If  your vetting process the first go-round mandates that you have to claim that the 2020 election was stolen, then the pool of candidates was probably already small and getting smaller now."

Marc Short, served in the first Trump administration

 

"President Trump has built the greatest political movement in history, staffing his administration with talented, dedicated patriots who work tirelessly to execute his agenda."

"This movement is bigger than any one staff member, and the president's mission to make America greater than ever before will continue unabated." 

Taylor Rogers, White House spokeswoman

 

"This also is, without question, the hardest time to hire into an administration."

"The real question is, who's going to fill these roles? Will they be the right people, an will they be people that the president listens to?"

"It's not so much about the vacancies, but who's willing to go into the second two years of an administration that largely will face headwinds with a change in Congress."

Lisa Camooso Miller, former Republican National Committee communications director 

 

"Nothing but choppy waters ahead, treacherous waters ahead."

"But I’m not so sure that these departures are — it’s sort of we’re talking about degrees of being dead in the water — he’s dead in the water with or without them."

"It’s going to be ugly and unproductive and maybe even worse over the next two years."

Chris Whipple, political analyst, contributing writer, Vanity Fair 

President Donald Trump, joined by White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, speaks to the media at the White House on July 15, 2025.  Anna Moneymaker/Getty 

 

Halfway through his second term, with two more years to follow, President Donald J. Trump is facing a situation where he has been left without the services of some of his senior staff, with the circle of his trusted aides shrinking. The president's chief spokesperson, his top legal adviser, a key national security adviser and his liaison to Capital Hill have all resigned. Nothing to be nonchalant about, particularly since there are other senior officials considering their own exit in the next few months, revealed by insiders familiar with what's happening. 

 

It is the departure of White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt that appears to have taken some within the establishment with its particular unexpectedness by surprise. A week following Press Secretary Leavitt's announcement, James Braid, director of legislative affairs in the White House announced his own plans to leave. Two trusted advisers close to the president who fiercely defend him, taking the comfort level of their loyalty with them as they leave. Also set to leave are deputy national security adviser Andy Baker and White House Counsel David Warrington.

 

 

 

Dealing with foreign and domestic challenges, these departures could not have come at a more awkward time for President Trump. His party is facing the prospect of congressional majority losses in the November midterm elections; opening the potential of subpoenas against his administration leading to investigations under a Congress led by the Democrats, particularly  troubling for him as he faces abysmally low approval ratings, an insecure economy and a war in Iran whose unpopularity links to a global energy crisis. 

 

The legislative affairs branch under director James Braid had already lost a good proportion of his staff over the last six months, making his job to press congressional Republicans on the president's legislative agenda beyond difficult. The team that remains, in addition to resolving conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine, is conflicted, with some among them pushing the White House for new plans for the economy inclusive of tax cuts linked to the president's tax and spending law. 

 

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during his meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington, U.S., March 20, 2017. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

 

"I think people are seeing the writing on the wall and thinking Republicans probably aren’t going to have the House, might not have the Senate either, and things are going to be stalled."

"People are thinking, ‘what are my post administration business prospects? Is it worth taking these hits every single day, being part of these battles, and how does that hurt my prospects when I go to the private sector'?"

Identity-protected first Trump term official