White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles’s sudden resignation, a day after the Republicans’ heavy defeat in the midterm elections, has lengthened the list of women in top posts leaving President Donald Trump’s administration. Since the start of this year, one woman after another has left an important post.
At the start of his second term, Trump boasted: “I’m pleased to say that my cabinet has more women than any Republican president’s cabinet in our country’s history.”
At the time, women held eight of more than 20 top posts.
But 18 months on, that number has fallen to just three: Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, Education Secretary Linda McMahon and Small Business Administration head Kelly Loeffler.
In the spring, half of the women officials were removed within just three months. The first to go was Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who had become the main face of Trump’s harsh crackdown on immigration.
She was followed by Trump’s top federal prosecutor, Pam Bondi, Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard.
Last came Wiles, who announced she was stepping down a day after the Republicans’ defeat in the midterms.
Double standard
Asked last spring who might lose their post next, Democratic congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said: “So are there no more women left in his party?”
She added: “Trump only seems able to fire women ministers.” In her words, “In the Trump administration, if you are a man, you can be rewarded even after misconduct.”
Karrin Vasby Anderson, a professor at Colorado State University, believes that for Trump, a former beauty pageant organiser, women matter mainly for their outward presence.
“Trump appoints women he thinks will enhance his image,” she told AFP. “But as soon as they fail to do that, they have to go.”
“Even though almost everyone acknowledges that the Iran war has turned into a disaster, he (Trump) has kept backing Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth,” Anderson said.
She added: “I think the men Trump stands behind most strongly share a particular patriarchal MAGA (Make America Great Again) mindset. Trump is comfortable standing beside men like that.”
Trump has stood by the men in his administration despite criticism and controversy across the country. They include Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, who has publicly and forcefully championed a harsh immigration policy. FBI Director Kash Patel has also faced several controversies. He has been accused of rewarding loyalists from a secret fund built with taxpayers’ money, and is under fire for other mistakes in office.
Men replace the women
The only man in the Trump administration to lose his post was Mike Waltz, who was removed as national security adviser in May 2025.
He had to leave the post after a journalist was mistakenly added to a senior officials’ chat group discussing US strikes on Yemen.
Waltz bounced back quickly, however. Soon afterwards he was appointed US ambassador to the United Nations. By contrast, every woman official who lost her post has been replaced by a man.
Todd Blanche, who worked as Trump’s personal lawyer, replaced Pam Bondi at the Justice Department.
And Susie Wiles, the first woman chief of staff in White House history, has been replaced by Stephen Miller, a follower of hard-right ideology who has long been known as a Trump loyalist.
According to Professor Anderson, Wiles was an unusual appointment for Trump, because she was chosen for her professional skill.
But after the Democrats’ big win in the midterms, the Republican president may feel that “Stephen Miller can protect Trump better than Susie Wiles.”
Trump, however, appears to be struggling to find a replacement for another important female face of his administration: Karoline Leavitt.
Leavitt, the youngest press secretary in White House history, stepped down at the end of last August.
Trump jokingly offered the job to UFC chief Dana White. On Monday, however, the sports executive turned down the offer, saying: “I don’t want to get into politics.”
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report