The women in President Donald Trump’s inner circle are discovering that mastering the “Mar-a-Lago face” offers little job security, Mother Jones editor Inae Oh argued.
In an analysis published Friday, Oh examined an uncomfortable pattern of high-profile women heading for the exits while scandal-plagued men remain in the MAGA administration. Hours after the piece was published, Katie Zacharia was fired on her fifth day as Trump’s White House press secretary, a development Mother Jones noted proved its point.
Oh described Zacharia as having mastered the “MAGA aesthetic,” pointing to her blond curls, heavy makeup and high heels. Citing Politico, Oh noted that Zacharia reportedly timed her TV appearances around Trump’s public schedule so he’d be sure to see them.
“All of which points to a major theme: Aesthetics may serve as a key entry point to power in the Trump administration,” she wrote. “But they take a backseat to the inherent misogyny that animates every corner of the same administration—starting with the top.”
“Mar-a-Lago face won’t save you,” the piece’s headline declares.
Kimberly Guilfoyle’s unceremonious departure as ambassador to Greece earlier this week offers another example. Zacharia announced at her first briefing that the White House had asked Guilfoyle to resign amid a scandal involving her financial dealings with a MAGA donor.
It marked “quite the downfall,” according to Oh, “considering Guilfoyle’s MAGA credentials, and the fact that her erstwhile romance with Don Jr. meant that she almost became the president’s daughter-in-law.”
She pointed to other women who have left the administration, including Kristi Noem, Pam Bondi and Karoline Leavitt.
Meanwhile, Oh argued, men in Trump’s administration facing “the same, if not more, unflattering headlines of apparent corruption, drunkenness, and generally abhorrent conduct have remained effectively unscathed.”
But looking the part offers women little protection once trouble hits, Oh concluded.
“In the end, the real winner in this group always seems to be pervasive misogyny,” she wrote.