A former Trump official said fractures in the president's coalition are fueling a wave of senior departures from the White House.
The official was among roughly six current and former administration aides who spoke with the Daily Mail for a report published Thursday about the steady stream of exits from Trump's second-term White House.
"The original coalition fell apart; there's cracks in the MAHA movement and the anti-war MAGA base," the former official told the Daily Mail. "A lot of people don't like the direction this administration is headed between the Iran war and increasing prices."
The departures span the top ranks of the Trump administration. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, White House counsel David Warrington, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and deputy chief of staff James Blair have all left in recent months, with Leavitt and Blair landing at MAGA Inc., the president's political operation.
Others who resigned in August include Army Secretary Dan Driscoll, U.S. Pardon Attorney Ed Martin, legislative affairs director James Braid and Andy Baker, a deputy national security adviser who also advised Vice President JD Vance.
According to a Brookings Institution analysis cited by the Daily Mail, turnover among Trump's senior Executive Office staff stood at 56 percent as of September 30. That outpaces the 40 percent the think tank recorded across Biden's first two years, though it falls short of the 66 percent Trump saw at the same point in his first term.
"Objectively, there have been a lot of senior departures," another former White House official told the Daily Mail.
A staffer from Biden's White House said exits typically accelerate after midterms, not before. "But this level of turnover before the midterms is rare," the former staffer said.
Aides also blamed exhaustion. "I had no life when I was working at the White House, which is fine. That's what you sign up for. You can't do it forever," one former official said.
Others described a scramble to secure Republican jobs before November, with prediction market Kalshi putting Democrats' odds of flipping the House at roughly 91 percent, the Daily Mail noted.
"Once November 3 hits, it's Armageddon, and everyone's out," one said.
White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers told the outlet the president "has built the greatest political movement in history," and that "this movement is bigger than any one staff member."
