There is still a tweet for everything.
In 2012, Donald Trump criticized then-President Obama for having three chiefs of staff in three years. Now Trump is looking for his third after just 23 months.
“3 Chief of Staffs in less than 3 years of being President: Part of the reason why @BarackObama can’t manage to pass his agenda,” Trump wrote in January 2012.
3 Chief of Staffs in less than 3 years of being President: Part of the reason why @BarackObama can’t manage to pass his agenda.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 10, 2012
On Friday, Trump announced that current chief of staff John Kelly would be leaving the White House at the end of the year. Kelly arrived in July 2017 to replace Reince Priebus, who lasted barely six months in the job.
Historically speaking, Obama had an above-average number of chiefs of staff during his first term. Rahm Emanuel served from January 2009 to October 2010, when he resigned to run for mayor of Chicago. Pete Rouse was an interim for three months, succeeded by Bill Daley, who left after a year in January 2012. Jack Lew then served until January 2013.
But in terms of general staff turnover, Trump blows every U.S. President out of the water. Less than two years into the job, he is on his third attorney general, second secretary of state, third national security adviser, fifth communications director, second press secretary, second secretary of health and human services, second EPA administrator and third VA secretary.
According to a Dec. 7 analysis by the Brookings Institution, 62 percent of Trump’s “A team,” or senior-level advisers, has turned over since he took office in January 2009.
In the latest chief of staff hunt, Trump is having a more difficult time than before. The New York Times reported that Nick Ayers, Vice President Mike Pence’s current chief of staff, turned down the position over the weekend and will be leaving the administration. The Atlantic reported Monday that three other leading candidates — Mick Mulvaney, the director of the Office of Management and Budget; Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin; and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer — say they don’t want the job.
