President Trump's high staff turnover rate was already record-breaking months ago, as the White House hemorrhaged high-ranking officials one after another after another. On Tuesday, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson became the latest official to fall, fired by Trump essentially over Twitter.
A full 37 Trump-appointed staffers have resigned, been fired, or been reassigned, since Trump took office — a higher rate than the five most recent presidents. Analysis from the Brookings Institute found that, as of last week, Trump's White House has endured a 43 percent turnover rate. The list of departed staffers is long, and even longer with the inclusion of pre-Trump staffers, like former FBI Director James Comey and former acting Attorney General Sally Yates. Starting with Michael Flynn, through the end of the Stephen Bannon era, all the way through Gary Cohn's departure just last week, the list of the dozens of now-former staffers is staggering:
Among top "decision-making" staffers, Trump's turnover rate is double former President Ronald Reagan's, the Brookings Institute found, and more than triple that of former President Barack Obama.
The White House has sought to downplay the constant churn of staffers. "This is an intense place," said White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders last week. "It's not abnormal that you would have people come and go."