Trump's Trials - Less personnel drama but still sky-high turnover one year into Trump's new term

Episode Date: January 20, 2026

One year into this second Trump presidency, high level staff and Cabinet turnover is significantly lower than it was during the same period in 2017. NPR's Tamara Keith reports. Support NPR and hear every episode of Trump's Terms sponsor-free with NPR+. Sign up at plus.npr.org.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

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The administration has packed that one year with several years worth of chaos, attention-seeking, boundary pushing, and drama. but there are not as many personnel dramas as in his first term. NPR senior White House correspondent Tamara Keith has the numbers and an explanation. There was a celebratory mood in the Oval Office for the November swearing in of the new ambassador to India, Sergio Gore. A Trump lieutenant, he had been in charge of selecting staff to serve in Trump's second term White House. Now he was getting a promotion. Janine Piro, the former Fox News personality, turned U.S. attorney, offered a

praise for Gore's loyalty, then turned to Trump. There is in this room a group of people who love you, who believe in you, and who are so proud to be in this Oval Office. That love fest reflects a real change from the first term, with its steady flow of staff shakeups and firings by tweet. Ryan Spreebus is out as President Trump's Chief of Staff. Trump's chief strategist Steve Bannon is now out. White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer abruptly resigned from his position.

White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci is now out of that position, just over a week into the job. Unlike the first term, this time Trump has surrounded himself with people who agree with him and his agenda. Catherine Dun Tampas is a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution and for years has carefully tracked cabinet and high-level White House staff turnover. She exclusively shared her latest findings with NPR. So far, the turnover rate is 29% of the senior staff members, what I refer to as the A-Team. Now, compared to other presidents, going back to Ronald Reagan, that still triple the average turnover rate. But it's a significant reduction from Trump's first term. And there are differences in the type of turnover, too.

Tempest finds many of the people leaving their positions this term got promotions, like Ambassador Sergio Gore, rather than humiliating firings. And there are far fewer resignations under pressure in this first year, 2025, than there were in 2017. And there's another factor that's dialed down the drama. The people leaving weren't household names, says Tempice. You know, I would call these positions influential, but they just were not public figures. They weren't press secretaries. They weren't chiefs of staff. A lot of them, however, were on the National Security Council.

staff, including National Security Advisor Mike Walts, who became ambassador to the United Nations. A White House official not authorized to speak on the record tells NPR, there has been a significant reduction in the staffing of the National Security Council over the past year. The official called it a right-sizing, a strategic choice rather than White House intrigue. Tamara Keith, NPR News. Before we wrap up a reminder, you can find more. coverage of the Trump administration on the NPR Politics podcast, where you can hear NPR's political reporters break down the day's biggest political news with new episodes every

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