Trump's Second-Term White House Turnover Hits 32%, Well Below First-Term Chaos

Donald Trump built his reputation on firing people. His first term proved it, with a 66% turnover rate among top White House staff in the first two years and 14 Cabinet secretaries out the door before it ended. His second term looks different.

According to a Brookings Institution report tracked by the Washington Examiner, Trump has shed 32% of his White House "A Team" staff as of April 15, 2026. That's the number for executive office staffers, not Cabinet secretaries. Of 68 people tracked, 22 either left the administration or got promoted.

Katie Dunn Tenpas, who authored the Brookings report, told Politico the one-year turnover figure was 29%, lower than the 35% mark at the same point in Trump's first term. But she wasn't calling it normal. "When you compare Trump two to the other presidents, it's the second highest and substantially higher," she said. "If you look at more traditional types of presidents, this turnover is still incredibly high. And I would even call it an outlier."

The reality is this: turnover is down from Trump's own historic first-term chaos, but still running well above what most presidents have seen in their first two years.

The Cabinet Picture Looks Even More Stable

Zero Cabinet secretaries left during Trump's first year back in office, a contrast with his first term when seven had already departed by this point. Since then, three have gone: former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, former Attorney General Pam Bondi, and former Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer. All three were women, a detail multiple outlets flagged without offering a clear explanation for why.

A White House official pushed back hard on how Brookings framed the numbers, calling the "turnover" label "an inaccurate portrayal, since these staffers continue working for President Trump and his administration and do not depart." The example cited: Dan Scavino, who moved from deputy chief of staff to director of the White House presidential personnel office. That's a promotion, not an exit, and lumping it in with actual departures does inflate the headline number somewhat.

White House spokeswoman Olivia Wales defended the administration's record on female leadership specifically, naming Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, Small Business Administrator Kelly Loeffler, Education Secretary Linda McMahon, and Chief of Staff Susie Wiles as evidence Trump has surrounded himself with capable women, not sidelined them.

Why the Difference From Term One

The Guardian's reporting leans into a theory that the calmer second term reflects a court built on personal loyalty rather than institutional independence. Bill Galston, a Brookings senior fellow, told the paper: "They're functioning in an environment now when it's loyalty über alles. If you are loyal and a fighter, the scales will tend to tip in your favour, even if you make mistakes." Galston pointed to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth as an example, someone who has faced scrutiny over Signal app messaging and Caribbean military operations but has kept his job regardless.

There's also a more mundane reason Trump might be slower to fire people this time: replacing a Cabinet secretary means running a new nominee through Senate confirmation, a process that eats time and political capital he may not want to spend twice for the same job. The Guardian acknowledges this too, noting that "axing a cabinet member would mean having to find a replacement, and that could involve a messy confirmation process in the Senate."

Both explanations can be true at once. Loyalty matters to Trump, always has. It's also just operationally easier to keep the people you've already gotten confirmed, especially with midterms approaching and the Senate's attention pulled elsewhere.

Where the Real Turnover Happened

Most of the second-term departures came from the National Security Council, where several officials resigned under pressure or were dismissed. That wave followed Trump's decision in May 2025 to have Secretary of State Marco Rubio double as national security adviser, after Mike Waltz's nomination to be UN ambassador effectively pushed him out of the NSC job. Waltz wasn't fired in the traditional sense. He got moved sideways into a different administration post, which is the pattern Trump seems to prefer this time around: reassign rather than eject.

An opinion piece from The Fulcrum, written by Amherst College professor Austin Sarat, argues the second term "may break" the turnover records set in the first, framing Noem's and Bondi's exits as proof that "loyalty to him is seldom reciprocated." That's an argument, not a settled fact. The Brookings data actually shows the opposite trend so far, lower turnover than term one at the same point, though Tenpas's own comparison to historical norms across other presidencies backs up the broader concern that this White House still churns through staff at an unusual clip.

Whether that holds through the midterms is the open question. Tenpas's report notes rising friction around FBI Director Kash Patel, and the source material makes clear the administration is watching how that plays out. If more Cabinet-level departures follow, the "stable second term" narrative could look very different by year's end.