Turmoil seems to have overtaken the White House and President Donald Trump’s inner circle after his party’s disastrous midterm defeat.
He insisted the outcome would have changed if he had been on the ballot.
That behind-the-scenes tension may have pushed some White House staffers to form alliances, while others had to fall on their swords.
With Trump at the center of the political backlash, Republicans suffered a series of unexpected losses on Nov. 3, as Democrats captured majorities in both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives.
Trump, 80, was the focal point of voter frustration over affordability and corruption allegations.
However, Susie Wiles was the one who got the boot as White House chief of staff. Stephen Miller, the former chief of staff for policy, replaced her.
Wiles, 69, submitted her resignation on Nov. 5, two days after Democrats trounced the GOP. Earlier that day, Trump reportedly berated the longtime political strategist during a heated exchange in the Oval Office.
Other aides, like Trump’s executive assistant Natalie Harp, remain in the West Wing and in his good graces.
The president’s right-hand woman remains fiercely loyal to him. She frequently joins him on trips and poses for photos with him, often more than first lady Melania Trump.
Harp has earned the nickname “human printer” because she reportedly keeps a portable printer nearby at all times. Her duties allegedly include printing favorable news content for Trump to read and, more recently, screening his calls.
The former OANN anchor penned intimate letters to Trump in 2023 that showed she viewed the real estate mogul as her “guardian and protector.” Other notes came across as expressions of jealousy toward colleagues.
“I had no idea how rapidly I was approaching burnout, and starting to envy those whose only ‘job’ seems to be to talk with you, and look pretty. I want that job!!” Harp wrote, before Trump won the 2024 presidential election.
Could office envy have followed Harp to the White House?
Maureen Callahan’s latest op-ed provided some insight into the “groupies” purportedly vying for influence after Trump’s midterm shellacking.
According to the Daily Mail columnist, Trump “seems less concerned with his legacy than with the revolving door of young, attractive, politically inexperienced women who comport themselves as fan girls.”
Trump’s West Wing staffers are reportedly “fed up” with the drama behind closed doors.
An anonymous senior administration official spoke to the outlet about the backroom conflicts.
“Behind this president is a clique that turned the West Wing into a lunch table,” the unnamed source stated. “A presidency can survive its enemies, but this one clearly cannot afford a mean-girl machine that would rather own the room than leave a legacy.”
In addition to Harp, additional Trump loyalists, like conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer and short-lived Press Secretary Katie Zacharia, have made up a revolving door of sycophants jockeying to be closest to the president.
Reports of a so-called “mean-girl” inner circle taking shape within the Trump administration sparked online debate. RawStory readers weighed in on the married billionaire’s alleged harem of lackeys.
“Yeah, Trump is just sick in the head period,” a commenter declared about the most powerful politician on the planet. A second person sarcastically exclaimed, “Trump hires only the best people!”
The jokes continued when a critic of the Trump administration posted, “It’s like high school, without the maturity.” Another comment read, “High School? Nah, the whole Trump fiasco can’t rise above middle school.”
“Trump’s legacy is already sealed. He’s an incompetent failure that’s now caused his own party one of the biggest losses in history. He knows he’s a lame duck, so all he has left is hanging on to his bunny boiler for comfort,” someone stated.
Whether Harp is actually leading a crew of real-life Plastics from the “Mean Girls” movie currently remains DC insider gossip, but her presence as Trump’s top confidant appears to be growing.
Several reporters have alleged that Harp has begun screening Trump’s personal phone calls when members of the media try to reach him. In recent weeks, a female voice has reportedly answered calls that Trump previously handled himself.
Harp was also accused of being a mysterious voice giggling in the background of Trump’s call into C-SPAN on Nov. 9.
Trump’s unelected special assistant, who makes a $150,000 taxpayer-funded salary to serve as his yes-woman, will likely stay at his side.
