Concerns about reputation were just one of a variety of emotions that permeated the White House assistants in the aftermath of the riots. Throughout the administration, officials weighed whether to resign after seeing the president encourage protesters to march to the Capitol.
Some Trump aides have chosen those who have chosen to leave, arguing that it is a scandal to work for Trump.
“I personally think Charlottesville was worse than what happened yesterday, and if you did not resign after that, it’s kind of a chicken to do it 14 days before the transfer of power,” said a senior Trump administration said. “It shows a lot of selfishness. ‘Let’s make it over me. I resign because I do not like what happened. ”
Others in the administration had job benefits in mind. Some wondered if it was worth it to burn more paid vacation time they could earn. Some were reluctant to leave before their formal start date, as they could not be eligible for unemployment benefits if they started looking for work.
And what future jobs would there even be, others wondered.
“This,” an administration official said of the events Wednesday, “will hurt us by finding work.”
The lower-level Trump administration official was not impressed with his colleagues who fled the scene, saying they were “beading pearls to save faces for future work.” A more enterprising man – like him, for example – could turn the Capitol siege into an advantage when it’s time for future job interviews.
‘If I want something, I hope I can play [Wednesday] look one day if you want to talk about an employee who can continue to produce and have a good attitude in the most difficult situations with the highest interests and the highest pressure, [that’s me], ” Said the official. He stressed that he does not approve of violence.
Asked if he intends to resign due to the riots, the official said he had already submitted his resignation letter, but it is effective on January 20 when all political appointments must leave anyway.
‘Many of us want to [also] build up as much holiday time as possible so that we can pay out what we intended to be paid out, because many of us will be unemployed for some time because it was an extremely difficult time to get hired, ”the official said.
With only a few weeks left in the Trump administration, and with other people working from home due to the pandemic, the current staffing situation in the White House can best be described as ‘on the move’. Two former White House officials said the West Wing was “barebones” and “extremely empty.”
“Yesterday was just completely counterproductive and harmed the movement,” said one former White House official.
A third former White House senior official said the statement made by Trump early Thursday morning about Deputy Chief of Staff for Communications, Dan Scavino’s Twitter account, in which he said he would accept a peaceful transfer of power, was in part an attempt to to stop mass resignations.
It was not successful. At least six more Trump officials announced their resignations on Thursday: Education Secretary Elaine Chao, Education Minister Betsy DeVos; Special Envoy for Northern Ireland Mick Mulvaney; Tyler Goodspeed, Acting Chairman of the Economic Advisers Board; Mark Vandroff, a senior official of the National Security Council and a senior trade division, appointed John Costello.
By Thursday night, Trump had released a video, this time admitting his loss and insisting on calm and reconciliation.
Some of those who left the administration made Trump excited because he slammed his supporters while voicing the role they may have played in making the president possible.
‘Apparent [Trump] is not the same as he was eight months ago, ”former chief of staff Mick Mulvaney told CNBC after resigning from his special envoy.
But the departure had a secondary effect: the president is surrounded by an ever-smaller group of true loyalists. This group includes assistants such as Scavino and personnel director John McEntee, who have tied their sails tightly to Trump. It also includes those who have conceded Trump conspiracy theories about election fraud over the past two months and who are never keen to give the president bad news. ‘[Mark] “Meadows was so scared that he just told him everything he wanted to hear,” said a former White House official.
Before Trump released his video on Thursday, Trump was completely out of the spotlight, avoiding the press even while holding an event in which he awarded the presidential medal of freedom to two golfers. Due to new restrictions from Twitter and Facebook, he could not tweet. He still can not post on Facebook.
The work of the administration nevertheless continued, though in unusual directions. One administration official said he spent part of Thursday trying to help colleagues get approval for title changes – such as moving from acting to permanent roles – “just because it obviously looks better on a resume.”
Others in Trump world spent the day itching to take their Trump White House experience completely off their resume.
‘You go to the White House to work there, because you want to serve your country in literally the most wonderful building and the most powerful place in the world with the best of intentions, and then it’s gone like this, and you naturally feel embarrassed about it. , ”Said one of the former White House officials.
Gabby Orr contributed to this article.