Female friendship has always been important to me. I’ve been fortunate to maintain friendships with women from college, work colleagues, neighbors, book clubs, and more. I value their friendship and try to be loyal and supportive, although I’m sure I may have let some of them down along the way.
Frequently, when I listen to a female broadcaster, actress, politician, or journalist, I think to myself, I wish I could get to know that woman. She seems like a good person, and I bet she would be interesting and fun to be around.
For whatever reason, I don’t get those vibes with the women who Trump has anointed as his “chosen ones.” Why is that?
First let’s admit that Trump has had a sordid past with women on many fronts—sexual assault charges, lawsuits, inflammatory comments, and cruel nicknames for a large and varied cast of characters.
In his second term, Trump has surrounded himself with a substantial bench of women both in pivotal positions and also as White House staffers.
Let’s take a look at a few of these women.
Susie Wiles is the first woman in U.S. history to be the President’s Chief of Staff. She is the exception to the rule in that, at 68 years of age, she is older than most of his other female appointees. She doesn’t seek the spotlight and displays a quiet confidence and “no nonsense” approach. But it’s also true that Wiles doesn’t play the policy role that many former Chiefs of Staff have played. Instead, Stephen Miller, Trump’s Deputy Chief of Staff, has taken over that role. Wiles has said that her job is to “keep the trains running on time.”
At 27, Karoline Leavitt is the youngest White House press secretary ever. She has very little relevant experience but exudes a great deal of confidence. She defended Trump against allegations that he is profiting from the presidency, dismissing those claims as “ridiculous.” Leavitt said Trump has given up a life of luxury to devote himself to public service. What? According to an analysis by The New Yorker, the Trump family has made $3.4 billion off the Presidency.
Pam Bondi, the former attorney general of Florida, leads the Justice Department. She also represented Trump during his first impeachment trial. During her confirmation hearing, Bondi claimed there was a peaceful transition of power in 2021. During those hearings, Bondi also claimed that the partisanship and weaponization of the Justice Department would be gone. Now she has begun to prosecute Trump’s enemies one by one, basically turning the Justice Department into Trump’s personal law firm. A few months ago, Bondi claimed that the Epstein client list was sitting on her desk to review. Later she said there was no evidence that such a list exists.
Tulsi Gabbard is the Director of National Intelligence which means she leads 17 intelligence organizations. A former Democratic congresswoman and Democratic nominee for President, she has no prior intelligence experience. A few months ago, Gabbard stated that Iran wasn’t close to building nuclear bombs. Trump later said she was wrong, and he didn’t care what she said.
Kristi Noem, now Secretary of Homeland Security, was formerly a Republican congresswoman and governor of South Dakota. She executed her wirehaired pointer because he didn’t obey commands quickly enough. Noem wears Border Patrol and ICE uniforms when visiting detention centers and sometimes flashes her Rolex watch in front of jailed detainees.
Linda McMahon, Secretary of Education, used to be CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment. Her job is to dismantle the Department of Education.
Alina Habba, once Trump’s personal attorney during a series of civil lawsuits against Trump, including the defamation case against E. Jean Carroll, is now interim U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey. During the Carroll trial, Habba was frequently reprimanded by the Judge for procedural missteps, misstating the law, and arguing against his rulings.
Kelly Loeffler, Administrator of the Small Business Administration (SBA), was previously a senator from Georgia and is the former CEO of the bitcoin company Bakkt. She has spearheaded a controversial rollback of DEI initiatives at the SBA. Several lawsuits are looming, and civil rights advocates are mobilizing.
Natalie Harp, a former far-right cable host, is now Special Assistant to the President. She was frequently called the human printer because she had a portable printer and followed Trump around feeding him complimentary articles about himself.
Laura Loomer is a far-right political activist, conspiracy theorist, and internet personality. She describes herself as a “pro-white nationalist.” For whatever reason, she has the President’s ear. She convinced Trump to fire several national security officials because she said they were disloyal to him.
Lindsey Halligan, who previously served as Trump’s personal attorney, was appointed interim U.S. attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia. Before getting this new assignment, Halligan reviewed the content of eight Smithsonian museums and concluded that there was too much emphasis on slavery. Instead, she opined that there should be more emphasis on how far we’ve come since slavery. Halligan, who has zero experience prosecuting federal cases, was a former beauty pageant contestant. Trump first met her at his West Palm Beach golf club in November 2021. She caught his eye because she came to the club dressed in a suit because she came straight from work.
Many articles have been written noting that several of these women bear a strong resemblance to Melania. Trump seems to have moved on from the blonde days of Ivana Trump and Marla Maples to brunettes with long, sometimes highlighted hair, slightly curled at the ends. They frequently wear skirts above the knee and high boots, as do several female staffers at the White House.
Some fashion writers have shown the before and after photos of several women in Trump’s orbit which they say have morphed from conventional faces to makeup-caked angular cheekbones, full-lipped, Botox filled exaggerations of the Fox News anchorwoman look. There is actually something called the Mar-a-Lago face which includes detectable surgery, excessive makeup, fake tans, fake eyelashes, dark smokey eyes, and full lips.
Trump himself has quite the grooming regime. He uses hair weaves, makeup, tanning beds, and spray tans, and frequently is seen with most of his face being quite orange except for the white half-moons around his eyes where he has placed tanning goggles. (I won’t digress into discussing JD Vance’s eyeliner or Matt Gaetz’ total facial transformation.)
Clearly there is a vanity obsession with this administration. Trump likes those around him to have a certain look which he finds attractive. For him, optics are much more important than substance. Hence, many of the women who surround Trump have the look that he prefers but don’t have the qualifications or deep expertise that relate to the positions they hold.
The musician Wynton Marsalis once wrote, “Don’t settle for style. Succeed in substance.”
I’m with Wynton on this one. My friends are women of substance, and I am grateful for them.
Maria Grant, a former principal-in-charge of the federal human capital practice of an international consulting firm, now focuses on writing, reading, music, and nature.
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