White House Exodus Escalates as ‘Trump Flunkie’ Quits
The president’s aides are heading for the exit as the midterms loom.
Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
Donald Trump has lost another White House aide ahead of what is predicted to be a bloodbath for his party in the midterms.
Press assistant Ellie Acra, 25, is expected to become the latest to leave the 80-year-old president’s increasingly embattled operation on Friday, the Daily Mail reported.
It comes as Trump’s approval ratings have sunk to an all-time low for either of his terms in the run-up to the Nov. 3 poll, while Democrats are approaching a double-digit lead in the race for control of the House and Senate.
Acra, who works in the White House’s travel office, faced a wave of scrutiny after she was spotted trying to keep the press away from Trump during a trip to Ireland last month.
The White House savaged the media analyst who first shared that clip for referring to her as “another blonde Trump flunkie.” She now plans to move out of D.C. entirely ahead of getting married in the near future.
Trump’s press operation has lost a quarter of its senior staff since the start of August. Acra’s departure follows that of Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, who’s since moved to MAGA Inc., the president’s powerful super PAC.
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Other high-profile losses over the past several weeks include Deputy Chief of Staff James Blair, who joins Leavitt at MAGA Inc., along with Director of Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and White House Chief Counsel David Warrington.
Acra was spotted trying to shield the president from press in Ireland.
Overall turnover among senior Executive Office officials since the start of Trump’s second term has meanwhile reached 56 percent as of the end of September, according to the Mail. That’s 16 percentage points higher than the rate throughout Joe Biden’s first two years in office, and the highest rate under any president since Ronald Reagan almost 40 years ago.
“The original coalition fell apart; there’s cracks in the [Make America Healthy Again] movement and the anti-war MAGA base,” a former member of the administration told the Mail on Thursday. “A lot of people don’t like the direction this administration is headed between the Iran war and increasing prices.”
Ecra, right, departs the White House after Leavitt, left, also quit in August.
White House
Trump’s approval ratings have plummeted to 32 percent, the lowest of either term, while Democrats have amassed a 9-point lead.
“There’s a very real concern that the midterms will not turn out good for Republicans,” a former administration official told the Mail of the mood in the White House. Another was even more blunt: “Once Nov. 3 hits, it’s Armageddon, and everyone’s out.”
Top Trump staffers aren’t alone in those concerns. The president made ending messy foreign military entanglements and boosting the economy two key pledges of his 2024 campaign. He’s since started a war with Iran that has driven gas prices to record levels and further increased already widespread inflation.
Voters have consistently ranked that conflict and cost-of-living concerns as chief anxieties going into the November midterms.
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment on this story.
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