WASHINGTON — President Trump bypassed his White House chief of staff last week in selecting Katie Zacharia as his press secretary and chief messenger, triggering days of scathing headlines about her credentials and abilities before her ignominious resignation on Friday.
Susie Wiles, that senior-most aide ostensibly in charge of the president’s team, is facing his scrutiny over a different set of problems: widespread public anxiety over corruption in government under the Trump administration. The issue has surpassed the economy as the top concern of voters entering next month’s election, according a Fox News poll released this week.
Marco Rubio, the president’s secretary of state and national security advisor, has been silent on Trump’s decision to cut a deal with Moscow on diesel sales that could fuel Russia’s war against Ukraine. The president’s poll numbers have been below water across the board, but especially so on foreign policy, where over two-thirds of Americans disapprove of his job performance and support Kyiv’s fight for freedom.
President Trump’s senior aides walk to board Air Force One Tuesday at Joint Base Andrews, Md. From left: Natalie Harp, Trump’s executive assistant; Walt Nauta, director of Oval Office operations (wearing sunglasses); Chief of Staff Susie Wiles; and Press Secretary Katie Zacharia, who resigned Friday.
(Alex Wong / Getty Images)
And on Thursday, the president was forced to reverse course set out by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and the Pentagon to live-stream the execution of a convicted mass shooter by firing squad.
In the final stretch of the 2026 midterms, nearly two weeks out from Election Day, a White House that has enjoyed relative stability over the past two years has returned to the state of disarray that characterized much of Trump’s early political career, anticipating sweeping losses to Democrats in the House and Senate.
Staff upheaval is expected as officials brace for a blame game over Republican performance, with some distancing themselves from a fading political movement.
Polls suggest that Republicans are likely to lose control of the House, setting up two years of relentless congressional probes through the twilight of the Trump era, and could even flip the Senate, winning in ruby red states from Ohio to Alaska.
It is historically a time for closing arguments, when politicians deliver their final pitches to voters in neat, disciplined packages.
Yet Trump’s campaign blitz across the country in recent weeks has generated a muddled message, dismissing the importance of the election itself at risk of depressing Republican votes, overshadowing local candidates seeking distance from his record and touting an economy unrecognizable to most Americans.
President Trump on the South Lawn of the White House on Tuesday, followed by Press Secretary Katie Zacharia, who resigned Friday after five days on the job.
(Win McNamee / Getty Images)
The president’s selection of Zacharia, who lasted just five days on the job, raised fresh questions about his message discipline in the final stretch.
And infighting within the White House has reinforced a narrative among political pundits that Democratic gains are a fait accompli, despite Zacharia, in her first and only press briefing, foretelling of Republican energy and excitement “never seen before in the history of midterms thanks to President Trump.”
Election officials across the country fear that, anticipating inevitable losses, Trump may be laying the ground to challenge the authenticity of the election results themselves.
“You know, this is the only guy that — it’s ‘promises made, promises kept,’ but he did more things than he promised,” Trump said Thursday, referring to himself in the third person. “I think we did. We did much more than we promised.”
The extent of the coming West Wing shakeup could be extensive, reaching into a cabinet that has had far less turnover than Trump experienced in his first term.
Zacharia is the second senior official forced out by Trump in just three days, after Kimberly Guilfoyle, the former fiancé of one of Trump’s sons who served as U.S. ambassador to Greece, was revealed by the Wall Street Journal to have asked a Trump donor to pay off her $100,000 credit card bill.
Now, the president has begun asking political allies and donors about Wiles’ job performance, according to a recent Politico report, and several top administration officials are vying for her role anticipating her resignation after the elections next month.
The conclusion of the midterms will also kick off the start of the 2028 presidential election season, when Republican hopefuls — including many from Trump’s cabinet — are expected to launch exploratory committees.
British Defense Secretary Wes Streeting and U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth stand for anthems at the Pentagon on Thursday.
(Finn Gomez / Getty Images)
“We have to get through the midterms first,” Trump said at the end of August, asked about Hegseth reportedly considering a run. “I bet there’s a lot of people considering it that you don’t know about. You have a lot of people.”
The party of incumbent presidents regularly loses seats in midterm elections, and it is common for presidents to shake up their staffs halfway through a term.
But the last time a term-limited Republican president faced voters in midterm elections, in 2006, Democrats swept into power in both houses of Congress — and President George W. Bush’s political capital never recovered.
That year, 37% of voters said they approved of Bush’s job performance. Polls published this month by AP and Reuters have found Trump already below that threshold.
In the GOP presidential primaries that followed, candidates jockeying to replace Bush distanced themselves from his legacy. He ultimately left office with an approval rating of 25%.
