https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/2026/05/women-leave-trump-cabinet/687322/
https://archive.ph/Ox69J

By Alexandra Petri

I literally cannot think of a worse place to have a feminist awakening than as a member of Donald Trump’s Cabinet, watching the departures of Pam Bondi but not Kash Patel, and Kristi Noem but not Pete Hegseth, and Lori Chavez-DeRemer but not Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Of course, that is not what this is. I would sooner die than have a feminist awakening. Obviously, I am aware of the patriarchy, but I have always believed that I could make it work for me, personally, if I just used the right hair products and smiled more.

I’m just wondering: Do I have a future here? I’m doing everything that everyone else is doing. I have a face. I have a jet. I have incompetence. I shower the president with praise at every Cabinet meeting. (See above.) But where is the ironclad job security, the sense that, no matter what I do, I am still an essential part of the team? Should I be drinking more? Snorkeling more? Both?

I will say I thought that it would be different when I agreed to serve. I thought, Well, this man has no respect for women. But he also has no respect for any type of person! I can build on that. “Put me in, Coach,” I said then.

Now there are just four of us left. I really thought that Tulsi’s willingness to conduct purges, peddle conspiracies, and cast doubt on the integrity of the last election would have endeared her to you more. But I also thought that about Pam.