Veterans of the Trump administration are being turned away in droves from Washington jobs that normally go to people with White House experience, BuzzFeed News reports.
The report, sourced to "10 current and former administration officials, top recruiters, and lobbyists" says that people who worked in the Trump White House are "toxic" and that companies are worried about legal drama. One public affairs firm that employs both Democrats and Republicans says it will not touch any former Trump aides because of "reputational risk."
“It's going to be more challenging than ever before for folks coming out of the White House,” a recruiter told BuzzFeed. “There seems to be more of a visceral reaction — there's no question that's true.”
People who had not worked in politics before working on Trump's outsider campaign have it harder than Republicans who worked for their party's leader, the report says. Working for Trump hurts their resume, but if they have previous experience that might get them a job.
“A lot of the people in the White House don’t realize how tight the market is right now for their services,” a former White House official told the site. “Any job they can hope to get on the outside will have to be because of their work before being in the White House.”
More troubling, Republicans who are in the middle of their career say they will not work for Trump because it could hurt their prospects going forward. Which means Trump's pledge to have "all the best people" is unlikely to ever come true.
Read the full story here.
