Former Trump staffers are facing a 'job desert' in Washington after the Capitol siege
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- Many of Donald Trump's ex-aides, including some Cabinet secretaries, are struggling to find new Washington jobs, The Washington Post reported.
- Some, including former HUD Secretary Ben Carson and former adviser Stephen Miller, have opted to start their own organizations.
- One Trump world insider told The Post he's seen "many, many people" lose job offers following the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
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Many of former President Donald Trump's ex-aides who've decided to stick around in the swamp are having a hard time finding new gigs.
Ever since the January 6 siege of the Capitol by Trump loyalists, former administration of all levels, including Cabinet secretaries, are struggling to score the lucrative or prestigious Washington jobs they'd hoped would be waiting for them post-Trump, The Washington Post reported.
Matt Schlapp, the chairman of the American Conservative Union who's raked in millions lobbying the Trump White House, told The Post that former Trump staffers are radioactive in DC, at least for now. Schlapp said former President George W. Bush's staffers faced a "jobs desert" after Bush left office as a deeply unpopular president, "but even that was nothing compared to what Trump/Pence people are finding themselves in today."
He added, "If I had a dollar for every time someone in Washington said to me, hey, I'm really looking to hire someone for X job, but they can't have worked for the Trump administration, I'd have a great sum of money."
Armstrong Williams, a Trump world insider, told The Post that he's seen "many, many people" lose job offers following the Capitol riot.
"I helped a very high-ranking Trump official secure a position, but after January 6th it was rescinded," he said.
Higher-profile former Trump aides, including former HUD Secretary Ben Carson and former adviser Stephen Miller, have opted to start their own organizations since January. Carson has founded a conservative think tank called the American Cornerstone Institute and Miller is starting a group to work with Republican Attorneys General on suing President Joe Biden's administration.
But other high-ranking former officials have fled Washington. Former White House Press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders quickly relocated her family to her home state of Arkansas in preparation for her bid for governor. Former Homeland Security chief Kirstjen Nielsen sold her DC home and moved out of town, The Post reported.
Still others, including former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, former chief of staff John Kelly, and former National Security Adviser John Bolton, have publicly criticized the former president, particularly following the Capitol siege.
But it's unclear how long the corporate and establishment distaste for Trump world will continue.