President Donald Trump started his second term with a Cabinet that included seven women—a decent number. Men had some of the highest-profile Cabinet positions like Pete Hegseth as secretary of war and Marco Rubio as secretary of state, but women were definitely part of MAGA 2.0.
Just over a year later, fewer than half of those women remain. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Attorney General Pam Bondi, and Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer have all left their posts over the past three months—and now, so has Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard.
Gabbard announced her resignation on Friday, citing the need to care for her husband, who she said has been diagnosed with a rare bone cancer.
But in the months leading up to her resignation, Gabbard had been repeatedly sidelined from national security decisions. As CNN reported, when Trump’s national security team watched operations in Venezuela, Gabbard was in Hawaii. And when Trump launched strikes on Iran, Gabbard was in Washington with other Cabinet members—but Trump was at Mar-a-Lago with his CIA director, chairman of the join chiefs, and Hegseth. The Guardian reported that Trump had been polling Cabinet members in recent weeks about whether he should replace Gabbard; he was reportedly upset that she protected a deputy who had opposed his war in Iran.
