Fox’s Ingraham rejects characterization of White House turnover as chaos: ‘That’s called smart staffing’

Fox News host Laura Ingraham said late Tuesday that multiple resignations and firings of top Trump administration officials isn’t a sign of chaos in the White House, but “smart staffing.”  

“Since last summer, the president has been slowly getting his team together,” Ingraham said during her opening monologue. “Think about it: He hired general John Kelly as his chief of staff. He moved Sarah [Huckabee] Sanders in as press secretary. He moved Tom Price out and Alex Azar in as secretary of HHS [Health and Human Services] and I’m sure there is going to be a lot more changes to come.”

“That’s not chaos. That’s called smart staffing,” she continued. “He has been in the White House just over, what, 13 months or so? And now Trump knows what he needs in his closest staff and the Cabinet, too.”

Her commentary came hours after the president fired Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.

Tillerson’s spokesman, Steven Goldstein, was also fired on Tuesday for contradicting the White House account of Trump’s firing of Tillerson, saying the secretary of State was caught flat-footed by the announcement. It was later announced on Tuesday that Heather Nauert, who had served as the State Department spokeswoman, had been named as Goldstein’s replacement. Nauert is a former Fox News anchor and host.

Other departures in the past month alone have included the resignation of communications director Hope Hicks, senior economic adviser Gary Cohn and Trump’s personal assistant, John McEntee. 

“He might not do everything the button-down, traditional way — well, that’s for sure. But he is hitting his stride and he is getting a really strong team in place,” Ingraham said. “Think about it this way: When a player isn’t performing on the field or on the court, a good coach benches him. And when that same player is a consistent drag on the team, well, a good coach is going to trade him or just let him go entirely. And that’s precisely what Trump did. And he should do the same with anyone else who seems pained to support his agenda.” 

Ingraham, who also hosts a nationally-syndicated radio talk show, was reportedly once considered to be one of Trump’s top choices for White House press secretary before the job was eventually awarded to former Republican National Committee spokesman Sean Spicer.