White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles attends a dinner hosted by U.S. President Trump in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., September 2, 2026.
Lara McDowell of The Daily Tar Heel argues that the women in President Donald Trump’s administration have enabled and participated in his campaign of terror. McDowell argues in her op-ed that women in Trump's administration should not automatically receive sympathy or be celebrated as symbols of feminist progress because of their career achievements and being women in power. Instead, she says women in Trump’s orbit, such as Usha Vance, Kimberly Guilfoyle, and Susie Wiles, have used their influence to uphold the same patriarchal and exclusionary systems that historically kept women out of power.
The women McDowell listed, she says, have their own controversies and counterproductive behaviors to a progressive society. She notes that Second Lady Usha Vance, despite being an educated Yale University law graduate, was raised by a biologist, but works under a president who has been accused of sexual misconduct. Ousted ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle was axed for alleged political corruption. Former Chief of Staff Susie Wiles spent years at the epicenter of the administration’s power, helping shape its agenda, direct its course, and execute the very policies now defining its legacy. McDowell says these women are co-conspirators.
Whether they were exiled from Trump’s camp and left to sink from the fallout, McDowell says they do not deserve sympathy, nor are they victims of the system they helped to enforce. “Their identity as women, no matter how many “first” boxes they check, does not negate the weight of their choices,” McDowell writes. She argues that women in Trump’s world chose power over being a woman, even to the detriment of other women.
Even the aesthetic of the women who work for Trump, McDowell says, is going against the grain and is conformist. “First coined “Mar-a-Lago face” and now more colloquially known as the general “MAGA-face,” the aspiration for an infinite fountain of youth within the fascist expectation of perfection and control has manifested in smoothed skin, overfilled facial features, and uncanny valley expressions. Rather than mock their appearances, we should instead scrutinize what led them to botch their faces — what did they lose in subjecting themselves to the MAGA mold? What did they gain, personally, politically, and systemically?” she asks.
McDowell says the women in Trump’s circle have not benefited from their allegiance to him. Instead, she says the men have gained the most. Consider the laws in place, such as the overturning of Roe v. Wade, which stripped women of their autonomy. “While these women and their superiors continue to escalate the fascist game, our pity for its players absolves them of their blame and the critique they deserve for how they wield their power,” McDowell asserts.