Trump's MAGA beauty standards 'exhausting' for press secretary, female staffers

Martha Ross, The Mercury News on Aug 17, 2026

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Women working in Donald Trump’s White House were not surprised that press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced last week she was leaving her job — and they don’t think it was just because she wants to spend time with her young children.

In an interview with the Daily Mail, several anonymous White House employees spoke of the pressure that Leavitt, executive assistant Natalie Harper and other female staffers are under to adhere daily to a “MAGA perfect” standard of beauty that requires a lot of time, energy and money. The beauty routine can involve daily hair blow-outs, time at the gym and regular Botox treatments — on top of long hours and being available to a famously demanding president 24 hours a day, every day of the week.

“You have to be exceptional at your job, which is a given, but if you’re a woman you have to look a certain way, dress a certain way and be available 24/7, because this is a president who barely sleeps,” one “burned-out” White House staffer told the Daily Mail.

“Add to that the pressure of a family at home, and it’s no wonder so many of us flame out,” the employee said.

It’s perhaps no coincidence that six women from Trump’s inner circle have left since January, according to the Daily Mail. These women include Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, Attorney General Pam Bondi and Homeland Security chief Kristi Noem.

Noem, especially, became known for adopting the MAGA aesthetic, which also has been likened to the ideal embodied by Barbie dolls. Starting in Trump’s first term, his oldest daughter and senior White House adviser Ivanka Trump often had Barbie-related monikers attached to her. Noem, meanwhile, was dubbed “ICE Barbie” during her 14-month tenure, because of her habit of pairing her cascading hair and heavy makeup with uniformed bullet-proof vests while joining in Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations.

This pressure on female White House staffers to adopt this look has came up since Leavitt’s announcement, the Daily Mail reported. While Trump’s “formidable press secretary” said she wanted to devote herself full-time to being a mother to her two young children, including to a daughter who was born in May, the Daily Mail suggested that she may not miss having to constantly live up to the idea of being a “MAGA glamazon.”

As Trump rose to power in politics, the women around him — including his wife Melania and daughter Ivanka — became known for adopting an ultra-feminine appearance that’s become a recognizable aesthetic among pro-Trump women. That generally means having cascading hair and wearing heavy make-up, as cultural critics at Mother Jones, the New York Times and other news outlets observed. MAGA woman also generally aspire to puffed-up lips, slim figures and long legs, which can mean getting surgical enhancements, spending time at the gym and carefully watching what they eat.

Critics of Trump say his ideas about female appearance stem from his misogyny. Trump likes attractive, “subservient” women in his orbit who lavish him with praise, according to Anthony Scaramucci, who famously served as the president’s communications director during his first term.

“Remember, people are transactions to Donald Trump—they’re not people,” Scaramucci told author Nell Scovell and host Joanna Coles on the Daily Beast podcast, explaining that the president sees the women around him as “transactions in his field of vision.”

Looking a certain way to please Trump can be especially challenging for younger aides who don’t make a lot of money, but who are still expected to pay for professional wardrobes and styling, the Daily Mail reported. “Most of the women at the White House get their hair blown out at least twice a week before work and then there is pressure to go to the gym and dress well,” a legal source said.

Supporters of Trump told the Daily Mail he’s not wrong to demand “a certain level of professionalism and beauty” because he’s a businessman and “has always believed that you need to dress to impress.”

These defenders also say Trump himself doesn’t “force these women to have 6 a.m. blow-outs or get plastic surgery or go on weight-loss drugs.” The source said the women do what they can to impress their boss.

“They get the Botox and fillers because the White House is a competitive place,” the source said. “Everyone is vying for his attention. He’s the President of the United States, for God’s sake.”