The incoming president, who once bragged about hiring the best people to work with him, assembled a cadre of key staff members who were sworn in on January 22, 2017.
These, it seemed, were the survivors of a Darwinian contest who had proved that they were exceptional choices to fill their assigned positions.
By our analysis, of the 23 people sworn in that day whom we could identify, nine remain or have not planned to leave. (One, Andrew Bremberg, was reported to be planning an exit in November but is still in his position.)
The reasons for the departures vary.
Some have been forced out by scandal, including national security adviser Michael Flynn and staff secretary Rob Porter.
Some have been fired, including Omarosa Manigault and chief of staff Reince Priebus. Others have left because of disagreements with the President, such as Cohn and press secretary Sean Spicer, who left after the hiring of Anthony Scaramucci.
We appear to be in a boom time for departures.
Beginning with the resignation of Porter one month ago, three others have announced their departures: Reed Cordish, who was leading the president's technology initiatives; communications director Hope Hicks; and Cohn.
That's the most departures in a one-month period since Trump took office.
And it includes departures only from that core team at the White House sworn in on Jan. 22.
It excludes, for example, Josh Raffel, a key communications staff member for Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump.
