Mike Huckabee Says Trump Has ‘Vigor Of A 32-Year-Old,’ And Staff Can’t Keep Up
President Donald Trump’s staff shakeups have been a constant subject of news headlines throughout his presidency, but Mike Huckabee, Newsweek reported, has a simple reason for why there is such a high turnover — people just can’t seem to keep up with the president.
During Fox Business‘s Monday airing of Mornings With Maria on December 17, show host Maria Bartiromo noted the most recent departures from the Trump administration — Chief of Staff John Kelly and Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, whose resignation was announced by the president just this weekend. She did so while also displaying a chart showing the faces of all 35 people that have either resigned, or been fired, from the administration thus far.
Bartiromo turned the subject to her guest for the morning, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, asking him his opinion of the seemingly excessive turnover within the Trump administration.
And while Huckabee did acknowledge that the turnover was “a little higher than normal,” he also noted that there were always going to be transitions within the staff. The former presidential candidate and father of White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders backed his claim by offering two reasons as to why there was so much coming-and-going within President Trump’s staff.
“One, this is a tough president to work for, and not because he’s a difficult person individually, but he is very demanding and very few people can keep up with him,” Huckabee explained. “He may be 72-years-old but he’s got the vigor of somebody who’s about 32-years-old.”
Mike Huckabee says Donald Trump has stamina, vigor of 32-year-old in defense of high administration turnover https://t.co/6tytcDQ4w3 pic.twitter.com/k990p0cCbn
— Newsweek (@Newsweek) December 17, 2018
Huckabee noted that he was “shocked” at the president’s display of stamina while with him on the campaign trail before offering his second reason for the high turnover — the “distraction” of being “under siege.” He explained that the administration is constantly facing attacks, specifically from the Democratic party and members of the press.
“I think people just grow weary of it,” Huckabee offered.
PricewaterhouseCoopers partner Mitch Roschelle followed up on Huckabee’s second point, questioning how difficult it may be to find people to fill the vacant positions with all the scrutiny faced with taking them.
“Yes, they’re going to be reluctant,” Huckabee answered, noting that not only would those coming into the jobs be taking a pay cut from the private sector but would then be under a “level of scrutiny [they’ve] never seen” with their entire lives examined by the press and accusations ranging from “colluding with Russians to doing damage to your pets.”
“It’s unfortunate,” Huckabee concluded. “We’re losing the capacity to get people in public service, whether in elected or appointed positions, and that’s really, really sad.”
