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Elaine Chao was one of the last few Trump-administration longtimers left gaping at the horror of January 6the now infamous day when a supporter of the 45th President stormed into the US Capitol wearing horns and face paint and sat in the Vice Presidents chair in the Senate chamber; a fellow Trump loyalist was killed as she tried to breach the House chamber; and hundreds of other so-called patriots marauded through the building in the name of Making America Great Again after maiming police officers outside. Widely viewed as an experienced voice of conservative reason when confirmed as Secretary of Transportation in 2017, Chao had outlasted many colleagues who jumped off the Trump train well before the Capitol insurrection. It wasnt the first time she had stuck it out in a controversial administration. After heading the Labor Department through the entirety of George W. Bushs tenure, she was rewarded with a board seat at Dole Food Company, and later News Corp. and Wells Fargo, with a payout from the latter reported to potentially hit $5 million. But this time, her loyalty seems to have come with complications.

Although she resigned in protest on January 7, until very recently Chaos only publicized post-Trump gig was a slot at the right-leaning Hudson Institute; in late June, she was named to the board of a maker of self-driving truck technology. Her association with Trump, along with an inspector generals finding that she used agency resources to help her wealthy familys shipping business, will mess with her ability to get on the board of a Fortune 500 company, says a former Republican strategist: They need people with pristine reputations.

Such has been the fate of the Always Trumpers who stayed until the cataclysmic end, or at least through the 2020 election. Whereas a number of insiders who got out early found their way in the private sector, seven months out from the transition, the die-hards are still branded with a scarlet T. Trump attorney general Bill Barrs former firm, Kirkland & Ellis, has not rehired him, compared with Covington & Burling, where Barack Obamas AG Eric Holder returned as partner. And while Colin Powell joined the venture-capital firm Kleiner Perkins and accepted multiple board seats, including at the Council on Foreign Relations, after he was Secretary of State under Bush, Mike Pompeo is doing Fox News hits and serving as a fellow at the Hudson Institute. (I guess he could go to the MyPillow board, the former GOP strategist quips.)

Some Trumpies were never considered terribly qualified to begin with. (See: press sec Stephanie Grisham, adviser Hope Hicks.) As for others, if they were really Trump boosters, they knew what they were getting into, says Doug Heye, a former communications director for the RNC and top aide to exGOP majority leader Eric Cantor. This is the natural progression of the orbit that theyre in. They werent necessarily expecting gigs with a Washington or Wall Street imprimatur, the theory goes, because they saw their future in the land of Keeping America Great.

Still, the stain of January 6 is making post-administration life harder than usual for former powerbrokers who could otherwise expect softer landings. The publishing industry has faced open revolt from its own authors who petitioned to keep Trumpers from cashing in on tell-all memoirs. After Mike Pences $3-million-plus, two-book deal with Simon & Schuster went public, the company was hit with a petition signed by more than 200 employees and 3,500 supporters (including its own authors) calling for the deal to be killed. Three months earlieron January 7S&S had canned a slated book by Missouri GOP senator Josh Hawley, who had sought to overturn Joe Bidens election.

Out of the public eye, meanwhile, other institutions are redlining Trumpers who endorsed the former Presidents stolen-election claims. The Council on Foreign Relations, the bipartisan think tank with a long embrace of administration formers, has four exTrump political appointees from Treasury and State (including former ambassador to India Kenneth Juster) serving as fellows and hasnt received any blowback. If we did get pushback, we would be prepared to defend our decisions . . . with the quality of their scholarship and the depth and range of their experience, a council spokesperson says. But its highly unlikely we would hire someone in any capacity who was promoting the factually incorrect idea that the election was stolen.

Sean Spicer and Reince Priebus were fellows at Harvards Kennedy School of Government despite their Trump ties, but when New York congresswoman Elise Stefanik became a congressional figurehead of the stolen-election movement, the institution removed her from a committee.

Will the ostracism last? Some are convinced there will never come a moment of forgive-and-forget for the Trump 2020 crowd. Anybody who knew [the President] and still thought it was a good idea for him to be in the Oval Office, says the former GOP strategist, they either have utterly broken judgment or were solely interested in advancing their own interests independent of what the national interest should have been.

But others believe the 2022 midterms will be a tell. If theres a red wave and Trumpers are newly empowered, K Street would come to see a lot more value in, say, a former congressman turned Trump chief of staff like Mark Meadows who could play nice with the incoming leadership. Proximity to power is a great way to launder a reputation.

Veep, 201721

Settling into his new 10,000-square-foot home north of Indianapolis, making moves for a 2024 run. Writing two books in a $3-million-plus deal. Launched the Trump-backed Advancing American Freedom, a dark-money political group. Distinguished visiting fellow at the Heritage Foundation. Planning to podcast.

Speechwriter and senior adviser to the President, 201721

Launched America First Legal, an ACLU-style conservative legal watchdog created to challenge Biden-administration initiatives in conflict with Trumpian agendas. Reportedly living in Arlington, though still owns his CityCenter condo in DC; has been spotted at Cafe Milano with wife Katie Miller.

White House Chief of staff, 202021

On the board of Millers legal organization; senior partner at the Conservative Partnership Institute, an advocacy group/think tank founded by former senator Jim DeMint. Still has his Alexandria condo.

Office of Management and Budget director and other appointments, 201821

Founded the Center for Renewing America think tank to fight critical race theory in schools, voting-rights expansion, and Big Tech. Part of Millers legal watchdog and Pences political group.

White House legislative director, 2017-18; chief of staff to the VP, 201921

Co-chair of Pences political group. Cofounded his own group (the Coalition to Protect American Workers), which is buying ads to fight the Biden tax agenda and tax hikes on businesses.

VPs communications director and other appointments, 201721

Popping up on the right-wing airwaves recently, flacking as comms director for the Coalition to Protect American Workers, Shorts new group.

Assistant to the President (Office of American Innovation) 201820; Acting director, Domestic Policy Council, 202021

Founded the America First Policy Institute to promote the Trump agenda. The new think tank has put a bunch of Trumpies to work.

UN ambassador, 201718

Founded a dark-money group that focuses on border security, tax reform, and other pet issues for conservatives. Recently met with the ousted Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel and sparked outcry after referring to him as prime minister on Twitter. Expected to go for the Oval in 2024 . . . as long as her ex-boss doesnt run.

Acting deputy secretary of Homeland Security and other appointments, 201921

Representing congressmen Louie Gohmert and Andrew Clyde in a lawsuit challenging new security measures in the House. Leading an initiative to prevent expansion of the Supreme Court and push for states rights when it comes to voting laws.

Counselor to the President, 201720

Her pitch for a tell-allwhich may even include juice about the domestic dramas that dominated her latter years in powerreportedly snagged a multimillion-dollar advance from a conservative imprint at Simon & Schuster. Adviser for Ohio Senate candidate Bernie Moreno, a car dealer. Has registered a consulting business in DC with cousin Giovanna Pence.

Attorney general, 201920

Formerly of counsel at Kirkland & Ellis, Barr isnt back to billing by the hour for the firm but reportedly has a deal (with an unspecified publisher) for a memoir about his time heading DOJ.

White House communications director, 201718; counselor to the President, 202021

Though she had a stint as a Fox News executive vice president after her first White House departure, shes been off the grid since her second exit this past January.

White House Press secretary and other appointments, 201721

The first press sec in history never to hold a press conference, she was largely invisible to the public while on the job . . . the same as now.

Advisers to the President, 201721

Serving out their exile from the Acela corridor in a waterfront condo in Surfside, Florida, about an hour south of Dad and two blocks away from the condo building that recently collapsed. Reportedly informal advisers to Brooke Rollinss new think tank. Jared just landed a deal for a tell-all that a conservative imprint at HarperCollins will publish in 2022.

An unscientific ranking of Trumpie book deals by payout, sales, and publisher prestige

1. John Bolton $2 millionplus advance

2. Mike Pence* $3 millionplus advance

3. Kellyanne Conway* multimillion-dollar advance

4. Anonymous/Miles Taylor

5. Cliff Sims seven-figure advance

6. Jared Kushner* seven-figure advance

7. Nikki Haley

8. Sarah Huckabee Sanders

9. H.R. McMaster

10. Omarosa Manigault Newman

11. Anthony Scaramucci

12. Kayleigh McEnany*

13. Scott Atlas*

14. Mark Meadows*

15. Peter Navarro*

*Not yet published

Surgeon General, 201721

Medical expert/contributor for Wish-TV, an Indianapolis affiliate of the CW network; practicing anesthesiology at OrthoIndy Hospital; a deans fellow at UVAs business school. On the board of an antiviral-drug company banking on a pill to fight Covid.

Secretary of Homeland Security and other appointments, 201719

Founded a consulting firm, Lighthouse Strategies, to advise the tech sector on security threats. Sold her Old Town townhouse and moved to California.

Secretary of Energy, 201719

On the board of LE GP, a Texas-based energy transportation company. (He was on the board of an affiliated firm before coming to DC.) A chairman at Brooke Rollinss America First Policy Institute.

Secretary of Health and Human Services, 201821

Named to the Aspen Institutes Health Strategy Group, ex officio.

Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, 201721

Launched the American Cornerstone Institute think tank and the Think BIG America PAC. Consulting for a biotech (Galectin Therapeutics) thats developing a cirrhosis treatment and recently joined the board of a homebuilding company (D.R. Horton).

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The Trumpies: Where Are They Now? - Washingtonian