“THIS IS HOW IT STARTS.” — RACHEL MADDOW REVEALS THE RESIGNATIONS THAT SENT T.RUM.P’S WHITE HOUSE INTO PANIC
As poll numbers crater and health care costs explode, Rachel Maddow traces the moment T.rum.p’s own allies began walking away.

Not leaks. Not rumors. Resignations.

The kind that only happen when an administration knows the collapse is coming — and is already trying to outrun it.

“This Is How It Starts.” — Rachel Maddow on the Moment the Trump White House Began to Fracture

In a recent segment, Rachel Maddow argued that the unraveling of Donald Trump’s White House did not begin with a single scandal or election loss, but with a quieter, more telling signal: the steady resignation of insiders who once defended the administration. According to Maddow, these departures marked the point at which private doubts turned into public exits. As advisers, policy staff, and agency leaders chose to leave rather than stay on, the image of a unified and confident presidency began to erode.

Maddow placed these resignations against a backdrop of worsening political and economic pressures. Poll numbers were sliding, legislative promises—particularly on health care—were faltering, and costs for many Americans continued to rise. Inside the administration, she suggested, loyalty was being tested by a growing sense that governing had given way to crisis management. Each resignation, while often explained as routine or personal, added to a perception of instability that could not be easily dismissed.

The broader point of Maddow’s analysis was less about any single individual and more about momentum. Administrations, she noted, often appear strongest until the moment they don’t—when allies start to calculate distance instead of defense. “This is how it starts,” she said, describing a familiar pattern in political history: panic does not announce itself loudly at first; it shows up in empty offices, farewell memos, and the sudden absence of once-reliable voices.

Maddow warns: this isn’t a bad week.
It’s the opening crack in a system coming apart — with MAGA now turning on itself.