The White House women who’ve got Trump’s back

WASHINGTON — For Sarah Huckabee Sanders, chaos in President Donald Trump’s White House has proven to be a ladder.

Not that she would call it that.

Just days after she replaced Sean Spicer as press secretary in July — a job she’d been moonlighting in for months — Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci was also out the door.

It looked like an administration in turmoil, but Sanders faced the press corps with a smile.

“If you want to see chaos, come to my house with three preschoolers. This doesn’t hold a candle to that,” Sanders said. “Just to be clear, that’s not an open invitation to come to my house. But if you guys want to schedule babysitting time, I’ll be happy to work that out.”

The laughter from the White House reporters was an early indicator of cooler, less contentious briefings to come as women ascended in a White House communications office that had seen unprecedented turnover and no shortage of drama in the early days of Trump’s term.

For the first time in any administration, two women are now in command of its top public-facing roles — press secretary (Sanders) and communications director (Hope Hicks). And thanks to another recent hire — Mercedes Schlapp as a senior communications strategist — women now make up 62 percent of Trump’s small but nimble press operation.

They say it makes a difference.