The job of White House press secretary has never been an easy one. The person filling this role has to be the second-most visible face of an administration, after the president, answering questions from the media on virtually any topic on a weekly basis.

Under Donald Trump, though, the job takes on a whole new level of difficulty, because his press secretary has to make sure they survive the onslaught of the media while also never contradicting the often bizarre and ridiculous pronouncements the President makes on a daily basis.

A normal press secretary has to defend the policy decisions of their boss, the scandals of their colleagues, and the occasional gaffe on a hot mic. Trump’s press secretaries have to explain why the President appeared to tell the public to inject themselves with bleach (a reference to Trump questioning publicly whether disinfectants could be injected treat Covid – Trump later claimed this was sarcasm), defend his endless claims that he won the 2020 election, shrug off endless questions about the Trump family’s business practises, and explain Trump’s social media posts.

Perhaps, then, it’s no surprise that Karoline Leavitt – the current press secretary – is leaving the job at the end of the month. Somewhat oddly, given Leavitt talks to the media for a living, her departure was announced by Trump himself via Truth Social.

Trump, who values loyalty above absolutely everything else, is often scathing about people who leave his service – but he showered Leavitt with praise even as he announced her exit. Describing her as one of his “most trusted aides”, he explained her departure would be so she could “spend more time with her beautiful young children and family”, promising she would be “one of my top outside advisors” and “an influential voice within the Republican Party”.

That is an unusual level of gratitude from Trump, a man not known for such kindnesses. Leavitt has been exactly the kind of press secretary the President wanted: a strong communicator, a natural TV presence, possessed of a sharpness and confidence that belies the fact she’s only 28. But it may also reflect the importance of Leavitt and the press secretary role to Trump himself.

We might be living in the internet age, but Trump is the reality TV President. He would not be President without the magic of television, and television is very much how Trump himself hears about the world – profile after profile discusses how he spends hours every day watching Fox News, sometimes phoning in or texting its hosts, often discussing the performance of members of his team while they’re on TV.

In Trumpworld, there are few sins greater than being bad on television – one of which being disagreeing with Trump while on air. Whoever is in the press secretary role, then, is in one of the jobs across the whole government that Trump cares the most about and pays the most attention to.

That can be a source of trouble. Within hours of Trump taking the presidential oath for the first time in 2017, it became obvious the job of his press secretary would be different from those who went before him.

Trump’s inauguration had been sparsely attended, partly due to bad weather, and partly because the city of Washington DC is extremely liberal and not naturally filled with Trump supporters. The President, though, wanted the world to know he had attracted a record-breaking crowd – even though a quick glance at any of the many crowd photos indicate otherwise.

Trump’s first press secretary, Sean Spicer, dutifully stepped out in front of the press for one of his very first briefings in his new job, and making bald assertions about the record-breaking crowds – surely suspecting that the people in front of him wouldn’t believe him for a second.

Spicer did exactly what Trump wanted, but he looked acutely uncomfortable doing it. He didn’t last. Within six months, he was out of the job, and Trump cycled through four different press secretaries in his first term alone.

Leavitt, though, was different. Blonde, thin, attractive, and willing to say whatever the President wanted her to say, Leavitt seemed utterly shameless at the lectern. Even when confronted with documents from the Epstein files, Leavitt would either shrug off the facts in front of her face, or else angrily attack the media. The Epstein files prove “absolutely nothing”, she would say, “other than the fact that President Trump did nothing wrong”.

As he settles into old age, Trump is becoming increasingly dependent on the younger staff around him. Leavitt has defended him in public, while his executive assistant Natalie Harp constantly soothes the President by passing him printed-out tweets from his supporters and fans when he’s in a bad mood – as well as passing him printed drafts of his own social posts to approve.

With Leavitt’s departure, Trump is losing his most visible public defender, but also one of his comfort blankets, someone upon whom he has come to depend. He is doing so just months before the midterms, which could be a catastrophic embarrassment, and one that gives Democrats the power to turn up the heat on his administration.

Trump is approaching the twilight of his presidency, and the diminishing of his power. Leavitt’s departure could be the first of many. Trump is not just becoming increasingly vulnerable. He may soon also find himself increasingly alone.