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The “MAGA Barbie” Redecorating the State Department

Erin Elmore, the former ‘Apprentice’ contestant now running the Art in Embassies program, has transformed her vanity appointment—and close relationship with the Trumps—into a political weapon, defenestrating ambassadors and threatening to primary anyone who gets in her way.

Erin Elmore
Elmore, like many of the women in Trump’s orbit, got her start on reality TV. A young attorney with a law degree from Villanova, she met Trump when she was on Season 3 of The Apprentice, back in 2005. She was eventually “fired,” but remained a Trump acolyte, even as she went on to other gigs, like hosting at QVC, the 24/7 shopping network. Photo: Jemal Countess/Getty Images
Julia Ioffe
January 29, 2026

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On the evening of April 15, 2025, Erin Elmore, a Trump appointee who runs the Art in Embassies program at the State Department, received a frantic call. Florida Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, a conspiracy theorist who has talked extensively about her belief in aliens,had just arrived in Romania on a CODEL, and she was shocked by what she had seen: “satanic baby art” on the walls of the American ambassador’s residence in Bucharest.