Kimberly Guilfoyle’s removal did not come as a bolt from the blue in Washington. Marco Rubio may have spoken warmly about her work in Athens just a week earlier, but the reports kept coming, one after another.

What followed were rather lukewarm reactions from both Donald Trump and JD Vance, giving the impression that the clock had started ticking for the resident of Jefferson House in Athens.

What was striking, however, was the speed at which things unfolded and how quickly Trump abandoned someone who was considered one of his own people in Washington.

After all, this is an American president who has built his entire political career on the idea that he does not back down under pressure. He does not easily admit mistakes, and when he comes under attack, he almost always chooses to counterattack.

The Two Factors That Pressured the White House

So what made Trump move so quickly? Two factors appear to have influenced the White House’s calculations.

The first was the risk that the case would become a lasting source of political damage for the president himself, due to the close personal and political ties he had maintained with Guilfoyle for years.

The second had to do with the signs of discontent that had started coming from within his own party, just three weeks before the November midterm elections.

The Revelations, The Wall Street Journal and the Democrats’ Investigations

As for the first factor, Trump may have realized that Guilfoyle staying in Athens could leave him politically vulnerable for much longer than he initially expected. According to The Wall Street Journal, the American president had begun to worry about the damage the repeated revelations were doing to his public image ahead of the elections.

The allegations include, among other things, offering access to government officials in exchange for financial assistance, as well as her ties to specific business interests in Greece. She denies the accusations and disputes the authenticity of the messages that have been made public.

The Democrats, however, have already called for the allegations to be investigated. Gregory Meeks, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, has asked for the State Department’s inspector general to step in, as well as for Guilfoyle to testify under oath before members of the committee.

Given that Republicans face the risk of losing control of the House of Representatives in the November 3 elections, Trump also has to consider what could happen the day after.

If Democrats regain the majority, starting in January they will be able to launch congressional investigations, calling witnesses and demanding documents from the administration. The case could then drag on for months, and it cannot be ruled out that it would keep Washington occupied even until the end of Trump’s second term.

Removing Guilfoyle may therefore have been a way for the president to limit his personal exposure early on in a case whose length and political dimensions he cannot predict.

Cracks in the Republican Party

There was, however, a second reason for the White House to be concerned. This one had to do with the reactions within the Republican Party.

A telling example was the stance of John Barrasso, the second-ranking Republican leader in the Senate, who spoke to CBS on Sunday about the difficulties his party faces ahead of the elections. He described the concerns he was hearing from voters in Wyoming about high diesel prices and defended Trump’s energy policy.

A few minutes later, however, he was asked about Guilfoyle. He called the revelations very troubling and made it clear that the Senate Foreign Relations Committee would look into the case as part of its oversight duties.

In fact, when asked whether he considered it acceptable for a government official to ask for money in exchange for access to administration figures, he said no, before trying to steer the conversation back to the Republicans’ campaign priorities.

The Blow to the Image of the MAGA Movement

Barrasso’s public comments show that the case had begun to cause concern even at the highest levels of the Republican leadership. And it is not hard to understand why.

Guilfoyle is not an unknown diplomat who suddenly found herself in the headlines. She is one of the most recognizable faces of the MAGA movement, with a presence in American political life long before she took up her post in Athens.

It is therefore not a case that can easily be swept under the rug.

Republican lawmakers who are returning to their districts these days and going from rally to rally, in their own version of Greek coffee shops, already have to deal with voters’ concerns about inflation, soaring fuel prices and the war in Iran.

Now they may also find themselves having to answer for allegations that, if proven, are extremely difficult to defend. Especially before a voter base with strong populist and working-class characteristics, such as that of the MAGA movement.

Guilfoyle comes from the very core of the Trump movement, and the allegations against her involve exactly the practices that Trump promised his voters he would eliminate when he spoke about the need to clean up Washington from personal interests and political deal-making.

All these factors may explain why Trump, instead of choosing a fight and defending someone from his inner circle, decided this time to show her the door in short order.

Of course, no one knows for certain what weighed most heavily in his decision. He and his aides may have judged that the allegations alone were serious enough to require Guilfoyle’s removal. But they may have also weighed the political cost of keeping her, both for himself and for his party.

In any case, removing Guilfoyle within a few days was a decision in Trump’s hands. Whether he will manage to close the case as well is something that no longer depends on him alone.