It’s Caddyshack meets The West Wing: the man who started his career as Donald Trump’s caddie is now in charge of arguably the most influential White House office.
Dan Scavino was 16 when he first met Trump at Briar Hall County Club and attended to the future president’s every golfing need.
“I’ll never forget the day his limo first pulled up,” Scavino said years later of that moment in 1990. “I remember his first gratuity. It was two bills—two $100 bills. I said, ‘I am never spending this money.’ I still have both bills.”
Now, Axios has reported that the president’s longest-serving aide will take over as director of the White House Presidential Personnel Office, which is tasked with staffing the second Trump administration.
Dan Scavino (R) looks on during a cabinet meeting in February, along with Stephen Miller. Scavino met Trump when he was a caddy in Westchester County, New York, in the early 90s. Brian Snyder/REUTERS
Scavino is taking over for Sergio Gor, a close Trump confidante who helped fuel the Trump-Elon Musk breakup earlier this year by axing Musk’s chosen nominee to lead NASA.
A source briefed on the hire told Axios that Scavino will “scrutinize the current staff and personnel changes that happen as the office transitions to a new leadership and structure.”
The PPO gig is the latest step up the Trump ladder for Scavino, who ran Trump National Golf Club in Westchester, New York, and whose first job in politics was running social media operations for the president’s 2016 campaign.
As social media don, he approved the posting of a Hillary Clinton meme that was roundly criticized for trumpeting anti-Semitic tropes. Other than that snafu, he described his role to CNN in 2016 as largely one in which he learned about the president’s tweets after they happened.
Dan Scavino (L), along with former White House Communications Chief Hope Hicks and top advisor Stephen Miller. Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty
Scavino went on to serve as Director of Social Media and Senior Advisor within the first Trump White House, where he gained a reputation as Trump’s closest confidante outside of his family.
“He can really be a very good sounding board,” Trump told Politico about Scavino in 2019. When trying to gauge the popularity of policies such as his withdrawal of troops from Syria, Trump would turn to the longtime loyalist.
He isn’t the only prominent figure in the second administration to have earned his role through a chance golf encounter: Trump reportedly met Alina Habba, his one-time personal lawyer and the embattled acting U.S. Attorney for New Jersey, while she was sunbathing in a bikini at a Trump golf course in New Jersey.
🚨MASSIVE: President Trump has tapped Dan Scavino to take charge of ALL Executive Branch hiring.
This puts him in charge of overseeing around 5 million people across the branch.
From starting as Trump’s 16-year-old caddie to standing by him through impeachments, FBI raids,… pic.twitter.com/L9Kya7TlY3
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) August 26, 2025
Since the start of the second administration, Scavino has served as Deputy Chief of Staff and is also a member of the board at the Kennedy Center, which has become enmeshed in controversy since Trump sacked its former board members in February.
He is rumored to have beaten out another candidate who is more high-profile but also much more polarizing in the Trump White House: Laura Loomer.
The right-wing scalp-taker had said it would be an “honor” to serve in the administration if offered, but the president seemed to take a more conservative approach rather than swing for the MAGA fences.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
