WASHINGTON, D.C. (TIP): President Donald Trump’s first administration had a lot of internal chaos, epitomized by aides and officials getting fired at a rapid rate, sometimes after days on the job. His second administration has the potential to be in even more upheaval.
In recent weeks, Trump has fired his attorney general, his homeland security secretary and, as of this week, the labor secretary and head of the Navy — amid a war with Iran very much taking place by sea. That’s three Cabinet officials in two months, compared with two Cabinet officials leaving the entire first year of his first term. Since March, at least five high-ranking officials have been forced out of their roles or resigned under pressure.
And there are plenty of whispers that Tulsi Gabbard, director of National Intelligence, or Chris Wright, the energy secretary, could be next after they made comments about Iran’s nuclear capabilities or gas prices that Trump felt the need to counter. FBI Director Kash Patel is suing following a report that he engaged in “excessive drinking” and “unexplained absences” while leading the bureau. “Trump’s Cabinet secretaries are dropping like flies,” the Wall Street Journal wrote this week.
Trump has nearly three more years to go. A major difference between Trump’s first and second term is his emphasis now on hiring people who are unquestionably loyal to him.
Outsiders can bring fresh perspective to governing but an administration full of them can create more turnover than one filled with experts, said Julian Zelizer, a Princeton University history professor and editor of a book about Trump’s first term.
Especially when they’re trying to serve a president who has little patience for roadblocks. White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles told Vanity Fair recently that Trump operates with “a view that there’s nothing he can’t do. Nothing, zero, nothing.”
“You have people who aren’t as experienced in politics and don’t know how to survive the turbulence he brings to the Oval Office,” Zelizer said. “Combine that with Trump, who feels vindicated after getting reelected and believes he is stronger than the system, and you get a willingness to get rid of Cabinet officials when he doesn’t want them anymore.”
It’s notable that several officials trying to carry out Trump’s most controversial policies are gone.
Former homeland security secretary Kristi L. Noem was the unapologetic face of Trump’s mass deportation campaign before she was pushed out in March. Former attorney general Pam Bondi led the Justice Department to prosecute Trump’s political enemies — one of the most antidemocratic moves of the Trump administration so far, say many legal experts — before she was pushed out earlier this month. Ousted Navy secretary John Phelan is a billionaire and major donor to Trump.
Their replacements aren’t expected to change much, analysts say, other than trying to be more politically savvy about pushing the president’s agenda, much of which is currently unpopular.
Trump is still set on pursuing his perceived enemies (“when there’s an opportunity, he will go for it,” Wiles told Vanity Fair). And his deportation tactics are still popular among Republican voters.
“Republicans got tired of Noem lying, but that’s it,” said David Bier, the director of immigration studies at the libertarian-leaning Cato Institute. “The agenda and the tactics will not change.”
But all the turnover has consequences for the average American.
“Government is hard,” Zelizer said. “Yet people want certain programs to work — if you’re a veteran, you want veteran affairs to work; if you’re a student, you want to be able to receive your loan. But if you have people up top who aren’t very good at the job and in unstable leadership, they aren’t focused on making government work well.”
A Fox News poll released this week (conducted by bipartisan pollsters) finds that 56 percent of Americans think Trump’s administration has not been competent at running the government.
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