When Donald Trump announced his first presidential bid in 2015, he was known to most Americans as the star of NBC’s “The Apprentice” whose catchphrase was “you’re fired!” He loved to say it on the stump with his trademark snarl and jabbing finger. He apparently even tried (unsuccessfully) to trademark the phrase during the reality show’s heyday in the mid-2000s. But as it turned out, even though he was a businessman in real life, Trump was actually unable to fire people in person. He instead delegated the unpleasant task to one of his lackeys, or simply made it known that he wanted the person to quit.
Staffing of the White House during the president’s first term was famously a constant state of chaos; the list of resignations and dismissals was a mile long. But as before, Trump rarely faced the people he was firing. FBI Director James Comey — whom Trump is currently attempting to put in prison — learned of his termination in May 2017 while watching cable news on a business trip to California. Trump never spoke to Comey personally, but he did order that the former director couldn’t travel back to Washington, D.C., on the FBI plane, forcing Comey to take a commercial flight. Rex Tillerson, Trump’s first secretary of state, was informed that he was fired while in the bathroom. In 2017, White House chief of staff John Kelly was given the duty of firing communications director Anthony Scaramucci, adviser Steve Bannon and dozens of others, before being pushed out himself in December 2018.
The president’s second term has been different. Trump came into office with a new sense of what kind of people he wanted around him. He chose Cabinet officials and close advisers from the insufferable crowd of MAGA influencers, Fox News toadies and hardcore loyalists that have proved themselves to him over the course of the previous decade in the trenches. The Republican Senate majority was so cowed and docile that, with one notable exception — former GOP Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz’s nomination as attorney general — they confirmed even the most egregiously unqualified to the most important positions, people who just days before had been weekend talk show hosts or far-right podcasters.
There is no question in this administration what the requirements are: Tell Trump only what he wants to hear, slather him with praise at every opportunity and never, under any circumstances, disagree with anything he says.
So far this new approach has resulted in very little turnover. There have been a couple of instances where someone hasn’t worked out. But instead of firing them, he has taken to promoting people to different jobs. Michael Waltz, Trump’s first national security adviser, apparently wasn’t meshing well with the extremists in the Pentagon, so he was sent to New York as ambassador to the United Nations. The majority of Trump’s Cabinet officials and White House staff have survived quite well simply by willingly debasing themselves at every opportunity.
But as we approach the first anniversary of Trump’s second inauguration, rumblings of impending personnel changes are growing louder. Most are centered on Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who has produced the most scandals of any Trump appointee. His confirmation process was a trainwreck, with allegations of sexual assault, alcohol abuse and mismanagement of the only two small organizations he’d ever run. None of those issues were apparently deal breakers for his gig as a Fox News weekend host, but putting such a person in charge of the U.S. military made even some of the most radical GOP senators a bit queasy. They voted for him anyway, at least partially because he is popular with the MAGA base, and some were threatened with violence if they refused.
Hegseth’s tenure has been a real doozy. He’s spent most of his time carrying out an anti-woke crusade and barking about the new “warrior ethos” — even calling the senior brass to Washington to lecture them about it. But the scandals have been the biggest problem. First there was Signalgate, in which he shared classified war plans over a messaging application with senior national security staff — and Jeffrey Goldberg, editor of the Atlantic. Last week, the Pentagon’s inspector general issued a report on the matter that was highly critical of Hegseth. But, in typical Trumpian fashion, the secretary claimed it completely exonerated him. Then there is the matter of his leadership in conducting the murderous policy in the Caribbean Sea against so-called narco-terrorists from Venezuela, which has Hegseth dancing on the head of a pin, trying to bask in the machismo of people being blown to bits without taking responsibility for making it happen.
The scuttlebutt is that he has an enemy in Vice President JD Vance, who has positioned his college buddy, Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll, to step into the job once Hegseth is shown the door. A Pentagon insider is even quoted as saying, “Whenever there’s an article that Hegseth is going to be fired, the next sentence is that Driscoll could replace him.” So far, Trump is sticking with Hegseth. But we know how far his loyalty goes. Driscoll is now deeply involved in the Ukraine talks, and Hegseth is looking over his shoulder.
Last week, the Bulwark broke the story, since confirmed by other outlets, that Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is also on the chopping block. Some say that it’s because her consigliere, Corey Lewandowski, who rarely leaves her side and is said to be operating as co-secretary, has alienated everyone in the White House. The foreign junkets for Noem to show off her costumes and create footage for a potential presidential run in 2028 may not be a big hit either. Others claim it’s because Stephen Miller is unhappy that they haven’t been building grotesque immigrant camps more quickly. But the rumor is that Noem could be replaced by soon-to-be former Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, which suggests that someone in the White House wants to put a more moderate face on the department rather than ratchet up the cruelty. Youngkin is not known as anyone’s idea of a firebrand.
Finally, there’s FBI Director Kash Patel, who seems to spend most of his time jetting around on the FBI plane with his country-singer girlfriend. His performance in office has been anything but impressive, with stories of his bumbling the early days of the Charlie Kirk investigation and his mishandling of the Epstein files.
The White House has denied all this, dismissing it as just more fake news. But Trump is in trouble, and when he’s in trouble he lashes out and blames anyone but himself, so we can expect to see the ax fall on quite a few heads over the next few months. Trump, though, won’t be the one to wield it. He’s much too cowardly to ever say “you’re fired!” to anyone’s face.
Salon
