To the outside eye, it might seem like working in the White House offers as much job security as being a camp counsellor.
To the outside eye, it might seem like working in the White House offers as much job security as being a camp counsellor. Certainly, President Donald Trump has made clear that no one is safe. The recent high-profile firings of DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and Attorney General Pam Bondi are just another on the list of people Trump has booted from his administration.
It is standard for presidents to appoint new people when they are elected; every new administration begins with a slew of press releases informing the public about who is taking on each job. New administrations are often built upon hiring long-term allies or even former candidates; consider President Joe Biden appointing Pete Buttigieg to be Secretary of Transportation. Technically, they were rivals on the campaign trail, but when the race was won, they were just fellow Democrats.
But Trump’s methodology is not simply about appointing fellow Republicans; his goal is to create an administration that will do exactly what he wants, and those who don’t fall in line are kicked to the curb.
In May, Cameron Hamilton was fired from his role as acting head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) after he testified that he disagreed with Trump’s proposals to dismantle the organisation. The day after he told Congress that he did not agree with the plan, he was removed from his position.
This example feels almost too on-the-nose— but it shows that Trump champions loyalty above all, both loyalty to his campaign goals and loyalty to him. And yet it is not that simple. Many of the people Trump has fired would be considered Trump loyalists, but they got caught in the crossfire. Because Trump’s other priority is results, it doesn’t matter how loyal someone is; if they cannot get the job done, he does not want them around.
This was the case with both Bondi and Noem. The two women were both long-term loyalists, dedicated to Trump’s bold goals in both their departments. But dedication isn’t everything.
Right before she was fired, sources in the White House said that Trump was displeased with Bondi’s inability to “execute…his vision.” This vision is primarily prosecuting his adversaries and dealing with the Epstein files.
Similarly, in Noem’s case, she was facing heavy criticism for her handling of Trump’s immigration crackdown. Before she was fired, she spent two days in a Congressional hearing that focused on the Minneapolis shootings, a controversial advertising campaign, and her mishandling of FEMA. In her case, it wasn’t just imperfect results; it was the fact that people on both sides of the aisle had issues with what she was doing, and Trump couldn’t have that.
It’s a tale as old as time in politics; someone has to take the heat, and it can not be the President. Noem’s firing wasn’t strictly a case of managing PR, but it was certainly involved.
It’s a tale as old as time in politics; someone has to take the heat, and it can not be the President.
However, it should be noted that in both these cases, the President did not actually use the word "fired." Bondi was “reassigned,” and Noem was “transitioning,” and both announcements were very complimentary of the women. In fact, Noem isn’t even fully leaving Trump’s administration; she will now serve as a special envoy for the newly-launched Shield of the Americas.
So, two loyalists who didn’t deliver the best results were removed from their positions. Why does it matter? Well, for many on Capitol Hill, they’ve played these games before. If you think Trump has fired a lot of people this term, it doesn’t even come close to his first term.
The Brookings Institute, which tracks employee turnover in the White House, called the turnover "record-breaking" after only the first year of Trump’s first term, in 2017. Not only did the President fire people from across the branches of government, but he would also often go through three or more people in any given role. Trump went through four Press Secretaries and six Communications Directors in four years. While these roles do often experience turnover due to their front-facing nature, they were only the tip of the iceberg when it came to administrative change.
A significant part of the reason Trump’s first term had such massive turnover was the number of resignations. While Trump certainly fired a notable number of people, many of them left of their own accord. As early as 2018, news outlets were reporting the large number of people resigning, and that number only grew over time.
These resignations became so common that they had to be further categorised. The Brookings Institute "Turnover Tracker" has a whole category called “Resigned Under Pressure,” which is different from “Resigned.”
Both Bondi and Noem are under the prior category, despite most media outlets using the word "fired" and Trump himself using none of the above. So which is correct? Classification is, of course, redundant; the fact is that they are gone, and someone has to fill their place.
These two women taking their leave might be a one-off, but some people in Washington are worried this is the beginning of another cabinet overhaul, akin to first-term Trump. So far, being in Trump’s cabinet this term has been a relatively stable position, but according to CNN reporting, some cabinet members worry that stability is on the way out.
These fears are not unfounded, an administration official told POLITICO that Trump is “very angry and he’s going to be moving people.” If a cabinet reshuffle is in the cards, it could signal that Trump wants to move the administration in a new direction, but it’s not clear what that direction is, or whether that direction will better serve the interests of the American public.
Either way, from all of Trump’s firings, removals, resignations, and reassignments, one thing is clear: anyone could be next.