Donald Trump’s Spring Cleaning

In the midst of a war, Donald Trump has started to get rid of his senior officials. The exact reasons are often left vague, and the successors to be determined, but people are leaving. On March 5th, Trump fired Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem; on April 2nd, it was Attorney General Pam Bondi, and, on April 20th, Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer stepped down under pressure—three Cabinet secretaries, all women, gone in less than two months. By last week, the F.B.I. director, Kash Patel, seemed to be headed for trouble, too.The President is also reportedly annoyed with his National Intelligence director, Tulsi Gabbard, and with his Commerce Secretary and friend, Howard Lutnick, about, as Politico put it, “how much Lutnick’s family has been profiting off their association with the President’s brand.” The atmosphere is one of discontent and distraction. A month into the Iran war, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth fired the Army chief of staff, Randy George. Then, after reciting a prayer that Hegseth said was inspired by Scripture but seemed directly lifted from “Pulp Fiction,” last week he ended a vaccine mandate for soldiers—a protocol initiated by General George Washington, in 1777—and fired the Secretary of the Navy, John Phelan,