Donald Trump first came to broad American attention more than 20 years ago through The Apprentice, where firing people was the gleeful spectacle. Harold Meyerson writes that the performance has migrated into government, even as polls indicate Trump is the person Americans most want fired.

In the past week, ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle and Trump’s fleeting press secretary, Katie Zacharia, were both pushed out. Zacharia’s tenure was so brief that Meyerson jokes news producers could accompany her entrance and exit with Groucho Marx’s song in Animal Crackers.

Their departures have renewed scrutiny of Trump’s pattern of firing female appointees whom he believes betrayed or disappointed him. Meyerson contrasts those removals with Trump’s apparent reluctance to dismiss male appointees facing their own damaging reports or allegations.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick remained after news broke that he had visited Jeffrey Epstein’s private island. FBI chief Kash Patel also stayed despite allegations that he had been drinking heavily and using a government plane for private travel.

Trump has fired four female cabinet secretaries: Pam Bondi at Justice, Kristi Noem at Homeland Security, Lori Chavez-DeRemer at Labor, and Tulsi Gabbard as Director of National Intelligence. Meyerson presents that record as an ugly contrast with Trump’s indulgence toward dubious male appointees.

The latest removals arrive as attention shifts toward officials who could be sacrificed after what appears likely to be a disastrous midterm election. White House chief of staff Susie Wiles has become the most frequently discussed possibility.

The Washington Post reported that Trump did not consult Wiles before making Zacharia his short lived press secretary. Longtime Trump associates viewed that decision as a sign that Wiles had fallen outside Trump’s circle, although Meyerson argues Trump bears responsibility for the Zacharia debacle.

Possible replacements mentioned for Wiles include Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller and Federal Housing Finance Agency chief Bill Pulte. Pulte has falsely accused New York Attorney General Letitia James, California Sen. Adam Schiff, and Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook of mortgage fraud.

Presidents whose parties suffer crushing midterm defeats have historically dismissed subordinates associated with those losses. In 2006, President George W. Bush removed War Secretary Donald Rumsfeld as the Iraq conflict cost American lives and exposed the absence of plans for dealing with the country’s near civil war.

Meyerson sees a potential parallel in War Secretary Pete Hegseth, who oversees armed forces being shelled, drone bombed, or threatened from long distance by Iran. The article describes panicked retreats in locations as distant as Britain, with no clear prospect of entering or leaving the conflict.

A Gallup poll released last week found that Americans favored Democrats over Republicans on economic stewardship and protecting the nation from foreign terrorists. Meyerson argues that the conflict with Iran sits near the center of public discontent and makes Hegseth a logical political sacrifice.

Hegseth, however, also embodies the administration’s appeal to beleaguered young men drawn toward bodybuilding, mixed martial arts, and hypermasculinity. Elon Musk’s precinct walkers are seeking to turn out those voters even as Trump’s economy has knocked them sideways.

Hegseth’s since revoked order to livestream a firing squad execution may also strengthen his standing with a core Trump constituency, including January 6th insurrectionists. That connection, Meyerson suggests, could protect Hegseth despite his association with one of Trump’s most politically damaging initiatives.

Stephen Miller presents another glaring target. Trump won reelection in 2024 partly through his popular promise to enforce immigration laws, but his approval rating on immigration has fallen to 37%, according to polling from the Harvard Kennedy School.

Meyerson argues that Americans are reacting not to border enforcement itself, but to actions by ICE and Border Patrol agents that have broken families, shattered communities, and killed immigrants and citizens. He identifies those actions as Miller’s handiwork.

Polls show that fear, revulsion, and anger, particularly in Latino communities, have reversed the movement of Latino voters toward Republicans. Meyerson says that shift will cost the party numerous House seats next month and likely some Senate seats as well.

Yet Miller may remain safe because no other official translates Trump’s anger into state sponsored brutality quite as effectively. That leaves the administration’s post election reckoning looking less like accountability and more like another round of loyalty theater.