Framing discord at the White House, corporate media reports suggest more changes could be coming for the president’s cabinet as one outlet cited someone “familiar with Trump’s thinking.”
Given the stakes of the midterm elections for the remainder of President Donald Trump’s tenure in the Oval Office, much of the conversation heading into November is expected to focus on approval ratings and perception of how the federal government is being managed. So naturally, the removal of Pam Bondi as attorney general on the heels of a shakeup at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) had the media probing anonymous sources to sell the angle that Trump “no longer seems to care about the perception issue.”
In addition to reports from outlets like Politico and The Atlantic, NBC News reported that cabinet changes could be on the way sooner than later, quoting “a person directly familiar with Trump’s thinking.”
“I expect something in terms of the next several weeks, and the president is mulling both changes and reorganizations,” said the anonymous source before the report further quoted a “Trump ally” who said, “For the first year, they wanted to avoid the bad optics — the stuff that comes with high-level staff churn. That is ending. He no longer seems to care about the perception issue.”
With now-former Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) taking over as secretary of DHS following Kristi Noem’s ouster, the report went on to suggest some officials who could be on the chopping block, stating, “Among those who have been at the center of public controversies or missteps are Department of Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, each of whom has received varying degrees of public backlash for personal scandal or decisions their agencies have made.”
While burying the supposed missteps of Chavez-DeRemer or Gabbard, NBC News promptly took the opportunity to raise late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, where it pertained to Lutnick, “forced to explain why he appears multiple times,” in the Epstein files, and why he visited his private island. Lutnick has said he ‘did not have any relationship with him.”
Regarding the names called out by the report, White House spokesman Davis Ingle reacted, “President Trump has the most talented cabinet and team in American history. Patriots like DNI Gabbard, Secretary Lutnick, and Secretary Chavez-DeRemer are tirelessly implementing the President’s agenda and achieving tremendous results for the American people. They continue to have the President’s full confidence.”
Meanwhile, a recent CNN/SSRS poll indicated that among independents, the president was faring much worse than he had been before the 2018 midterm election, where Democrats took control of the House of Representatives away from the Republicans by netting 41 seats — the biggest shift in their favor since after Watergate.
According to the data, Trump sits at 26% approval and 73% disapproval compared to a 39/54 split in Oct. 2018, with gas prices climbing amid conflict in the Middle East and economic woes representing the bulk of disfavor.
CNN/SSRS POLL: Independents only
Pres. Trump
Approve: 26%
Disapprove: 73%Was 39-54 in Oct. 2018
——
Trump’s approval on key issues🟤 Immigration: -34
🟤 Iran: -54
🟤 Inflation: -61
🟤 Gas prices: -67
——
Generic Ballot
🟦 DEM: 47%
🟥 GOP: 29%Was D+14 in Oct. 2018 https://t.co/OxYT5Ya53x pic.twitter.com/jguKYeyCYZ
— InteractivePolls (@IAPolls2022) April 3, 2026
Still, not everyone viewed the latest cabinet moves as doom and gloom. While foreseeing the possibility of Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin moving to the top cop position at DOJ, legal scholar Jonathan Turley suggested, “The news of the departure of Pam Bondi hit with a thunderclap in Washington. There were some recent rumors, but nothing concrete in the prior week. Bondi is the ultimate loyalist who, like Todd Blanche (the new acting AG), earned her bones in the trenches with the President in impeachment and criminal trials.”
“The President has certainly removed prior cabinet officers out of obvious displeasure from Bill Barr to most recently Kristi Noem. There is no known ‘bad blood’ with Bondi, who has actually drawn fire for her loyalty to Trump,” he went on.
…The President has certainly removed prior cabinet officers out of obvious displeasure from Bill Barr to most recently Kristi Noem. There is no known “bad blood” with Bondi, who has actually drawn fire for her loyalty to Trump…
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) April 2, 2026
Still, Matthew Bartlett, a GOP consultant and State Department official during Trump’s first term, told NBC News, “Watching the Cabinet right now is like a reality TV show — but it’s not ‘The Apprentice’ as much as it may be ‘Survivor.’ Personal responsibility and public accountability are essential in government service, but these moves seem more about presidential loyalty and frustration.”
Where it concerned the notion that the president had previously strayed from shaking up his administration, both anonymous sources pointed to chief of staff, Susie Wiles, as a “driving force behind the idea that Trump’s first year in office should not be dominated by headlines of administration turnover, but that calculation from top officials has since changed.”
The “Trump ally” was quoted as saying, “Susie was trying to hold it off as long as she could, but once you oust the attorney general, you may as well rip the Band-Aid off on a couple of others.”
Native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and truth seeker, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and their dog and, when he isn't researching current events and their impacts, you'll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel.
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