Hired to Be Fired

Donald Trump has been doing this for fifty years. The cabinet is just the latest stage.

The pattern in the cabinet is the pattern of the marriages. The pattern of the marriages is the pattern of the pageants. The pattern of the pageants is the pattern of the lawsuits and the hot mics and the courtroom verdicts. All of it is one pattern, repeated at every scale at which Donald Trump operates, and the objection that four cabinet exits cannot prove a thesis is correct only if you stop reading at the cabinet. The thesis was settled long before 2026. The cabinet is the most recent venue in which the thesis is being demonstrated.

Start with the wives. Ivana arrived in 1977, was traded for Marla Maples through tabloid spectacle that Trump personally orchestrated, including the legendary New York Post front page in which Marla declared him the best sex she had ever had. Marla was traded for Melania, currently performing the role of First Lady with the affect of a hostage. Three women, two replacements, each upgrade younger and each previous edition discarded with public commentary that he authored or condoned. This is the household template that the federal government now replicates