{"id":2608148,"date":"2026-05-29T06:11:02","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T10:11:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trumps-cabinet-reshuffle-part-of-a-presidential-tradition\/"},"modified":"2026-05-29T06:11:02","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T10:11:02","slug":"trumps-cabinet-reshuffle-part-of-a-presidential-tradition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trumps-cabinet-reshuffle-part-of-a-presidential-tradition\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump&#8217;s Cabinet reshuffle part of a presidential tradition"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ftrumps-cabinet-reshuffle-part-of-a-presidential-tradition%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2608148&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<article class=\"fn-body\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With the departure of Director of National Intelligence <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/tulsi-gabbard\/\">Tulsi Gabbard<\/a>, we\u2019ve now reached what can be called an actual Cabinet shakeup. Over the past six weeks, we\u2019ve seen the resignation of <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/kristi-noem\/\">Kristi Noem<\/a> from the Department of Homeland Security, <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/pam-bondi\/\">Pam Bondi<\/a> from the Department of Justice, and <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/lori-chavez-deremer\/\">Lori Chavez-DeRemer<\/a> from the Department of Labor. When we include the departure of Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Martin Makary and Secretary of the Navy (once a Cabinet-level position) John Phelan, it is clear the <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/trump-administration\/\">Trump administration<\/a> is in the midst of an appointee overhaul.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Cabinet shakeups don\u2019t come around often. They are risky because they are often interpreted as a sign of political desperation, but that is not always the case.<\/p>\n<section class=\"explore-more-section\" id=\"wex-recommended-widget\">\n<div class=\"magazine-container single\">\n<h1 class=\"magazine-title mt-2\">Recommended Stories<\/h1>\n<p>             <i class=\"fa-solid fa-play icon\"><\/i>         <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-grid\">\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/videos\/4575084\/inside-scoop-jim-antle-donald-trump-ben-sasse-legacy-stephen-colbert\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>Inside Scoop: Trump 2.0 post-Dobbs, Ben Sasse\u2019s warning to Congress, Colbert signs off<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/videos\/4565759\/inside-scoop-trump-mamdani-restoring-america-women-far-left\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>Inside Scoop: Trump and Mamdani, Restoring America, why women are moving left<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/magazine\/4556342\/inside-scoop-jim-antle-left-violence-epidemic-ballroom-king-charles-visit\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>Inside Scoop: Left-wing violence epidemic, White House ballroom momentum, tale of two kings<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the 1829-31 Petticoat Affair during President Andrew Jackson\u2019s administration, Vice President John Calhoun inspired a Cabinet rebellion against Jackson over disapproval of Secretary of War John Eaton\u2019s wife, Peggy. It was a protracted affair, but eventually, in 1831, Old Hickory demanded that Cabinet members not on his side resign. They did, save for one person: Postmaster William T. Barry. In the wake of this realignment, Jackson relied instead on a Kitchen Cabinet of advisers. In addition, Secretary of State Martin Van Buren \u2014 who had supported Jackson during the controversy \u2014 joined Jackson\u2019s ticket as vice president for Jackson\u2019s 1832 reelection. Van Buren became the last vice president elected to succeed the presidents under whom he served until George H. W. Bush succeeded Ronald Reagan.<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When it comes to Cabinet shakeups, it\u2019s hard to beat the 1970s. This is perhaps unsurprising given that it was a decade of war, stagflation, malaise, and scandal.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Things started with an unforced error. In 1972, President Richard Nixon followed up on a historic landslide victory by asking for the resignations of all of the members of his Cabinet. He was inspired to do this after reading a book given to him by White House adviser Daniel Patrick Moynihan. The <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/books\/\">book<\/a>, Robert Blake\u2019s biography of British politician Benjamin Disraeli, included a description of William Gladstone\u2019s Cabinet as \u201cexhausted volcanoes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Nixon ended up accepting the resignation of eight of his 11 Cabinet members, but he later reported regretting it. Having a less experienced Cabinet may have addressed the \u201cexhausted volcano\u201d problem, but it also may not have served him well as he tried and failed to deal with the political fallout from the burgeoning Watergate scandal.\u00a0<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">James Schlesinger, left, figured in Cabinet shake-ups in both the Nixon and Carter administrations, while Donald Rumsfeld, center, had roles in shuffles by Presidents Richard Nixon and George W. Bush; Tulsi Gabbard, right, left the administration of President Donald Trump after being thought widely to be out of sympathy with the administration\u2019s foreign policy. (Schlesinger, Bettmann \/ Corbis \/ Getty; Rumsfeld, AP; Gabbard, Alex Brandon\/AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After Nixon resigned, he was replaced by President Gerald Ford. Ford had a tough time dealing with a bad economy, his unpopular pardon of Nixon, and seemingly endless White House staff strife. In addition, former California Gov. Ronald Reagan was a threat to defeat Ford in the upcoming 1976 Republican presidential nomination contest.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On Nov. 3, 1975, Ford initiated a staff shakeup to address his internal problems to better face the outward ones. Ford\u2019s purge included the announcement that the liberal Republican Vice President Nelson Rockefeller would not remain on the ticket in 1976; that chief of staff Donald Rumsfeld would replace James Schlesinger as secretary of defense; that Henry Kissinger would lose his national security adviser role, even as he remained secretary of state; and that CIA chief William Colby would be out as well. A young Dick Cheney succeeded Rumsfeld as White House chief of staff.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The shakeup backfired.\u00a0The press called the moves the \u201cHalloween massacre.\u201d James Reston of the <em>New York Times<\/em> <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1975\/11\/07\/archives\/fords-narrowing-base.html\">wrote of Ford<\/a> that \u201cThe feeling in Washington, so far as anybody can judge it, is that he has misjudged his problem, overestimated Mr. Reagan\u2019s power, underestimated his early popularity, and misread the mood of the nation.\u201d Ford was not happy with the results, either, later claiming that the massacre was \u201cthe biggest political mistake of my life.\u201d\u00a0While he managed to defeat Reagan and win the GOP nomination, the apparent desperation of the maneuver also contributed to Ford\u2019s close election defeat to President Jimmy Carter in 1976.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Carter did not have things much easier, as he also faced a bad economy and an energy crisis. He tried to address his problems by bringing experts to a series of conversations at Camp David to discuss the nation\u2019s challenges. After the meetings, he gave a July 15, 1979, speech called \u201cEnergy and the Crisis of Confidence.\u201d The speech initially got positive reviews, but Carter unwisely followed up with a Cabinet shakeup, firing <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/content.time.com\/time\/subscriber\/article\/0,33009,948464-1,00.html\">five Cabinet secretaries<\/a>: Joseph A. Califano Jr., secretary of health, education and welfare; Michael Blumenthal, secretary of the treasury; Brock Adams, the stubborn secretary of transportation; Attorney General Griffin Bell; and Secretary of Energy James Schlesinger, who had also fallen victim to Ford\u2019s Halloween massacre.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the wake of the shake-up, the speech has become infamous as the \u201cmalaise address,\u201d even though Carter never used that word in it. Carter lost his 1980 reelection effort to Reagan and was forever colored by the incident. When a statue of Carter was unveiled on an episode of <em>The<\/em> <em>Simpsons<\/em>, the words on the pedestal read \u201cMalaise Forever.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In 2004, after President George W. Bush defeated John Kerry for reelection, 12 Cabinet members left, mostly voluntarily. It\u2019s not unusual for presidents to bring in new Cabinet members after a reelection, but in this case, what was unusual to some was a Cabinet member who did not leave. One of the departures was Secretary of State Colin Powell, who <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/books\/edition\/The_Great_Rift\/OSiZDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&#038;gbpv=1&#038;dq=colin+powell+surprised+rumsfeld+did+not+resign&#038;pg=PT207&#038;printsec=frontcover\">told Bush<\/a> that he should shake up his warring national security team. As Powell told the president, \u201cYou really need to change this all, after the election.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">(Washington Examiner graphic)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Powell expected that both he and his rival, Defense Secretary Don Rumsfeld, would resign, but was upset to learn that Rumsfeld was staying in place. As Powell later recalled, \u201cI thought that when he began with me, it was not going to end with me.\u201d During the first two years of Bush\u2019s second term, with the Iraq War going badly, multiple advisers, including Rumsfeld, suggested that Bush ask for Rumsfeld\u2019s resignation. These calls intensified as the 2006 midterm elections neared. It was only after Bush experienced a self-described \u201cthumping\u201d in the 2006 midterm elections that he accepted Rumsfeld\u2019s resignation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As for President <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/donald-trump\/\">Donald Trump<\/a>, his second term has generally been smoother in terms of personnel shake-ups than his first. In fact, the entire first term itself could be seen almost as a continuing Cabinet shakeup, with multiple secretaries of state, attorneys general, HHS secretaries, and secretaries of defense, not to mention four chiefs of staff and national security advisers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But this recent flurry of activity is indicative that Trump sees the need for some changes, which is not necessarily a bad thing. His predecessor, <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/joe-biden\/\">Joe Biden<\/a>, stubbornly refused to make changes, even when Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/policy\/defense\/4396058-lloyd-austin-criticism-going-awol-pentagon\/\">went AWOL<\/a> because of a health issue without notifying the White House. This is generally not Trump\u2019s problem.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Some of the officials Trump has let go were not performing well, including Bondi and Noem, while Chavez-DeRemer was embroiled in a scandal. Gabbard long seemed out of step with the administration\u2019s <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/foreign-policy\/\">foreign policy<\/a>. Given these issues, it makes sense to make changes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/premium\/4556680\/the-way-of-nyc-mayors-and-presidents\/\"><strong>TRUMP AND MAMDANI ARE SMART TO MAKE NICE\u00a0<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Yet while there may be good reasons for the shakeups, any president who shuffles his staff has to deal with the perception problem. A shakeup implicitly demonstrates a need to address serious problems, but they are also opportunities for a reset, and Trump seems to be in need of one now.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For a shakeup to be successful, the president needs to pick well-qualified replacements who not toady but are generally aligned with his policies; get them confirmed and in place before potentially losing the <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/senate\/\">Senate<\/a> this November; and, perhaps most importantly, explain\u00a0to the American people why the reshuffling took place and how things will be better going forward. These may sound like obvious steps, yet the history of shakeups shows that presidents do not always do the obvious thing in their wake.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Tevi Troy (@tevitroy) is a senior fellow at the Ronald Reagan Institute and a senior scholar at Yeshiva University\u2019s Straus Center. He is the author of five books on the presidency, including, most recently, <\/em>The Power and the Money: The Epic Clashes Between Commanders in Chief and Titans of Industry<em>.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With the departure of Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, we\u2019ve now reached what can be called an actual Cabinet shakeup. Over the past six weeks, we\u2019ve seen the resignation of Kristi Noem from the Department of Homeland Security, Pam Bondi from the Department of Justice, and Lori Chavez-DeRemer from the Department of Labor. When<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":589,"featured_media":2608149,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Feat.ShakeUp1.060326.jpg?w=696","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2608148","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Feat.ShakeUp1.060326.jpg?w=696","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2608148","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/589"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2608148"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2608148\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2608149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2608148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2608148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2608148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}