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Donald Trump’s decision to remove Mike Waltz as his national security adviser could be followed by a mass firing of White House staff being dubbed “The Purge,” according to a report.
The dismissals could come as soon as late next week, sources have told Politico, with one insider saying “a lot” of employees will be let go over perceived loyalty concerns, with the president preferring to announce their removal in one sweeping gesture, rather than in piecemeal fashion one-by-one.
While Trump has so far managed to avoid a repeat of the same level of staffing chaos as his first term, which saw almost as high a turnover as the average season of his NBC reality show The Apprentice, Waltz’s firing could mark the opening of the floodgates.
According to Politico, the outgoing adviser – whose tenure is the second-shortest in American history, behind only Michael Flynn’s three-week run – had quickly made enemies in his role by behaving in an arrogant manner. “He’s a staff, but he was acting like a principal,” one person told the magazine.
Waltz also reportedly attracted suspicion from the MAGA wing of the Republican movement, with the likes of far-right activist Laura Loomer considering him too much of an “establishment” figure and a possible leaker and lobbying Trump to block some of his staff picks.
“The view was ‘Wait, why is he picking secret neocons for these jobs, that’s not how this administration is going to work,’” a person close to Waltz and his deputy Alex Wong told Politico.
“Which is bulls***, but that was the view and that set the stage for vibes of distrust and tension.”
Then came the “Signalgate” scandal in late March, which erupted when The Atlantic reported that its editor, Jeffrey Goldberg, had been mistakenly added by Waltz to a Signal group chat in which Vice President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other high-ranking officials discussed the bombing of Houthi rebels in Yemen.
“Waltz has been on thin ice for a while,” a White House aide told Politico at the time. “This made the ice thinner but at the same time… may actually save him for now because they don’t want to give Goldberg a scalp.”
The axe finally fell on Thursday, with the president announcing that Rubio would succeed Waltz in leading the National Security Council (NSC) in an acting capacity and that the latter would be his new nominee for U.S. ambassador to the United Nations in place of New York Representative Elise Stefanik, forced to step aside to uphold a slim GOP majority in the House of Representatives.
“The president is surrounded by highly talented and qualified patriots working to execute his agenda,” the White House said in response to Thursday’s developments.
“Mike Waltz will continue these efforts, and Secretary Rubio will excel in this new role.”
The adviser appeared not to know his end was in sight earlier on Wednesday as he appeared on TV and then attended a cabinet meeting, at which he praised Trump and declared that it was a privilege to play a part in his administration.
He was also spotted by press photographers at that gathering continuing to scroll through Signal messages on his phone.
His removal adds to a growing sense in Washington that few in foreign policy and national security circles currently hold much sway over the president’s decision-making, with the NSC, State Department and Pentagon less dominant than they have been under previous commanders-in-chief.
Diplomatic envoy Steve Witkoff, who has led Trump’s peace missions to attempt to end the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, has been tipped as a possible successor to Waltz, although aides Stephen Miller, Richard Grenell, Sebastian Gorka and the less well-known Michael Anton have also been cited as increasingly influential voices in the president’s ear and therefore possible candidates for the role.
English (US) ·