Could a 2nd Trump term kick off with 'score-settling' inside Cabinet?

Donald Trump. — (Image credit: BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)

President Trump's first term in office saw a lot of Cabinet turnover, and Politico reports that would likely continue if he wins re-election. Health and national security agencies could be part of a potential overhaul, with Politico circling Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Robert Redfield, FBI Director Christopher Wray, and Defense Secretary Mark Esper as a few of the officials who could be on the way out. All have had their differences with Trump during their tenures.

"I can only imagine the score-settling Trump would undertake if he won," one Republican close to the White House told Politico.

In a scenario in which Trump secures a second term, critics are anticipating a "vindicated and liberated" president who "will stack his Cabinet even more with loyalists," but other sources said Trump is purely focused on winning the election. "Trump is focused on the next week of winning, and it would be foolish for anyone to say to him right now, 'In the second term, I want to do this, I want to do that,'" another Republican close to the White House said. If anyone did suggest that, the source added, "you would get your head bashed in."

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Besides, a former senior administration official said Trump, as he's been known to do, has plenty of time to change his mind before January. Read more at Politico.

Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.