Team Trump wonder who's next for the woodchipper as angry president spreads blame

Upset by falling ratings and soaring fuel prices because of his war against Iran, Donald Trump is searching for the next scapegoat within his depleted administration, writes Hugh Tomlinson in Washington

- Hugh Tomlinson

As champagne flowed at back-to-back parties across Washington for the White House Correspondents' Association dinner this weekend, some members of Donald Trump's cabinet will have been anxiously checking their phones.

Trump has now fired four cabinet secretaries — three in the past month - with talk of another purge looming within days as a frustrated president lashes out at those around him.

The labour Secretary, Lori Chavez-DeRemer, was shown the door last week amid a string of scandals, including an alleged affair with her bodyguard. She was followed by the navy secretary, John Phelan, who was fired on Wednesday after months of infighting at the Pentagon.

Their sackings were preceded by those of the attorney general, Pam Bondi, and, last month, the homeland security secretary, Kristi Noem - all devoted loyalists who ultimately failed to satisfy the president's impossible demands.

They will not be the last. Several cabinet members are rumoured to be on borrowed time as the war with Iran drags Trump's administration into a quagmire, sending petrol prices soaring and his poll numbers into freefall. "There's blood in the water," one Maga consultant said at an embassy party last week. "The word is: he's pissed and looking for people to blame."

Until now, the president had appeared reluctant to dismiss his closest lieutenants, unwilling to give a scalp to Democrats or the media. But the latest flurry of firings suggests a return to the revolving-door chaos of his first term, when Trump fired cabinet members and close aides at will.