U.S. President Donald Trump has replaced the heads of the two core departments he backed most, in quick succession, a little over a year into his second administration. Kristi Noem, who led the Department of Homeland Security, stepped down on the 5th of last month. Then Pam Bondi, who led the Ministry of Justice, was dismissed on the 2nd local time. The two were key figures who stood on the front lines of large-scale immigration crackdowns and Trump-style governance. In other words, even the department heads Trump empowered most can be changed at any time when performance, controversy, and political burdens converge.
On the 2nd, President Trump fired Minister Bondi and appointed Todd Blanche, a former personal criminal defense attorney for Trump, as acting attorney general. The Ministry of Justice serves as a solid legal shield, conducting sweeping investigations targeting Trump's political opponents and defending against various legal challenges from outside forces aimed at the administration.
Bondi, who fell from grace, had served as head of the Ministry of Justice since February last year. During her tenure, she shook the ministry with large-scale personnel overhauls and probes targeting opponents, accepting criticism that she was undermining independence. But the release of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein ended without substance, contrary to the preview of a "bombshell," drawing backlash from both parties. Bondi herself faced pressure for a subpoena from the House Oversight Committee.
Cases targeting former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, which Trump had pinned hopes on, were repeatedly halted in court over procedural issues. As a result, Bondi roiled the Ministry of Justice but failed to persuade the judiciary. Reuters said, "The backlash spread not only to Democrats but also within Trump's friendly camp," calling Bondi a political failure.
Former Minister Noem was ultimately tripped up by operational incompetence. The Department of Homeland Security serves as a core execution headquarters overseeing the mass deportation of millions of undocumented immigrants and the construction of border barriers. In pushing a hard-line immigration stance, Noem faced criticism for concentrating decision-making authority excessively in the minister's office. This caused side effects such as delays in budget execution and disaster response operations. The fallout from the shooting death of a federal agent in Minneapolis and a border enforcement ad contract that cost $220 million (about 330 billion won) generated massive political expense.
The new chiefs set to lead the departments are expected to take clearly differentiated steps from their predecessors. Merlin, tapped to succeed former Minister Noem, upon taking office as Department of Homeland Security minister, scrapped in full the complex direct-approval rules the predecessor had set. Citing experts, Reuters assessed that this move shows a strong will to execute policy more practically and efficiently while keeping the Trump administration's existing immigration policy line intact.
Blanche, named as successor concurrently with Bondi's dismissal on the 2nd, is a top confidant who served as legal counsel dedicated to Trump's personal criminal cases. The Guardian in the U.K. analyzed the appointment of Acting Attorney General Blanche as a strategic move by President Trump to tighten his grip on the Ministry of Justice. The assessment is that, rather than those who merely shout blind loyalty, Trump is repopulating the power center with manager-type figures who can practically control the departments and prove concrete results in a short time.
This approach of immediately replacing even core confidants when political burdens grow or performance falters aligns with the extreme meritocracy Trump showed when he ran corporations in the past. He became known to the public as the host of the hit TV show "The Apprentice," where he would lash out at executives and contestants who fell short of targets, saying, "You're fired!"
President Trump transplanted this corporate-style personnel management method directly to the highest echelons of power in the U.S. administration. Even a Minister who does not meet the president's demands is treated like an executive who failed to deliver shareholder value and must pack up at any time. John Sullivan, a human resources expert, said, "The Trump-style management approach places absolute emphasis on promising immediate and significant outcomes to all stakeholders," adding, "Members of the organization must produce results, and if they do not, they are quickly released from the organization."
The Trump-style personnel shake-up is unlikely to stop with the dismissal of the two ministers and could spread across the entire Cabinet. In Washington political circles, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is being closely watched as the next likely replacement target. Recently, President Trump has been strongly holding Hegseth to heavy account for the full-scale military operations underway with Iran.
On the 23rd of last month, at an Air National Guard event in Memphis, Tennessee, President Trump said that "Secretary Hegseth was the first to advocate war with Iran." Because of this, there is growing speculation that if he fails to deliver conspicuous results that secure clear military superiority in a short period and force the Iranian regime into complete submission, Hegseth, too, could be dismissed like the two before him.