The US news outlet Politico has quoted unnamed sources as saying that President Donald Trump and his senior aides are considering a massive reshuffle of his team if he wins a second term.
The sources claimed that the overhaul would be tantamount to a purge of any member of the Trump administration, who crossed the US president, declined to open investigations that POTUS demanded, or urged him to take a tougher stance on the COVID-19 response.
"I can only imagine the score-settling Trump would undertake if he won", one of the sources said, referring to a possible government shakeup.
Another insider claimed that although "there has been a lot of turnover in the Cabinet, the power has always been concentrated in the White House the whole time".
The source predicted that "the nucleus of the White House will remain status quo, while there will be changes on the periphery".
One more insider suggested that it is irrelevant to make any guesses about a potential cabinet reshuffle while POTUS concentrates on his campaign rallies and efforts to defeat Democratic challenger Joe Biden, seen by Trump as a weak candidate.
"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'. If you did so, you would get your head bashed in", the source argued late last week.
In this vein, Politico cited former White House secretary Chris Lu as saying that if Trump prevails over Biden on 3 November, POTUS "will feel vindicated and liberated, [and] will stack his Cabinet even more with loyalists", something that Lu warned "sends government in a pretty dangerous direction".
Biden Keeps Narrow Lead Over Trump as Final Campaign Day Starts
An array of latest key polls has shown Biden retaining a narrow lead over Trump nationally and in battleground states, even though the surveys revealed that in some states, the race remains very close.
A Sunday ABC News/Washington Post poll showed POTUS prevailing over the ex-vice president in Florida 50%-48%, while The Guardian's poll tracker indicated that Trump is ahead in Ohio, where he gained the support of 48.2% of likely voters versus 46.1% for the Democratic nominee.