Members of President Donald Trump's White House are already weighing their exits and plotting their next career moves, according to political commentator David Rothkopf, who said an ugly firing spree could follow soon after the midterm elections.

Rothkopf, a former official in the Bill Clinton administration who is now a prolific political commentator, made the prediction during an appearance on The Daily Beast Podcast. He said many figures in the Trump administration are bracing for their own version of "the Night of the Long Knives" — a reference to the infamously brutal purge of political rivals ordered by Adolf Hitler in Nazi Germany in the spring of 1934. Rothkopf noted that staffing shakeups are not uncommon for administrations in the wake of midterms, and suggested several officials who may be concerned about how much time they have left. The midterms, scheduled for Nov. 3, 2026, arrive at the traditional halfway point of a president's term — and churn at the top is familiar territory for Trump, whose first administration cycled through multiple chiefs of staff and national security advisers.

"There are a bunch of people in the White House right now who are waiting for the Night of the Long Knives that is undoubtedly going to follow this election," Rothkopf told host Joanna Coles. "Because even typically in most administrations, sort of halfway through, you get some turnover. But if you're [FBI Director] Kash Patel or you're [Defense Secretary] Pete [Hegseth] or you're [HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.], or you're [chief of staff] Susie Wiles, or you're some of these other characters who are out there, you're probably thinking, how much longer do I have? What's my next job?"

The posts Rothkopf ticked through rank among the most consequential in the federal government: the FBI director oversees the nation's top federal law enforcement and counterintelligence agency, the defense secretary leads the U.S. military, the HHS secretary runs a department that administers major public health and social service programs, and the chief of staff manages the day-to-day operation of the West Wing.

From Rothkopf's perspective, Trump thinking about who to fire next is a "good thing, because these are good people to get rid of." He pointed to a complication with any mass White House exodus, however: Trump almost never "trades up" when replacing officials, meaning even worse choices could be waiting in line to succeed those shown the door after the midterms.

"The longer he gets into his term, he trades down, and we get, you know, the less good version of Kash Patel, the less sane version of RFK Jr., the more demented version of Pete," Rothkopf said. "And, you know, yuck. Is there a more demented version of Pete?"

Extending that line of thought, Rothkopf wondered whether Hegseth might be replaced by Doug Jones, whom he described as the defense secretary's Christian nationalist "preacher friend who's giving him all these big ideas that the military shouldn't have women in it or people of color."

Rothkopf closed with advice for bracing against the expected turbulence. "There's going to be so much churn that I'd just advise everybody, you know, keep your powder dry," he said. "Election Day is going to be interesting." Whether his forecast holds — and how many of the officials he named remain in their posts once the votes are counted — will only become clear in the personnel decisions that follow.