Why might the president be emotional, volatile, and angry? There are, in fact, plenty of reasons. February was, with apologies to the bard, the cruelest month for Trump in quite some time. He closed January with his State of the Union, for which initial reactions were moderate, but soon turned against. Then came the release of a memo from Devin Nunes that Trump believed would clear his name in the Russia probe, but proved to be only the latest in a long string of failed vindications.

This was followed by the Porter fiasco, which focused attention on a number of problems at the White House, including the president’s own history with women; his repeated indifference to victims of abuse; the struggle to recruit qualified staff to work in the administration; the serial dishonesty of the president’s team; and, perhaps most acutely, the failure and abuse of the security-clearance system.

The revelation that the White House has been gaming the clearance system is not only an example of the kind of chaos that has rattled Trump—it is also a cause. One possible casualty is Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and a senior adviser. Post-Porter, there was fresh scrutiny on the fact that Kushner has been working with an interim clearance since entering the administration. There are a number of apparent hold-ups to his final clearance, including slow and incomplete disclosures on his part, complicated financial ties that have inspired foreign powers to try to manipulate him, and the Mueller investigation.

While Kushner is not out of the White House, there are signs his position is weakening. Last week, he lost his top-secret clearance as part of reset by Kelly, with the president apparently opting not to overrule his chief of staff in favor of his son-in-law. Kushner’s close aide Josh Raffel this week announced he is leaving. And a New York Times article Wednesday night raised still more questions about whether Kushner is mixing his government work with his family’s business.

If Kushner were to leave, it would be another blow to a president who has few close confidants, tends toward paranoia, and detests changes to his routine. He has already lost one of his closest lieutenants, Communications Director Hope Hicks, who announced her departure Wednesday. Hicks had been with Trump for three years, making her his longest-serving aide, and her departure leaves him even more isolated. She reportedly told colleagues she felt she had done all she could in the job, and given that the best the White House press apparatus can ever hope to do is maintain its head above water, it’s hard to disagree. Trump also reopened his feud with Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Wednesday, attacking him publicly once again, and urging him to politicize the Justice Department and circumvent standard procedures.