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The turnover, which is expected to become an exodus after the November elections, does not worry the president, several people close to him said. He has grown comfortable with removing any barriers that might challenge him — including, in some cases, people who have the wrong chemistry or too frequently say no to him.

Photo by SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images

Trump, who desires a measure of chaos at all times, is reveling in the effects of his own mercurial decision-making, the people said.

Stephen K. Bannon, the president’s former chief strategist, said in an interview that Trump’s love of conflict had driven his approach to the presidency. “This is how he won,” Bannon said. “This is how he governs, and this is his ‘superpower.’ Drama, action, emotional power.”

Trump believes that he is gaining ground by trying to set the terms of news coverage around a number of issues affecting his White House, according to interviews with a dozen White House advisers, former aides and people close to the president. He has repeatedly promoted his performance at the one-year and 500-day milestones of his term, sowed confusion about his knowledge of hush payments to a pornographic film actress, and disparaged the special counsel’s Russia investigation, as well as railed against trade imbalances and scored a once-unthinkable meeting with the North Korean leader, to be held Tuesday in Singapore.

His daily torrent of Twitter posts about the Russia inquiry, interpreted by his critics as distress signals, is more often than not a sign that he is less worried about the consequences of using the blunt force of his platform to fight back, according to three advisers.