(CNN) The word out of the White House is that anyone not directly related to Donald Trump could be on the chopping block as this most mercurial of presidents seethes and stews over the midterm setback for his party last week and his broader grievances that he is not being well-served by his staff.

Which, uh, welcome to the Trump White House. Since Trump was sworn in as the 45th President of the United States, he has overseen one of the most chaotic Cabinets in modern history -- with resignations, firings and the whispers of future resignations and firings an almost-daily story.

The latest: Trump has decided he wants Kirstjen Nielsen, the head of the Department of Homeland Security, gone -- although it's unclear when she will go. Thrown into that mix is the fact that White House chief of staff John Kelly is very close to Nielsen -- she followed him into the DHS job -- and might take umbrage at her firing (or forced resignation) and step aside himself. Given the ongoing tensions between Trump and Kelly, it's hard to say that such a two-for-one scenario would bother the President.

There's a tendency to reach to normalize Trump's hot-knife-through-butter slicing and dicing of his Cabinet. After all, being a Cabinet secretary -- or a senior White House official -- is a very stressful job. And history suggests that people wear out and are replaced -- particularly after a major moment like a midterm election.

But, as with so many things when it comes to Trump, this tendency toward normalization undersells the historic anomaly we are witnessing. Yes, Cabinet officials and senior staff leave every White House. No, we have not seen the level or pace of departures occurring in this White House ever before in modern memory.

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