Several years ago, Stormy Daniels said Sunday on 60 Minutes, she was physically threatened by a man in a parking lot in Las Vegas to “leave Trump alone” and “forget the story” of their relationship. That allegation injected a darker strain into what has otherwise been a diverting media spectacle. As always in the Trump era, the reality-television details—Daniels’s description of the alleged sexual encounter as “textbook generic”; the claim that she spanked the future president with a rolled-up copy of a magazine bearing his face; that he likened the adult-film actress to his daughter—obscure more ominous overtones of misogyny and violence.

In that regard, the Daniels story mirrors the saga of disgraced White House staff secretary Rob Porter, who left his post as Chief of Staff John Kelly’s right-hand man last month amid allegations that he had subjected his two ex-wives to emotional and physical abuse. The Porter scandal was, by turns, monstrous and tawdry. The Daily Mail, which published the account of one of Porter’s ex-wives, Colbie Holderness, with a black eye, also delighted in breaking the news of Porter’s romantic liaisons with former White House communications director Hope Hicks, dispatching paparazzi to document a shared kiss in the back seat of a cab. Donald Trump, another tabloid star with a history of alleged sexual misconduct and of defending similarly accused men, was reluctant to see Porter leave, calling his departure “very sad,” and pointing to Porter’s own claim that ”he's innocent.”

In a somewhat predictable twist, The New York Times reported Monday that the president has remained in close contact with Porter, and has told some advisers he hopes Porter will return to work in the West Wing, even though he knows the prospect is unlikely. According to the Times, Porter’s departure hasn’t taken him too far from Trump, who’s been consulting with his ex-secretary and onetime de facto deputy chief of staff for policy by phone on such matters as trade and tariffs.

Dramaturgical interpretations of Trump’s White House are more elegant than the messy reality. The return of Porter, a series regular evicted in characteristically spectacular fashion, is less a function of reality-television tropes than the simple fact that Trump is yearning for friendly faces as his circle of trust shrinks. Before Mike Flynn cut a deal with Robert Mueller, the Daily Beast reported that the president wanted to find a way to rehire his short-lived national security advisor. “Trump feels really, really, really, bad about firing him, and he genuinely thinks if the investigation is over Flynn can come back,” a White House official said at the time. Trump has flirted with bringing ousted campaign manager Corey Lewandowski back into the fold, in a quest to surround himself with familiar names and faces, and recently met with him in the West Wing. Sebastian Gorka, the former Hungarian fugitive who departed the West Wing last year following reports detailing his connections to various crypto-fascist groups, was likewise welcomed back to the White House this month, to gossip over seared sea scallops and celery-root gratin.

Then there’s the persistent rumor that Anthony Scaramucci is attempting to worm his way back into Trump’s orbit: a maneuver theoretically made easier by the exits of Reince Priebus and Steve Bannon, the former of whom he infamously dubbed a “paranoid schizophrenic,” and the latter of whom he accused of “trying to suck [his] own cock.” The Mooch’s many cable-TV appearances have been punctuated by frequent praise for Trump, so it was somewhat unsurprising when the Beast reported that he has “privately told friends and associates that the president and other members of the Trump family, including White House adviser and First Daughter Ivanka Trump, miss him and want him back in the West Wing,” and that he “believes his resurrection in Trumpworld could be imminent.”

That story was met with mock outrage by Scaramucci—who, in the manner of his former boss, announced on Twitter that “@thedailybeast [wins] this week’s fake news award”—and derision by former associates. “It would amaze and shock me if the president still talks to [Scaramucci] or is considering rehiring him after what happened,” a senior White House official said. “And that is coming from someone who works in a place where nothing surprises me anymore.” In the wake of the latest Porter revelation, perhaps that official should recalibrate their capacity for shock.