Pity Hollywood’s screenwriters. Six months into the Trump era and they are struggling to keep up with the ever-changing plot twists, A-list cast, and Oscar-worthy rhetoric.

In a week that should have been pierced by the summer doldrums, the US president took aim at the attorney-general, suggesting he should hit the road, while his maverick new communications director launched a hybrid war on the president’s already maligned chief-of-staff. (The hybrid part: a biblical allusion-filled interview with CNN coupled by an expletive-ridden follow-up with The New Yorker.) The content was straight out of The Sopranos, the dialogue worthy of Martin Scorsese.

By the end of the week, Reince Priebus, the unfortunate chief-of-staff, had been given on the boot — on Twitter, no less — and left to fend for himself on the tarmac of Andrews Air Force base after two fellow West Wing aides jumped out of the car they were supposed to ride in with him. The motorcade sped away sans Mr Priebus’s car — a striking visual allegory.