It’s often difficult to distinguish between a circus and President Trump’s administration, especially after the contemptuous departure of his third national security adviser last week.

Was John Bolton fired? Did he resign after only 17 months in office? The world will never know, or it will be forced to believe either Trump’s intermittently coherent tweets or Bolton’s insistence that he left willingly.

“I informed John Bolton last night that his services are no longer needed at the White House,” Trump tweeted on Sept. 10, adding that he “disagreed strongly with many of [Bolton’s] suggestions.”

Meanwhile, on the same day, Bolton spoke out.

“I offered to resign last night…” Bolton tweeted.

This kind of back-and-forth, conflicting banter leaves the American people confused seeking truth about what is really happening — especially since Trump declared the media the “enemy of the people” in tweet posted on April 5. From whom does Trump suggest we obtain information about current events, since we can’t trust our own president, nor, according to him, the media? This unprofessional behavior is hardly appropriate conduct for the leader of the free world.

And Bolton isn’t the first to be ousted; unfortunately, he probably won’t be the last.

“Since his inauguration, the President has plowed through a secretary of state, a defense secretary and an attorney general. He’s worked his way through an FBI chief, a director of national intelligence, a homeland security secretary, two White House chiefs of staff and five deputy national security advisers,” CNN political analyst Nicole Gaouette reported on Sept. 10. “He’s seen an ambassador to the UN come and go, as well as a Mideast peace negotiator.”

Trump has stated both on the campaign trail and during his presidency that one of his objectives is to “drain the swamp” in Washington, D.C. But by often firing members of his administration, Trump is denying America the stability and steadiness it craves in leadership.