The Trump administration, on the other hand, has hundreds of senior and midlevel positions to fill, and few people of quality or experience are going to want to take them. Even on its best early days, the Trump White House never had that. I say it because White Houses, like all organizations, run on talent, and the Trump White House has just become a Human Resources disaster area. Nobody is going to want to become the next H. R. McMaster, a formerly respected figure who is now permanently tainted because he threw his lot in with Donald Trump. Trump was able to recruit some talented people, mostly on the foreign policy side, but organizational cultures are set from the top, and a culture of selfishness has always marked this administration. Few people of any quality or experience are going to want to join a team that is already toxic. That means even if the Trump presidency survives, it will be staffed by the sort of C- and D-List flora and fauna who will make more mistakes, commit more scandals and lead to more dysfunction. But we have never seen a White House implode before it had the time to staff up. Trump, for his part, is resentfully returning fire, blaming his underlings for his own mistakes, complaining that McMaster is a pain, speculating about firing and demoting people. The White House at the center just collapsed in on itself and the nation’s policy apparatus is covered in ash.
