If any two beliefs are shared by both critics and admirers of former President Donald Trump, they are these: His whims were frequently hamstrung by the people who surrounded him during his first term in office, and that won't be allowed to happen again.
Trump's victory in 2016 appeared to surprise his campaign as much as anyone. He boasted during the campaign that he hires "only the best people," but that was easier said than done. Bereft of institutional backing, with no serious plans for a postelection transition, the 45th president had no choice but to turn to the "Beltway establishment" to staff his administration. "When I first got to Washington," he lamented in April to Time, "I knew very few people."
