The Best People?

Donald Trump repeatedly painted himself as a management genius when he was running for President. He also repeatedy promised to bring "the best people" into his administration, as if he had some special talent for attracting nominees a cut far above those of previous Presidents.

NBC published an article and concurrently broadcast a segment on Monday about how Trump's Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, is clueless and feckless and his department is adrift as a result (link here). It's worth noting that Tillerson had utterly no diplomatic experience before becoming secretary in one of the most important cabinet posts.

For instance, Tillerson is skipping critically important meetings this week at the United Nations General Assembly. He hasn't bothered to bring forward candidates for vital under-secretarys and assistant secretaries; all but two of the nearly four dozen slots remain vacant.

Just as bad, vital ambassador positions are still unfilled in critically important countries like Korea, Afghanistan, Egypt, Germany, Saudi Arabia, and more. Budgets have been slashed and important programs have fallen by the wayside.

Tillerson isn't the only top nominee in way over his head. Trump has brought aboard polluters to run the Environmental Protection Agency, a talk show radio host with no scientific background for a top science position, and someone with no space or science experience to run NASA (details here).

All of this would make Trump's "best people" promise laughable if the results weren't so horrible. We long ago realized not to trust Trump's claims, but one would think the GOP leadership in the party and on Capitol Hill would have taken a firmer hand in helping him avoid the disasters he's made.

At the end of the day, which is more dangerous: Trump's near constant dishonesty or his gross incompetence? The answer isn't clear, but we're in a terrible place to have to be asking that question.