Running smoothly

Even for an administration that has been a revolving door since Day 1, this has become a season of turmoil. At a moment when first-term presidents are typically seeking a stable team to focus on their re-election, President Trump has embarked on a systematic attempt to sweep out officials perceived to be disloyal.

[...]

And Johnny McEntee, a 29-year-old loyalist just installed to take over the Office of Presidential Personnel and reporting directly to Mr. Trump, has ordered a freeze on all political appointments across the government. He also convened a meeting to instruct departments to search for people not devoted to the president so they can be removed, according to people briefed about the session, and informed colleagues that he planned to tell cabinet secretaries that the White House would be choosing their deputies from now on.

  NYT

Well that'll make things run more smoothly! Nobody will trust anybody.

[C]areer professionals are not the only ones in the cross hairs. Also facing scrutiny are Republican political appointees considered insufficiently committed to the president or suspected of not aggressively advancing his agenda.

[...]

“It is not unusual at all that these types of assessments are done and thereafter changes are made,” said Bradley A. Blakeman, a Republican strategist and former White House official under President George W. Bush.

Why have we never heard of anything like it before?

According to data compiled by Kathryn Dunn Tenpas, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, turnover among what she calls Mr. Trump’s “A team,” meaning his senior staff, has hit 82 percent, more in three years than any of the previous five presidents saw in their first four years. Moreover, the Trump administration has been notable for a high level of serial turnover, with 38 percent of the top positions replaced more than once.

“Many key departments and White House entities have been hollowed out,” Ms. Tenpas said. The president has thus been left with acting officials in many key areas. “He seems completely unbothered,” she said. “He claims that actings give him flexibility, but fails to see that temporary leaders cannot advance his policies nearly as well as a Senate-confirmed appointee who has the stature and all the powers to do so.”

[...]

Trump seems to prefer to keep senior advisers on edge as to whether they will keep their job. Mick Mulvaney, his acting White House chief of staff, a position that does not require Senate confirmation, is finishing his 14th month with an “acting” in front of his title for no reason that has ever been publicly articulated and he may be forced out without ever having been granted the full title.

[...]

[T]he president’s refusal to bestow the full title strikes many as a form of ritual humiliation depriving him of stature, influence or job security.

[...]

The ousters have extended beyond impeachment witnesses like Lt. Col. Alexander S. Vindman and the ambassador Gordon D. Sondland. John C. Rood, who was removed as under secretary of defense for policy, did not speak out publicly but had written internal emails skeptical of the freeze on security aid to Ukraine that was at the center of the impeachment inquiry.

In National Security Council staff meetings, however, Mr. Rood was a constant voice of skepticism over the administration’s troop reductions in Syria, its pending peace deal with the Taliban and other issues. With Mr. McEntee’s arrival, that dissenting voice was no longer welcome, said a person familiar with the matter.

Only yes men need apply. Why not just cardboard cutouts of people from central casting?

 ...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE: