Jonathan Bernstein, Columnist

Trump's Outsider Campaign Is Backfiring

His inability to recruit first-rate Republicans has led to a state of constant scandal.

October 31, 2017 at 11:30 AM UTC

Jonathan Bernstein is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering politics. A former professor of political science at the University of Texas at San Antonio, he wrote A Plain Blog About Politics.

Hiring decisions.
Photographer: Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg

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Every time big news drops revealing more trouble for the Trump administration, one of the memorable lines from the movie version of "All The President's Men" tends to reappear on Twitter. "The truth is," the source known as "Deep Throat" tells reporter Bob Woodward, "these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand."

I have no idea how smart former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, his partner Rick Gates, or campaign foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos might be (Manafort and Gates have pleaded not guilty, while Papadopoulos cut a deal and took a guilty plea). But there's not a whole lot of evidence of good staff work from them.1509400097576 At any rate, things have certainly gotten out of hand with Monday's indictments, and one major reason why they've gotten out of hand has everything to do with Trump's inability to recruit first-rate professionals.