Even accounting for the fact that Trump was not a lifelong politician without experience inside the Beltway, even accounting for bad advice from malignant figures such as Chris Christie, one has to concede that Trump made a series of ill considered appointments such as Secretary of State, Attorney General, FBI Director, chiefs of staff to name some.
The Democrats profited mightily from their own wrongdoing, they handcuffed Trump in the potential range of his appointments that he might get through the Senate by alleging the bogus Russian hoax and they succeeded in winning the 2010 election with that hoax, and limited Trump's ability to fire subordinates who were not on board.
Still, some of the responsibility for these mini-tragedies must adhere to Trump.
Good to hear from you Nathan. Regarding T. Rex, the first secretary of state Trump appointed. I think he may have been an expedient for winning a deal in the Middle East. As CEO of Exxon, T. Rex knew the issues and leaders in the Middle East like the back of his hand. A year later, North Korea was the problem, and T. Rex had little to offer.
As others have observed, Mitch McConnell was the key obstacle to Trump. Another example: Steve Bannon was fired and left the U.S. scene for a long time. After that, the Trump tax package went sailing through...