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The following were his choices alone:

Michael Cohen - his personal attorney . A complete sleazeball.
Omarossa Manigaut Newman - he brought to the WH. What was her competence?
Paul Manafort - campaign chairman.
Chris Christie - head of his transition. Did not perform this very critical job. There was no personnel or transition plan in place on election day. Trump had to scramble to find people to fill key jobs for months after inauguration.

The following are the most critical appointments for a new administration. If Trump had done any preparation for assuming the office of President he should have completely vetted and spent considerable time with each of them before nominating them. All were failures.

White House Chief of Staff - Reince Priebus
Attorney General - Jeff Sessions
Secretary of State - Rex Tillerson
Secretary of Defense - James Mattis

Some argue Mitch McConnell was controlling who he could appoint, for every single office. If that is the case, with all of his appointment, he should not be president again. If he allowed McConnell to control who he appointed to office, why won’t that happen again in a new administration? If the president cannot assemble a competent and loyal team to carry out his agenda in the entrenched bureaucracy, he cannot be successful.

The truth is any leader of an organization owns his appointments. They accept accountability for the successes and failures of the executives they appoint — they own the results. CEO’s consult with the board of directors, before they promote or appoint senior executives but in the final analysis the CEO makes the appointment and is accountable for the performance. We the people elected Trump and if he made bad choices, and those choices sabotaged his presidency, we should consider his failing before handing him another term.

Trump also had a bad habit of going to the media and publicly trashing the people he appointed to office. What competent and capable person with a great career record wants to work for someone who publicly berates and trashes the people working for him? This is a character trait of Trump which works against attracting excellent people.

Finally, if Mitch was really pulling the strings with Trump’s appointments, Trump could have called his bluff and gone to the American people. If Trump wanted to appoint someone and Mitch said no, he could have told Mitch he was going to use the bully pulpit with the American people to make his case publicly. If the candidate was an able, honest, and respected person, Mitch would have backed down. One would think a man who would publicly trash Rex Tillerson and James Mattis while they worked for him would not have a problem going to the people with an appointment Mitch McConnell opposed.

Trump’s behavior was not always that of an evolved leader. If given a choice today in a 2024 primary between Trump and DeSantis, I would vote for DeSantis. He is a better leader and just as willing to take on the media and take tough action in governing. From what I can see, DeSantis takes full ownership for the performance of his team and doesn’t trash his people in public when things go wrong.

I would agree with you on Trump’s appointments, and certainly on the one’s you highlighted.

The WH operations and the operations Cabinet officers can control most would think would require some prior experience that would contribute to a nominee’s ability to do the job nominated/appointed to.

Trump was an establishment, Washington D.C. and political outsider. Many of his earlier appointments were people who Trump knew were not exactly outsiders and were expected to have some insight, professionally and politically to bring to the jpb.

White House Chief of Staff - Reince Priebus - former chairman of the RNC, which is no small operation, and which imagine Trump thought would help his WH navigate the politcal shoals in the GOP and D.C. It didn’t.

Attorney General - Jeff Sessions - in addition to being a Trump supporter had a legal and political office background, and voting positions that aligned with positions agreed on by Trump, sugessting he could LEAD the DOJ. The DOJ led Sessions by the nose instead, and it made him unable to serve Trump well. Trump learned that strenght was not what Sessions had enough of against an entrenched legal bureaucracy he was supposed to lead.

Secretary of State - Rex Tillerson - Tillerson matched up with two areas important to Trump that Tillerson had plenty of experience in - the U.S. energy sector and years of dealing with and negotiating with foreign leaders. Again I think Tillerson was like Sessions, overcome by the bureaucracy he was supposed to lead. He would have made a better Secretary of Energy.

Secretary of Defense - James Mattis - I had no problem with Mattis, Trump did, but I think Trump was wrong. I noticed that in spite of their disagreement - mostly over our continued assistance to and work with the Kurds in Syria, Trump did not in fact quit what we had been doing there - effectively leaving in place what Mattis had argued to leave in place. Mattis was right in many ways on that score. It was cheap and stategic - Russia, Assad and Iran cannot determine what will happen with northen Syria, without either war or agreement with the Kurds we are backing there, which keeps a U.S. hand in that eventual settlement. Russia had already learned it cannot bully us in Syria.

“Some argue Mitch McConnell was controlling who he could appoint, for every single office.” Not knowing what is truth and what is rumor there, I wouldn’t comment.

“Trump also had a bad habit of going to the media and publicly trashing the people he appointed to office.” I think Trump has a big ego and thin skin sometimes. I think he does not understand how unnecessary, amd sometimes negative. it is to let those two things show too much in public discourse. When they are operating together they are not his best quality.

I think DeSantis is too strong a person in his own right to be a VP. I would suggest he run for Senator against Marco Rubio now in 2022. If Trump falters in 2024, DeSantis could run for POTUS in 2028. My only concern is if losing DeSantis as gpvernor of Florida will become a negative for the GOP in Florida, by way of who the GOP would replace DeSantis with.