Are you now, or have you ever been, a card-carrying member of the State Department?

[SteveMetz]

any previous administration within our lifetimes how?

Point taken, but in my opinion, this administration has done it to a greater extent and to more disastrous results that their forebears.

There were signs of the deprecation of expertise early on--this administration transformed many positions that had previously been reserved for experts into political appointments. Their mentality was that experts were a firebreak on their vision. Such a mentality does open the way for bold innovation. But it also increases the chances of major mistakes.