This isn't about white house staff or the teams that presidents select - this is about the huge bureaucracies run by unelected civil servants who usually reached their position through a combination of nepotism, cover-my-ass, corruption, and coercion. I know that sounds like an overly cynical view, but from first-hand experience and knowledge, it's just the way things are. There are a few who fill these posts and actually wish to do their jobs well, but they're the exception, not the rule, and are being increasingly pushed out - most are there to line their pockets and bask in their own perceived glory.
The whole democratic process is just smoke and mirrors to prevent the populace from revolting - and I think we all know it - which means that it can't work as it does now for much longer - hence the increasing militarisation of police, creeping liberty reduction, and all the rest - as they know this too, and power, once attained, is clung to at pretty much any cost, by the kind of individual to whom power over others appeals.
The whole democratic process is just smoke and mirrors to prevent the populace from revolting - and I think we all know it - which means that it can't work as it does now for much longer - hence the increasing militarisation of police, creeping liberty reduction, and all the rest - as they know this too, and power, once attained, is clung to at pretty much any cost, by the kind of individual to whom power over others appeals.