Americans hired President Trump as a disruptor, not as their priest, rabbi or shaman. It is time for him to disrupt the dark state by filling government positions with those who share his visions and goals.

As of midsummer 2018, a year and a half into his presidency, Trump has failed to nominate candidates for about one-third of 600-plus key positions in the executive branch.

Trump voters backed a man who campaigned against the self-important, elite Washington establishment. He has delivered on much of what he promised, mostly with a pen and a phone. He has done so through an unprecedented barrage of hour-by-hour media assaults, fueled by leaks from within the administration and other forms of internal sabotage.

But Trump could accomplish considerably more with a cultural shift in administrative processes. For this broad-based, fundamental change, the president needs the right people managing processes designed to support his vision for the country.

One man cannot make America great again by working with temporary leaders or appointees of former presidents, who despise everything he represents. Trump cannot continue letting the same old people do the same old things, while he hopes for different results.

The “deep state,” as many call it, is the manifestation of a permanent class of government employees. This workforce wields levers of power and knows how to use them. Few of these entrenched bureaucrats devote themselves to serve the man chosen by an electoral landslide they resent.

To maximize his ability to get things done, Trump must root out his internal opponents and replace them — before the clock runs out. This can’t be asking too much of a man who branded himself with the catchphrase “You’re fired.” By cleaning house, Trump would disrupt the arcane processes sheltered by the entrenched deep-state culture.

The administration should carefully scrutinize potential appointees with ties to political campaigns, members of Congress, other politicians, and political movements. Trump and his closest advisers should determine whether each potential employee can set aside personal and political agendas. Trump appointees must understand their mission: to help a duly elected president achieve what he promised to the people who elected him.

Without a widespread upgrade of administrative-branch personnel, the country will remain mired in a swamp that Trump has failed to drain.

Trump has achieved historically significant economic growth. He is reducing regulation, balancing trade barriers, and improving our country’s stature on the international stage. Alas, he cannot go much further without similar disruption to the internal systems and structures controlled by entrenched federal employees who awake each day to looking for new ways to undermine him.

Figuratively speaking, the kingdom must begin looking more like the king, and less like the fiefdoms that Americans voted to expunge.

Drain the moat, Mr. Trump. Send the deep state packing and liberate Americans from the permanent political bureaucratic class.

Robert Blaha was Chairman of Trump for Colorado in 2016.