Donald Trump’s propensity to surround himself with loyalists—and to exile dissenters from his inner circle—is reportedly making it difficult to staff an administration that has made enemies, at one time or another, of just about everyone in Washington. For agency directors who hoped Trump was serious about creating a “team of rivals,” the past several weeks have provided a rude awakening.

Politico reports that Cabinet nominees who accepted Trump’s offer were under the impression that they would have control over whom they hired, but have found themselves stymied by the White House, whose staff have gone behind their backs to make their own hires. In other cases, potential hires have been prevented from joining the administration after it was discovered they had made past critical remarks about the president.

Several sources told Politico that it was endemic to nearly every agency. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos lost a preferred high-level candidate because the person had previously worked for an organization “that was seen as being at odds with Trump’s policy positions,” Politico reports. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin reportedly ran into similar problems, with two of his preferred officials being deemed “too liberal” or “not supportive enough of Trump.” State Secretary Rex Tillerson has been unable to appoint ambassadors or deputies thanks to White House pushback, according to Politico, creating gaps in the command structure at State and leaving critical diplomatic posts unfilled.

In perhaps the most dramatic turn of events, Shermichael Singleton, who had worked with Housing and Urban Development secretary Ben Carson for years, was quickly dismissed from what would have been a top position at the agency when it was discovered that he had written critical statements about Trump, Politico reports. Singleton, who was already in the process of helping Carson plan a nationwide tour when he was terminated last week, was escorted out of the department’s headquarters by security guards.

“I think the initial signal from the White House was that you could hire your own team and once nominees started putting up names, it was met with opposition because they had not supported Trump, or in some cases were anti-Trump,” a source told Politico. “So it was a conflicting signal that offended people.”

Trump’s inability to brook dissent has compounded the administration’s struggles to fill a number of high-ranking positions. According to the Partnership for Public Service, the president has nominated “fewer than three dozen of the 550 most important Senate-confirmed jobs,” leaving his Cabinet empty as he golfs each weekend at Mar-a-Lago. Numerous reports have suggested that the White House has had problems hiring career national security professionals, many of whom opposed Trump during the campaign and have refused to work with him. Robert Harward, the retired vice admiral Trump recently asked to replace Mike Flynn as his national security adviser, declined the job after Trump reportedly denied his request to pick his own team. (The president was said to be particularly concerned about keeping deputy national security adviser K.T. McFarland, a former Fox News pundit and political appointee who Harward didn’t want to work with.) Harward reportedly described the situation as a “shit sandwich.”

At the same time, several sources told Politico, the White House seems to be doing very little to protect or provide support to the nominees they have made, pointing to the abrupt withdrawal of Andrew Puzder’s nomination for Labor secretary after several damning reports and allegations emerged. “It’s been a month since inauguration. Why are some Cabinet nominees waiting on return calls from the White House?” one G.O.P. operative close to the process told Politico. “We’re reaching a point where nominees like [Agriculture Secretary-designate Sonny Perdue] are concerned. Potential ambassadors and judges are wondering how are you going to handle my confirmation? Very few people at that level don’t have skeletons in their closet, so you [need to] get confirmations done lickety-split.”