The idea that America was getting shafted in international deals wasn’t just a theme of the Trump campaign, it was the theme. Donald Trump promised that not only was he a red-hot maker of deals, he was going to bring in a team of all “the best people” while throwing those horrible, terrible deals of the past into the trash can.

But according to Washington Post columnist and conservative stalwart Jennifer Rubin, it turns out Trump’s best people are substandard.

The hope that a business figure who reinvented presidential campaigning might have access to a talent pool filled with figures who could bring new expertise and insights to government was always fanciful. Trump defines success in terms of money and demands absolute loyalty. He lacks any interest in policy and therefore sees no need for policy experts. His narcissism prevents him from getting those more knowledgeable and sophisticated than he to serve.

Trump has ended up with a team where the secretary of state is in hiding, the attorney general is huddled in his bigot bunker, and the secretary of energy is carefully explaining bullshit exports to a Russian comedy show (really). The rest of Trump’s “best” are goggle-eyed yes men who spend most of their time scrambling to explain why Trump’s latest incoherent tweet is good. Real good.

As for Trump’s deal-making skills, those turn out to be as good as a degree from Trump University.