Washington (CNN) "This guy thinks he's CEO of America and it's a family-owned company. He doesn't have to answer to anybody."

Trump runs his White House -- and the broader government -- much in the same way he ran his eponymous company. He has surrounded himself with a small inner circle filled with a combination of family members and people willing to tell him he is always right. He demands total loyalty from those who work for him and, as is the case with the traditionally independent Justice Department, fumes when they refuse to follow his orders to a "T." He purposely -- and publicly -- contradicts people within his own administration as a way to assert his dominance and keep them on their toes.

Put another way: All you need to know about how Donald Trump views the presidency you can learn by watching a single episode of "The Apprentice."

What has become abundantly clear in Trump's two-plus years on the job is that Washington and the presidency isn't changing him. In fact, it's the other way around. (Remember those golden days when the political world debated whether Trump would act more "presidential" once in office??)

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