In fact, Trump’s selection of key staffers predated the Never Trump movement. This was never a candidate seeking our approval. Our movement began with the publication of a letter on War on the Rocks on March 2, 2016. We committed ourselves to working energetically against his election:

[Trump] would use the authority of his office to act in ways that make America less safe, and which would diminish our standing in the world. Furthermore, his expansive view of how presidential power should be wielded against his detractors poses a distinct threat to civil liberty in the United States.

Trump had already begun building his band of outsiders by the time we published our letter. Hope Hicks, now the White House communications director, was hired by then-candidate Trump two months earlier; he assured her that 2016 would be “the year of the outsider.” At no point did his campaign seriously seek to change minds or recruit talent from his rivals for the GOP nomination. Trump didn’t want establishment Republicans any more than we wanted him.

Once we had declared our opposition to Trump’s campaign, he didn’t appear worried. Colleagues have told me that the White House Office of Personnel informed departments that people who signed either of the Never Trump letters would not be cleared by the White House for appointments in the administration. Two of the signatories heard the message, recanting their position and seeking appointments in the administration. Despite their qualifications, neither has received positions. Elliot Abrams, Secretary Rex Tillerson’s choice for deputy secretary of state, did not sign either of the letters. But because he criticized candidate Trump, he was rejected. Not only did Trump’s team refuse Never Trump talent. *Reportedly on the advice of Senators Ted Cruz and Tom Cotton, he refused to allow the appointment of Democrats willing to cross party lines and serve in his administration.

Many leading establishment Republicans, including Brent Scowcroft, implored us to put our qualms aside and join the Trump administration as a patriotic duty. They worried the president’s worst tendencies would be magnified by unqualified, enabling supporters installed in senior positions. Some accused us of hubris, of putting our judgments above those of the American people who elected this president. Those are all reasonable arguments that weighed heavily on many of us. But nearly a year into the administration, I’ve concluded it wouldn’t have affected policy outcomes if we Never Trump Republicans joined the administration.

On occasion, Trump has departed from his apparent preference for second-rate talent—most notably, in the selection of several high-ranking veterans for national-security positions. Most of them have advocated the kinds of policies we backed—polices that Trump has thrashed. Defense Secretary James Mattis and, to some extent, Chief of Staff John Kelly and National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster, have managed to moderate the president’s inclinations on torture, his solely military-based approach to fighting the Islamic State and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and—so far—North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs. Those outcomes make clear that the interagency process managed to push a wider range of policy options into consideration, and that Trump’s senior appointees have attenuated some of his worst tendencies. More experienced staff might have made that process less painful. But their presence wasn’t required to persuade Trump to adopt policies contrary to his campaign rhetoric and long-standing views in those areas.