Donald Trump’s victory over Hillary Clinton in the presidential election of 2016 has given us a temporary reprieve from the sophisticated and destructive operators of the Obama administration. Faithfully reflecting Obama, they combined malice, stupidity and self-regard in roughly equal measure in the discharge of their responsibilities. I offer recent comments from former members of the Obama administration as Exhibits A, B, and C.

Exhibit A: Former Obama senior advisor Dan Pfeiffer dreams of happier days ahead.

I hope this is the photo they use on the front page of the Times on the day Trump is indicted pic.twitter.com/mifuyBk6YY — Dan Pfeiffer (@danpfeiffer) December 21, 2017

Exhibit B: Inspired by Pfeiffer, former Obama deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes shares his dreams of happier days.

And alongside the obits for Ryan, McConnell, and Pence https://t.co/fOrm1JZwpu — Ben Rhodes (@brhodes) December 21, 2017

Exhibit C: Former CIA Director John Brennan comments on President Trump’s threat to use foreign aid to advance the American national interest. I won’t even try to explain Brennan’s train of thought. I don’t understand it. I will only say that it seems to me both to channel Obama and to represent a pure case of projection.

Trump Admin threat to retaliate against nations that exercise sovereign right in UN to oppose US position on Jerusalem is beyond outrageous. Shows @realDonaldTrump expects blind loyalty and subservience from everyone—qualities usually found in narcissistic, vengeful autocrats. — John O. Brennan (@JohnBrennan) December 21, 2017