Surprise, surprise, “Never Trumpism” did not last long inside the Beltway.

In the run-up to the election — when the polls showed Donald Trump with virtually no chance of winning — more than 120 brave souls with varying amounts of government experience in national security signed one or both public letters denouncing Mr. Trump. The organizer of one of the letters, published in The Times, said then “that among the signatories ‘some will vote for’ Mrs. Clinton, and ‘some will not vote, but all agree Trump is not qualified and would be dangerous.’”

Not qualified and dangerous. Yet this week, in a Washington Post article, several of these “Never Trumpers” expressed surprise and hurt that they might be “blacklisted” from serving in the administration, or even offering their wisdom. It is no wonder that many of the Americans who voted for Mr. Trump have said that they did so because of the ego-driven, mealy-mouthed hypocrisy that is rampant in Washington insider circles.

Indeed, one former “Never Trumper” went so far as to meet with the president-elect and told him she was “privileged and humbled” to be allowed to speak with him, given the fact that she had signed one of the letters calling him “fundamentally dishonest” and unfit for the office of the presidency. She noted, in particular, his “maturity and graciousness.”

We get it, you want a job.

Although on its face repellent, is there anything wrong with this particular form of backpedaling? In the interests of our country, is it wrong to step up and offer one’s knowledge and expertise to help this president succeed? Particularly in the realm of intelligence and national security, don’t we all need him to succeed?

No, we do not want Donald Trump to succeed. We want our country and its citizens to be safe, healthy, prosperous, happy and respected around the world. But it is false logic to conclude that any of that will happen if the Republican elite enable or normalize Mr. Trump in any way, particularly by being his sycophants. There is not one national security policy tweeted or bellowed by Mr. Trump that, if put in place, will help this country. His “proposals” reveal his utter lack of knowledge and understanding of the underpinnings and current status of United States foreign policy, past or present, and his derision of the intelligence community makes clear that he is uninterested in learning what is actually happening around the globe that affects American interests, or places us at risk. After all, he often reminds us that the internet is full of information upon which he can, and will, rely.

World history is full of examples of the intelligentsia and permanent governing class offering their services in aid of a strongman who has bullied his way into power. Helping such a man wield and hold on to power has never ended well in the past, and it will not do so now. And if anyone thinks that they are so special that they can change him, persuade him, if only they could work from the inside, please, get real.

Job seekers, we hear you say that you need to go in to “save lives.” Do not be blinded by your view of your own amazingness. All you are doing by groveling at the feet of the brute is to prop him up, reinforce his belief in the rightness of his whim of the day. Make no mistake, if Mr. Trump’s “agenda” is successful more, not fewer, Americans and innocents around the world will suffer or die, and none of us will be safer. Do not be part of that.

Vicki Divoll is a former general counsel of the Senate Intelligence Committee and former deputy legal adviser to the C.I.A.’s Counterterrorist Center.