Interesting comments. Certainly agree that Trump was extremely successful, but how was that even possible?
That is, how was Trump supposed to assemble a deep bench when much of the DC establishment, most notably the DOJ/FBI, worked to subvert him throughout his term - in fact, well before his term even started with the fake dossier, Russian collusion hoax, and all the rest of it?
Moreover, Mattis, Kelley, etc were all part of the military/industrial/foreign policy establishment that has promoted stupid and disastrous wars and policies in the past. Maybe there was good reason to get rid of those guys.
In contrast, look at the 'deep bench' of Joe Biden. He is the most establishment hack to ever sit in the oval office - and look at the deep bench he has assembled (or more likely, they assembled themselves). The deep bench that gave us the Afg fiasco, the open border, and anti-fossil fuel policies - among other disastrous decisions.
With much of the DC establishment against Trump, how can he possibly assemble an effective deep bench? And, given the vast contrast between Trump's successes and Biden's massive failures, could it be possible that having a 'deep bench' is actually an impediment to presidential success, as counterintuitive as that seems?