However, the evidence actually tells the opposite story, which is unsurprising as Trump's own The Art of the Deal advises that one often needs to present the opposite public front of what one is actually doing--magicians and generals refer to this as misdirection. The sad truth is that Trump was not expecting to win the 2016 election--note that he did not have any administrative staff ready in November and was still scrambling in January to get prospective members of his Cabinet together (unlike Clinton, who in her hubris had her team picked months in advance of the election). In short, he was unprepared and so turned to an outdated and unethical method that has been frowned upon ever since it lead to the death of President Garfield--the spoils system.
The spoils system (created by the President who makes me angry every time I see a $20 bill: Andrew Jackson) can be summed up simply as a President handing out jobs to the people who contributed the most (in cash or publicity) to his campaign regardless of the qualifications or experience in the job. Now, in a perfect world, our government would be a meritocracy--with each job run by the person best suited to be in that job based on their experience and ability. The spoils system does the opposite of what is needed for a good democracy--it puts the people who will most profit personally from the job into the position.
Allow me to provide four specific examples (and there are hundreds of positions that Trump filled using similar reasoning) to prove this point:
1) Ajit Pai was placed by Trump into the position of FCC chairman. He was already an iffy commissioner under Obama, but his positions on removing net neutrality and stopping investigations about foreign interference on social media made him an ideal candidate for Trump. He was literally under investigation himself due to some of his actions as commissioner when he was placed into the position of chairman and immediately ended those investigations.
2) Scott Pruitt was placed by Trump as the Chief of the EPA. His large contributions to Trump's campaign were enough for Trump to ignore that Pruitt was under multiple direct investigations for various environmental crimes. Unlike Pai, Pruitt was not as successful about changing environmental regulations and had to step down within a year due to federal investigations into his business practices. However, he still managed to weaken the EPA enough to lessen and remove the charges against himself even as he was leaving the office.
3) Louis DeJoy was a major fundraiser for Trump with absolutely no experience in the US Postal Service, yet had multiple businesses that were looking for exclusive contracts with the USPS. Of course Trump made him Postmaster General when the opening was available at the end of his term. DeJoy has since positioned his personal businesses to receive multiple exclusive contracts with the USPS, and is continuing to make controversial decisions in that position (including slowing mail ballot deliveries in the 2020 election) as it requires an act of Congress to remove a Postmaster General once appointed.
4) Elisabeth DeVos became the Dolores Umbridge of the Department of Education due to Trump's appointment of her as the Secretary of Education. She had absolutely no experience in any realm of public education. More so, she is a signatory to an organization whose stated purpose is the collapse of the public education system. All she had to do was be a top fund raiser for Trump in Michigan and she got the job. She immediately proceeded to dismantle programs and regulations which have led to multiple crises at all levels of our educational system.
Trump was a menace as a President, not a hero. Far from "draining the swamp," he increased the level of corruption in Washington with consequences that are still rippling across our nation today. Make no mistake: He is not a victim of simple political targeting--he is facing trials and judgments for very real crimes that were committed.