Everything's Going Great

This is an actual headline in the world: "Donald Trump's First Planned Meeting with Foreign Leader Is a Complete Mess." And it's an accurate one.

One day before U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's first meeting with a foreign leader, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Japanese officials said they had not finalized when or where in New York it would take place, who would be invited, or in some cases whom to call for answers.

Uncertainty over the talks shows the difficulties in turning Trump from a freewheeling businessman into a sitting president with a watertight schedule and a fully functioning administration by his inauguration on Jan. 20.

Japanese and U.S. officials said on Wednesday the State Department had not been involved in planning the meeting, leaving the logistical and protocol details that normally would be settled far in advance still to be determined.

"There has been a lot of confusion," said one Japanese official.

Meanwhile, Trump's transition is shambolic, with "offices prepared for Trump transition officials in departments and agencies across the government remain[ing] empty," but the president-elect continues to insist that everything is going just fine.

The most frightening thing about the transition chaos is that it will absolutely diminish the possibility that competent people will staff this administration. It will be people who have no idea what they're doing and/or no ethics.

Let us remember how many Trump supporters pushed back on criticisms of his inexperience in governance with some variation of "he'll surround himself with smart people."

Whoops.