So, who knew? Elect an elderly, impudent, reality TV dolt to the most important job in the land, and things go sideways.

A new report suggests that the staff turnover rate in the Trump White House is the highest in decades.

That’s really not the best way to run a smooth operation.

The New York Times reported that staff departures at the White House have reached 34 percent, following a number of high-profile shakeups and resignations among some of the president’s most senior aides.

At the same time, Trump has struggled to fill vacant positions, largely reflecting the president’s unwillingness to hire those that he deems unloyal, as well as hesitations by some Republicans to join an administration that often appears chaotic and freewheeling, the Times reported.

Everything from the Russia probe, to removals for shifty conduct, to those who are gnawing off their own arms to escape is lending to the high rate, as well, and that’s just the first year. As the second year kicks into gear, they’re still rolling out.

For those who stay, unfortunately, they have to double up their responsibilities.

Mick Mulvaney, the White House budget director is also leading the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, for example.

“We have vacancies on top of vacancies,” Kathryn Dunn Tenpas, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, told the Times. “You have initial vacancies, you have people who left in the first year and now you have people who are leaving in the second year.”

The reasons for leaving that many have are justified and their own. None of them are indentured servants. If, however, it’s a case of a president who is so paranoid that he requires personal loyalty (as the report suggests, and as we’ve heard from others, on several occasions), rather than competence and dedication to the job being done on behalf of the nation, then that’s a real problem.

If those who remain are overburdened and overwhelmed, the chance that something will get past them, or they trip up on something crucial grows.

As a nation, we shouldn’t be taking those chances.