No one ever said “Draining the Swamp” would be easy.

Entrenched special interests — elected officials, lobbyists and bureaucrats, will never relinquish their power voluntarily.

Your sweeping efforts at rolling back the draconian regulations from the Bush and Obama years have been met with unprecedented rebellion by government officials, former presidential appointees, the “Deep State,” and life-long bureaucrats. The media is more than happy to do their bidding.

In less than half a year, you have achieved what many in the establishment conservative movement could have only dreamed of. That lists includes:

Confirmation of a Constitutional Conservative Supreme Court Nominee
Opening the Keystone Pipeline
Signing the TPP’s Death Warrant
Conservative Appointments for Judges and Key Posts in Government
Signing 66 Executive Orders Rolling Back Obama Policies
Stemming the Tide of Illegal Aliens
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke signed an order to begin reopening Alaska’s National Petroleum Reserve to oil and gas exploration, reversing the Obama administration’s ideologically driven 2013 shutdown
the Dakota Access Pipeline finally went live
The Fish and Wildlife Service took steps that may stop the Obama administration’s last-minute endangered-species listing for the Texas Hornshell, a freshwater mussell, reversing a listing that, based on outdated science, threatens significant harm to the Texas economy and was done over the protest of state officials and local industry

Despite these successes, you are being undermined on key fronts and in some cases by your own staff and appointees. Just this week alone, the New York Times cited three “administration officials” who “conceded that they could not publicly articulate their most compelling — and honest — defense of the president; that Mr. Trump, a “hasty and indifferent reader of printed briefing materials, simply did not possess the interest or knowledge of the granular details of intelligence gathering to leak specific sources and methods of intelligence gathering that would do harm to United States allies.”

Bill Nye isn’t right about much, but he was correct about this: the leaks are “not from the outside, [they’re] on the inside.” Within days of your swearing in, you were subjected to dangerous leaks regarding your private discussions with foreign leaders. Not long after, someone in your staff handed members of the mainstream media access to classified information about General Michael Flynn that only the highest officials in the U.S. government should be privy to. Now, we have an unknown “whistleblower” providing the press with information alleging that you gave the Russian Foreign Minister highly classified information, all while a leaked James Comey memo is riling up contemptible impeachment talks.

It also appears that White House positions are being filled with “Never Trumpers,” Republicans who trashed you at every turn in the campaign. For instance, former New Jersey Congressman Scott Garrett has been nominated to head the Export-Import Bank. Not only has Mr. Garrett flipped on his position on Trump, he also appears to have flipped on his position on the bank he may end up working for. While in Congress he argued for the EX-IM Bank’s elimination. Yet, if confirmed, he will be receiving a paycheck from it.

Garrett denounced Donald Trump for his sexually explicit comments last fall and stated his preference for Mike Pence being at the top of the GOP ticket. The Club for Growth, who supported Garrett in his campaigns for Congress, called the Export-Import Bank a “slush fund for corporate welfare.” Now Garrett might be heading that organization. With Garrett’s nomination, the Club for Growth believes Garrett will clean up and reform the agency he might soon be heading.

Garrett will never compromise or stick his neck out for you. In fact, last year, he refused to pay his dues to the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) solely because the group was giving monetary support to gay Republican candidates. If the NRCC couldn’t count on Garrett to support its uncontroversial mission of not discriminating based on sexual orientation, then how can you possibly count on this anti-Trump Republican to stand by you through both the highs and lows of your presidency?

It’s clear that the former New Jersey congressman won’t heed to your orders, but rather those affiliated with his favored groups and organizations — all of which are not very fond of you.

Should Garrett serve in the Ex-Im Bank, he will almost certainly provide the Club for Growth with a plethora of White House information. Club for Growth, which provided Garrett with 20 percent of all of the funds he raised last cycle, is starkly anti-Trump. In the past, this group, which you personally called “one of the dumbest you’ve ever met,” referred to you as “just another liberal.” In a Wisconsin rally last year, you even pointed out that they ran fraudulent Donald Trump advertisements after you declined to give them a sizable donation that they rudely requested.

President Trump, your administration marks a cornerstone of change in Washington. To paraphrase what you said yourself in your inaugural address, you are not transferring power from one administration to another, or from one party to another – but are transferring power from Washington, D.C. and giving it back to us, the American People. It would be a shame if your laudable goals for reforming this country are stymied because of a few bad staff choices.

SO NOW WHAT?

First, it is critical for you to get the loyalty you deserve from your staff and appointees. Fire political appointees and holdovers from the Obama era. They are undermining you daily. Pull the plug.

Second, get back on the road. Figure out a way to speak directly to the American people. From rallies to town halls, your power resides with Middle America, not the establishment and their media organs.

Third, recognize that you will never win over the establishment. Never. Abandoning the Paris Accord is another decision that will help make America great again. Park Avenue liberals and the editorial pages of the New York Times will never support you even if you capitulate to their demands. The coal miners, iron workers, and oil drillers who broke with party rank are the ones that put you in office. Abandoning the Paris Accord means abandoning the elites. Same holds true with your pledge to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Let Trump be Trump.

Finally, all of your effort must be focused on moving your legislative agenda through Congress. Tax cuts, spending cuts, Dodd-Frank reform and building the wall are critical to, not only your survival but the survival of the Republican Party.

But you will never be able to put any of your laudable goals into action if you do not have a staff that supports you both privately and publicly at every turn. Here’s to hoping that you build a team that respects you and your mission – something that we all deserve.