With Trump exercising his prerogative to make unconventional hires, this is no time for the A-Team to sit on the sidelines. The new principals will be acutely dependent on committed public servants with accomplished records in government, people well-versed in policy formulation and implementation. Politics is politics, but we’re quite literally talking about life and death here.

The erstwhile adversaries who reached out to the Trump camp demonstrated civic responsibility. Cynics are of course saying that they never doubted for a second that these men and women of “principle” would rush to seize the reins of power once offered.

But everyone will commend them, if only in silence, for their service to their country. And if the ship of state should be steered to peaceful and prosperous shores, they too will find satisfaction in jobs well done.

Again, this is no less critical for the world beyond America. International affairs are complex enough in times of relative calm. With conflict raging in different corners of the planet, often involving confused alliances between rival states and transnational terrorist factions, there is no luxury of a honeymoon.