When Trump's early cabinet appointees turned out to be corrupt scumbags and grifters,

[vlyons]

4. Oh he could have chosen to be decent

As a Buddhist, I believe that everyone has Buddha nature, but it's just unrealized. Trump's psychology is such that change for the better would be a very remote possibility, but still a possibility if he were to want it badly enough.

You're right that he has a lifetime of childish selfishness pushing him. His behavior is unmindfully habitual. That's part of how karma works and keeps us locked into habitual patterns. Change is painful. It takes a very great and painful shock to the mental system to get to the resolve to change a pattern. Then it takes work on one's self to actually change and become victorious over the pattern.

Oh the webs we weave, when first we practice to deceive.