is he still in denial?

Here's Donald Trump talking about making mistakes in hiring certain staffers when he was president... but note how he tries to spin his mistakes. I don't think Trump has learned the essential lessons regarding Judases. He's probably still prone to hiring ass-kissers who will backstab him at the first opportunity so they can go on to write their tell-all memoirs. Trump's inability to see who his real friends are is among his worst personal traits. He's good at understanding human psychology on a "macro" level (Abraham Accords, the economy, etc.), but at the "micro" level, he suffers from scotosis.

Two comments below the video caught my eye (edited):

1. The list of bad hires was long. Tillerson, Mattis, Wray, Barr, Bolton, Pompeo, Sessions. I mean, he chose Sessions to be AG when he knew that there was going be a “trumped up” Russia investigation, and Sessions was always going to recuse himself, especially after he was the first senator to endorse Trump. Remember when the Dems made such a stink about Tillerson? He ended up being just as much of a globalist as anyone. Bolton was absolutely horrible, as he was the poster boy of the War Party. As far as a potential second term goes, even if he gets a GOP Senate, he’s going to need all of their votes to get people confirmed. Long gone are the days when any qualified candidate will get confirmed by unanimous consent. The neocons have power in this respect, and if the Dems control the Senate, he will have to get their approval on any big appointments. He better not let Jared and Ivanka anywhere near the West Wing ever again. When your own “kitchen cabinet” is working against you, you have no chance.

2. Firing Comey is NOT draining the swamp. Traitors in your admin said you needed to be "softer?" The question is, do you think you were hard enough on the traitors? Your answer should be HELL, NO. As for hiring better, you backed McCarthy as speaker. Do better. Also, don't forget you were ousted in a coup. Campaigning seems like a waste of time. You should be rallying the masses to re-take the country, and that won't happen at the ballot box.

The work of draining the swamp will take several administrations in a row (I'll be long dead before the swamp is even halfway drained), and with American politics being as pendular as it is, there won't be several administrations in a row to do the work consistently. Which is sad.