The Peter Principle and making lemonade from lemons

I remember reading the book "The Peter Principle" in high school. For those of you who didn't, or who forgot, the Peter Principle states that an employee continues to receive promotions to work in higher ranks up to that point where he reaches a level of incompetence. In simple terms, the higher the hierarchy ladder an individual goes, the more likely he is to fail in his new position.

I'd forgotten about this until it came up in a comment thread over at jabberwocking.com:

"One of the things that makes me more optimistic than some of my fellow liberals is based on the Peter Principle. Trump is applying the Peter Principle in an accelerated way, advancing people far past their levels of competence. While that might seem at first like a Bad Thing, it means that the Deep State Government Bureaucracy can do what it does best: Turf battles and red tape.

"So while Elon Musk, et al can do a fair bit of damage, their lack of competence in government will limit what they are able to accomplish. That leaves them doing performative stuff to provide chum for the base, which is what Trump really wants. So they'll get high marks from Trump based on their ability to polish his boots on Fox News and in the media, despite their lack of productivity at tearing down the Deep State and draining The Swamp.

"Also, they will get bored, Musk in particular, and then want to exit to more profitable and personally fulfilling grifts."