What to make of this seemingly odd mixture of people? Let history be the guide: In 1923, Puyi, the last emperor of China, realizing the low point to which his advisors had brought him with poor advice and corruption, demanded an accounting of his remaining riches. Instead of allowing an audit that would lay bare their embezzlement and incompetence, the eunuchs set fire to the very palace complex that made up their residence. Shortly after the fire, the eunuchs were expelled from the Forbidden City, followed shortly by the deposed emperor himself. They faced a terrifying new world while knowing none but the obsolete one passing from existence.

Today, the Washington foreign policy elite, which has remained remarkably stable and chummy through both Bush and Obama administrations, finds itself facing a similar apocalypse. For many, careers in government marked by long tenure (if not accomplishment) have given way to lucrative consulting work, media gigs, board seats, and distinguished positions in think tanks that allow for effortless transition into high government positions when desired.

More than any specific Trump policy they do not like or foreign business partner they find uncouth, the establishment voices who condemn him do so because he might run the government without them. There will be no access for them to sell. No calls from presidential personnel. No invitations to state dinners. No requests to brief cabinet members. No adventures in government that provide justification for their comfortable existence outside of government.   

To use the parlance of the day, Trump will "disrupt" not just their industry, but their entire world. That is why, like the palace eunuchs resorting to fire, they work frantically to buy just four more years of the world they know with Hillary Clinton. In such desperate situations, the truth of one’s allegations are apparently inconsequential.    

Christian Whiton was a State Department senior advisor and deputy special envoy during the George W. Bush administration. He is the author of “Smart Power: Between Diplomacy and War.”