[tibbydudeza]

Why does a US President have so much power in seemingly appointing incompetent political hacks or party donors to all sorts of important roles ???.

In most cases a country has a professional civil service where political hackery are kept to a minimum and policy making is decided by the ministers and it all filters down.

[rayiner]

What other countries are you talking about? In most countries, ministers are appointed by the Prime Minister or Chancellor. The head of the Canadian telecom regulator is appointed by the Prime Minister. Same thing for Germany.

[salawat]

See, that was actually everyone below the appointee level. Appointees typically get swapped out at every election, but everyone below them is typically tasked with continuity of governance with the appointee providing mainly direction.