NBC’s Peter Alexander asked White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany why President Donald Trump continues to hire people that he later deems “dumb as a rock” or “incompetent.”

Alexander asked the question in light of the president’s criticisms of a number of previous administration officials, specifically former National Security Adviser John Bolton, whose imminent book release has sparked a barrage of criticisms and insults from the president and members of the administration. (RELATED: Kayleigh McEnany: John Bolton Has Replaced James Comey As ‘Most Disliked Man In America’)

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Alexander cut right to the chase by asking directly, “Let me ask if I can, Kayleigh, why does the president keep hiring people that are ‘dumb as a rock,’ ‘overrated,’ ‘way over their heads,’ ‘wacko’ and ‘incompetent’?”

McEnany explained that Trump liked to hire people who would present opposing viewpoints.

“I spoke to him this morning about the hiring of John Bolton in particular, and he said, ‘I like to counterbalance my own opinion with individuals that oftentimes have the very opposite opinion of my own,'” McEnany replied. “He likes the model of having a team of rivals like what we saw in President Lincoln’s administration. I’ve been a part of that, I often see rigorous debate, and the president uses his gut and makes the best decision how to move forward.”

McEnany again mentioned that Lincoln had employed a similar strategy, and said that it had appeared to work very well in his case.

“There is obviously value in hiring a team of rivals, it’s worked well in the past,” Alexander agreed, adding, “But then if you’re going to hire rivals, why hire rivals that are ‘dumb as a rock,’ ‘overrated,’ ‘way over their heads,’ ‘wacko’ and ‘incompetent’? How does that help?”

McEnany responded by saying that the president didn’t necessarily think those things of his hires when they first joined the administration, but that as time went on, “sometimes the rivals prove those labels to be true.”

She argued that was particularly true with regard to Bolton, who had praised President Trump and then turned on him, concluding, “I think John Bolton has proven himself to have those labels as true.”