DiscussMormonism.com

Joseph Smith surrounded himself with yes men and fools way too often to be seen as anything but a terrible judge of character. A bully himself maybe he thought his physical strength and pushing could keep them in line? Maybe he thought they had 'potential' and if they did not measure up it was a 'winnowing' and they were failing some kind of test?

I think he just did not have a handle on sound judgment in picking friends and leadership. Somehow 'inspiration' was sorely lacking in his choice of so many who so quickly deserted and even turned against him.

I don't know about Joseph's judge of character, but it would have been nice if the Lord had tipped Joseph off about John C. Bennett in D&C 124. You know, something simple like "Verily, I say unto my servant Joseph that John C. Bennett is a liar and scoundrel, and an abortionist. He is taking advantage of the naïvété of my servant Joseph, and will verily betray you quickly." Something simple and direct like that.

Bennett wasn't the only one to cause problems. Joseph had a lot of close buddies that caused problems through the years.