Joseph Smith, a terrible judge of character

[_squawkeye]

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.

[_cinepro]

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.

[_squawkeye]

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