Fealty to Donald Trump is a common theme in his cabinet picks

To have listened to President-elect Donald Trump on the campaign trail, his first term in the White House was four years of magic and bliss — a time of political perfection the likes of which have never been seen before in America, or perhaps even the world.
It’s a version of history (or perhaps an aversion to it) that glosses over chaotic facts: most notably that many of those brought into Trump’s inner circle when he first came to power ultimately left with dire warnings of what they’d witnessed and experienced.
His first-term pick for secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, called him “a moron.” Rick Perry, his first energy secretary, called him “a barking carnival act” and predicted (wrongly) that he would “lead the Republican Party to perdition.”
Trump’s longest-serving former chief of staff, John Kelly, a retired general in the Marine Corps, referred to him as a “fascist” with dictatorial tendencies.
The many swipes and slights from those who witnessed Trump’s inaugural tour around the Oval Office go some way toward explaining the flurry of cabinet nominees for the second go-round. They include a fair number that might be politely described as controversial. Others that are simply baffling.
Trump’s pick for his next director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, claims to be on a terrorism watch list.
A right-wing television personality, Peter Hegseth, got the nod to lead the Department of Defense and the world’s most powerful military.
Member of Congress Matt Gaetz, who was once investigated over sex-trafficking allegations, will lead the justice department, if Trump has his way.
And the future health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., is skeptical of vaccines, wants to stop treating drinking water with fluoride, and is selling official merchandise online under the Trumpesque slogan: “Make America Healthy Again.”
As conservative commentator Peggy Noonan wrote in the Wall Street Journal: “it is impossible to tell if Mr. Trump is announcing appointments or trolling his enemies.”
What is the world to make of Trump’s cabinet-in-the-making? The common theme is that these figures have been picked for their demonstrated fealty to Trump rather than their professional bona fides. What is taking shape is a Team Trump custom built to carry out his every command.
That should not be a controversial statement. Every governing cabinet is assembled with a purpose, its members assigned to carry out specific policy tasks.
But it becomes a cause for concern given the scope of the overhaul Trump wants to bring to Washington and the world. It’s also concerning given indications that the few checks and balances on Trump’s power have evaporated.
That was evidenced this week by Rep. Troy Nehls, a Republican from Texas.
“His mission, his goals and objectives, whatever that is, we need to embrace it. All of it. Every single word,” he told reporters.
“If Donald Trump says, ‘Jump three feet high and scratch your heads,’ we all jump three feet high and scratch our heads.”
Not everyone is so ready to abandon their constitutionally assigned roles. Trump has demanded of the newly elected Republican Senate leader that he be allowed to make recess appointments when senators are on break, meaning that Trump nominees would not be subject to the usual confirmation hearings.
The nomination of Gaetz to, as Trump put it, “end weaponized government … and restore Americans’ badly shattered faith and confidence in the justice department” is the pick that has even some Republicans raising objections.
The House ethics committee was set to release a report on a probe into Gaetz’s alleged sexual misconduct and drug use on Friday, but his resignation immediately after being nominated now means that report may never be made public.
Declaring that she was “shocked” by Gaetz’s nomination, Maine Sen. Susan Collins said the case highlighted why the Senate’s “advise-and-consent process is so important.”
“I’m sure that there will be many, many questions raised at Mr. Gaetz’s hearing, if in fact the nomination goes forward.”
More broadly, Trump’s nominations so far give an indication of the likely ferocity of the follow-through on some of his campaign promises.
Fox News host Hegseth, his defence secretary pick, has advocated barring women from combat roles in the military, kicking out transgender men and women and getting rid of senior military officials responsible for diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies in the force. He has referred to such initiatives as “socially correct garbage.”
The Monterey police in California released a statement Thursday confirming that Hegseth, an evangelical Christian who hosted a Fox series along with his pastor that retraced the life of Jesus, had been the subject of a sexual assault complaint in 2017, but had not been charged.
Speaking recently on The Shawn Ryan Show, the veteran with tours in Afghanistan, Iraq and Guantanamo Bay questioned American involvement in the defence of Ukraine, doubted any larger security threat to Europe from Russia, and referred to the 2022 invasion of Ukraine as President Vladimir Putin’s “give me my sh-t back war.”
Similarly, Gabbard, Trump’s pick for director of national intelligence, has spoken of Russia’s “legitimate concerns” about Ukraine joining NATO and met with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in 2017 on a “fact-finding mission” during that country’s civil war. This, despite Syria being under U.S. sanctions as a state sponsor of terrorism since 2011.
Gabbard is an Army Reserve officer, but her greatest qualification to oversee the America’s intelligence agencies may be loyalty.
First elected to Congress as a Democrat, she sought the party’s presidential nomination in 2020. Two years later, she quit the party, which she said was made up of “an elitist cabal of warmongers driven by cowardly wokeness.” In 2024, she was co-chair of Trump’s transition team.
The qualifications of Trump’s pick for director of the CIA, John Ratcliffe, are similarly partisan. 
The former federal prosecutor and Congressman from Texas defended Trump during his 2019 impeachment hearings. Shortly after, Trump nominated him to become director of national intelligence. His name was withdrawn after fierce opposition, particularly when it emerged that Ratcliffe has overstated his involvement and experience in prosecuting terrorism cases.
A year later, in Trump’s final months in office, Ratcliffe was picked to replace Dan Coats, who had clashed with Trump over intelligence assessments about Russia, Iran and North Korea.
Skip ahead to Nov. 4, the day before Trump was elected to a second presidential term. To most everyone, the result of the vote was too close to call. But Ratcliffe posted a photo of himself briefing Trump in the Oval Office, making a bet and a pledge of enduring loyalty to his old boss and his future boss.
”My election prediction?” he wrote. “It has never changed.”
This article was edited from a previous version that mistakenly referred to John Kelly as Donald Trump’s first chief of staff. In fact, he was the second and longest-serving former chief of staff during Trumps’ last term.