Trump’s cabinet nominations mock the idea of government

Trump trolls America. Until Wednesday, Matt Gaetz was being investigated by the US Congress on claims of sexual misconduct and illicit drug use.

So what? Trump now wants Gaetz as his Attorney General.

He also wants

• Robert Kennedy Jr, an anti-vaxxer, as secretary of health;
• a conspiracy theorist admired by the Kremlin as director of national intelligence;
• an ex-Fox News anchor to run the world’s most powerful military.

And so it begins. Eight days into his transition Trump followed the unremarkable nomination of Marco Rubio for secretary of state with a quartet of cabinet choices that

• bend national security and the rule of law to his whim;
• promote sycophancy over competence in life-or-death roles; and
• dial up the media histrionics that attended Trump 1.0 and are now unlikely to subside until 2028.

These appointments have three purposes:

Test. Trump is demanding approval of his choices without full hearings, as “recess appointments”. The Senate doesn’t have to oblige. Whether it does or not is the first serious test of Republican senators’ loyalty to Trump (they have a 53-47 majority) and of what remains of the US system of checks and balances in the Trump 2.0 era.

Troll. Trump’s instinct is to distract and enrage as the next best thing to adoration. On cue, Republican never-Trumpers have called the Gaetz and Kennedy appointments the worst in American history. The head of the non-partisan Brennan Center for Justice called Trump’s choices so far “so appalling they’re a form of performance art”.

Avenge. Trump ran on a promise of retribution against those he falsely accuses of weaponising the justice system against him. They’re taking him seriously. Even before the Gaetz announcement, former officials who clashed with the first Trump administration were said to be packing “go bags” in case they had to flee the country.

Dramatis personae. The cast so far, in brief:

Cabinet

Matt Gaetz – attorney general

Gaetz’s credentials as the federal government’s chief law enforcement officer are a law degree, two years’ experience in a private law firm and seven as a House representative. He’s never been a prosecutor, judge or civil servant and he resigned from Congress two days before a House ethics committee inquiry into multiple claims of misconduct was due to report. He denies the claims. He’s been indicted but not prosecuted on separate charges of sex trafficking a 17 year-old girl, none of which bothered Trump, who says Gaetz will restore Americans’ “shattered” faith in their justice department.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr – secretary of health and human services

JFK’s nephew is an environmental lawyer by training who has made money leading class action lawsuits against Dupont, Ford and Monsanto among others. He has no medical or public health degree, opposes fluoride in water, believes vaccines can cause autism and has spread misinformation about Covid vaccines. In 2012 he claimed a tape worm had got into his brain, “ate a portion of it and then died”. On election night last week Trump invited him to “go wild on health”.

Pete Hegseth – defence secretary

Hegseth is a former infantry captain and Fox News host with no government or Pentagon experience, but he exhibits the loyalty Trump will crave in his second term. The president-elect announced him as a “true believer in America First”. Indeed, Hegseth has called the US the “European emergency contact number” and complained that “we’re going to spend billions in Ukraine but ignore our problems at home”. Hegseth is a staunch defender of Israel who has previously urged Trump to bomb Iran. Earlier this month he said women shouldn’t serve in combat roles in the military.

Tulsi Gabbard – Director of National Intelligence.

When Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, Gabbard said Russia had legitimate concerns about Ukraine joining Nato and repeated claims the US had denied that it was running biolabs producing lethal pathogens on Ukrainian territory. The former presidential candidate Mitt Romney accused her of parroting Russian propaganda and a well-known Russian anchor called her “our girlfriend”. A former Democrat, she switched parties in 2022, aligned herself firmly with Trump and now appears to favour the idea of Ukrainian neutrality. She has been a National Guard reservist since 2003.

Kristi Noem – secretary of homeland security

The South Dakota governor, who recently admitted to killing her dog, would oversee Trump’s mass deportation plan as chief of a sprawling agency that includes Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the US Secret Service. Noem has described the US-Mexico border as a warzone and was one of the Republican governors who sent troops to Texas to assist Operation Lone Star, a border security mission that saw state authorities bus more than 100,000 migrants to sanctuary cities such as New York City and Washington DC. She is a Maga loyalist who rejects climate science and once presented Trump with a four-foot replica of Mount Rushmore with his face on it.

White House staff

Susie Wiles – chief of staff

A veteran of Ronald Reagan’s successful 1980 presidential campaign and of Trump’s in 2016 and 2024, Wiles will be the 32nd White House chief of staff and the first woman to hold the post. Trump calls her the “ice maiden”. He got through several chiefs of staff in his first term, so this 67-year-old political consultant, whose new role doesn’t require Senate confirmation, will have her work cut out. She’s expected to play a big part in hiring White House staff but her main job will be keeping Trump disciplined.

Stephen Miller – deputy chief of staff

Miller is an immigration hardliner and architect of Trump’s 2017 Muslim ban. His focus will be the southern US border, where he told the NYT Trump would “unleash the vast arsenal of federal powers to implement the most spectacular migration crackdown”. At Trump’s Madison Square Garden Rally, Miller said: “America is for Americans and Americans only.” The 39-year-old is listed as an extremist by the Southern Poverty Law Center, a civil rights organisation that has accused him of promoting white nationalism.

What’s more… there are more.