Trump fills out cabinet as divisive picks shock Washington

WASHINGTON: All eyes were on Donald Trump’s transition team on Thursday, after a series of provocative and startling cabinet choices that showed the president-elect’s preference for absolute loyalty above experience or expertise.

Trump has been rapidly rolling out his foreign policy and national security picks, but he is expected to shift focus over the coming days to key figures to enact his domestic agenda.

The Republican leader has yet to select treasury and commerce chiefs to help set tax and trade policy, a health secretary to oversee abortion, transgender care and a host of other potential flashpoints, or someone for education -- a department Trump wants to abolish.

He told podcaster Joe Rogan in an interview before last week’s presidential election that his biggest mistake during his first term in the White House was hiring “bad people, or disloyal people.”

His initial recruitment decisions this time around -- including giving the State Department to Florida Senator Marco Rubio, a traditional conservative on foreign policy -- drew praise and expressions of relief.

But Trump, 78, sent shockwaves across the political world on Wednesday with picks that dismayed Democrats and even some Republicans -- underscoring how radical he plans to be in his mission to remake the federal government in his second term.

The biggest shock was Matt Gaetz -- a flamethrower on the Republican far right in Congress who was drawn into a years-long criminal probe into sex trafficking -- to be Trump’s attorney general.

Gaetz denies wrongdoing and has never faced charges but was still being investigated by the House Ethics Committee.

John Bolton, one of Trump’s national security advisers in his first term, told NBC that Gaetz “must be the worst nomination for a cabinet position in American history.”

Wednesday’s nominations came in the wake of another shock recruitment, as Trump tapped Fox News host Pete Hegseth -- who is a combat veteran but has no experience running large organizations -- to be defense secretary.

Trump returns to Washington in January after defeating Vice President Kamala Harris comfortably last week and becoming only the second Republican this century to win the popular vote.

He and his aides have vowed that much of his second term will be about clearing the deck of federal officials who acted as a restraining influences on his populist, right-wing agenda during his first term.

Gaetz’s appointment would hand Trump the advantage of a fierce partisan at the top of the Justice Department should he pursue his threats of vengeance against perceived foes.

Trump called Gaetz, who passed the bar exam but has very little practical experience, a “deeply gifted and tenacious attorney.”

He said Gabbard, a previous Democratic presidential hopeful who has no experience relevant to her proposed new role, would bring her “fearless spirit” to the intelligence community.

Gabbard has sparked uproar through statements favorable to US adversary Russia, including her suggestion that its invasion of Ukraine was the result of “legitimate security concerns.”

She has also been accused by establishment Republican Mitt Romney of “parroting false Russian propaganda” after stating baselessly that Washington was helping Ukraine develop biological weapons.