Well, President-elect Donald Trump certainly is off to a roaring start, isn't he? Ensconced at his Mar-a-Lago beach club with the richest man in the world glued to his side every moment, he's busy getting a whole new band together for his second term. Aside from his choice of Florida Sen. Marco Rubio for Secretary of State, this time there's nary an establishment figure anywhere to be seen as he chooses his new Cabinet and White House staff. Trump is going directly to the lifeblood of MAGA and picking the most controversial, lib-triggering extremists he can find.

I mentioned his first group of nominees earlier this week, none of whom have anything to particularly qualify them for these jobs but who at least have some government experience behind them. The choice of Fox News celebrity Pete Hegseth for Secretary of Defense was the first inkling that this was about to go seriously off the rails.

Trump is going directly to the lifeblood of MAGA and picking the most controversial, lib-triggering extremists he can find.

Hegseth has no experience running anything and has no government experience beyond serving as a National Guard officer in Iraq and Afghanistan and a prison guard at Guantanamo prison. From his perch as a talking head on Fox News, he was able to convince former president Trump to pardon war criminals against the wishes of the Pentagon, so he does have that going for him. And aside from the fact that Trump chose him because he "has the look," as Salon's Amanda Marcotte reported, he is a fierce critic of the military brass and suggests that at least a third of the 800 general and flag officers are "complicit" in the "politicization" of the military. He claims he will clean house and that's what Trump has hired him for.

Hegseth's startling choice was soon overshadowed by the absolutely shocking announcements naming former Hawaii representative Tulsi Gabbard as the Director of National Intelligence and (now former) Florida congressman Matt Gaetz as Attorney General. I would guess that most of America either gasped or laughed when they heard. I suspect that only picking Georgia firebrand Rep.........

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