Mostly, I think these picks he is making are about demonstrating blunt force and he is trying to see, right off the bat, how much he can get away with. The picks are meant to shock, particularly I would say the Republicans in the Senate that have to approve them. He is slamming them with picks that there is no way they should approve and will make them look bad if they do approve them. Plus the other side of the test of how much power he has right out of the gate is to see if the way they deal with it is to allow him to have his picks through recess appointments. Meaning they know they can't approve these people but they are going to just duck and get out of the way and let him have these bad people in the hopes that when these people do horrific stuff, they can say well they were Trump's picks, we never approved them.
Trump also wants no FBI background checks on these picks, a massive mistake if permitted, and is also a test of his unchecked power. He wants to see "Can I put a foreign spy in charge of US intelligence?" and "Can I put a sexual predator in charge of the Justice department?"
If he can do these things to start his term, he can do almost anything.
I believe what we are about to see is an 18 month sprint by Trump to see how much of the US and our government he can destroy before we hit the midterm elections. The goal is, he needs to create as much chaos and destruction as he can in that period so we are so broken and confused as a country when we reach the midterms he does not lose any momentum.
So, this is going to be the wildest smash and grab presidency we have ever seen. Elon Musk (who supposedly chats with Putin on a regular basis and is so inside our government now it is painful) is going to give him loads of advice to help speed up the destruction and enrich himself as well. Musk told Netanyahu his intent to be a shadow president, never actually inside the government, but pulling the strings from the outside. Trump is the perfect puppet because all he wants is his cut, and he has no feelings at all for this country or the people in it. Nor the people of the world, of course.
I think Musk knows they have this 18 month window, full control by the Republicans, to destroy as much as possible. To hopefully destroy enough that the damage is likely not repairable. He's promised hardship for the American people, I think they will deliver or try as hard as they can to deliver that hardship. That was not a promise of hardship for the people that did not vote for Trump, it was a promise of hardship for those that did. That they must be willing to be hurt by what Trump does in the hopes that someday it will get better.
This was what Alex Jones always preached, you make these empty claims, never put a date on them, and then just drag people along forever on them. That was always his complaint with Q Anon, they would put dates on their claims, the date would come and nothing happened. That is what frustrated Q followers. Jones told the Q leaders, "Never put a date on your claims, just put it out there that this could happen or is coming. Never say when." then you can drag them along endlessly on the promise of some "great awakening" and they will keep waiting for it until it kills them.
So, what we are seeing here are Trump's first power moves, can he get a sex offender, a foreign spy, a white supremist with zero qualifications, into positions where they can destroy the government? Can he force them in with no oversight, no background checks, and everybody knows who these people are and that they should not be there?
It's the first test. Plus, Putin put out the warning to Trump, "We helped you, pay us back." and if he actually gets these people seated in these positions...that's some strong payback to Putin.
Are people realizing they made a mistake electing Trump? Yes, but it is too late now. The only option we have is to try to slow him down and minimize what he can destroy and steal in that 18 months, so that at the midterms there is the chance for people to change the make-up of the House and Senate.
