President-elect Donald Trump speaks at a meeting of the House GOP conference, Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump has spent much of his first term feeling stung and betrayed by those he put in power. This time, he’s taking no chances.

As he works to fill his administration a second time, Trump has turned to a dizzying mix of candidates. Many of his chosen ones are personal friends. Others are familiar faces on Fox News Channel or other conservative outlets. Some have extensive experience in the fields they have been elected to lead, while others have seemingly none. Some seem chosen to shock and awe, some to soothe, others to unleash chaos.

Recent converts to his cause are lined up shoulder to shoulder with longtime allies. Chinese hawks could serve in positions of power alongside a peace activist. But whatever differences in ideology or strength of resume, above all, they will be there to do Trump’s will.

In his first term, Trump credited the efforts of advisers and advisers “manage” the newcomer to Washington and grew frustrated with the leaks emanating from rival factions engaged in ideological warfare and vying for his ear.

Now, aides and allies said, he is putting loyalty above all else, aiming to reduce infighting and maximize his ability to reshape Washington during his second tour in the Oval Office.

“When He Was First Chosen” trump card “I didn’t have such a wealth of experience in DC or dealing with people in Washington,” said Marc Lotter, a former aide who now works at the America First Policy Institute, which is closely associated with his transition. “So many people he reached out to were trying to take advantage of that to bring him to their point of view rather than accomplish what his point of view was and what he was elected to do.”

Now, Lotter said of Trump, “If he makes a decision, he wants them to execute it.”

Presidents always install trusted aides and those likely to support their agenda. But critics fear that Trump is building an administration designed to eliminate any significant domestic opposition to his policies and impulses.

Carrying grievances, an appetite for revenge and a list of those he wants to target, Trump will enter office with far fewer railings and checks on his power than last time. He will return to Washington with a Republican-controlled Congress and a conservative Supreme Court, containing three justices he appointed, who have ruled that he is largely immune from prosecution.

Trump has long said the biggest mistake of his first term was electing the wrong people. He arrived in Washington as an outsider who had never served in government and says he relied on others for staff recommendations.

“I did such a good job. But we’re going to do a much better job now, because now I know the people. I know the good ones, the bad ones. I know the weak, the strong. I know the stupid ones. I know the smart ones. I know them all” he said at a rally in North Carolina during the race’s finale.

He blamed assistants for hindering his first-term efforts by attacking “silly” and weak The degree to which Trump has faced pushback from his own appointees has often been a reflection of the extraordinary nature of his orders.

His first term was littered with examples of aides trying to outdo Trump by going slow or ignoring directives they considered ill-advised. Sometimes they tried to mount 11th hour campaigns to reverse them. Other times, they dragged their feet, hoping Trump would forget what he ordered and move on to something else.

A major example came just weeks before he left office: Trump signed unofficial documents drawn up by some of his political aides ordering all US troops out of Afghanistan immediately, only to face a intense pushback from his national security team. He ended up reversing course.

When he pushed to send active-duty U.S. troops to quell mass protests in 2020 after the police killing of George Floyd, an unarmed black man, in Minneapolis, advisers resisted, worried about the illegal use of the military against its own citizens. the country.

In 2016, Trump filled much of his team with high-powered business leaders, many of whom had worked in the industries they were tasked with regulating. They included names like Rex Tillerson, who ran energy giant ExxonMobil before becoming secretary of state.

Trump also tried to surround himself with a military cadre he liked to refer to “my generals”. This time, Trump went in a very different direction.

In many cases, this means that expertise is not required. Environmental Protection Agency nominee Lee Zeldin has little history with climate or regulatory issues. Tulsi Gabbard, the former Democratic congresswoman nominated to lead the nation’s intelligence community, has been embraced by Kremlin allies for her dovish views on the war in Ukraine. And Pete Hegseth, a Fox News weekend co-host tapped to serve as defense secretary, has no Pentagon experience.

Aides say Trump is picking people he believes are committed to his America First agenda and those he believes can do the best, and are happy that even his controversial picks are already shaking up Washington.

“The American people re-elected President Trump by a resounding margin, giving him the mandate to implement the promises he made on the campaign trail — and his cabinet picks reflect his priority of putting America first,” said Trump-Vance transition spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt.

Some of his early announcements had suggested a fairly conventional approach, including his choice of U.S. Representative Michael Waltz, a retired Army National Guard officer and war veteran, as national security adviser.

But some of Trump’s latest picks have landed like lead balloons.

His decision to nominate Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz for attorney general has sparked open shock and alarm from Democrats, who fear it will embolden Trump’s opponents and shield his allies from prosecution. Even Gaetz’s Republican House colleagues, who were meeting in the Capitol when he made the announcement, initially thought the news was a joke.

Another choice that raised eyebrows was his choice to lead the Department of Defense. Hegseth is a veteran who served in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay and received two Bronze Stars. He was the executive director of Concerned Veterans for America and wrote several books on the subject. But he has no experience at the Pentagon or leading an organization approaching the size and complexity of the Defense Department.

Running the Pentagon is a monumental task, and it seems Hegseth “totally unqualified”, said Matthew Waxman, a former senior Republican official at the state and defense departments and the National Security Council, who chairs Columbia Law School’s National Security Law Program.

“I respect anyone who has served in uniform. But Hegseth is not a serious person to run the Pentagon.” Waxman said. “I look at Hegseth and say: He’ll be 100 times better at culture wars than actual wars if, unfortunately, we have to fight one.”

Overall, Waxman said of Trump’s staff picks so far: “I think he gives first loyalty to the government. And this is dangerous for the country. It is dangerous for American leadership in the world.”

Trump’s choice of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a vaccine skeptic who has pledged to eliminate federal health research and oversight, to lead the Department of Health and Human Services was the latest example of Trump prioritize fidelity over expertise.

Kennedy was a staunch opponent of the COVID-19 vaccines that Trump began manufacturing in 2020. But he provided a key endorsement for Trump and helped the Republican broaden his electoral appeal. While even Trump’s advisers dismissed Kennedy’s chances of getting a Cabinet post given some of her extreme political views, the president-elect pushed her anyway, showing he won’t bow to voices of caution. ___ Colvin reported from New York.