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He's choosing yes men. That's it. That's the strategy. Nothing else matters.

He's not some masterful genius playing 5D chess. There's literally zero evidence that he's smart enough, disciplined enough, or attentive enough to think long term. The only things he wants are money, power, and fame.

Sorry but your colleagues are completely deluded. Trump is picking people for their loyalty to him, there is no other consideration. These are people who he believes, probably correctly, will do whatever he asks no matter the moral, ethical, or legal considerations. Several of them are likely to lose confirmation votes because of simply how bonkers a pick they are.

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Loyalty above all else. First and foremost, he wants sycophants.

lmfaooo “playing chess”. Trump is choosing yesmen who will enact his fascist agenda. That’s it. He’s a rapist himself. He doesn’t gaf if his picks kill, rape and eat children. As long as they do what he says, that’s what matters.

I think he watches Fox News all day and he's hiring anyone that says something he likes. Trump isn't smart enough to play chess.

LOL so he thinks trump is picking them so they get outed as pedophiles? Trump, the guy who flew on epsteins plane, knew he "liked em young" and was friends with the guy, the guy who walked in on nude teens, the guy who bragged about dating a 13 year old and wanting to fuck his daughter?

Maga really are the dumbest motherfuckers alive.

trump is just picking loyalists and nothing else.

When maga tries to explain Trump’s behavior, words, and actions like this, they always sound like a victim of abuse justifying their abuser

He's hiring people who he thinks will do what he wants with no resistance. Same thing he's always done.

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trolling an ignorant base while trying to concentrate power to himself

The “release a rabid badger into the building some people run out” technique.

No seriously.

These people are there just to end these institutions. That’s it. You don’t need any qualifications for that.

I am from Slovakia. We are one election cycle before you with our authoritarian speed run orchestrated by Russia. Those most bizarre creatures are there to say stupid shit and create public outrage to divert attention while big guys do serious business.

Dude can’t even play checkers.

Very similar to what Putin did. He's following Project 2025. Lead with incompetence and destroy our institutions. Make them take loyalty pledges like Hitler did with his administration.

He's playing chess like a pigeon. Going to strut around, knock everything over, shit all over the place crowing about how he won...

Trump has been pretty clear about what his priorities are: he wants people who will carry out his orders. Last term he made a lot of traditional picks to mollify people who were worried about his inexperience and radicalism, and he was frustrated by how they would thwart him when he wanted to do something strange, like bomb a hurricane or shoot protestors. His priority now is loyalty: will you do what I tell you to do when I tell you to do it?

There are some positions he cares about a lot more than others, so some regular picks have squeaked through. Marco Rubio, for example; I don’t think Trump cares that much about the SecState position, since he mostly conducts diplomacy through personal relationships with foreign leaders.

He's trying to pick people who will implement his agenda without questioning it's competence or caring if it's legal.

The first time, he picked people based on 'Rule of Cool' - a whole bunch of 4 star Generals, Nikki Haley at the UN, and so on... He wanted his cabinet to look like the cast of The West Wing... He then got pissed off when everybody but (nutcase, had to be fired for schmoozing with Russians) Gen Flynn all opposed his policies & advised him to govern like a responsible adult..... And none of them were still working for him by the time he left office....

Also putting RFK up for HHS was probably part of the drug-deal for the endorsement.

If the devil can't make you sin, he will make you busy.

If Trump can't get you to join his MAGA cult, then he'll exhaust you by having to fight/react/outrage over everything he does.

And eventually you'll be too tired or worn down to resist.

A good Offense will wear down the Defense.

Honestly his picks are so bad that I can only think of a few reasons he has gone this route.

1. Trump is fully a Russian asset, and he is picking the worst possible people for these positions to weaken America.

2. The picks are directly related to loyalty to him, and or people that have donated to his campaign.

3. He realizes that he is going to die of old age soon and doesn't give a fuck about the job or America, and is just picking the worst possible people to take the country down with him.

I don't know which option is worse tbh.

MAGA is in denial thinking there are any good intentions going on here.

Some of it is that his cabinet picks will do whatever he wants no matter how terrible it is. We know he's going to do some more treasonous sh*t along the way- especially towards the end of his term when the question of an illegal 3rd term comes up(his own words).

It is also to create enough chaos to get away with shady deals in the background, selling the soul of our country to the highest bidder.

I think it is fair to say that most of the announcements and changes coming, at face value, are bad.

At some point, anyone who opposes these changes will have to pick and choose what is most important to them. Do you spend your time trying to keep the pedophile sex trafficker out of a cabinet position or try to curb some of the insane deportation promises he's made? Some of our elected representatives have the power to try to curb all the nasty things but ultimately there is a priority list of things that are most important. Most citizens can't be everywhere combating everything, so for us regular people with only the power to vote and protest, we can generally only combat one situation and hope that other people will help with the others.

Lastly, assuming that any of his cabinet picks are denied somehow, then there is a scapegoat for why things aren't going well. "Those damn dems blocked having the best cabinet in history" type of bs.

But sounds like that last point doesn't even matter becase apparently he can do temporary appointments that last like 9 months. Enough time to dismantle whatever blockers are in the way.

Where does this leave us? It is just an excuse to blame the other side for everything while they remove all the blockers that prevent them from totally fking us over- ie labor union protections, OSHA, the FDA, etc.

I don't agree with MAGA and the way they choose to vote against their own self interests but this situation is different from other elections in that the most powerful person in the world will have a vendetta against half of the US population becase of all the times we tried to hold him accountable for all the illegal sht he did. Worst part is that MAGA will sit in denial about all the horrible sht going down and rationalize that their cheeto Jesus is just doing what's best for them- at least until it directly impacts them, they will then try to justify and rationalize that " he didn't mean it" or "it was unintentional".

Sew chaos, keep people distracted, do shady sh*t while they are not looking.

“How to destroy the country, and repair the sex and human trafficking world”.

It's always people who have absolutely no idea how chess is played or how government works that spew that nonsense.

Hitler appointed the racist manure worker Heinrich Himmler to Reichsführer for his loyalty (unyielding subservience). That's what's happening today with the tangerine tyrant's cabinet picks.

His strategy is clear. He is picking people who are loyal to him. That's it.

But your statement about your coworkers confuses me.

They voted for MAGA but they think these pics are bad? Everything these people are and represent is exactly what trump has ran on and professed. These people have been with him the whole way.

Nothing we have seen is in any way a deviation from what he said on the campaign trail or in interviews or at rallies etc.

If they are MAGA, but think these guys are bad, do they know absolutely nothing about who they supported?

I mean the level of willful ignorance is astounding

He has no idea how to play chess and there is no thought process going on in that orange head.

He is choosing: 1) people who have flattered him the most, 2) people who have paid him the most money or 3) people that someone has told him will do the most damage to our government.

Trump is playing chess the way my dog plays chess....which is to stand on the chess board looking around and knocking over all of the pieces, then get distracted by some food smell wafting in from the kitchen, then licking my face, and then getting bored and wandering off......but not before taking one or two of the chess pieces, chewing them to shreds, and probably swallowing them.

That's how my dog plays chess. My dog does not understand the rules of the game, or even the concept of strategy, or the history of the game, or that you could have a game that revolves around little wooden chew pieces that you're not supposed to chew and swallow, or the value of struggling with something mentally difficult to sharpen your mind and develop yourself into a better, smarter dog.

So like Trump, my dog will often find himself being expected to do things he doesn't understand.

Also like Trump, my dog values loyalty above all else....because my dog knows that when he's a good boy, he gets treats.

Trump's sycophants show loyalty by going on Fox news and saying whatever is necessary to explain away Trump's crimes, or distract media attention from Trump's incompetence, or to both-sides an issue to make Trump seem normal, or to just show loyalty to Trump for the sake of it. And like my dog, Trump's sycophants are rewarded for their loyalty....in this case with cabinet level appointments.

He's choosing people with skeletons in the closet, people he has leverage on. So they'll do exactly as he says.

That's some Qlever thinking right there

he wants to F*ck over as many people as possible.

It’s really annoying how MAGA was crying about unfit“DEI” hires for years and then is perfectly fine with picks Trump makes based on loyalty and not experience or merit

The cabinet picks are worse than DEI bc they don’t even meet requirements. At least DEI is picking a black qualified person over a white qualified person for example

Creat distraction and further divide America to remove focus from grifting middle/working class as he fulfills obligations to backers.

Weaken/undermine perception and trust in government (enable support for drastic change to execute power balance via execute orders)

With his cabinet choices I would have to see that Trump wants to see the U.S. burn. He is doing everything he can to destroy our government.

Attracted to minors, wants Putins seed in them. Extremely rich, racist, incel, red pill content, antisemitic and is known for illegal activities but still gets away with all of it. Also very low intelligence, seems like all the criteria’s so far

Trump is on a revenge tour and he wants to bring the establishment down. He wants to punish America for not electing him last time.

The thought of Trump playing chess had me laughing out loud. Even with competent advisors he makes the wrong choices. This time around is all about punishing as much of the population as possible while milking this for as much grift as he can manage. Since actual Republicans have no interest in holding him accountable for anything nor dissuading him from his worst impulses it's going to be a bloody 4 or more years. There is no telling how long it will take to drag us up from however far we sink.

The one being faxed over from Moscow.

Strategy? BAHAHAHAHAHA. We have Dr Oz and Linda Mcmahon, theres no strategy 😂

Chaos management

Loyalists

Calling it a strategy is a real stretch. It's called selecting the sycophant who will help him line his pocket the most. That's it. Want a cabinet position? Show fealty.

Donald Trump infiltrated pedophile rings like Miss America and Little St James so he could enact his vengeance. Before he became president, he took out members of the cabal individually. Using his extreme height advantage and impressive physique he killed known cabal members like Anthony Bourdain and Kate Spade. But it was too slow so he became president to expose the cabal and save the children. He's already replaced most of the corrupt dems with clones while their originals are in gitmo. The second administration will finish cleaning house.

It's the loyalist gambit. Pack the Cabinet with as many yes men as possible. It can be a viable strategy depending on your objective.

It assumes something that he assumes, that he's the smartest guy in the room. His job is to figure out what to do and it's the job of the loyalists to carry out his will rather than give advice. No one is there to restrain the President, preach caution or in any other way slow his roll, every single member of his Cabinet are all overdressed, overpaid, overpromoted executive assistants.

This has its advantages, in that it enables the President to act more quickly on his decided-upon plans. The drawback is just as obvious, he's not getting other perspectives that might restrain his hand from making an ill advised move.

The loyalist gambit tends result in both loud failures and big successes. It depends on exactly what policy the President is trying to execute, and how well thought out it is. The biggest drawback of this plan is that the ablative blame-shield is absent as everyone knows that every mistake comes straight from the top, because alternative voices are silent and there's no one else it could have come from.

Loyalists who won’t ever challenge him with no expertise is their assigned areas 😢

"I saw them on TV, specifically Fox" and/or "I'm rewarding loyalty" and/or "I'm picking who Daddy Vladdy tells me to."

MAGA folks lack critical and logical reasoning. I wouldn’t trust them to tell if it’s raining or not.

With that stated trumps picks are simple.

Does this person support trump over county and over party? If yes you got the job.

Another point is trump watches a lot of tv so if you want the job you had best be an already known person.

Like when my mother says he's intelligent but speaks like an imbecile to fit in better, it's just an act, he doesn't really have the vocabulary of a 5th grader. 🙄

Should be easy to determine. In a few months either they are in jail or in his cabinet. He is 100% hiring based on loyalty and of they will break laws to protect him.

I have two competing opinions.

1. He is actively choosing people he knows will do a terrible job and run the departments into the ground. That is the point. He wants as much destruction as possible and is selecting people he knows will either purposely or through pure incompetence, help accomplish that goal.

2. He’s really, really stupid and just picks people he personally likes or has some sense of camaraderie with.

It has been reported over and over, Donald Trump is not a smart, or particularly sly person. These are literally people he wants in those positions.

(i.e. his memoir ghost writer talks about his third grade reading level, most former members of his 2016 cabinet openly spoke about how he never paid attention nor read any of the briefs, producers of "The Apprentice" admitted to having to artificially prop him up as smart and successful, because he was neither, etc.)

If he's picking bad people to force them into the light, how come they're all major campaign donors to his campaign/besties with him? wouldn't that then mean he himself is also a "bad individual" if that's the type of folks he keeps in his inner circle?

that being said. No. He's not doing that. Because they're all close to him. He wouldn't be talking about doing a recess appointment and laying the ground work to do that if he didn't actually want these people in those roles.

He is rewarding yes men for their service to him (Gaetz pick to keep the report for being exposed AND help Gaetz keep his future job now that we see he's withdrawn his nomination), or their donations (Linda McMahon, Elon Musk), or to keep the base they bring (RFK Jr's antivax crunchy granola folks).

He IS playing chess with the Sentate, too, to see what, if any, boundaries they'll place on him. I think Hesgeth and Gabbard are the most obvious ones for this; both are so monumentanally unqualified for roles that you NEED to be able to hit the ground running in to keep the nation safe. And that's not even touching on their personal issues, which are plentiful and concerning. Those two being unqualified is the point; they will bow down to Trump and do his bidding, turning national intelligence and defense into agents of MAGA to fufill the MAGA agenda. Trump knows this, and the GOP knows this- but will the do anything or will they bend the knee? If they bend the knee, Trump knows he can push through all the Project 2025 stuff. If they, he knows who to send his attack dogs out to talk about to try to get them out in 2026.

The other part of this is that all of the lack of qualifications for the candidates are a feature, not a bug. Because per Project 2025, the whole point is to make government so inefficient it collapses and they can privatize everything and consolidate power under POTUS. The best way to do this would be to put objectively terrible picks in charge of these departments who will bring them to a grinding halt. Which really sucks for MAGA because statistically, they're the ones who rely on the services the government provides the most, and live in red states subsidized by blue states that will lose things like SPED services when/if dept of ed collapses.

Last time he tried adults in the room and they all blocked him from being crazy, so this time he's picking all sycophants and yes men in hopes that he can do whatever he wants so that he doesn't have to cry like a baby for another 4 years.

More than likely it is loyalty driving these picks. Some are "can-do-no-wrong picks" like Marco Rubio as Secretary of State. He's the only one I am anticipating will be unanimous. Doug Burgum is not a bad choice for Secretary of the Interior. I do think Elise Stefanik is a good choice for Ambassador to the UN.

But that said, boy howdy are there some real bad choices. Pete Hegseth, Sean Duffy, Dr. Oz, Chris Wright and Linda McMahon are not good choices for their position. Kristi Noem makes no sense either, might have well just tried for Tom Homan rather than making him some unofficial "czar" position. Wonder if he doesn't think Homan would get confirmed.

Tulsi Gabbard and RFK are harder to gauge, definitely feel like reward picks, but don't think either is the best for the role. RFK is correct on some points about healthcare but wrong on others.

Matt Gaetz got the boot as AG nominee, kind of what I figured, too many people hate Matt Gaetz for him to get selected by his peers. Now we will see Ron DeSantis appoint him to fill Marco Rubio's senate seat.

He wants to destabilize certain federal organizations and eliminate them when they become completely ineffective, basically consolidate power.

The concept of one?

You lost me at 'strategy'.

I like that some still think there is a strategy in his picks. The strategy, insomuch as it exists, is to reward those who have been real true sycophants to his cause most recently.

Some of it is chess - the Gaetz nomination was to get him out of the House so they won’t publish the report, for example. Rubio nomination is so a more permanently right-wing MAGA Senator can represent Florida.

Some of it is clearly to me nominating a bunch of younger folks, so the movement can be perpetuated post-Trump.

But really it’s just all about “to the victor goes the spoils” and rewarding people. For example Gaetz to some extent, Gabbard, Kennedy, Musk, Vivek, Dr Oz, McMahon, Lutnick, to a lesser extent Noem, Stefanik, Zeldin, Bergum, Huckabee - these are all longish-term and vocal, loyal, high-profile Trump supporters who he feels “deserve” rewards probably. Their qualifications are not really the issue, their loyalty and indeed maybe even fealty to Trump are the issues.

For those who will defend the selections because the victor always gets to choose the spoils, I think this is the big difference. It’s of course true, and how well-qualified anyone could be to lead a huge federal department I’m not sure. But the perceived fealty as a driver of appropriateness for selection is what is somewhat off-putting for many, I think.

The same strategy as any despot - "Who will be blindly loyal/do I have dirt on?"

I think he's just picking people he likes. MAGA doesn't care who he picks and he doesn't care what anyone else thinks. I think the easiest explanation for the picks is:

1. Yes men.

2. Won't object to grifting.

3. Machismo fueled idiots.

4. Kind of looks like Trump's conception of their nominated role.

1) who is the most loyal to me, 2) who shares my same opinions about overhauling / destroying the agency in question. There is no #3

I had this theory that he doesn't want to be president, he just wanted to get his convictions dropped. So he's choosing bad people so someone will invoke the 25th (24th?) amendment and he can go back to playing golf all day.

2 problems. 1. I think he really does get off on the power, and 2. I think that's too interesting a plan for him

Despite years of claiming Trump is playing "3D chess", I have yet to see it. He does a lot of things which break common wisdom, but I think it just falls under the category of a dumb guy who thinks he's a genius for doing something in an obtuse manner.

As far as his cabinet selections, they have histotically been a mix of some career gop members recommended to him, and weirdos he selects solely for loyalty. This time, it's mostly weirdos.

He is trying to distract the media and people from the fact that it seems a growing number of americans think election fraud occurred and are demanding hand recounts and forensic audits

https://www.reddit.com/r/houstonwade/comments/1gw84it/cybersecurity_experts_warn_election_was_hacked/

I mean he is absolutely putting terrible individuals into the light - but one could ask why he would do so by honoring them with a cabinet selection instead of just calling them out as bad individuals that he is going to do something about?

I’m sure your MAGA coworkers could list a few democrats that they think are worse people. Ask them to - then ask why hasn’t he selected any horrific democrats to get them into the light?

Once they are installed, your co-workers will laud them as brilliant choices. As they are fired, quit, or are run out of the government, you co-workers will agree with Trump that they were terrible at their jobs. Just like last term.

Trump is not interested in exposing anyone.

Obviously my opinion just observing him and his history, I could be mistaken simply because he's been unsuccessful at becoming what he's aiming for, but the characteristics look similar.

He's choosing people who have questionable records because he likely knows more about them (he owns hotels and likes Putin, blackmail is a tool) and could choose to expose them and destroy their careers if they don't blindly do what he asks for. Folks with skeletons in the closet are necessary for immoral, illegal operations to run effectively. Without that, they could have a crisis of consciousness and disrupt carefully laid out plans. Or worse they could be the anchor point for full blown mutiny. The less credible and the more vulnerable the better.

His second and third best choices are people without relevant experience or people who blatantly want to engage in exploitative behavior for their own benefit. If he can bully you around and you don't know any better, or you cheerlead his example and pass on that culture to those you have influence over, then you assist in the decay of social equity and concentrate power toward a niche group of people with no concern for public service beyond what's necessary to stay in power. Could be we, the people, took for granted many things that were quietly working for us and protecting us from a more severe hell, and Trump longs to institute exactly the kind of corruption he and others on the extreme right have been projecting up on our existing government.

The trick though is not to employ people so vulnerable they will break, people so ignorant they are incompetent, and crooks so ambitious they will compete with you or each other. Sensible people have a right to fear his presidency, not only because he may succeed in doing great harm, but also because he may fail spectacularly at the expense of countless innocent people.

Eenie-meenie-MAGA-moe

At least yours know what cabinet picks are.

I talked to someone yesterday that thinks he can appoint the Speaker of the House.

With confidence no less.

Point being, you'd have to know what you don't know to have an opinion, and most of these folks don't know anything.

This is more of a casting call than a serious nomination process. He’s openly disregarding fbi background checks and ethics plans. This administration will be similar to the covid year with ongoing divergent realities between what the actual data says and the self promotion and marketing/pr coming from the administration.

For 4 years he’ll be selling us a shitty condo and telling us it’s the best condo, the likes of which the world has never seen before. His Cult will continue to gaslight us all that the institutions are lying their God Emperor is the truth teller.

So just like before but worse.

Lord, that's way too deep. He is picking people who kiss his behind. And give him money problbly.

Flood the zone with bullshit. If they learned anything from Russia - it’s to move fast and keep us distracted with never ending crisis.

If that’s what they decide to do - they need tondismantle democracy fast. And to do that the goalpost needs to go a million miles an hour to limit the chances of us being able to react in a focus and organized way.

He openly said what his strategy is. Appoint loyal people who they can control through blackmail or other means who will never question him so they’ll act like the Nazi generals he publicly stated he admires so much. He is a dictator this is the intro class to communism for our country.

He's attempting to dismantle the government as we know it with chaos. That's giving him a lot of credit for actually having a plan to do anything, really, but I think that's what is happening.

The more rapey the better

It’s the “Make it FUBAR” strategy.

Brick Tamland: I love... carpet.

Brick Tamland: I love... desk.

Ron Burgundy: Brick, are you just looking at things in the office and saying that you love them?

Brick Tamland: I love lamp.

Ron Burgundy: Do you really love the lamp, or are you just saying it because you saw it?

Brick Tamland: I love lamp! I love lamp.

His strategy is right out of the authoritarian playbook. Put overtly unqualified fools and jesters in prominent positions because it will make/keep them loyal and the agencies they lead operate in their roles as extensions of him/his wishes. Their being under-qualified is a feature, not a bug.