The only qualification Trump's absurd Cabinet nominees have is blind loyalty to him

Trump's has set a new standard for rapid-fire, jaw-dropping appointments by picking some of the least appropriate people. If any of them make it through, says US editor Christopher Bucktin, they pose a serious threat to the stability of America

In a week that feels ripped from the pages of a political satire, Donald Trump has managed to turn the normally serious task of building a Cabinet into a truly absurd spectacle.

The President-elect, who famously vowed to "drain the swamp", seems instead to be on a mission to fill his administration with some of the most divisive, inexperienced, and ethically questionable figures he can find.

Consider the utter absurdity of Trump's pick for Attorney General: Matt Gaetz. The same Matt Gaetz who has been under investigation for allegedly having sex with a minor. Gaetz has denied any wrongdoing and called the investigation into him a "smear campaign".

He has also raised in his defence the fact that the Department of Justice ended a separate three-year, federal sex-trafficking investigation last year by deciding not to bring charges against him.

It's as if Trump deliberately set out to find the least appropriate person for a role meant to uphold the rule of law.

Then there's the prospect of Pete Hegseth, a television personality on Fox News, as Secretary of Defence. Being a former US Army National Guard officer doesn't qualify him to lead the world's most formidable military.

Of course, US history has seen its share of ill-fated nominees and questionable calls, but Trump's transition has set a new standard for rapid-fire, jaw-dropping appointments.

Over the course of this week alone, he has reportedly considered at least five of the most troubling candidates who have ever put forward for senior roles, nominees who may collectively represent the worst Cabinet line-up in the nation's history.

They've come so quickly that there's scarcely been time to digest one shocking choice before another hits the headlines. And that, disturbingly, seems to be part of Trump's strategy.

He's flooding the zone, creating a whirlwind of one surreal nomination after another, overwhelming the public's ability to scrutinise each decision.

The implications go far beyond poor judgment. These nominees aren't just bad fits; they pose a severe threat to the integrity of America's institutions and the basic stability of the government itself.

Appointing Gaetz, Hegseth, and others like them would upend longstanding norms, removing the safeguard of expecting experience and ethical standards from the country's most critical departments.

By forcing such unqualified, outrageous figures into positions of immense power, Trump signals his intent to consolidate control and sideline the traditional checks and balances granted to the Senate by the Constitution.

This is more than just a chaotic cabinet. It's not about experience but all about loyalty to Trump.

Before even taking the oath, the President-elect is positioning himself as a strongman, dismissive of the institutional oversight that has guided American democracy for over two centuries.

If these nominees make it through, America may soon find itself in a far darker circus than any clown show it has ever witnessed.