Normal people? A cabinet of horrors and a case of no consequences for old men

Trump's cabinet choices have been compared to a "battalion of bozos" (Jimmy Kimmel), "beyond insane" (Rep Jim McGovern), "feral lunatics" (the American Prospect) and "the bar in Star Wars" (everyone).

- Emma Brockes

Monday This week, joining a line-up that, until he dropped out on Thursday, included alleged sex offender Matt Gaetz for attorney general, alleged sex offender RFK Jr for health secretary, and alleged sex offender Pete Hegseth at defence, came two further picks that are unlikely to calm America's nerves: for education secretary, Linda McMahon, a sometime educator with more years in the saddle as chief executive of the WWE wrestling production company. And the TV doctor and promoter of crank weight-loss products, Mehmet "Dr" Oz, to head up Medicare and Medicaid.

One result of these choices, which have yet to be confirmed by the Senate, is to throw other, more moderate Republicans into a flattering light. The nomination by Trump of a suddenly very reasonable and well qualified seeming Marco Rubio for secretary of state is one such example, but it goes back further than that. In 2016, Trump nominated Betsy DeVos for education secretary, an appointment considered so flagrantly ill-advised - DeVos, a right-wing billionaire and proponent of redirecting money from public to charter schools under the auspices of choice - that she almost wasn't confirmed.

(Mike Pence, Trump's then VP and by current standards a strikingly normal man, cast the tie-breaker in her favour.) But look at DeVos now! Compared with Linda McMahon, who once received a piledriver as part of a wrestling exhibition, DeVos is a moral colossus. In 2021, the day after Trump encouraged his supporters to storm the Capitol, DeVos resigned, informing the president, "there is no mistaking the impact your rhetoric had on the situation". It's not a lapse in judgment Trump will make twice.