His first selection for attorney general collapsed in spectacular fashion. His choice for defense secretary is awash in scandal. His picks for intelligence, health and other posts are being panned. But if anyone thought that President-elect Donald J. Trump might be chastened, he has quickly demonstrated otherwise.
Even with so many appointees already under fire, Mr. Trump has doubled down on defiance as he assembles his next administration. Rather than turning to more credentialed and respected choices with easier paths to Senate confirmation, Mr. Trump in rapid-fire fashion keeps naming more ideological warriors, conspiracy theorists and now even family members to senior government positions.
Most striking is his decision to push out the F.B.I. director, Christopher A. Wray, a career law enforcement veteran he himself appointed in his first term, and turn the nation’s premier investigative agency over to Kash Patel, who calls himself an avenger against the supposed “deep state.” Mr. Patel, seen as a provocateur of the first order, was widely considered a disruptive force and even dangerous by other Trump advisers who spent much of the last administration trying to keep him out of positions of power.
While attention focused on Mr. Patel, Mr. Trump over the weekend also named the fathers-in-law of two of his children to important jobs. He announced that he would nominate Charles Kushner, the father of Ivanka Trump’s husband, Jared Kushner, and a felon pardoned by Mr. Trump at the end of his last term, to be ambassador to France. And he tapped Massad Boulos, the father of Tiffany Trump’s husband, Michael Boulos, to be his White House senior adviser on Arab and Middle Eastern affairs.
The persistence in advancing unconventional appointments underscores how determined Mr. Trump is to surround himself this time with loyalists he can trust to carry out his agenda, including “retribution” against his perceived enemies. Mr. Trump has accused President Biden of using the Justice Department and F.B.I. to come after him, although there is no evidence that Mr. Biden was involved in the cases of the last few years.
Mr. Trump’s contentious selections also represent something of a dare to Senate Republicans to see how far they will go in standing against other nominees they view as unqualified after helping to torpedo former Representative Matt Gaetz’s selection as attorney general.
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