The announcements should not come as a surprise. Donald Trump said he would do things differently this time. And yet they still elicit a double take.

I will come to Elon Musk in a moment.

But first, the man Donald Trump was named the new US Secretary of Defense is a Fox News television anchor.

The person proposed to lead the world’s most powerful military is Fox & Friends Weekend host Pete Hegseth.

The former National Guard major, who served in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay (where he championed the treatment of prisoners), is an unconventional choice, to say the least.

But that’s precisely why Mr. Trump wants it. He is there to shake things up and provoke the reaction that has already taken place within the establishment.

“It’s probably a joke,” was a phrase that resonated on social media and beyond.

But the president-elect’s press release made it clear.

“Pete spent his entire life as a warrior for the troops and for the country,” Mr. Trump said in his statement.

“Pete is tough, smart, and a staunch supporter of America First. With Pete at the helm, America’s enemies know: Our military will be great again, and America will never back down.”

A quick scan of Mr. Hegseth’s appearances on Fox and other interviews he has done is revealing.

Apparently he doesn’t wash his hands much: “I don’t think I’ve washed my hands in 10 years…” he told his co-hosts a while back.

“Germs aren’t a real thing. I can’t see them, so they’re not real.”

Was he joking? His co-hosts didn’t seem entirely sure.

But this 44-year-old man has a direct and precise vision of American military shortcomings.

He recently said on the Shawn Ryan Show podcast: “The Pentagon is doing perfect war game simulations: We lose to China every time… They’re building an army… Our heads are up our asses.” »

He continued: “In the way we procure weapons systems, we are still a decade behind and fighting the last war. While China is building an army specifically dedicated to defeating the United States of America. »

This is what Mr. Trump would call anti-establishment, outside-the-box thinking.

Yet this actually fits with what many in the establishment have long believed: that America is losing to China on many fronts.

Mr. Trump now puts in a position of enormous power someone who speaks frankly what others say more quietly.

This is perhaps one of the themes of this new White House: to say what others do not really dare to say (as on Ukraine/Russia: “it’s a dead end”, on China: “they win”) and then try to do something. about this.

But his lack of experience running one of the world’s largest government departments and overseeing wars will alarm many.

Then there is Mr. Musk. There should be no surprise that he’s in the White House. But he’s only sort of in government.

Its new Ministry of Government Effectiveness (which already bears the acronym DOGE) is actually located outside the government structure.

For what? Because Mr. Musk’s companies have huge government contracts that prevent him from actually serving in the White House.

Learn more:
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In response to this announcement, in “Muskian” form, he posted on his own site X: “All actions of the Ministry of Government Efficiency will be put online for maximum transparency.

“Whenever the public thinks we are removing something important or not removing something unnecessary, let us know!

“We’ll also have a ranking of your tax dollars’ stupidest expenses. It will be both extremely tragic and extremely entertaining.”

For those who think the U.S. government is a bloated, money-bleeding bureaucracy in need of urgent reform, these (seemingly) transparent plans might be welcome.

Many others will look beyond that and question how appropriate this structure (outside government) and leadership (the richest man in the world with huge conflicts of interest) is possibly.

As an outside entity, it would not be sanctioned by Congress. So who funds it, what are the potential conflicts of interest, and who oversees it?

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One thing seems to be at the center of Trump’s concerns with all the new candidates: China.

Marco Rubio (Secretary of State), Pete Hegseth (Secretary of Defense), John Ratcliffe (Chief of the CIA), and Mike Waltz (National Security Advisor) are all hardliners on China.

Mr. Trump is at the origin of a new “great game” of the superpowers. He seeks to quickly establish a clear sense of superiority over China – to “make America great again.”

The stakes are high. Trump 2.0 could make America great again, but could prove very fraught with pitfalls.