One down. A lot more to go.

The infamous and totally unsuitable Matt Gaetz on Friday withdrew his name for consideration as Donald Trump’s Attorney General.

The world heaved a sigh of relief. Trump must have been furious. Gaetz was just the sort of MAGA loyalist he wanted as the nation’s top cop. As Gaetz has demonstrated repeatedly in the past, he would do whatever Trump told him to do.

The demise of former Congressman Gatez wasn’t a real surprise. He is one of the most unpopular lawmakers on Capitol Hill. He is regarded as a bombastic egotist tainted with allegations of drug abuse and under-age sex.

He resigned his seat from Congress in order to prevent publication of the Congressional Ethics Committee report which detailed his nefarious activities. The committee is not supposed to publish reports on former members of Congress. He withdrew from the Attorney General’s job when he heard that old and new allegations were about to surface anyway.

Gatez, however, is only one of many potential Trump appointees who expose the president-elect’s contempt for social norms and the rule of law. He sees his election as a mandate to disrupt the American government and then rebuild it again in his image. His choice of appointments reflect this.

Total control of the Department of Justice and the FBI is a top Trump target – Gaetz as Attorney General would have been in charge of both institutions who by convention work independently of the executive branch. The Department of Defense is another because he wants a loyal military to be used – if necessary – for domestic security.

That is why he has nominated Peter Hesgeth, a Fox News presenter, whose two qualifications for the job was that he served as a National Guard officer in Iraq and Afghanistan and – more importantly – he is a far-right Trump loyalist.

Donald Trump had problems with the military during his first term. They refused to become embroiled in politics. The generals, admirals and other senior officers, argued that their loyalty was to their personal oath to the US constitution rather than to an individual.

Hegseth wants to change that. He has proposed sacking generals who are not right-wing enough. In the Hesgeth playbook everyone who is not a Trump loyalist is a “Marxist” and must be “annihilated.” In his book American Crusade Hesgeth wrote chillingly: “The hour is late for America. Beyond political success, her fate relies on exorcising the leftist spectre dominating education, religion, and culture – a 360-degree holy war for the righteous cause of human freedom.”

And as for democracy, well Hegseth claims that the founding fathers did not want the United States to be a democracy and their views – or his interpretation of those views – should be respected.

Like Trump and Gatez, Hegseth has a sex charge allegation hanging over him. In 2017, a woman accused a drunken Hegseth of sexually assaulting her. She dropped the charges after being paid $10,000, but rest assured the issue will be raised during his Senate confirmation hearings.

Sex also follows Linda McMahon, Trump’s nominee for Secretary for Education. The co-founder of World Wrestling Entertainment, is accused – along with her husband Vince – of covering up the sexual assault of 13-year-olds by ringside officials. All of which indicates an underlying belief that the rules do not apply to Trump and friends.

One of the most interesting things about Linda McMahon is that her tenure as Education Secretary may be very, very short. Trump wants to dismantle the department which she is nominated to head. Education, according to the president-elect has “been infiltrated by radicals, zealots and Marxists who are using it to wage a woke war against America.”

Tulsi Gabbard, if confirmed by the Senate, is likely to be around for a while as Director of National Intelligence. It is a vitally important post because it puts her over 18 intelligence gathering agencies, including the CIA, all the different branches of military intelligence and the all-important electronic intelligence agency the NSA. It also means she would coordinate intelligence activities with all of America’s allies and have access to their operations.

The latter is particularly significant given that Russian television recently called Ms Gabbard “our agent” and “our girlfriend.” Ms Gabbard has opposed military aid to Ukraine, argued that American actions led to the Russian invasion and has opposed sanctions against Russia.

All those listed above have to approved by the US Senate in confirmation hearings during which senators can grill them about their views and past records. There is no guarantee that they will be approved. But Trump has shown a ruthless skill in getting his way. Senators and Congressman are told to tow the line or face being de-selected by Trump-supporting grassroots activists at their next primary election. Look at the fate of Liz Cheney.

The Senate is meant to be one of the many “guard rails” that will ensure that Donald Trump stays within the law and does not ride roughshod over the constitution, national interests and international obligations. The courts are another, but here Trump has managed to engineer a six to three conservative majority which has consistently ruled in his favour.

The Fourth estate – that is the media – is another potential guard rail. But the traditional media seems to have been discredited in favour of the echo chambers of social media which are in turn dominated by Trump’s number one cheerleader Elon Musk.

Musk and fellow billionaire Vivek Ramaswamy have been tasked with cutting $2 trillion out of the federal budget. They don’t need to be confirmed by the Senate because they will be working as part of the White House staff rather than heading up an official government department.

White House employees escape congressional oversight. This means that another controversial appointment, Stephen Miller, will not be challenged as Deputy Chief of Staff and the man responsible for immigration policy.

Miller has been on the far-right since his high school days. He has been linked to white supremacists, Christian nationalists and has authored several conservative conspiracy theories. In the first Trump Administration Miller was the driving force behind the Muslim ban and the separation of immigrant families. He engineered the firing of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen for not being hawkish enough on immigration.

At Trump’s final big campaign rally at Madison Square Garden, Miller stated his goals simply and succinctly: “America is for Americans and for Americans only.”

Miller is there. Musk is there. Ramasway is there. They cannot be removed by the Senate. The source of these appointments – Donald Trump – is even more entrenched.

* Tom Arms is foreign editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and author of “The Encyclopaedia of the Cold War” and “America Made in Britain".