The announcements shouldn’t come as a surprise. Donald Trump said he would do things differently this time. And yet they still provoke a double take.

I will come to Elon Musk One moment.

But first, the man donald trump has nominated as the new Secretary of Defense of the United States is a television host for Fox News.

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

The former Army National Guard major, who served in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay (where he defended the treatment of prisoners), is not the conventional choice, to say the least.

But that’s precisely why Trump wants it. He is there to change things and provoke the reaction he has already had within the establishment.

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

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

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

“Pete is tough, smart and a true believer in America first. With Pete at the helm, America’s enemies are on notice: our military will be great again and America will never go backwards.”

A quick scan of Hegseth’s appearances on Fox and other interviews he has conducted are 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 ago.

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

Was he joking? His co-hosts seemed unsure.

But the 44-year-old has a direct and sharp view of America’s military shortcomings.

He recently said on the Shawn Ryan Show podcast: “The Pentagon runs perfect war game simulations: We always lose to China… They’re building an army… We have our heads up our asses.”

He continued: “The way we acquire weapons systems, we are always a decade behind and fighting the last war. Whereas China is building a military specifically dedicated to defeating the United States of America.”

This is what Trump would call anti-establishment, innovative thinking.

However, it actually aligns with what many within the establishment have long believed: that the United States is losing to China on many fronts.

Trump is now putting someone in a position of enormous power who is bluntly articulating what others are saying more quietly.

This may be a theme of this new White House: saying what others dare not say (as in Ukraine/Russia: “it’s a stalemate”, in China: “they’re winning”) and then trying to do something about it.

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. We shouldn’t be at all surprised that he’s in the White House. But he is only in the government.

Its new Department of Government Efficiency (which already has the acronym DOGE) actually sits outside the government structure.

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

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In response to the announcement, in “musky” form, he posted on his own X site: “All actions of the Department of Government Efficiency will be published online for maximum transparency.

“Anytime the public thinks we’re cutting something important or not cutting something that’s wasteful, let us know!

“We will also have a leader board for the most incredibly foolish waste of our tax dollars. This will be extremely tragic and extremely entertaining.”

For many who believe the US government is a bloated and bleeding bureaucracy in urgent need of reform, these (seemingly) transparent plans may be welcome.

Many others will look further and wonder how this structure (external government) and leadership (richest man in the world with huge conflicts of interest) are possibly appropriate.

As an external 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 mind with all the new nominees: China.

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

Trump is instigating a new superpower “great game.” He is trying to establish, quickly, a clear sense of superiority over China: “make America great again.”

There is a lot at stake. Trump 2.0 could make America great again, but it could be a bumpy road.