Trump promised to disrupt Washington. His Cabinet picks would do just that: ANALYSIS

Some say it's hardly a surprise.

President-elect Donald Trump campaigned relentlessly on a radical overhaul of the federal government.

His Cabinet picks, being unveiled at a breakneck pace, reflect he's determined to keep the promises he made to millions of Americans who voted to put him back in the White House.

"I don't think he's been very nuanced about it," Ty Cobb, a former Trump White House lawyer, told ABC News. "Trump has been consistently saying that he's going to shake it up, that he's going to dismantle the Department of Education, that he's going to blow up the DOJ. All of these things are real."

At first, his choices toed a more traditional line. Sen. Marco Rubio, who serves on foreign intelligence and relations committees, for secretary of state. Rep. Michael Waltz, a Green Beret who also sits on related House panels, for national security adviser.

Several immigration hard-liners were quickly -- but still somewhat predictably -- tapped to implement his call for mass deportations, including Stephen Miller as deputy chief of staff, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem as homeland security secretary and former acting ICE Director Tom Homan as "border czar."

But after that came a series of names that shocked even Trump's close Republican allies in Congress: former Fox News host Pete Hegseth for defense secretary, Tulsi Gabbard for director of national intelligence, Matt Gaetz for attorney general and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to oversee Health and Human Services.

While those four lack conventional bonafides to lead some of the country's top political institutions, all possess a skill Trump is said to highly value: being experienced on TV communicating and defending his biggest political goals.

"This will absolutely be a brand-new era in Washington, from the pledge to remake the civil service to a top-to-bottom change in federal policies. There's nothing like it in recent memory," said Donald Kettl, a professor emeritus at the University of Maryland and former dean of its school of public policy.

"The job of a Cabinet secretary involves a lot more than giving interviews," Kettl said. "These are very large, sprawling agencies on which Americans deeply depend. It would take little for them to drift into major crises that would both hurt Americans and give the administration a black eye."

Trump recently said the biggest regret of his first term was installing "disloyal people."

Internal strife with his own staff was well-documented. He lambasted his first attorney general, Jeff Sessions, for recusing himself from the department's Russia investigation. He expressed anger at Defense Secretary Mark Esper for disagreeing with his suggestion to use active-duty military to quell street protests over George Floyd in 2020. They are now viewed as having been key guardrails --keeping Trump's more controversial demands inside traditional lines.

In Gabbard, Gaetz and Hegseth, Trump has found potential agency heads (pending Senate confirmation, which could prove tricky for some) who similarly want to root out what he's long accused of being a "weaponized" justice system and a rebellious military.

"The last time the transition was very traditional but I think that's because President Trump really had not been exposed that much to Washington," said Ron Nicol, who in 2016 directed the agency action team in charge of Trump's transition. "What he's doing now is choosing a team that will be focused on getting things done."

Hegseth, an Army veteran, has said in interviews before being named that he advocated a "frontal assault" on the DOD, including firing what he called "woke" generals and eliminating the Pentagon's diversity goals.

Gabbard, a former congresswoman who also served in the National Guard, has long railed against the so-called "deep state" Trump has blamed for undermining him in his first term and she's called Democrats a "cabal of warmongers."

Gaetz, a conservative firebrand who resigned from Congress just after being named, has claimed the Justice Department is corrupt and even called for the FBI to be abolished. Gaetz himself was the subject of a federal investigation into potential sex trafficking, which ended without charges against Gaetz.

Many in the defense and justice communities have balked at the choices -- Gaetz for the nation's top law enforcement official, especially -- while Trump has said they would carry out his desire for reform.

"If what he means by that is burning them to the ground, then maybe," said Matthew Waxman, who served in senior positions at the state and defense departments during the George W. Bush administration.

"But if we're talking about serious institutional reform based on American values and careful deliberation, organization management and effectiveness, I don't see them as possessing any of those virtues," Waxman added.

Trump on Wednesday attempted to blame Democrats for allegations levied against some of his more controversial Cabinet picks.

"They dirty them up, they destroy them, and then they spit them out. They are trying that right now with some great American Patriots who are only trying to fix the mess that the Democrats have made of our Country," Trump posted on his social media platform.

Barbara Perry, co-chair of the presidential oral history program at the University of Virginia's Miller Center, said Trump appears to be running with what he perceives as a "mandate" from voters.

"He won, if not by a landslide, decisively. He views that as a compelling case for putting the people he wants who are the most MAGA in his mind," Perry said.

"No one could argue in terms of presidents putting people they support into these positions, that's their prerogative," Perry added. "What is arguable is in the cases of at least four of these picks, they are unqualified."

Donald Trump Jr., speaking with Fox News, said his father's picks will be "actual disrupters" and "that's what the American people want."

Cobb, who worked for the Trump administration in 2017 and 2018, contended the president-elect may be "overestimating" the mandate.

"The three overwhelming issues of consequence in the last election were inflation, immigration and abortion," Cobb said. "Obviously, immigration and inflation are things that people expect Trump to do. I think they discounted the persistent warnings of Trump being on a crusade for vengeance and for his own needs."