Donald Trump’s ill-considered choice for defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, recently emerged from yet another U.S. Senate meeting, stopped to talk with media and vowed, “As long as Donald Trump wants me in this fight, I’m going to be standing right here in this fight.”  “This will not be a process tried in the media. I don’t answer to anyone in this group, none of you,” he said, pointing to a TV camera as he took questions from journalists this month in the Hart Senate Office Building. “I’m a different man than I was years ago, and that’s a redemption story that I think a lot of Americans appreciate.” But barely a month after Trump’s election victory Nov. 5, there is little redemption for Republicans. The spectacle of so many unqualified, embattled Cabinet picks has led to division and a growing sense of buyer’s remorse among many GOP senators and others forced to deal with this rogue’s gallery. Low-information voters helped fuel Trump’s win by a slim 1.5% margin and less than 50% of the vote, and now there is alarm around the country and the world about the fallout — be it egregious Cabinet nominees, threats to politicize the Justice Department to target his enemies or calls for inflation-fueling tariffs. Trump hasn’t even taken the oath of office for a second time, and already the chaos, calumny and craziness of his first term are unfolding again shamefully across the national scene. You reap what you sow, and no one should be surprised, least of all Republicans who delighted in his victory. This issue of gross incompetence in selecting crackpots for sensitive national security positions goes way beyond differences among Republicans and Democrats. But it’s a mess Republicans must either try to clean up in a volatile confirmation process in the new GOP-controlled Senate in January — or live with, and force the rest of us to live with, too. This is really who we are now. First, it was former Florida U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, Trump’s nominee for attorney general, who was forced to withdraw his name from consideration after a bipartisan outcry and as Democrats pushed for the release of a House Ethics Committee report on a probe into his conduct, including allegations of sexual misconduct and other alleged crimes he has denied. Gaetz was also widely disliked on Capitol Hill, and a handful of Republican senators bravely said no. Next came GOP consternation over two other nominees for sensitive roles in government that affect national security: Hegseth, who also has been accused of sexual assault, a charge he denies, and excessive drinking and mismanagement, and former Democratic U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii, now Trump’s nominee to be director of national intelligence. Gabbard worries lawmakers from both parties and the intelligence community because of her parroting Russian propaganda and her widely criticized 2017 trip to Syria to visit then-President Bashar Assad, who was ousted by opposition fighters last weekend. Both served in the military, but neither has the customary experience to serve in these roles. Many GOP voters who understandably were upset about high levels of inflation and immigration weren’t necessarily counting on Trump’s appetite for putting fealty over competence in filling such key jobs. Then there’s his choice of loyalist Kash Patel for FBI director, a man with an enemies list on a vengeance tour against the “deep state,” to replace the widely respected director of the FBI, Christopher Wray, who was appointed by Trump himself in his first term. Wray honorably said he would step aside at the end of President Joe Biden’s term to minimize the disruption to his agency, but the stench of Trump’s lawless retribution reeks with this play to politicize the FBI. Related Articles Commentary | Editorial: Justice is not revenge. The nomination of Matt Gaetz as attorney general cannot stand. Commentary | Clarence Page: Donald Trump’s Cabinet of the mediocre invites possible catastrophe Commentary | Steve Chapman: Joe Biden and Donald Trump expose the framers’ big mistake on pardons Commentary | Laura Washington: Donald Trump must embrace expanded access to obesity-fighting drugs National security experts warn that the country will be at risk if the Senate caves to Trump’s intimidation tactics, shirks its advice and consent duties, and confirms Gabbard. Additionally, medical experts say the nation’s health will be at risk if senators approve Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the anti-vaccination nominee Trump tapped to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.  John Bolton, a conservative Republican who served as Trump’s national security adviser, warned last week in an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal that Patel’s integrity and fitness should be examined in an FBI investigation prior to confirmation hearings, and he declared that “senators won’t escape history’s judgment if they vote to confirm him.”  Trump supporters went after Republican Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa, a combat veteran, after she said she wanted to hear more from Hegseth on that issue. Hegseth has said women “straight up” should not serve in combat roles. Then implied MAGA threats of a primary challenge started to pressure Ernst. GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, a frequent Trump critic, said the next four years will be hard because Trump loyalists will demand, “Everybody tow the line. Everybody line up. We got you here, and if you want to survive, you better be good. Don’t get on Santa’s naughty list here, because we will primary you.” To be sure, Trump won the election, and his nominees should be given fair hearings, but many are unqualified, erratic, unserious people. GOP senators need to vet them since Trump didn’t. Time magazine named Trump its 2024 Person of the Year last week, and he told Time’s Eric Cortellessa he won because, “We hit the nerve of the country. The country was angry.” That’s true, and elections have consequences, as former President Barack Obama was fond of saying. But the country is now bracing for a wrecking ball many in the Republican Party should have seen coming. Biden ceded some of the moral high ground when he pardoned his son Hunter, and it will be harder for Democrats to make the case that Trump’s minions are the real threat to democracy and the rule of law. But look around: They are well on the way to proving it. Now, all Americans who love the Constitution should urge their senators to stand up for the country and choose wisely to protect its security, health and democracy. Democrats, too, share blame. They need to regroup, assess what they did wrong, figure out the next steps and remember the words of Winston Churchill: “In defeat, defiance.” Storer H. Rowley, a former national editor and foreign correspondent for the Chicago Tribune, teaches journalism and communication at Northwestern University. Submit a letter, of no more than 400 words, to the editor here or email [email protected].