Donald Trump seems eager to assemble a “nightmare team” in his appointments for key positions of his cabinet as incoming President of the United States.

Matt Gaetz has been designated as Attorney General. As the BBC reports, he is “the subject of a long-running investigation by a congressional ethics panel into a number of claims involving drugs, bribes and sex.” Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been chosen to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. While Kennedy may not be morally flawed, he does hold some unusual conspiratorial beliefs, particularly regarding health. Tulsi Gabbard's potential appointment as Director of National Intelligence raises concerns, given her tendency to show a favorable disposition toward overseas dictators.

What is Trump thinking?

I venture to say that Trump is following a script laid out by a Galilean preacher 2,000 years ago. That man shocked many people with his simple yet powerful message. He sought to bring forth what he called "the Kingdom of God"—a concept that has sparked debate for two millennia. But whatever it was, its purpose was clear: it was meant to be disruptive. The preacher soon realized he couldn’t fulfill his mission alone, so he set out to find companions. They were hardly the brightest.

Two of those companions apparently were so hot-tempered, that they were called “Sons of Thunder.” Another companion—likely the one closest to the teacher—was quite stubborn, and at one point, his master likened him to Satan. Yet another companion betrayed the preacher for 30 silver coins. The team of misfits also included sinners and prostitutes.

Now, morally speaking, Trump is no Jesus—pace some pathetic remarks by sycophants like Marjorie Taylor Greene. But they do share a contrarian aspect in their character. Jesus sought to overturn the established order of his epoch—Roman occupation, religious hypocrisy of the priestly elite, etc. Trump seems to be on a similar journey; his goal is to disrupt the comfort of the liberal affluent class, and to challenge the hypocrisy of wokeness and political correctness.

Unlike Jesus, Trump’s motives are less than noble, but that is beside the point. As perceived by his supporters, he is the real deal.

For both men, impassioned speeches have been a key element of their repertoire. But that would not suffice. They needed eccentricity. The prophets of Ancient Israel would do bizarre things to make their points. Isaiah would roam around naked; Ezekiel would cook with cow dung; Jeremiah would wear a yoke around his neck.

In the same vein, Jesus was not a drunkard and a glutton, but he was perceived as such by some. This ultimately worked to his advantage, as it reinforced the perception of him as a challenger to the established norms, which was something the people of 1st century Judea were eagerly seeking.

This is the logic that Trump cleverly uses when being photographed while eating McDonald's food with members of his inner circle: the more he is called a glutton, the better. The MAGA world is sick of holier-than-thou gluten-free snobs.