In his private conversations over the past few days, President-elect Donald J. Trump has admitted that his besieged choice for attorney-general, Matt Gaetz, has less than even odds of being confirmed by the Senate.

But Trump has shown no sign of withdrawing the nomination, which speaks volumes about his mind-set as he staffs his second administration. He is making calls on Gaetz’s behalf, and he remains confident that even if Gaetz does not make it, the standard for an acceptable candidate will have shifted so much that the Senate may simply approve his other nominees who have appalled much of Washington.

Trump’s choice to lead health and human services has made baseless claims about vaccines. His selection for defence secretary is a former Fox News host whose leadership experience has been questioned. His nominee for the director of national intelligence is a favourite of Russian state media.

“Donald Trump is a blunt-force instrument applying blunt-force trauma to the system,” said Stephen K. Bannon, Trump’s former chief strategist who remains close to him and was recently released from federal prison for defying a subpoena in the investigation into the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.

Presidents do not normally approach cabinet selections this way. Historically, they work with their teams to figure out in advance what the system will tolerate, eliminating the possibility that skeletons in the closet of a nominee might emerge during Senate hearings.

Trump largely followed this risk-averse approach at the start of his first term. He appointed people like the four-star general Jim Mattis, who was confirmed with a 98-to-1 bipartisan vote to be Trump’s first defence secretary.

But this time, emboldened by victory and the submission of the Republican Party, Trump is innovating. He is using an approach that has been discussed in the past for judicial nominees, which is nominating so many extreme choices that they cannot all be blocked. The strategy has never been used for cabinet picks.

It is possible that enough Republican senators are willing to risk their careers to oppose Gaetz, although it is unclear what the back-up plan would be should Gaetz falter. Trump’s personal lawyer and pick for deputy attorney-general, Todd Blanche, is seen as a possibility. It is also possible that Gaetz is confirmed, along with the three other nominees who have raised such a furore in Washington. Trump has wasted no time in barrelling ahead and putting personal pressure on senators.

One thing is certain: His four choices would have had virtually no chance of confirmation in a Republican-held Senate in the Washington that existed before 2024.

The President-elect’s choice to lead the defence department, Pete Hegseth, is facing an allegation that he sexually assaulted a woman, which he has denied. Beyond that, Hegseth, a veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, has faced questions about having the requisite experience to run a department with an $850 billion annual budget, three million employees and 750 military bases around the world.

Trump’s choice to run the department of health and human services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., is not only a vaccine sceptic but also a supporter of abortion rights who has all but declared war on the pharmaceutical and food industries that have long funded the Republican Party.

And his choice for intelligence director, Tulsi Gabbard, has blamed the US and Nato for provoking Vladimir V. Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.