Americans and security experts are shocked that Donald Trump chose Kash Patel to lead the FBI. Trump's Secretary of Defense pick Pete Hegseth is so abusive towards women that his own mother called him out for his horrible behavior. Rolling Stone reported that Penelope Hegseth wrote her son Pete "belittles, lies, cheats, sleeps around, and uses women for his own power and ego."

But historian Timothy Snyder reminds us that Trump has a plan behind his 'crazy' cabinet picks. In a recent Substack article, Snyder wrote:

"It is a mistake to think of these people as flawed. It is not they will do a bad job in their assigned posts. It is that they will do a good job using those assigned posts to destroy our country...the intention of these appointments is clear: to create American horror."

Snyder notes that members of Congress need to stand up to Trump and his allies if they want the Senate and the House to last. The historian is less hopeful about the Supreme Court but believes the Justices who helped make Trump will realize they need to stop him. Snyder encourages Americans to come together as well:

"This is no longer a post-electoral moment. It is a pre-catastrophic moment. Trump voters are caught in the notion that Trump must be doing the right thing if Harris voters are upset. But Harris voters are upset now because they love their country. And Harris voters will have to get past the idea that Trump voters should reap what they have sown. Yes, some of them did vote to burn it all down. But if it all burns down, we burn too. It is not easy to speak right now; but if some Republicans wish to, please listen."

"Both inside and outside Congress, there will have to be simple defiance, joined with a rhetoric of a better America. And, at moments at least, there will also have to be alliances among Americans who, though they differ on other matters, would like to see their country endure," Snyder warned.