US President-elect Donald Trump has gone off the beaten track when it comes to choosing his new members of government, but all of his choices seem to have one thing in common: a link to himself. Trump is picking people who have been familiar faces at his campaign rallies, frequent visitors to his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida or trusted advocates of his in the media and on social media.

It is a stark contrast to his first stint in the White House, when Trump ended up with members of his team with whom he had no previous working relationship and no level of trust.

For this year, the president-elect is rewarding his most loyal allies with privileged positions. Some have almost no relevant experience for their posts and a few could face a difficult confirmation process in the Senate, which has a Republican majority.

Trump has chosen Pete Hegseth, a Fox News personality with no administrative experience, to oversee the Pentagon; nominated Matt Gaetz, a long-time provocateur who lacks law enforcement experience, as attorney general; and tapped South Dakota governor Kristi Noem to be the nation’s top Homeland Security official.

He has also tasked Elon Musk and former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, pillars of the Trump campaign, with streamlining the federal bureaucracy, though neither has ever worked in government.

The choices of these individuals suggest that the president-elect wants to show his political base that he is delivering on his campaign promises to deport millions of immigrants, vet political opponents and rid the military of gender and diversity policies.

Out, Strangers

After his 2016 victory, Trump tapped unknowns such as Rex Tillerson, the former CEO of ExxonMobil, to head the State Department, and Jim Mattis, a retired general, to head the Pentagon. He also named Reince Priebus as his chief of staff. Eventually, Trump became disillusioned and replaced Tillerson and Mattis, and had four chiefs of staff during his first term.

This time, the new Trump seems determined to avoid similar mistakes. He has had four years to better understand what he wants from his appointees. He quickly appointed Susie Wiles, his trusted campaign manager, as his chief of staff. He chose Tom Homan, who ran the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency during the first term, to be his ‘border czar’ in charge of mass migrant deportations. He appointed John Ratcliffe, who previously served as director of national intelligence, to now become CIA director.

Observers say Trump’s approach to appointments has been notably more efficient than eight years ago, when he fired his transition chief, former New Jersey governor Chris Christie, over staffing disagreements.

Trump’s latest picks on Wednesday again included loyalists who supported him on the campaign trail and on television during his successful campaign, and are unlikely to oppose his plans for his second term.

Trump announced U.S. Senator Marco Rubio, a former rival with extensive experience in foreign policy and intelligence matters, as his secretary of state. Rubio has softened some of his positions in recent years to align more closely with Trump’s views.

He also selected as his director of national intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, a former Democratic congresswoman who became popular among conservatives for supporting isolationist policies and showing disdain for the ‘public conscience’. Gabbard has little direct experience in intelligence work, but she has earned a place on Fox News and other conservative outlets.