There is a book I read to my kids when they were about 4 years old called “The Mixed Up Chameleon.”

One day the chameleon discovers it can change not only its color but its shape and size, too. When it sees different animals in the zoo, it immediately wants to be like them. And it ends up being “a little of this, a little of that,” part polar bear, part flamingo, fox, fish, deer, giraffe, turtle, elephant and seal.

President-elect Trump’s choices for his Cabinet so far reminded me of that book, and created a similar mashup in my mind. Call it his Frankestaff, a Cabinet sewn together from ill-matched bits.

What do Trump’s unorthodox choices say about who he will be this term and what his priorities are? Clearly we are in new political territory. Is Trump a traditional conservative, a full-on populist, or an unapologetic authoritarian, as some have called him? Heck, his anti-establishment vibe feels downright hippielike to me at times.

He’s a mishmash of many animals. Maybe this is why he continues to inspire such loyalty in some and horror in others: People see very different things in him. He simultaneously projects candor and coarseness, controversy and strength, just like his Cabinet picks.

Are these pick’s his revenge shock troops, his photogenic cast for the White House Show, or his hyperloyal yes men and women? Will they shake up government or go too far? 

After sifting through his first round of picks, I found myself with more questions than answers:

Will Trump be a true crusader for the working class or a billionaire’s best friend? The disruptor of identity politics or a champion of a white male Broligarchy? A global peacenik or fanboy of dictators? Will he be a Trumanesque waste cutter or destroyer of democratic norms? A true immigration reformer or a racist dogwhistler? The guy who mobilized the fastest development of a vaccine in history or a crunchy anti-vaxxer? A defender of maligned outsiders or protector of predators?

All of the above? Time will tell.

He says he is picking loyalists this time around who can implement his vision. But that vision is a complicated and contradictory one. And a lot will depend on how competent this team is, not just loyal.

Here’s a stab at what the key picks so far say about the presidency to come:

Stephen Miller, White House deputy chief of staff for policy, and Thomas Horman, Trump’s immigration czar.

These appointments suggest Trump’s promise to deport millions of undocumented migrants living in the U.S. is real, and could impact Colorado very directly.

During Trump’s first term, Miller developed some of the administration’s strictest immigration policies. Homan was acting director of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency in Trump’s first term, and supported the policy of separating undocumented families detained at the border. They have already promised to enlist the military in seeing through Trump’s mass deportations, a policy that Gov. Jared Polis and Denver Mayor Mike Johnston have already promised to resist.

Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)

In an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal, Musk and Ramaswamy pledge to pursue three major kinds of reform to cut $2 trillion out of the federal budget: regulatory rescissions, administrative reductions and cost savings. This effort is popular: A majority, 57%, of Americans polled recently by Scripps News/Ipsos say they support downsizing the federal government. The real question is how this will be executed and what kind of local resistance DOGE encounters, which has always been the downfall of past efforts to dramatically trim the federal government. And I wonder how all of Musk’s contracts with the federal government for SpaceX and Tesla will impact his priorities.

Robert Kennedy Jr. for Health and Human Services

The crunchy, anti-vaxx, anti-corporate politics Kennedy represents used to be right at home in the Democratic Party. And indeed, our very own Gov. Jared Polis welcomed this pick:

“I’m excited by the news that the President-Elect will appoint @RobertKennedyJr to @HHSGov,” Polis tweeted. “He helped us defeat vaccine mandates in Colorado in 2019 and will help make America healthy again by shaking up HHS and FDA. I hope he leans into personal choice on vaccines rather than bans (which I think are terrible, just like mandates) but what I’m most optimistic about is taking on big pharma and the corporate ag oligopoly to improve our health.”

Kennedy is likely to fundamentally shift the government’s role in medicine. He has vowed to replace people at agencies he says are captives of the industries they regulate, eliminate “toxic additives and pesticide residues” in food, promote alternative medicine and end fluoridation of public water.

Kennedy could be a surprise success if he really takes on Big Pharma and Big Ag to make our food healthier. Let’s just hope there’s not another pandemic that requires vaccines that he believes cause autism, which they don’t. Let’s also hope he also sets aside some of his wackier ideas like Wi-Fi causing “leaky brain” and antidepressants causing mass shootings.

Pete Hegseth, for Defense Secretary

This nomination might end up the same place the Matt Gaetz nomination did due to Hegseth’s own allegations of sexual misconduct. But if he does survive, expect Hegseth to take the “woke” out of the military,

The Fox News commentator and retired Army National Guard officer is the author of “The War on Warriors: Behind the Betrayal of the Men Who Keep Us Free,” which argues that the military’s focus on diversity, equity and inclusion has sapped its fighting strength.

He wants to end the practice of women in combat roles. 

His experience in Iraq and other broken wars has transformed him from a neoconservative believer in U.S. military might into an outsider distrustful of the whole national security establishment.

This pick is a big unknown, in other words. Rep. Jason Crow of Colorado, a former Army Ranger, called Hegseth “woefully unqualified.”

Marco Rubio, for secretary of state and Florida U.S. Rep. Mike Waltz, for national security adviser

Trump’s approach to foreign policy combines elements of isolationism, military non-interventionism, and economic protectionism. Both these picks signal a strong hawkishness on China. Both Rubio and Waltz are vocal critics, and Waltz, a former army colonel, has said the U.S. is in a “cold war” with China. These picks should make conservatives happy, but also indicate bigger tariffs against China will be coming soon.

Chris Wright, Energy Secretary

Wright grew up in Colorado and heads up one of the country’s leading fracking companies. His nomination signals a major shift away from prioritizing climate change and clean energy to an “all of the above” focus on addressing “energy poverty.”

He believes that instead of a climate agenda, according to an article by our energy reporter Scott Weiser, America should ensure “a wide array of cheap, abundant and sustainable energy sources that include geothermal, nuclear, oil and gas” so that poorer countries have better access to energy that will transform their economies.

Opponents say this approach will exacerbate climate change.

Pam Bondi, attorney general

Trump’s replacement pick for the controversial Matt Gaetz is a much more traditional, sober choice, with real experience as attorney general of Florida from 2011 to 2019.

Her nomination seems to signal a shift away from retribution toward a serious law-and-order focus, especially when it comes to stopping the flow of fentanyl and other drugs into the country. Bondi served on Trump’s Opioid and Drug Abuse Commission during his first term after compiling a strong record of prosecuting drug and human traffickers in Florida.

Bondi is also a loyalist: She is the chair of the Center for Litigation at the America First Policy Institute, a right-wing think tank working with the Trump transition team on the administration’s agenda. And she was a senior adviser on Trump’s first impeachment defense team. Under her, Trump is planning to use investigative teams within the Justice Department to hunt for evidence that fraud tainted the 2020 election, according to reports on Friday. 

In sum, Trump’s picks so far indicate he’s going to be a traditional conservative when it comes to tax cuts, deregulation and most cultural issues.

But it looks like he’s going to be a populist when it comes to trade and foreign relations.

And he’s downright liberal when it comes to trying to improve the health of Americans and staying out of foreign wars.

Just like Trump’s views, his Cabinet picks are all over the map.

We’re all trying to find pieces of Trump’s agenda right now that might lead to good things even if there are other parts we absolutely loathe. Politics is about what you prioritize, and Trump’s priorities shift constantly. So we wait with held breath to see what Trump and his mixed-up chameleon of a Cabinet settle on as strategy, and actually see through to the end.