There is one common trait that President-elect Donald Trump clearly values as he chooses to serve in his new administration: television experience.
Trump likes the look of this “central casting,” as he likes to call it.
Some, like his picks for defense secretary, Pat Hegseth, and transportation secretary, Sean Duffy, are TV hosts on Trump’s favorite network, Fox News. Mike Huckabee, his choice for U.S. ambassador to Israel, hosted the Fox show “Huckabee” from 2008 to 2015 after his time as governor of Arkansas.
Former syndicated talk show host and heart surgeon Dr. Mehmet Oz was tapped Tuesday to head the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the agency that oversees health insurance programs for millions of elderly, poor and disabled Americans. He will report on Trump’s pick for Health and Human Services secretary, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., himself a regular on the cable news circuit.
Trump, himself a former reality television star, has made no secret of his intention to shore up his administration with loyalists after his decisive victory in the 2024 election — some of whom have Lack of relevant experience has raised concerns among lawmakers. But he’s also working to build a more robust administration this term, and in his view, many of those people meet with celebrity.
The trend was not lost on Democratic Representative Jim Hames of Connecticut, who posted on social media after Oz’s nomination: “We’re becoming the world’s first nuclear-armed reality television show.”
For good measure, Hames added: “Just spitballing here, but what if the attorney general and the secretary of HHS fought each other in an octagonal cage?” It was a reference to Trump’s commitment to UFC fighters who fight in the Octagon.
Choosing TV personalities is not unusual for a once-and-future president: Several of his first-term picks — John Bolton, Larry Kudlow, Heather Nauert and Mercedes Schlip, were all on TV — mostly on Fox. too Omarosa Manigault Newman, a cast member on the first season of Trump’s confrontational NBC show “The Apprentice,” was briefly in the White House before being fired.
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican who ran Trump’s 2016 transition team until he was fired, said that eight years ago, Trump conducted “interviews like The Apprentice at Bedminster,” in New Jersey. Called for potential jobs at your club.
On a call hosted by the Council on Foreign Relations on Tuesday, Christie said this year’s cabinet picks are different than 2016 but that it’s still “Donald Trump casting a TV show.”
“He’s casting,” Christy said.
Trump has highlighted the media experience of his choices as easily as he has announced them. Duffy, a former lawmaker and onetime cast member of MTV’s “The Real World,” was “a star on Fox News,” he said.
Hegseth, a military veteran, “has been a host at FOX News for eight years, where he used that platform to fight for our military and veterans,” Trump said. He also noted that Hegseth’s book “The War on Warriors” spent “nine weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, including two weeks at number one.”
As for Oz, Trump said: “He won nine Daytime Emmy Awards for hosting ‘The Dr. Oz Show,’ where he taught millions of Americans how to make healthy lifestyle choices.”
It’s also true that those who find positions in Trump’s orbit often take to the airwaves to audition for audiences. Tom Homan, Trump’s choice for “border czar,” is a frequent Fox contributor. Ohio Sen. JD Vance was chosen as Trump’s running mate because of how well he comes off the air.
Trump’s pick to head the Federal Communications Commission, Brendan Carr, raised his profile when he went on Fox News to argue that Democratic nominee Kamala Harris had previously appeared on NBC’s “Saturday Night Live.” By-election exhibition was a violation of “equal time”. Television appearances of ruling candidates.
The White House-to-cable news pundit pipeline somewhat cuts across both party administrations. President Joe Biden’s transition team had three MSNBC contributors and his former press secretary moved to the network after leaving the White House. Biden, though, was looking to career diplomats, longtime government workers and military leaders for key positions such as the Defense Department.
Trump’s association with Fox News is well-documented, though the romance briefly cooled after Fox’s initial call for Biden in Arizona in 2020, angering Trump and many of the network’s viewers. What did Trump suggested that viewers should migrate to other conservative news outlets.
While the Arizona call was ultimately proven correct, it sparked internal second-guessing and led some Fox personalities to embrace conspiracy theories, eventually leading to a defamation lawsuit by Dominion Voting Systems. cost the network $787 million.
But Trump is still an avid watcher — the network provides Trump with a window into conservative thinking, with commentary from Republican lawmakers and think tanks who often speak directly to the president-elect.
