There is a common trait that President Donald Trump clearly chose as he chooses what will become his new administration: experience in television.
Mr. Trump likes the view of “central casting,” as he likes to call it.
Some, like the picks for Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, and Secretary of Transportation, Sean Duffy, are TV hosts on Trump’s favorite network, Fox News. Mike Huckabee, who was chosen for the US ambassador to Israel, hosted the Fox show “Huckabee” from 2008 to 2015 after serving as the governor of Arkansas.
Dr. Mehmet Oz, a former syndicated talk show host and heart surgeon, was tapped Tuesday to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the agency that oversees health insurance programs for millions of older, poor and disabled Americans. He will report on Mr. Trump’s pick for Health and Human services secretary, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., who is a regular on the cable news circuit.
Mr Trump, a former reality television star himself, has made no secret of his intention to stack the administration with loyalists after his decisive 2024 election victory – including some with no relevant experience causing concern among lawmakers.
Forced administration
But he also works to prepare a more powerful administration in this term, and in his eyes, many people happen to intersect with celebrities.
The trend was not lost on Democratic Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut, who posted on social media after Oz’s nomination: “We are the world’s first nuclear-armed reality television show.”
For good measure, Mr. Himes added: “Enough spitballing here, but what if the Attorney General and the HHS Secretary fight each other in the octagonal cage?” It was a reference to Mr. Trump’s affinity for UFC fighters who fight in the octagon.
Electing TV personalities is not unusual for former and future Presidents: Some of the first-term picks – John Bolton, Larry Kudlow, Heather Nauert and Mercedes Schlapp, are all on TV – usually on Fox as well. Omarosa Manigault Newman, a member of the confrontational first season of Mr. Trump’s NBC show “The Apprentice,” was briefly in the White House before being fired.
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican who ran Mr. Trump’s 2016 transition team until he was fired, said that eight years ago, Mr. Trump held “apprentice-like interviews in Bedminster,” calling potential employees to clubs in New York. Jersey.
In a Tuesday call organized by the Council on Foreign Relations, Christie said this year’s Cabinet picks are different from 2016 but still “Donald Trump is putting on a TV show.”
“He’s casting,” Mr. Christie said.
Mr. Trump has readily highlighted the media’s experience of his choice when he announced it. He said Mr. Duffy, a former lawmaker and member of MTV’s “The Real World,” was “a STAR on Fox News.”
Mr. Hegseth, a military veteran, “has been a host on FOX News for eight years, where he has used that platform to fight against our Military and Veterans,” Mr. Trump said. He also noted that Mr. Hegseth’s book War on Warriors spent nine weeks on it The New York Times “The best-seller list, including two weeks at NUMBER ONE.”
As for Mr. Oz, Mr. Trump said: “He won nine Daytime Emmy Awards hosting ‘The Dr. Oz Show,’ where he taught millions of Americans how to make healthier lifestyle choices.”
It is also true that those seeking a position in Mr. Trump’s orbit often take to the airwaves to audition for a single audience. Tom Homan, Mr. Trump’s choice for “border tsar,” is a frequent Fox contributor. Ohio Sen. JD Vance was chosen as Mr. Trump’s walking mate in part because of how well he came across in the air.
Mr. Trump’s pick to head the Federal Communications Commission, Brendan Carr, raised his profile when he took to Fox News to argue that a pre-election appearance on NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” by Democratic nominee Kamala Harris was a “same” violation. time” rules governing candidates’ appearances on television.
The pipeline of White House-to-wire news pundits tends to cut across both administrations, to some extent. President Joe Biden has three MSNBC contributors on his transition team and a former press secretary to the network after he leaves the White House. Instead, Biden is looking to career diplomats, longtime government workers and military leaders for key positions like the Defense Department.
Mr. Trump’s love for Fox News has been well-documented, though the romance cooled shortly after Fox called Arizona early for Mr. Biden in 2020, a move that angered Mr. Trump and many of the network’s viewers. Trump suggested viewers should turn to other conservative news outlets.
When the Arizona call finally proved true, it set in motion an internal second guessing and led several Fox personalities to embrace conspiracy theories, which ultimately cost the network $787 million to settle a defamation lawsuit by Dominion Voting Systems.
But Mr. Trump is still a keen observer — the network gave Mr. Trump is a window into conservative thinking, with comments from Republican lawmakers and thinkers who, often, speak directly to the President-elect.
Published – November 21, 2024 11:28 IST