CNN
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A common thread weaves through many of Donald Trump’s picks for his incoming administration, a quality the president-elect values as highly as loyalty and perhaps even more than conventional qualifications: a flair for television.
He has plucked two Fox News stars from their airwaves – Sean Duffy for Transportation secretary and Pete Hegseth to lead the Pentagon. For the agency overseeing Medicare and Medicaid, Trump has turned to Dr. Mehmet Oz, the celebrity physician known for his health show that aired for 13 seasons. His pick for the Department of Education, meanwhile, is Linda McMahon, who co-founded and built a professional wrestling and entertainment empire alongside her husband.
Trump’s choice for ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, had a six-year run hosting a Fox News show. Tulsi Gabbard, his selection for director of national intelligence, was a contributor on the conservative network after she left Congress and once subbed for its former primetime host Tucker Carlson.
As a former reality TV star, Trump is deeply attuned to the power of the small screen. His selection process has centered on people who can not only articulate his message but also defend him in the kind of high-stakes, combative settings that define modern media.
His transition team, operating in a war-room style setup at Mar-a-Lago, has embraced this focus. On large screens, his advisers play video clips of potential appointees’ media performances, including footage of them defending Trump but also their past criticism of him, underscoring the centrality of media strategy in his decision-making.
The outcome is a made-for-TV Cabinet who he thinks will sell his agenda to Americans and defend the administration against media scrutiny on their networks. Meanwhile, in some departments, the expectation is that deputies and top staff will oversee the day-to-day operations.
In announcing his selections, Trump has elevated the media backgrounds of many of his choices. In promoting Duffy, a four-term Wisconsin congressman-turned-Fox Business host, Trump cited just one example of his credentials to oversee America’s highways, airports and railroads: a road and bridge he helped secure funding for in Minnesota.
But Trump was sure to note that Duffy’s wife, Rachel Campos-Duffy, is “a STAR on Fox News.” The Duffys met as contestants on MTV’s “Road Rules: All Stars,” a spinoff of the cable station’s “Real World” franchise.
Trump called Oz a “world-class communicator” in announcing his selection as the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services administrator and said the doctor’s syndicated television show “taught millions of Americans how to make healthier lifestyle choices.”
Oz’s TV background previously factored into Trump’s endorsement of him for the 2022 Republican Senate nomination in Pennsylvania. Trump remarked at a campaign event that Oz was “on that screen” and “in the bedrooms of all those women telling them the good and bad.”
Even Trump’s selections who have more conventional backgrounds have demonstrated their cable news bonafides.
For example, few Republicans in Congress have logged more television appearances in recent years than Rep. Mike Waltz of Florida, whom Trump has chosen as his national security adviser. South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, another regular Fox News guest, is set to lead the Department of Homeland Security despite little experience with the agency’s expansive mission protecting America. On the campaign trail, Sen. Marco Rubio stumped for Trump in fluent Spanish — an asset that may have helped secure the Florida Republican’s role in the new administration.
Over the summer, Wall Street executive Howard Luntick delivered a spirited defense of Trump’s economic proposals – articulating the finer points of the Republican’s plans for draconian tariffs and trade wars with such convincing detail that CNBC “Squawk Box” host Rebecca Quick remarked, “This is the best explanation I’ve heard.”
Trump’s campaign was so pleased by Lutnick’s performance, it posted a clip of the exchange on social media and then blasted it out to his supporters over email. This week, Trump picked Lutnick for secretary of Commerce.
The president-elect has remarked at various times that both North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum and his former acting ICE director Tom Homan were “straight from central casting.” Burgum is Trump’s choice to lead the Department of the Interior and Homan will lead the new administration’s immigration crackdown as a “border czar.”
Trump initially sought to elevate Florida Republican Matt Gaetz, a fixture on conservative TV, to attorney general because of his oratory skills and media savvy. But Gaetz – who resigned from Congress after being picked – withdrew his name from consideration amid allegations of sexual misconduct, which he has denied, underscoring the risks of prioritizing media polish over more conventional vetting.
Trump replaced Gaetz on Thursday night with former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, a Fox News regular during her two terms in office who once co-hosted the network’s afternoon talk show “The Five” while still earning a taxpayer salary.
Hegseth, who has since left Fox, also faces headwinds being confirmed as more details emerge from an alleged sexual assault that took place in October 2017 that he denies.
The vetting process has faced sharp criticism from Democrats, who have seized on the media-heavy résumés and sparse policy experience of many of his nominees. Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware likened the selections to “a reality TV show casting call,” he told CNN’s Manu Raju, rather than a “serious” Cabinet lineup.
Among the flurry of names for non-Cabinet roles that Trump announced Friday evening were also several former and current Fox News contributors. Dr. Janette Nesheiwat, his pick for US surgeon general, became a contributor at the outset of the Covid-19 pandemic and was on the air up until earlier this week. Dr. Marty Makary, his pick to head the Food and Drug Administration, was on “Fox News Sunday” last weekend promoting Trump’s selection of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.
And Sebastian Gorka, whom Trump named senior director of counterterrorism, was a Fox contributor in 2018 and 2019. His primary media job now is radio host for Salem Radio Network, but he also has a weekend show on Newsmax.
Trump’s reliance on television appearances and aesthetics to fill key roles is not a new phenomenon. During his first term, he described Supreme Court nominees Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh as “straight out of central casting,” suggesting their polished images were compelling reasons for senators to confirm them. He tapped Larry Kudlow, then a CNBC personality, to lead the National Economic Council. Even after leaving office, Trump continued to prioritize media figures, bringing on Christina Bobb as an attorney after watching her on One America News Network.
The latest fixation on Fox talent and regular contributors, though, follows a campaign during which he repeatedly clashed with Rupert Murdoch’s conservative news giant. He lashed out at Fox for putting Democrats on its airwaves and said the network “has totally lost its way” after it aired an interview between anchor Bret Baier and his opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris.
In return, Trump granted far more access to an emerging field of new media stars, including extensive sit down interviews to various podcasters, comedians, pranksters and other online influencers.
Still, Trump closely monitored the cable television appearances of his many surrogates, and used the medium to help him vet his potential running mates. A key qualification in picking a VP candidate was how well they performed on TV. Similar to this process, Trump had watched a series of clips of Vance and other candidates like Rubio and Burgum and his opinion often changed based on who he had seen on television most recently.
He settled on JD Vance in part because of the Ohio senator’s combative defense of the Republican nominee in interviews and then sent him out to sell Trump on TV.
“He’s like the only guy I’ve ever seen, he really looks forward to it,” Trump said of his vice during his Election Night victory speech. “And then he just goes in and absolutely obliterates them.”
CNN’s Kate Sullivan, Manu Raju, Alayna Treene and Brian Stelter contributed to this report.
Correction: This story has been updated to reflect that Sean Duffy is President-elect Donald Trump‘s pick to be secretary of the Department of Transportation.