Trump’s picks don’t look like America. They look exactly like Fox News
Analysis by Zachary B. Wolf, CNN
(CNN) — While President Joe Biden bragged about picking the most diverse Cabinet in history, one that he said “looks like America,” President-elect Donald Trump is looking for TV experience.
While Trump’s picks so far mostly lack in racial or gender diversity – there are a handful of women and one Latino, for example, but no Black Americans selected yet – they do reach outside of the normal stable of likely government officials, in keeping with Trump’s goal of shaking up Washington.
It shouldn’t necessarily be a shock from the former president who likes to see attractive people defend him on TV and who became famous in New York tabloids and a reality show. But it’s striking nonetheless to see the number of TV and entertainment personalities Trump is tapping for his second term.
The Cabinet is still taking shape, and key roles like Treasury secretary have not been filled. Plus, not all of his Fox News picks are for Cabinet roles. The latest development is that Trump is reportedly eyeing Dan Bongino, a former Secret Service agent turned right-wing podcaster who left his job hosting a Fox News show in 2023, as Secret Service director. There are others also in contention for the position.
Read on for more of the striking casting sheet:
A TV anchor from central casting to oversee 2 million service members
The most notable instance of the made-for-TV Cabinet is Trump’s announcement of his choice for defense secretary: Pete Hegseth, a Fox News weekend host with a great physique and hair, whose tattoos drove him from the Army National Guard.
Hegseth has big ideas for how to reform the military, starting with the firing of some generals, including the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the ending of diversity programs in the military. He also wants women out of combat roles, something that could be contested by Tulsi Gabbard, Trump’s pick for the non-Cabinet role of director of national intelligence, who served in a field medical unit during the US war in Iraq and is still an Army reservist.
A TV doc to oversee health insurance for 160 million-plus Americans
Dr. Mehmet Oz, who most people know as Dr. Oz, is a cardiothoracic surgeon who turned guest appearances on Oprah Winfrey’s show into his own daytime career. He left that to run unsuccessfully for Senate in Pennsylvania in 2022. Days before the announcement of his appointment, he was selling vitamin supplements online.
Trump wants Oz to take over the most important agency most Americans may never have heard of: the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, or CMS, which oversees health insurance coverage for more than 160 million Americans.
A Christian TV host to the Holy Land
Mike Huckabee was the governor of Arkansas, a position now held by his daughter, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who served as Trump’s press secretary during his first term. In between failed bids for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008 and 2016, Huckabee hosted a show on Fox News.
More recently, he’s had a show on the Trinity Broadcasting Network, a Christian outlet. He’ll bring an evangelical worldview to Jerusalem, where Trump moved the US embassy, if confirmed as US ambassador to Israel. Trump’s choice is controversial for anyone who envisions a two-state solution in the Middle East, since Huckabee once said there’s “no such thing as a Palestinian.”
A reality TV original, one half of a Fox News supercouple, to oversee the sprawling transportation system
Long before Sean Duffy was a congressman from Wisconsin, he was a contestant on MTV’s “The Real World: Boston,” an early part of the reality TV world once also inhabited by Trump.
Duffy met his wife, Rachel Campos-Duffy, on the set of a spinoff, “Road Rules: All Stars.” Now, she’s a co-host on “Fox & Friends Weekend,” where she worked for years with Hegseth. Duffy is leaving his post-Congress role as a co-host on Fox Business now that he’s been tapped by Trump to serve as Transportation secretary, in charge of the nation’s highway and rail systems, airways and seaports.
A Fox favorite who has expressed sympathy for Russia to be the top US spy
Gabbard, a former House representative, left the Democratic Party, but along with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., she’s one of two former Democratic presidential candidates among Trump’s administration picks. She has appeared hundreds of times on Fox News. More recently, she signed on to do a series of documentary-style videos on Elon Musk’s X.
As Trump’s pick to be director of national intelligence, Gabbard has drawn criticism for her defense of Russia and Syria in the name of her anti-war ideals. Hillary Clinton once said she thought Russians were “grooming” Gabbard to run as a third-party candidate.
A Fox contributor to be ‘border czar’
Tom Homan, the former acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, will be in charge of coordinating immigration policy for Trump. By serving as “border czar,” Homan won’t have to face Senate confirmation.
Homan was actually the first of Trump’s picks to be announced from the Fox News orbit. CNN’s Brian Stelter wrote at the time:
An anti-mainstream conspiracy theorist and author to oversee health policy
Trump has picked Kennedy to be the next Health and Human Services secretary. There’s been a steep drop in faith among Republicans in particular in the need for vaccines. Say what you want about Kennedy’s interesting-sounding ideas about making American food less processed and healthier. Appreciate the toned body he showed off in shirtless workouts. But it’s impossible to get past the vaccine skeptic part of him that pushes unfounded theories.
He wrote a book full of unfounded conspiracy theories attacking Dr. Anthony Fauci and alleging the country’s former top infectious disease doctor was in league with Bill Gates and pharmaceutical companies to undermine public health. It was a New York Times bestseller. Which, as CNN’s Peter Bergen noted in an interview with Kennedy, totally undermines his claim that he was being silenced – a frequent claim of the stars of anti-mainstream media.
A wrestling entertainment magnate to oversee education
In Trump’s first term, Linda McMahon ran Trump’s Small Business Administration. She served as his transition co-chair and has now been chosen for the Education secretary role. McMahon is the former CEO of WWE, the empire she co-founded with her husband, Vince McMahon.
Trump actually appeared as part of the WWE act years ago, but this year, his tastes seem to run more toward Ultimate Fighting Championship events.
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