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Whereas President Joe Biden bragged about choosing the most various Cupboard in historical past, one which he stated “seems to be like America,” President-elect Donald Trump is on the lookout for TV expertise.
Whereas Trump’s picks to date principally lack in racial or gender range – there are a handful of girls and one Latino, for instance, however no Black People chosen but – they do attain outdoors of the traditional steady of doubtless authorities officers, consistent with Trump’s aim of shaking up Washington.
It shouldn’t essentially be a shock from the previous president who likes to see engaging folks defend him on TV and who turned well-known in New York tabloids and a actuality present. However it’s hanging nonetheless to see the variety of TV and leisure personalities Trump is tapping for his second time period.
The Cupboard continues to be taking form, and key roles like Treasury secretary haven’t been crammed. Plus, not all of his Fox Information picks are for Cupboard roles. The most recent growth is that Trump is reportedly eyeing Dan Bongino, a former Secret Service agent turned right-wing podcaster who left his job internet hosting a Fox Information present in 2023, as Secret Service director. There are others additionally in competition for the place.
Learn on for extra of the hanging casting sheet:
Essentially the most notable occasion of the made-for-TV Cupboard is Trump’s announcement of his selection for protection secretary: Pete Hegseth, a Fox Information weekend host with an ideal physique and hair, whose tattoos drove him from the Military Nationwide Guard.
Hegseth has massive concepts for the way to reform the navy, beginning with the firing of some generals, together with the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Employees, and the ending of range packages within the navy. He additionally needs girls out of fight roles, one thing that might be contested by Tulsi Gabbard, Trump’s choose for the non-Cupboard function of director of nationwide intelligence, who served in a discipline medical unit in the course of the US warfare in Iraq and continues to be an Military reservist.
Dr. Mehmet Oz, who most individuals know as Dr. Oz, is a cardiothoracic surgeon who turned visitor appearances on Oprah Winfrey’s present into his personal daytime profession. He left that to run unsuccessfully for Senate in Pennsylvania in 2022. Days earlier than the announcement of his appointment, he was promoting vitamin dietary supplements on-line.
Trump needs Oz to take over crucial company most People might by no means have heard of: the Facilities for Medicare and Medicaid Providers, or CMS, which oversees medical insurance protection for greater than 160 million People.
A Christian TV host to the Holy Land
Mike Huckabee was the governor of Arkansas, a place now held by his daughter, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who served as Trump’s press secretary throughout his first time period. In between failed bids for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008 and 2016, Huckabee hosted a present on Fox Information.
Extra just lately, he’s had a present on the Trinity Broadcasting Community, a Christian outlet. He’ll convey an evangelical worldview to Jerusalem, the place Trump moved the US embassy, if confirmed as US ambassador to Israel. Trump’s selection is controversial for anybody who envisions a two-state resolution within the Center East, since Huckabee as soon as stated there’s “no such factor as a Palestinian.”
Lengthy earlier than Sean Duffy was a congressman from Wisconsin, he was a contestant on MTV’s “The Actual World: Boston,” an early a part of the fact TV world as soon as additionally inhabited by Trump.
Duffy met his spouse, Rachel Campos-Duffy, on the set of a by-product, “Street Guidelines: All Stars.” Now, she’s a co-host on “Fox & Buddies Weekend,” the place she labored for years with Hegseth. Duffy is leaving his post-Congress function as a co-host on Fox Enterprise now that he’s been tapped by Trump to function Transportation secretary, in command of the nation’s freeway and rail programs, airways and seaports.
Gabbard, a former Home consultant, left the Democratic Get together, however together with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., she’s certainly one of two former Democratic presidential candidates amongst Trump’s administration picks. She has appeared lots of of occasions on Fox Information. Extra just lately, she signed on to do a sequence of documentary-style movies on Elon Musk’s X.
As Trump’s choose to be director of nationwide intelligence, Gabbard has drawn criticism for her protection of Russia and Syria within the identify of her anti-war beliefs. Hillary Clinton as soon as stated she thought Russians have been “grooming” Gabbard to run as a third-party candidate.
Tom Homan, the previous performing director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, will likely be in command of coordinating immigration coverage for Trump. By serving as “border czar,” Homan received’t should face Senate affirmation.
Homan was truly the primary of Trump’s picks to be introduced from the Fox Information orbit. CNN’s Brian Stelter wrote on the time:
An anti-mainstream conspiracy theorist and creator to supervise well being coverage
Trump has picked Kennedy to be the subsequent Well being and Human Providers secretary. There’s been a steep drop in religion amongst Republicans particularly within the want for vaccines. Say what you need about Kennedy’s interesting-sounding concepts about making American meals much less processed and more healthy. Respect the toned physique he confirmed off in shirtless exercises. However it’s not possible to get previous the vaccine skeptic a part of him that pushes unfounded theories.
He wrote a e-book filled with unfounded conspiracy theories attacking Dr. Anthony Fauci and alleging the nation’s former prime infectious illness physician was in league with Invoice Gates and pharmaceutical firms to undermine public well being. It was a New York Occasions bestseller. Which, as CNN’s Peter Bergen famous in an interview with Kennedy, completely undermines his declare that he was being silenced – a frequent declare of the celebs of anti-mainstream media.
In Trump’s first time period, Linda McMahon ran Trump’s Small Enterprise Administration. She served as his transition co-chair and has now been chosen for the Training secretary function. McMahon is the previous CEO of WWE, the empire she co-founded together with her husband, Vince McMahon.
Trump truly appeared as a part of the WWE act years in the past, however this yr, his tastes appear to run extra towards Final Combating Championship occasions.