As seen on TV: How Trump chosen his cupboard from what he watched and what which means for the nation
Donald Trump stunned Washington by plucking celebrities and prominent figures from cable television to fill his Cabinet and administration.
In doing so, he ignored more traditional candidates favored by the political establishment.
To say his picks rattled the capital would be an understatement. Some of them have more credentials on IMDb than they do years of government service.
The choices were perhaps not surprising given Trump’s history as a New York businessman who became a star of the television show The Apprentice. And he has long expressed admiration for those who look like they are from Hollywood ‘central casting’.
However, Trump’s break from the status quo is an important change from his first administration, when he picked many establishment candidates to fill major government roles.
This time, he watched TV clips of potential Cabinet members on monitors in a makeshift ‘situation room’ at Mar-a-Lago.
It appears to have been very important to him that those he chose are able to represent the administration well in live TV interviews, and are able to disrupt business as usual in Washington.
‘I think Trump is looking at these people as people who are outside the box. If this was a change election why would you choose the same old people who come out of the same Washington think tanks?’ a Republican strategist said to DailyMail.com.
Trump also sparked alarm among national security leaders in Washington after he selected Fox and Friends host Pete Hegseth to serve as his Secretary of Defense.
U.S. President Donald Trump is interviewed by Fox and Friends co-host Pete Hegseth at the White House in Washington, U.S. April 6, 2017.
After watching the reputation of the military fall into disrepair following the botched exit from Afghanistan, the president-elect was determined to find someone willing to shake up the Pentagon.
Already a star on Fox News, Hegseth has emerged into the podcast realm as an important voice on military issues despite having no senior military experience. His appearance on the Sean Ryan Show podcast generated 1.3 million views on YouTube alone.
Before he was a member of Congress, Duffy appeared on MTV’s ‘The Real World: Boston’ and ‘Road Rules: All Stars.’ Duffy also appears frequently on Fox News, and cohosted the Fox Business show ‘The Bottom Line.’
Linda McMahon, a former World Wrestling Entertainment executive, has multiple acting credits in WWE programing and was even a playable character in the WWF ‘No Mercy’ game for the Nintendo 64.
McMahon has the reputation of a fearless and successful businesswoman, and was chosen as Trump’s Secretary of the Department of Education to ‘get rid’ of the agency and send more funding back to the states.
Trump clearly sensed the communications value of figures like Tom Homan, a longtime border enforcement figure who was popular on Fox News.
Linda McMahon, President and CEO of the World Wrestling Federation
Dr. Mehmet Oz, selected by Donald Trump to serve as the administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
Tom Homan, former acting director of US Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE), and Fox News commentator
One of Trump’s first appointments was Homan as his border czar, to set the tone of his new administration’s commitment to enforcing the border and deporting illegal immigrants.
‘He scares me,’ podcast host Joe Rogan said in a recent episode, referring to a viral video clip of Homan telling CBS ’60 Minutes’ that in order to prevent separating families it was important to ‘deport them together.’
Caroline Sunshine, a former Disney Channel star and actress, joined Trump’s first administration as a press assistant in the West Wing and returned to work on the 2024 campaign as the Deputy Director of Communications.
She told DailyMail.com that she left Hollywood at the height of ‘cancel culture’ in the industry because she was inspired by Trump.
‘He was the first to cut through the bulls***,’ she said. ‘A lot of celebrities feel comfortable putting on the MAGA hat now because of President Trump’s ability to hold the cultural line.’
Former Real World star and Rep. Sean Duffy
Caroline Sunshine, former Disney star, joined the White House press team during Trump’s first term
Sunshine said the value and cultural impact of celebrities in government should not be underestimated, as Trump’s political comeback marked the ‘defeat of the left’s stranglehold on culture.’
“Politics is downstream of culture – no one understands this better than President Trump,’ she said.
As Trump’s cabinet solidifies, it’s clear he is no longer interested in choosing respected establishment figures for most of his prioritized positions.
‘This is definitely not Project 2025, the Heritage people didn’t have these people on the top of their lists,’ a Republican strategist told DailyMail.com.
David Lewis, a political science professor from Vanderbilt University told DailyMail.com that Trump clearly appreciated people on television defending him and his agenda, which made them an obvious choice.
‘These jobs at the head of these agencies are often outward facing roles where you’re meeting the stakeholders, you’re presenting the administration’s position to the press, you’re attending public events,’ he said. ‘And so he likes people that are good at that kind of or part of the job.’
Lewis noted that popular outward-facing figures may face struggles trying to navigate the bureaucracy within the government agencies that are often bigger than Fortune 500 companies.
The deputy secretaries, he said, could ultimately be the more managerial figures in the department.
Sunshine said that Trump’s willingness to embrace celebrities helped make the Republican Party more relevant and influential as the president-elect prepares his second term agenda.
‘The Republican Party should be on its hands and knees everyday thanking Donald J. Trump for saving it from certain death and delivering it into a Golden Age of cultural relevance,’ she said.
