Welcome to Donald Trump’s TV show, where the president-elect is the casting director, and the White House is on the world stage.
That was the message from New York Times reporter Lulu Garcia-Navarro, who appeared on CNN’s “OutFront” Tuesday and made the stark comparison during a discussion about Trump’s latest eyebrow-raising cabinet pick of Dr. Mehmet Oz as the country’s next head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
“I thought that what was going to be announced was Dr. Phil was going to be the surgeon general. So at least we're not there yet,” Garcia-Navarro told host Erin Burnett.
“What is happening here is this: we are now in Donald Trump's TV show and, you know, this is the world we're living in now. He is casting the characters that he wants to play in his administration,” she said.
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Garcia-Navarro, a Times podcast host and CNN contributor, added that there is a serious point behind Trump’s strategy of installing TV-friendly loyalists into high-profile government positions.
“They’re not just good-looking people,” she said “They're very effective communicators who actually are recognizable to the American public. If you think about why Donald Trump thinks he won this election, it's because he was able to have a consistent message. People listened to him, he is recognizable, and he was palling around with people like Elon Musk. He is putting people in these positions that people know and that can sell his policies.”
She added that whatever Trump does in his next term, there will be administration officials who can appear on podcasts and cable news to back up or defend his positions.
“And talk about it in a way that people will relate to, and I think that's what he's up to,” Garcia-Navarro said.
Trump famously hosted NBC’s hit reality show “The Apprentice” for 14 seasons, a role that is largely seen as setting the billionaire’s career on track to an eventual White House run.
"If there's one thing we know about Donald Trump is there can only be one star of the show," Garcia-Navarro later said when discussing Trump's relationship with tech billionaire Elon Musk. "He likes to have his supporting cast. He's casting them right now, but people get fired really fast."
Watch the clip here or at this link.
