Trump builds his "central casting" Cabinet

Driving the news: Despite a love-hate relationship with Fox News, Trump has so far tapped two Fox News stars to serve in his administration: former Rep. Sean Duffy (R-Wis.) as secretary of transportation and Pete Hegseth as secretary of defense.

• Duffy, the former co-host of "The Bottom Line" on Fox Business, also did a stint on MTV's "The Real World: Boston" as a 25-year-old aspiring lawyer. He later appeared on "Road Rules: All Stars" and other reality shows as a "Real World" alumnus.
• In the truly real world, Duffy became a special prosecutor and was reelected four times as Ashland County district attorney before being elected to Congress in 2010.
• Hegseth, a decorated U.S. Army Veteran, is inexperienced in government leadership — but he's worked his way through the ranks at Fox, joining as a contributor in 2014 and most recently sitting on the signature white couch of "Fox & Friends Weekend" as a co-host.

The latest: Trump also announced Tuesday his pick of Mehmet Oz, a TV star who unsuccessfully ran for the Senate in 2022 against now-Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), to serve as the administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

• Oz hosted his own show, "The Dr. Oz Show," and often appeared on "The Oprah Winfrey Show."
• He has no experience running a large government bureaucracy, but he is a household name.
• He also selected his transition team co-chair and former World Wrestling Entertainment executive Linda McMahon as secretary of education. She had previously served in his first administration.

Between the lines: Sources tell Axios Trump, from a makeshift Situation Room at Mar-a-Lago, is weighing in on clips of Cabinet and administration prospects' TV appearances to gauge how effective they'd be at conveying the MAGA message.

• Trump has "chosen brilliant and highly-respected outsiders to serve in his Administration, and he will continue to stand behind them as they fight against all those who seek to derail the MAGA Agenda," said Trump-Vance transition spokesperson Karoline Leavitt, who Trump has tapped as his next press secretary.
• Trump made nearly 20 appearances on Fox between August 2024 and the November election, Axios' Sara Fischer reports.

Flashback: Trump, a former beauty pageant owner and reality show executive producer, starred in 14 of the 15 seasons of "The Apprentice," the show that solidified his presence as a household name ahead of his first presidential bid.

• Since his first stay on Pennsylvania Avenue, he's reportedly treated hiring as a casting call. He also holds appearance in high regard, often judging the looks of those around him.

Context: Chris Cillizza, a political commentator and former digital editor-at-large at CNN, said in a post shared Nov. 13, "This isn't solely about being good looking — although that absolutely plays a role."

• "It's also about whether you fit the image of what Trump imagines someone in that job should look like," Cillizza said.
• On one occasion in 2017, he said he'd pick his Pentagon chief Jim Mattis for "a movie." That was before the two parted and Mattis slammed Trump for making a "mockery of our Constitution" with his call for a militarized response to unrest following the police killing of George Floyd.
• A former senior administration official told Axios in 2018 that Trump likes people who will "ultimately be well-received on the outside."

Friction point: Trump's picks may be "straight out of central casting" as he likes to say, but some of them — like ex-Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) — aren't ideally suited for Senate confirmation.

Go deeper: NBC's former chief marketer: "I helped create a monster" by promoting Trump

Editor's note: This story was updated with additional developments.