Donald Trump is the first former television personality to ever reach the White House, so perhaps it’s not too surprising that the president has turned to other former television personalities for key positions throughout this administration.
Predictably, most of the Republican’s selections have come from Fox News. In fact, according to tallies from The New York Times and Media Matters, Trump has chosen 19 former Fox hosts and contributors — and counting — to serve on his team. What’s more, these are not obscure, low-level offices: Even Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who has one of the most important and challenging jobs in the country, is known for his on-air work at the network.
As my MSNBC colleague Ja’han Jones noted in early December, “The White House could soon become a Fox den (see what I did there?) — just as it was the first time Trump was president.”
But the notable thing about revolving doors is that they can be used to go in both directions: As a wide variety of figures leave Fox to join Team Trump, at least one prominent figure from Team Trump is joining Fox. NBC News reported:
President Donald Trump’s daughter-in-law Lara Trump will host a weekend show on Fox News, the news channel announced Wednesday. “My View with Lara Trump” is expected to premiere Feb. 22 and air at 9 p.m. ET Saturdays, taking the spot of “One Nation with Brian Kilmeade.” Kilmeade’s show will move to 10 p.m. ET Sundays, Fox News Channel said in a news release.
In a written statement, the network said she’ll host an hourlong show that will “focus on the return of common sense to all corners of American life as the country ushers in a new era of practicality” and shed light “on the headlines driving the national conversation and affecting families around the country.”
By any fair measure, Lara Trump, who’s married to one of the president’s adult sons, has had quite a career trajectory of late. She was, for example, an on-air Fox News contributor in 2021 and 2022.
In early 2024, Donald Trump decided that the Republican National Committee needed a new leadership team, and as luck would have it, his daughter-in-law was available: Lara Trump became the RNC’s co-chair soon after. She stepped down from the post after nine months on the job, and started angling for an appointment to the U.S. Senate, which didn’t quite work out. But it was Lara Trump’s Fox News gig in 2021 and 2022 that seems relevant anew. The network parted ways with her because her father-in-law had just announced that he was running for president again. The Los Angeles Times reported at the time that Fox News “has made it a rule not to employ people running for office or directly connected to active campaigns.” A New York magazine report added, “But apparently, Fox News has decided that it’s fine to employ people directly connected to active presidential administrations.”
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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