Trump 2.0 is shaping up as a television-host presidency

You heard it here first: My bet is President Trump will award podcaster Joe Rogan the Presidential Medal of Freedom. 

Trump previewed that kind of partisan, jaw-dropping move in 2020 when he bestowed the nation’s highest civilian honor on conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh.

As Trump prepares to be sworn in as the 47th president, a radical blend of power politics and partisan media now reigns over America.

It is evident in Trump’s cabinet picks, a chorus line of Fox News’ television personalities and reality television stars. I know many of these people since I work at Fox News. Some of these folks are colleagues and friends. They are very good as talking heads on television.

Their criticism of big government is often on target. Their take-down of pompous government officials can be laugh-out-loud delightful.

But excellence as a talking head is one thing. It is far from deserving of the public’s trust to run the U.S. government. Since when is being on television equal to a record of success as a military or business leader? Since when is it equal to years of demonstrating high character, personal sacrifice for others and earning academic qualifications?

Admittedly, Trump is a prime example of a person with no prior experience in government being twice elected as president. After his surprise victory in 2016, Trump compensated for his lack of experience in Washington by filling top government posts with people with proven records in state and federal government who were also right-wingers.  

This time around, Trump’s lineup of TV faces for top roles shows his indifference to qualifications. 

As Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.) quipped on X, “We are becoming the world’s first nuclear-armed reality television show.”

Among Trump’s nominees to lead America in his second term are former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi (R), a former Fox News legal analyst, as U.S. attorney general; Pete Hegseth, a veteran Army officer and former Fox News host, as secretary of Defense; and former Rep. Sean Duffy (R-Wisc.), an MTV “Real World” alumnus turned congressman turned Fox Business host, as secretary of Transportation.

And Trump surrounded himself during his campaign with media barons such as Elon Musk, the owner of X, and the heads of TV production companies for pro wrestling and ultimate fighting, Linda McMahon and Dana White.

This phenomenon doesn’t stop there. He announced plans to have former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, the former Fox host, serve as ambassador to Israel. Dr. Mehmet Oz, another former television host, has been tapped to lead the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Dr. Janette Nesheiwat, a Fox medical news contributor, is in line to become surgeon general.

The primary qualification of this cast of media talent is personal loyalty to Trump. As familiar faces on conservative programs, they will now tell pro-Trump stories to pro-Trump viewers.

What passes as news in this dawning world is no longer fact-based. Actual news is now a distant second to partisan storylines and popular memes. It is a dizzying mix of whatever is hot on X, whatever is being said on Facebook, viewed on Instagram, TikTok, and websites and heard on podcasts. 

Americans tell pollsters they want straight news programs, but ratings say they are watching programs with preselected content in which the only news they get is carefully spun into comforting reports that affirm their preexisting opinions. 

Trump’s rallies are a ratings success on television, featuring barbs aimed at the left, all draped in flag-waving patriotism. That fit with daily shows pretending to be news but hosted by right-wing partisan personalities. This flood of right-wing content has now swamped real news.

Polls show dwindling trust in old-school media, the newspapers, magazines and networks.

According to a 2024 Gallup poll, trust in the media has plummeted to historic lows, with only 31 percent of Americans expressing confidence in the press to report news “fully, accurately, and fairly.” And for the third consecutive year, more Americans expressed no trust at all in the media (36 percent) than trust it.

The rise of partisan and personality-driven programming is not an antidote — it is a profound shift that risks undermining the press’s democratic role as a check on power.

Reports suggest that Trump’s incoming press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, plans to oust mainstream journalists from the White House press briefing room in favor of podcasters who offer favorable coverage of Trump. It’s a move emblematic of Trump’s effort to sideline traditional media, which he views with open hostility.

As someone who has spent over 40 years in journalism, I have witnessed both the triumphs and failings of the press. I know the insularity and elitism of the media firsthand — most notably when I was fired from NPR in 2010 and unfairly labeled a bigot.

I also know that real reporting based on facts, absent political favoritism creates an informed group of voters. They are the basis for a true democracy. A Twitter account is not equal to news reporting.

“You’re not media…a blue checkmark, a Twitter handle and 300 words of cleverness doesn’t make you a reporter,” Jim VandeHei, the CEO of Axios said recently at The National Press Club in a rebuttal to Musk’s claim that people on Twitter are now “the media.”

Reporters telling straight news stories to inform the public are the people who really deserve the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Juan Williams is an author and a political analyst for Fox News Channel.