Donald Trump’s continued strategy of casting Fox News regulars for top government positions is less about hiring qualified staff and more about systematically dismantling the traditional norms of expertise in Washington. The rumored appointment of Judge Jeanine Pirro is the latest, and perhaps most potent, example of this trend—a move that is sending a chill through career civil servants and establishment figures who fear the final “Fox-ification” of government agencies.
This hiring practice is rooted in a clear motive: Trump values absolute, televised loyalty above all else. He seeks leaders whose views are already vetted and amplified by a friendly media ecosystem. However, this preference guarantees that the appointees arrive with massive, unavoidable drawbacks. Pirro, specifically, would enter her role not as a blank slate, but as a walking, talking distillation of years of partisan critique, making bipartisan cooperation virtually impossible.
The Threat to Civil Service
The appointment of high-profile, aggressively partisan figures like Pirro poses an existential threat to the non-political civil service. Agency staff, trained in objective policy implementation, fear they will be forced to execute policies driven by cable news talking points rather than evidence-based analysis. This creates an environment where loyalty to the political figure supersedes loyalty to the mission of the agency.
Pirro’s brand of confrontation, while successful on television, is designed to provoke conflict, not manage complex administrative structures. This stark reality means she will face not just political opposition, but potentially internal resistance from agency veterans unwilling to compromise their professional integrity for partisan performance.
“The problem isn’t just lack of experience; it’s the expectation that they continue their TV performance in office,” explains a former White House staffer. “Pirro’s job is to entertain and advocate on TV; her job in government would be to execute complex, often unpopular, laws fairly. These are incompatible tasks. Trump is setting up the stage for an inevitable televised failure because the agency needs a manager, but he’s hiring a warrior.” Trump’s “Fox News problem” is that he’s stocking his administration with actors ready for a fight, not leaders ready for governance.
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