Trump turns to Fox News as he casts staffers for West Wing
这家电视台成了白宫人才“蓄水池” 川普正从中选才
当地时间22日，特朗普在推特上宣布，美国常驻联合国前代表博尔顿将取代麦克马斯特，成为新的总统国家安全事务助理。《纽约时报》起底称，博尔顿除了曾在美国国务院、司法部等部门担任要职外，还是福克斯新闻的名嘴。他和特朗普政见类似，都趋于保守，有民粹倾向。自特朗普上任以来，博尔顿利用福克斯的平台对这位总统大加赞扬，还批评所谓俄罗斯介入美国大选、致使特朗普当选是伪命题。有消息称，特朗普刚上任时，博尔顿是美国国务卿的候选人之一，然而因为特朗普“厌恶”后者标志性的胡须，所以没有选他。不过美国有线电视新闻网(CNN)称，两人关系融洽，博尔顿每隔数月就会拜访一次白宫，和特朗普讨论外交和安全政策。
福克斯前主播海瑟·诺尔特也是特朗普挖来的一颗政坛新星，在短短一年时间里，完成从媒体人到外交高官的闪亮转型。诺尔特从1996年起任职福克斯，曾担任《福克斯和朋友们》节目的主持人，报道过“9·11”事件、伊拉克战争等重大新闻。去年4月，她被任命为美国国务院发言人。近日蒂勒森被解职后，诺尔特又被提拔为负责公共外交和公共事务的副国务卿。
福克斯新闻前评论员梅赛德斯·施拉普和托尼·萨伊格也获得了特朗普的重用。2017年9月，施拉普被任命为白宫战略沟通部主任，她在担任福克斯新闻评论员时，曾经多次为特朗普的政策辩护，而且向后者表示钦佩。特朗普还在去年的一个会议上专门对施拉普表示感谢。
去年3月，萨伊格被任命为美国财政部负责公共事务的助理部长，他和特朗普可谓“不打不相识”。在担任福克斯新闻评论员时，萨伊格曾多次批评特朗普，将其描述为“任人唯亲的资本主义的代言人”，还曾表示特朗普并不是合适的共和党候选人。不过，萨伊格对特朗普也表示过支持，认为美国需要一个更加反映平民愿望的候选人，称赞特朗普获得了绝大多数共和党人和美国人民的信任，“我很自豪能够成为他竞选期间的强力支持者，也很荣幸成为他执政团队的成员。” 萨伊格说道。
媒体指出，特朗普还可能让自己喜欢的福克斯主持人赫格塞斯代替舒尔金，担任美国退伍军人事务部部长。美国“商业内幕网”报道称，赫格塞斯曾被派驻伊拉克，此后在几个退伍军人组织担任要职，还在福克斯电视台主持有关退伍军人的节目，特朗普是他的忠实观众。虽然白宫此前对舒尔金的工作“高度肯定”，但有消息人士称，特朗普及其高级幕僚对舒尔金感到失望，认为他不愿与特朗普任命的其他官员合作。而赫格塞斯则非常受特朗普器重，特朗普常常给他打电话讨论退伍军人事务，甚至在白宫开会时也不忘咨询这位主持人的建议。
彭博社称，福克斯之所以能够吸引特朗普，是因为该媒体为特朗普的“非传统执政方式”提供了最佳报道。同时，福克斯还为特朗普打开了一扇了解保守人士想法的窗子。特朗普经常一大早发表推特，和福克斯新闻进行互动，比如上周五福克斯新闻报道称，避免政府关门的支出法案是个“泥潭”，之后特朗普就在推文中表示，自己正在考虑否决这项法案。
美联社称，特朗普对福克斯的青眼有加给一些投机取巧者提供了“上达天听”的门路。一名国会工作人员称，在试图推动立法或宣传政治理念时，议员们会争着上福克斯节目。“一年前，大家都想着如何进入政府和议会，现在每个人都在想如何上福克斯新闻。”一名共和党顾问说道。
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s favorite TV network is increasingly serving as a West Wing casting call, as the president reshapes his administration with camera-ready personalities.
Trump’s new national security adviser, John Bolton, is a former U.N. ambassador, a White House veteran — and perhaps most importantly a Fox News channel talking head. Bolton’s appointment, rushed out late Thursday, follows Trump’s recent attempt to recruit Fox guest Joseph diGenova for his legal team.
Bolton went on Fox to discuss his selection and said it had happened so quickly that “I think I’m still a Fox News contributor.”
Another recent TV-land addition to the Trump White House is veteran CNBC contributor Larry Kudlow as top economic adviser. Other Fox faces on Trump’s team: rising State Department star Heather Nauert, a former Fox News anchor; communications adviser Mercedes Schlapp and Treasury Department spokesman Tony Sayegh. The latter two are both former Fox commentators.
“He’s looking for people who are ready to be part of that television White House,” said Kendall Phillips, a communication and rhetorical studies professor at Syracuse University. “This is the Fox television presidency all the way up and down.”
DiGenova, who has accused FBI officials of trying to “frame” Trump for nonexistent crimes, will not be joining the legal team because of “conflicts,” said Trump counsel Jay Sekulow on Sunday. Sekulow, however, said diGenova and his wife, attorney Victoria Toensing, also a frequent commentator on Fox, would not be prevented from helping Trump “in other legal matters.”
Trump’s affinity for Fox News is by now well-documented. He has bestowed more interviews on the network than any other news outlet and is an avid viewer. People close to the president say he thinks Fox provides the best coverage of his untraditional presidency. It also provides him a window into conservative thinking, with commentary from Republican lawmakers and right-wing thinkers — many of who are speaking directly to the audience in the Oval Office.
On-air personalities Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham are favorites of the president, who also speaks to them privately. This past week Trump promoted Hannity on Twitter, saying: “@seanhannity on @foxandfriends now! Great! 8:18 A.M.”
The president’s early-morning tweets often appear to be reaction to Fox programming. On Friday, for example, Trump tweeted he was “considering” a veto of a massive spending bill needed to keep the government open not long after it was assailed on “Fox and Friends” as a “swamp budget.”
The critic in question was contributor Pete Hegseth, a favorite of the president who has been rumored to be a possible replacement for embattled Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin.
Fox News came in for criticism this past week from CNN chief Jeff Zucker, who on Thursday attacked the rival network by saying it has become a propaganda machine that is “doing an incredible disservice to the country.”
Zucker spoke at the Financial Times Future of News conference two days after a former Fox military analyst quit, claiming he was ashamed at the way the network’s opinion hosts were backing Trump. Zucker said that analyst, Ralph Peters, voiced what a lot of people have been thinking about Fox in the post-Roger Ailes era.
Still, in Trump’s Washington, lawmakers and influence-seekers know that the best way to get in Trump’s ear is often to get on Fox. Legislators routinely seek to get airtime when they are trying to push legislation or policy ideas, said congressional aides who sought anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss private thinking.
“A year ago, everyone was trying to figure out how to get into the building; now everyone is trying to figure out how to get on TV,” said Republican consultant Alex Conant.
This past week, for example, conservative lawmakers unhappy with the spending bill moving through Congress took to Fox. “This may be the worst bill I have seen in my time in Congress,” said Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, on Wednesday.
And when the school shooting in Parkland, Florida, prompted a national conversation on gun laws, Fox contributor Geraldo Rivera used his platform to urge the president to support raising the age requirement to buy assault-type weapons.
“You’ve gotta let me give my pitch,” he said on “Fox and Friends” several weeks ago, noting that he would see Trump that night. “Here in Florida and most states a kid cannot buy a beer ... and yet he could buy an AR-15 legally.”
The hosts quickly pushed back. “Tell him to let the teachers carry concealed,” said one.
While the coverage varies by show, “Fox and Friends” tends to be Trump-friendly, with the chipper morning show spotlighting his achievements and bashing the “mainstream media.” On Friday, they featured a teen from the Florida high school where the shooting occurred who opposes gun control efforts, as well as a young conservative activist who interviewed Trump at a White House event the day before.
Also appearing Friday was White House counselor Kellyanne Conway — herself a constant presence on cable news — who pushed back at the idea Trump was focused on hiring TV personalities.
“The irony is not lost on me that you have a lot of quote ‘TV stars’ calling Larry Kudlow and John Bolton ‘TV stars,’” Conway said.
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