--- title: Donald Trump: Cabinet Has to Look Presentable description: President-elect Donald Trump is facing backlash for wanting his cabinet picks to look a certain way, according to spokespersons. canonical: https://time.com/4616459/donald-trump-cabinet-aesthetic/ author: Madeline Farber article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-12-22T15:45:07.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:54:49.226Z article:section: Politics og:title: Donald Trump Wants a Certain ‘Look’ in His Cabinet og:description: Critics say his choices have been "cast for the TV show of his administration" og:url: https://time.com/4616459/donald-trump-cabinet-aesthetic/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt526b79115fe873bc/6988b3cf5f570f469ab23a06/donald-trump-looks-administration.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: U.S. President-elect Donald Trump talks to members of the media at Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Donald Trump Wants a Certain ‘Look’ in His Cabinet twitter:description: Critics say his choices have been "cast for the TV show of his administration" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt526b79115fe873bc/6988b3cf5f570f469ab23a06/donald-trump-looks-administration.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Donald Trump Wants a Certain ‘Look’ in His Cabinet > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: TIME 2016 Person of the Year: Donald Trump [Watch (HLS stream): TIME 2016 Person of the Year: Donald Trump](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/Q0tBuF3M.m3u8) (4:12)  _Published 2016-12-07. The 2016 Person of the Year is Donald Trump, the President of the divided states of America._ by [Madeline Farber](https://time.com/author/madeline-farber/) ## Madeline Farber Dec 22, 2016 3:45 PM UTC  Donald Trump talks to members of the media at Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, on Dec. 21, 2016. Donald Trump talks to members of the media at Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, on Dec. 21, 2016. Carlos Barria—Reuters by [Madeline Farber](https://time.com/author/madeline-farber/) ## Madeline Farber Dec 22, 2016 3:45 PM UTC If you want to be in Donald Trump’s [cabinet](http://time.com/4584755/donald-trump-cabinet-tom-price-health-human-services-obamacare/), you have to look the part. “Presentation is very important because you’re representing America not only on the national stage but also the international stage, depending on the position,” Jason Miller, a Trump transition spokesman, first told the [_Washington Post_](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/donald-trump-is-holding-a-government-casting-call-hes-seeking-the-look/2016/12/21/703ae8a4-c795-11e6-bf4b-2c064d32a4bf%5Fstory.html). The President-elect is a “master brander,” including but not limited to his background in reality television—so it was “probably inevitable that he would be looking beyond their résumés for a certain aesthetic,” the _Post_ reports. For instance, Trump reportedly turned down former United Nations ambassador John R. Bolton for secretary of state because of his mustache, according to the _Post_. “Donald was not going to like that mustache,” one associate, who requested anonymity, told the _Post_. “I can’t think of anyone that’s really close to Donald that has a beard that he likes.” Chris Ruddy, chief executive of Newsmax Media and a longtime friend of Trump, might agree. “He likes people who present themselves very well, and he’s very impressed when somebody has a background of being good on television because he thinks it’s a very important medium for public policy,” Chris Ruddy, chief executive of Newsmax Media and a longtime friend of Trump, told the _Post_. However, critics say [Trump’s](http://time.com/4602046/seth-meyers-on-trump-cabinet/) seemingly skin-deep standards are worrisome in the Oval Office. Already, his personnel choices show signs of being “cast for the TV show of his administration,” Bob Killian, founder of a branding agency based in Chicago, first told the _Post_. “They are all perfectly coifed people who look like they belong on a set.” However, Trump spokesman Miller insisted that some qualifications go beyond aesthetic: “People who are being selected for these key positions need to be able to hold their own, need to be doers and not wallflowers, and need to convey a clear sense of purpose and commitment,” he said. ## Transcript MUSIC ] Every year we choose the Person of the Year who is the individual who has had the most influence on events for better or worse. The Tod argue that anyone had no influence that Donald Trump over the events of this year. [ MUSIC ] I didn't get Beyonce and Jay Z and Goose Bernstein to get crowds, I had just me. And ideas that people wanted to hear. But there is a profound argument about whether his influence was for the better or for the worse. And that really is the challenge that faces the country came through this election season more divided conspicuously publicly than at any time through any election cycle that most of us Can remember. [ MUSIC ] We're gonna have a lot of jobs put back. I think we're gonna have a lot of fuel companies leaving our country. I believed we will be successful with defeating ISIS or bringing them down to a level where it's almost the same thing. And I hope I'm judged from the time of the election as opposed to from January 20th because the stock market has had a tremendous bounce and people are seeing very good things for business in this country. [ MUSIC ] One of the things that was remarkable in going to see him, to interview him, is to be in that Penthouse which is the most austiontacious, imaginable marble and mirrors, and gold. And see him in the suit and the diamond cuff links. There is a kind of distance that repressed him about, of how is it that the billionaire is the tribune of the working man? He said, he thought that it had to do With that he wasn't a phony, that there have certainly been wealthy politicians before. Doing some cases would bend over backwards to make themselves appear like the common man, or do anything that they could, eating the corn dog at the Iowa State Fair, wearing a flannel shirt in New Hampshire. I think he had a very strong instinct that his wealth and that flamboyant display of his wealth Was not a liability that it was actually an asset. [ MUSIC ] Donal Trump is very comfortable sitting down and answering questions, although he very frequently does not remotely answer the question that you asked. In one sense it feels very undisciplined and in another sense maybe it's very disciplined in that He knows what he will and will not talk about and is unabashed in completely changing the subject. Do you feel changed by your election, and how you do think, if I play this tape back in four or eight years, the office will have changed here? Well, it's a It's a very humbling experience, I can tell you, as somebody that loves this country, it's a very large country, but it's also an even more powerful country than the numbers, because, if you look at China, and India, and you have others with more people, but, when you look at what we do in this country, it's The most incredible place on earth. [ MUSIC ] A lot of people think that Person of the Year just because the nature of the name is an honor. And certainly there have been years where we have recognized people's whose influence has been altogether, unassailably worthy. Normally, that's not the case. I know there are a lot of people who disagree with so much of what Donald Trump said and are very apprehensive about what his presidency means for them and for the country. I think I would challenge them to suggest that someone else this year had more influence than a way greater Surprise than what he did in 2016. 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