WASHINGTON — A short time after cheering President Trump’s agenda-setting address to Congress this month, several members of his Cabinet were reunited at a Washington-area airport for a different show of force.
There, Trump’s attorney general, FBI director, CIA director, and director of national intelligence donned branded jackets from their agencies and patriotic-themed caps to greet an incoming plane. On board was the suspect alleged to have orchestrated the 2021 deadly bombing at Abbey Gate during the chaotic US withdrawal from Afghanistan. The pictures of the group and their prominent agency logos flooded their social media pages.
“To terrorists around the world responsible for harming Americans: We will hunt the ends of the earth and find you,” declared FBI Director Kash Patel in an X post featuring his FBI jacket.
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It was an illustration of a truth Trump’s Cabinet officials seems to implicitly understand: For their boss, the show is as important as the work.
“The highest praise Trump can heap upon someone is that they’re a ‘star,‘” said Austin Cantrell, who worked in the press office for Trump’s first administration. “His current Cabinet watched four years of him in the Oval, then four years of him running to get back into the Oval, and they know what they’re signing up for, which is, we need to put on a show that we are executing what the president wants. It’s not enough to just do it.”
In the early weeks of the administration, Trump’s newly confirmed secretaries and officials have been delivering numerous photo opps, often donning the regalia of their various agencies to look the part.
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Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has been particularly active since she was confirmed. She has gone on Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids in New York and in Northern Virginia wearing an ICE-branded bullet-proof vest, rode a horse with Border Patrol agents wearing their mounted unit uniform and hat, and appeared in full firefighting gear in a training exercise and took the flight controls of a C-130 with the Coast Guard. She observed the arrival of detained migrants to Guantanamo Bay in a Homeland Security cap, and has sported agency gear along the border and on several TV appearances. The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a request for comment about her strategy and corresponding sartorial choices.
Law enforcement officials, including Patel and Attorney General Pam Bondi, have followed suit. They understand the uniform is only part of the strategy — making sure it’s captured in footage is another. Before Bondi was confirmed, the acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove and White House border czar Tom Homan went on ICE raids in Chicago, bringing along TV personality Dr. Phil and his film crew.
Cabinet officials joined Vice President JD Vance at the southern border in early March to highlight the administration’s immigration enforcement. Both Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard wore patriotic ball caps for their helicopter tours of the area. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins followed up a relatively standard tour of Georgia farms earlier this month with a boat tour of the Rio Grande with Border Patrol last week, saying she wanted to see the challenges for farmers “not just from water issues but from security issues.”
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Trump’s Cabinet has also been ubiquitous on cable TV, especially his preferred network of Fox News. In fact, at least five of Trump’s Cabinet officials had paid roles with conservative media before they were nominated, including Hegseth’s job as a Fox News host.
It’s a reflection of Trump, who has always been fond of media appearances and rose to national fame as the host of his hit reality TV show, “The Apprentice.”
Some Democrats see the Cabinet roadshow as inauthentic, a substitute for actual policy, or worse, a distraction from dangerous actions.
“Hollow and dangerous and destructive in many circumstances,” said Senator Alex Padilla of California, the top Democrat on a key immigration subcommittee. “It’s a clear reflection of what the president’s all about: He’s all about showmanship, not about substance.”
Others see it as merely an extension of the boss.
“They do work for a reality TV star,” noted Delaware Senator Chris Coons. He cited other examples of ways the administration plays to television, including Trump and Vance’s blowup in the Oval Office with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and the frequent release of photos and videos of migrants being shackled and deported.
“The Trump administration has had a constant focus on image, on television, on social media, which I think just reflects that that’s where much of the leadership comes from,” Coons said. “I mean, how many members of the Cabinet were at some point on Fox News? . . . That’s just an observation. That’s not a criticism.”
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In his first administration, Trump butted heads with some of the establishment Republicans in his Cabinet, who were ill at ease with Trump’s policy instincts, let alone his made-for-TV leadership style. This term, with a GOP that has largely been remade in Trump’s likeness, his Cabinet is stocked with officials who share his vision not just ideologically, but in terms of his flair for the show.
Montana Representative Ryan Zinke, who was Trump’s Interior Department secretary in his first term, called this Cabinet “very talented . . . without exception.” He said some of the travel around the country and visit with different facets of the various agencies weren’t just for show.
“If you want to learn something, get out of this city and go to the front, and they’ll tell you straight up, because they’re dying to tell you something,” Zinke said.
But he also acknowledged that Trump likes to see his secretaries look the part. Zinke recounted how he arrived to his first day as Interior secretary on horseback. He said the choice was a reflection of how he’s fond of operating, but also of the job of his agency.
“That was a messaging, too,” Zinke said. “I rode a horse in on the first day. . . . The president said, ‘right out of central casting.‘”
Tal Kopan can be reached at tal.kopan@globe.com. Follow her @talkopan.