Fox News hosts are publicly bemused to see their colleagues tapped for cabinet positions. In private, they’re more shocked

When Donald Trump tapped a Fox News host this week to run the mighty US defense department, even Pete Hegseth’s colleagues at the rightwing media outlet were taken aback.

“What the heck – can you believe it?” wondered Jesse Watters on his primetime show on Tuesday.

Margaret Sullivan is a Guardian US columnist writing on media, politics and culture