Donald Trump on Thursday night defended his decision to select several billionaires to serve in his administration, arguing that he wants successful people to be “negotiating” for the country.

“One newspaper criticized me: ‘Why can’t they have people of modest means?’” Trump said at a victory tour rally in Des Moines, Iowa. “Because I want people that made a fortune! Because now they’re negotiating with you, OK?”

“It’s no different than a great baseball player or a great golfer,” he added. “These people have given up fortunes of income in order to make a dollar a year, and they’re so proud to do it, and you watch, you watch what’s gonna happen. It’s gonna happen fast, too.”

Pres.-elect Donald Trump on why he doesn’t appoint people of ‘modest means’: “I want people that made a fortune.” https://t.co/MHeCcYKAPa — ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) December 9, 2016

Trump has announced his intention to nominate several billionaires and millionaires to posts in his cabinet, including Wilbur Ross, Betsy DeVos, and Linda McMahon.

The President-elect also took a dig at Time Magazine, which named him “Person of the Year” this week.

“They used to call it ‘Man of the Year’ but they can’t do that anymore — they want to be politically correct, that’s OK,” he said.