Nonetheless, Trump has now named Friedman to be his ambassador to the Jewish state, a position usually held by senior diplomats and policy wonks. In an interview with The New York Times, Trump also suggested that Kushner might help negotiate Israeli-Palestinian peace because “he knows the region, knows the people, knows the players.” That’s not true. When The New York Times called around, it found that “few of the Israelis and Palestinians who have been immersed for years in the fitful and frustrating peace process, such as it is, could recall ever meeting Mr. Kushner.”

What is Trump doing? The best explanation is that he’s evaluating people based less on their actual policy background or knowledge than on whether they look like the kinds of people who would have the relevant background or knowledge.

First, Trump himself lacks the policy knowledge to appreciate the difference between someone like Friedman and someone with a deep background on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. During the campaign, after all, he couldn’t name the leaders of ISIS, Al Qaeda, or Hezbollah; didn’t know what the nuclear triad was; and seemed unfamiliar with the term “Brexit” just weeks before Britons went to the polls.

Second, Trump’s thinking is often shaped by stereotypes. In a speech to the Republican Jewish Coalition last December, he told the crowd that, “I’m a negotiator, like you folks” and repeatedly declared that he wouldn’t win the RJC’s support because “I don’t want your money.” In 1991, he allegedly said that, “The only guys I want counting my money are short guys that wear yarmulkes all day.”

If Jews know about money and negotiation, they presumably also know about Israel. As Business Insider noted in October, Trump frequently refers to groups as collectives: “The blacks,” “the Hispanics,” “the Muslims, “the gays.” So if the Jews care about Israel, choose a Jew as ambassador. Problem solved.

Finally, Trump cares a lot about appearances. According to The New York Times, he said Mike Pence looked like a vice president out of “central casting.” When a crowd urged him to consider former Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown for the job, Trump made the same comment about him. He reportedly used the same phrase to describe Mitt Romney as secretary of state. Earlier this month, Trump told a rally that his nominee for secretary of defense, James Mattis, is “the closest thing to General George Patton that we have.” Given that Trump, by his own admission, rarely reads books, he likely formed his image of Patton by watching the 1970 movie starring George C. Scott. (It’s among his favorite films.) What Trump was really telling the crowd, in other words, is that a guy with the nickname “Mad Dog” (Trump invokes Mattis’s nickname frequently) looks the part of a tough-guy general, just as David Friedman looks the part of an ambassador to Israel.