We Created a Monster: Trump Was a TV Fantasy Invented for 'The Apprentice'

Friends:

Not sure if this is the "October surprise" in politics folks are looking for but I certainly hope that it changes some votes. Trump is not just pure fiction, but a monster created by NBC chief marketer John D. Miller who expresses deep regret for making Trump a household name that ultimately plummeted him into the White House. 

Trump has mostly been great at serial bankruptcies, as opposed to being the great businessman that people believe him to be. 

If you've not seen the Trump Town Hall on Univision, I encourage you to do so. Trump's audience was comprised of undecided Latino voters, including immigrants, from many different backgrounds, ranging from agricultural workers, construction workers, college students, and business professionals, all very clear and well-spoken in their questions of Donald Trump. 

To say the least, he answered unclearly, dodged or failed to answer questions, gaslighted and insulted his audience, said January 6 was a "day of love," didn't walk back his statement in the debate with Kamala Harris about immigrants in Springfield eating cats and dogs. What planet is this guy on?

There are good follow-up posts on this including this one by Nikki McCann Ramirez in the Rolling Stone Magazine titled, Univision Town Hall Participants Unimpressed With ‘Arrogant’ Trump: Participants in the event expressed frustration with the former president in interviews.

A more critical angle appears on MSNBC's Morning Joe with former Univision president Joaquin Blaya referring to it as an "infomercial" that brought in the audience as "props," who further criticizes the network for not doing any fact-checking. Blaya is concerned that the network was irresponsible in giving Trump a platform. A serious Town Hall, he says, would have featured journalist Jorge Ramos who is arguably the most respected Latino journalist in the nation. Why they didn't do this, I agree, is troubling. 

To this, I would add that a serious Univision Town Hall on Latino undecided voters should conduct a poll of audience members following the debate if it is to make a real contribution to the process.

My sincere wish is that Kamala Harris also gets invited to an Univision Town hall to address either this same, or another similar audience and that Jorge Ramos moderate it.

Criticisms aside, the faces of the audience were priceless and telling, so opposite from other audiences he's been in front of where genuinely serious people are treating an "unserious" man seriously. To me, this means that even if they were intended to be "props," the audience clearly showed little love toward him, suggesting that they decided, as a whole, to effectively reject his role or presence in the performance. This could indicate that the audience found him unconvincing or simply unlikable, and as a result, distanced themselves from his part in the show.

Yes, Univision needs to stop aiding and abetting a fraudster, convicted felon, and media-created monster by giving him a platform, but I'm still glad that all of this came out. I hope this isn't too little too late.

-Angela Valenzuela

NBC Marketing Chief Admits The Apprentice Made Trump a “Monster”

NBC’s former chief marketer regrets selling an illusion that has had dire consequences for the world.

By John D. Miller | ContributorOct. 16, 2024, at 5:35 p.m.

I want to apologize to America. I helped create a monster.

For nearly 25 years, I led marketing at NBC and NBCUniversal. I led the team that marketed “The Apprentice,” the reality show that made Donald Trump a household name outside of New York City, where he was better known for overextending his empire and appearing in celebrity gossip columns.

To sell the show, we created the narrative that Trump was a super-successful businessman who lived like royalty. That was the conceit of the show. At the very least, it was a substantial exaggeration; at worst, it created a false narrative by making him seem more successful than he was.

In fact, Trump declared business bankruptcy four times before the show went into production, and at least twice more during his 14 seasons hosting. The imposing board room where he famously fired contestants was a set, because his real boardroom was too old and shabby for TV.

Trump may have been the perfect choice to be the boss of this show, because more successful CEOs were too busy to get involved in reality TV and didn’t want to hire random game show winners onto their executive teams. Trump had no such concerns. He had plenty of time for filming, he loved the attention and it painted a positive picture of him that wasn’t true.

At NBC, we promoted the show relentlessly. Thousands of 30-second promo spots that spread the fantasy of Trump’s supposed business acumen were beamed over the airwaves to nearly every household in the country. The image of Trump that we promoted was highly exaggerated. In its own way, it was “fake news” that we spread over America like a heavy snowstorm. I never imagined that the picture we painted of Trump as a successful businessman would help catapult him to the White House.

I discovered in my interactions with him over the years that he is manipulative, yet extraordinarily easy to manipulate. He has an unfillable compliment hole. No amount is too much. Flatter him and he is compliant. World leaders, including apparently Russian strongman Vladimir Putin and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, have discovered that too.

I also found Trump remarkably thin-skinned. He aggressively goes after those who critique him and seeks retribution. That’s not very businesslike – and it’s certainly not presidential. This week, he threatened to use the National Guard against Americans who oppose him, calling them the “enemy from within.”

I learned early on in my dealings with Trump that he thought he could simply say something over and over, and eventually people would believe it. He would say to me, “‘The Apprentice’ – America’s No. 1 TV show.” But it wasn’t. Not that week. Not that season. I had the ratings in front of me. He had seen and heard the ratings, but that didn’t matter. He just kept saying it was the “No. 1 show on television,” even after we corrected him. He repeated it on press tours too, knowing full well it was wrong. He didn’t like being fact-checked back then either.

Exaggerating ratings is one thing, but spreading falsehoods about relief work of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, about immigrants eating cats and dogs, about the deadly COVID-19 pandemic, about him winning the 2020 election or countless other lies is far more dangerous.

At NBC, we promoted the show relentlessly. Thousands of 30-second promo spots that spread the fantasy of Trump’s supposed business acumen were beamed over the airwaves to nearly every household in the country. The image of Trump that we promoted was highly exaggerated. In its own way, it was “fake news” that we spread over America like a heavy snowstorm. I never imagined that the picture we painted of Trump as a successful businessman would help catapult him to the White House.

I discovered in my interactions with him over the years that he is manipulative, yet extraordinarily easy to manipulate. He has an unfillable compliment hole. No amount is too much. Flatter him and he is compliant. World leaders, including apparently Russian strongman Vladimir Putin and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, have discovered that too.

I also found Trump remarkably thin-skinned. He aggressively goes after those who critique him and seeks retribution. That’s not very businesslike – and it’s certainly not presidential. This week, he threatened to use the National Guard against Americans who oppose him, calling them the “enemy from within.”

I learned early on in my dealings with Trump that he thought he could simply say something over and over, and eventually people would believe it. He would say to me, “‘The Apprentice’ – America’s No. 1 TV show.” But it wasn’t. Not that week. Not that season. I had the ratings in front of me. He had seen and heard the ratings, but that didn’t matter. He just kept saying it was the “No. 1 show on television,” even after we corrected him. He repeated it on press tours too, knowing full well it was wrong. He didn’t like being fact-checked back then either.

Exaggerating ratings is one thing, but spreading falsehoods about relief work of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, about immigrants eating cats and dogs, about the deadly COVID-19 pandemic, about him winning the 2020 election or countless other lies is far more dangerous.

Now America is facing a critical choice. Should this elderly, would-be emperor with no clothes, who is well known for stretching and abandoning the truth, be president again?

I spent 50 years successfully promoting television magic, making mountains out of molehills every day. But I say now to my fellow Americans, without any promotional exaggeration: If you believe that Trump will be better for you or better for the country, that is an illusion, much like “The Apprentice” was. Even if you are a born-and-bred Republican, as I was, I strongly urge you to vote for Kamala Harris. The country will be better off and so will you.

John D. Miller was the chief marketing officer for NBC and NBCUniversal, and retired as chair of the NBCUniversal Marketing Council.

Tags: Donald Trump