How Reality TV Remade Trump

Washington Post: “Trump’s agent told him (appearing on ‘The Apprentice’) was a terrible idea — business shows never work on TV, he said. Trump disagreed. Indeed, he fired the agent shortly thereafter. ‘If I would have listened to him,’ Trump told The Washington Post, ‘I wouldn’t have done the show.’ Not halfway into that first, hour-long meeting with Mark Burnett, Trump made up his mind. He sensed that ‘The Apprentice’ had enormous potential to introduce him to a broader audience, and especially to younger people.”

“The man who now seeks to be commander in chief had consulted no one, done no research. He liked the idea. He bought it. It was a classic Trump moment, an example of the gut-instinct decision-making that he proudly touts … He didn’t run for president because of ‘The Apprentice,’ but according to the show’s executives and producers, without ‘The Apprentice’ there would be no candidacy.”