The first season of The Apprentice re-introduced Donald Trump to the world as an incredibly successful and intelligent businessman—it was a hit show in 2004 and boosted the Trump brand. The show was a major opportunity for producers to create his persona and sell his image to America. How did they pull this off? And what does it mean for Donald Trump to be a reality TV president?
Predictable: From the first episode, Trump starts with lies.
Funny: Trump contending that his gaudy, vulgar designs are beautiful. It’s like a bum’s idea of appealing aesthetics. (For more about what Trump’s design sense is truly like – and it’s not rooted in traditional America styles – see Peter York on Trump’s Dictator Chic (“I wrote a book about autocrats’ design tastes. The U.S. president would fit right in”).