Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump reportedly discussed with an NBC executive continuing “The Apprentice” reality show from the White House if he were elected president, long before he launched his bid.
The anecdote was reported in June by Vanity Fair contributing editor Sarah Ellison, but appeared to go largely unnoticed until she was interviewed on “The Takeaway” podcast over the weekend.
“[NBCUniversal Chief Executive Steve Burke and Trump] outlined, presumably fantastically, that Trump should run for president; and on the off chance that he won, he would continue to star in ‘The Apprentice’ from within the White House,” Ellison wrote about a 2011 conversation between the two.
Ellison discusses in the podcast Trump’s fascination with TV ratings, but notes that the networks, not the GOP nominee, are making money off his media strategy.
“That is the main takeaway here is that Trump doesn’t distinguish between what an audience would be, that you can actually monetize, and what the political electorate is, that would actually go out and vote for someone.”