The Sham

Today's issue of The New Yorker has an excellent longer article (link here) about how Donald Trump was fraudulently presented to be a massively successful and wealthy tycoon on the television program The Apprentice when the producers clearly knew that he was, in fact, a washed-up real estate developer who had filed for bankruptcy six times.

In short, Trump was fraudulently presented to the American viewing audience. That sham became the foundation for his presidential run.

"Most of us knew he was a fake," said one producer is quoted by name in the article. "He had just gone through I don’t know how many bankruptcies. But we made him out to be the most important person in the world. It was like making the court jester the king."

"We walked through the offices and saw chipped furniture," said another producer quoted by name. "We saw a crumbling empire at every turn. Our job was to make it seem otherwise."

Perhaps the most invidious element of the sham was how the program packaged Trump has someone who cared about ordinary people. Here was this mega-billionaire kindly sitting around a conference people helping people with their business plans. Yes, he was testy at times, but this was forgiven because he was portrayed as so fabulously wealthy and successful.

Of course, there's no way to put the toothpaste back into the tube now. NBC defrauded America and the world with The Apprentice. There's no way to turn back time now.

But if anyone tells you Trump is a fabulously successful businessman and thus, show him or her this article. It should open their eyes.