“Our job was to make him look legitimate, to make him look like there was something behind it, even though we pretty much all knew that there wasn’t,” one producer said. https://www.thedailybeast.com/produ...expose-donald-trumps-musty-carpet-in-new-book Producers of The Apprentice were shocked by the rundown, shabby state of Donald Trump’s business headquarters when they visited the would-be set on their NBC reality series, according to a new book. Bill Pruitt and Adam Blum told The New York Times investigative reporters Russ Buettner and Susanne Craig that the Trump Tower space had a musty carpet stench that “followed them like an invisible cloud.” The insights into the former president’s early 2000s television stint, detailed in Lucky Loser: How Donald Trump Squandered His Father’s Fortune and Created the Illusion of Success, describe the Trump Organization’s office as a time capsule from when he opened the Midtown Manhattan building in 1984, riddled with chipped furniture and dated decor. Mark Burnett (above right), The Apprentice’s creator, originally considered Richard Branson and Warren Buffett for the show’s lead before Donald Trump. As for Trump’s personal workspace, the producers said it was devoid of any evidence of work. In the place of computer monitors and paperwork, the desk was covered in news articles about Trump. “When you go into the office and you’re hearing ‘billionaire,’ even ‘recovering billionaire,’ you don’t expect to see chipped furniture, you don’t expect to smell carpet that needs to be refreshed in the worst, worst way,” Pruitt told The New York Times. Trump’s image also desperately needed a makeover. His ventures into casinos, an airline shuttle and a hotel had pushed him into dire financial straits and facing bankruptcy. And, according to the most recent Gallup survey before The Apprentice premiered, 98 percent of those polled knew Trump’s name, but 58 percent viewed him unfavorably. Mark Burnett, The Apprentice’s creator and the biggest name in reality television at the time, had first spoken with famous executives who did not need reputational revamps, but ultimately decided that those men lacked the time or the charisma needed to be the lead. Trump largely became the show’s main character out of luck due to his long history with New York City tabloids, and his love of the camera. But for the show to work, Trump would have to reshape his on-screen image into someone thoughtful, infinitely wealthy, and composed. Producers aired a “Meet the Billionaire” segment before that week’s episode to support the facade. To tackle the Trump Organization’s drab office, Burnett rented vacant space on the fourth floor of Trump Tower, for which he paid the former president about $440,000 a year, and hired a set designer to create a suitable boardroom and apartments for the contestants. “Our job was to make him look legitimate, to make him look like there was something behind it, even though we pretty much all knew that there wasn’t—but that was our job,” Jonathon Braun, a producer who had worked on Survivor said.
About that book mentioned in the above post, as noted on Amazon: From the Pulitzer Prize-winning reporters behind the 2018 bombshell New York Times exposé of then-President Trump’s finances, an explosive investigation into the history of Donald Trump’s wealth, revealing how one of the country’s biggest business failures lied his way into the White House. Soon after announcing his first campaign for the US presidency, Donald J. Trump told a national television audience that life “has not been easy for me. It has not been easy for me.” Building on a narrative he had been telling for decades, he spun a hardscrabble fable of how he parlayed a small loan from his father into a multi-billion-dollar business and real estate empire. This feat, he argued, made him singularly qualified to lead the country. Except: None of it was true. Born to a rich father who made him the beneficiary of his own highly lucrative investments, Trump received the equivalent of more than $500 million today via means that required no business expertise whatsoever. Drawing on over twenty years’ worth of Trump’s confidential tax information, including the tax returns he tried to conceal, alongside business records and interviews with Trump insiders, New York Times investigative reporters Russ Buettner and Susanne Craig track Trump's financial rise and fall, and rise and fall again. For decades, he squanders his fortunes on money losing businesses, only to be saved yet again by financial serendipity. He tacks his name above the door of every building, while taking out huge loans he’ll never repay. He obsesses over appearances, while ignoring threats to the bottom line and mounting costly lawsuits against city officials. He tarnishes the value of his name by allowing anyone with a big enough check to use it, and cheats the television producer who not only rescues him from bankruptcy but casts him as a business savant – the public image that will carry him to the White House. A masterpiece of narrative reporting, Lucky Loser is a meticulous examination spanning nearly a century, filled with scoops from Trump Tower, Mar-a-Lago, Atlantic City, and the set of The Apprentice. At a moment when Trump’s tether to success and power is more precarious than ever, here for the first time is the definitive true accounting of Trump and his money – what he had, what he lost, and what he has left – and the final word on the myth of Trump, the self-made billionaire.
Sorry liar. Donald Trump was a well known for at least 25 years when the Apprentice first aired. Nice try though loser Canadian.
These poor people think twice will be enough. Trump 2028, you know it's gonna happen. Even if the tiki torch is passed to the sons.
Dang, you guys are obsessed.... musty carpets are the attack du jour now? Have any of you ever been to office space in NYC? The article is clearly a cheap hit piece. Tuxan, Ricter, and Frederick Foresight, trying to get Kamala elected all by themselves? Lol, just waiting for newwurldmn to chime in but I think even he's tired of it. You're basically playing Trump's game now too; which he's a master of. You know there are people laughing at how pathetic this forum has gotten, right? I just might be one of them. Don't you have something better to do on a Sunday? Something else to talk about? Something more substantive? Mow your lawns, tend the garden, watch some NFL ffs... something. Maybe start a go-fund-me for poopy since I understand his house is on fire. We get it, you guys aren't Trump fans. I'm not sure droning on and on is helping your cause though. It's just making you look like nutjobs. On the bright side, least you seem to be having fun. I'm not one to judge so enjoy, but at this point you're all 100% fully diagnosed w/ TDS. What on earth will ya'll do if he wins? Nothing rash I hope.
Why are YOU here Spy? I do like The Daily Show when Desi is hosting. BTW, I saw the video with the French monk, yes reacting compassionately is a neuroplastic thing that can be developed as with a musical talent or conflict resolution. You will find however that what he is talking about and Rand's ethics are quite a way apart.