Trump Allegedly Chatting with Mark Burnett About The Apprentice: White House
Between the impeachment inquiry and the looming 2020 election, there's a lot of speculation about what Trump will do when (and if) he exits the White House. According to a federal court, he could be prosecuted as soon as he leaves office. But Trump reportedly has much more optimistic plans. According to the Daily Beast, Trump has been speaking with producer Mark Burnett about a return to TV once this whole politics thing is finally over. Per the Beast:
One of the ideas kicked around by Burnett and the president was shooting a new version of the Trump-branded Apprentice, tentatively titled The Apprentice: White House, and to produce it shortly after the president leaves office. This time, however, the TV program would be explicitly politics-themed and take full advantage of Trump’s status as a former president of the United States and a newfound Republican kingmaker. "There have been several discussions between Burnett and Trump about The Apprentice: White House," a person with knowledge of the situation told The Daily Beast. "It is something Burnett thinks could be a money-spinner and Trump is very keen on doing."
Another person with knowledge of the talks confirms that the president and Burnett discussed the idea but added, "as far as I know, the discussion did not go far."
That Trump would want to work with Burnett is no surprise. As Patrick Radden Keefe wrote in The New Yorker early this year, Burnett is perhaps more responsible than any one person for selling to the public the image of Trump as a savvy businessman, instead of the bankruptcy-prone, tax-avoidant, contractor-stiffing son of an already-successful real-estate mogul. Through the reality shows The Apprentice and The Celebrity Apprentice, Burnett helped make Trump presentable and famous to large swaths of the country, and Trump rode that fame to the White House.
Burnett also reportedly helped cover up Trump's misbehavior on the show. Omarosa Manigault Newman, a former Apprentice contestant and member of the Trump administration, claimed that Trump often used racial slurs on set, and that Burnett was sitting on tapes that showed Trump using the n-word. There's also reportedly footage of Trump covering up sexual assault on set by actor Gary Busey, and of him calling deaf actress Marlee Matlin "retarded." Trump tweeted that Burnett "called to say that there are NO TAPES of the Apprentice where I used such a terrible and disgusting word as attributed by Wacky and Deranged Omarosa. I don’t have that word in my vocabulary, and never have."
It's never been completely clear that Donald Trump wanted to be president. Before he won, there was even speculation that the whole campaign was a stunt to gin up publicity for him to launch his own network after his expected loss to Hillary Clinton. Regardless, he seems to dislike everything about the job except the campaigning, which he's kept up consistently since winning the 2016 election. A White House version of The Apprentice would certainly marry two of his comfort zones: reality TV and milking his presidency for whatever personal profit he can get out of it.
Nobody saw it coming. Not the pundits or the pollsters, not even the Donald himself. From the backrooms of Trump Tower to the studios at Fox News to the VIP lounges of his victory bash, this is the story of Donald Trump's Election Day—perhaps the wildest, weirdest 24 hours in American politics—as told by dozens of the people who found themselves at the center of it.
Originally Appeared on GQ
