You were cheated!
Big time. So was I. So were millions of Americans.
In 2004, we all watched that show “The Apprentice” on TV. It was a smashing success. Its first year on the air, it averaged 20.7 million viewers every week. It had up to 28 million viewers watching its last show that season. Those are 2024 New York Times research statistics.
The Show Was a Lie
And its producer knew it. But he made Trump look like one of America’s most successful business men. The New York Times called the show “The Star-Making Machine That Created Donald Trump.” Trump starred in it for 11 years. Before it even went on the air, “Trump had declared bankruptcy four times” according to a 2024 US News and World Report. He also declared bankruptcy “twice more” during its 14 seasons. But the show “….revived his business fortunes by creating the illusion that he was already doing great.”
He was famous for yelling ‘YOU’RE FIRED” at the end of each show to participants he judged “didn’t make it.” The show was on NBC every week for 13 years…” It made Trump rich. He earned “$197 million directly from The Apprentice”…and “an additional $230 million flowed from the fame associated with it…” according to a New York Times study of his tax returns.
By 2015, Trump was so famous, he left the show to run for President. On November 8, 2016, he was elected the 45th President of America.
Why Didn’t We Know?
In 2016, the Annenberg Public Policy Center of Pennsylvania reported the TV show, “played a key role” in getting Trump elected “because Americans consume more entertainment than news…” It provides ‘one-sided information flows’ about a candidate’s qualities.”
Confession of an NBC Executive In 2024 - John D. Miller – a former NBC marketing chief – publicly apologized for promoting Trump as a super successful businessman. He said he created ” a monster.” He said “successful CEOs were too busy” to be on the show every week. So he chose Trump.
Trump …”had plenty of time” every week to be on the show because his business was a failure. Yet Miller still put thousands of weekly NBC TV commercials on the air spreading the lie about Trump “to nearly every household” in the United States.
Here’s the Good News
In July 2026, CNN research showed voters are favoring Democrats in elections by an “8-point margin…” Trump became president again when there was a “sharp drop” in 2024 of Democratic voters in “growing cities.” That year “6.2 million fewer Democrats showed up to vote than in 2020,” according to Governing, an organization “devoted to making government work.”
We can return our country to peace and predictability this year if every eligible Democrat votes in November’s midterm election. We can win back the House and the Senate and hold Trump responsible for the Iran war he started that killed 18 American soldiers and wounded 685 soldiers so far and shut down the Strait of Hormuz, driving up gas and grocery prices and medical costs. We deserve a whole lot better.
Jodie Sinclair is an award-winning writer who holds a master's degree in journalism from Columbia University and resides in Bandera.
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