Posts Tagged ‘reality tv’

Ivanka Retooling for White House Exit Strategy

November 13, 2020

Ivanka Retooling for White House Exit Strategy

Presidential Advisorsweatshop shmata merchant, book marketer, multimillionaire wifenanny-hiring mother, retail brand and former runway model Ivanka Trump is also an hôtelièr, earning millions by renting out rooms in a publicly-owned building her Dad’s company leases in Washington. Recently, she became an administration employment coach, urging the 30 million Americans who lost jobs during the pandemic to “Find Something New,” implying that their rich daddies can find them something.

Facing her own unemployment, Ivanka is looking for “Something New” herself, possibly a reality TV show. Good choice. she’s been a cast member of the White House reality show for the past four years.

More:

“What will Ivanka Trump do next? Probably try hard to stay in the public eye,” Arwa Mahdawi, The Guardian

“Goodbye, Ivanka,” Dahlia Lithwick, Slate

Related:

“Ivanka Trump obsessed with status, says former friend in tell-all essay,” Rory Carroll, The Guardian

“Six Things We Learned About Ivanka Trump From Her Ex-BFF’s Vanity Fair Essay,” Mimi Montgomery, Washingtonian

“Ivanka Boldly Highlights Trump Administration’s Big Pandemic Success,” Brian Kahn, Gizmodo Earther

“Ivanka Trump Applies for Job as Biden’s Daughter,” Andy Borowitz, The New Yorker

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Top image (Ivanka’s book-like object) by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.

How ‘The Apprentice’ Manufactured Trump

November 14, 2018

“How ‘The Apprentice’ Manufactured Trump,” an Atlantic video.

In 2004 the first season of The Apprentice reintroduced pro wrestling promoter Donald Trump as an incredibly successful and intelligent businessman, the biggest real estate developer in New York City (had to be true, it was on TV, right?). The show was a hit, and boosted the Trump brand. The show’s producers created his persona and sold his image to America. How did they create a reality TV president?

More:

“The Inside Story of How ‘The Apprentice’ Rescued Donald Trump,” Michael Kranish,Marc Fisher, Fortune

“How Reality TV Made Donald Trump President,” Joy Lanzendorfer, Vice

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Showtime!

July 9, 2018

Showtime!

It’s spectacle showtime for charlatan-in-chief Donald Trump, who’ll select his prime-time pick for America’s next top model Supreme Court justice tonight at 9PM Eastern. Suspense mounts! Which conservative ideologue will win? Who will go home with a consolation prize?

More:

“How Trump turned the US Supreme Court into prime time television,” Ephrat Livni, Quartz

“Trump pushing for another reality-show reveal of Supreme Court pick,” Andrew Restuccia, Politico

“A ‘Supreme’ show: Trump savors big reveal for court choice,” BY Catherine Lucey and Zeke Miller, AP via Charlotte Observer

“Trump’s New Pageant: SCOTUS Pick Will Have To Look ‘All-American,’ Jibe With Trump,” Nicole LaFond, TPM Livewire

“Trump Is Picking His Supreme Court Nominee Like He’s Casting the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition,” Bess Levin, Vanity Fair

“The Supreme Court Show,” Ross Douthat, New York Times

“The most interesting late development in Trump’s Supreme Court derby,” Aaron Blake, Washington Post

Inside Baseball:

“The Five Frontrunners,” Adam Feldman, Empirical SCOTUS

“Trump’s 2018 Supreme Court Shortlist and Their Views on Administrative Law,” Chris Walker, Notice & Comment

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Top image (“Let’s Make a Supreme Deal!”) by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.

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Trump Narrows Supreme Court Picks Down to Three

July 6, 2018

Trump Narrows Supreme Court Picks Down to Three
Drama! Suspense mounts on the reality-TV show known as the Trump presidency as we near the prime time Monday night announcement of Mr. Trump’s nominee to replace Supreme Court Justice Whatshisname. The president has narrowed the list prepared by the Heritage Foundation and the Federalist Society to three possible nominees, Brett Kavanaugh, Amy Coney Barrett, and Raymond Kethledge. While Republicans argue about which one is the most stalwart conservative ideologue, Mr. Trump makes personnel decisions based on a candidate’s looks. That’s certainly worked out well for him so far!

More:

“Trump pushing for another reality-show reveal of Supreme Court pick,” Andrew Restuccia, Politico

“Trump’s New Pageant: SCOTUS Pick Will Have To Look ‘All-American,’ Jibe With Trump,” Nicole LaFond, TPM Livewire

“Trump Is Picking His Supreme Court Nominee Like He’s Casting the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition,” Bess Levin, Vanity Fair

“The Supreme Court Show,” Ross Douthat, New York Times

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Top image (“Let’s Make a Supreme Deal!”) by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.

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Trump Supreme Court Pick: Worst TV Game Show Ever

July 2, 2018

Trump Supreme Court Pick: Worst TV Game Show Ever
President Donald Trump has accepted the resignation of Supreme Court Justice Whatshisname, and scheduled the announcement of his replacement nominee for July 9th. The president will ponder this momentous decision while spending the July 4th weekend in his Fortress of Solitude Trump Bedminster National Golf Club in New Jersey. There is said to be a shortlist of 5 possible contenders, none of them Gary Busey or Meat Loaf. “I may have two of them come up, like the old days to Bedminster,” said the president, “could be this weekend…It is exciting.” Suspense! Imagine the ratings. May the best conservative ideologue win!

There will be no swimsuit competition, even though two of the candidates are women. Senate Democrats and civil rights groups are asking Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to delay the confirmation vote until after the midterm elections, but he just smiles.

More:

“Supreme Court Announcement Scheduled Just Like The World’s Worst Game Show,” Joe Patrice, Above the Law

“It’s ‘The Apprentice, Supreme Court Edition,’ as Trump Summons Finalists to White House,” Maggie Haberman, Michael M. Grynbaum, and Ron Nixon, New York Times

“Online bettors see Kavanaugh as likely U.S. Supreme Court nominee,” Reuters

“Chuck Todd: GOP ‘may fully pull that hypocrisy muscle’ by confirming SCOTUS pick in election year,” Jacqueline ThomsenThe Hill

“Mitch McConnell shows there’s no honor among Supreme Court thieves,” Scot Lehigh, Boston Globe

Updates:

“Trump Narrows Supreme Court Shortlist To 3 — With 2 On The Inside Track,” Nina Totenberg, NPR

“Gamblers betting on Kavanaugh as Trump’s Supreme Court pick,” Matthew Nussbaum, Politico

Related:

“Just Like LeBron James, Justice Anthony Kennedy Is Now A ‘Free Agent,’” Staci Zaretsky, Above the Law

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Top image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.

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Next White House Chief of Staff?

June 29, 2018

Next White House Chief of Staff?

Word around DC is that White House Chief of Staff John Kelly will be the next to leave the realty TV show that is the Trump Administration, and the president is looking for a replacement. We suggest Julie Chen, host of the CBS show Big Brother. She’s said nice things about Mr. Trump, and has the perfect résumé, 20 years of monitoring a bunch of immature, self-involved, bullying backstabbers.

More:

“Why a new chief of staff wouldn’t change Trump’s White House,” Annie Karni, Politico

“John Kelly, Scott Pruitt, and the Epic Turnover of the Trump Administration,” Susan B. Glasser, The New Yorker

Update:

“John Kelly intends to remain as Trump’s chief of staff through 2020 reelection,” Philip Rucker, Washington Post

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Top image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.

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White House Admits It’s a Reality Show

February 12, 2018

White House Admits It's a Reality Show

On the Celebrity Big Brother TV show, former White House aide Omarosa Manigault Newman made critical comments about President Donald Trump and her time in the West Wing. White House deputy press secretary Raj Shah noted that Manigault Newman first met Mr. Trump while she was a contestant on NBC’s The Apprentice:

“Omarosa was fired three times on The Apprentice, and this was the fourth time we let her go.”

More:

“On ‘Big Brother,’ America Gets the Reality-TV Politics It Deserves,” James Poniewozik, New York Times

Related:

“Omarosa Was Reportedly Fired for Abusing the White House Car Service,” Madeleine Aggeler, The Cut

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Image (“Trump on TV, with apologies to Dalton Avalos Ramirez“) by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

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Judge Thomas Hardiman: Miss Congeniality

February 3, 2017

The suspense is over: President Donald Trump named Federal Appellate Judge Neil Gorsuch as “Man Most Likely to Be Cast as a Supreme Court Justice in a TV Movie.” “I have selected an individual whose qualities define — really, and I mean closely define — what we’re looking for,” said the president, a devotee of central casting.

Judge Gorsuch is no stranger to DC. While a high school student at $30,000-a-year Georgetown Prep, he founded the Fascism Forever Club. That certainly would get the alt-right nod from the Commander-In-Fact, Mr. Steve Bannon.

Mr. Trump handled the Big Reveal with the decorum he became known for in his beauty pageants and reality TV shows. Rumor had it that SCOTUS runner-up Judge Thomas Hardiman would come to DC to heighten the suspense, but it was just fake news back-channel hype.

More:

“It’s ‘The Apprentice, Supreme Court Edition,’ as Trump Summons Finalists to White House,” Maggie Haberman, Michael Grynbaum, and Ron Nixon, New York Times

Related:

“Behind the Smoke Screen: What Reality-TV Veterans Think of Donald Trump’s Presidency,” Julie Miller and Josh Duboff, Vanity Fair

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Trump Has An Enemies List. Are You On It?

November 14, 2016

Trump Has An Enemies List. Are You On It?
While President-elect Donald Trump has sounded gracious, magnanimous and conciliatory after his election victory, his advisors have not. At the Trump election night party, African-American Outreach Director Omarosa Manigault, Mr. Trump’s fellow reality TV star (Fear Factor, Girls Behaving Badly, The Apprentice, The Surreal Life, Celebrity Apprentice) told the Independent Journal Review:

“It’s so great our enemies are making themselves clear so that when we get in to the White House, we know where we stand …. But let me just tell you, Mr. Trump has a long memory and we’re keeping a list.”

In a campaign not noted for consistency, Ms. Manigault told PBS Frontline the same thing back in September:

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Trump TV Reality Show in Cleveland

July 19, 2016

Trump TV Reality Show in Cleveland

Donald J. Trump, middle-aged spoiled rich kid, a 6-times-bankrupt businessman, and former reality TV star, is featured in a TV miniseries this week in Cleveland, Ohio (“the Open-Carry State”). Speakers include minor show-biz celebrities who didn’t make the cut for Mr. Trump’s Celebrity Apprentice series:

Scott Baio, from the 1982 TV show Joanie Loves Chachi

Kimberlin Brown, soap opera actor (The Young and the Restless [1973], The Bold and the Beautiful [1987])

Ben Carson MD, former surgeon, a motivational speaker, … somehow

Chris W. Cox, Executive Director of the National Rifle Association Institute for Legislative Action

Jerry Falwell Jr., gun-totin’ Christian lawyer famously sired by televangelist Jerry Falwell Sr.

Natalie Gulbis, 492nd-ranked LPGA golfer (and “Blonde Bombshell,” adds the Daily Caller)

Laura Ingraham, right-wing radio host

Brock Mealer, “inspirational speaker” and car crash victim

Willie Jess Robertson, Duck Dynasty TV personality and duck call company executive

Phil Ruffin, Las Vegas casino owner, partner in the Trump International Hotel and Tower

Antonio Sabato Jr., underwear model

Darrell Scott, pastor of Cleveland’s New Spirit Revival Center, a “prosperity church

Lisa Shin, optometrist, of Korean Americans for Trump (founded in April), who formed a new non-certifying optometry association and then resigned from it; one of very few non-blonde  women speaking at the Convention

Melania Knaus Trump, Slovene-American former model and the incumbent Mrs. Trump

Tiffany Trump, out of Marla Maples by D.J. Trump, Internet celebrity who is famous for being well-known

Dana White, President of the mixed martial arts organization Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC)

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