Donald Trump has spent the last three years leading the most powerful country on the planet, rubbing elbows with world leaders, and enjoying the brightest spotlight that’s ever shone on him. Not a bad gig for an attention-hungry egomaniac.
But Trump is apparently still longing for the days when he ruled reality TV. According to the Daily Beast, Trump fondly remembers his time hosting The Apprentice and The Celebrity Apprentice and longs to return to the show. He’s even discussed the idea with Apprentice creator Mark Burnett, who bats ideas back and forth with Trump about how he can get back on TV once he’s out of the White House, according to the site.
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.
It’s unclear how serious the discussions of The Apprentice: White House were or how far they progressed. A spokesperson for Burnett denies that he and Trump have discussed potential TV shows for his post-presidency years.
But the notion that Trump is angling for a return to TV is easy to believe. It was TV, after all, that seemed to be calling him in 2016 when everyone expected Hillary Clinton win the presidency. In October of that year, Jared Kushner reportedly discussed launching a Trump TV network with potential investors. And even after Trump won, some speculated that he might launch a network anyway.
Three years later, Trump TV now seems unlikely, but that doesn’t mean that The Apprentice: White House will never come to fruition. One potential home: the new streaming service that Burnett is hoping to launch.
