I know, I know, Trump TV. But I wonder how many truly rich people are going to put money into this risky venture when they didn’t want to put money into his campaign. Plus, I don’t know where he is going to get advertising. His name is toxic and getting more so to the national brands.
Even if he gets it started, and satellite and cable networks take it (not at all clear) I don’t believe he’s going to get the ratings. He’d be a loser, and his base might watch for a while but will soon leave, since there would be no hope of his promises to them happening. Plus there would be a lot of content to fill. Not many people in the industry are going to want to work on this wreck.
Look how long Sarah Palin lasted. I’m sure she still pulls in some money, but not enough to support a Trump lifestyle.
It’s also not clear if Trump TV is even real.
He makes his money now on branding. But his hotels are losing business. He can’t make that much money selling crap wine. No more network TV reality shows. I bet he has bad cash flow. We might see bankruptcy filings real soon - not to mention the Trump U case and maybe others.
I’m betting he becomes a poor Howard Hughes, embittered because no one will back him in his conspiracy theories. Melania might leave him before the money does. Considering how long it took for her to defend him, I bet she knows what was going on.
I suspect he might get income in the millions. But he’ll fall from billionairedom (assuming he is even there) real soon.
And what I really want to know is, how does Kellyanne Conway fit in? I think she has to stay a part of the Trump empire, even if it crumbles. She’s clearly as intelligent and ballsy as they come, but she has so thoroughly sold her soul to the devil that I can’t imagine anyone else wanting to touch her. (I’m sure I’m wrong in that, but still - her options have to be somewhat limited.)
I don’t get the intelligence part. To me she seems like a cross between a Manson girl and Michele Bachmann injected with industrial strength caffeine. If she was interviewed at noon to explain why Trump said it was midnight, she’d say that Trump was right and that the moon was especially bright tonight and that Hillary threatens the very existence of the moon.
Obviously I’m hoping you’re right and Trump loses the nomination.
However, even if he does, hasn’t he achieved a lot for himself?
He’s beaten Republican career politicians with huge war-chests. He’s got masses of free publicity and a lot of campaign donations.
Clearly he has struck a chord with a significant proportion of US voters.
If he launches Trump TV with the sort of programmes that his base like, he might lead them in with vague promises to run again (or to support someone else.)
I like your image! And I don’t think she’s got an across-the-board intelligence in every area (most of us don’t) but there are certain skills she clearly possesses which do fall under the rubric of being “smart.” She is in command of her facts (even if you and I might dispute the accuracy of those facts); she is coherent; she stays on message; she doesn’t get ruffled; she spins (twists, distorts) relentlessly and, some would say, extremely well. These are valuable abilities to have.
To the OP - sorry for starting to hijack your thread on the first response. Let’s see, back to Trump: frankly, I’d like to see his sleazy past catch up with him (Trump University and a dozen other lawsuits - both ones started against him and started BY him because he’s a bully) and drain his energy and financial resources for the next few years while he becomes increasingly irrelevant and a punchline to jokes, until he is such old news no one even jokes about him anymore.
As to what will ACTUALLY happen, no idea. But I’ll certainly be watching with interest.
Her stock increased tenfold due to this campaign. Even though she couldn’t influence Trump enough to save him from himself, she is impenetrable like a goddamn tank and doesn’t lose her shit under fire.
I don’t mind this hijack - it is an interesting question, which can be extended to others. I think it depend on whether she is privately telling her former colleagues on other campaigns what a twit the Donald is. Loyalty counts for a lot, and no one will blame her for spinning - that’s her job and she does it well. Even Rachel Maddow respects her - except for when she lies that is.
That seems very plausible. And sponsors don’t want to see the name on the network being dragged through court. New networks are hard - Oprah’s one is just now making money, I think, and she is a lot better at the TV game than Trump is.
There is also going to be the steady drumbeat of books and articles about what went on inside the campaign. IANAL but I don’t see how a non-disclosure agreement is enforceable after the campaign is over. Certainly not unless significant compensation is granted for it. Which isn’t going to happen. The right to know for history is a lot more important that Trump’s pride.
I’m an optimist, so I’m imagining Trumps trajectory to be similar to Sarah Palin. a few years living off his notoriety with his base, but gradually fading into obscurity.
I no longer believe that it can happen, but to be fair, those are different kinds of investment. The former is to make money on a reasonably predictable short-term basis, while the latter is to get him elected for self-serving but strategic purposes. No one with a brain would have put money into getting him elected, but the ethics-challenged might put money into a Trump business venture that they thought was promising. It’s gratifying to me that most of the latter have lost their shirts on the deals.
I agree. He’d have to prime the pump by injecting money (other people’s money, of course, as always) to get the audience share, and then the advertising would come. I don’t believe either is going to happen, because he has no unique content or expertise to offer that others, notably Fox News, don’t already do much better from the standpoint of their dedicated wingnut audience. Trump may consider himself a major draw of adoring fans, but it gets old really fast when you’re a nobody, as Sarah Palin found out. The difference is that Sarah Palin is completely useless, whereas Trump has talent in the carnival-barker/snake-oil salesman tradition, but I don’t think that counts for much in the big leagues.
He could continue his primary occupation as a real estate swindler. A rational person would do so under greater anonymity, knowing how badly the brand has been tarnished, but Trump won’t. More accurately, he can’t: he is incapable of subsuming the name that he has plastered in gigantic letters all over his gaudy buildings and even his plane, which, against all odds, he’s managed to uglify with one of the most appalling paint schemes I’ve ever seen deface an otherwise beautiful aircraft. The logo on the tail – a red flaming “T” over black – looks like it should be the logo of some heavy metal or rap group with a name like “Bat Out of Hell”. Trump always aims for “classy” and always ends up with “gauche” and “laughingstock”.
The whole post-election fiasco should be fun to watch.
This article on changing the name of new Trump hotels to Scion shows the real estate swindles may not work any more. Trump properties in New York no longer command a premium, and no one is going to trust him. Big NY banks abandoned him long ago, if the Russians and Chinese run out also he is going to have a problem raising money.