Trump Told Author of His New Book That Ratings Are ‘My Whole Life': “He Would Say Crazy Things"

Reportedly, Variety co-editor-in-chief Ramin Setoodeh discussed his new book, Apprentice in Wonderland, in a recent episode of MSNBC's All In with Chris Hayes. During the interaction, Setoodeh revealed how Donald Trump's fascination with show business predominates over his real concern for government. The conversation continued with Hayes reading a passage from the book, as reported by The Mediate. 

The excerpt described Trump perusing a page of Nielsen ratings of The Apprentice’s first season released in a 2004 edition of Variety. Hayes read, "It’s framed and bolted to the wall… something that seems to carry as much value to him as the U.S. Constitution, if not more… This sheet of paper comes from an America where The Apprentice was if only for a single week, the No. 1 show… 'This is my whole life,' Trump says." In response, Setoodeh provided some more background information.

Setoodeh added, "And he said it with a straight face, and he meant it. And this is a former president of the United States looking back on Nielsen ratings from 20 years ago that he has framed not only in his office in Trump Tower but when I visited him in Mar-a-Lago, there’s also a copy of the Nielsen ratings framed there. Ratings are what drives him. Audience is what is important to him." Later, Setoodeh also elaborated on the reasons why Trump was able to become a legend on The Apprentice. He said, "It worked because he was funny on TV and he would say crazy things and be rewarded because on reality TV, the more outrageous you are, the better you do."

Setoodeh also claimed in a separate interview with Mediate: "If it wasn't for The Apprentice, Donald Trump would not have been president in 2016." He went on to add, "If it wasn’t for The Apprentice, he wouldn’t be the Republican nominee in 2024. If it wasn’t for The Apprentice, he wouldn’t be seen as this folk hero for the working class. This no-nonsense, fun, funny, interesting, humorous business mogul. The show really created this legacy and catapulted him to the White House and made millions of Americans believe that he was a great leader, good at governing, compassionate, smart, intelligent, and very successful in business."

According to Setoodeh, Trump's best moments were when he could go back on his time on The Apprentice, and his worst was when questioned about his presidency. He said during the interview, "I actually do think that personally and professionally, he would be a much happier person if he had stayed on the show and he hadn’t entered into politics. Because politics is something that he couldn’t control in the same way that he was able to control his image as a reality TV star."

Further, Setoodeh likened Trump to a reality TV personality who sells a different reality to his supporters via his conspiracy theories about an election that was stolen. He added, "Donald Trump really, truly is a reality star. When the media tries to cover him as a politician, when the media tries to impose all these standards that we have for political figures and for previous presidents, all those come falling down because he is a reality star."