Former NBC chief marketer John D. Miller wrote in an op-ed this week he regrets helping market Donald Trump‘s The Apprentice, saying he helped “create a monster.”
The Apprentice ran for 15 seasons from 2004 to 2017; Trump hosted the first 14 installments.
“To sell the show, we created the narrative that Trump was a super-successful businessman who lived like royalty. That was the conceit of the show,” Miller wrote in an op-ed for U.S. News. “At the very least, it was a substantial exaggeration; at worst, it created a false narrative by making him seem more successful than he was.”
He continued, “In fact, Trump declared business bankruptcy four times before the show went into production, and at least twice more during his 14 seasons hosting. The imposing board room where he famously fired contestants was a set, because his real boardroom was too old and shabby for TV.”
Miller worked at NBC for 25 years, leading marketing at NBC and NBCUniversal. He was in charge of the team that marketed The Apprentice.
In his lengthy op-ed, Miller recalled promoting the show “relentlessly,” with “thousands of 30-second promo spots that spread the fantasy of Trump’s supposed business acumen.
“In its own way, it was ‘fake news’ that we spread over America like a heavy snowstorm,” Miller continued, invoking one of the former president’s most famous terms and adding, “I never imagined that the picture we painted of Trump as a successful businessman would help catapult him to the White House.”
Miller recalled his interactions with Trump revealing that the president “is manipulative, yet extraordinarily easy to manipulate” with “an unfillable compliment hole. No amount is too much.”
“World leaders, including apparently Russian strongman Vladimir Putin and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, have discovered that too,” he continued.
Miller went on to say that marketing The Apprentice “did irreparable harm by creating the false image of Trump as a successful leader,” and “I deeply regret that. And I regret that it has taken me so long to go public.”
His message ended with a call to vote for the Democratic ticket next month. “I spent 50 years successfully promoting television magic, making mountains out of molehills every day,” Miller wrote. “But I say now to my fellow Americans, without any promotional exaggeration: If you believe that Trump will be better for you or better for the country, that is an illusion, much like The Apprentice was. Even if you are a born-and-bred Republican, as I was, I strongly urge you to vote for Kamala Harris. The country will be better off and so will you.”
