John D. Miller had a hand in creating “The Apprentice,” the show that supercharged former President Trump’s popularity, and he now laments being involved.
Miller, who was the former chair of the NBCUniversal Marketing Council and chief marketing officer for NBC and NBCUniversal, wrote a mournful mea culpa for U.S. News headlined, “We Created a Monster: Trump Was a TV Fantasy Invented for ‘The Apprentice.'”
“I want to apologize to America,” he began. “I helped create a monster,” recalling how he “led the team that marketed ‘The Apprentice,’ the reality show that made Donald Trump a household name outside of New York City. He claimed that in order to “sell” the show to audiences, “we created the narrative that Trump was a super-successful businessman who lived like royalty. That was the conceit of the show. 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.”
After noting Trump’s bankruptcies, he claimed that “The imposing boardroom where he famously fired contestants was a set, because his real boardroom was too old and shabby for TV.”
U.S. Republican presidential nominee, former President Donald Trump dances during a campaign rally at Findlay Toyota Center on October 13, 2024, in Prescott Valley, Arizona. ( (Photo by Rebecca Noble/Getty Images))
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He also contested that Trump had been the ideal choice for this show in a certain sense, “because more successful CEOs were too busy to get involved in reality TV and didn’t want to hire random game show winners onto their executive teams.”
He then argued that NBC itself, at the time, created what could be called “fake news.”
“At NBC, we promoted the show relentlessly. Thousands of 30-second promo spots that spread the fantasy of Trump’s supposed business acumen were beamed over the airwaves to nearly every household in the country,” the former NBC bigwig wrote. “The image of Trump that we promoted was highly exaggerated. In its own way, it was ‘fake news’ that we spread over America like a heavy snowstorm. I never imagined that the picture we painted of Trump as a successful businessman would help catapult him to the White House.”
Of Trump himself, Miller warned that Trump would make grandiose boasts about the show’s popularity in that “He thought he could simply say something over and over, and eventually people would believe it. He would say to me, “‘The Apprentice’ – America’s No. 1 TV show.” But it wasn’t.” The former NBC employee later quipped, “He didn’t like being fact-checked back then either.”
Former President Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris appear to be in a tight race as the election draws near. (Getty Images)
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While “The Apprentice” was a success as a show, Miller argued it did “irreparable harm” by boosting Trump’s public image.
“I deeply regret that,” he said. “And I regret that it has taken me so long to go public.”
The former NBC employee offered an alternative path, however.
“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,” he wrote. “The country will be better off and so will you.”
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Fox News Digital reached out to the Trump campaign and to NBCUniversal and did not receive an immediate reply.
Alexander Hall is an associate editor for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to Alexander.hall@fox.com.
