Pity poor Donald Trump.
No, seriously.
He must be sitting at home wondering what in the world happened.
For nearly a year, he was the media's darling. The candidate who could do no wrong. A veritable ratings machine beloved by the TV networks. No matter what piece of racist or idiotic nonsense he spouted, the networks and cable news presented it as inspired genius. "A man willing to speak the truth". His insults were either amusing or deeply truthful insights into his GOP opponents (low energy Jeb). He was the man willing to say what everyone was thinking but no one else had the courage to say.
He was a winner.
A hero.
The star of the world's greatest Reality TV Series.
The prize? Not a million dollars, but The White House!
Didn't CBS Chairman and CEO Les Moonves cheer 'Go Donald" on an investor call ?
He sure did.
In fact, what he said was:
"Man, this is pretty amazing. Who would have thought this circus would would come to town? It may not be good for America, but it's damn good for CBS. [Laughs] The money's rolling in .... This is fun."
And so the media loved him too. They loved him so much that TV news gave him nearly $2 billion worth of free air time. As a candidate, he didn't have to spend a dime.
He went on to win the GOP nomination for President of the United States. It was better than winning Celebrity Apprentice - or almost as good.
Then, in Season Two, it all went wrong, at least for Donald.
Suddenly, instead of being the hero and the winner, he was turned into the idiot and the loser.
What had happened?
He was, in fact, doing exactly the same things he had been doing in Season One. He was making the same crass insults against minorities (Mexicans were rapists, Muslims and to be banned) that had gotten him the endless attention and love of the news organizations - but now, instead of loving him they were hating him?
He hadn't changed. So what was happening? Why was the act that had garnered him so much success in Season One not working in his favor in Season Two.
Why was he suddenly being cast as The Loser? The butt of everyone's jokes? He didn't understand.
The answer is fairly simple.
In Season Two, it turned out he rated better as the idiot who was one step from the White House than he did as the Honest Voice of the Average Guy.
It was nothing personal.
It was just entertainment. Just ratings. That's all.
Scary Donald rates better than Speak The Truth Donald.
He's the same person, saying exactly the same thing. He's just being cast differently now.
In fact, it happens all the time.
It is a bit surprising that a guy who had hosted his own very successful Reality TV series for ten successful seasons, where this kind of 'the worm turns' plot had worked so well so often, didn't see this one coming. He thought he was in control of the story line, but he wasn't. He was just another hapless participant in a show in which he had no control.
And who had the control?
Why, the network news organizations. The very same people who had built him up from a complete unknown to the Winner of Season One. And what a season that was. And what a finale! It was better than when Susan Boyle won Britain's Got Talent... Better than when Kris Allen beat Adam Lambert on American Idol. It was an all time ratings killer.
But for Season Two, the 'tables would be turned'.
It rates better.
What The Donald forgot was that the Television News Business is first and foremost a business. It needs to attract eyeballs. It needs to continually ramp up the action and the excitement or it will lose ratings and share. Season One was good, but the audience was already tiring of it. The story needed a kick, And Dumb Donald rates better than Strangely Wise Donald.
That's Entertainment.
We didn't always live in this kind of a world. There was a time when a network like CBS News produced serious journalism like Harvest of Shame. There was a time when NBC News used to produce things called White Papers. There was a time when The History Channel actually produce historical documentaries instead of Pawn Stars or Swamp People and call it 'history'. There was a time when TLC was called The Learning Channel.
But that was a long time ago.
Well, live by the media... die by the media.
I bet that the Donald/Hillary debates will rate better than the Olympics.
Can't wait to tune in for the fireworks.