Carve out forty minutes to listen to George Conway tell political war stories to Rick Wilson. They are two bright and engaging men, never more so than when they’re talking to one another. Conway hints here at his marriage to Kellyanne. They have had what’s deemed an “amicable” divorce, insofar as there is such a thing. You can read a lot into just one remark, that George could have had a “federal judgeship” or been a “Supreme Court justice” if only he had “kept his mouth shut.” And played ball, is the rest of the sentence, although it’s unspoken. I, like everybody else, wondered what things must have been like Chez Conway when George and Kellyanne were married. It’s evident that there was some persuasion for George to join the MAGA cult and evidently he resisted. Intriguing when you’re married to a High Priestess.
George Conway was called “the husband from Hell,” by Donald Trump. Trump doesn’t like the man, nor does he like “the loser’s project,” which is what he calls the Lincoln Project. LP has been sued before, notably recently by Mike Flynn. Flynn lost. If you want to hear Rick Wilson’s saga about that, here’s the tape.
I honestly don’t know how weird things are going to get when Kash Patel is running the FBI and seeking retribution on Trump’s behalf. ABC News has certainly paved the way for a lot of mainstream outlets to cave. Joe and Mika have also paved the way. So has Patrick Soon-Shiong, the owner of the Los Angeles Times. Nobody with big money wants a beef with Trump. They want to keep their big money and get even bigger money still.
And Richard Branson is probably on Patel’s enemies list. Here’s a letter that Trump sent to Branson, republished on Yahoo.
In Branson’s new memoir, “Finding My Virginity,” Branson published the letter and his response in full. Trump’s letter, dated November 12, 2004, is below.
“Dear Richard:
“I see that you are trying to take me on with your nasty comments, much the same way as Mark Cuban had tried. As you know, Mark went down in flames, his show was unceremoniously cancelled, never to return again. In any event. now that I have watched your show, I wish you came to me and asked my advice — I would have told you not to bother. You have no television persona and, as I found out with others a long time ago, if it’s not there there’s not a thing in the world you can do about it.
“At least your dismal ratings can now allow you to concentrate on your airline which, I am sure, needs every ounce of your energy. It is obviously a terrible business and I can’t imagine, with fuel prices etc., that you can be doing any better in it than anyone else. Like television, you should try to get out of the airline business too, as soon soon as possible! Actually, I wonder out loud how you can be anywhere close to a billionaire and be in that business. Perhaps the title of your show, The Rebel Billionaire, is misleading?
“In any event, do not use me in order to promote your rapidly sinking show — you are a big boy, try doing it by yourself!
“Sincerely,
“Donald J. Trump”
In November 2004, Branson’s reality competition show, “The Rebel Billionaire,” had debuted to poor ratings. After “The Apprentice,” NBC’s reality show built around Trump, became a runaway hit in early 2004 — with an average of around 20 million viewers — the other networks looked to capitalize on the dramatic combination of “Survivor” and the business world that NBC’s series nailed.
ABC tried a six-episode series that fall with Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban called “The Benefactor” that was received poorly and received low ratings in 2004 of around 5 million viewers. It was canceled shortly before Fox’s attempt with Branson pulled any barely more viewers and was also lampooned by critics.
Again, vintage Trump. How dare anybody compete in the same creative space as Trump? They don’t have the *right.* Trump is king of the hill. I wonder if it ever occurred to Trump that The Apprentice was a commercial success for much the same reason that 50’s sci fi was commercially successful, i.e., that it’s so bad that it’s good, in a perverse way.
Trump created a persona which is over the top with gold toilets, gold plated seatbelts on his airplane, everything artificial and perfect, much as plastic flowers are perfect. And they may look breathtaking from a distance, but you get up close and you realize what you’re dealing with.
I am the last person to understand the appeal of The Apprentice, having never seen a single episode of it. Trump created his fantasy of being uber successful, running the world, and now he’s doing that fantasy in the White House. Again. With half the nation still hating his guts. It’s sad but that’s the state of affairs, as we enter into the last two weeks of 2024.
Wow.
The insecurity of knowing he’ll never be worth anything drips from every bloviating word.
Mr Trump really knows, in his heart, that he really is a worthless waste of human flesh.
Everything he does is to avoid facing that reality.
Sad!
I wouldn’t lose a night’s sleep George for two reasons: first, coming from her, it was an “alternative fact”; secondly, you will never again roll over in the dark and see that succubus looking at you.