Birther King Donald Trump was polling well as a GOP presidential contender for weeks based on his willingness to suggest the president wasn’t born in the United States and attack him as an undeserving affirmative action baby, because it’s not like Trump was a mediocre student who went on to work at his father’s real estate company or anything.
The result, as Joshua Green reported at the time, was that ratings for his Celebrity Apprentice show cratered. I hope Green won’t mind if I borrow his chart:
Pretty grim. Naturally, the only thing NBC could possibly do in response was offer him more money:
NBC Universal, which was acquired by cable-TV giant Comcast this year, agreed to pay Trump and co-producer Mark Burnett an estimated $160 million over two years, according to sources familiar with the contract.
Trump, who was in Scotland yesterday touting his plan to build a new golf course, couldn’t be reached for comment. But sources said he will personally pocket $65 million a year, a substantial increase on his previous deal with the Peacock Network.
“They stepped up,” said one source close to the show. “It was an increase over last season.”
With this new deal, Trump becomes the highest-paid reality-TV star, eclipsing the “American Idol” judges and the Kardashian clan.
Of course this just proves that Trump is smarter and works harder than all the other millionaire reality TV stars whose diligence proves that America is a pure meritocracy–or would be if it wasn’t for all the unfair advantages people get as a result of affirmative action.
