The president's brief pre-taped statement Wednesday showing far more affection than condemnation for his supporters taking over the U.S. Capitol building shouldn't have been surprising. As Caroline Framke points out, "throughout his career, whether as a reality show host or as the President of the United States, Trump has very rarely used his time on TV to do anything other than incite a strong reaction in his audience." Framke adds: "It’s undeniable that Trump’s quest to be the world’s most famous man wouldn’t have worked without television, a medium that’s allowed him to deliver his bravado and rambling thoughts with barely any filter. Even on The Apprentice, a show that underwent plenty of editing to heighten its dramatic stakes, producer Mark Burnett helped Trump fine-tune his persona as a successful businessman who doesn’t compromise or tolerate any bullshit. That onscreen process gave Trump some semblance of gravitas and a crash course in how to grab attention — the foundation, in other words, on which he’d later run his successful presidential campaign. The more exaggerated his speech, the more news networks scrambled to make room for it. The more 'unbelievable' his statements, the harder comedy shows worked to satirize them. He lies, knowing the truth doesn’t particularly matter as long as the falsities go live first. The Trump Show is an all-consuming beast, and as Trump well knows, it would starve without TV. Over the last several years, it’s been both fascinating and terrifying to watch other politicians learn that same lesson to the point that today, when contesting an election with no evidence of fraud, Senator Ted Cruz referenced the 'viewers' instead of 'voters.'"
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TOPICS: Trump Presidency, CNBC, CNN, Fox News Channel, MSNBC, Anderson Cooper, ABC News, Cable News, CBS News, NBC News, Ratings, U.S. Capitol Takeover