Trump Media Inc.
a brief look at the possibility of a Trump media company
by Jordan Wunderlich
Dedicated to the lovely Mr. Trump.
He’s a real go getter, a pussy grabber, a winner. Winner!
No lie.
Cross my heart and hope to die.
Stick a needle in my eye.
Part One – Prelude
“Sometimes by losing a battle you find a new way to win the war.”
– Donald Trump
In the past few weeks, I have now heard a handful of news outlets express the idea that Donald Trump will start a media company after he fails to win the election. These media companies have not really expanded on the idea of a Trump News or on how they exactly got the idea to begin with… They merely slip the detail in here or there… Almost as if it’s filler.
Those offhanded comments eventually led me to think about what a Trump media company would be like. I had just read one of the few articles that briefly mentioned the possibility of a Donald Trump News company and the thought of Donald Trump spending the next decade or so harassing everybody he personally dislikes simultaneously tickled my fancy and horrified me.
So when Donald Trump said “I’ll keep you in suspense” when asked about whether or not he’d bow out of the Presidential election if Hillary wins, people were affronted by that. I heard a man setting the stage, giving himself free advertising, for his soon to come media outlet.
And that’s how we’re here!
In the following report I will explore the general issues, topics, and people who would be involved in a Donald Trump News Company.
I want you to understand that this is not a formal report… I am not the Bureau of Labor and Statistics. I am not here to give you a bunch of numbers and blandly phrased nonsense. The purpose of an Ink (my term for a report but less report-ish) is to inspire thought. It’s supposed to be fun and informational… it’s fun-a-mation.
As a side note, if you’re a rather voyeuristic person you will be so incredibly disappointed by my writing. I have no gossip to offer you, no mysterious ‘inside sources’, and no desire to write anything sensational in nature. This report is more along the lines of a thought experiment.
Another note, I cannot guarantee the accuracy of anything in this Ink. Why’s that? Because I do not know what Donald Trump or anybody will do! I’m no mind reader. The world is a wildly complex place and nobody knows how things will turn out. So in all seriousness, simply think of this entire paper as a thought experiment.
And underpinning our thought experiment will be the following assumptions…
- Trump will lose the Presidential election.
- Trump will not spend the next year contesting the election results by every means he can. He has thought about losing and knows what he’d like to do.
- Trump has a desire to become an influencer, a media man, one of the people who he happens to refer to as “corrupt”.
- Considering there were Trump Steaks, Trump Vodka, SUCCESS by Donald Trump, Trump Mortgage, and even Trump The Game… Trump loves to put his name on things and will name the media company along the lines of Trump News or Trump Media. I personally went with Trump Media*.
Side note: There were two companies, now inactive, named Trump Media registered in New York.
Part Two – Precedent
“Part of being a winner is knowing when enough is enough. Sometimes you have to give up the fight and walk away, and move on to something that’s more productive.”
– Donald Trump
Fuckin Politicians man…
It would not be unprecedented for Donald Trump to start his own media company if he were to lose the election. While politicians generally don’t start their own media company, media is part of the job. What politician doesn’t love inserting himself into any and every conversation?
“… the media is more biased this year than ever before. Ever.”
– Donald Trump
Rigged!!!
What’s more Donald Trump has frequently derided the media for being corrupt, for being Hillary’s stooges and lapdogs, and for simultaneously not being critical enough of Hillary while being overly critical of himself. It really does seem that Donald Trump believes his own anti-media conspiracy theories / rhetoric.
“The election is being rigged by corrupt media pushing false allegations and outright lies in an effort to elect Hillary Clinton president,”
– Donald Trump
And if you remember, Donald Trump even questioned why the moderators weren’t stopping Hillary from going over her time limit while they were interrupting him during a presidential debate…
Presumably this little outburst was because of his ‘the media is corrupt mindset‘.
Now… we aren’t dealing with whether it’s right or wrong for a person to think major American media companies are generally unethical, we’re just trying to understand the mindset Trump has and how that would effect his future…
And Donald Trump’s mindset really does seem to lend itself to the whole ‘I’m gonna start my own unbiased news company!!! I’ll show them!!!‘ line of reasoning doesn’t it?
Compulsive Need for Attention
Now, can you imagine any better way for Trump to continue to get the attention he wants as a loser in the Presidential election than to start his own media company? Media companies are public facing after all and have a very high interaction level with the general public. What better way to take on Hillary and her stooges than by starting his own, presumably non corrupt, media company!
He already has somebody who can help him do just that you know… His current ‘CEO’ of the Trump campaign is Steven Bannon, the former chief editor of the media company Breitbart.
Further underpinning Donald Trump’s ability to start a media company is the absolutely amazing amount of free advertising the current popular media (think New York Times, CNN, Washington Post, all those people) have given him. Supposedly, it comes out to about $1.8 billion in free advertising for Trump.
In comparison PepsiCo spent $2.3 billion on advertising in 2014. Donald Trump’s amount of free advertising is coming close to the entire ad spend of company that made over $66 billion in revenue in 2014. That’s pretty shocking.
To put it another way, if Donald Trump had the same ratio of revenue to spending on advertising as Pepsi does… he’d be a company with about $50 billion in revenue. Of course he does not make anything near that, but the point is to show you how valuable the free advertising he’s been getting actually is.
What’s more… Donald Trump may have gotten even more free advertising than the $1.8 billion amount reported by the New York Times.
Donald Trump has gotten the equivalent of nearly $3 billion in free advertising since last May, according to the latest statistics from the firm mediaQuant, blowing away rivals in both parties.
Trump, who became the presumptive Republican presidential nominee when last rivals Sen. Ted Cruz and Gov. John Kasich exited the race, has received the equivalent of more than $2.8 billion in free ads through April. That’s based on media coverage and the equivalent advertising rates.
Source: Robert Schroeder, MarketWatch.com, May 6, 2016, URL: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/trump-has-gotten-nearly-3-billion-in-free-advertising-2016-05-06
That is an absolutely insane amount of free media coverage… Billions... wowza.
Over the course of the campaign, he has earned close to $2 billion worth of media attention, about twice the all-in price of the most expensive presidential campaigns in history. It is also twice the estimated $746 million that Hillary Clinton
Source: Nicholas Confessore and Karen Yourish, New York Times, March 15 2016, URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/16/upshot/measuring-donald-trumps-mammoth-advantage-in-free-media.html
“People love me. And you know what, I have been very successful. Everybody loves me.”
– Donald Trump
Donald Trump also loves attention… which isn’t surprising. Humans do love attention, it’s just part of who we are. What is surprising is the apparent lengths he’ll go to to get attention though. There has always been a palpable feeling of ‘neediness’ in how he interacts with anybody (Putin) and anything (media companies) that have the potential to give him enormous amounts of attention. I’m sure you, dear reader, have ‘felt’ that need Donald Trump has for attention in one way or another.
“The way I run my business seems to be easier than the way I run my life.”
– Donald Trump
Donald Trump is also, supposedly, wicked smart. So monopolizing on his hardcore supporters is a wonderful way to line his pockets
would allow for another run at political office (age doesn’t seem to be as much of an issue as you would think, his war chest can be spent on political campaigning not himself and he sure does love spending other people’s money)
Part Three – Trump Media’s Setup
D-Trump would most likely only be superficially involved in the running and content creation of his media organization. Considering his hatred of Teleprompters and prepping for speeches, it is doubtful that he would be able to act as an editor (which is the role most people would assume he’d play.
Donald Trump may not even set up his own media company and instead may just get his own branded section of Breitbart.
This is the most common thing I’ve seen people come up with… that Donald Trump will go back to his apprentice roots and become a TV personality again. I think it would be an absurd idea to have a ‘Trump TV’ channel. The costs would be enormous with almost no advertisers daring to run ads on it because of fears of toxicity.
So if he didn’t have his own independent news channel… What if he simply got a deal with Fox News for his own TV slot? Again I believe this is the least likely thing to happen because it would carry a high risk for Fox while not offering a significant reward. I am certain Fox is aware that having Donald Trump run a show could end up creating a toxic situation… not a desirable thing for executives who are already just trying to keep the business chugging along despite the Ailes issues.
It makes vastly more sense for Trump to distribute content through a ‘Trump Media’ website. It lowers costs significantly, makes advertising sales easier, and allows for video content to be produced and distributed at a fraction of the cost of traditional TV. In other words, the benefits vastly outweigh the costs. And if Trump is as smart of a businessman as he thinks I feel that he would be able to figure that out.
Part Four – Business and more Business
Breitbarts ad revenue, for Donald Trump I’d assume that’d mean taking a stake in Breitbart as well as a slice of revenue.
Make assumption as fraction of donations if subscription model
Fox News (revenue and ratings)
Breitbart is the clear competitor for a Trump media organization. But since all other media personalities and groups are either small or Rush Limbaugh, it is doubtful that Trump would cannibalize breitbart’s readership.
Fox news is the similar competitor
I feel that what we would most likely see is the formalization fo the ‘alt-right’ politically because of their increased media presence (going from 1 big media company to 2 big media companies)
Part Five – Key People
So lets go through the people who might be involved with a Trump Media company! These are purely speculative of course… and any media organization of moderate size would need a handful of writers and editors who we’ve never heard of and probably will never actually encounter directly in the media.
Ivanka Trump
“In both business and personal life, I’ve always found that travel inspires me more than anything else I do. Evidence of the languages, cultures, scenery, food, and design sensibilities that I discover all over the world can be found in every piece of my jewelry.”
– Ivanka Trump
Ivanka! Ivanka Trump seems to be his favorite kiddo when it comes to any kind of public facing company. She helps with the Trump Fine Jewelry company, has her own Ivanka Trump , and helped pick out the interior decor for the new Trump hotle in Washington DC. Ivanka has also been a presence in Donald Trump’s political campaign and presumably has had some interaction with Steven Bannon.
Donald Trump
The real deal! The big D! Donalddddddd Trump! Now, if we are to use Donald Trump’s past participation in businesses that carry his name as an example of his future participation in Trump Media … It’s pretty safe to assume that he will only spend a few minutes a day on actual work at Trump Media. His previous radio spot Trumped! only ran for at most 2 minutes.
Tony Schwartz, who spent a year and a half with him as the ghostwriter for his best-selling The Art of the Deal in 1987, said the fact that Trump “has no attention span” should be an “explicit” issue in the current election. O’Donnell, who put out a tell-all book in 1991 but had kept quiet since then up until recently, wrote last month in his local paper that he’s “horrified” by the possibility of a President Trump partly because Trump’s “attention span was so small it was almost impossible to have a strategic conversation with him.”
Source: Michael Kruse, Politico, September 2016, URL: http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/09/donald-trump-attention-span-214223
Donald Trump seems to be one of those people that loves to have everybody work for him while putting in zero effort himself. You know the type… the old geezer that shows up at the office when they feel like, who isn’t even your actual manager, who then proceeds to walk around the office telling everybody to do things that they’re already doing, spouting off and making offensive statements in conversation with people who are blatantly uncomfortable, and in general just making an ass of themselves.
“Well, I mean, I have an attention span that’s as long as it has to be,”
– Donald Trump
Bill Mitchell
“If Hillary was so prepared, why did she appear to be READING every time she was stating “facts”? What was she reading?”
– Bill Mitchell, @mitchellvii, 20 Oct 2016
Bill Mitchell has been a small time, if pervasive, force for the Trump campaign. I personally came across his tweets on twitter. He was being ridiculed so hard for saying some of the strangest things that I actually blocked his account long before ever writing this… the things he says are just so absurd. Now the thing about Bill Mitchell is that he seems to be a minnow in the carp pond that is Donald Trump.
He does not have star power, nobody apparently even knew who he was and just assumed he was some has-been star (he isn’t), and he has relatively no media presence. At the time of this writing, Bill Mitchell only has 103,000 followers on twitter and a spot on YourVoice Radio. YourVoice Radio was actually started by Bill Mitchell himself in June 2016 and according to the YourVoice Radio website it garners a whole 50,000 listeners a month.
The reports that he also has almost zero interaction with the Trump campaign. While it is humorous to think that a man who believes that Hillary Clinton was cheating in the debates by getting mysterious ‘light signals’ would have a presence in Trump’s media organization… there is just no evidence to point us in that direction. We can only assume Bill has been tolerated by the Trump campaign because ‘hey, free advertising’.
“What the hell is this light that Hillary stares at every time she is reading?”
– Bill Mitchell, @mitchellvii, 20 Oct 2016
Mike Cernovich
“Abe Lincoln was a cuck.”
– Mike Cernovich, @Cernovich, 22 Oct 2016
I decided to include Mike Cernovich here not because I think he’ll play any kind of vital role in a Trump Media organization but because I can’t help but suspect that he’d be a regular guest there.
Mike Cernovich is currently one of the main cheerleaders for the ‘alt-right movement’ as well as the Trump supporters of the world. At the time of this writing, he currently has 139,000 followers on twitter and is quite fond of insulting people for seemingly little to no reason.
His main topics of concern are; insulting people, why Trump is a god, why everybody but alt-righters are stupid, the occasional conspiracy theory, and of course… bashing long gone politicians for no explicable reason.
In other words, Mike’s favorite topics are exactly the kind of content I’m sure we’ll find at a Trump Media company. I expect we’ll hear the words ‘today’s guest is Mike Cernovich’ on Trump Media’s future YouTube channel frequently… so prepare yourself for that.
So to continue! Let’s read a little bit about Mike’s upcoming book! Are you excited!?! I’m so excited.
Danger & Play: Essays on Embracing Masculinity
About the Author: Mike Cernovich is considered the most controversial writer living today, as he tells the truth without fear of offending the politically correct or weak minded.’
The sheer arrogance of that description is astounding… it should tell you a lot about how Mike views himself.
Now if we’re being honest, he is one of the most self-centered pieces of shit I have ever seen. If you go and read any of his writing, you’ll quickly notice that everything is about him, his feelings, his thoughts, and his selfish desires. Me me me me me.
Even when people criticize him… all he does is fire off insults as a way to justify his poor behavior. He quite clearly lacks empathy in his writings and that may be because for all I know he possess none. Every interaction he publicly has lacks empathy.
Mike Cernovich is, in essence, a young sociopathic Trump.
Sean Hannity
Sean Hannity is currently a Fox News anchor
Part Six – Trump Media Content
“If you get good ratings, they’ll cover you even if you have nothing to say.”
– Donald Trump
Donald Trump really does seem to love to talk about ISIS. Breitbart also loves to talk about ISIS. ISIS will presumably be around for years to come as will successor terrorist organizations.
“You know that ISIS wants to go in and take over the Vatican? You have heard that. You know, that’s a dream of theirs, to go into Italy. “
– Donald Trump
In fact, the US military is planning on the War on Terror to continue for another 15 years.
That is a lot of stories for Donald Trump’s new people to write up.
Breitbart is already expanding its own sensationalist coverage to areas in Europe that have experienced terrorist attacks… Opening up offices in Germany and France. Presumably this is so they can report on some of their own favorite topics of immigration, terrorists, non-white folks, Jews, etcetera.
Funny enough… Donald Trump also loves talking about Immigration!
Politics! What good would a Trump Media be without railing against the “rigged” and “corrupt” system that is American politics? What better way to endlessly whine than to have dozens of people constantly writing about how bad Hillary Clinton is. What I think will be interesting is their initial coverage will seem horribly asinine to people… but eventually in their dogged pursuit of newsworthy items concerning Clinton they actually will probably find something valuable for the American people.
I don’t know about you, but I would find it highly ironic if the man who people hated because he refused to bow out after losing the election then went on to legitimately become of the people safeguarding American rights by exposing wrongdoing in the government. This is, however, the man who purchased two paintings of himself with charity money… so perhaps our little thought experiment is becoming too whimsical.
Who knows though…
Part Seven – Reaction
“So many people are on television that don’t know me, and they’re like experts on me.”
– Donald Trump
I personally feel that a Trump media company would be a non-event. It certainly would be interesting to see because it’d in a sense be a formalization of the ‘alt-right’ and be a focal point for them… I’m sure that it’d make its way into a socilogly textbook at some point.
But other than that, a Trump News really wouldn’t have anything new to say, it wouldn’t offer much value, I feel it’d just be a Breitbart news 2.0.
Regardless of its dubious value to myself, it would be important. It’s important for the United States as a society to tolerate the creation of new media companies, with new focuses, catering to new audiences.
However, that kind of tolerance seems to be lost on a lot of people.
The reaction from all corners will be vicious
Witness the incredulity and sheer number of articles concerning trump’s lack of understanding concerning our presidential race, his unwillingness to bow out, and his launch of a media company will be a personal affront to millions of Americans.
That reaction by principle minded Americans will only further inspire zealotry in Trump’s supporters. It will only give them even more reason to patronize a trump media organization.
This could also create a seriously damaging cycle of ‘constitutional’ issues.
People, out of rage, will insist that trump must somehow be stopped and that ‘hate speech isn’t protected speech’
But he cannot.
He is a free man and he is free to air his opinions. There are very, very, few exceptions to the first amendment… and hate speech, racist speech, all kinds of atrocious speech are absolutely protected.
This will create a different reaction, it’ll either create a force wanting to somehow change the first amendment to restrict his speech with two counter forces one gently reminding them that however hateful Trump Media’s speech becomes the First Amendment guarantees his speech while the second group will become ever more hateful and attack people supporting AND opposing the limiting of Trump’s speech. Their hate will not be bridled and reason generally goes out the door when people are whipped up into such emotional frenzies. So anybody attempting to have an adult conversation, especially on Twitter, should expect to be called a cuck and libtard.
We will see much whining and sensationalism from the media. Perhaps that should be resisted.
What is needed is a media, a society, which is willing to counter his speech at every turn. I cannot think of anything more American than to resist the temptation of trying to use force to silence Trump and instead use speech to dissuade people from patronizing his sites.
Ask people not to visit after he announces
For every article they publish, counter it without giving them attention.
Speak to people, not at them, your job is to act as a moderate voice… a person who is willing to listen to what the patrons of trump feels.
What’s more, as Obama ‘retires’ he will… like most people… still want to feel productive while spending more time on himself and family (something we can all relate to). If trump were to create a Trump Media organization, simply having Obama occasionally pen an article or two officially (not an op-ed or letter to ed) the value would be immense.
I would presume that Obama would continue the tradition of presidents becoming generally more moderate and ‘calm’ in retirement. His voice would be a calm tone compared to the raucous shout of a Trump Media. The American people will find that comforting. What’s more, if Obama did offer calmer and more neutral commentary… people may very well end up trusting him more than the current president and president Trump. Again, a calm voice can do wonders.
Part Eight – A Summary
“Anyone who thinks my story is anywhere near over is sadly mistaken.”
– Donald Trump
Trump, by all accounts, is at the least mildly deceitful and wildly self-interested. I feel that is is doubtful he will want to give up the extreme amount of attention he has garnered as a presidential candidate. For a person such a himself, to go from being a regular fixture in the daily lives of 300+ million Americans to being a has-been, a small fry, has to be devastating.
It is very easy to imagine a scenario where after say a week of pouting over losing to Hillary Clinton and challenging the results of the election because he feels they’ve been ‘rigged’ he then goes on to announce that he will start a media / news company to fight against Crooked Hillary throughout her term as president.
Donald Trump has set the stage for a launch of a media company.
Part Nine – Afterword
I would like to say that Donald Trump is a human being… subject to the flaws of humanity. I do not know who he truly is, I do not know what is in his heart, I can only go off of what I’ve encountered.
And so far what I’ve encountered is a whole lot of ‘me me me‘ thinking out of Donald Trump and that’s about it. My feelings concerning those encounters are probably clear from the text above. I do not like, or find acceptable, narcissistic or poor behavior. I have no interest in indulging others in their poor behavior and have always done my best to focus on the truth.
So while it is clear the Donald Trump’s behavior has angered me and led me to criticize his poor behavior on occasion… that does not mean you should dismiss what I have to say because you feel I’m biased. Donald Trump is not special, he is not unique, and he isn’t even particularly interesting. I would criticize anybody who behaved like Trump reportedly has.
And you know what, I am not even particularly political. I do not support Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump and by criticizing one and not the other… that does not mean I support them.
So if anything, I am on your side.
You may find that line cheesy… but it is the truth. I am here to be helpful for you, to inspire thought, to pull some information from parts of society you may have never experienced and bring it to you… that is all.
Update
This did not age well. Everything has gone to crap. Nothing matters. Donald Trump and Gang just do whatever they like, while congress just goes lol, and the media runs around like headless chickens.