Donald Trump’s potential presidential bid — which may be informally announced on NBC’s “Celebrity Apprentice” — presents an interesting challenge for MSNBC, NBC’s progressive, forward-left-leaning corporate cable sibling.
To dismiss Trump’s bid — and his birther-spewing platform — as a thinly-veiled promotional ploy for his primetime reality show is a direct shot-across-the-bow at NBC, NBC Entertainment and, indirectly, a knock on NBCU ownership and Comcast.
But that’s just what Lawrence O’Donnell did on his MSNBC show last night.
O’Donnell attacked Trump, saying “the depths of [his] ignorance of the American government would not get him past a citizenship test.” Lean forward for this one.
"When asked the number of the House of Representatives, he had absolutely no idea. He couldn’t even venture a guess."
Also read: Donald Trump for President: Are You Serious?
O’Donnell’s fury appears to have been sparked by Trump’s remarks on a radio show earlier on Thursday, in which The Donald referred to “The Last Word” as “some show that gets no ratings.”
After playing audio of Trump’s comments, O’Donnell said: “That’s the closest I can get to getting Donald on the show. Because getting Donald on your show requires a certain amount of sucking up to Donald and pretending he is some kind of adult in an adult chair.” (O'Donnell may or may not have been referring to the recent "Today" show interview with Trump, which Meredith Vieira was widely-criticized for.)
With NBC’s Upfront scheduled for May 16, O’Donnell estimated “there is no more than a month left in Trump’s fake campaign.”
“Trump desperately needs the income from the only paying job we know he has as a performer on NBC," he said. "It’s on a show whose title I can never remember. Like most Americans, I’ve never seen it.
"Since attacking Bill Cosby, Trump’s ratings have collapsed for his show," O'Donnell said. "If the downward trend continues, sometime before May 16, Bob Greenblatt, the head of NBC Entertainment, may have the exquisite pleasure of being the first person ever to say, 'Donald Trump, you’re fired.'”