Trump's Election Attacks Began with Lost Emmys
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- Trump gave a primetime address about U.S. election vulnerabilities and to relitigate his 2020 loss to Joe Biden, which the source notes happened as a war with Iran continues and midterms loom.
- Trump earned an estimated $427 million from "The Apprentice" (2004-2010) and "Celebrity Apprentice" (2008-2015), the revenue that helped rebuild his image while his real estate empire was in debt.
- Trump lost Emmy nominations for Outstanding Reality-Competition Program to "The Amazing Race" in 2004 and 2005, and was nominated again in 2006 without himself.
- Trump later called the Television Academy's voting process "dishonest" on social media, accusations the source says forced the Academy to publicly defend its detailed voting procedures.
- Hillary Clinton during the 2016 presidential debate warned that Trump's Emmy grievance revealed a broader pattern: "Every time Donald thinks things are not going in his direction, he claims whatever it is rigged against him."
- Trump interrupted Clinton during the 2016 debate with "I should have gotten it," drawing audience laughter but, per the source, confirming Clinton's characterization that he believed the Emmys were "rigged."
Why it matters: The source argues Trump's current questioning of U.S. election legitimacy is the latest expression of a pattern traceable to his 2004-2005 Emmy losses — that his acceptance of any institution's legitimacy is conditional on it declaring him the winner, a thesis Clinton publicly articulated during the 2016 debate and that the author says has now been borne out across a decade of defeats.
