In 2016, when Zucker hitched his network's wagon to Trump's campaign, it was actually a repeat performance.
In 2004, as president of NBC Entertainment, Zucker brought Trump into millions of American homes as host of The Apprentice.
The show, which Trump hosted for 14 seasons, portrayed him as "the embodiment of everything that Americans are taught to revere," Glenn Greenwald told Democracy Now.
"This is the person who for decades has been a racist, a demagogue, a con artist, and yet NBC turned him into this swaggering hero, at great profit to itself."
It was a level of exposure most candidates could only dream of, and Trump was paid for it.
Zucker paid his friend $1 million per episode, over $200 million in total, at least according to Trump.
"Make no mistake," writes Washington Post media columnist Margaret Sullivan. "There would be no Trump-the-politician without Trump-the-TV-star. One begot the other."
Blurred Lines
At 2 a.m. election night, with Trump nearing victory, Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta told supporters that Clinton would have nothing to say till the morning.
That outraged CNN analyst Corey Lewandowski. When fellow analyst Van Jones tried to comfort Lewandowski, he was met with anger.
"Corey, you won," Jones offered quietly.
"Say it again, I didn't hear you," Lewandowski demanded, before continuing his finger-wagging lecture, as Jones counseled him to try bringing the country together, to no avail.
Lewandowski isn't just a CNN analyst, he's also Trump's former campaign manager (and current adviser).
The exchange is disturbing for what it may foretell of a Trump administration. Fueled by anger, it's unclear whether the Trump campaign will be able to pivot out of attack mode and reach out to the rest of the country (including Clinton voters, who actually numbered more than Trump voters).
Fresh off of being let go by the Trump campaign in June, CNN hired Lewandowski to offer on-air analysis, despite the fact that he signed a nondisclosure agreement prohibiting him from criticizing his former boss.
"I'm sorry, that is outrageous," New York Times executive editor Dean Baquet recently said of the arrangement, calling Lewandowski a "political shill." "I cannot fathom that."
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