Longtime radio host Howard Stern this week stuck by his theory that President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign began as a publicity stunt to promote his NBC reality show, “The Apprentice.”
Trump was a frequent guest on Stern’s show for many years. During a recent interview to promote his new book, Stern claimed to have “inside information” that told him Trump’s campaign was an attempt to boost ratings for his show, increase his own profile and secure a new deal from NBC.
“This is a publicity stunt,” Stern told CNN’s Anderson Cooper on Thursday. “I have no doubt because I have some inside information.”
Stern said that the scheme was a “PR guy's idea.” Back in 1987, when Trump released his first book.
“He said, ‘Donald, what you need to do is we'll ... make sort of a rumor that you're running for president’” to increase sales of his books, “The Art of the Deal,” and “The Art of the Comeback.”
“So all of a sudden he was being interviewed. The book goes right to No. 1,” Stern said.
He added that, “In the last election, ‘The Apprentice’ ratings were not what they were; NBC was not going to give him a raise, and what’s a better way to get NBC’s interest? ‘I’ll run for president, get lots of press,' and I think that’s what happened.”
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