Donald Trump roasting his enemies is nothing new. He’s quite literally made a career out of it. But on Friday, January 6, 2017, he got bested by the new boss of the new Celebrity Apprentice.
While the phrase “epic own” gets thrown around on the internet like a hot potato these days, it seems like a pretty good descriptor for what Arnold Schwarzenegger did here.
There's nothing more important than the people's work, @realDonaldTrump. https://t.co/fYtAfFPMKF
— Arnold (@Schwarzenegger) January 6, 2017
I wish you the best of luck and I hope you'll work for ALL of the American people as aggressively as you worked for your ratings.
— Arnold (@Schwarzenegger) January 6, 2017
In a series of tweets, Trump said that Schwarzenegger “got ‘swamped’ (or destroyed) by comparison to the ratings machine DJT.”
Slamming Schwarzenegger is an odd move, considering Trump has kept the title of the executive producer for the NBC reality series.
Schwarzenegger debuted as the host of Trump’s former hit series on Monday. The new series premiere averaged 4.9 million viewers.
When the show debuted in 2004, Trump’s “The Apprentice” was a ratings smash-hit. 18.5 million viewers tuned into its premiere episode.
But what Trump left out in his tweet calling himself a “ratings machine” is that by the time his run as host ended, ratings had fallen precipitously. 6.5 million viewers tuned in two years ago to Trump’s final season premiere as host — 1.6 million more than for Schwarzenegger’s premiere, true, but 12 million less than the first season.
Wow, the ratings are in and Arnold Schwarzenegger got "swamped" (or destroyed) by comparison to the ratings machine, DJT. So much for….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 6, 2017
being a movie star-and that was season 1 compared to season 14. Now compare him to my season 1. But who cares, he supported Kasich & Hillary
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 6, 2017
Trump himself offered a possible explanation for his trashing a show that he could still be making money from, writing, “who cares, he supported Kasich & Hillary.”
Schwarzenegger, the Republican former governor of California, backed Ohio Gov. John Kasich in the Republican primary and said in October that he could not support Trump in the general election.
Considering the historical ratings of “Celebrity Apprentice,” let’s hope he works a bit more aggressively than that.
