White House press secretary Sean Spicer was giddy at the thought of meeting Pope Francis during President Trump’s first trip abroad, telling acquaintances that for him, a devout Catholic, the moment would fulfill a bucket-list dream.
But when the White House finalized the lucky list of staff and family members who would accompany Trump into his private audience with the pontiff at the Vatican last week, Spicer’s name was nowhere to be found.
Enduring public humiliation has become a defining characteristic of Spicer’s tenure
.. In Trump’s White House, aides serve a president who demands absolute loyalty — but who doesn’t always offer it in return. Trump prefers a management style in which even compliments can come laced with a bite, and where enduring snubs and belittling jokes, even in public, is part of the job.
.. But others consider Trump’s comments pointed reminders to those who work for him that he is in charge — barbs from the boss that keep aides on guard and off kilter, and can corrode staff morale.
.. And during the transition, Trump would make a point of noting that Vice President-elect Mike Pence’s crowds paled compared to his, teasing that even his daughter Ivanka and son Eric attracted more attention, said two people familiar with the comments, which they considered demeaning. (Pence offered a similar quip on the campaign trail.)
.. Critics say the president often demeans those in his orbit, a tendency they say reflects a broader fragility beneath his bluster.
.. “Trump is so deeply insecure that not even becoming president of the United States quenched his need to make others feel small to build himself up,” said Tim Miller, a former spokesman for an anti-Trump super PAC. “Choosing to work for him necessitates a willingness to be demeaned in order to assuage his desire to feel like a big, important person.”
.. When he decided to fire his FBI director, James B. Comey, the president did so in an especially humiliating way. Like a scene out of “The Godfather,” Trump first sent Keith Schiller, his former head of security, to deliver the message to Comey at FBI headquarters.
.. As Comey was delivering a speech to FBI field employees, he initially laughed as news flashed across the TV screens that he had been fired. “How’d you guys do that?” he asked, according to someone briefed on the moment.
.. Mark Burnett, the creator of “The Apprentice,” introduced Trump, who went on to make a few tone-deaf jokes about Arnold Schwarzenegger, who had replaced him as the show’s host.
“The ratings went down the tubes,” the president said. “It’s been a total disaster and Mark will never, ever bet against Trump again. And I want to just pray for Arnold if we can, for those ratings, okay?”
.. At a private dinner shortly before he was inaugurated, Trump took aim at his incoming vice president and his incoming secretary of state, Rex Tillerson.
.. “Where’s our Rex?” Trump asked. “Wow. What a job. Thank you very much, thanks, Rex. I think it’s tougher than he thought. He’s led this charmed life. He goes into a country, takes the oil, goes into another country. It’s tough dealing with these politicians, right?”
.. Trump also sometimes reminds even his senior advisers, in ways big and small, that he has the power to demote them at any time.
.. But the president soon ordered up a change, said someone who witnessed the moment, telling Bannon to give up his seat for the junior staff member and relegating his top strategist to the couch.
.. “How do you all like Nikki? ” he asked, as she looked on. “Otherwise, she can easily be replaced.”
.. The president was livid about the leak — but had no problem being viewed as a bully, believing he was simply standing up for his nation’s best interests.
.. shoved aside a Balkan prime minister to get in front for a group photo and needled his allies about the cost of a new building for the alliance.
.. During his first in-person meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron, Trump’s typically aggressive greeting became a duel of one-upmanship as the two men clenched their jaws and tightened their faces during an intense, white-knuckled handshake.
Macron, France’s newly elected 39-year-old leader, later said he wanted to show Trump that he would not be pushed around or demeaned.
“I don’t believe in diplomacy by public abuse,” he said.
Mark Burnett, ‘Apprentice’ Producer, Denounces Trump
A person familiar with Mr. Trump’s “Apprentice” contract, who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe confidential terms, said M.G.M. would have to obtain Mr. Trump’s permission before releasing unaired footage of him from the show, part of a clause granting Mr. Trump control over the use of his name and likeness.
.. Entertainment lawyers interviewed this week wondered if Mr. Trump would have much of a legal case if footage were to be released. The “name and likeness” clause is typically invoked if a celebrity’s image is used for profit — not as documentary evidence in a presidential campaign.
.. Refusing to release footage “could mean that there are contractual restrictions,” said Jerry Glover, a lawyer in Chicago who has worked on reality-television disputes.
“It could also mean Burnett doesn’t want to get on Donald Trump’s bad side,” Mr. Glover added.
That is the suspicion of people like Ms. Allred, who marched outside M.G.M. headquarters and declared that Mr. Burnett had “a civic duty” to open his video vault.
.. There could also be reputational costs: An emergence of damning footage might blemish the valuable “Apprentice” brand. And the reality-television industry, with its susceptibility to spoilers and demands for authenticity, is particularly sensitive to issues of discretion and trust.
.. But none would speak publicly, citing nondisclosure agreements with steep financial penalties.
.. There are thousands of hours of footage from “The Apprentice,” most likely stored in hundreds of boxes. Finding scenes with Mr. Trump — let alone footage of some kind of damning utterance — would be no small task.
.. “Even if it turns out that Burnett’s sitting on Trump video that the public really ought to see, if he keeps on cranking out monster hits, this town won’t shun him,”
The Man Behind the Tapes That Could Sink the Donald
Here’s why Mark Burnett won’t release the ‘Apprentice’ footage.
But one longtime Hollywood executive who knows Burnett well and considers him a friend says that, contrary to some media reports, Burnett is not supporting Trump politically and has, in fact, long been privately appalled by the mogul’s crudeness. “They made a lot of money together,” the executive says. “That’s all.”
.. Since last weekend, when Bill Pruitt, a former Apprentice producer, tweeted in the aftermath of Trump’s lewd and abusive comments about women in old Access Hollywood outtakes that “there are far worse” Trump comments in the Apprentice archives
Another former Burnett producer, Chris Nee, later claimed on Twitter—in a tweet since deleted—that she had heard from Apprentice producers and crew that Trump had been heard using the “N-word,” and that the contractual penalty for any Burnett employee who disclosed proprietary information about the show was $5 million. (Nee later said she had only heard rumors of Trump’s words.) And the Associated Press reported that former crew members, staffers and contestants on the show said Trump used demeaning and sexist language about female contestants, ranked them by breast size and talked about which ones he’d like to have sex with.
.. whatever Burnett’s political or personal beliefs, it would be highly damaging to his standing in the industry—where he has a reputation as the sharpest of deal-makers—if he released proprietary material. “There’s no upside to it,” the executive says. “You erode any trust that anyone ever had in you. Who would ever want to work with you again?”
.. the civil rights lawyer Gloria Allred and representatives of the California branch of the National Organization for Women and the California Democratic Party Women’s Caucus marched to MGM’s headquarters in Beverly Hills to present an open letter demanding release of the tapes as “a civic duty.”
.. “Ethically, I think it’s a very 21st century moment,”
.. Burnett has distilled his business approach in an epigram: “Having the same sales pitch is stupid. Always adjust what you’re saying based on the person you’re hoping will give you their money.”
.. it wouldn’t be surprising if more Trump outtakes surface as they did in the Washington Post on Friday—no matter the potential financial or legal penalty. As the veteran studio lawyer told me, “This is the time when things like this show up in envelopes in the mailboxes of people like you.