Republicans Rush to Finalize Convention (‘Apprentice’ Producers Are Helping) – By Michael M. Grynbaum and Annie Karni (The New York Times) / Aug 22 2020
Democrats set a high bar last week for the pandemic-era political convention, dispensing with cheering crowds in favor of a virtual pageant that encompassed passionate speeches, a charming cross-country roll call vote, vignettes from an Oscar-winning filmmaker and a low-fi fireworks display above a parking lot. A few hiccups aside, even jaded network executives conceded the party mostly pulled it off.
© Anna Moneymaker for The New York Times President Trump at the 2020 Council for National Policy Meeting at the Ritz Carlton in Arlington, Va., on Friday.
Now it’s the Republicans’ turn in the prime-time spotlight — and the party led by a former reality TV star is rushing to measure up.
After scrapping plans for a full-bore, in-person spectacle in Charlotte, N.C., and Jacksonville, Fla., because of the coronavirus crisis, Republicans are working to finalize a week’s worth of events that can match the production put on for the Democratic nominee, Joseph R. Biden Jr., while meeting the exacting — and frequently shifting — standards of President Trump.
Two producers of “The Apprentice,” where Mr. Trump rose to TV stardom, are involved in the planning. Sadoux Kim, a longtime deputy to the “Apprentice” creator Mark Burnett, is a lead consultant on the production. Mr. Kim once served as a Miss Universe judge when Mr. Trump owned the pageant. Chuck LaBella, a former NBC entertainment executive who helped produce “The Comedy Central Roast of Donald Trump,” is also on the payroll.
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