That relieves all the pent-up anxiety of a Trump wannabe. Therefore, such a viewer remains content with his or her current life, acquiescing to (and as a result reinforcing) current hegemonic power structures (i.e., the real power of big corporations, and corporate players like Trump, over all the rest of us)). "The Apprentice" is especially successful at pro-hegemonic reinforcement, moreover, since it focuses on a subject we all (except for those born independently wealthy, or winners of huge lotteries) recognize and experience day-to-day: work. Hegemonic power of corporate workplaces, and, by association, a national government that allows, and encourages, corporate uses and abuses of power, are validated by "The Apprentice's" implicit suggestion that a high-powered corporate career, the higher paid and more prestigious the better [the stuff that makes the Ken Lays of the world tick], is exciting, fun, glamorous, where the winners are, and something to aspire to, rather than to be suspicious of, avoid for humanity's or the environment's sake, or even critique. In terms of the political implications, moreover, the widespread popularity of "The Apprentice" is especially good news for George W. Bush, himself a Harvard M.B.A., and also the most business-friendly chief executive in all of American history.

But, as is often true in the (corporate driven and supported) world of network television, Trump, the show's Alpha Capitalist, is a fake. After all, Many of Trump's own current (and past) entrepreneurial endeavors fall short of success. To paraphrase then-Senator Lloyd Bentsen, during the 1992 George H.W. Bush vs. Dukakis presidential campaign, "He's no Warren Buffet."

For example, "$1.3 billion in debt, Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts is going bankrupt, this being the second...

As one viewer of "The Apprentice" also states: ". . . he's borrowed so much money that, if the banks don't stand by him, the reverberations will reach all the way to my piggybank. So we should . . . forget that the casinos may have been a bad gamble? ("Inkwell").
Forces that currently drive the popularity of "The Apprentice" include an economic climate still favorable to corporate profitability, and the fact that, at least for now, enough Americans remain gainfully employed, and not so scared of impending inflation, that the sight of Trump "firing" various bright, able people like themselves inside his made-for-TV boardroom is not yet sufficiently disturbing to cause them to quit watching. Should inflation hit, should too many more (corporate) jobs be shipped overseas, and/or should gasoline prices continue climbing to the point where middle-class viewers no longer identify as much with the "Trumped-up" (pun intended) pro-capitalist messages of the show, a backlash will occur against it, and against American corporate culture and values in general, as reality shows learn they can no longer paint big business and those running it as "good guys." Right now, most who choose to watch "The Apprentice" find it "merely" entertaining, or so they think. However, should too many of those same viewers see their own corporate jobs sent overseas, or need to sell their SUV's in order to buy smaller cars with better gas mileage, "The Apprentice" and all it implies will suddenly seem to them more painful than entertaining.

Works Cited

"Dinsdag." November 30, 2004. Swerve Left. Retrieved May 11, 2005, from:

.

"Inkwell." Independent Women's Forum. Retrieved May 11, 2005, from: