Trump's Feud With Former CNN President Jeff Zucker Dates Back To Their Days On The Apprentice

Under Jeff Zucker's control, CNN made a name for itself as one of Donald Trump's strongest critics. Ironically, political commentators also believe the network is also a major reason for his success. The backstory dates to 2004, long before Trump first ran for presdient.  The real estate mogul had just teamed up with NBC for "The Apprentice," a game show-meets-reality-TV franchise. At the time, NBC's key segments were run by Zucker, who worked directly with Trump.

The first season aired in January of that year and turned out to be a major success. It raked in 21 million views, and Bill Rancic was crowned winner of the first season of "The Apprentice." Soon after, NBC began working on a second season that was to be aired in September of that same year. Trump, on the other hand, wanted to revisit his compensation. In his opinion, "The Apprentice" had raked in more viewers than "Friends" re-runs, so he deserved to be paid $6 million per episode since each of the "Friends" had received $1m.

It's worth noting that the season finale of "Friends" had actually raked in over 52 million viewers, and that "The Apprentice" was up against reruns of the show. Expectedly, Zucker was not having Trump's demands. Speaking to Vanity Fair's Ramin Setoodeh for his book, "Apprentice in Wonderland," Trump recalled Zucker's refusal. "We're not doing it. We already have someone else lined up," Zucker had said. However, both sides eventually reopened negotiations until they came up with an undisclosed figure that suited both parties.

By May 2007, "The Apprentice" was expected to be renewed for a seventh season but had seen a steady decline in viewership over the years. The previous season had dropped to nine million viewers — a far cry from 2004. Needless to say, it wasn't very surprising when NBC left the show out of its primetime schedule.

However, Donald Trump then released a statement explaining that he was dumping NBC — not the other way around! It added that he was "moving on" from the show and starting up another TV project. Its closing lines read: "If Mr. Trump's past TV success is any indication of the future, then one can anticipate that millions of Apprentice fans will be migrating to his new venture" (via TV Series Finale). 

Interestingly, just a few months later, in July, Trump and NBC unveiled the new "Celebrity Apprentice." It certainly makes us wonder if their feud was real or a marketing strategy to get people talking about the reality TV show again. If it was a ploy, it certainly worked, as the first episode of "Celebrity Apprentice" had over 11 million views. Trump and Zucker's relationship at NBC continued until 2010,when Zucker left the network. By 2012, Zucker was vying for the role of president at CNN, and the businessman-turned-reality star was dipping his toes into the U.S. presidential election thanks to Michael Cohen, who encouraged Donald Trump to start a 2012 presidential campaign. 

Donald Trump eventually dropped out of the 2012 presidential election, but ran again in 2016, determined to win. Considering that he and Jeff Zucker had a long-time relationship, the Republican expected glowing recommendations from the network. "When I was running, I said, 'CNN is going to treat me great.' It's called loyalty. I got the guy the job," he said to Ramin Setoodeh during interviews for "Apprentice in Wonderland." However, Trump's political run opened a new dynamic to his relationship with Zucker, who was desperate for some big news for CNN, and admittedly couldn't resist how profitable Trump stories were.

The network began covering the Republican politician critically but extensively, giving him tons of free air time. Thanks to a leaked conversation with Cohen, Zucker even seems to have been initially supporting the MAGA leader. Zucker humorously called him "The Boss," and pointed out errors in his campaign. He even gave unsolicited advice: "You know what you should do? Whoever's around him today should just be calling him a conman all day so he's used to it, so that when he hears it from [Marco] Rubio, it doesn't matter" (via Fox News).

But soon, the network and Trump entered into a full-blown war, with the politician often posting CNN digs on X (then Twitter). Fortunately for the GOP frontrunner, CNN's harsh but thorough coverage enabled him to reach his target audience, who liked his personality and policies, leading to an election win.

CNN's critical coverage might have been a reason Donald Trump won the 2016 election, but it was also a major reason he lost the 2020 re-election. The MAGA leader even unsuccessfully sued CNN in 2020 for defamation and sued again in 2022 for costing him the election. But months before the second lawsuit, Jeff Zucker actually resigned as CNN president. When the announcement was made, Trump absolutely tore into Zucker for his CNN resignation, as he had been involved in a scandal.

More significantly, the former CNN president continued to receive heavy criticism for his role in Trump's popularity. However, Zucker has long since responded to these accusations. Back in 2016, he spoke to The Guardian, defending himself: "The critics of Donald Trump are looking for people to blame for his rise. There are many people who are either surprised by his strength, or don't like him, and want to blame someone to explain why he has been this popular."

Years later, in 2023, Zucker's words about the GOP politician were not nearly as complimentary, as he made it clear that he doesn't believe Trump should return to the White House. Speaking at a New York conference, Zucker mentioned that it was a "real possibility" that his nemesis could win the 2024 election. He also advised Trump-haters not to dwell on polls: "I made this mistake. [...] We would often pay attention too much to polls as well" (via Yahoo Sports).