Ramin Setoodeh > Quotes

“During Trump’s first term as president, I had often wondered how much he’d changed as a person from when, at Newsweek, I’d interviewed him at the pinnacle of his reality TV success. It turned out he hadn’t changed at all through any of it. Trump presented a conundrum for a reporter: he might have been the sower of chaos all over the globe, and he certainly”
― Ramin Setoodeh, Apprentice in Wonderland: How Donald Trump and Mark Burnett Took America Through the Looking Glass

“believe her friend Bill Cosby was a rapist. “We didn’t create a new format,” Barbara said. “We created a new atmosphere.” In 2011, Anderson Cooper unveiled an afternoon talk show while keeping his anchor job at CNN”
― Ramin Setoodeh, Ladies Who Punch: The Explosive Inside Story of "The View"

“Elisabeth’s arrival marked another evolution in the chemistry of the show. The backstage interactions among the cohosts—while pleasant—never again felt the same. There was no longer the illusion that the cohosts were friends. They were now actual adversaries. “It wasn’t as political as people think because Elisabeth wasn’t hard,” Star said. “She had opinions, but she didn’t have facts. It wasn’t as if she was the most well-read human being on the planet when it came to those opinions. And that’s typical of right-wing conservatives. They just spout stuff. So bless her heart.”
― Ramin Setoodeh, Ladies Who Punch: The Explosive Inside Story of "The View"

“lacked empathy, but he could also be funny and engaging in conversation. But regardless of what version of Trump I saw in all our time together, it became clear to me in our first post-presidency meeting that there is no way to reasonably interview Trump as a politician. He’s not a politician. There’s no way to ask him about governing. He’s not able to govern. There’s no point in trying to pin him down on his hopes for another term. He doesn’t care about the specifics of the plot during his time in the White House—he just wants to get renewed for another season.”
― Ramin Setoodeh, Apprentice in Wonderland: How Donald Trump and Mark Burnett Took America Through the Looking Glass