Not that Donald Trump is going to lose the election or anything, even if Hillary Clinton is up by 12 points in the most recent Monmouth University poll. But just in case, Jared Kushner seems to be planning a post-election life for his father-in-law.
Kushner has informally approached one of the media industry’s top dealmakers about the prospect of setting up a Trump television network after the presidential election in November.
Mr Kushner — an increasingly influential figure in the billionaire’s presidential campaign — contacted Aryeh Bourkoff, the founder and chief executive of LionTree, a boutique investment bank, within the past couple of months, according to three people with knowledge of the matter.
That conversation is said to have occurred weeks ago, and Trump has said publicly he doesn’t want a TV network, but Plan B seems to be about cashing in on Trump’s popularity. Picture it, a weekly or daily television show in which Trump continues to denounce the election results and challenge a peaceful transfer of power.
"Trump will be fantastic at it, because you can just keep juicing those people up and saying crazier and crazier things, and they will just keep paying you money, and you will make $20 million a year," Glenn Beck said on "Reliable Sources" in September.
Though Trump might have a ready-made audience for such a show, pulling it off—and sustaining it—would be difficult.
Beck pioneered a direct-to-subscribers network several years ago. He said he learned that "it is a lot harder than you think."
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