Once upon a time, Donald Trump’s talents as a TV personality and pitchman were obvious to everyone—most of all himself.

When he launched his 2016 presidential run, millions of Americans knew him best not from his bankrupt casinos or the gossip pages of the New York Post but as the swaggering host of NBC’s The Apprentice, in which aspiring entrepreneurs competed for a full-time job in his real estate empire.

Trump routinely overstated the primetime dominance of The Apprentice, which was a breakout hit in its debut 2003–2004 season but saw its ratings steadily decline over subsequent years. Nonetheless, his rise as a candidate, propelled by his willingness to say anything to stay in the news cycle, seemed to affirm his on-camera star quality (even if it was actually people behind the scenes of The Apprentice who had edited his unscripted and less-than-coherent bluster to make him sound like a straight-talking businessman).

But where is Trump’s TV firepower today? His latest press secretary, Katie Zacharia, lasted a mere five days in the job, ousted following a disastrous on-camera performance at her first briefing just weeks before crucial midterm elections. Trump’s own media appearances are unhinged and embarrassing even by his standards; when he’s not falling asleep at events or in meetings, he’s claiming that NATO “gave” Greenland to the US and telling rallygoers about how he checked out Senator Jon Husted’s ass.

During Trump’s second term, his administration has done what it can to circumvent existing media and bring its messaging directly to voters with broadcast content that resembles familiar TV formats.

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