Trump Tower cameos have turned into reality TV

DONALD Trump may be officially out of the reality TV business, but it seems The Apprentice hostturned-president-elect never really left the game. After all, what unfolds before the live-stream cameras at Trump Tower has all of the elements of a Kardashian-worthy unscripted drama.

The camera feed of the downtown Manhattan building’s lobby, which C-SPAN is airing live and Twitter is endlessly discussing as #ElevatorCam, has offered up a bifurcated pageant. On one hand, viewers get to watch live as a new administration takes shape, experiencing a transparency not usually available when meetings between a president-elect and his allies and potential appointees happen.

On the other, it’s become a spectacle, with the lobby’s gold lifts and marble walls serving as a theatrical backdrop. Would-be secretaries of state must cross the gauntlet to meet Trump and his transition team.

The 54 hours, 26 minutes and 42 seconds of footage (as of Wed- nesday) have featured cameos by a strange assortment: one of Trump’s ex-wives, Marla Maples, former vice-president Dan Quayle, the street performers known as the Naked Cowboys, serenading Trump spokesperson Kellyanne Conway, and some guy reading passages from Elie Wiesel’s Night.

C-SPAN can air the camera feed because, unlike the building, which is private, the lobby is a public space from 8am to 10pm because of a deal Trump made with the City of New York in the 1970s.

There is a sense Trump himself is directing the drama, then watching it unfold on-screen and on Twitter. On Tuesday, MSNBC host Mika Brzezinski appeared. What’s Mika doing here? viewers pondered. (Meeting with future first daughter Ivanka Trump it emerged.)

The must-see TV has clearly found an audience. C-SPAN spokesperson Howard Mortman said there is something mesmerising about it that has made junkies out of viewers, including himself. – The Washington Post