“One hundred million or I’m not showing,” Trump told CNN head boss, Jeff Zucker. “The show is nothing without me. You’re nothing without me.”
Donald Trump had been flirting with the idea of making the left-wing cable news network pay him for his debate TV appearance, and with the highly anticipated debate among us, the threat has become much more real. The debate airs December 15th at 8 pm eastern.
“You have until Tuesday, 5 pm to transfer the money into my Cayman Island bank account,” Trump threatened CNN. “If I don’t have the money by then, your network will be destroyed and will forever be labeled a loser.”
Advertisers are frantic about the potential no-show of Trump. Political pundits say the risk is too high for The Donald not to be seen at the debate and may be seen as petty to many viewers especially since he’s already worth billions of dollars and now demands another $100 million for 2 hours of work for a service that could potentially help him run the free world.
The holdup of CNN by Trump is drumming up more media attention, but ratings will falter if the outspoken Republican does not attend the debate. CNN is most likely to call Trump’s bluff and continue as planned.
Trump spent no hesitation in trying to embarrass Zucker, the former head of NBC. “We all remeber your Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien debacle. Without my show The Apprentice, your network would be in the trash like your hire of Piers Morgan.”
With recent Iowa polls showing Ted Cruz in the lead by 10%, Trump can not afford to have a bad debate night. Yet, the business man inside him can not let the money go off the table if there is something he can do about it.
The media projects Trump to be at the Las Vegas debate and has 3:16 odds on winning the night. Over $250 million is expected to change hands on debate bets.