a vast conspiracy of well-connected insiders had colluded to rob donald j. trump of a prize that was rightfully his (or at least that is what he thought). the year was 2004. and then 2005. mr. trump never forgot the injustices, so years later he used twitter to vent his anger at a rigged system that he believed had done him wrong. <u+201c>which is worse and which is more dishonest,<u+201d> he asked his followers in 2014. <u+201c>the #oscars or the emmys?<u+201d> at the presidential debate on wednesday, hillary clinton said that mr. trump blamed a rigged system whenever something didn<u+2019>t go his way. one example she cited was the emmy awards, which had never given mr. trump<u+2019>s hit reality television show, <u+201c>the apprentice,<u+201d> the accolades that he thought it deserved. <u+201c>there was even a time when he didn<u+2019>t get an emmy for his tv program three years in a row and he started tweeting that the emmys were rigged against him,<u+201d> she said . mr. trump<u+2019>s own extensive record of twitter posts backs up mrs. clinton<u+2019>s claim. <u+201c>the apprentice<u+201d> aired on nbc for seven seasons between 2004 and 2010, followed by a spinoff, <u+201c>celebrity apprentice.<u+201d> it was nominated for the emmy award for outstanding reality-competition program in 2004 and 2005, but it lost to <u+201c>the amazing race<u+201d> both times <u+2014> even after mr. trump agreed to sing a song alongside the actress megan mullally during the 2005 telecast. (it lost again to <u+201c>the amazing race<u+201d> in 2006, when both were nominated in a different category , outstanding cinematography for nonfiction programming, though mr. trump himself was not nominated.) mr. trump did not have his outsize twitter presence when his show lost its emmy bids, so he was not able to post the rapid-fire stream-of-consciousness thoughts and attacks that have become such a part of the 2016 campaign. but after he embraced social media, mr. trump returned to the topic again and again in tweets and in youtube videos posted many years after he lost. his fulminations over his emmy snubs echo much of the language he has used to attack his political opponents during the presidential campaign. <u+201c>certain shows <u+2014> and i can name them and maybe at some point i will <u+2014> just don<u+2019>t get the acclaim that they should and other shows year after year after year keep being nominated and whether people watch them or not they shouldn<u+2019>t be nominated and everyone knows it,<u+201d> he said in one youtube video from 2011. the emmys were <u+201c>a con game<u+201d> and <u+201c>an irrelevant show,<u+201d> he added. in a series of tweets posted between 2012 and 2014 he criticized the awards show that snubbed him as having <u+201c>no credibility<u+201d> and <u+201c>low ratings.<u+201d> the show that beat him was <u+201c>a joke,<u+201d> he said. the sting of those snubs has never seemed to fully subside. when mrs. clinton mentioned <u+201c>the apprentice<u+201d> and the emmys during the debate on wednesday, mr. trump raised his voice to press his case: <u+201c>should have gotten it.<u+201d> find out what you need to know about the 2016 presidential race today, and get politics news updates via facebook , twitter and the first draft newsletter .
trump and the <u+2018>rigged<u+2019> emmy awards: a history of snubs
liam stack