"Divining the 'real' Trump, if there is one, may be an interesting project someday for a biographer, or St. Peter. But for most of us, the Trump who matters..."

"... the one who’s rage-tweeting, fulminating, running the world—is 'Donald Trump,' the brazen character he workshopped for decades in the New York City tabloids, on talk shows, in sitcom cameos. And, most influentially, on The Apprentice. Trump was reality TV before the genre had a name. He knew it was more important to seem like a thing than to be that thing. People would become invested in you—banks, TV producers, voters—and do the work of maintaining your illusion themselves. The Apprentice didn’t need a businessman. It needed the idea of a businessman. That was the entire point of Donald Trump. He brought his own props. He opened the first episode in his helicopter, his name plastered on the side. He showed off his jet and his model girlfriend and his Trump Tower triplex.... The Apprentice needed Trump to be credible so the show would be credible. It built him a “boardroom” based on Ned Beatty’s corporate lair in Network. It imposed logic on his capricious firing decisions in the editing room. It punched up the rough draft he created, with better production values. TV’s Mr. Trump—it was always 'Mr. Trump'—was decisive. He was feared, his approval craved. He was saucy and shrewd and glamorous and generous. He was a serious businessman. But he was fun! 'Where else do you get a good time like with Trump?' he asked a female lawyer whom he’d just introduced to America with 'There’s Miss Universe, right there!' He was shot gliding imperiously down gleaming escalators, the same way he would one day announce his campaign at Trump Tower."

From Slate — "The 25 Most Important Characters of the Past 25 Years...2. Donald Trump, from The Apprentice (2004)" (#1 is Carmela Soprano... #3 is Pikachu....)