The man who really made Trump a president

When historians look back on the damage Donald Trump did to America and the world, much of the blame should go to a name few people even consider now.

A man named Mark Burnett.

Burnett is essentially the Godfather of Reality Television, starting with “Survivor” in the summer of 2000. “Survivor” was a true phenomenon currently in its 50th season, and Burnett was also responsible for at least a dozen other shows with varying degrees of success.

Possibly the least harmful was the one he did with comedian Jeff Foxworthy, “Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader,” but Burnett’s greatest sin essentially was creating Donald Trump.

Until Burnett came along, Trump was a joke. A clown.

When business magazines ranked the top developers in New York, Trump was rarely even in the top 10, let alone at the top of the list as he would claim. He had numerous bankruptcies — some say four, some say six — including failing in the casino business. As someone who lived in Nevada, I can tell you owning a casino is like a license to print money.

He was legendary for stiffing subcontractors and has been sued more than 3,000 times.

People who saw his Trump Tower offices “Before Burnett” described them as seedy and most of his wealth came from something like $400 million in gifts from his father Fred.

But the reality producer saw a personality he could use to make big money and hired Trump to be the main character in “The Apprentice.” All of a sudden, television viewers were seeing the clown as a classy individual who was the ultimate businessman.

Looking back, it’s starting to slip out how phony that was.

My wife Nicole is the smartest person I know, and her first look at Trump was watching “The Apprentice.” She was very impressed — until she learned the truth about him. Many of the people I like to call Trumpanzees have voted for him three times, and some of them are starting to wake up to reality.

Too bad it had to happen at all.

Thanks a lot, Mark Burnett.