{"id":82701,"date":"2015-12-21T08:09:26","date_gmt":"2015-12-21T16:09:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=82701"},"modified":"2015-12-21T08:09:26","modified_gmt":"2015-12-21T16:09:26","slug":"wp-donald-trump-scores-with-miss-universe-disaster","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=82701","title":{"rendered":"WP: Donald Trump scores with Miss Universe disaster"},"content":{"rendered":"

Washington Post<\/a>:<\/p>\n

It was the moment that could have broken Donald Trump\u2019s presidential ambitions: In June, he likened immigrants to rapists, prompting Univision to ditch his beauty pageants and NBC to cut ties with him.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt Univision we see first-hand the work ethic, love for family, strong religious values and the important role Mexican immigrants and Mexican-Americans have had and will continue to have in building the future of our country,\u201d the company said in a statement posted on its website. \u201cWe will not be airing the Miss USA pageant on July 12th or working on any other projects tied to the Trump Organization.\u201d <\/p>\n

Trump, of course, survived what at first seemed like a campaign-ending gaffe \u2014 and has gone on to survive many more. \u201cMexican gov doesn\u2019t want me talking about terrible border situation & horrible trade deals,\u201d he said in a defiant tweet. \u201cForcing Univision to get me to stop \u2014 no way!\u201d<\/p>\n

But rhetoric is one thing. Could Trump successfully spin the loss of a business deal valued at up to $25 million into political and financial victory in a campaign that, at the time, seemed merely whimsical?<\/p>\n

It appears so. With the disastrous Miss Universe 2015 that just unfolded in Las Vegas, Trump won without even being onstage. Even a beauty pageant, it seemed, just couldn\u2019t run smoothly without him around.<\/p>\n

Hours before Miss Universe, Trump was cheering it on from the sidelines. After being banished by Univision and exiled from NBC over his anti-immigrant comments, Trump bought the rights to the pageant back from NBC \u2014 then flipped it in September to the entertainment company WME-IMG in a matter of days….<\/p>\n

Then came the perfect gaffe for Trump supporters to tweet and retweet ad infinitum. Co-host Steve Harvey \u2014 a usually unflappable comedian, talk-show host and author \u2014 anointed the wrong woman Miss Universe, crowning Miss Colombia instead of the judges\u2019 intended, Miss Philippines.<\/p>\n

\u201cStill a great night,\u201d Harvey said \u2014 though Miss Colombia might not have agreed as she was almost instantly dethroned. \u201cPlease don\u2019t hold it against the ladies. Please don\u2019t. We feel so badly. But it\u2019s still a great night.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was the moment that could have broken Donald Trump\u2019s presidential ambitions: In June, he likened immigrants to rapists, prompting Univision to ditch his beauty pageants and NBC to cut ties with him.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt Univision we see first-hand the work ethic, love for family, strong religious values and the important role Mexican immigrants and Mexican-Americans have had and will continue to have in building the future of our country,\u201d the company said in a statement posted on its website. \u201cWe will not be airing the Miss USA pageant on July 12th or working on any other projects tied to the Trump Organization.\u201d <\/p>\n

Trump, of course, survived what at first seemed like a campaign-ending gaffe \u2014 and has gone on to survive many more. \u201cMexican gov doesn\u2019t want me talking about terrible border situation & horrible trade deals,\u201d he said in a defiant tweet. \u201cForcing Univision to get me to stop \u2014 no way!\u201d<\/p>\n

[Was Steve Harvey\u2019s Miss Universe mix-up a publicity stunt? Conspiracy theories begin.]<\/p>\n

But rhetoric is one thing. Could Trump successfully spin the loss of a business deal valued at up to $25 million into political and financial victory in a campaign that, at the time, seemed merely whimsical?<\/p>\n

Steve Harvey announces wrong Miss Universe winner
\nPlay Video0:49<\/p>\n

Host Steve Harvey mistakenly first announced that Miss Colombia had won the Miss Universe pageant before the true winner, Miss Philippines Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach, was crowned. (Reuters)
\nIt appears so. With the disastrous Miss Universe 2015 that just unfolded in Las Vegas, Trump won without even being onstage. Even a beauty pageant, it seemed, just couldn\u2019t run smoothly without him around.<\/p>\n

Hours before Miss Universe, Trump was cheering it on from the sidelines. After being banished by Univision and exiled from NBC over his anti-immigrant comments, Trump bought the rights to the pageant back from NBC \u2014 then flipped it in September to the entertainment company WME-IMG in a matter of days.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy friend, @AriEmanuel of @IMG, bought the Miss Universe pageants from me and they are on tonight on #Fox!\u201d he wrote. \u201cTune in!\u201d<\/p>\n

Then came the perfect gaffe for Trump supporters to tweet and retweet ad infinitum. Co-host Steve Harvey \u2014 a usually unflappable comedian, talk-show host and author \u2014 anointed the wrong woman Miss Universe, crowning Miss Colombia instead of the judges\u2019 intended, Miss Philippines.<\/p>\n

[Steve Harvey crowns wrong Miss Universe]<\/p>\n

\u201cStill a great night,\u201d Harvey said \u2014 though Miss Colombia might not have agreed as she was almost instantly dethroned. \u201cPlease don\u2019t hold it against the ladies. Please don\u2019t. We feel so badly. But it\u2019s still a great night.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, outside on the Strip, a more serious tragedy was unfolding. In an incident not yet explained by authorities, a driver may have intentionally driven her car on to a sidewalk outside Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino, where Miss Universe was held, killing one person and injuring dozens more. Terrorism, though eventually ruled out, was initially a possible motive in what police called a \u201cmass casualty incident.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Washington Post: It was the moment that could have broken Donald Trump\u2019s presidential ambitions: In June, he likened immigrants to rapists, prompting Univision to ditch his beauty pageants and NBC to cut ties with him. \u201cAt Univision we see first-hand … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29752],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-82701","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-donald-trump"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82701","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=82701"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82701\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":82702,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82701\/revisions\/82702"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=82701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=82701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=82701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}