Always proclaim victory: "The Apprentice. The Rise of Trump" as a mirror of the new policies of the United States and Russia

      In "The Apprentice. The Rise of Trump" (18+) politics is shown as the craft of creating illusions. Roy Cohn teaches the young Trump: "You create your reality. Truth is a pliable thing." Today this formula reads like a commentary on negotiations and diplomatic signaling. The American president can in the same speech combine the threat of sanctions and the promise of a new deal, toughness and a promise of détente. Russia responds in its own language of "victory every day," creating a symmetrical play of images.

      The comparison with Biden makes the contrast especially clear. Biden built policy as a system of alliances, where the value is the collective position and institutional resilience. Trump, however, thinks like Cohn's pupil: the deal matters more than the alliance, an immediate win matters more than a long-term strategy. If for Biden the main instruments were NATO and the G7, for Trump they are personal deal‑making, bartering, and the demonstrative "reality of the winner."

      Abbasi does not shy away from intimate scandals either. Sexual accusations against Trump are shown not as a "salacious detail" but as part of his persona — a politician who attacks, denies, and each time comes out to the press declaring his victory. These episodes emphasize that Cohn's rules work in both the personal and the public spheres.

      Abbasi brings sexual scandals not for sensationalism. They become a litmus test of Cohn's rules. Each new episode is a test of three principles: attack, denial, and declaration of victory. Accusations are made, but Trump, following his mentor's instructions, responds with the habitual formula: "Nothing happened, it's all made up, I always win." Here the personal becomes political: the technique of defending against scandal proves identical to the technique of conducting negotiations and even governing a country.

      In the film Trump says: "I give politicians money so they do what I want." This is not mere cynicism — it is a philosophy of politics as a deal, where values are secondary. Today this is exactly how negotiation logic looks: economic bonuses, energy packages, "carrots" for allies become instruments for pushing agreements that must look like victories for every side.

      The finale of "The Apprentice" leaves us with a warning. "The advantage is not caring what people think of you. There is no right or wrong… only victory matters," Cohn says. This stance works in campaigns and at rallies, but in diplomacy it turns into a risk: if every evening you declare victory, it's easy to mistake stagecraft for the actual end of the story.

      The film was released in 2024 and provoked a storm of reactions. Trump himself called it a "slanderous fantasy" and a "cheap political provocation." And by doing so he again confirmed: he remains faithful to Cohn's three commandments — attack, deny, and declare victory. Thus film and life close the loop: a work exposing the tactic receives an answer in the form of the same tactic.

      Abbasi made a film about the past that unexpectedly became prophetic about the present. And if we want to understand the dialogue between Trump and Putin today, it is enough to remember Cohn's main line: "Attack. Deny. Always declare victory." This is exactly how diplomacy looks before our eyes — like a continuation of cinema in another language.

      It is curious that in Russia the film did not receive a distribution certificate, and therefore is available to viewers only by bypassing the official film market.

      By the way, here one can assess the forecast for the summit's outcome.