"Donald Trump never actually wanted to be President of the United States."
If this statement is true, you have to wonder why he's kept up such a gruelling fight over the past 18 months.
You also have to wonder how one man can become the leader of the free world without having the drive to do so. What does a celebrity billionaire who already has wealth and prestige have to gain?
But documentary filmmaker and author Michael Moore has been adamant the eccentric real estate mogul was never seriously gunning for the top job.
Why should we care what Moore has to say? Because against the mainstream media, public pollsters, five living presidents, global markets, and Democratic and Republican leaders alike, he was the only person who spectacularly predicted that Trump would become president.
All the way back in July, he published a post entitled '5 Reasons Why Trump Will Win'.
"I am sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but I gave it to you straight last summer when I told you that Donald Trump would be the Republican nominee for president. And now I have even more awful, depressing news for you: Donald J. Trump is going to win in November."
Turns out we all should have paid more attention to that post at the time.
DID TRUMP REALLY WANT TO WIN?
Three months ago, in a post that fast went viral, Moore theorised that Trump never actually set out with the serious ambition of becoming president.
"Trump was unhappy with his deal as host and star of his hit NBC show, The Apprentice," he explained on his website. "Simply put, he wanted more money. He had floated the idea before of possibly running for president in the hopes that the attention from that would make his negotiating position stronger.
"But he knew, as the self-proclaimed king of the deal-makers, that saying you're going to do something is bupkus - DOING it is what makes the bastards sit up and pay attention."
He says Trump's decision to run for President - not the actual campaign, but the mere announcement of it - would be the "Big Card" through which he could strengthen his hand and secure him whatever financial deal he wanted.
Only it didn't quite pan out that way. Following an outlandish first press conference, in which the Republican pledged to keep the Mexican "rapists" and "drug dealers" out of America by building a wall, NBC immediately ended its business relationship with him.
The network put out a statement saying: "Due to the recent derogatory statements by Donald Trump regarding immigrants, NBCUniversal is ending its business relationship with Mr Trump."
In other words, if Trump's initial presser had been less outrageous - or perhaps if NBC had conceded, kept him on and offered him the money he was after - he never would have run for president.
As Trump's popularity continued to rise, Moore contended he attempted to sabotage his own campaign in order to get out of the election. From insulting the family of a fallen US soldier to suggesting his supporters use gun violence to stop Hillary Clinton, Moore believes it was all orchestrated to get Trump out of the running.
Only it didn't work. Hell, not even a surfaced recording of him bragging about how he could sexually assault women and get away with it worked.
America rejected their alternatives, voted him in, and now it's his job to govern.
HOW MUCH IS THE MEDIA TO BLAME?
There's been a lot of discussion since the election as to who's at "fault" for Trump's rise to power.
Hillary Clinton was too corrupt. Bernie Sanders was too socialist. Ted Cruz was too moderate.
But America's mainstream media has copped much of the blame, being accused of ignorance, bias and shamelessly promoting Trump's campaign for the sake of selling newspapers and ad revenue, all while never taking the outlandish billionaire or his growing support base seriously.
In a comment piece for The Washington Post, Margaret Sullivan writes that the media gave Trump his chance at the top job.
"Did journalists create Trump? Of course not - they don't have that kind of power. But they helped him tremendously, with huge amounts of early, unfiltered exposure in the months leading up to the Republican primary season."
She quoted Peter Thiel, the billionaire who spent millions of dollars to help Hulk Hogan put Gawker of business.
Speaking at the National Press Club, Thiel said: "The media is always taking Trump literally. It never takes him seriously, but it always takes him literally."
Voters, on the other hand, weren't so concerned with details. They were concerned with what his so-called promises symbolised. Pledging to "build a wall" didn't mean Trump was going to literally build a wall.
"What they hear is, 'We're going to have a saner, more sensible immigration policy'," said Thiel.
He successfully got hold of America's disengagement with Washington and used that to his advantage. The media's mistake was to understate his impact.
WHAT'S NEXT FOR UNHAPPY AMERICANS?
Michael Moore has just posted a "Morning After To-Do List" for Americans struggling to deal with the election result.
He criticised the Democrats for not "paying enough attention" to the reality of the political landscape, and says it's now time to launch into recovery mode.
His plan includes five points:
1. Returning the Democratic party to its people
Moore argues the Democratic Party has "failed us miserably", suggesting the emphasis needs to be removed from the establishment and returned to the people.
2. Getting rid of pundits who refuse to tell the truth
Moore says to fire everybody in the media - pundits, predictors, pollsters - who refused to acknowledge that Mr Trump had a chance of winning the election, and reject their inevitable calls for unity.
3. Getting weak Democratic congressmen out of the way
"Any Democratic member of Congress who didn't wake up this morning ready to fight, resist and obstruct in the way Republicans did against President Obama every day for eight full years must step out of the way," writes Moore. In other words, let those willing to fight fire with fire take control.
4. Stopping people complaining
This one goes out to all the social media ranters. Moore tells all those who say they are "stunned" and "shocked" by the election result to suck it up and start paying attention. "YEARS of being neglected by both parties, the anger and the need for revenge against the system only grew," he writes. "Trump's victory is no surprise. He was never a joke. Treating him as one only strengthened him."
5. Acknowledging that Hillary Clinton won the popular vote
Technically, the majority of the voting American people preferred Hillary Clinton to Donald Trump. He says that ultimately, it was an outdated system that saw him take the reigns. "We live in a country where the majority agree with the 'liberal' position. We just lack the liberal leadership to make that happen."
The post has been shared more than 200,000 times.
Morning After To-Do List: 1. Take over the Democratic Party and return it to the people. They have failed us miserably....
Posted by Michael Moore on Wednesday, 9 November 2016
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