A biopic about former President Donald Trump opens this week, with less than a month until the November election. Widely seen as unflattering, the film will surely play along purely partisan lines. But it's worth noting that if not for the unpopular Supreme Court decision Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (FEC), it may have had no chance of hitting theaters before the election.
The Apprentice stars Sebastian Stan as a young Trump and Jeremy Strong (of HBO's Succession) as Roy Cohn, the infamous "fixer" who acted as Trump's personal attorney and mentor in the 1970s and 1980s. The film depicts Trump's evolution under Cohn's tutelage, from Queens real estate scion to Manhattan bullshit artist. (In the film's trailer, Cohn advises Trump to "admit nothing, deny everything," and "no matter what happens, you claim victory and never admit defeat.")
