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Director Ali Abbasi's "The Apprentice" presents a dramatized origin story for Donald Trump (played by Sebastian Stan), who, in the span of a few decades, goes from a nobody to a New York real-estate tycoon under the guidance of his lawyer, Roy Cohn (Jeremy Strong).
Though the movie doesn't delve into Trump's political aspirations — it ends right when author Tony Schwartz begins to discuss ghostwriting the 1987 book "The Art of the Deal" with Trump — we see how the main lessons from Cohn would be Trump's guiding principles through his career and into his presidency, including attack, attack, attack; deny everything, admit nothing; and always claim victory.
That "always claim victory" rule came into play during the 2020 presidential election. After his loss, Trump maintained that the election was stolen from him and that he'd actually won over Joe Biden.
Soon after, Pro-Trump insurrectionists attacked the US Capitol in an attempted coup on January 6, 2021, that left four dead. Trump has denied responsibility for the January 6 insurrection and publicly condemned it as a "heinous attack" that left him "outraged by the violence, lawlessness, and mayhem."
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The 2024 presidential election, in which Trump seeks to reclaim the presidency against Vice President Kamala Harris, is now less than a month away.
The question of whether Trump will accept the results of this election remains unclear. In May, Trump said he'd accept the results if "everything's honest." A month later, at the first debate with President Joe Biden, he was unwilling to say if he would accept the results or not. In August, he told CBS News he would accept the results if they were "fair and free."
In a recent interview promoting "The Apprentice," Abbasi, who has been studying Trump since he signed on to make the film in 2018, weighed in on whether he believes Trump will accept the results in the event of a loss.
"I saw, like everyone else, what happened on January 6, which was horrific," he told Business Insider. "And I have a feeling that a lot of people got away with insane stuff. Look at that footage."
"When you see that, you think, why would they change their opinion about this election? Why would they magically accept this when they didn't accept that?" Abbasi continued.
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"But somehow, I'm an optimist," he added. "I was optimistic when people told me not to do this movie, or when people said no one would buy this movie. So, I really hope that everyone learned their lesson on January 6th. I hope to think that even though people may be tempted to do that again, they know what the consequences are, and they don't do it."
In August 2023, Trump was indicted on four charges in connection to January 6, including conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction or an attempt to obstruct an official proceeding, and conspiracy against rights. A year later, the four counts were revised to remove some of the alleged conduct that may now be protected by presidential immunity. Trump has pleaded not guilty.
After interviewing Abbasi, Business Insider reached out to Trump for comment. A spokesperson for the former president slammed the movie.
"This 'film' is pure malicious defamation, should never see the light of day, and doesn't even deserve a place in the straight-to-DVD section of a bargain bin at a soon-to-be-closed discount movie store," Trump communications director Steven Cheung said in a statement. "It belongs in a dumpster fire."
"The Apprentice" is now playing in theaters.
