Sunday's episode of MSNBC's The Weekend devoted a segment to mocking Trump's naming Mark Burnett as a special envoy to the UK.

Co-hosts Michael Steele and Symone Sanders dismissed Burnett as merely the producer of The Apprentice, having none of the international and diplomatic credentials that Trump cited in his nomination message. Steele huffed that all Burnett ever did was negotiate some actor contracts for the show, and belittled the nomination as Trump putting "his boy" in place.

Before bashing Burnett, Steele and Sanders should have taken a few minutes to read the man's Wikipedia bio. 

Where to begin? Burnett is a British native who enlisted in the British Army at age 17, rising to become a Section Commander in the Parachute Regiment, and serving in the Falklands War and Northern Ireland.

He emigrated to the US at age 22, and eventually became one of the world's most successful people in TV. Whereas Steele and Sanders portrayed him as only having been the producer of The Apprentice, in fact he has produced countless successful shows, including multiple Shark Tank, The Voice, Survivor, and Martha Stewart. He and his wife produced a ten-hour History Channel series, The Bible, which became the No. 1 series in a number of countries and was seen by more than 100 million viewers.

He has won 13 Emmy Awards including 10 Primetime, one Sports Emmy Award and two Daytime Emmy Awards. His other accolades include five Producers Guild of America Awards, twelve Critics' Choice Television Awards, and ten People's Choice Awards. From 2013 to 2017, Burnett was listed on Variety500, an index of the 500 most influential business leaders shaping the global media industry.

As for his international/diplomatic experience, Burnett has produced more than 3,200 hours of TV programming which regularly airs in more than 70 countries.

Beyond his success as a producer, Burnett served as President of United Artists from 2014 to 2018 and as chairman of MGM Worldwide Television Group from 2018 to 2022.

In 2004, Time magazine named him one of 'Time 100: 100 Most Influential People in the World Today.'

We could go on. But you get the picture. This is an immensely talented, productive, globally-connected man with deep British roots.

Next time, Symone and Michael, before dumping on a Trump nominee, do your homework.

Note: Sanders facetiously suggested to Steele, a former Lieutenant Governor of Maryland, that should he ever be elected to office again, he should appoint the show's producer, Kyle Griffin to some position. Steele played along, saying he'd appoint Griffin as ambassador to Turks and Caicos. That would be fine, if Griffin has even a smidgen of Bennett's accomplishments. 

Here's the transcript.

MSNBC
The Weekend
12/22/24
8:33 am ET

ALICIA MENENDEZ: So while she has removed herself, Lara Trump, from the Florida Senate sweepstakes, you have Donald Trump tapping the former producer of The Apprentice, Mark Burnett, as special envoy to the UK. 

Quote, with a distinguished career in television production and business, Mark brings a unique blend of diplomatic acumen and international recognition to this important role.

That was Trump on Truth Social. 

MICHAEL STEELE: Well, that's just a load of crock. Well, one thing has nothing to do with the other. I mean, come on, let's be serious, that you would take a television producer and say he's got these diplomatic -- what is diplomatic skill? Negotiating a contract between an actor and, and the set? 

I mean, what, what are you, what is he even talking about here? This is, this is putting his boy in place and that's all it is. 

SYMONE SANDERS: I mean, yes, because, I mean, Mark Burnett literally made, helped craft the image of Donald Trump that we know today, right? 

STEELE. Right.

SANDERS: The Apprentice, the fact that people say they really believe that Donald Trump is a good businessman, it stems specifically from him being on television for all of those years as a CEO, right, hiring and firing people. So, to me, look --

STEELE: The script, by the way, people, in case you didn't know, said, okay, you're going to hire this person, you're going to fire that person. Come on.

SANDERS: All I'm saying is, Michael, maybe the control room is thinking if, you know, anybody here ever get elected again, they will hope that you would appoint one of them. If it can happen to Mark Burnett, it can happen for Kyle Griffin, okay, and James and Brittany, too. 

ALICIA MENENDEZ: They do a lot of diplomacy, in fairness. 

SANDERS: I mean, this is diplomatic right here. 

STEELE: Kyle will be the ambassador to Turks and Caicos. There you go. 

SANDERS: I will visit.