For those of us who have remained sufficiently awake during the course of this wretched election cycle, this is a suspicion we’ve held for some time.

Trump’s real motivation for what appears to be nothing more than a candidacy based on satire?

Reality TV.

The Washington Examiner is reporting on what every expert sees as an electoral blowout in November, with Trump receiving maybe a bit more than McCain in 2008.

From the Examiner:

Trump’s impending defeat is leading to a chorus of media speculation about his post-election plans. The two most oft-cited assumptions are:

Trump will not quietly fade into the background.

Trump will eventually launch a “Trump TV” media venture.

After speaking with a well-informed Trump insider (name asked to be withheld), I can confirm that both assumptions are true.

So here’s the scam: Trump capitalized on the anger of Republicans, who saw their elected officials doing little to nothing to combat Democrats in Congress, even after having been given the majority by the voters.

After using that anger to vanquish his opponents in the primary, he used the billions of dollars in free airtime he was being given in the press, as well as social media to build up his presence, and then his speech began to shift.

While still attacking Republicans, he also began his “Crooked Hillary” routine.

After a defeat in November, there’s no doubt that another Clinton White House will be steeped in absolute corruption and scandal. Trump’s concession speech will be something along the lines of, “I will not stop fighting for you!”

Even in defeat, Trump will have amassed millions of votes, and millions to hear the message of TV-ready patriotism, promising to continue to fight for other patriots against a corrupt Democrat machine in the White House.

But, according to the Trump insider who told me that if Trump loses this media project is definitely in the works – the brand may be “Trump” but the driving force has a different last name. “It’s all Jared” my contact stated emphatically.

“Jared” of course is Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump’s husband who also doubles as Donald Trump’s de facto campaign manager.

Kushner is already running a media company as owner and publisher of the Observer. With an eye toward the next big family project, apparently Jared is spending large amounts of campaign resources on voter data analytics. “Just look at Trump’s Federal Election Commission reports,” says the Trump insider.

Then there’s the sudden drawing in of Fox News’ disgraced CEO, Roger Ailes, and Breitbart’s Stephen Bannon, a man who has no experience, whatsoever, in running political campaigns, but much experience in media.

But my Trump insider downplays Bannon’s involvement in a future Trump TV/internet venture, insisting that Jared will lead the way. Offering more insight, my contact says it is unlikely that Trump will star in or host most of the programming given Trump’s problem with “attention span.” Certainly, Trump will be the face of the venture and its flagship programming, but he will appear “no more than once a day or even once a week.”

I know none of this will make a dent in the minds of Trump’s loyal and devoted cult following. They’re already too heavily invested. His loss will be attributed to the Never Trump factions who have been sounding the alarm about Trump from the beginning.

Then, there’s the “rigged system” that Trump has been crying about since he entered the race (in between his insults and gaffes, that is).

The blame for a Clinton presidency will be laid on the backs of everybody and everything, other than the fact that the GOP candidate was a really poor choice, with no knowledge, no experience, and interests outside of actually winning office.

Finally, according to my source, Trump TV will be launched with “OPM” (other people’s money) so, as always in Trump Tower, the “The Art of the Deal” will be the real winner.

Sounds like Must-Watch TV.