Success Quote by Donald Trump

A petty grenade dressed up as an opinion, this line works because it names a kingmaker and dares the room to pick sides. Les Moonves, then the all-powerful CBS chief, wasn’t just a TV executive; he was a gatekeeper for status, bookings, and legitimacy. Calling him “the most highly overrated person in television” isn’t critique so much as a dominance play: a businessman-celebrity telling an industry boss, publicly, that the boss’s prestige is a mirage.

Trump’s intent is less about Moonves’s actual decisions than about recalibrating the hierarchy. The phrasing is classic Trump-era combat marketing: “most,” “highly,” “overrated.” It’s maximalist, easy to quote, and impossible to adjudicate, which is the point. By choosing a fuzzy charge (overrated) instead of a concrete accusation (corrupt, incompetent), he keeps the punch clean enough to repeat while still landing as insult. It’s a schoolyard word with boardroom implications.

The subtext is transactional: you don’t control the narrative about me; I do. Trump built his brand inside television’s machinery (especially reality TV) while resenting that the machinery could still confer or withhold respect. Targeting Moonves signals to audiences that Trump is the one who can crown or dethrone reputations, not the network suits.

Context matters, too. Pre-2010s media ran on a tight loop of moguls, publicity, and ego. This quote exploits that loop: it’s not just an attack on a person, it’s bait for coverage, a way to force the industry to repeat your framing. In television, “overrated” is a ratings strategy.