A resurfaced episode of Donald Trump’s former reality TV show The Apprentice is sending shockwaves across the political spectrum — and not because of the contestants.
In Season 5, Episode 8 of the hit NBC series, which recently became available on Amazon Prime, then-real estate mogul Donald Trump rewarded the winning team with a breakfast meeting in Washington D.C. — not with a business tycoon, but with Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer of New York.
What followed was a moment that many are now calling political whiplash.
“I was born in Brooklyn, the same place where Donald Trump’s family comes from,” Schumer told the starstruck contestants over breakfast at the Hay-Adams hotel. “His father and my grandfather were builders together in Brooklyn.”
Schumer went even further, telling the group that Trump had always been destined for greatness: “Even when he was much younger, you knew he was going to go places.” One contestant chimed in, “Wow!” while another noted that Schumer and Trump “are good friends.”
Fast forward to 2025, and the tone couldn’t be more different.
Now a leading critic of President Trump, Schumer has repeatedly slammed the man he once casually praised. In a recent post, Schumer called Trump a “lawless, angry man,” and accused him of undermining democratic institutions.
The clip has drawn ridicule from both sides of the aisle. Michigan Republican State Senator Aric Nesbitt reposted it with the caption: “How things change…” Meanwhile, former Rhode Island Democratic legislator Aaron Regunberg took a sharper jab: “What a world-class slug of a man.”
This is hardly the first time someone from Trump’s pre-presidency past has done an about-face. Oprah Winfrey once described Trump as a “folk hero,” and music mogul Russell Simmons praised Trump as “very nice” — only to later denounce him as a “great divider.”
The Schumer clip is a striking reminder of how much can change in American politics — and how fast former friendships can turn into bitter rivalries.