Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., (LEFT) appeared on an episode of President Donald Trump's former reality television show "The Apprentice," during which the pair were described as "good friends" and Schumer lauded Trump for his business acumen. (GETTY IMAGES/FOX NEWS)
The show then cut to Schumer lauding Trump as a business prodigy.
"Even when [Trump] was much younger, you knew that he was going to go places," Schumer said, before a voice-over from one of the contestants present at the breakfast reiterated that "Sen. Schumer and Mr. Trump are good friends."
Despite Schumer's apparent friendly sentiment towards the president in 2006, as evidenced by his appearance on "The Apprentice," the Democratic New York senator told Politico in 2016, ahead of Trump's first term, that, "[Trump] was not my friend." Rather, Schumer described his relationship with Trump as a "casual acquaintance."
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"Donald Trump is a lawless, angry man," Schumer said of the president during an interview last month. "The fact that The Apprentice President Donald ‘You’re Fired’ Trump is refusing to hold people accountable just shows how weak he is," Schumer added in a post on social media earlier this month.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of N.Y., seated at a Senate Rules and Administration Committee. (Elizabeth Frantz/Pool via AP)
Recently, Trump took a jab at Schumer's alleged lack of support for the Jewish community amid the rise in antisemitism, particularly on college campuses, in the wake of Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023 attacks against innocent Israelis. Schumer is Jewish.
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"Schumer is a Palestinian, as far as I’m concerned," Trump told reporters from the Oval Office last month. "He’s become a Palestinian. He used to be Jewish. He’s not Jewish anymore."
Trump's comments from earlier this month also mirror a similar sentiment he relayed about Schumer during his most recent campaign for the presidency, referring to him as a "proud member of Hamas."
In addition to Schumer, other high-profile public figures have praised the now-president, only to become his political enemy years later. In a 1988 interview with Oprah Winfrey, the celebrity talk show host appeared to be amazed at Americans’ "fascination" with Donald Trump and even described him as a "folk hero" for being so popular.
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Meanwhile, celebrity music producer who co-founded Def Jam Records, Russell Simmons, similarly had nice things to say about Trump before he entered politics, calling him "very nice" and remarking how supportive Trump has been to his family, according to media reports. Nonetheless, following the tragic politically motivated violence in Charlottesville during Trump's first term, Simmons reportedly criticized his "friend" for leading the legacy of a "great divider," and a "destroyer of the environment and … everything we as Americans have fought so hard to call ours."
Fox News Digital reached out to Schumer's office for comment but did not receive a reply in time for publication.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/schumers-apprentice-praise-trump-goes-viral-going-go-places