It took Trump 14 years to realize why The Apprentice was named The Apprentice

(Image credit: Win McNamee/Getty Images)

published 20 July 2018

The Apprentice premiered on Jan. 8, 2004. On July 19, 2018, President Trump realized what the title of his show meant.

The realization hit Trump while at a White House jobs event Thursday, with Ivanka Trump in attendance. Trump told the audience that "23 companies and associations are pledging to expand apprenticeships," then paused for a beat. "That's an interesting word for me to be saying, right, The Apprentice?"

Okay, that's fine, Trump made a reference to a reality program he once hosted, not a big deal. But now that everything about the show and the board room and Omarosa and telling people "You're fired!" suddenly made sense, he kept going. "I never actually put that together until just now," Trump said. "That was a good experience, I will tell you that." Turning to his former co-star/daughter/senior adviser, he continued, "Isn't that strange, Ivanka? I never associated, but here we are, can't get away from that word. It's a great word." Watch the president connect the dots in the video below. Catherine Garcia

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.