January 7, 2004: "The Apprentice" Premieres

January 7, 2004: A date which lives in infamy. The Apprentice premieres on NBC. It turns a washed-up, failed businessman into a TV star, playing a character who is everything he only pretended to be: A smart rich guy, who is irresistible to women, and who is right about everything.

Producer Mark Burnett, who had previously begun the era of “reality television” in 2000 with Survivor, has withheld video recordings of Trump spewing vile garbage which, had they been released at the time, would have gotten him "canceled" before he could turn himself into a "cult of personality." That cult proved so powerful that it allowed him to survive even having 82 million Americans turn his catchphrase back at him: "You're fired!"

Burnett is as responsible for the Donald Trump MAGA phenomenon as anyone, and he is one of the people about whom I can say, if he outlives me, I want to watch when he tries to explain himself to God in Heaven.

During the 2016 Republican Primaries, somebody I know from Facebook wrote this. I haven't changed the text (though I should point out that "Penn" is magician-comedian Penn Jillette, of Penn & Teller) or the punctuation, but his point is correct:

Putting aside all of Trumps bad qualities you want to know what Trumps actually like all one needs to do is look at Celebrity Apprentice 6 where he lets Penn get all the way to the finals then doesn't let him win because Penn said a mean thing about him in a book years ago. That sums Trump up right there dudes a 6 year old

Exactly. Trump is what you get when a rich kid never gets told, "No, you can't have that." When he's "grown-up" and is told that, he doesn't handle it well. And someone like that should never be the President of the United States.

In 2005, a British version of The Apprentice began airing on BBC2, moving to BBC1 in 2007. Oddly, the leader was Alan Sugar. Baron Sugar is a computer service magnate, and is a supporter of his country's Labour Party, its leading left-of-center party. He has engaged on online arguments with Trump, and proved himself the superior wit.

He is also a lifelong fan of North London's Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, and owned the team from 1991 to 2001, proving that he is not always a man of superior wit. But he's still been a more successful businessman, and a more successful sports team owner, than Trump: "Spurs" won the 1999 League Cup under his ownership, while Trump, as owner of the New Jersey Generals, sank the entire United States Football League in 1986.

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January 7, 2004 was a Wednesday. Baseball was out of season. The NFL was between its regular season and its Playoffs. There were 10 games in the NBA:

* The Boston Celtics beat the Orlando Magic, 101-93 at the FleetCenter (now the TD Garden) in Boston.

* The Philadelphia 76ers beat the Los Angeles Clippers, 100-80 at the Wachovia Center (now the Xfinity Mobile Arena) in Philadelphia.

* The Miami Heat beat the Chicago Bulls, 102-95 at the American Airlines Arena (now the Kaseya Center) in Miami.

* The New Orleans Hornets beat the Washington Wizards, 97-87 at the New Orleans Arena (now the Smoothie King Center).

* The Toronto Raptors beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 75-69 at the Air Canada Centre (now the Scotiabank Arena) in Toronto.

* The Detroit Pistons beat the Houston Rockets, 85-66 at The Palace in the Detroit suburb of Auburn Hills, Michigan.

* The Milwaukee Bucks beat the Phoenix Suns, 95-87 at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee.

* The Dallas Mavericks beat the Golden State Warriors, 105-99 at the American Airlines Center in Dallas.

* The Denver Nuggets beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 113-91 at the Pepsi Center (now the Ball Arena) in Denver.

* And the Seattle SuperSonics beat the Sacramento Kings, 104-93 at the Seattle Center Coliseum.

And there were 6 games in the NHL:

* The New Jersey Devils lost to the Pittsburgh Penguins, 4-2 at the Continental Airlines Arena at the Meadowlands.

* The Phoenix Coyotes beat the Washington Capitals, 3-0 at the MCI Center (now the Capital One Arena) in Washington.

* The Philadelphia Flyers and the Buffalo Sabres played to a tie, 1-1 at the HSBC Arena (now the Key Bank Center) in Buffalo.

* The Boston Bruins beat the Detroit Red Wings, 3-0 at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit.

* And the Minnesota Wild beat the Chicago Blackhawks, 7-4 at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.

* The Mighty Ducks of Anaheim played their arch-rivals, the Los Angeles Kings, to a tie, 4-4 at the Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim (now the Honda Center).