Trump Once Was ‘Principal for a Day’ and Got Called Out by a Fifth Grader

Here’s another entry in the seemingly inexhaustible list of “Yes, that actually happened” Donald Trump moments; Trump once acted as a school principal for day, gave the school chump change, and was confronted by an angry fifth grader.

In 1997, Trump visited an elementary school in a poor neighborhood in the Bronx, taking part in an annual tradition by serving as “Principal for a Day.” (Although according to Art of the Comeback, Trump left early and was gone by noon. “In Trump’s case, it was actually a ‘Principal for About Two Hours’ event,” snarked the New York Daily News at the time.)

Trump initially caused a stir when he went to the P.S. 70 bake sale raising money for the school chess team and dropped $1 million in the donation basket. But the bill was of course a fake; the billionaire actually ended up donating only $200.

Later, when giving a speech to an auditorium, a student openly called out Trump after making a stingy gift to the students: 15 pairs of sneakers for a class of 300. Here’s The New York Times at the time:

”First of all, who likes Nike sneakers?” he asked. All 300 fifth graders raised their hands. Mr. Trump leaned in to drop the bombshell. ”If everybody puts their name on a piece of paper right now, I will pick 15 people and I’ll take you to the new Nike store that I just opened at Trump Tower.”

The fifth graders erupted in frenzied excitement at the promise of a trip to what Mr. Trump described as the ”inner city called 57th and Fifth.” But a little while later, 11-year-old Andres Rodriguez had a question.

”Why,” asked Andres, whose father is dead and whose mother cannot work because of a bad leg, ”did you offer us sneakers if you could give us scholarships?”

Unsurprisingly, Trump’s plan to give only a few students sneakers didn’t go as planned. One teacher told the Times she had to console her entire class, none of whom were winners.  Trump eventually heard that and gave those students sneakers as well, along with 30 other special educations students.

[Image via screengrab]
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