‘Don Jr’s No Don Sr’ CNN Panel Cracks Up at Trump’s Shaky Endorsement for Son To Take Over Apprentice Reboot

Most of a CNN panel couldn’t help but crack up at President Donald Trump’s shaky endorsement for his son Donald Trump Jr. to host a reboot of The Apprentice.

On CNN’s Table for Five on Saturday, anchor Abby Phillip and a majority of her panel found themselves laughing at the president’s response to reports Trump Jr. could take over a reboot of The Apprentice for Amazon. The company previously paid out $40 million to acquire the rights to a documentary about First Lady Melania Trump.

“He’s a good guy,” Trump said about his son, who previously appeared numerous times on the show as a judge next to his father. “He’s probably good. He’s got a little charisma going. You need a little charisma for that… so we’ll see what happens. Yeah, they told me about it. We’ll see.”

“‘Probably has some charisma’?” Phillip asked after watching the clip. “Not exactly the greatest endorsement.”

Geraldo Rivera, progressive Sirius XM host John Fugelsang, and former Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh all cracked up at the line.

Pete Seat — a former spokesman for former President George W. Bush — did confess to being a fan of the show and argued the competition’s appeal is less about the host than the contestants and challenges.

Rivera compete on Trump’s Celebrity Apprentice during its seventh season and he came in second place. The former contestant said he doesn’t believe Trump Jr. can fill the shoes of his father, whom Rivera was friends with for years.

“Well, I’ve known Don Jr. for a long time, almost his whole life, in fact, and Don Jr.’s no Don Sr. There’s a big difference, I mean, just because you’re related to him —” Rivera began before Phillip added, “I think we got that from his father’s reaction,” cracking up the table again.

Rivera called the president one of the best performers he’s ever seen and argued his son’s version of his show would likely attract a much smaller audience.

“Is there a market for it? I think that maybe if it goes streaming, there’ll be enough of an [audience],” he said. “The audience is fractured enough that there’ll a fringe that will dig Don Jr. doing Don Sr.’s act, but there’s only one Donald Trump. And he’s much bigger than Don Jr., he’s more commanding, much more charismatic. I think of the father as one of the great live performers in the history of performance. Don Jr…. He’s a great guy, a nice guy, but he’s not his dad.”

Trump hosted The Apprentice and The Celebrity Apprentice for 14 seasons combined from 2004-2015. The show was brought back as The New Celebrity Apprentice in 2017 with Arnold Schwarzenegger replacing Trump, but that version only lasted a season.

Watch above via CNN.

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