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We all know that before he got into the game of politics, Trump hosted and produced the reality competition show "The Apprentice." What few of us remember are the nuggets of wisdom he doled out during the show's first season in 2004.

Dubbed "Donaldisms" on the show's DVD box set, the little vignettes feature Trump talking to an off-camera interviewer on different lessons as b-roll of Trump or the show's contestants plays off to the side.

As President, you're the boss. Underlings are for other people to deal with. As the leader of the free world, it's best to go straight to the other bosses to get things done.

Or, as kids of 2017 and/or DJ Khaled would say, negotiation is a #MajorKey.

"Negotiation is a very, very delicate art," Trump says of his favorite activity. And lord knows there's plenty of negotiation in politics -- in theory, anyway.

Trump's campaign rested on his reputation as a famous negotiator, a maker of deals. Even though the GOP's first attempt at the repeal of Obamacare under Trump foundered, it's far from the last thing Trump will need to negotiate.

"Once you make a deal with someone, it's really important to carry it through," Trump said on "The Apprentice."

And as President, inheriting the reins of a country that had been run by 43 other men before him, he also inherited two centuries' worth of previous deals, although he's already pulled out of some and indicated his frustration with others.

Trump pulled out of a massive Asian trade deal and a worldwide climate change effort negotiated by President Obama. Those are new deals, however. There are some long-standing agreements Trump wants to reconsider.

A deal is a deal, as businessman Trump said. Or, as they must surely say in diplomatic circles, an international military alliance is an international military alliance.

Donald Trump's biggest supporter is probably Donald Trump. As President, it's hard to count anyone else in politics as a certain ally. Congressional leaders will agree with you on one part of a bill, but not the other. International allies may stay mum when asked about your international agenda. You might even disagree with members of your own Cabinet.

It's debatable whether politics or business is more cutthroat, but in the end, you've got to look out for yourself in either field.

"Basically, nobody else is going to fight for you," Trump said on the TV show.

Harsh, but true. And when it comes to promoting on the job success, Trump is textbook.

Along the same lines, but extending beyond individual interests, it is important to throw yourself behind whatever product you're selling.

On "The Apprentice," contestants were tasked with projects like selling lemonade or creating an ad campaign for a luxury charter jet service. In the White House, the President is tasked with selling an agenda and creating jobs.

"If you don't believe it -- if you don't really believe it yourself -- it'll never work," Trump said on the show.

"When people come in to buy something, especially very rich people, they see details," Trump said in 2004.

When Congress members came in to buy the GOP's original health care deal -- Congress members who are largely independently wealthy -- they saw details they did not like.

See? The advice maps onto politics perfectly!

"So we're getting out, but we will start to negotiate and we will see if we can make a deal that's fair," Trump said at the beginning of June.

It wasn't a deal that Trump spent months going back and forth pulling teeth over. He didn't like the deal and wanted the US to walk until a time in the future that the accord might provide what he wanted.

"If it doesn't work out, take your lumps and relax," Trump told his TV audience in 2004.

The Paris accord wasn't working into Trump's plans, so the administration took its lumps -- whatever that means -- and tried to turn its focus to infrastructure.

Trump certainly didn't get to the Oval Office by playing by the political rules.

He also has a Twitter account that allows him to go outside the confines of traditional media to communicate with the public directly anytime day or night (or heinously early in the morning), and often at odds with the messaging of his own press shop.

"If you really want to be successful, that's how you're going to have to do it," Trump said on "The Apprentice."

"Surround yourself with talented people who also happen to be loyal," Trump said in 2004.

Following his own advice, Trump has brought his daughter Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner on board at the White House. Ivanka previously advised her father on later seasons of "The Apprentice," proving that Trump and his audience weren't the only people who gained valuable knowledge from the show.

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