Trump: Dad Gave Me 'Small Loan' of $1M

It's early, but it's a safe bet that Donald Trump already has uttered the line that will get the most attention of all the candidates on Monday: "My father gave me a small loan of $1 million." He made the comment at a town hall event in New Hampshire hosted by the Today show, reports Politico. When a member of the audience asked whether anyone had ever said no to him, Trump set out to establish an up-by-the-bootstraps narrative, notes Mediaite:

• “It’s not been easy for me. It has not been easy for me, and, you know, I started off in Brooklyn my father gave me a small loan of $1 million. I came into Manhattan, and I had to pay him back and pay him back with interest.”

Moderator Matt Lauer circled back to the remark, noting that a million-dollar loan from dad doesn't exactly sound like a hardship. "You’re right," Trump responded. "But $1 million isn’t very much compared to what I built, I’ve built one of the great companies." The response has been swift, with a Reuters headline conveying a common sentiment: "Trump's teeny tiny $1-million loan from daddy." After all, "what 'ordinary American' can't relate to their father fronting them a cool million to buy Manhattan real estate," wonders a post at Salon. And a story at USA Today suggests it's a "new definition of small." (More Donald Trump 2016 stories.)