There were multiple headlines out of President Donald Trump’s marathon — more than two hours — interview to The New York Times last week.
There were multiple headlines out of President Donald Trump’s marathon — more than two hours — interview to The New York Times last week.
Most notably, despite laws to the contrary, he said his own morality is the only thing to curb his use of the US military abroad.
Since it is rare for him to sit for an extended interview with journalists who challenge his positions, it’s worth looking at how he responded to other topics. For example: his dim view of Civil Rights legislation, his mistrust of blood thinners, the fact that he forgot promising Americans $2,000 tariff rebate checks.
Here are some key moments pulled fromthe Times’ transcript, which it published on Sunday.
TRUMP:Because that’s what I feel is psychologically needed for success. I think that ownership gives you a thing that you can’t do, whether you’re talking about a lease or a treaty. Ownership gives you things and elements that you can’t get from just signing a document, that you can have a base.
TRUMP:I don’t care. I want great people in this country. I want people that love the country, and I think that many of the people that came in from Somalia, they hate our country.
(Trump also said he would not hesitate to try to strip citizenship from Somali immigrants, including Rep. Ilhan Omar.)
TRUMP:No, I didn’t say that. Look, I’ve been stopped on some things. I mean, the judges have held things up, and they’ve made it bad. Now, I will say, if I feel it’s important to invoke the Insurrection Act, which I have the right to do, that’s a different thing, because then I have the right to do pretty much what I want to do. But I haven’t done that.
TRUMP: No, I just want people that love our country. It’s very simple. I want people that love our country. I want people that respect our country, respect the laws of our country, and I want people that can embrace our country.
(The reporters pointed out that the only refugees currently allowed to enter the country are White South Africans.)
TRUMP:Well, I haven’t seen that. I mean, I certainly haven’t seen that. But over the years, it’s been very much the opposite of that. Very, very much the opposite of that. People are coming into our country. Nobody’s doing it based on race.
TRUMP:Well, I think that a lot of people were very badly treated. White people were very badly treated, where they did extremely well and they were not invited to go into a university or a college. So I would say in that way, I think it was unfair in certain cases. I think it was also, at the same time, it accomplished some very wonderful things, but it also hurt a lot of people — people that deserve to go to a college or deserve to get a job were unable to get a job. So it was, it was a reverse discrimination.
TRUMP:He’s not our worst president, but he’s one of our worst presidents. He’s caused tremendous division in our country. Yes.
TRUMP:No, I don’t. I think we don’t need them. I think we don’t like them.
(The reporters had noted that some leading conservative pundits have espoused antisemitic views)
TRUMP:Well, I’ll tell you what. From my own personal standpoint, absolutely, because I condemn. I have a daughter who’s married to a Jewish person. My daughter happens to be Jewish, beautiful, three grandchildren are Jewish. I’m very proud of them. I’m very proud of the whole, that whole family. I am the least antisemitic person probably there is anywhere in the world.
TRUMP:Well, I’d say they’re rigged polls. Look, the polls are rigged just like the writers are rigged.
(The reporters said the pollsters warn Trump isn’t doing enough to convince the young voters he is addressing the economy.)
TRUMP:I don’t know. I think, I think I can tell you I’m very popular. This just came out, from TikTok. It came out just recently that Donald Trump was No. 1 on TikTok and the most popular person. You can have these. I don’t think you’ll use it.
(The most followed and most popular TikTok account is that of the Senegalese-Italian influencer Khaby Lame, who left the US last year after being detained by ICE,according to a CNN reportat the time.)
TRUMP:No, well, it’s not retribution. But it should be retribution.
TRUMP:I inherited a highly inflated, horribly run country. The borders were bad. The military was bad. The Afghanistan was the worst, worst day in the history of our country. Maybe in the history, I think it was the lowest point. You know what, that was the lowest point, and we may right now be at the highest point.
TRUMP:I did do that? When did I do that?
(Ultimately, Trump said the checks could come by the end of the year and he argued he would not need Congress to approve the payments.We shall see.
TRUMP:That I inherited because guys like Biden gave away money like, like a fool. You have to remember that we have tremendous growth in our country. And if the growth is as good as I think, the debt will look very small.
(Histax cutshave also contributed to the size of the debt.)
TRUMP:I’ve lived on debt for my life. And I’ve loved debt, you know. I’ve always liked it. As I get older, I like it less, you know I always say, but I don’t have debt anymore. But it’s very interesting, I’ve lived on debt and I’ve done well by debt. I’ve made billions of dollars because of debt, but that is always risky.
TRUMP: And you know what? In a very, in less than a year, I’ve taken a country that was a laughingstock all over the world, and I made it the hottest country. You know, we’re the hottest country right now in the world, which The New York Times should be happy about… Because The New York Times becomes hotter because I made it hot. I mean, it’s too bad that I’m benefiting The New York Times, but that’s the way it goes.
TRUMP:I always respect the results of elections, but the elections in our country are rigged.
(He notably did not accept the outcome of the 2020 election.)
TRUMP:Well, I should have.
(Later, Trump said he wasn’t sure the Guard would have been “sophisticated enough” for such a mission.)
TRUMP:I’m not sure that they’re sophisticated enough in the ways of crooked Democrats and the way they cheat, to figure that out.
(There’s no evidence of widespread election cheating by Democrats in 2020.)
TRUMP:You know why? I want nice, thin blood going through my heart.
(Read moreabout Trump’s latest physical.)
TRUMP:I don’t like blood thinners because everyone I know that took them is dead. They’re almost like trial and error. Oh, let’s try this one. Let’s try that. I don’t try — the only blood thinner I use is aspirin.
TRUMP:It depends on which vaccine — if you’re talking about polio vaccine and various vaccine, absolutely, yes.
(Under Trump and his Health and Human Services Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., therecommended vaccine schedulehas undergone some major changes, which will likely result in fewer vaccinations.)
TRUMP:No, I have not… I probably should.
(Trump does want to make the drugs, which he frequently refers to as “the fat shot,” cheaper in the US.)
TRUMP:I think it’s easier for me. I feel physically the same. I feel the way I did 40 years ago.
TRUMP:I’ve taken three cognitive exams. Nobody, no other president has ever taken one. And when you get into the middle to the end questions — you know, after many questions, they get to be rough questions — you’d have a hard time answering them, all of you. You’d have a hard time answering them successfully. I aced all three of them. I took one not so long ago. I’m taking a big risk when I take one, because it’s — they’re taken publicly. You know, they’re from a military hospital, Walter Reed, and I would imagine that if I did badly, it would have been all over the place.
(Here a Times reporter tried to interject with a different question, but Trump was not done talking about cognitive tests.)
TRUMP:But wait a minute. I aced — I aced those. I got perfect marks on them. The doctors, that I didn’t know, they gave me those exams, said you rarely see somebody ace them. And I took them, I said, you know, if I do badly — it’s possible I could do badly, I don’t know, I haven’t taken lots of tests. I mean I was good at tests, but you have to take lots of tests — I got perfect marks on them.
And actually, I’m very glad I took them, because it shuts people up. Biden couldn’t have answered — I mean, he might have gotten the first three questions right, but after that, he wouldn’t have been able to, and other people, too — many people. I think it’s actually very important for a president of the United States and a vice president to take a cognitive test.
(There has been much speculationover the yearsabout Trump’s cognitive tests, which he routinely brings up.)
TRUMP:Well, I’ll have to find some other alternative (if the court rules against him). It won’t be as clean, it won’t be as pretty as it is right now.
(From here, Trump referred, obliquely, to “licensing” as an alternative, but he did not elaborate when pushed.)
(Trump took a call from the Fox personality Bret Baier during his Times interview.)
TRUMP:Bret, I’m being interviewed by David Sanger and a group of the most brilliant people that you — Katie Rogers — a group of the most brilliant people you’ve ever seen. I’ve actually agreed to an interview with The New York Times. Can you believe it? So, they only treat me badly. But you know, I won in a landslide, so I guess it can’t be that important.
TRUMP:He’s only got one thing… Donald Trump.
(The Times journalists tried to move from here to a speed round of questions on different topics, but the president was more interested in staying on how he helps Zelensky.)
TRUMP:Well, I was in the midst of what I thought was going to be a very good answer… If he doesn’t have Donald Trump, that thing would have been a total disaster, and he knows it, and the European leaders know, and everybody knows it.
TRUMP:No, he’s asked me to, I just haven’t seen it.
(The rapper and businessman is in federal prison for two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution. Trump says Diddy’s legal teamrequested a pardonthrough a letter.
TRUMP:Yeah, would they have done that? No, because they were stupid. OK, we have a number of deals that are going through right now. I say the United States should be entitled to a piece of those deals, because without the United States, those deals couldn’t be done.
TRUMP:Because I found out that nobody cared. I’m allowed to. You know… But I let my kids, you know, do business. I prohibited them from doing business in my first term, and I got absolutely no credit for it. I didn’t have to do that. And it’s really unfair to them … and also, I saw the things that went on with Biden. It was so ridiculous when I looked at the corruption and all of the things. And, you know, I have a very honest family. But I said, why wouldn’t I let them do things and let them do things and let them live their life? Now, these are honest, very honorable people.
(The Trump family, in particular the president’s sonsEric and Don Jr.,have moved aggressively to profit from their father’s second term, both in terms of real estate and in the evolving cryptocurrency world over which he holds sway as president.)
TRUMP:I think just the opposite. I think A.I. is going to be a tremendous job producer. I think that we have so many jobs. My biggest problem isn’t taking the jobs. It’s that we don’t have enough people to fill the jobs, and that’s where robots come in.
(There’s some evidence toback Trump’s claim.)
TRUMP:I don’t want to go into that because it’s a very — it’s a very ticklish subject. But I believe that there is a plan that can work for everybody. It takes two to tango. The Democrats have to agree. But the Democrats are their own worst enemy. That’s why they’re not sitting in this office. That’s why I am.
(Trump said he’d like to enact a policy that works for everyone, including “possibly” a pathway to citizenship for the undocumented. But he shied away from specifics.)
TRUMP:You know, the Lincoln bathroom, as an example. People — “Oh, Lincoln!” — it’s a masterpiece. I took the equivalent of Home Depot tiles — the worst. It was done in the 1940s. It was so bad, falling apart. … And I made it into what would have been used at the highest level, the most gorgeous marble. With the best — with the best —
(People will ultimately be thanking Trump, he said, for demolishing the East Wing to build amassive new ballroom. He also discussed plans to add a second floor to a portion of the West Wing.)
TRUMP:Do you believe that? No, do you believe that? That’s a cottonmouth rattlesnake. He’s a great hunter, but I said, “You know, ultimately they win.” I don’t like it. Don. No boots, no nothing. He was — he was born for that.
TRUMP:It’ll be able to hold six times what the Capitol can hold, and it’s all bulletproof glass, drone-proof roof. Yeah, serious. The biggest drone could crash into it — you wouldn’t — you’d hear a little noise up there, it wouldn’t be bad.
(See the latestEast Wing plans.)
TRUMP:I didn’t need confidence. I have a lot of confidence in my people, in my military. I built the military.
TRUMP:Katie, good? Two hours, Katie — I could go nine hours.
(Rogerswrote a storyabout whether Trump’s energy has diminished in his second term.)