Donald Trump on PBD Podcast #489

PATRICK BET-DAVID: So we have a special guest in the house today for the podcast. We’ve been waiting to do this for a long time. However, whether you love him or hate him, there’s one thing you have to know. In my opinion, he is the only trifecta we’ve ever had in the history of America.

Let me tell you why I call him a trifecta. We’ve only had one person who’s won in business and became the king of New York, became a billionaire. That’s one. Two, he won in media. Number one show, Apprentice, 15 years in a row. Three, he becomes a president. So you got, he won in business, he won in media, he won in politics. Again, there’s never been a person who’s done that.

Like I said, whether you love him or hate him, you have to respect him. Mr. President, it’s great to have you.

DONALD TRUMP: That was a nice introduction. Thank you very much.

PATRICK BET-DAVID: Yeah, You are a one of one.

DONALD TRUMP: Let’s end the show right now.

PATRICK BET-DAVID: Okay, so I want to get right into it. I got a lot of questions I want to ask you. Some of it’s personal, some of it’s business, some of it’s politics.

Obama’s Comments on the Economy

PATRICK BET-DAVID: But something happened last week. Barack Obama, he’s at this event, he’s speaking. And he’s given this message about your economy, how great the economy was. And then at the end of it he says, you know, you didn’t build that economy, I built this. I kind of want to get your reaction on this talk that he’s given. Rob, if you can put that up.

PATRICK BET-DAVID: So how do you feel about this when you’ve seen this last week?

DONALD TRUMP: I think he’s angry. He pretends not to be, but I think he’s an angry guy. He’s a nasty guy. He’s got a little bit of an edge. And, you know, he’s angry about a lot of things.

You look at what happened with Biden and you look at what he did with Biden. He really hurt Biden because I’m not sure he wouldn’t have imploded anyway. We had the debate and he was down quite a bit and they walked out and they just took it away from him. I mean, if you think about it, they stole the election from a sitting president.

That’s, you know, I always say coup, but the word coup, I don’t think it’s accurate enough. They just walked in and took it away from him. That is a legendary thing. He didn’t want to give up. He’s angry now. They’re all angry, the Democrats, if you think. She’s angry. They’re both angry.

But, no, I watched that last week and I think he spoke down to black men. I thought it was terrible the way he spoke to them.

PATRICK BET-DAVID: But it’s effective. You think he still carries the same stick as he did, you know, maybe eight years ago or 12 years ago?

DONALD TRUMP: I don’t think it is. No, I don’t think he does. I think people have gotten smart. And, no, I don’t believe he does at all. He’s… I hadn’t seen him. He’s changed a lot. Visually, he’s changed. I like to say visually, as opposed to from the look standpoint, because, of course, looks don’t matter anymore in politics.

You say looks don’t matter. It doesn’t make any difference because we want to be politically correct. But they do matter. But he’s changed. His look has changed, actually, quite a bit. I haven’t seen him in a long time.

PATRICK BET-DAVID: And, by the way, Rob, I think that’s even four years ago. I think it’s even more than it is today.

DONALD TRUMP: Well, no, but the statement he just made was a couple of days ago.

PATRICK BET-DAVID: Yeah, it was a couple of days ago. And it’s similar to the statement he made back in 2012 when he told business owners, you didn’t build that. Remember when he said that? I don’t know if you remember that whole comment. I think this is the speech, Rob, if you want to play this.

PATRICK BET-DAVID: So this becomes a pattern, a pattern of communism. You see a pattern of communism there?

DONALD TRUMP: Well, no, I mean, that’s basically the view. You know, we didn’t do anything. Government did it. Somebody did it, but anybody but us.

PATRICK BET-DAVID: Do you think this works with the undecided voter? Do you think the undecided voter that sit in our audience, they’re entrepreneurs, they’re small business owners, they’re family, they have kids, they want to win, they’ve got dreams, they want to do something. Do you think a message like that from him lands on the business owner, on the undecided voter, on the person that says, you know what? I think he’s right. I’m going to go vote for him. Do you think it works?

DONALD TRUMP: I think you don’t have that many undecided voters, I think, by now. You have very strong Trump voters. I don’t think you have strong Democrat voters, but I don’t think you have strong Kamala voters. What’s the vote for? I mean, take a look. She can’t do an interview. Has she been in here to do an interview?

PATRICK BET-DAVID: No, not yet.

DONALD TRUMP: I don’t think you’ll see her.

PATRICK BET-DAVID: She’s claiming she’s going to go on Rogan.

DONALD TRUMP: Well, that’ll be interesting. So am I. I think I am. I don’t know. I think so. But it’ll be interesting. It’ll be interesting to see what happens today with Bret Baier. You know, Bret’s two people. He can be very nice, or he can be himself.

PATRICK BET-DAVID: He was tough on you. If he’s tough on her the way he was tough on you, he was very tough on you.

DONALD TRUMP: No, he was always nasty to me. I don’t think he’ll be tough on her. I don’t think he’ll be. Fox is a very disappointing thing. During the day, Fox is just terrible. Terrible.

Bloomberg Interview and Economic Discussion

PATRICK BET-DAVID: I want to show something with this. When you look at this whole Barack Obama thing, I think the one thing they don’t show, you were talking yesterday, I think it was the Bloomberg event, which, by the way, I loved. I loved the way you handled all the tariff conversations. That was a great event.

DONALD TRUMP: I got hoodwinked to go on that. I was supposed to make a speech in front of the Chicago Economic Club, which is a big deal, which is a very prestigious place, beautiful. Everything was beautiful. And all of a sudden, I understand I’m being interviewed by this gentleman. And he’s got a reputation for being about, oh, I’d love to see him do Kamala. He should do Kamala. That would be beautiful.

But he’s a tough cookie. And he’s the chairman of Bloomberg. He’s a big guy. So all of a sudden I’m being interviewed. And I wasn’t happy about it because I found out that he is, you know, his reputation precedes him. And but I decided to do it. You know, you have a choice. Walk out and don’t do it and have a scandal or go in and do it and hopefully win. Or you go and do it and you get killed, which is probably the worst.

But it was a great… it was a great interview, actually. And he was nasty, but he wasn’t overly nasty to me. I mean, other people thought he was. I thought nasty. It was David Muir when he kept interrupting me during the debate and saying false things like when I said crime is way up and he said, no, no, crime is down. I said, you’re wrong about that. Crime is up. And then two days later, it came out that crime is right. I mean, to me, that was much nastier than this gentleman. But it was… it was really a study of business. It was a detailed study of business.

PATRICK BET-DAVID: Come up with the Bloomberg one —

DONALD TRUMP: With Bloomberg. And people loved it.

PATRICK BET-DAVID: I agree. The tariff — . And the one thing I wanted to show is the following. So, you know how you talked about Jerome Powell. What an easy job. You come once a month and you say we’re going to increase the rates.

DONALD TRUMP: Greatest job.

PATRICK BET-DAVID: I think this is the one thing they don’t talk about. So Barack Obama got elected November 4th. OK, quantitative easing started November 26th. And it stayed for eight years until you got elected. So if you look at that low, pretty much zero percent interest rate. And then you get elected. Right. If you go to January 2016, Rob, for the audience to see that.

And then from there, one by one by one, rates are going up, going up, going up, going up, going up. And then Biden comes in, goes back down to zero to try to save the economy. And, you know, the rest is obviously history. But do you think the average person knows, like the impact of going to zero percent? How… how much does that positively help the impact? It’s when Fed lowers the rates to half a point.

DONALD TRUMP: Yeah, it has a huge impact. The power of the Fed is, I think, pretty strong. Some people disagree with that. They think it’s, you know, it’s overridden by the interest rate climate. But I think the power of the Fed is very strong. It’s an interesting graph, actually.

PATRICK BET-DAVID: Yeah. This just shows that the rates didn’t help you. You know, when he says it was…

DONALD TRUMP: Well, they didn’t use them to help me. And Powell, I gave him a hard time because he was raising them. And I was never a big fan of his. He was late and he was early. He was too early and too late, you know. But I had the greatest economy in history. We had the greatest economy in the history of our country. Despite that, you know, this is another thing I can say, despite the fact that they weren’t very high, but they were reasonably high. And despite the rates not being at zero, I had a pretty good… I had a great… we had a great run.

Shifting Political Landscape and African-American Voters

PATRICK BET-DAVID: Following up on the Barack Obama question, when I think about the twenty twenty four election, I saw some numbers that came up, which I thought was fascinating. Rob, if you can pull this up from CNN.

So this is CNN reporting on this just two days ago. OK, Barack Obama, when it comes down to black men ages 18 to 44. He was up 81 points in November of 2012. Clinton, Hillary was up 63 when she went against you. You know, Biden was up 53. Kamala, who is apparently black. She’s up 41.

DONALD TRUMP: And what do you mean by apparently?

PATRICK BET-DAVID: I mean, that’s what they’re telling us. We’re supposed to believe she’s black.

DONALD TRUMP: It’s much better than… no, no. See, I would never say anything like that. But you said don’t explain to what you mean. I don’t want to put you in trouble. I was going to throw it onto your shoulders, apparently.

Well, no, you know, you… you could explain it because —

PATRICK BET-DAVID: I’m very comfortable explaining it.

DONALD TRUMP: Yeah.

PATRICK BET-DAVID: Overnight, you know, she’s doing a show. She’s supposed to be Indian. And then all of a sudden now it’s black, but it’s not landing with the average American.

So if you look —

DONALD TRUMP: Do you think black men, that’s why she’s not doing well. Some people say that —

PATRICK BET-DAVID: In 2016, you had 13 percent of male black voters, 18 to 44. In 2020, you had 18 percent. In 2024, you’re at 26 percent. It’s a double in eight years. The question I’m asking you is the following. Back in 1960, 64 percent of African-Americans would vote Democrat. The other was pretty much conservative. African-Americans have historically been very conservative. Barry Goldwater. The issue happens 1964. It goes from 64 percent Democrat to 92 percent. And it’s been between 85 to 92 percent since 1964. Right. You’ve come in and you’ve shaken things up.

Do you think 2024 is going to be one of those moments where African-American men, they’re like, listen, I’m sick and tired of Democrats feeling like they own me. I think I’m going to go to the other side. Do you think 2024 could be one of those years that we look back and say they lost the African-American vote?

DONALD TRUMP: They really lost it for a while, the Republicans. I mean, it started, I guess, with Barry Goldwater, if you look at the charts. But I did criminal justice reform. That’s a big thing. They’ve been trying to get it. You know, I saw a guy named Van Jones. He’s not… I don’t think anybody knows who he is. He’s a commentator for CNN. And he came to see me in the White House and he was crying.

PATRICK BET-DAVID: I remember that.

DONALD TRUMP: He was crying because he… I just… I bring these things up because it’s a lack of… I don’t know. There’s something about loyalty. You help somebody with something. He came in with a fairly large group of people, mostly black people. And he was devastated because criminal justice reform wasn’t going to happen. Obama didn’t do it and we didn’t even come close. Bush didn’t try. Nobody… nobody was going to do it.

And I’m the only one that could have done it. And he was with a group of people that was… they were begging to do it. They were five votes short and they were… had to be conservative votes because there was nobody else left. Right. And I guess you needed the 61 or 60 something, maybe 66, but 61 is a hard vote. And he made a plea to me, Van Jones, total sleazebag. He made a plea to me. To help him and help this group of people.

Criminal Justice Reform

DONALD TRUMP: And they explained how for years they’ve been trying to get it and they’ve been unable to get it. And I said, well, let’s take a look at it. I studied it for a little while and spoke to them and I say, you know what, I’m going to help you. It’s going to help the black people in particular. And I’m going to get it for you guys.

And I called up five very conservative senators. And I’ll never forget one of the senators who was in charge of it. He was literally leading the charge against it. And I mean, his whole career was this. He was going to stop criminal justice reform. Not because he was, you know, anti-black, just he didn’t like it. He didn’t want it. And he was in the papers every day. He’s fighting and fighting it, winning very easily. And I helped him get elected. Without me, he wouldn’t have gotten elected.

I’ll never forget it. I called him up. Now, he’s in the heat of passion. He is fighting this all the way. Not something he would ever give up. You couldn’t. You know, there’s some things you can’t. I call him up. He gets on the phone. I didn’t say a word. I said, hello. And he goes, “I’m giving it to you.”

I said, “What are you giving me?” “I’m giving you criminal justice reform. That’s why you’re calling, right?” I said, “It is why I’m calling.” He said, “You got me elected. I disagree with you. But I’m giving it to you” just like that. I said, “That’s one of the coolest things I’ve ever heard.”

Because I also have the opposite, where I got a lot of people elected. You know, when I endorse somebody, in history, and I don’t want to brag, but in history, you can get another chart on that one, I’m like 289 and almost nothing for endorsements. And he said, “You got me elected. I wouldn’t even be here if it wasn’t for you.”

And I did, but I got a lot of people elected, and some of them forget. And I said, “That’s the coolest thing.” I said, “Thank you. Do you mind if I call a couple of the others?” “Nope, you do whatever you want.” Now, this is a guy who was the leader of the fight. I didn’t even ask. He knew what I was calling for, because he knew that I was going to help.

Van Jones, this Van Jones guy, I was going to help him. And you’ll understand why I’m being nasty to him now, because what happened later is disgraceful. So I said, “Thank you very much, Senator. I’m so happy that I did help you. I think loyalty is a great thing.” And that was the answer. I had his vote.

I then called four other guys, all of whom were against it, and I said, I’d love to have it. And, you know, they don’t do it for a lot of presidents, but they do it for me. And I got them five votes that they needed, and criminal justice reform passed. And I was happy for them. I was happy for everybody. Everybody was happy. They couldn’t believe they got it done. And it was something that really the black population wanted far more than anybody else. I’ve never even heard it mentioned with other people. It was mostly the black population. And they’d been fighting it for, like, what, you’d say 40, 50 years, right?

PATRICK BET-DAVID: 64.

DONALD TRUMP: Yeah…

PATRICK BET-DAVID: 40, 50 years, yeah.

DONALD TRUMP: So I got it done. I got a lot of things done that nobody else could have gotten done.

So what happens is Van Jones and all, they called for a news conference that night. The vote was taken. They got it done. And I said to my wife, “Come on over here. This is beautiful. This is a beautiful thing to watch. Watch this. This gentleman was in my office a number of weeks ago, and they needed votes, and I got it done. It’ll be nice to watch somebody really say something nice about your husband.” I said that to Melania.

And I said, “Watch this.” And they got up and they spoke. But Van Jones got up, and it was a little, I don’t get too embarrassed. He got up. He thanked this one. He thanked that one. He thanked this one, this one, that one, that one. The only one he didn’t thank was Donald Trump.

And I look at that sleazebag now, and I say, you’ve got bad way, bad way. I looked at him. Then I saw him last night, and he was on CNN, which is dying, by the way, in the ratings, because they have people like him on. And I watched him last night say how he hopes I’ll be defeated. And we should defeat him. We have to fight him. He should be allowed to be. And I said, you know, normally I’d say I wish I had that vote back, but I did the right thing.

PATRICK BET-DAVID: Why do I think he praised you? Why do I think he got emotional crying, giving you credit about what you did?

DONALD TRUMP: I don’t know. I don’t know. All I can tell you is he was crying in my office. That’s probably what you heard. Before he got it, he was crying. He was literally, they went over to him with handkerchiefs. He was crying. Tears were pouring down his eyes before, but after he wasn’t crying, not that I know. So he didn’t mention me the night of the news conference. He was leading the news conference.

And I don’t need it. I get mentioned plenty of times, et cetera, et cetera. But I watched last night. It’s a good place to say this, actually. It’s better than writing out a truth, whatever. But I watched last night and I watched him talk about how I must be defeated. I’m a bad guy or something.

PATRICK BET-DAVID: Van Jones is saying that.

DONALD TRUMP: Yeah, yeah. He said it last night. I saw him last night. I don’t watch CNN. Honestly, I don’t watch it, but I happen to be. I’m passing it and I see him on and I watched him talking about, essentially negative about me. What difference does it make? Nobody cares what they do. They’ve been fighting me for years and I became president. I did much better the second time than I did the first. And now I’m doing it the third time. And if the election is not rigged, we’re going to win. If it is rigged, I guess that’s a different story. But we’ll find out pretty soon.

But I watched this guy last night against me, even if it was a little against me. But he wasn’t. He was like, you know, we have to defeat Trump. We have to defeat him. And I’ve watched him a little bit over the years. And every time I watch him, I say, what a sleazebag he is. You know, what a bad guy. But I did it for black people. I did it for… It was… it was purely the only people that told me about criminal justice reform were African-Americans. That’s all. And I did it for them.

Historically Black Colleges and Universities

DONALD TRUMP: I also did historically black colleges and universities and I got them financing. I would see the heads of colleges come down after two years. They would come to Washington like 45, 50 people group. They’d always come in a big group. And I got to know him a little bit because they had to come through my office to get funding. And after the second time I said to him, “Why do you keep coming down here for funding?”

Don’t they give you… said, “No, they make… they make us feel like beggars.” That was the term. And a couple of my got really friends. Some of them I still see a little bit. And I said, “What does that mean?” And he said, “Every year we come down for funding for the black colleges and universities.” And… and they play a great role, a very important role, in my opinion.

So I said, “So you mean every year you come down?” “We do. We get our… we come down together and we go and see senators and congressmen. And we try seeing our president.” But I got to know him. And I said, “You know, this is no way to live where you come down.” And I ended up getting them more money than they even wanted. And I got it done and I got it long term.

And I said, “I was… I just got this done for you. And I want to tell you a little secret. I’m unhappy about it.” They said, “Why?” I said, “Because I’ll probably never see you again. You’ll never come down to Washington to see me.” And… and I meant it actually in a friendly way because I got used to seeing them. They were always coming down looking for money. I took care of their needs long term, more money than they wanted. I said, “You’re going to need more money than that.” And I got it for them.

And I think that’s why black men really like me. And I think black women do, too. But they have a woman who is black, although you would say she’s Indian, but she is black. But she really… a lot of people didn’t know, which is true.

PATRICK BET-DAVID: But I learned about it just a couple of months ago. I mean, you know, the fact that —

DONALD TRUMP: She’s black or that she’s Indian.

PATRICK BET-DAVID: The fact that she’s black. I thought she was Indian until a couple of things change. I mean, a lot of people, because if you follow baseball, Sammy Sosa kind of, you know, you sometimes have to respect people. They change. Right. So I thought maybe she was doing a Sammy Sosa the other way.

DONALD TRUMP: Sammy’s changed. People change.

PATRICK BET-DAVID: You remember Sammy Sosa.

DONALD TRUMP: Oh, he could hit the ball.

PATRICK BET-DAVID: He could hit the ball. Seriously.

Van Jones and Media Trust

PATRICK BET-DAVID: But I want to show you this. And by the way, the only reason I want to show you this is because I think Van Jones is scared of giving you credit. This is what Van Jones said after what you did. And it was the most uncomfortable moment on CNN because he had to thank you. If you can play this clip, Rob, I think this is the clip. Go for it.

This is how many years ago. This is the date on 25 years ago, December 18th, 2008. So you just got that.

DONALD TRUMP: That’s pretty good.

PATRICK BET-DAVID: Yeah, so this is six years ago. If you can play this clip.

[Van Jones clip plays]

PATRICK BET-DAVID: He gave you credit. Yeah, I’m glad you’re seeing it because to me, you see, when I think about him, obviously, you know, his history, he was close to Obama, communist, all that stuff you have to kind of drop. But at the same time, they don’t want him saying something like this. I want to give Hakeem Jeffries, Jared, and you to give that credit. This is the part where even Dems are sitting there saying, how the hell do we argue against the fact that a Republican president that we’re not supposed to like did this? Cut him off. Just give him 30 seconds, 40 seconds. Let’s go to the next topic to bash him again. But it was kind of great to see Van Jones saying this about you.

DONALD TRUMP: It was. But again, right after that, it was over. He has to go back. And a real… a real man would not have done that. And I’m glad I saw that. But it really doesn’t mean anything because he said it. And then after that, he took it back.

PATRICK BET-DAVID: I want to show you something. And this kind of goes maybe to the next point. So yesterday, a new Gallup poll came out. OK, if you look at this Gallup poll, this is literally from yesterday. Americans trust in mass media from 72 to 2024. It officially hit the lowest in the history. We’re talking ever, not… not one of the lowest. This is the lowest ever in the history of America. Americans don’t trust mass media anymore.

And even recently, I don’t know if you saw the numbers that came out two weeks ago. I’m sure you follow some of the stuff. Every one of the guys at CNN, MSNBC, they’re all getting a lower salary when they’re renewing their contract. They’re not getting the kind of money that we’re making.

Media and “Fake News”

PATRICK BET-DAVID: And by the way, you may not like me saying this to you, but I think I kind of want to see your reaction to this. I know a lot of people will say, well, you know, he has, you know, XYZ amount of felonies charged. Ninety one. Fifty three were dismissed. Thirty two is this. And twelve are the ones that are remaining. I think the only one that Letitia James, Jack Smith and maybe even Fani, if they wanted to, you know, claim that you… you did commit a crime is you kind of… you kind of did kill mainstream media. If you think about it. And that’s… that’s… that could be a crime.

DONALD TRUMP: I’m very proud of it.

PATRICK BET-DAVID: And I want to show you this clip because this is the first time ever the phrase fake news was ever used. And from this moment on is when the decline started. Rob, if you can go in and play this clip.

[Clip plays of Trump’s interaction with a journalist]

DONALD TRUMP: But isn’t that disgusting? Think of it. And that would never happen to a Democrat. But isn’t that disgusting? He’s a… he’s a lowlife, the guy. And as you know, but… and he has his own show, gets no ratings at all. Nobody on CNN gets ratings. But isn’t that a disgust? You know, I’m just watching that. And isn’t it a shame that people can behave that way against the president?

You know, and yeah, I think I got… I think I’m responsible for those numbers up there where they went down. And frankly, I’m proud of it because I also am responsible for the term fake news. And that’s a great term, but it’s not strong enough. I think it’s corrupt news is a better term, but it doesn’t play as well. But they’re corrupt people and disgusting people.

But he is… he… well, he wasn’t as bad as some. I mean, in a certain way, he was louder, but he wasn’t as smart as some. I mean, some are much smarter. He’s not as smart.

PATRICK BET-DAVID: Did you think you were going to say fake news or was it just kind of came out and then it stuck? You’re like this is going to stick. Was it intentional?

DONALD TRUMP: I don’t know if that’s the first time I’ve used it, but I do get credit for having, you know, having been an originator of the term. I mean, you know, a lot of times I come up with… I have a very fertile mind. I come up with very good names for people.

PATRICK BET-DAVID: Very creative.

DONALD TRUMP: Pocahontas.

PATRICK BET-DAVID: Yes.

DONALD TRUMP: Lots of good names. But, you know, I don’t know if that’s the first time, but I thought of that term often and more so as I was running. And I actually used to get great press when I was an entrepreneur. I would get very glamorous press, very beautiful press. I went… I went the exact opposite. And I was amazed. And I really… I really learned how corrupt it was. I didn’t think of it as that corrupt because, you know, I do something and they give me credit. But no, I’ve… I had a very different life, actually, when you think about it.

But then I run for president. So 92 percent of the people that run for president… presidents, 92 percent were politicians and 8 percent were generals. So I wasn’t a politician. I wasn’t a general. So I was the only one that wasn’t an actor. No, there were no admirals. They were all either politicians or they were… sort of an interesting point. Most people don’t know that. Some people say that’s interesting.

PATRICK BET-DAVID: Even Reagan would be a politician because he was a two term governor.

DONALD TRUMP: He was a politician. He was a governor. There was some that were businessmen, but they were… then ran for the Senate or they were in Congress. And, you know, they went from there to the presidency. But nobody ever went right to the presidency. You know, I never ran for office. All of a sudden I’m president.

And I really learned about the press early in the hard way because I went from one extreme to the other. I got great press. And then all of a sudden I was treated like… by a moron like that. And I really… I… I fought them very hard. They’re very dishonest. They’re very corrupt. Not all of them, but a big percentage of them, I would say, in the 80s.

That’s a lot. That’s a lot. Big percentage. You’re very corrupt. Very corrupt.

PATRICK BET-DAVID: Is it always been the case you’ve been around — means you’ve been around, you know, media TV.

DONALD TRUMP: I don’t think I’ve been like this. Yeah, I’ve been around it for a long time. I don’t think it’s ever been like…

PATRICK BET-DAVID: When do you think?

DONALD TRUMP: You know, when I started off, Patrick, I used to have a story written about me. And without fail, somebody would call after the story was written, but not published. And they were called fact checkers. “Hello, sir. We’re calling about a story that we wrote about you. Is it true that you own this? And is it true that you did this and that you spent X dollars? Could we check that number?” And we go on for a while to a point where you get somebody else to just do it.

But they… without fail, I’d have… if there were any details of the story, not always. But if there were any details, always. And they were called fact checkers. “Hello, sir. My name’s Jim Smith. I’m a fact checker for The New York Times.” And they check the facts of a story. And I think they at least… at least were trying to be real. I haven’t had a fact checker call me in 30 years. You know, they don’t call anymore.

PATRICK BET-DAVID: Do you think that’s because of the Fairness Doctrine Act of 1987? Because prior to that, the media platforms had to actually give both sides of the story. And then once that was dropped, they… they lost accountability. They could say whatever they want to say. And it was kind of free for all.

Let me go after them. But for you, when you became a president, you know, if someone’s running for office, you have to sit there and think about issues. Here’s what I’m running on. Wall, border, you know, economy, X, Y, Z. Great. Obama, I’m going to go after health care. Jimmy Carter, I’m going to go human rights. You pick and choose what you’re running for. But there’s also an element of who are going to be my allies, who are going to be my enemies. Did you sit there and say the enemy of the people is media? I’m going to go after them. Or did you say, no, this happened accidentally? Was this intentional or was it accidental?

DONALD TRUMP: I think it’s just long term happened and morphed into it. I don’t think they said. But I can tell you that for me, I look, I’m the worst case because there’s nobody been abused like I am. And I don’t think… although I guess probably some, but for a shorter period of time, there’s nobody for over such a long…

PATRICK BET-DAVID: Would you put… even thought about it? Who do you think?

DONALD TRUMP: For sure, I’d have to think short term. People have been abused over one deal and they’re gone. Oh, I got it. But I’ve been… you know, I’ve been doing this for a long time. And I’ve abused them also. So, you know, I do.

PATRICK BET-DAVID: What did you say? Did you target them and say, I’m going to go attack media and I’m going to go after them. Is that part of strategy that you had or no, that was just…

DONALD TRUMP: No.

PATRICK BET-DAVID: You come after me, I’m going to come.

DONALD TRUMP: I think it’s a natural instinct with me, you know, like it would be for you and other people that know how to win a little bit.

PATRICK BET-DAVID: Sure.

DONALD TRUMP: No, but… but I really saw it in politics. I would tell them something and they would write the opposite. I said, what’s that all about? I called up The Washington Post… was treating me very bad. New York Times is probably the worst. But the two of them are really bad. And I know how to deal with the press. I’m a professional. I’m a smart guy. And I know.

So I said, watch, I’m going to call the press in Washington Post. I… during my first or second year. And I said, I’m going to call The Washington Post. I’m not going to joke. I’m not going to be cute. I’m not going to be a wise guy. I’m going to just call them in. And I want to talk and I’m going to explain what a great job I’ve done on different things like the economy. I had a great economy.

And I called them in. I was very nice. I didn’t say like, hey, how’s it going? Everything was really professional. The numbers were fantastic. Everything was perfect. And I treated them with great respect. Shook their hand and it was over. And the next day they were a horrible story. You know, it was. And I said, there is no way around it.

Political Issues and Controversies

DONALD TRUMP: And usually it’s the liberal side. And I don’t understand it, really. Why wouldn’t they want to have a strong border? I don’t understand them. Because, you know, usually like in business, you’ll understand why somebody wants something. Why wouldn’t they want to have a strong border? Why do they want to have men playing in women’s sports?

I watched the Olympics and two people transitioned into womanhood. Two people. They went from man to woman and they were into boxing. And they beat the hell out of everyone. They won the gold medal. Weightlifting records that held for 18 years, a quarter of an ounce on each side. You’ve seen me do it probably because it’s so cool. I mean, weightlifting is so easy to, you know, so descriptive.

How could you be better than that? Like golf is a little bit harder because you have to sink putts. That’s different. Women can putt, but they can’t lift, you know, 450 pounds over their head. And the weightlifting record that stood for 18, 19 years gets broken by 100 pounds. I mean, they put like a little, they take this, they take this top of this pen. See that pen? That thing weighs like an eighth of an ounce. And they put one over here and one over. They couldn’t do it for 18 years. And a guy comes along. It’s crazy.

PATRICK BET-DAVID: I mean, the border could make sense, though, if you want to say, like, why would they want the border to be… Why do they want an argument to be made there?

DONALD TRUMP: Well, why do they want to open border with no checking? In other words, there’s nobody vetted, nobody checked. And as you heard two weeks ago, the Border Patrol put out the numbers. They weren’t supposed to, but they did because they had to because they had to inherently.

You know, they endorsed me. They endorsed me, 100 percent unanimous, like a massive, a full. They said he’s the greatest in the history of. I had the best border in the history of the country. I had the best economy in the history of the country. But you take a look at some of these stats. So yesterday, a young woman’s playing volleyball. You saw that shot and he got hit by a hard shot by a man, a man who transitioned.

PATRICK BET-DAVID: There’s been many of those. If there was a new one.

DONALD TRUMP: She got hit in the head. She didn’t know where she was. She said, “I’ve never seen a ball traveled at that speed before.”

But… but here’s why. Why do they want that? I don’t understand that. Usually you understand, like somebody wants something. You try and figure it out and you could go through a lot of things. You know, why do they want transgender? Why do they want to take somebody’s child? A boy and make the boy into a girl and not tell the parents. I mean, they do this. And at first I said, no, no. But that’s just an exaggeration. No, it’s not. It’s really not.

California and Voter ID

DONALD TRUMP: Why do they want to? Yeah, well, look at… look at California. Gavin Newsom, who’s one of the worst governors, but he’s got a good line of stuff. And he’ll tell everyone how well he’s done. But it’s the first time they’ve ever lost more people than they gained. You know, they look, they have such an advantage. The beautiful ocean, the beautiful weather, everything is beautiful. And they run it so badly with all of the problems they run it.

So he’s a crummy governor. But… but why? Why is it so… yesterday? And who would sign the bill to even present it to him? He signed a bill that you’re not even allowed to ask for voter ID. In other words, it’s not like you can’t have voter ID. That’s terrible because everybody should have voter ID. You have ID for everything.

The Democrats had big ID. You know, when they had their convention, a friend of mine couldn’t get in. He said he doesn’t have the proper credentials. They want voter ID. They had a strong ID. They had an ID that you had to wear like a prisoner wears, you know, the number. It was like a big card with a picture and everything over their tie. So they have it for the Democrat National Convention.

Right. But they don’t want to have it for the vote. But… but Gavin Newsom signed a thing that was incredible. He signed a bill that if you ask somebody for identification having to do with voting, I think you’ve committed a crime, OK? Now, there’s only one reason that that happens, because they want to cheat. There’s no other reason. There’s no conceivable.

PATRICK BET-DAVID: Are you surprised? I mean, part of me is not surprised with that. I’m not sitting there thinking I’m surprised with what some of these states are doing. California. I mean, you know, there’s a reason why he lost a true… two states, lost a trillion dollars of money under management from that 2020… New York and California. They got destroyed in the first time they had net negative migration in California since 1851. It hasn’t happened. Then they got it back to back to back. So and he just announced two days ago that he’s raising gas taxes by 47 cents in the state of California.

No wonder people are leaving. But I want to go to the tariffs conversation —

DONALD TRUMP: Because he doesn’t want gas vehicles. He wants to use all of that. It’s not going to work for him, though. It’s not going to work. People don’t want to get destroyed.

PATRICK BET-DAVID: I mean, he’s already lost Musk. How do you lose Tesla? How do you lose?

DONALD TRUMP: Well, I asked. I asked Elon. He takes his massive company and he left California. I just asked him this question yesterday. I said, when you left, because he’s got a good thing in Texas. I said, when you left it, Newsom, Newsom, I call him Newsom, because I think it’s a more accurate name. But did Gavin Newsom call and say, can we talk? I want to take you out to dinner. I want you to keep your company. He said he never called.

PATRICK BET-DAVID: Your biggest entrepreneur in your state leaves. You don’t call.

DONALD TRUMP: Number one, biggest guy. Number two, big company, very big company. But a big oil company left also taking thousands of jobs.

But my question wasn’t that, you know, that he left for whatever. I mean, did anybody ever call? He said no. I said, did Newsom call you at all? Did he, like, call and say, like, can we have dinner? I’d love you to stay here and we’ll work out some tax benefits or something, you know, some incentive to stay. He said never called.

I was amazed at that. And you’re talking about thousands of workers and prestige and having Elon.

PATRICK BET-DAVID: That is wild that you lose and you don’t make the phone call.

DONALD TRUMP: You know, Elon endorsed me very strongly a while ago and there’s no stronger endorsement. He said that if Trump doesn’t get elected, this country is going down the tubes. It might not ever survive. He says the most important election. I was honored, but I was… I was amazed because I asked him to two days ago. I said. Did anybody make a play to keep you? Now, think of it, you would if you were governor, you heard a big company’s leaving. I would… at least your colleagues or anything we can do to keep you.

Tim Cook and Apple

PATRICK BET-DAVID: Right. You know what I like about… and I do want to go to the Tesla. And I think this is a great transition. Tim Cook. They asked him, they said, why would you have a meeting with President Trump? Because he’s the only president that called me. Oh, OK. Let’s talk about something else. Of course, he’s going to have a meeting with the guys. Call. Why wouldn’t you call the CEO of your, you know, three trillion dollar company?

DONALD TRUMP: I just spoke to Tim Cook.

PATRICK BET-DAVID: I think he’s a… I think he’s a quality CEO. Go for it. So. When did you talk to him?

DONALD TRUMP: Two hours ago.

PATRICK BET-DAVID: OK.

DONALD TRUMP: He called me. And let me give you just a little… the nice part of it, this long format. You can talk.

PATRICK BET-DAVID: Yes.

PATRICK BET-DAVID: It’s very nice. It’s something where as opposed to being big, big, big. It’s why long format is working. But I just talked to him. But I believe that if Tim Cook didn’t run Apple, if Steve Jobs did, it wouldn’t. Maybe it would be. But it wouldn’t be nearly as successful.

PATRICK BET-DAVID: Wow. What a statement.

DONALD TRUMP: I think so, because I think Tim Cook has done… I think Tim Cook’s done an amazing job. And I’m not knocking Steve Jobs. I just think that it wouldn’t have been. So pay a couple of years. So about. Second term. Of second year, I get a call and they say Tim Cook’s on the phone. He calls. “Could I see you, sir?” He’s the head of Apple. And I was born in Queens and I said, oh, the head of Apple wants to see me. Let’s go, I guess, even though I’m president, you know, still, I was born in Queens and the head of Apple’s calling. And by that time, it was the largest company in the world. You know, it’s.

PATRICK BET-DAVID: Sure. Yeah.

DONALD TRUMP: In terms of value at that time, I don’t know what it is now, but it was. So he comes in to see me and it was about tariffs. He said, you know, you’re charging us 25 percent because I was going to charge them because we’re out of China. And the problem is we can’t compete with Samsung because they didn’t have to pay tariffs because they weren’t in China and they were in South Korea. And he said it’s not really possible for me. And I did waivers, you know, standard waivers. It’s not possible for me to compete with them if I have to pay a tax and they don’t to get our product into the United States.

I said, I agree with you. It didn’t take long. I mean, you know, I got… I sort of got it right. And I said, I’m going to give you a waiver and I gave my waiver. But I’m going to give you a one year waiver. But I want you to start building your plants in the United States. And he said, all right. And he actually did. He built one in Texas. He would have built a lot more, but we had a thing called, you know, a change in the administration, which is so horrible what happened because of Russia would have never happened with Ukraine. October 7th would have never happened. Inflation would have never happened. Afghanistan, we would have gotten out sooner, actually, than him. But Afghanistan would have never happened, as we know. All of these things wouldn’t have.

Think of the difference in this. No inflation. We would have been so rich because we were going for the. We would have had four to five times the production that they have right now. You know, they lost the production and then they got it back as a whole thing was cratering because oil went up to seven, eight dollars a gallon.

So Tim Cook called and then he about a year later, he called again or something else. He said, could I see you? Now, most companies send in lobbyists that get paid millions and millions of dollars to talk for them. And they probably say, we know Trump. We can talk, but they don’t. You know, for the most part, they don’t. And Tim Cook called me up directly and he did it himself, didn’t have to pay 10 cents. And I gave him 100 percent of what he wanted because he was right.

I mean, you can’t compete with Samsung and one’s paying a tax. But I said, you got to gradually move your… your company here. But then two hours ago, three hours ago, he called me. He said, I’d like to talk to you about something. What he said, the European Union has just fined us 15 billion dollars. That’s a lot. I know the feeling because I get fined, too, and fake cases. But I don’t know if his case is fake yet, but it’s a lot.

Then on top of that, they got fined by the European Union another two billion. So he’s a 17 to 18 billion dollar fine. I even said about Apple, can you pay that? I mean, do you have that guy? That’s a lot of money. And he said something that was interesting. He said they’re using that to run their enterprise, meaning Europe is their enterprise. And I said, that’s a lot.

I said, but, Tim, I got to get elected first. But I’m not going to let them take advantage of our companies. That won’t be happening.

China and Auto Manufacturing

DONALD TRUMP: I talked about yesterday. I talked about something that is very important. I don’t know if I got… China was building massive plants in Mexico. And I let them… massive, the biggest plants in the world. And my friend was actually building it.

PATRICK BET-DAVID: The one right there. Oh, that’s massive.

DONALD TRUMP: Guess what? They’re not building it anymore. You know that, right?

PATRICK BET-DAVID: Right. I heard.

DONALD TRUMP: You know why? Because of me. And if they built that, there would be no more Detroit. Now, Detroit’s been decimated over the years, but there would be no more Detroit. So they’re building massive plants in Mexico. China’s building them and they’re going to make cars, sell them across the border and destroy every automobile manufacturer. Even in South Carolina and other places, Tennessee, they’re going to destroy. You wouldn’t have one automaking company. And what did I do?

I said. Two months ago. And if they do that, I will put a 100 or 200 or 2000 percent tariff on these cars and they will never enter America. And that was it. And I said that four or five times during four or five speeches. And I met the man that’s building the plants two days ago when I was in Detroit at the Economic Club of Detroit, making a speech talking about how we’re going to bring our car industry back, which is easy to do. All you have to do is get the proper incentives. And I mean, keeping Elon would have been easy to do, frankly, but nobody ever.

PATRICK BET-DAVID: I want to push back on this. I’m curious to know what you say with this. So we thought about you. Everybody said, Pat, let’s make sure we get one autographed hat. Our future looks bright with the president’s signature on it and allow people to compete for. So here’s what we’re doing. Anybody that places an order of future looks bright. A hundred dollars. The first hundred of you, one of you will be the lucky winner of this signed hat by Donald J. Trump. So go to VT merch dot com. Minimum order. Hundred dollars. One of you will send this hat to you.

So go back to this. So when I think about, by the way, Tim Cook, he… Steve Jobs dies. Apple’s worth 100 billion. Today’s worth three trillion. He 30 X. So kind of credibility on what he did.

DONALD TRUMP: He’s a very good operator.

PATRICK BET-DAVID: It’s interesting point you’re making. It’s a good point to debate. But I want to go to the China, Mexico. So for the first time in a long time, actual labor is cheaper in Mexico than it is in China. Mexico is now 390 an hour all in China’s 450. Right.

Discussion on Manufacturing and Tariffs

PATRICK BET-DAVID: And when I think about this for that, Tim Cook, Steve Jobs, they built this phone. If I buy it made in China, cost eleven hundred dollars. OK, if I buy it, they try to do a quarter in India backfired. They don’t have the infrastructure. So he kind of wanted to find out what to do next. If I buy this in U.S. and it’s made in U.S., it’s twenty four hundred dollars. Right.

So there’s a part of it with Nixon where I think Nixon got it right. And years ago, you and Nixon had a relationship. He even said, whenever you run, you’re going to be a president. He said this many, many years ago. Nixon’s wife was at war. When Pat, you’re saying she said. I watched somebody in the Philadelphia. She said, I watched a man on television, a young man on television.

DONALD TRUMP: I have the letters, the most beautiful letter. He said, my wife just told me you’ll be president because I knew him a little bit. And I said, that’s interesting. I have to think about that. But it was very nice, actually. But no, she said it. But go ahead, please.

PATRICK BET-DAVID: So that’s when when you think about the first time we sold a Toyota in the States was 58 in 72 under Nixon. Toyota sold a million cars here. And that kind of forced Americans to be like, hey, you know, we got to find a way to lower the price point. So we need a little bit of competition when it comes down to the tariff side. Right.

We do too much. Price may go up because if we do make this in America and cash flow income is not going up. Middle Americans, they were like, I can’t afford to do this. Yes, we’d love to have it made in America.

But, you know, a regular person making fifty five thousand dollars, you can’t afford this. So how do you balance and manage tariffs so the average person is not affected by it, please.

Trump’s Perspective on Tariffs

DONALD TRUMP: But before I do that, so let me just say already tariffs, because to me, I think it’s the most beautiful word in the dictionary. More beautiful than love, more beautiful than any word I know.

Tariff. It will make our country extremely wealthy again, because right now we’re poor, we’re broke. It’ll make our country wealthy again. And it’s the most powerful word there is.

OK, so just by the mere mention of the fact that I am going to put 100 to 200 percent tariffs on every car coming out of that factory that you just put, that car plant that’s being built, actually started and stopped. The fact that I mentioned it, I said to the man the other day because I told him, you know, this started. I want to see a great car plant. He’s the best in the world at building the biggest.

And he said, I’ll have to take you to Mexico. I said, you’ve got to be kidding. I want to see in the United States. He said, we don’t build them in the United States. We build them in Mexico and China and all over. But not that’s because we’re stupid. OK, we have. And yet we sell them. All that product would be sold in the United States. So I said, are you building it now? Yes, we’re just starting. This was a year ago, let’s say.

And it’s the biggest in the world. I think he said two of them, actually, but the biggest in the world. Anyway, I hadn’t seen him. He’s a great guy. All he does is plants. If you said build an apartment, he wouldn’t know how to build it. I mean, all he does, he does, you know, tremendous new big plant. I saw him the other day when I made a speech at the Detroit really economic summit. It was great on course. And I see him in the audience and I see him afterwards. And I say, could I ask you, how is the big plants coming? Oh, they stopped construction.

I said, really, they did. Why? Tell me why. Because they think you’re going to be elected. And if you get elected, you’re going to put 100 percent tariff or 200. You even said 200. They said if Trump gets elected, we’re not going to spend billions of dollars building plants in Mexico.

I say Detroit, what’s left of it, don’t forget Detroit can make a great renaissance with me. With her — she doesn’t even know what you and I are talking about stuff right now. She would have no idea what we’re talking about. You get it really good. You get it better than almost anybody. Even when I spoke at Bloomberg the other day, he wasn’t a tariff guy. I said, well, you got to be a tariff guy because if tariffs don’t work, our country’s broke.

But just think of it, the fact that I said, I’m going to put tariffs on all of those cars that are coming out of that plant. That’s a big plan. This is maybe one of the biggest in the world, right? Now those cars were going to come all into the United States. If they come into the United States, that means there’s not going to be any room.

That makes more than Detroit makes, okay, than everybody. So that would mean that our car industry is wiped out. I hope that the union workers, the auto workers understand that I saved their jobs. Because in a year and a half, when that thing opened, you wouldn’t have one car being made in the Midwest or anyplace else in this country.

So because of Donald Trump, and he said that, because of you, construction is totally stopped. They’re absolutely, they gave up on the job. Now, if I didn’t get elected, they’ll be building on that sucker. They will. Hopefully that won’t happen.

PATRICK BET-DAVID: The only thing for me is that I would be curious to know how the administration is going to take it. You have to impose tariffs on a country that’s bullying. For example, I love what you did with Iran when you put the sanctions.

Discussion on Iran Sanctions

PATRICK BET-DAVID: I’m in Monaco, June 26th of 2019. It’s my 10 year anniversary. We’re there with my wife. We’re laying by Carlton Hotel. I think it’s in Kansas and having the award-winning lobster roll, whatever they claim there. I meet this guy, Middle Eastern guy. He comes in. He says, hey, Patrick, how are you? We start talking. I said, what do you do? He says, well, I’m a pretty powerful guy. I said, really? Yeah. He says, you’re Google me. So I go on. I’m like, oh, interesting.

I said, I’m curious. So you manage what? He says, 21 countries in the Middle East. I’m the one that says who gets to do business banking with Iran and not. I said, what did Trump’s sanctions on Iran do? He says, let’s go in the middle of the ocean and talk. You have to set your phone aside. I’ll never forget.

So we go in the middle of the ocean, standing out there having a conversation. Wives are talking. We’re over there. He says, everybody, if you can pull up, that’s the one. Is that what it is? Here’s the economic growth in Iran. If you look at that, 15, 16 nuclear deal implemented, sanctions lifted, then it’s you, 18, 19, they’re being decimated. I mean, these guys are getting destroyed.

They wanted to make a deal. They had to come in. And then you, you know, Biden comes in. Obviously, things change right afterwards. So for this time around with Iran, with everything that’s going on with sanctions, there is a method to the madness. Remember back in the days you put that thing on me.

DONALD TRUMP: Can you send me that chart? Look at that.

PATRICK BET-DAVID: This?

DONALD TRUMP: They wanted to make a deal. I’m not looking to hurt Iran. They wanted to make a deal because I told China, if you buy one barrel of oil, one, you’re not ever doing business in the United States again. They said, we’ll pass to Iran. They passed. Nobody was buying.

PATRICK BET-DAVID: Are you going to bring this back? The strategy back?

DONALD TRUMP: What do you want? Different strategies. It all depends. Very fertile mind. Different strategies. But, but they’re very close to having a nuclear weapon. You have to understand. I didn’t want much. All I wanted is you can never have a nuclear weapon. I didn’t want much.

I wanted Iran to be very successful. I just don’t want them to have a nuclear weapon, right? Because that’s the real threat. The real threat isn’t global warming. The real threat is nuclear warming. Okay? That’s the real warming. Because, you know, I’m the one that rebuilt our military, rebuilt the whole military.

And part of what I rebuilt is the nuclear. And I hated to do it, but we had to because China has it, Russia has it, you know, etc. But I know more about nuclear than anybody because, and I can just only tell you this, the power is obliteration. Okay? I always say it’s not two army tanks running around each other.

PATRICK BET-DAVID: What’s going to happen to Iran with you by the end of your administration?

DONALD TRUMP: I don’t know. I would like to see Iran be very successful. The only thing is they can’t have a nuclear weapon.

PATRICK BET-DAVID: Are you okay with the same administration and way of governing states? Or would you like to see it go back to the 70s when Shahs was running it and Iran was one of the top three countries in tourism?

DONALD TRUMP: Yeah. We can’t get totally involved in all that. You know, I mean, we can’t run ourselves. Let’s face it. We can’t run ourselves.

PATRICK BET-DAVID: You put sanctions, that’s going to, they don’t have, the people are going to turn and flip on them. It’s not going to be a, what should, I think if you were to-

DONALD TRUMP: When I handed it over, I told them, right now, make a deal with Iran, they’ll do anything. They wanted to make a deal with me. They wanted, had that election not been rigged and stolen, I will tell you right now, we would have no problems anywhere in the world.

You know, Viktor Orban, you know, he’s a very tough guy and a very smart guy. And he’s, you know, some of the European countries don’t like him because he’s, you know, smart. And they do things that aren’t so smart. But he said, they said, what’s happening?

The whole world is blowing up now. The Middle East, Russia, Ukraine, I mean, now all of a sudden, you know, I mean, it’s getting really bad over there. I’ll tell you, the Russia, Ukraine, getting really bad. You could have World War III and we have two people, her and him, and she’s not as smart as Biden.

Biden, believe it or not, and this is a very small group of people fit into this category. He’s smarter than she is, okay? You have a problem. And even the three or four months left, that’s a lot of months. That’s a lot of time left. You could have World War III before I would take office, even if I were. This country is in, the world is in grave danger.

But you know what Viktor Orban said? He said, if Trump comes back in, everything’s solved. He said when he ran it, we had no wars, we had no problems. Now he used the term they were afraid of Trump. I don’t want to use that term because it’s like, but they were, they were afraid of me. They didn’t know what the hell I was going to do. And that included Russia. Don’t forget, they always said, oh, I’m so close to Putin.

Trump’s Foreign Relations and Policy Decisions

DONALD TRUMP: I had a good relationship with Putin, I had a good relationship with President Xi. But what did I do to Putin? I ended the pipeline going to Germany and all over Europe. The biggest job they’ve ever had is the pipeline going all over the, all over Europe. I terminated it. Think of it. Do you think that’s a good relationship? No.

Putin said, you know, I’d hate to see you if you were angry at us. You understand? But what did I do? First earlier, and then you go, well, Trump was in the pocket of Russia. Trump was in the pocket. I ended the biggest job they’ve ever done, a job that made more money. Biden comes in and what does he do? He approves it. He lets it go forward. It was dead. It was never going to happen. He let, and what else did he do?

He took the Keystone pipeline, which was our pipeline, which should have been approved, and he terminated it just before construction was started.

PATRICK BET-DAVID: They’ve lost credibility at this point. But with Iran.

Discussion on Iran and Trump’s Foreign Policy

PATRICK BET-DAVID: So here’s one thing. If the reason I’m asking this, I lived in Iran almost 11 years and I was, you know, I’m a.

DONALD TRUMP: Are you Iranian?

PATRICK BET-DAVID: Armenian. Mother side, Assyrian, father side. You gave a shout out to Assyrians the other day in Arizona. It was great seeing the Assyrians for Trump. But I’m asking —

DONALD TRUMP: You know why they were there. They were so nice. I met this. They said the Assyrians. They said, could you give us a shout out? I said, who are you? I didn’t know. They said, we’re serious. I said, what does that mean? But they were really nice people.

And I said, I think I mispronounced it. But I said.

PATRICK BET-DAVID: You did. You got to write this down. But going back to Iran. Well, last topic on this. I just want to clear this up. Qasem Soleimani. You take them out. That’s their hero. That’s their general pattern. When you take them out, they want to seek vengeance.

So now, hey, they’re targeting you. They’re coming after you. Assassination attempts, all this stuff. They create these videos that they’re going to come. We haven’t forgotten that you took our hero out. Great. So Carter, Reagan, when Reagan got elected, remember, they released, was it 59 prisoners, you know, who had been held hostage for 444 days? If I’m getting the numbers right, can you see 59, 444 days? What’s the number?

Rob: 52 Americans, 444 days.

PATRICK BET-DAVID: Boom. The minute inauguration, they released them. Khomeini. Right. It’s like, oh, this guy is going to do something about it. This is my question for you.

Say you win November 5th. Say it’s a landslide. Say it’s done. OK. November 5th, too, you’re going back to putting your hand in an inauguration on the stage. During that time, that season, what do you think is going to happen during that season? Is, during that season, Russia-Ukraine going to be done? During that season, you think it’s going to be that quickly, or do you think it’s going to be after?

DONALD TRUMP: I think the world’s going to behave, and I think I will settle Russia-Ukraine while I’m president-elect.

PATRICK BET-DAVID: While you’re president-elect?

DONALD TRUMP: While I’m president-elect.

PATRICK BET-DAVID: Wow.

DONALD TRUMP: You need that credibility. While I’m president-elect, I will settle it. You know, I met with Zelensky the other day. I have good relationship with Putin and with Zelensky.

PATRICK BET-DAVID: You don’t look too happy standing next to you, though.

DONALD TRUMP: Well, look, this is a war that should have never happened. You have millions of people that are dead, much more than you’re reading about. You know, when you see these, I was amazed at how big, I’m in the real estate business, to put it mildly.

PATRICK BET-DAVID: Sure.

DONALD TRUMP: So, I know buildings. Those buildings were massive. You know, they were long rather than tall. They were 12 to 15 stories. But they weren’t like for blocks. They were massive buildings. Rockets were hitting the buildings. They were collapsing. A lot of people were killed. You hear two people were injured. No, no. Many people were killed. That war is much more deadly than they’re telling you. It has to be settled. But here’s the problem.

It should have never happened. If I were president, that war would have never happened. Putin would have never done it. The war would have never happened.

Without even a settlement.

PATRICK BET-DAVID: But you’re saying, after November 5th, pre, as a president, elect, you’re saying things are going to get done during that time?

DONALD TRUMP: I’d like to be able to do it.

PATRICK BET-DAVID: How about Iran and Israel? What about that one?

DONALD TRUMP: Well, that depends. A lot’s happening right now.

PATRICK BET-DAVID: I know it is.

DONALD TRUMP: We’ll have to see what happens. Right. Okay. That one is a very interesting one. And it’s become more interesting because Israel didn’t listen to Biden and her and did what they wanted to do. And they put themselves in a pretty strong position. I mean, let’s face it.

Who would have thought this was going to happen? Everybody was very afraid of Iran. They’re less afraid of Iran now. What they did to Hezbollah and Hamas. If you take a look at.

PATRICK BET-DAVID: That’s not a law. They took everybody out. I mean, no, I mean —

DONALD TRUMP: You know, the whole thing with the pagers, right? It was from the pagers that because those were your leaders. I mean, those were the leaders. It was like, right.

PATRICK BET-DAVID: And the guy that replaced him, they took him out as well. I mean, that was that. Because nobody wants that job. And I was like, hey, would you like this job? I’ll pass. I don’t want the job. Right.

DONALD TRUMP: Right. So it’s a different you know, it’s a different story. But only because Bibi did not listen to Biden. Biden wanted everything to just sort of foment. They wouldn’t listen to him, which tells you do I what —

PATRICK BET-DAVID: Do you think Bibi will listen to you?

DONALD TRUMP: Yeah. Oh, he’ll listen to me. One hundred percent. One hundred percent. Don’t forget, I got them more than and not because this is the reason, but I got them Golan Heights. They’ve been trying to get it for. As long as they were around, I got them Golan Heights, they wanted — the planes would fly in every year to try and figure it out. I got them Golan Heights.

But more importantly than that, I ended the Iran nuclear deal, which was Bibi fought like hell to have it. Remember that fought like hell, came in to see Obama, fought. And I also got him very important. I helped him with the military, everything else.

But I got him Jerusalem capital. I got him Jerusalem. Not only did I get it for him, I built the embassy. I didn’t just say that I got it built and I built it for peanuts, too. I didn’t spend two billion dollars. I built it for.

PATRICK BET-DAVID: I love what you said the other day when you were doing the new Air Force One from five point three billion to three point seven billion. Hey, who would have paid? They would have paid for that. It’s great to have. I appreciate it.

PATRICK BET-DAVID: Does that mean you made one point seven billion, which is that you’re sitting there like, yeah, Obama, they just cut the check. And I’m like, what are you talking about? An operator would never do that.

Trump’s Experience in Washington and Dealing with Political Players

PATRICK BET-DAVID: I have a few minutes. I want to hit a few questions with you.

So you get it when you work for a new company, you get a job, you go to H.R. And then when you work for the company, that’s a big company. Let’s just say they got one hundred thousand employees. Let’s say you’re working for an IBM. Let’s say you’re working for Boeing. Hundreds of thousands of employees. You’re going to kind of find out who the manipulators are. You’re going to find out who the power players are.

You’re going to find out who the E.F. Hutton is. You’re going to find out who the guys that get the job done, the guy that even though you replace him, he left. People are still talking to the guy because maybe they want you to fail. So they’re still you know, all this stuff that happens. When you went in day one. You’re a president. How did you decide between knowing who were really the power players, who were the manipulators, who were the ones that would threaten behind closed doors? How did you go through that process when you first got it?

DONALD TRUMP: Oh, my problem was I was never — I mean, I was in Washington. They say the fake news said this. But let’s assume it’s true for a change. Seventeen times.

I was there 17 times. I never stayed over. So I was not a Washington person. I didn’t know people. And when I became yeah. When I became president. In other words, I ran for president. I was only in Washington 17. And most of it was I was building a hotel, a beautiful hotel that I sold. It’s now the Waldorf Astoria. And I built, I did a great job, sold it, made some money. And it was great.

But that was most of the time. I was only there. Think of it. I was only there. That’s it. Right. That’s a beautiful job in a great location that maybe I shouldn’t have sold it.

PATRICK BET-DAVID: You are.

DONALD TRUMP: No, I’m looking at that. I did a great job with it. My whole family did — Ivanka and Don and everybody in there. Eric did a fantastic job. But I built that. But 17 days total. Never stayed. OK. But that’s what they say. But it’s about right.

In other words, I wasn’t a Washington person. So all of a sudden I’m president. I land on Air Force One. You never saw so many motorcycles and cars and everything military marching. I’m saying I said to my wife, oh, and we’re going down Pennsylvania Avenue and we’re in the back of the beast, you know, the world’s longest army tank. Right. And we’re in the back of the beast. And I look to the left and there’s the building and we’re going the opposite direction of the roads.

You know, the roads are closed on that day. You could have gone of your any anywhere you went. And I said, look, there’s the hotel and there’s the White House, a couple of blocks further is the White House. Here’s that. I say, did you ever see anything so incredible? This is surreal. I have the brand new hotel and I have the White House and I’m president. But here’s the bad part.

I didn’t know anybody in Washington other than some politicians, and I knew them because I was a contributor, not because I was a politician, because I had only done this a few months. I ran.

PATRICK BET-DAVID: But you’re in the business of reading bullshit. I am. This is like manipulators.

DONALD TRUMP: There’s a lot of people. So what happens is I had to rely on people for advice. And largely, I got it right.

Trump’s Experience with Washington Insiders

DONALD TRUMP: You know, don’t forget, you only hear about like stupid people like a Bolton or I don’t want to mention even Barr, because he endorsed me the other day. You saw that endorsed me strongly. I was impressed by that. I put people in there who I — I made mistakes, but I got it mostly right. Great trade people. I had great trade.

PATRICK BET-DAVID: That’s not the question I’m asking. If I may. Here’s what I’m asking. What I’m asking. I’m not even asking about, hey, why would you hire these guys to swamp? And that question has already been addressed.

I’m not interested in that question. The question I’m asking is you’re in — you’re in a new space. Who were really the powerful people? Was it the director of CIA? Was it FBI? Was it the big pharma? Was it military industrial complex guys that are general dynamics? Who were the people like, oh, I got you. You have. I never thought you had power. Who actually has the most powerful person by far?

DONALD TRUMP: The president. Power over everybody. Power. The power is enormous.

PATRICK BET-DAVID: Most people don’t believe that it is, but there is a sort of a deep state. And a lot of that’s people that have been there. And then there’s some bad guys, there’s some bad people. And there’s a radical left, which I think are more dangerous in many ways than the other countries. I really do.

You know, guys like Shifty, Adam Schiff and other bad people. This sort of sick people, not stupid people either, by the way, smart people, sure. But they’re vicious. But they’re very bad for —

PATRICK BET-DAVID: Adam Schiff powerful.

DONALD TRUMP: Can you imagine? Well, he made up the Russia hoax. He and Hillary.

PATRICK BET-DAVID: No, what I’m saying is who is their boss? Who calls them and say, you better or

DONALD TRUMP: I think it’s an amorphous group. It’s a group. It’s an amorphous group of lunatics. And when they come together, they’re pretty bad.

But let me just say this. The president has the absolute — if the president is — now Biden doesn’t know he’s alive. So I don’t think I really believe they used him as a vessel like a vessel in the night. And I, I really believe that. She’s a little bit more dangerous because she’s basically a Marxist like her father.

Her father’s a Marxist. You know what? I don’t understand. Why is the father not been interviewed? I mean, nobody talks about that. If that were a Republican situation, the father would be all over the place. Where’s the — I haven’t had one. I haven’t seen one article where they’re looking for the father.

So the father is a Marxist professor of economics, which is an interesting thing. Marxist and economics don’t go together.

Trump’s Memorable Moments as President

PATRICK BET-DAVID: You know, what’s the one thing everybody says, what’s your favorite four years of Trump or four years of Obama? All these guys that you look at moments, right?

My favorite moment of you being a president is this moment here. This is what I love the most. It was a first time where a president is running a vlog style administration where Rob, if he can play this clip, this is, you were talking about building the wall, shutting down the government and you put the camera on their face. I think you did this once also with Kissinger, which I don’t know if that was a power play and intentional or not.

I thought it was played his clip, Rob.

PATRICK BET-DAVID: You know what?

DONALD TRUMP: By the way? How right was I? And now and I had the strongest border we ever had. And I used soldiers from Mexico and every other thing. You got it for nothing. Zero cost. I had the strongest border. But look at that guy.

Look. They’re all threats to our nation. He and his group, after I was gone, opened up the border and our country has been poisoned. OK, poisoned. We have killers, murderers. We have the drug lords. We have — we have everything. We have terrorists at numbers.

You know, in 2019, a report was done that not one terrorist was allowed in. Now, I think it’s probably wrong because it’s you know, I want to take credit for it. It was my year.

PATRICK BET-DAVID: Have you seen the terrorist attacks?

DONALD TRUMP: Thousands.

PATRICK BET-DAVID: Rob, pull up the clip with not this one, the other one, Rob, because you like good charts. I think you’re going to love this chart. So this is the chart.

I don’t know if you’ve seen this or not. So this is the terrorist attacks, deaths and injuries based on different presidents being there. If you go to 2008 to 2016, that’s the Barack Obama era. Look what he did. He produced more terrorist attacks during his era. Sixteen, you get elected. Look what happens. Disappearance.

DONALD TRUMP: I had nothing. I had none.

PATRICK BET-DAVID: But the reason why I show this clip is if you’re like —

DONALD TRUMP: I like these charts, I must say I like my chart the best. You know, I have a chart that I like better than any chart I’ve ever seen, better than any person.

PATRICK BET-DAVID: I’m glad you were looking at the chart. I think a lot of people are happy you were looking at.

DONALD TRUMP: No, no. I love these charts that you have.

PATRICK BET-DAVID: Now, I’m talking about the chart you looked at when you got shot and — We will talk a little bit of family with the last few minutes that we have.

Discussion on Barron Trump

PATRICK BET-DAVID: So Barron Trump, I spent some time with Barron. He invited me. I came to Mar-a-Lago, sat down. I watched your son for an hour and a half, two hours. How he was. I think it’s March 20th. His birthday’s in March. I remember it’s March. He had just turned 18. And I’m watching how he’s talking to Colby, all these other guys sitting at the table and I’m like. Very interesting. And I know your Melania, I think, called him Little Donald.

I think if I’m not mistaken, she gave that nickname to him.

DONALD TRUMP: He’s not so little because he’s a pretty tall guy.

PATRICK BET-DAVID: But you use the word. You said something when you were being interviewed like five years ago. You said he’s strong. He’s vicious. He’s tough. Like you kind of are like, he’s got, you know, he’s got that part about him. What can you tell us about Barron from your point of view?

DONALD TRUMP: Well, he’s very, he’s very, very smart. He’s a good student and all that goes to a great school and does really well. And he’s a very nice guy. You see that he’s a very he’s he’s. He doesn’t mind being alone, but he’s somebody that gets along with people. He loved having you that night. I saw you.

I was at a different table. I said, look at Barron. He’s really having a good time. But you’re like a psychiatrist for a lot of people. I mean, this interview is now twice as long as it’s supposed to be. And we talked about some really amazing things. We talked about Barron, of course. He is such a he said, Dad, you’ve got to do me one favor. You have to say hello to Patrick for me. I mean, it’s cute, you know, he’s 18 years old. And he’s like an average 18 year old.

No, no, he’s very smart.

DONALD TRUMP: He’s very easy.

PATRICK BET-DAVID: Is he good with the ladies in school?

DONALD TRUMP: Well, I don’t know. I’m not sure he’s there yet. No, I’m not sure. Well, he’s I don’t think he’s had a girlfriend yet. I don’t think.

PATRICK BET-DAVID: Really?

DONALD TRUMP: Yeah, I don’t think so. He’s every once in a while.

PATRICK BET-DAVID: He’s a good looking guy. He’s a good looking guy. He’s got the swagger. He’s a good troller. He’s funny. He’s really witty. Last question.

DONALD TRUMP: And I have good kids. I mean, my kids are good.

PATRICK BET-DAVID: I’ve got your old best friend, Hillary Clinton gave you credit of if you remember that one time which was the credit, you said she’s not, you know, she doesn’t give up. And she said, you’ve raised great kids. Last question for you. I’m curious to know what you say about this.

So I’m in Northridge, California. It’s probably 18 years ago, I’m at a restaurant called Claim Jumpers. And I’m meeting this pastor, Pastor Dudley Rutherford, great guy. And I’m like, hey, you know, relationship with father and son. Okay. What did you say about a relationship with father and son? What tips could you give me? And he says, you know, a son and a father go through three phases.

Phase number one, you idolize them. Phase two, you demonize them. Phase three, you humanize them. Okay. I’m like, very interesting. Like that you go through that or you go from, you know, idolize, oh my God, I want to be like my dad when I grow up. You know what? You don’t ever believe in me. What can I do to make you proud? Like, man, I didn’t know what he was going through, that kind of stuff. I should have never said this and that.

I’m totally messed up, right? For you, there is one of the talks you’re given, which, you know, I understand, you know, earlier mentor my team and never show hurt, never show pain, always being the offensive killer instinct attack, you know. So it’s like, yeah, you know, I’m a competitor. I’m a fierce guy.

Trump’s Leadership Style and Emotional Vulnerability

PATRICK BET-DAVID: I’m going to get into business and insurance. They didn’t like me because I was building an agency, 60,000 insurance agents nationwide. We sold it. I got a check, 88% owner.

You know, I realized there’s a part of you got to stay tough, but then there’s some parts you’re like, wait a minute. I can’t be tough with everybody, right? You know, you’re in, I want to say, is this Glennell Rob? I don’t know where it’s at. This is last year, September. If you can play this clip, Rob, this is the first time where I watched you and I said, wow, okay, this is South. So this is Rapid City, South Dakota. You’re speaking.

All of a sudden you have this moment. If you can play this clip, I want to get a reaction to this. Go for it, Rob.

[Video Clip plays]

DONALD TRUMP: Well, let me explain. So I think I’m the only politician that ever spoke to music before. And I do that sometimes at the end of some of the rallies. That was a big rally. We had a lot of people. We have a lot of people at all the rallies. Had 100,000 people in Butler, more than 100 the other day, a couple of weeks ago.

And we had in California just this last week, we had 107,000 people. So we get big crowds. And sometimes I do my final remarks with music. Now, I always get, I don’t know if emotional or angry, more angry than emotional because I don’t, you know, and I’m not sure I want to admit emotional, but no, I tend to wait.

When the music goes on, I tend to wait maybe 30 seconds, maybe 20 seconds. So, I mean, I don’t want to spoil your thing, but I want to be honest. No, it wasn’t emotion. It is sort of anger, which is, of course, an emotion.

But my closings for the rallies, sometimes I play that music. And I talk about how bad we’re doing, how bad that we’re doing terribly as a country. We’re a third world nation. Look, we are a nation in decline. I mean, we are in serious decline. And now on top of it, they’re allowing all these people to come in and it’s not sustainable, et cetera, et cetera. And I go into that during this, it’s a different rally, it’s a different rally speech. I used to go right from my regular speech and then the music would come on and I didn’t like it.

Now I, the music comes on and I wait 20 or so. So I don’t want to ruin your thing, but that’s actually what I’m asking.

PATRICK BET-DAVID: Here’s why I’m asking a question. I’m asking a question because I think your life with Americans has been that. I think you were idolized for decades, decades. Then you were demonized. And I don’t know when I watch, you know, Nixon at his wife’s funeral, you see him, you know, when you see Reagan, when you see Putin, when as one of his friends, when you see some of the most, but Michael Jordan was a killer instinct when his father, when I, when I, when I think about it, we don’t have to play this.

When I think about you, a lot of the folks I talked to, I’m like, man, this is this guy. Does this guy have feelings? Is he like that cold all the time? Is he that competitive that it’s always never show hurt, never show emotions like that. Even at this phase, like, can I get an ounce of feeling from the guy that I can sit there and say, man, I want to humanize this guy. This guy’s like me. I, why am I expecting this guy to walk on water? I don’t know.

You know, I think, I think there’s an opportunity for the American people to go through that with you, to experience that. And by the way, if you say.

DONALD TRUMP: And there’s nothing wrong with it, right. I don’t personally think that the American people want to see, especially at this point, our country is doing badly. I don’t personally think they want to see a president that cries.

PATRICK BET-DAVID: I’m not at all talking about crying. This is not at all about crying. This isn’t one of those moments like, Hey, let’s, the goal is to get him cry. It’s not that. To see a side where somebody says, ah, you know what, I’m going to vote for this guy. I’m going to support this guy.

DONALD TRUMP: Yeah. No, I understand it. And certainly, uh, there could be that time. Look, I’m very sad by what’s happened to this country. We’re not respected anymore. We will be respected very soon. It won’t take that long, but we have to fix our country. Our country is broken. This has been the worst president and vice president in history. And now she’s, you know, running for president.

And if for some reason she won, and I believe the only reason they can win, I really believe that. I don’t think people would vote for her. I just don’t believe it can happen. But I think, you know, Elon Musk says it better than anybody. He says our country is finished, essentially. He said it would be finished. Very smart guy. A lot of people say that.

A lot of people say this will be our last election. You know, you’ve heard that too. It’s so bad what they’re doing to our country on the borders. It’s so bad what they’re doing with the money, the billions and billions of dollars.

Trump on Ukraine and Foreign Policy

DONALD TRUMP: I think Zelensky is one of the greatest salesmen I’ve ever seen. Every time he comes in, we give him a hundred billion dollars. Who else got that kind of money in history? There’s never been. And that doesn’t mean I don’t want to help him because I feel very badly for those people. But he should never have let that war start. That war’s a loser. Ukraine, remember, is not Ukraine anymore.

Every city almost is knocked down to the ground. All those beautiful golden domes are laying on their side, smashed to smithereens. There’s no city. You go into the city and every building is demolished. It looks like a demolition crew went through. They’ve been hit by missiles. This should have been settled before it started. It could have, it would have been so easy if we had a president with half a brain.

It would have been easy to settle. And I’m not, you know, everyone said, oh, this is terrible. He’s blaming Biden. Well, I do largely blame Biden. If you watch his words, his words were the exact opposite of what he should have been saying. He instigated that war and he got Putin. There’s no angel and Putin’s no angel. But everything Biden said was wrong.

That should have never happened. I’m telling you, Patrick, that war, if I were president, zero, even Democrats admitted. And you know what? It didn’t happen for four years and it was never going to happen.

And yet, I will tell you, I spoke to Putin often about it. I said, don’t ever do it. Ukraine was the apple of his eye. And when he saw how incompetently the — our country, our country, our president, our stupid generals like Miley, who’s a stupid person, when he saw how incompetent we were in Afghanistan, the most embarrassing moment in the history of our country, I believe.

When he looked at that, he said, Trump is gone. These people are idiots. I’m going to go in to take the apple of my eye. It would have never happened if I was there.

Conclusion of the Interview

DONALD TRUMP: And this has been very interesting being with you.

PATRICK BET-DAVID: Likewise.

DONALD TRUMP: My son’s right about you. Very, very good.

PATRICK BET-DAVID: I’ve really enjoyed it, Mr. President. Thank you for making the time to be here with us.

DONALD TRUMP: Thank you very much.

PATRICK BET-DAVID: Yes. It’s great.

DONALD TRUMP: We’ll do it again.

PATRICK BET-DAVID: Likewise. Looking forward to it. Thank you.

DONALD TRUMP: Thank you