G’day Mr. Trump, and thank you for seeing us this morning. Swell office you have here... what a view! And all those awards.
(Trump) It’s nice to talk with you. Incidentally, I enjoyed your grilling of Hillary Clinton.
So... you’re really in this time, Donald... congratulations... a serious campaigner for president. Everybody knows you; you’re a celebrity, but polls suggest when it comes to political office there are many who wouldn’t vote for you... going so far as to say “no matter what.”
When they hear my plans for Restoring America, a lot of them will come over to my side, believe me.
Let’s get this “Mexican immigrants” issue out of the way... what about your recent comments about Mexico not sending us their best? Criminals? Drug dealers? Rapists? The liberal media jumped right on you for that. I’m sure you see some of the hate spewed about you on the internet.
Look, anybody who thinks I hate all Mexicans are too stupid to bother with. What I said is true. Just look at the news almost every day. Some illegal who came over our southern border, was already convicted of some crime, deported several times comes back and robs, murders, even rapes here on our soil. I know many of Mexico’s good people. I know their leaders. They have no use for these criminals either! Why do you think they’re doing so little to stop them from coming over here? They figure, hey, let America’s stupid leaders take care of them.
Many of these haters on the internet are paid by my opponents. They’re unemployed kids... well-off middle-class American kids who don’t know what they’re talking about, really. The truth is I feel sad for these kids. Some of them are older too! We’ve got to move them up from living in their parents’ basements to real jobs and careers. Obviously they have some ability so they can do better than being losers who attack me. Envy is a waste of time.
Some think you’re arrogant... a blow-hard. Not to be taken seriously.
I think the losers who make these stupid comments don’t even know what those words mean. They confuse confidence with arrogance. They don’t like what I have to say because, unlike others, my opinions aren’t poll-driven.
Are you saying President Obama is poll-driven?
I’m not running against Obama. I may be running against somebody who is even farther left than he is. Somebody who promises what polls say the crowd wants; than if elected, will disregard all the promises, pushing us farther to the left and barter with America’s sovereignty.
Some on the ‘net make crass jokes about your hair. Does that bother you?
Only if they’re hairdressers. Or maybe Serge Normant.
(Laughter).
My opponents try to distract from the serious issues at hand. Let’s face it... I’m smarter... have greater intuition... others are afraid to take the issues head-on. I’m not. If you hate me because of my hair, who’s strange, you or me? These paid flunkies know I’d be great in a one-on-one debate on national tv.
Better than Mitt Romney?
Mitt’s a very good friend of mine. He’s a good guy. He is such a good guy that even though he could have handed Crowley her ass in that last debate... okay, he might have needed a weight lifter to help... but he hesitated. He blinked. So... he lost.
You won’t hesitate to hand your opponents their hind parts?
[Very broad smile]
Your detractors bring up financial bankruptcies and other issues in your background. What about that?
They know nothing about business and economics. That’s why they’re going nowhere. Bankruptcy is simply a legal financial tool, like any other legitimate financial tool.
And by the way, these same detractors have no problem supporting somebody who is morally bankrupt.
How will a Trump Presidency be different?
My goal is to restore America’s greatness. Obama has made us the laughing stock of the world. Nobody respects weakness. The president doesn’t want confrontation. He fancies himself the professor of cool. But he’s a lousy negotiator. Vladimir Putin runs circles around Obama. China is eating our lunch, and if Obama ever gets his trade deal... and I use the term ‘deal’ loosely... the Chinese will eat our dinner and our dessert too. The president draws lines in the sand, red lines, then spends months delaying decisions on everything... meanwhile blames everybody else for his own weakness. If I ran my business that way, I’d be in the poorhouse. Those scuff marks on his shoes are from kicking the can down the road. The next president will be stuck with terrible problems Obama caused.
You believe you can deal with those problems better than, say, Hillary?
Of course.
Look, I know Hillary... she’s a friend of mine. Bill, too. I know them all. But just because a woman shares Bill’s bed doesn’t make her as good a politician as he is. [Mischievous smile] If it did, there’d be a lot more women challengers for the Democratic nomination. So, yes, I can deal with the problems better than Hillary. Or any of the others.
What makes you so sure?
Because I know how to build things, how to negotiate, I wrote the book on the art of making good deals. A best-seller. Look at my record of accomplishment. I’m not Washington, DC. I’m not out to build my celebrity. I don’t need quid pro quo. Unlike our current president, who nobody ever heard of before he ran for this office – and most other candidates – I have all the celebrity and wealth I need. Despite what some believe, my motives are altruistic. I’m doing this for a higher cause. I consider it an honor to be an American citizen. I owe this great country a great deal. It pains me to see what these losers have done to our nation in this new century. They have cheapened the value of citizenship in the United States. They are handing out free tickets and bringing every kind of problem to our country. It solves nothing. Maybe it gets them more votes. But it makes everything worse for America. I want to repair the cracks in the mortar that held us together so well since the end of World War Two.
I believe you do.
How would you handle the mess in the Middle East?
I’ve said it before; right now, our friends don’t trust us and our enemies don’t fear us. I know them all. You know what they tell me? Our allies think everything our commander-in-chief does over there is for show, politics, not to stop the enemy. He tells our enemies exactly what we are going to do, when and where. I won’t tell them a damned thing... in fact I will mislead them. I will never involve our military in a mission whose goal is anything short of victory for the United States. We can’t be sending our young men and women into battle without being 100% behind them. It’s tragic what this president and his Secretaries of State have done to our military.
Would you use more military force?
The best military action is to build up your military so your adversaries would rather negotiate with you out of fear and respect than to go to war. So the best military strategy is designed to avoid military action. Reagan knew that. It works. If you’re playing poker, you want your opponents to believe you’re holding a royal flush in your hand.
I know many Iranian leaders. They’re making Obama look like he just fell off the turnip truck. He’s so desperate to make a deal with them that he will concede anything just to get it. And the Iranians know it. Look at how it’s going. They get what they want; America gets zip.
You believe Obama and his administration are really that inept?
As I said, I’m not running against Obama, but I am running against his terrible record, and Hillary is part of that record. Now look, I’m not saying he is sympathetic to our enemies in the Middle East, like some people think... but if he were... this is exactly what he’d do. Weaken our military by handcuffing the commanders. I know many of these guys. They’re great guys. They tell me how frustrated they are with Obama and his weak leadership.
If a U.S. president was sympathetic to our enemies in this region, he would funnel heavy weapons and financial support to our enemies by sending it to our “allies” in the region, knowing all the while our allies will run from battle, leaving everything there for the enemy to take as spoils. This keeps happening over and over, doesn’t it? What’s really going on here? Bottom line is, we seem to be supplying the enemy with military equipment they can’t easily get elsewhere. So, you can say Obama is inept if you like... those are not my words... but he may be devilishly clever.
What about our economy and jobs?
Nobody out there can beat my record of job creation. Obama is out there playing golf, I’m out there building golf courses. While Hillary and her entourage are staying in hotel rooms and renting office space, I’m building high quality hotels and beautiful office buildings. I’ve created huge numbers of jobs. Successful tv series, beauty pageants. These are not minimum wage jobs either. They’re high paying jobs that support families who go on to buy homes and cars and tv’s and all the things that move the economy in the right direction.
Like Trump ties?
I see you’re wearing one of my favorite colors. I see a lot of them on tv pundits and personalities. Everybody notices you now, right?
Do you still believe Obama isn’t a natural born citizen?
To quote Hillary, what difference at this point does it make? Let’s just get through the last months of this administration. Cross your fingers. Pray, if that’s your cup of tea.
Do you believe you can do anything about the deteriorating race relations in our nation?
Listen to me. Obama, Holder, now Lynch and the rest of his “restorative justice” crowd have set race relations back to where they were in the 1950s! I don’t have to tell Americans what they already know. But when we restore America’s greatness in the eyes of the world, it will effect every citizen in this nation... everything else will take care of itself.
Pride encourages people to better themselves in ways Big Brother can’t. And incidentally, belittling our nation, as our President and First Lady like to do, whether on purpose or not, inspires no one but America-haters. The Trump brand of pride will inspire those on every level of society. They will feel it, and want to live up to their own potential. That – not living on government dole – is the real promise of America.
The Federal government needs to stay out of State and local issues. Police departments under leadership like ours here in New York are fully capable of reforming any injustices which may exist in their forces. I know these cops. They’re good, hard-working people, many are friends of mine. Believe me, this hatred of police in America is ridiculous. Obama is using it like he uses every other controversy, as an opportunity to advance his leftist ideology; Federalize the police, the health industry, unions, banking, manufacturing, transportation, land ownership, food, water resources and all the rest. If you like bureaucracy, if you think Amtrak, Obamacare, the Post Office, and our immigration system are models of efficiency, well, keep voting for these Washington insiders.
As much as I personally like the other Republican hopefuls, I know them all, they’re good friends, I know none of them can beat Hillary and Bill.
Well, Mr. Trump, as much as I would love to ask you about illegal immigration and so many other issues, I know your schedule is pressing. Perhaps we can do this again when your campaign gets rolling. So, let me thank you for your time and provocative answers. We look forward to hearing your plans to restore America, and we wish you all the best!
Thanks. We’ll do this again. It’s going to be fun.
(To see our assessment of Trump’s qualifications for running for president click here to see our earlier posting)
