I’ve been accused of being unfair to Donald Trump, so in this blog a let him speak for himself. These quotes are from his on-the-record two-hour interview with a team of four reporters from the New York Times. The interview took place in the White House Oval Office with the Trump communications team present and participating. The questions preceding the quotes are mine and I only insert them to provide context for his answers. The quotes have been organized but not edited. Draw your own conclusions about the self-proclaimed greatest President ever.
What is your opinion of the civil rights movement?
“White people were very badly treated, where they did extremely well and they were not invited to go into a university or a college. So I would say in that way, I think it was unfair in certain cases. I think it was also, at the same time, it accomplished some very wonderful things, but it also hurt a lot of people — people that deserve to go to a college or deserve to get a job were unable to get a job. So it was, it was a reverse discrimination.”
What is your view of antisemitism in this country?
“The antisemitism in this country is shocking. I mean, it’s, it’s — what’s gone on in the last 10 or 12 or 15 years is actually amazing. It started with President Obama. President Obama caused a lot of problems in this country. He’s not our worst president, but he’s one of our worst presidents. He’s caused tremendous division in our country.”
“There has been no better president in the history of the world as we know it that has been stronger or better and less antisemitic, certainly, than Donald Trump. I have been the best president of the United States in the history of this country toward Israel. And that’s, by the way, acknowledged by everybody, including the fact that we have peace in the Middle East, and that’s going to hold. … I am the least antisemitic person probably there is anywhere in the world.”
What is the state of the economy?
“The economy is probably the best it’s — look, the economy right now. I have trillions and trillions of dollars coming into this economy, more than any nation has ever had, by far. Our economy is unbelievable. And I’m bringing down the prices. Remember this, I didn’t cause the high prices. Biden did. … If you look at my, if you look at my achievements, the greatest, percentage-wise, the greatest beneficiaries of my economy in my first term were low-income workers. And it’s turning out to be right now — blue-collar workers are doing better than anybody else, percentage-wise, as they measure that.”
Who is responsible for America’s problems?
“I inherited a mess. It was high prices, it was high inflation, it was high crime. You know, did you see where murders are the lowest they’ve ever been? Did you see where crime is at the lowest point it’s ever been? You know why? Because I closed the border, and we don’t have criminals pouring into our country. I had to rebuild the military. I had to rebuild our economy. Our country was broken. We just suffered with a terrible president named Barack Hussein Obama, a terrible president and a terrible vice president, even worse. And frankly, the Middle East wars that were during the Bush administration were a disaster for this country because it was 9 trillion out and nothing in. And I always said: Don’t go in, but if you’re going to go in, keep the oil. But they didn’t keep the oil. Under Sleepy Joe Biden, the people coming into our country from jails, from prisons, from mental institutions and insane asylums — some of the worst people in the world, from drug lords to drug addicts. ”
How did you solve these problems?
“In a short period of time, I stopped prisoners, drug dealers, drug addicts and all the people coming, jailbirds. I stopped these people from coming and it took me a very short period of time . . . In less than a year, I’ve taken a country that was a laughingstock all over the world, and I made it the hottest country. You know, we’re the hottest country right now in the world. … I’m making America great again. I’ve made it maybe better than it’s ever been. This country is great again. This country is respected again. We — you are right now the hottest country in the world. A year and a half ago, our country was dead. We had a dead country, dead as a dog. This country was gone. We were going to be Venezuela on steroids. It would have been a worse — it would have been Venezuela times a thousand.”
Why did you challenge the results of the 2020 election?
“I always respect the results of elections, but the elections in our country are rigged. We have a bad election. We have to have voter ID. We should have same-day election. We should not have mail-in votes. Very few countries, almost none, do mail-in voting. Do you know why they don’t do it? Because when you do mail-in voting, inherently it’s a rigged election... I always respect elections. I won the last election by — I made it too big to rig. They, by the way, they cheated like hell on the last election, but I made it too big to rig ... We have very dishonest elections. … I won three times. I did great the second time, but I didn’t get credited with that. Covid was a problem, too. It made it easier to cheat. But the last election, that was so big that they tried, but they were unable to do it. … I just hate dishonest people. I just hate it. I think that the people that are dishonest people that cheat on elections, I think they’re just terrible. ... I don’t want retribution. I want fairness…. I love democracy. I’m a big fan.”
What is your view of American military and diplomatic actions in Venezuela and around the world?
“We spent, under my term, we spent almost a trillion dollars a year rebuilding the military. And these guys were, you know, they were dissipating it, the fools that preceded me, they were dissipating it. No, we’re respected again. We’re respected more now than we’ve ever been respected.
I think it’s been one of the very successful — it’s been one of the greatest military success — nobody’s ever seen anything like it. We attacked a fort with thousands of people and soldiers in that fort. You know, that was built there. It was built as a safe house with sealed doors and everything else. ... I have a lot of confidence in my people, in my military. I built the military. Remember this: Our military, when I took over in my first term, was a mess. I rebuilt the entire military, and now I’m doing it even more so. So, our military’s great. And more importantly, we’re the best soldiers. … I get along with NATO. Look at NATO. They raised their G.D.P. to 5 percent from 2 percent. They didn’t pay the 2 percent, then they pay the 5 percent. My relationship is very good with them. I mean, it’s been very good, very strong.
I don’t need international law. I’m not looking to hurt people. I’m not looking to kill people. I’ve ended — remember this, I’ve ended eight wars. Nobody else has ever done that. I’ve ended eight wars and didn’t get the Nobel Peace Prize. Pretty amazing. Obama got it. He was there for a few weeks, and he got it. He didn’t even know why he got it. They asked him, why did he get it? He was unable to answer the question. I ended eight wars. I — If you look at those wars — these were tough wars to end, too.”
What is your view of ICE and the anti-ICE protests?
I think that ICE has been treated very badly. Don’t forget, ICE has gotten rid of thousands and thousands of killers, murderers. They got rid of thousands of people that were let into our country during the Biden administration so stupidly. They’re very brave, very strong people. I just want people that love our country. It’s very simple. I want people that love our country. I want people that respect our country, respect the laws of our country, and I want people that can embrace our country. I want people that can make America great again.
Do you have a final thing to say to the American people?
“So far I’ve been right about everything.”
