President Trump FINALLY Sits Down With Patrick Bet-David

President Trump: It was a detailed study of business.

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Patrick Bet-David: You’re talking about with the Bloomberg one?

President Trump: With the Bloomberg one. And people loved it. I agree, the tariff one. And the one thing I wanted to show is the following. So, you know how you talked about Jerome Powell, what an easy job he’s got—he comes once a month and he says we’re going to increase the rates. Greatest job there. I think this is the one thing they don’t talk about. So Barack Obama got elected November 4th, okay? Quantitative easing started November 26th, right? And it stayed for 8 years until you got elected, right? So, if you look at that, low, pretty much 0% interest rate, right?

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Patrick Bet-David: Right.

President Trump: And then you get elected, right? If you go to January 2016, 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 then, you know, the rest is obviously history, right?

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Patrick Bet-David: Right.

President Trump: But do you think the average person knows, like, the impact of going to 0%? How much does that positively help the economy when the Fed lowers the rates to half a point?

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Patrick Bet-David: 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 overridden by the interest rate climate, but I think the power of the Fed is very strong. It’s an interesting graph, actually. Yeah, this just shows that the rates didn’t help you, you know when he says it was—well, they didn’t use them to help me, right?

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President Trump: 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, um, 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, you know, reasonably high. And, uh, despite the rates not being at zero, I had a pretty good, uh—I had a great—we had a great run.

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Patrick Bet-David: Following up on the Barack Obama question, when I think about Van Jones and owning the Black vote, the 2024 election, I saw some numbers that came out which I thought were fascinating, right? Rob, if you can pull this up from CNN. So this is CNN reporting on this just two days ago, okay? Barack Obama, when it comes 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. Biden was up 53. Kamala, who is apparently Black, she’s up 41.

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President 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, and you know, it’s much better than—no, no. See, I would never say a thing like that, but you said it.

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President Trump: Well, no, you—you could explain it. Because I understand. I’m very comfortable explaining it because overnight, you know, she’s doing a show, she’s supposed to be Indian, and then all of a sudden now she’s Black. But it’s not landing with the average American.

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Patrick Bet-David: So, if you look at—do you think Black men—that’s why she’s not doing well? Some people say that in 2016, you had 13% of male Black voters, 18 to 44. In 2020, you had 18%. In 2024, you’re at 26%. It’s doubled in eight years. The question I’m asking you is the following: Back in 1960, right, 64% of African Americans would vote Democrat, right? The other was pretty much conservative. African Americans have historically been very conservative. Okay, Barry Goldwater, the issue happens, 1964, right? It goes from 64% Democrat to 92%. And it’s been between 85 to 92% since 1964. Right?

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Patrick Bet-David: 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?

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President Trump: They really lost it for a while. The Republicans went, and it started, I guess, with Barry Goldwater, if you look at the charts. But, uh, 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 any—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.

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Patrick Bet-David: I remember that.

President Trump: He was crying because he—I just, I have—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, uh, he came in with a fairly large group of people, uh, mostly Black people, and he was devastated because criminal justice reform wasn’t going to happen. Uh, Obama didn’t do it and, uh, 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 were—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 sob bag, he made a plea to me to help him and help this group of people, 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.” And, um, I studied it for a little while and, uh, spoke to them, and I said, “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.”

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Patrick Bet-David: And?

President Trump: 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, uh, 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.

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President Trump: 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 are some things you can—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?” He said, “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 mean, I’m like 289 and, and almost nothing for endorsements.

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President Trump: 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 get—and I said, “That’s the coolest thing.” I said, “Thank you.” I said, “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.

President Trump: 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. So, I had his vote. I then called four other guys, all of whom were against it, and I said, “I’d love to have,” and they, 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 right then. 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?

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Patrick Bet-David: Since ’64, yeah.

President Trump: So, we, 40, 50 years. Yeah, yeah. So, I got it done. I got something done—get a lot of things done that nobody else could have gotten done. So, what happens is, uh, Van Jones and all, they have—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. It’s a beautiful thing to watch. Watch this. This, uh, 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.

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Patrick Bet-David: Right.

President Trump: And, uh, I said, “Watch this.” And they got up, and they spoke, but Van Jones got up, and it was a little—I get, I don’t get too embarrassed, you know. 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.

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Patrick Bet-David: Wow.

President Trump: And I look at that sleazebag now, and I say, “Uh, he’s got bad ways. Bad ways.” I—I looked at him then, and 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, uh, we should defeat him. We have to fight him. He shouldn’t be allowed to be—and I said, “You know, uh, normally I’d say I wish I had that vote back, but I did the right thing.”

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Patrick Bet-David: Right.

President Trump: But why do I—why do I think he praised you? Why do I think he got emotional crying, giving you credit about what you did?

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Patrick Bet-David: No, 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.

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Patrick Bet-David: So he didn’t mention you the night of the news conference.

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President Trump: He was leading the news conference, and I don’t need it. I get mentioned plenty of times, etc., etc., but I watched last night—it’s a good place to say this, actually. It’s better than writing out a truth or whatever. But I watched last night, and I watched him talk about how I must be defeated. You know, I’m a bad guy or something.

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Patrick Bet-David: Right.

President Trump: And Van Jones is saying this?

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Patrick Bet-David: Yeah, yeah, he said it last night.

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President Trump: I saw him last night. I—I don’t watch CNN, honestly. I don’t watch it, but I happened to be—you know, I’m passing it, and I see him on, and I watched him talking about essentially negative about me. You know, what difference does it make? Nobody cares what they do. They’ve, uh, they’ve been fighting me for years, and, you know, 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, uh, if the election’s not rigged, uh, we’re going to win. If it is rigged, I guess that’s a different story, but we’ll find out pretty soon.

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Patrick Bet-David: Right.

President Trump: But, uh, but I watched this guy last night against me. Even if he 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, 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 saw me about criminal justice reform were, uh, African Americans. That’s all. And I did it for them.

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Patrick Bet-David: Right.

President Trump: I also did Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and, uh, I got them financing. I would see, uh, the heads of colleges come down after two years. They would come to Washington, like, 45, 50 people, a group. They’d always come in a big group, and I got to know them a little bit because they had to come through my office to get funding. And after the second time, I said to them, “Why do you keep coming down here for funding? Don’t they give you—” He said, “No, they make us feel like beggars.” That was the term.

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Patrick Bet-David: Wow.

President Trump: And a couple of them, I got really friendly with. Some of them I still see a little bit. And I said, “Uh, what does that mean?” He said, “Every year we come down for funding for the Black colleges and universities.” 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, or we try seeing a president.” But I got to know them, 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, “Fellas, 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.”

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Patrick Bet-David: Right.

President Trump: 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, uh, 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, uh, she is Black.

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Patrick Bet-David: Right.

President Trump: But she—really a lot of people didn’t know, which is true, but I learned about it just a couple months ago.

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Patrick Bet-David: You mean the fact that she’s Black or that she’s Indian?

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President Trump: The fact that she’s Black. I thought she was Indian until a couple months ago. Things change. I mean, a lot of people, because if you follow baseball, Samy Sosa kind of, you know, you sometimes have to respect people. They change, right?

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Patrick Bet-David: Right.

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President Trump: So I thought maybe she was doing a Sammy Sosa the other way. Samy changed, right? People change. If you remember Sammy Sosa—oh, he could hit the ball.

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Patrick Bet-David: He could hit the ball.

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President Trump: 66 home runs, I think, one year, right?

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Patrick Bet-David: Yeah, yeah.

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President Trump: 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.

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Patrick Bet-David: Go for it.

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President Trump: Significant.

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Patrick Bet-David: Do you think—this is, by the way, one of your partners in working on this, Jared. This is how many years ago?

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Rob: This is the date on this—five years ago, December 18th, 2018. So you just got that. That’s pretty cool.

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Patrick Bet-David: Yeah, so this is six years ago. If you can play this clip.

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Van Jones video clip plays: My father went to prison, and who—who fought on this as hard as—this is history. This is history right now. You’re witnessing history on the floor of the U.S. Senate. There’s a Christmas miracle underway, where for the first time in a generation, Republicans and Democrats are arm in arm tonight saying we are sending too many people to prison. They’re coming out bitter and not better. We want to make a tremendous difference. I want to say, uh, Hakeem Jeffries on the left, Jared Kushner, and Donald Trump on the right have brought together a coalition like I’ve never seen—literally the National Association of Manufacturers, Fox News…

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Patrick Bet-David: I’m glad you see 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 it. But at the same time, they don’t want him saying something like this. I want to give Jeff—Jared—and you—to give that credit.

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President Trump: Right.

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Patrick Bet-David: 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.

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President Trump: It was, but again, uh, right after that, he—it was over. He has to go back. He has to go back. A real man would not have done that, and—and I’m glad I saw that, but it really doesn’t mean anything because he said it, and then after that, he—he took it back.

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Patrick Bet-David: Right.

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President Trump: I want to show you something, and this kind of goes maybe to the next point. So, yesterday, a new Gallup poll came out, okay? 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, uh, 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 contracts. They’re not getting paid the kind of money they were making.

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Patrick Bet-David: Right.

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President Trump: And, by the way, you may not like me saying this to you, but I think—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, uh, you know, XYZ, felon this, charged 91, 53 were dismissed, 32 of this, and 12 are the ones that are remaining.” I think the only one that Letitia James, Jack Smith, and maybe even Fani, if they wanted to claim that you—you did commit a crime, is you—you kind of—you kind of did kill mainstream media.

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Patrick Bet-David: Right.

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President Trump: If you think about it.

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Patrick Bet-David: They did, and that could be a crime for those guys.

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President Trump: I’m very proud of it.

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Patrick Bet-David: Right.

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President Trump: 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 and play this clip.

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Video clip of Trump: Since you’re attacking us, can you give us a question?

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Reporter: Since you’re…

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Video clip of Trump: No, Mr. President-elect…

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Reporter: Mr. President-elect…

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Video clip of Trump: Since you are attacking our news organization, can you give us a chance…

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Reporter: You are attacking our news organization…

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Video clip of Trump: Can you give us a chance to ask a question, sir?

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Reporter: Sir, can you…

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Video clip of Trump: Sir, go ahead.

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Reporter: Can you stay…

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Video clip of Trump: Quiet. Quiet.

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Reporter: Mr. President-elect…

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Video clip of Trump: Don’t be rude.

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Reporter: Can you state categorically that nobody…

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Video clip of Trump: No. I’m not going to give you a question.

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Reporter: Can you state categorically…

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Video clip of Trump: You are fake news.

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Patrick Bet-David: Right.

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President Trump: Isn’t that disgusting? Think of it. That would never happen to a Democrat. But isn’t that disgusting?

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Patrick Bet-David: Right.

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President Trump: He’s a—he’s a lowlife, the guy. And as you know, but, uh, and he has his own show. He gets no ratings at all. Nobody on CNN gets ratings.

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Patrick Bet-David: Right.

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President Trump: But isn’t that disgusting? 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. I’m—and frankly, I’m proud of it, because they—I’m also responsible for the term “fake news,” and that’s a great term, but it’s not strong enough. I think “corrupt news” is a better term, but it doesn’t play as well. But they’re corrupt people. And disgusting people. But he is, uh, well, he—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.

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Patrick Bet-David: Right.

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President Trump: He’s not a smart one.

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Patrick Bet-David: Did you think you were going to say “fake news,” or was it just—it kind of came out and it stuck, you’re like, “This is going to stick.” Was it intentional?

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President 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. Very creative. Pocahontas, uh, a lot of good names.

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Patrick Bet-David: Right.

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President Trump: 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. You know, I—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—I really learned how corrupt it was. I didn’t think of it as that corrupt because, you know, I’d do something, and they’d give me credit. Um, but, uh, no, I—I had a very different life, actually, when you think about it. But then I run for president, uh…

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Patrick Bet-David: Right.

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President Trump: And all of a sudden, it flipped.

President Trump: I had a very different life, actually, when you think about it. But then I run for president, uh, so 92% of the people that run for president—presidents—92% were politicians, and 8% were generals. So, I wasn’t a politician. I wasn’t a general, so I was the only one that wasn’t in that group. 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 said that’s interesting; other people say, because even Reagan would be a politician ‘cause he was a two-term governor.

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Patrick Bet-David: Right.

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President Trump: He was a politician.

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Patrick Bet-David: He was a politician.

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President Trump: He was a governor. There were 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, um, nobody ever went right to the presidency. You know, I never ran for office. All of a sudden, I’m president. And I—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…

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Patrick Bet-David: Right.

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President Trump: Like that. And I—I really—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, um, in the 80s—that’s a lot.

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Patrick Bet-David: That’s a lot.

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President Trump: That’s a lot—a big percentage—they’re very corrupt.

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Patrick Bet-David: Have they always been? Has it always been the case? You’ve been around media, TV…

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President Trump: Yeah.

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Patrick Bet-David: …you know, for a long time.

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President Trump: I don’t think it’s ever been like this. Yeah, I’ve been around it for a long time. I don’t think it’s ever been like this. When you think, 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, uh, that you spent, uh, X dollars? Could we check that number?” Blah, blah, blah. And it would go on for a while to a point where you’d get somebody else to just do it.

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Patrick Bet-David: Right.

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President Trump: But they—without fail, I’d have—if there were any details in a story—not always—but if there were any details, always. And they would call. Fact checkers. “Hello, sir, my name’s Jim Smith. I’m a fact checker for the New York Times,” and they’d 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.

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Patrick Bet-David: You think that’s because of the Fairness Doctrine Act of 1987? Because prior to that, media platforms had to actually give both sides of the story, and then once that was dropped, they lost the accountability. They could say whatever they wanted to say, and it was kind of free-for-all, like, let me go after them.

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President Trump: Well, 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, XYZ. Great. Obama, I’m going to go after healthcare. Well, 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?

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President Trump: I think it’s just long-term happened. It morphed into it. I don’t think they said…

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Patrick Bet-David: Talking for you, yeah.

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President Trump: 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…

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Patrick Bet-David: Who would you put? Have you even thought about it? Who do—who do you think for short-term?

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President Trump: I’d have to think—short term, people have been abused, yeah, over one deal, and they’re gone or something.

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Patrick Bet-David: Got it.

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President Trump: 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 that.

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Patrick Bet-David: 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 the strategy that you had? Or no, that was just if you come after me, I’m going to come after you.

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President 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.

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Patrick Bet-David: Sure.

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President Trump: No, but—but I—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. The Washington Post was treating me very badly. The New York Times is probably the worst, but the both—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.

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Patrick Bet-David: Sure.

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President Trump: So I said, “Watch, I’m going to call the press in. Washington Post. 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, all. And I called them in. I was very nice. I didn’t say, like, I didn’t say, “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 wrote a horrible story, you know? It was—and I said, “There’s no way around it.” And usually, it’s the liberal side. And I don’t understand it, really. Why wouldn’t they want to have a strong border?

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Patrick Bet-David: Right.

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President Trump: 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.

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Patrick Bet-David: Weightlifting records that held for 18 years.

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President Trump: Right. 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, right? How can 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 189 years gets broken by 100 pounds, you know? 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 here. They couldn’t have raised that weight for 189 years, and the guy comes along—it’s crazy.

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Patrick Bet-David: I mean, the border could make sense though if you were to say, like, “Why would they want the border to be…

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President Trump: Right.

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Patrick Bet-David: Why do they want it to be made there? Well, why do they want an 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.

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Patrick Bet-David: Right.

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President Trump: I saw that. They endorsed me 100%. Unanimous. Like, 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.

President Trump: But you take a look at some of these stats. So yesterday, a young woman’s playing volleyball—you saw that shot—and she got hit by a hard shot by a man, a man who transitioned. There’s been many of those. There was a new one yesterday. She got hit in the head. She didn’t know where she was. She said, “I’ve never seen a ball travel at that speed before.”

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Patrick Bet-David: Right.

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President Trump: But here’s what—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 a 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, they said, “No, no, but that’s just an exaggeration.” No, it’s not. It’s really not.

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Patrick Bet-David: State of California.

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President Trump: 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 doing. 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, the everything-is-beautiful. And they run it so badly with all of the problems. They run it so—he’s a crummy governor.

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Patrick Bet-David: Right.

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President Trump: But why? Why is it so—yesterday, and who would sign the bill that’s even presented 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. And 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, with a number. It was like this big card with a picture and everything over their tie.

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Patrick Bet-David: Right.

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President Trump: So they have it for the Democrat National Convention, right? But they don’t want to have it for the vote. 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.

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Patrick Bet-David: Right.

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President Trump: Now, there’s only one reason that that happens—because they want to cheat. There’s no other reason. There’s no conceivable—

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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.

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President Trump: California?

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Patrick Bet-David: Yeah.

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President Trump: No wonder people are leaving.

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Patrick Bet-David: California, I mean, you know, there’s a reason why they lost a trillion—two states lost a trillion dollars of money under management from 2020—New York and California. They got destroyed. 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—

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President Trump: And he just announced it two days ago that he’s raising gas taxes by 47 cents in the state of California.

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Patrick Bet-David: Right.

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President Trump: No wonder people are leaving. But I want to go to the tariffs.

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Patrick Bet-David: He doesn’t want gas vehicles. He wants to use all electric.

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President Trump: He wants all electric.

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Patrick Bet-David: It’s not going to work for him, though.

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President Trump: It’s not going to work. They’re going to get destroyed. I mean, he’s already lost Musk. How do you lose Tesla? How do you lose Elon Musk out of your state?

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Patrick Bet-David: I asked Elon. I asked him this question yesterday.

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President Trump: What’d he say?

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Patrick Bet-David: I said, “When you left,” ‘cause he’s got a good thing in Texas, I said, “When you left, did Gavin 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 here?’” What did he say? He said, “He never called.”

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President Trump: Right.

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Patrick Bet-David: Your biggest entrepreneur in your state leaves, you don’t call.

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President Trump: Number one, biggest guy.

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Patrick Bet-David: Number two, big company.

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President Trump: Very big company, but a big oil company left also, taking thousands of jobs. But my question wasn’t that you—you know, that he left for whatever. I mean, did anybody ever call? He said, “No.”

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Patrick Bet-David: Right.

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President Trump: I said, “Did Newsom call you at all? Did he like call and say, ‘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. Isn’t that wild? That you’re losing, and you don’t make the phone call?

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Patrick Bet-David: Right.

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President 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 said it’s the most important election. I was honored, but I was—I was amazed, because I asked him 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—first phone call at least—you’re calling, saying, “Is there anything we can do to keep you?”

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Patrick Bet-David: Right.

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President Trump: Right?

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Patrick Bet-David: You know what I like about—and I do want to go to the tariffs, and I think this is a great transition—Tim Cook. They asked him, they said, “Why would you have a meeting with President Trump?” He says, “He’s the only president that called me.”

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President Trump: Right.

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Patrick Bet-David: Okay, let’s talk about something else.

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President Trump: Of course, he’s going to have a meeting with—if the guy’s calling, why wouldn’t you call the CEO of a, you know, three-trillion-dollar company?

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Patrick Bet-David: Right.

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President Trump: But let me just speak to Tim Cook. I think he’s a—I think he’s a quality CEO.

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Patrick Bet-David: Go for it.

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President Trump: So, if I’m going to just talk—when did you talk to—like, how recent?

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Patrick Bet-David: Uh, two hours ago.

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President Trump: Okay. Called me. I didn’t call him. And, uh, let me give you just a little—the nice part about this long format—you can talk.

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Patrick Bet-David: Yes.

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President Trump: Right?

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Patrick Bet-David: Yes.

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President Trump: It’s very nice. It’s something very— as opposed to bing, bing, bing, bing, bing. That’s why long format is working.

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Patrick Bet-David: Yes.

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President Trump: 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 as it is today.

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Patrick Bet-David: Wow. What a statement to make.

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President 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.

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Patrick Bet-David: So, tell me, tell you a couple of…

President Trump: So, tell you a couple of stories. So, about the second term or second year, I get a call, and they say, “Tim Cook’s on the phone.” He calls. He said, “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 is calling. And by that time, it was the largest company in the world, you know, it was the largest 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%,” 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—they were in South Korea. And he said, “It’s not really possible for me,” and I did waivers, you know, standard waivers. He said, “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, I sort of got it right.

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Patrick Bet-David: Right.

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President Trump: And I said, “I’m going to give you a waiver,” and I gave him a waiver. But I said, “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 it.

All of these things—think of the difference in this country. No inflation, we would have been so rich because 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 ‘cause the whole thing was cratering because oil went up to $78 a gallon.

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Patrick Bet-David: Right.

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President Trump: So, anyway, so Tim Cook called, and I—then he, about a year later, he called again on 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’re up,” 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% 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 company here.”

But then, two hours ago, three hours ago, he called me. He said, “I’d like to talk to you about something.” I said, “What?” He said, “The European Union has just fined us $15 billion.” I said, “That’s a lot.” I know the feeling because I get fined, too, in 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 $2 billion, so he’s at a $17 to $18 billion fine. I even said about Apple, “Can you pay that? I mean, do you have that kind of money? That’s a lot of money.” And he said something interesting. He said, “They’re using that to run their enterprise,” meaning Europe is their enterprise.

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Patrick Bet-David: Wow.

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President Trump: And I said, “That’s a lot.” He said, “But Tim, I’ve got to get elected first. But I’m not going to let them take advantage of our companies. That won’t—you know, be happening.”

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Patrick Bet-David: Right.

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President Trump: I talked about it yesterday. I talked about something very important—I don’t know if it got—China was building massive plants in Mexico.

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Patrick Bet-David: Right.

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President Trump: Massive. The biggest plants in the world, and my friend was actually building it. It’s the one right there. Oh, that’s it. Guess what? They’re not building it anymore. You know that, right?

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Patrick Bet-David: Right, I heard you.

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President Trump: 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 is 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 it. You wouldn’t have one automaking company.

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Patrick Bet-David: Right.

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President Trump: What did I do? I said two months ago, “And if they do that, I will put a 100% or 200% or 2,000% 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 the proper incentives. And I mean keeping Elon would have been easy to do, frankly. But nobody ever went to—

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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 autograph hat of ‘The Future Looks Bright’ with the president’s signature on it and allow people to compete for it.” So, here’s what we’re doing. Anybody that places an order of ‘The Future Looks Bright,’ $100—the first hundred of you, one of you will be the lucky winner of the signed hat by Donald J. Trump. So, go to VTmerch.com. Minimum order $100. One of you will get this hat sent to you.

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Patrick Bet-David: So, going back to this—so, when I think about, by the way, Tim Cook—Steve Jobs dies. Apple’s worth $100 billion. Today, it’s worth $3 trillion. He 30Xed it, so he’s got credibility on what he did. He’s a very good—think Steve Jobs would have been as good as it’s interesting point you’re making? It’s a good point to debate.

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President Trump: Yeah.

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Patrick Bet-David: But I want to go to the China-Mexico.

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President Trump: Right.

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Patrick Bet-David: So, for the first time in a long time, actual labor is cheaper in Mexico than it is in China. Mexico is now $3.90 an hour, all in. China’s $4.50. Right? And when I think about this phone that Tim Cook, Steve Jobs—they built this phone. If I buy it made in China, it costs $1,100, okay? If I buy it—they tried to do a quarter in India—it backfired. They don’t have the infrastructure yet, so he kind of wanted to find out what to do next. If I buy this in the U.S., and it’s made in the U.S., it’s $2,400, 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 were running, “You’re going to be president.” He said this many, many years ago.

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President Trump: He did say it. Nixon, or his wife said it—Pat. She said, “I watched somebody in the field, Donald, she said, I watched a man on television—a young man on television,” I have the letter. It’s the most beautiful letter. He said, “My wife just told me you’ll be president.” Because I knew him a little bit. And, uh, I said, “That’s interesting. I have to think about that.” But it was very nice, actually. But, no, she said it.

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Patrick Bet-David: Right.

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President Trump: But go ahead, please.

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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 may be 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 $55,000, you can’t afford this. So how do you balance and manage tariffs so the average person is not affected by—

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President Trump: Please, but before I do that—so, let me just say the word “tariffs,” because I—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.

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Patrick Bet-David: Right.

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President Trump: 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, okay? So, just by the mere mention of the fact that I am going to put 100% to 200% 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, “See, I told him, you know, this started.” I want to see a great car plant. He’s the best in the world at building them—the biggest. And he said, “I’ll have to take you to Mexico.” I said, “You got to be kidding. I want to see it 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, okay?

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Patrick Bet-David: Right.

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President Trump: We have—and yet we sell them. They—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 plants.

President Trump: So, I saw him the other day when I made a speech at the Detroit Economic Summit. It was great on Tuesday. And I see him in the audience, and I see him afterward, and I say, “Could I ask you, how’s the big plant coming?” He says, “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 a 100% 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.”

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Patrick Bet-David: Right.

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President Trump: “I saved 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 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’ve got to be a tariff guy, because if tariffs don’t work, you need to use it. Our country is broke.”

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Patrick Bet-David: 100%.

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President Trump: “You need to use it.” 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 plant. That’s 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 plant makes more than Detroit makes, okay? Than everybody. So that would mean that our car industry is wiped out.

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Patrick Bet-David: Right.

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President Trump: 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 any place else in this country. So, because of Donald Trump—and he said that—said, “Because of you, construction has totally stopped.” They absolutely gave up on the job. Now, if I didn’t get elected, they’ll be building. The only thing for me—the only thing for me is that I would be curious to know how the administration’s going to take it. This has to—you have to impose tariffs on a country that’s building.

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Patrick Bet-David: Right.

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President Trump: For example, I love what you did with Iran when you put the sanctions. I’m in Monaco, June 26th of 2019. It’s my 10-year anniversary. We’re there with my wife. We’re laying by the Carlton Hotel—I think it’s in Cannes—having the, you know, award-winning lobster roll, whatever they claim there. And I meet this guy, Middle Eastern guy. He comes and 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?” He says, “Yeah.” He says, “Here, Google me.” So I go, and 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 who doesn’t.” I said, “What did Trump’s sanctions on Iran do?” He says, “Let’s go in the middle of the ocean and talk, and you have to set your phone aside.”

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President Trump: Right.

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Patrick Bet-David: I’ll never forget. So we go in the middle of the ocean, standing out there, having a conversation. Our wives are talking, we’re over there. He says, “Everybody—if you can pull up that—that’s the one—is that what it is? Here’s the economic growth in Iran.” If you look at that—2015, 2016, nuclear deal implemented, sanctions lifted, then it’s up. 2018, 2019—they’re being decimated. I mean, these guys are getting destroyed. They wanted to make a deal. They wanted to make a deal then. Come in, and then Biden comes in, obviously, things change right afterward. So, for this time around with Iran, with everything that’s going on, with sanctions, there is a method to the madness.

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President Trump: Right.

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Patrick Bet-David: Remember back in the—can you send me that chart?

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President Trump: Look at that. 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 on Iran.” They passed. Nobody was buying. Are you going to bring this back? The strategy back?

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Patrick Bet-David: Right.

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President Trump: I would want different strategies. It all depends—very fertile mind, different strategies. But they’re very close to having a nuclear weapon. You have to understand, I didn’t want much. All I wanted was, you can never have a nuclear weapon.

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Patrick Bet-David: Right.

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President Trump: I didn’t want much. I wanted Iran to be very successful. I just don’t want them to have a nuclear weapon.

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Patrick Bet-David: Right.

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President Trump: 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. I 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? It’s not—I always say it’s not two army tanks running around.

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Patrick Bet-David: Right.

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President Trump: What’s going to happen to Iran with you by the end of your administration?

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Patrick Bet-David: Right.

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President Trump: I’m not asking to see Iran be very successful. The only thing is, they can’t have a nuclear weapon.

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Patrick Bet-David: Right.

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President Trump: Are you okay with the same administration and way of governing stays, or would you like to see it go back to the ‘70s when the Shah was running it, and Iran was one of the top three countries in tourism?

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Patrick Bet-David: Right.

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President Trump: Yeah, we can’t get totally involved in all—you know, I mean, we can’t run ourselves. Let’s face it, Patrick, we can’t run ourselves. Put sanctions going—they don’t have—the people are going to turn and flip on them. It’s not going to be a…

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Patrick Bet-David: Right.

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President Trump: What you—I think if you would have—I handed it over. I told them, “Right now, make a deal with Iran.” They’ll do anything they want 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.

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Patrick Bet-David: Right.

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President Trump: You know, Viktor Orbán—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 sense, 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 and 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 situation is getting really bad. You could have World War II, and we have two people, her and him, and she’s not as smart as Biden.

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Patrick Bet-David: Right.

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President Trump: Biden, believe it or not, and this is a very small group of people who fit into this category—he’s smarter than she is, okay? You have a problem. And even the three or four months left—Patrick, 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.

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Patrick Bet-David: Right.

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President Trump: So let me ask you this: The country is—the world is in grave danger. But you know what Viktor Orbán 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, you know—but they were. They were afraid of me. They didn’t know what the hell I was going to do.

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Patrick Bet-David: Right.

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President Trump: And that included Russia. Don’t forget, they always said, “Oh, I’m so close to Putin.” 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 Europe. I terminated it. Think of it.

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Patrick Bet-David: Right.

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President Trump: Do you think that’s a good relationship?

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Patrick Bet-David: Right.

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President Trump: 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 it happen.

President Trump: He let it happen. 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. They’ve lost credibility at this point. But with Iran—so here’s one thing—if the reason why I’m asking this is, I lived in Iran almost 11 years, and I was, you know…

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Patrick Bet-David: Are you Iranian?

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President Trump: I am Armenian on my mother’s side and Assyrian on my father’s side. You gave a shout-out to Assyrians the other day in Arizona.

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President Trump: I love the Assyrians, by the way.

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Patrick Bet-David: It was great seeing the Assyrians for Trump.

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President Trump: You know why they were there? They were so nice. I met them. They said, “The Assyrians,” and I said, “Who are you?” I didn’t know. They said, “We’re Assyrians.” I said, “What does that mean?” But they were really nice people. And I said—I think I mispronounced it a bit—but I said…

---

Patrick Bet-David: You did. You got it right this time.

---

President Trump: …but I got to say it. But I want to clear this up.

---

Patrick Bet-David: Right.

---

President Trump: But they were very nice people.

---

Patrick Bet-David: Going back to Iran. So, last topic on this, I just want to clear this up. Qasem Soleimani, you take him out. That’s their hero. That’s their General Patton. When you take him out, they want to seek vengeance. So now, hey, they’re targeting you, they’re coming after your assassination attempts, all this stuff. They create these videos that they’re going to come for you. “We haven’t forgotten that you took our hero out.”

---

President Trump: Right.

---

Patrick Bet-David: 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—52 prisoners, 444 days.

---

Patrick Bet-David: Right.

---

President Trump: Boom! The minute inauguration happens, they release them, right? It’s like, “Oh, this guy is going to do something about it.”

---

Patrick Bet-David: Right.

---

President Trump: My question for you: say you win November 5th. Say it’s a landslide. Say it’s done, okay?

---

Patrick Bet-David: Right.

---

President Trump: From November 5th to when you’re going back to putting your hand on the 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? Do you think it’s going to be that quickly? Or do you think…

---

Patrick Bet-David: Right.

---

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

---

Patrick Bet-David: While you’re president-elect?

---

President Trump: While I’m president-elect.

---

Patrick Bet-David: Wow.

---

President Trump: You need that credibility.

---

Patrick Bet-David: Right.

---

President Trump: While I’m president-elect, I will settle it. You know, I met with Zelensky the other day. I have a good relationship with Putin and with Zelensky.

---

Patrick Bet-David: He didn’t look too happy standing next to you, though.

---

President 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.

---

President 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 went 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.

---

Patrick Bet-David: Right.

---

President Trump: Putin would have never done it. The war would have never happened without even a settlement.

---

Patrick Bet-David: Right.

---

President Trump: Without even a settlement.

---

Patrick Bet-David: You’re saying after November 5th, pre-as a president-elect, you’re saying things are going to get done during that time?

---

President Trump: I’d like to be able to.

---

Patrick Bet-David: How about Iran and Israel? What about that one?

---

President Trump: Well, that depends. A lot’s happening right now. We’re going to have to see what happens. That one is a very interesting one, and it’s become more interesting because Israel didn’t listen to Biden and her. And they 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.

---

Patrick Bet-David: Right.

---

President Trump: What they did to Hezbollah and Hamas, if you take a look at it, they took everybody out. I mean, the whole thing with the pagers, it was from the pagers. Because those were your leaders. I mean, those were the leaders. It was like 2,000, and the guy that replaced him—they took him out as well. I mean…

---

Patrick Bet-David: Right.

---

President Trump: Nobody wants that job. They’re like, “Hey, would you like this job?” “I’ll pass.” I don’t want the job, 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 ferment. They wouldn’t listen to him.

---

Patrick Bet-David: You think Bibi will listen to you?

---

President Trump: Do I what?

---

Patrick Bet-David: You think Bibi will listen to you?

---

President Trump: Yeah. Oh, he’ll listen to me. 100%.

---

Patrick Bet-David: 100%?

---

President Trump: 100%. Don’t forget, I got them more than—and not because this isn’t the reason, but I got them the Golan Heights. They’ve been trying to get it for as long as they were around. I got them the Golan Heights. They wanted—they sent planes—would fly in every year to try and figure it out. I got them the Golan Heights. But more importantly than that, I ended the Iran nuclear deal, which Bibi fought like hell to have it.

---

Patrick Bet-David: Right.

---

President Trump: Remember that? Fought like hell. He came in to see Obama, fought. And I also got him very important—I helped them with the military, everything else. But I got them Jerusalem, capital. I got them Jerusalem.

---

Patrick Bet-David: Right.

---

President Trump: Not only did I get it for them, I built the embassy. I didn’t just say it. I got it built. And I built it for peanuts, too. I didn’t spend $2 billion. 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 $5.3 billion to $3.7 billion.

---

President Trump: Right.

---

Patrick Bet-David: “Hey, who would have paid?” They would have paid for that.

---

President Trump: Right.

---

Patrick Bet-David: It’s insane. 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.

---

President Trump: I have a few minutes, and I want to hit a few questions with you. So, you get in—when you work for a new company, you get a job, you go to HR. And then when you work for the company that’s a big company, let’s just say they’ve got 100,000 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 EF Hutton is. You’re going to find out who the guy that gets 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 the stuff that happens.

---

Patrick Bet-David: Right.

---

President Trump: When you went in, day one, you’re president—how did you decipher between knowing who were really the power players, who were the manipulators, who were the ones that would threaten them behind closed doors? How did you go through that process when you first got in?

---

Patrick Bet-David: Right.

---

President Trump: So, 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—17 times. I was there 17 times. I never stayed over.

---

Patrick Bet-David: Right.

---

President Trump: So, I was not a Washington person.

---

Patrick Bet-David: Right.

---

President Trump: I didn’t know people in…

President Trump: He let it happen. 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. They’ve lost credibility at this point. But with Iran—so here’s one thing—if the reason why I’m asking this is, I lived in Iran almost 11 years, and I was, you know…

---

Patrick Bet-David: Are you Iranian?

---

President Trump: I am Armenian on my mother’s side and Assyrian on my father’s side. You gave a shout-out to Assyrians the other day in Arizona.

---

President Trump: I love the Assyrians, by the way.

---

Patrick Bet-David: It was great seeing the Assyrians for Trump.

---

President Trump: You know why they were there? They were so nice. I met them. They said, “The Assyrians,” and I said, “Who are you?” I didn’t know. They said, “We’re Assyrians.” I said, “What does that mean?” But they were really nice people. And I said—I think I mispronounced it a bit—but I said…

---

Patrick Bet-David: You did. You got it right this time.

---

President Trump: …but I got to say it. But I want to clear this up.

---

Patrick Bet-David: Right.

---

President Trump: But they were very nice people.

---

Patrick Bet-David: Going back to Iran. So, last topic on this, I just want to clear this up. Qasem Soleimani, you take him out. That’s their hero. That’s their General Patton. When you take him out, they want to seek vengeance. So now, hey, they’re targeting you, they’re coming after your assassination attempts, all this stuff. They create these videos that they’re going to come for you. “We haven’t forgotten that you took our hero out.”

---

President Trump: Right.

---

Patrick Bet-David: 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—52 prisoners, 444 days.

---

Patrick Bet-David: Right.

---

President Trump: Boom! The minute inauguration happens, they release them, right? It’s like, “Oh, this guy is going to do something about it.”

---

Patrick Bet-David: Right.

---

President Trump: My question for you: say you win November 5th. Say it’s a landslide. Say it’s done, okay?

---

Patrick Bet-David: Right.

---

President Trump: From November 5th to when you’re going back to putting your hand on the 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? Do you think it’s going to be that quickly? Or do you think…

---

Patrick Bet-David: Right.

---

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

---

Patrick Bet-David: While you’re president-elect?

---

President Trump: While I’m president-elect.

---

Patrick Bet-David: Wow.

---

President Trump: You need that credibility.

---

Patrick Bet-David: Right.

---

President Trump: While I’m president-elect, I will settle it. You know, I met with Zelensky the other day. I have a good relationship with Putin and with Zelensky.

---

Patrick Bet-David: He didn’t look too happy standing next to you, though.

---

President 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.

---

President 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 went 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.

---

Patrick Bet-David: Right.

---

President Trump: Putin would have never done it. The war would have never happened without even a settlement.

---

Patrick Bet-David: Right.

---

President Trump: Without even a settlement.

---

Patrick Bet-David: You’re saying after November 5th, pre-as a president-elect, you’re saying things are going to get done during that time?

---

President Trump: I’d like to be able to.

---

Patrick Bet-David: How about Iran and Israel? What about that one?

---

President Trump: Well, that depends. A lot’s happening right now. We’re going to have to see what happens. That one is a very interesting one, and it’s become more interesting because Israel didn’t listen to Biden and her. And they 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.

---

Patrick Bet-David: Right.

---

President Trump: What they did to Hezbollah and Hamas, if you take a look at it, they took everybody out. I mean, the whole thing with the pagers, it was from the pagers. Because those were your leaders. I mean, those were the leaders. It was like 2,000, and the guy that replaced him—they took him out as well. I mean…

---

Patrick Bet-David: Right.

---

President Trump: Nobody wants that job. They’re like, “Hey, would you like this job?” “I’ll pass.” I don’t want the job, 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 ferment. They wouldn’t listen to him.

---

Patrick Bet-David: You think Bibi will listen to you?

---

President Trump: Do I what?

---

Patrick Bet-David: You think Bibi will listen to you?

---

President Trump: Yeah. Oh, he’ll listen to me. 100%.

---

Patrick Bet-David: 100%?

---

President Trump: 100%. Don’t forget, I got them more than—and not because this isn’t the reason, but I got them the Golan Heights. They’ve been trying to get it for as long as they were around. I got them the Golan Heights. They wanted—they sent planes—would fly in every year to try and figure it out. I got them the Golan Heights. But more importantly than that, I ended the Iran nuclear deal, which Bibi fought like hell to have it.

---

Patrick Bet-David: Right.

---

President Trump: Remember that? Fought like hell. He came in to see Obama, fought. And I also got him very important—I helped them with the military, everything else. But I got them Jerusalem, capital. I got them Jerusalem.

---

Patrick Bet-David: Right.

---

President Trump: Not only did I get it for them, I built the embassy. I didn’t just say it. I got it built. And I built it for peanuts, too. I didn’t spend $2 billion. 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 $5.3 billion to $3.7 billion.

---

President Trump: Right.

---

Patrick Bet-David: “Hey, who would have paid?” They would have paid for that.

---

President Trump: Right.

---

Patrick Bet-David: It’s insane. 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.

---

President Trump: I have a few minutes, and I want to hit a few questions with you. So, you get in—when you work for a new company, you get a job, you go to HR. And then when you work for the company that’s a big company, let’s just say they’ve got 100,000 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 EF Hutton is. You’re going to find out who the guy that gets 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 the stuff that happens.

---

Patrick Bet-David: Right.

---

President Trump: When you went in, day one, you’re president—how did you decipher between knowing who were really the power players, who were the manipulators, who were the ones that would threaten them behind closed doors? How did you go through that process when you first got in?

---

Patrick Bet-David: Right.

---

President Trump: So, 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—17 times. I was there 17 times. I never stayed over.

---

Patrick Bet-David: Right.

---

President Trump: So, I was not a Washington person.

---

Patrick Bet-David: Right.

---

President Trump: I didn’t know people in…

President Trump (in clip): I will take the mantle. I will be the one to shut it down. I’m not going to blame you for it.

---

Patrick Bet-David: How right was I?

---

President Trump: And I had the strongest border we ever had. And I used soldiers from Mexico and everything. 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. Okay? Poisoned. We have killers, we have murderers, we have the drug lords, we have everything. We have terrorists at numbers. Do 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: Right.

---

President Trump: Have you seen the terrorist stats?

---

Patrick Bet-David: Yes.

---

President Trump: The thousands, thousands.

---

Patrick Bet-David: Pull up the clip—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.

---

President Trump: It disappears.

---

Patrick Bet-David: So I had none.

---

President Trump: Yeah, I understand. So, too.

---

Patrick Bet-David: But the reason why I show this clip is if you’re—

---

President Trump: I like these charts, I must say. I like them.

---

Patrick Bet-David: My chart’s the best.

---

President Trump: You know my—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 the chart.

---

President Trump: No, no, I love these charts that you have. No, I’m talking about the chart you looked at when you got shot, and you were looking the other direction. We would not be having—

---

Patrick Bet-David: Let’s talk a little bit of family with the last few minutes that we have.

---

President Trump: Sure.

---

Patrick Bet-David: So, Baron Trump—I spent some time with Baron. 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, is he March 20th? His birthday’s in March, I remember it’s March—had just turned 18. And I’m watching how he’s talking to Kobe, 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. He’s not little because he’s a pretty tall guy, but you used 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.” You kind of are like, “He’s got, you know, he’s got that part about him.”

---

President Trump: Right.

---

Patrick Bet-David: What can you tell us about Baron from your point of view?

---

President Trump: Well, he’s very—he’s very, um, 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, uh—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 Baron, he’s really having a good time.” But you—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.

---

Patrick Bet-David: Yeah.

---

President Trump: And we talked about some really amazing things. We talked about Baron, of course. I got—he is such a—he said, “Dad, you got to do me one favor.”

---

Patrick Bet-David: What?

---

President Trump: “You have to say hello to Patrick for me.”

---

Patrick Bet-David: Right.

---

President Trump: I mean, it’s cute, you know? He’s 18 years old, but he’s like, not an average 18-year-old.

---

Patrick Bet-David: No, he’s very smart.

---

President Trump: No, he’s very smart.

---

Patrick Bet-David: Is he good with the ladies in school, and not sure there yet?

---

President Trump: I’m not sure he’s there yet. No, I’m not sure he’s there. He’s, uh—I don’t think he’s had a girlfriend yet. I don’t think.

---

Patrick Bet-David: Really?

---

President Trump: Yeah, I don’t think so. Every once in a while—

---

Patrick Bet-David: He’s a good-looking guy.

---

President Trump: He’s a good-looking guy.

---

Patrick Bet-David: He’s got the swagger.

---

President Trump: He’s a good-looking guy, yeah. He’s got the swagger, he’s tall, he’s funny, he’s witty.

---

Patrick Bet-David: Last question for you.

---

President Trump: And I have good kids. I mean, my kids are good.

---

Patrick Bet-David: Well, I mean, that’s the one thing that your old best friend, Hillary Clinton, gave you credit for, if you remember that one time.

---

President Trump: Right.

---

Patrick Bet-David: When she said, “What’s the credit?” She said, “He’s not a quitter,” and she said, “You’ve raised great kids.”

---

President Trump: Right, that’s true.

---

Patrick Bet-David: 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 Jumper, 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 would you say about a relationship with a father and son? What tips could you give me?” And he says, “You know, a son and a father go through three phases.”

---

President Trump: Right.

---

Patrick Bet-David: “Phase number one, you idolize them. Okay? Phase two, you demonize them. Phase three, you humanize them.”

---

President Trump: Right.

---

Patrick Bet-David: Very interesting. And I’m like, “Very interesting.” 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,” to “You don’t ever believe in me, what can I do to make you proud?” to like, “Man, I didn’t know what he was going through, that kind of stuff. I should have never said this and that. I totally messed up,” right? For you—there’s one of the talks you’re given, which, you know, I understand, you know, earlier mentor of mine said, “Never show hurt. Never show pain. Always be on the offensive. Killer instinct. Attack.”

---

President Trump: Right.

---

Patrick Bet-David: You know, so it’s like, “Yeah, you know, I’m a competitor, I’m a fierce guy, I’m going to get into business,” and in insurance, they didn’t like me because I was building an agency—60,000 insurance agents nationwide. We sold it, I got a fat check, 88% owner, you know? I realized there’s a part where you’ve got to stay tough, but then there are some parts where you’re like, “Wait a minute, I can’t be tough with everybody.”

---

President Trump: Right.

---

Patrick Bet-David: You know, you’re in—I want to say—is this Glendale, 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”—this is Rapid City, South Dakota. You’re speaking, and all of a sudden, you have this moment. If you can play this clip. I want to get your reaction to this.

---

[Clip plays]

---

Patrick Bet-David (in clip): “Help build America into the greatest nation in the history of the world.”

---

[Music plays, crowd cheers]

---

Patrick Bet-David: 45 seconds. You’re holding yourself back.

---

President 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. We had 100,000 people in Butler, more than 100,000 the other day, a couple of weeks ago. And we had—in California just this last week, we had 107,000 people.

---

Patrick Bet-David: Right.

---

President Trump: So, we got big crowds. And sometimes I do my final remarks with music. Now, I always get—I don’t know if it’s emotional or angry. I’m 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.

---

Patrick Bet-David: Right.

---

President Trump: So, I mean, I don’t want to spoil your thing, but I want to be honest.

---

Patrick Bet-David: No, that’s fine.

---

President Trump: No, it wasn’t emotion. It is sort of anger, which is, of course, an emotion.

---

Patrick Bet-David: Right.

---

President Trump: But my closings for the rallies, sometimes I play that music, and I talk about how bad we’re doing, how badly we’re doing—terribly as a country. We’re a third-world nation. Look, we are a nation in decline.

---

Patrick Bet-David: Right.

---

President Trump: I mean, we are in serious decline. And now, on top of it, they’re allowing all these people to come in. It’s not sustainable, etc., etc. 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, the music comes on, and I wait 20 or so seconds. I don’t want to ruin your thing, but that’s…

---

Patrick Bet-David: No, I’m asking you—I’m asking a question.

---

President Trump: You’d like to say I was crying.

---

Patrick Bet-David: No, here’s why I’m asking a question. I’m asking a question because I think your life with Americans has been that.

---

President Trump: Right.

---

Patrick Bet-David: I think you were idolized for decades.

---

President Trump: Right.

---

Patrick Bet-David: Decades. Then you were demonized.

---

President Trump: Right.

---

Patrick Bet-David: And I don’t know, when I watch—you know, Nixon at his wife’s funeral, you see him…

---

President Trump: Right.

---

Patrick Bet-David: You know, this guy feels pain.

---

President Trump: Yeah, yeah.

---

Patrick Bet-David: You know, when you see Reagan, when you see Putin, when one of his friends…