What kind of a first lady do you think Melania’s going to be?
She will be terrific. She is very strong and very confident, but she’s very warm. And I think she’ll have a platform where she’ll really be able to do a lot of good. And that’s what she wants to do.
Did you ask Melania sort of, for permission, in a way, to run for president? Did you get her approval?
Well, I actually sat down with Melania and my whole family and we talked about it. Don, Ivanka, Eric, Tiffany. Barron to a lesser extent, but Barron too. Um, because in a way, he’s affected every bit as much. May be more. And so we all had a dinner and I said, “I would like to do this. I think I can do a great job.” And I wanted to get, number one, a consensus and number two, ideally, their permission. And they all agreed.
Are you prepared, both of you, for the lack of privacy and the intense scrutiny?And you know, first ladies are really criticized if one little hair’s out of place. Are you both prepared for this?
I will say, it is on a different scale now, ‘cause I’ve had a lot. But I’ve never had anything like this
FBI director James Comey. Are you going to ask for his resignation?
I think that I would rather not comment on that yet. I haven’t made up my mind. I respect him a lot. I respect the FBI a lot. I think…
Even though they leak so much?
Well, there’s been a lotta leaking, there’s no question about that. But I would certainly like to talk to him. And see him. This is a tough time for him. And I would like to talk to him before I’d answer a question like that.
Sounds like you’re not sure.
Well, sure, I’m not sure. I’d wanna see, you know, he may have had very good reasons for doing what he did.
Are you gonna release your tax returns?
At the appropriate time, I will release them. But right now I’m under routine audit. Nobody cares. The only one who cares is, you know, you and a few people that asked that question. Obviously, the public didn’t care because I won the election very easily. So, they don’t care. I never thought they did care.
Now, for months, you were running around saying that the system is rigged, the whole thing was rigged. You tweeted once that the Electoral College is a disaster for democracy.
I do.
So, do you still think it’s rigged?
Well, I won with the Electoral College.
Exactly.B ut do you think it’s rigged?
Yeah, some of the election locations are. Some of the system is. I hated….
Even though you won you’re saying that
You know, I’m not going to change my mind just because I won. But I would rather see it where you went with simple votes. You know, you get 100 million votes and somebody else gets 90 million votes and you win. There’s a reason for doing this because it brings all the states into play. Electoral College and there’s something very good about that. But this is a different system. But I respect it. I do respect the system.
What about vacations? You’re not going to take any vacations? You’ve said that…
We have so much work. There’s so much work to be done. And I want to get it done for the people. I want to get it done. We’re lowering taxes, we’re taking care of healthcare. I mean, there’s just so much to be done. So, I don’t think we’ll be very big on vacations, no.
Are you gonna take the salary, the president’s salary?
Well, I’ve never commented on this, but the answer is no. I think I have to bylaw take $1. So, I’ll take $1 a year. Do you know what the salary is?
$400,000 you’re giving up.
No, I’m not gonna take the salary. I’m not taking it.
I want to ask you all about something that’s going on right now around the country. A lot of people are afraid. They’re really afraid. African-Americans think there’s a target on their back. Muslims are terrified.
I think it’s horrible if that’s happening. I think it’s built up by the press because, frankly, they’ll take every single little incident that they can find in this country, which could’ve been there before. If I weren’t even around doing this, and they’ll make into an event because that’s the way the press is.
One of the groups that’s expressing fear are the LGBTQ group.
And yet I mentioned them at the Republican National Convention.
You did
Everybody said, “That was so great.” I have been, you know, I’ve been a supporter.
Well, I guess the issue for them is marriage equality. Do you support marriageequality?
It’s irrelevant because it was already settled. It’s law. It was settled in the Supreme Court. I mean it’s done.
So, even if you appoint a judge that—
It’s done. These cases have gone to the Supreme Court. They’ve been settled. And, I’m fine with that.
One of the issues that has come up in the campaign is your temperament.
They spent $1 billion against me on the word “Temperament.” It was given by Madison Avenue. And they thought that, by temperament, they could maybe, you know, win the election. Obviously, it didn’t work because we’re here and they’re not. And I think my strongest asset is my temperament because I have a temperament where we win and we’re going to start winning again. We’re going to win on trade, we’re going to win at the borders, we’re going to knock out ISIS.
You have said that you’re gonna destroy ISIS. Now, how are you going to?
I don’t tell you that. I don’t tell you that. I’m not like the people going in right now and fighting Mosul and theyannounce it four months before they went into Mosul and everybody from the leaders of ISIS have left. Why do I have to tell you that?
Troops on the ground?
I’m not gonna say anything. I don’t want to tell them anything. I don’t want to tell anybody anything
Yeah, but what about the American people.
I wanna do the job. We have some great generals. We have great generals.
You said you knew more than the generals about ISIS
Well, I’ll be honest with you, I probably do because look at the job they’ve done. Ok, look at the job they’ve done. They haven’t done the job. Now, maybe it’s leadership, maybe it’s something else. Who knows? All I can tell you is we’re going to get rid of ISIS.
Let me ask you about Obamacare, which you say you’re going to repeal and replace. When you replace it, are you going to make sure that people with pre-conditions are still covered?
Yes. Because it happens to be one of the strongest assets.
You’re going to keep that?
Also, with the children living with their parents for an extended period, we’re gonna—
You’re gonna keep that—
Very much try and keep that. Adds cost, but it’s very much something we’re going to try and keep.
And there’s going to be a period if you repeal it and before you replace it, when millions of people could lose -no?
No, we’re going to do it simultaneously. It’ll be just fine. We’re not going to have, like, a two-day period and we’re not going to have a two-year period where there’s nothing. It will be repealed and replaced. And we’ll know. And it’ll be great healthcare for much less money. So, it’ll be better health care, much better, for less money. Not a bad combination.
Let me ask whether the campaign has hurt the Trump brand.
I think what Ivanka’s trying to say, “Who cares? Who cares?” This is big league stuff. This is our country. Our country is going bad. We’re going to save our country. I don’t care about hotel occupancy. It’s peanuts compared to what we’re doing. Healthcare is making people better. It’s unfair what’s happened to the people of our country and we’re going to change it. As simple as that.
Concluded
The nation
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