Trump gave a big interview on the occasion of 100 days of the presidency: his main statements
Donald Trump gave a long interview to a journalist on May 4 NBC News Kristen Welker. The conversation was timed to coincide with the 47th day of his presidency. Among other topics, the issues of Russian aggression in Ukraine and agreements on mineral resources were raised. Much was also said about the economic doctrine of the XNUMXth president, about the policy towards immigrants. We offer you excerpts from this interview.

Photo: Palinchak | Dreamstime.com
Trump to Putin: "Has Biden called you even once in three years?"
— You just signed a mineral deal with Ukraine. It seems to be a signal that the United States is investing in Ukraine's future. Are you getting closer to a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia?
— I hope so. I do believe that we are closer on one side, and on the other, perhaps not so close. But we will see. (Here and further, the style of Donald Trump’s speech is preserved. – Approx. Ed.) I'd rather not say who we're closer to. But we made a deal that was good for the American people. We were able to get the rare earths, you know? The Europeans are getting their money back. They have a loan. We're not Biden, he just gave them $350 billion. He has no idea where that money is, what happened to it. And at least we're going to get ours, in some form or another - yeah, I don't feel so stupid. And remember, this is Biden's war. This was a war that would never have happened if I were president. It's a terrible, terrible war. And I see images of soldiers through, you know, satellites that are so, so terrible. On average, 5000 soldiers a week are dying. They're not American soldiers. But I want to solve that problem. They're Russian soldiers and Ukrainian soldiers. And if I can save 5000 souls, I just love doing it.
On the subject: Putin presented Trump with a portrait by Nikas Safronov
— How much time do you give both countries before you decide to leave? (from peace talks. – Ed.)
- Well, there will come a point where I say, "Okay, keep being stupid and keep fighting." Sometimes I get close to that, but then positive things happen, okay? So hopefully it will work out.
— Your close ally, Senator Lindsey Graham, has drafted a sanctions bill against Russia. If you get to the point where you're ready to leave, will you sign that sanctions bill?
— It depends on whether Russia behaves in a way that will bring peace. We want a peace deal. We want Russia and Ukraine to agree on a deal. I think we're pretty close. We're going to save a lot of people from dying, and we're going to save a lot of money. Because the way we spend money is, you know, Europe spends a third of what we spend. And it's more important for Europe than it is for us. Biden had no control. He was just sending money out there left and right, and nobody knew what was going on, why they were doing it, why they were sending it. And it was huge amounts of money.
— So you think you are close to a deal? What will Russia have to give up? Because there was talk that Ukraine might have to give up some of the lands that Russia had illegally seized.
— Russia will have to give up all of Ukraine. Because that’s what they want. Russia will have to give up all of Ukraine. Because Russia wants all of Ukraine. And if I hadn’t intervened, they would be fighting for all of Ukraine now. Russia doesn’t want the strip they have now; Russia wants all of Ukraine. And if it weren’t for me, they would continue. You know, the leaders of the European Union have asked me so many times to call Putin! Because he doesn’t answer their calls.
— You wrote on social media that he might be "leading you by the nose." Have you misjudged Vladimir Putin?
— Maybe. But you can also lead me by the nose when you tell me how good an interview is going to be. So, you know, I'm used to being led by the nose. No, I'll tell you about that in a month or two weeks. I don't know. I can tell you that his ambitions were pretty much curtailed when he saw that I was now leading the process. Because he didn't talk to anyone in Europe, didn't call them back. You know, I asked him, 'Has Biden ever called you in three years? Has Biden ever called you?' He said, 'He never called you.' Biden never called him. And all these thousands of soldiers, hundreds, millions of soldiers are dying, and not just soldiers. People are dying in cities, in towns, and the entire heritage of this country is being destroyed. I mean, the heritage of this country is being blown to pieces. You know, the spires, those beautiful spires that you see, the most beautiful in the world. Almost 95% of them are in ruins, all broken and sadly lying on the ground because they were shot. It's a really bad situation. And he didn't get a single call from Biden. The war would never have started. And by the way, it hasn't started in four years. I was there for four years, it was Putin's cherished dream. He had no chance to start.
— Where is your red line? At what point will you say, "That's it, we're leaving"?
- Well, you'll find out. I mean, there will be a moment when I might say that. I can't - I guess it's impossible to do. There's a lot of hatred, just so you understand. We're talking about a lot of hatred between these two men and between, you know, some of the soldiers, frankly. Between the generals. They've been fighting hard for three years now. I think we have a very good chance of doing that.
— If you leave, will that mean you will stop military assistance and intelligence sharing?
- I don't want to talk about it now. It's too early to talk about it. I don't want to get involved in this argument.
"MWe spent Easter at the White House and we had thousands of eggs."
— The economy contracted in the first quarter. You've been saying all week that this is President Biden's economy. Is this your economy now, sir?
— Well, I think some aspects of it, yes. Prices, yes. I was able to get prices down. But even that takes time, but we got them down well. We were losing $5, $6 billion a day under Biden. Five, six billion. And I got it to a great number right now, in record time. You know, we're talking about 100 days. But think about what that is. We were losing $XNUMX billion a day on trade.
And we were very tough on China, as you know, 145% tariff. Nobody had ever heard of that. And we basically ended the trade relationship by imposing that tariff. And that's fine. We went for a hard break. That means we're not losing. You know, we were losing a trillion dollars on China. A trillion dollars! That means we're not losing a trillion dollars when we go for a hard break, because we're not doing business with them right now. And they want to make a deal. They really want to make a deal. We'll see how it all plays out, but it's got to be a fair deal. But think about it: We were losing a trillion dollars. And that was a big chunk of the $5 billion a day.
—The stock market soared ahead of your inauguration. You called it the "Trump effect." When the numbers weren't so good this week, you said it was the Biden effect. Do you only take credit for the good numbers, not the bad ones?
— I think he's done a lot of really bad things. And despite some of those bad things, we're getting through them. Have you seen the price of oil? Have you seen gas now in many cases, in many states, under $2 a gallon? $1,98, $1,99, $1,97? We had the worst inflation in the history of our country. Biden gave us the worst inflation in the history of our country. People didn't care how much they made because they were losing everything because of the price. And now look what's happened. Oil is down. Gas is down. Groceries are down. Eggs. You asked me about eggs. That was the first week. I didn't even know what you were — what we were talking about. Egg prices were so high you couldn't buy eggs. There were no eggs. And they said, 'Easter is going to be a disaster.' We spent Easter in the White House, and we had thousands of eggs. And they fell in price by 87%.
"The good parts are the Trump economy, and the bad parts are the Biden economy."
— When will this become the Trump economy?
— Some of it is already. And I mean that. I think the good parts are the Trump economy and the bad parts are the Biden economy because he has done a terrible job. He has done a terrible job on everything from his auto-signing — I’m sure he had no idea what he was signing, some of the things he supposedly signed — to immigration. Ultimately, I take responsibility for everything. But I’ve only been here a little over three months. The stock market: look what’s happened in a short period of time. Hasn’t it been up for nine or 11 days straight, or XNUMX days? And the tariffs are just starting to kick in. And we’re doing really well. The fake news has been very critical of me for the tariffs. The tariffs are going to make us rich. We’re going to be a very rich country.
— You said, and I quote, “Maybe kids will have two dolls instead of 30 dolls. And maybe those two dolls will cost a couple of dollars more than usual.” Are you saying that your tariffs will lead to higher prices on some goods?
— No. I think tariffs would be great for us because they would make us rich. I don’t think a beautiful girl who’s 11 years old needs to have 30 dolls. She could probably have three or four dolls because what we did with China was just incredible. We had a trade deficit with China worth hundreds of billions of dollars. I’m basically saying we shouldn’t spend the money on the trade deficit with China on things we don’t need, on junk we don’t need.
— Prices are already rising on some popular products, from tires to strollers.
— Wait a minute. This is not a fair interview. Food prices are down. Oil prices are down. All energy prices are down. Gasoline prices are down by huge numbers. And let me tell you, when you have — the big thing he did was he spent like the stupid person he was. But he spent like a very stupid person. And that was bad for inflation. But what really killed us with inflation was the price of energy. It went up to $3,90, even $4. And in California, it was $5 and $6. Right? Okay. I'm at $1,98 in a lot of states. When you get the price of energy down that much — and this is ahead of my projections, because I really thought I could get it to $2,50 — we're at $1,98 in a lot of places. You say prices are going up, but even mortgage rates are going down.
— But let me give you some examples. Tires, strollers, some clothes after your duties…
- Sorry. These are small things compared to - energy. Energy is 60% of the costs. Gasoline is thousands of times more important than a stroller or anything else.
— I mean, you're talking about transition costs. How long should people wait for this transition, Mr. President?
— I can’t tell you. The important thing is that we’re making a ton of money, and we’re doing a great job of it. Again, we were losing over $5 billion a day. Five billion a day! You don’t talk about that. And now we’re about to get to the point where we’re making money every day. Look, we were losing hundreds of billions of dollars with China. Now we’re essentially not doing business with China, so we’re saving hundreds of billions of dollars. It’s that simple.
— Would you consider lifting tariffs to bring China into the negotiations?
— No. China is collapsing right now. They are simply being destroyed. Factories are closing there, and unemployment is skyrocketing. I don’t want to do that to China. But at the same time, I don’t want China to make hundreds of billions of dollars and build more ships, more army tanks, and more airplanes. Why would I do that? At some point, I will lower them, because otherwise you can’t do business with them. And they really want to do business. Look, their economy is really bad. Their economy is collapsing.
— Small businesses say Chinese tariffs are hurting them. Some will be forced to close. Are you considering tariff relief for small businesses?
- And many businesses are getting help. They will make enough money - if you produce your product here. Remember, if you produce your product here, there are no duties. It's very simple and easy.
— Are these duties permanent, Mr. President?
— It depends on what you're talking about. One of the things that it will bring, and has brought, is that I think we have about $9 trillion in investment coming into this country. If you look at other presidents, that's never happened. In two months, we're close to $9 trillion in investment! We've never been even close to that.
— Some on Wall Street have expressed concern that the likelihood of a recession is increasing. Are you prepared for the country to slip into a recession for a time if you can achieve your long-term goals?
— Well, you know, some people on Wall Street are saying, but I'll tell you something else. They're saying we're going to have the greatest economy in history. I think we're going to have an economy like we've never had before. Anything can happen. But I think we're going to have the greatest economic boom in history.
"You will see a wonderful budget for everyone"
— We talk about your agenda, your budget bill, your tax bill, and we think about the next big test, the midterm elections..
— We're talking about a big, beautiful bill that we're trying to pass. It's going to be the biggest tax cuts in the history of our country, and I hope it gets done. And the Democrats are fighting us. And if it doesn't get done, it's going to be a 68% tax increase. So it's on the Democrats. But I think we're going to get it done. The Republicans are going to vote for it. And it's going to be, in my opinion, the most significant bill in the history of our country.
— What happens if a bill lands on your desk that has tax cuts but also Medicaid cuts? Would you veto it?
— I would veto it if they were cutting, but they're not cutting. They're looking at fraud, waste, and abuse. And nobody's against that. If there are illegal immigrants involved, if there are people in there that shouldn't be there, non-citizens, nobody's against that. Fraud, waste, and abuse. But we're not cutting Medicaid, we're not cutting Medicare, and we're not cutting Social Security.
— You presented the budget. Big cuts in some social spending items. What do you say to people who might look at these cuts and say, “This will affect education. This might affect people who depend on services for the poor”?
— Well, as I understand it, and first of all, the budget is a very preliminary tool. And I think when it’s all said and done, you’re going to see a wonderful budget for everybody, really for everybody. I would even say that the middle class is probably coming to the forefront, and it’s about time. But we took care of the middle class during my initial Trump tax cuts, we really took care of the middle class. The people with the least money actually got the most — and it’s not just the middle class. The poorest people, proportionally, got the most. And that’s what we’re going to do here.
"The military will be used in a limited way"
— You have spoken about wanting to deport millions of people. How do you plan to do this without disrupting businesses and communities?
— Well, we’re going to do it in a very humane way. We’re going to do it in a very smart way. We have to, because we have no choice. We have murderers, we have drug dealers, we have human traffickers, we have people coming in and they’re very bad people. I’ve said from the beginning that I want to do the largest deportation in the history of our country. But it’s going to be done smart. It’s going to be done humanely. And we’re going to work with local law enforcement, we’re going to work with ICE, and we’re going to work with Border Patrol. We’re going to kick out the bad ones first, and then we’re going to work with the good ones, and there are a lot of them, to either bring them back legally or do something about them. But we have no choice. We have people coming across our border and they’re murderers. We have people coming across our border and they’re drug dealers. We have people coming across our border and they’re human traffickers who sell women and children. And we can’t let that happen. And we will stop it.
— You talked about using the military to carry out some of these deportations. Can you elaborate on how the military will be used?
— Well, the military will be used in a very limited way. It will be used for the worst. You know, we have a law called the Alien Enemy Act that allows us to use the military for certain purposes. And we will use it for murderers, we will use it for drug dealers, we will use it for human traffickers. But mostly it will be ICE, it will be Border Patrol, it will be local law enforcement, who, by the way, are thrilled to work with us. They have begged to work with us because they see what is happening in their communities. They see crime. They see drugs. They see death. And they want to help. So the military will be used in a very limited way, but it will be used for the worst.
— What will happen to the “Dreamers,” the DACA recipients who were brought here as children?
- We will come up with something with the “dreamers”. I have always said that. I think this is a very difficult situation for them. They were brought here as little children, many of them do not even know the country they came from. They grew up here, they studied here, they worked here. We will come up with something fair, humane and good for them and for the country. I am not going to give you a precise plan now, because we are working on it, but I will say: it will be something that I think people will like. And we will try to do it quickly.
— Will you complete the DACA program?
— I don’t want to end DACA. I want to do something about DACA. I think it’s a very complicated situation. I think Obama did something unconstitutional, frankly, when he did it. But now it’s here, and these kids are here, and they’re not kids anymore, many of them are adults. And we’re going to do something that’s fair and humane. I don’t want to end it. I want to fix it.
— You talked about birthright citizenship. You said you wanted to abolish it. How do you plan to do that, given that it's enshrined in the 14th Amendment?
— Well, birthright citizenship is a very interesting thing. And a lot of scholars, a lot of legal scholars believe that it’s not necessarily enshrined in the 14th Amendment. The 14th Amendment says “subject to jurisdiction,” and there’s a big question about whether people who come here illegally are subject to jurisdiction. So we’ll study that. We’ll study that. I think it’s terrible when people come across the border, have a baby, and that baby automatically becomes a citizen. I think that’s a big problem. It’s a magnet for illegal immigration. And we’ll study that very seriously. We can do it through executive order, we can do it through legislation, but we’ll study that because I think that’s a big problem for our country.
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— Are you saying you're going to try to abolish birthright citizenship through an executive order?
— I am saying we will look into it. I am not saying definitively. We will look into it. It could be an executive order, it could be legislation. And we will look into it because I think it is a big problem for our country. It is a magnet for illegal immigration. And we want to have a strong border, we want to have a strong country, and we want people to come legally.
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