TRUMP interview with Bob Woodward and Robert Costa: [archive] “One of the problems I have is that when I hit people, I hit them harder maybe than is necessary. And it’s almost impossible to reel them back.”
The American economy is sitting on a big bubble:
DT: . . . I was pretty good at prognostication . . . I’d talk about success, but I’d say, this is a bad time to invest. I also said, this is a good time to invest.
BW: What is it now? Is it a good time to invest now?
DT: Oh, I think it’s a terrible time right now. . . .
You have cheap money that nobody can get unless you’re rich. . . . The regulators are running the banks. You have a situation where you have an inflated stock market. It started to deflate, but then it went back up again. Usually that’s a bad sign. That’s a sign of things to come. And yeah, I think we’re sitting on a very, very big bubble. . . .
It’s precarious times. Part of the reason it’s precarious is because we are being ripped so badly by other countries. We are being ripped so badly by China. It just never ends. Nobody’s ever going to stop it. And the reason they’re not going to stop it is one of two. They’re either living in a world of the make believe, or they’re totally controlled by their lobbyists and their special interests. Meaning people that want it to continue.
Whoever is picked as a vice presidential running mate should be able to work with Congress:
BW: . . . What would be the role and responsibilities of your vice president, should you be elected, should you win the nomination?
DT: Well, the number one role is to be a great president if something should happen. Okay? That’s always got to be the number one role for a vice president. After that, I would say, frankly, somebody that can help you get elected. And then thirdly, somebody that helps you with the Senate and with the House. So it would be a political person. In other words, I don’t need to have another great businessman come in . . .
BW: Somebody who knows dreaded Washington, perhaps.
DT: Somebody that can walk into the Senate and who’s been friendly with these guys for 25 years, and people for 25 years. And can get things done. So I would 95 percent see myself picking a political person as opposed to somebody from the outside.
The Trans-Pacific Partnership is a bad deal, in part because legislators did not take it seriously:
DT: . . . Part of the problem with the TPP is it’s 12 countries. Okay? And you should do individual country deals. It’s 7,000 pages long. And each one of those countries has studied this thing, photographic. We have congressmen, they don’t even read these agreements.
He will put together a bigger list of potential court nominees:
DT: . . . You’re going to have either super-liberal judges, or you’re going to have conservative judges. So important. They don’t know me well enough. Well, what kind of judges? I’m going to do something. It was my idea, and I think it was a good idea. And I spoke to Senator Sessions and I spoke to other people, and I’m getting names. The Federalist people. Some very good people. The Heritage Foundation. I’m getting names, and I’m going to submit a list of about 10 names, 10 or 12 names, as judges. I’m going to announce that these are the judges, in no particular order, that I’m going to put up. And I’m going to guarantee it. I’m going to tell people. Because people are worried that, oh, maybe he’ll put the wrong judge in.