You, Mr. President, we so appreciate you giving us an hour of your time. I want to start by addressing the elephant in the room, sir. A lot of people did not think it was appropriate for you to be here today. You have pushed false claims about some of your rivals, from Nikki Haley to former President Barack Obama, saying that they were not born in the United States, which is not true. You have told four Congresswomen of color who were American citizens to go back to where they came from. You have used words like “animal” and “rabbit” to describe Black district attorneys. You’ve attacked Black journalists, calling them a loser, saying the questions they ask are, quote, “stupid and racist.” You’ve had dinner with a white supremacist at your Mar-a-Lago Resort. So my question, sir, now that you are asking Black supporters to vote for you, why should Black voters trust you after you have used language like that?
Well, first of all, I don’t think I’ve ever been asked a question in such a horrible manner. First question: You don’t even say hello, how are you? Are you with ABC? Because I think they’re a fake news network, a terrible network, and I think it’s disgraceful that I came here in good spirit. I love the Black population of this country. I’ve done so much for the Black population of this country, including employment and opportunity zones with Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina, which is one of the greatest programs ever for Black workers and Black entrepreneurs. I’ve done so much, and I say this: Historically Black colleges and universities were out of money; they were stone-cold broke, and I saved them. I gave them long-term financing, and nobody else was doing it. I think it’s a very rude introduction. I don’t know exactly why you would do something like that. And let me go a step further. I was invited here and I was told my opponent, whether it was Biden or Kamala, I was told my opponent was going to be here. It turned out my opponent isn’t here. You invited me under false pretenses, and then you said you can’t do it with Zoom. Well, you know, where’s Zoom? She’s going to do it with Zoom, and she’s not coming. And then we’re half an hour late. Just so we understand, I have too much respect for you to be late. They couldn’t get their equipment working or something.
Mr. President, I would love to continue.
I have answered the question. I have been the best president for the Black population since Abraham Lincoln. That’s my answer. Better than President Johnson, who signed the Voting Rights Act. For you to start off a question and answer period, especially when you’re 35 minutes late because you couldn’t get your equipment to work, in such a hostile manner, I think it’s a disgrace.
Let me just ask a follow-up, sir, and then we’ll move on to other questions. Some of your own supporters, including Republicans on Capitol Hill, have labeled Vice President Kamala Harris, who is the first Black and Asian-American woman to serve as vice president and be on a major party ticket, as a DEI hire. Is that acceptable language to you, and will you tell those Republicans and those supporters to stop it?
How do you define DEI?
Go ahead. How do you define diversity, equity, and inclusion?
Okay, yeah, go ahead. Is that what your definition is? Give me that. Is that that? Give me a definition, then. Would you give me a definition of that?
Sir, I’m asking you a question. Very define it for me if you want. I just defined it, sir. Do you believe that Vice President Kamala Harris is only on the ticket because she is a Black woman?
Well, I can say no. I think it’s maybe a little bit different. So I’ve known her a long time, indirectly, not directly very much, and she was always of Indian heritage and she was only promoting Indian heritage. I didn’t know she was Black until a number of years ago when she happened to turn Black and now she wants to be known as Black. So I don’t know, is she Indian or is she Black? She has always identified as a Black woman. I respect either one, but she obviously doesn’t because she was Indian all the way, and then all of a sudden she made a turn and she went, she became a Black person. Just to be clear, sir, do you believe…
I think somebody should look into that too. When you ask a question in a very hostile, nasty tone, it’s a direct question, sir. Do you believe that Vice President Kamala Harris is a DEI hire, as some suggest?
No, I mean, I really don’t know. Could be, could be. There are some, and there are plenty. I know this lady right over there. Harris is a fantastic person who just interviewed me at length, and we had a great interview. I think, and I heard you got very good ratings on that. Well, you told me it was the longest one of your life, so we had a good discussion.
Look, I want to talk about why you’re here today. I mean, it is not lost on us how divided we are as a country. And as you were coming today, we really got to see that we are divided along the lines of race, along the lines of gender. And there is this question of, in this moment where we are, why come here? What is your message today?
My message is to stop people from invading our country that are taking, frankly, a lot of problems with it. But one of the big problems, and a lot of the journalists in this room, I know, and I have great respect for a lot of the journalists in this room, are Black. I will tell you that coming from the border are millions and millions of people that happen to be taking Black jobs.
What exactly is a Black job, sir?
A Black job is anybody that has a job. That’s what it is. Anybody that has a job. All right, and they’re taking, they’re taking the employment away from Black people. They’re coming in, and they’re coming in, they’re invading. It’s an invasion of millions of people, probably 15, 16, 17 million people. I have a feeling it’s much more than that. And everybody’s been seeing what’s happened. The first group of people, the Black population, is affected most by that. And Kamala is allowing it to happen. She’s the border czar; she’s the worst border czar in the history of the world. There’s never even been, she said she was there once, but not the right part of the border. So she was a border czar. She’s done a horrible job. These people are coming into our country, and they’re taking Black jobs and Hispanic jobs, and frankly, they’re taking union jobs. Unions are being very badly affected by all of the millions of people that are pouring into our country. And one thing, as we discussed, many of these people are coming in from mental institutions, from prisons, from jails. They’re gang members in other countries. Other countries are setting loose their prisoners; they’re opening up their prisons and their mental institutions, and they’re taking their bad people—drug dealers, gang members—and they’re bringing them into the United States. And by the way, their crime rate is going down, and our crime rate is going to be a disaster.
Mr. President, I want to get into how you address some of the issues with Black communities, and I say that plural because we live in communities of color that are different. We’re not all the same; we don’t vote the same; we don’t think the same. It’s not monolithic.
So as you come here today, I want to talk about something that burdens us, and this is the weight of inflation on this country right now. The nonprofit Money Management International recently released data from its midyear analysis that has found a 52% rise in people who are seeking counseling for being in credit debt. They’re paying for food that is sky-high on their credit cards, and now they can’t pay that off. The credit counseling nonprofit MMI, as I said, is saying now that they’ve seen surges that they haven’t seen since we were in a pandemic of people in financial trouble. Much of that falls on the shoulders of single moms, single Black moms. When you look statistically, how do you turn it around? What’s your plan for the Black community when it comes to money?
So first of all, it’s very hard to hear you for whatever reason because of the fact that they have bad equipment. Because, I guess, you know, this woman was unable to get the right equipment, but it’s very hard for me to hear you. But I can hear every other word. It’s very difficult, actually. But so I don’t know if they can fix it or do something with it, but I’ll do the best I can with it. The inflation is absolutely destroying our middle class, our working class, virtually every class. Inflation is a disaster in our country. Inflation is a country buster; it breaks every country. We had, in my opinion, the worst inflation we’ve had. They say it’s 58 years, but I think it’s much more than that. It’s been devastating. And if you just take a look at a lot of things they don’t include, like interest rates. Interest rates went from 2.4% to 10%, and you can’t get the money. People can’t buy houses; they no longer have the American dream. Young people, young Black people, they don’t have the American dream anymore. They can’t buy a house; they can’t borrow the money because of the
high interest rates. They don’t have jobs anymore because of the high interest rates. I know Black people that have tremendous education and very bright people, but they can’t get jobs because businesses are going out of business. And businesses are going out of business because of the high energy costs and the high interest rates. The interest rates were a disaster under the Biden administration. They really hurt a lot of people. And we have to get back to a situation where we’re very strong on energy because we had low energy prices, which was a big factor in getting this country strong again, and inflation will come down. But the inflation right now is a disaster. It’s very, very difficult, and I see what’s happening in the communities, especially in Black communities. I see it in every community, but it’s especially devastating when you have a single mother raising children. It’s terrible what’s happening to these people. And, again, it’s all based on energy; it’s based on interest rates. Interest rates are very high, and a lot of people can’t get the money for homes, for cars, for anything. And it’s all related to that.
Sir, you’ve mentioned inflation and how it’s hurting families, and certainly it is. I want to shift to the discussion of criminal justice reform, and I want to start with a recent case that’s in the news. An unarmed Black woman was shot by a deputy sheriff in a recent incident. Should officers involved in such incidents receive immunity?
Well, first of all, I’d have to see the details of that case. You have to look at each case very carefully. If it’s an act that’s not correct, if it’s an act that’s horrible, you have to take that into account. But I’ve always said that I believe in supporting law enforcement, but I believe in holding them accountable. I believe they have to be held accountable, and that’s my stance on it. I’d have to see the individual case. I haven’t seen that specific case.
Let me ask you, then. You’ve made some criticisms of prosecutors. Do you feel that your skepticism should apply to law enforcement as well?
I think it’s a little bit different. My criticism has been on political prosecutions. Political prosecutions are a disaster, and the radical left is using them to their advantage. I think the criticism should be of the political prosecutions, not necessarily the local prosecutors.
You mentioned local prosecutors. I want to shift to the question of your running mate, Senator JD Vance. He has made controversial remarks about people who are childless, saying that they are self-indulgent and that their decisions are a reason for the decline in moral standards. Did you know about his views on this before selecting him, and do you agree with his remarks?
JD Vance has been a good partner, but those are his personal views. He is an advocate of family values. I think he focuses on the importance of family, but his remarks should not be taken as a blanket judgment on people without families. His focus is on promoting family values and showing the importance of family, not on disparaging people who don’t have families.
There has been criticism that the Republican Party may come off as too judgmental about people’s personal choices, including in matters of family and identity. Do you believe this is a concern?
I think the Democrats are far more radical. They’re allowing late-term abortions, which is much more extreme. The Republican stance is more moderate. It’s about letting states make decisions rather than imposing federal mandates. The Democrats have gone very far to the extreme on issues like abortion and other social policies.
Mr. President, as someone who has been very open about your age, if you win the election, would you consider stepping down if your health were to decline?
Absolutely. If I felt unfit to continue, I would step down. I also believe in having cognitive tests for all presidential candidates. I have taken cognitive tests myself, and I would support the idea of having all candidates undergo cognitive assessments to ensure they are fit for office.
Finally, I want to touch on January 6. You’ve often positioned yourself as a candidate of law and order, yet there were severe injuries to officers during that day’s events. Do those who participated in the assault on officers deserve to be pardoned?
I believe it’s important to address all forms of violence and to have a consistent approach to all incidents. Recent attacks on monuments and protests have also been problematic. If individuals are innocent, they should be considered for pardons, but those involved in January 6 should be reviewed carefully.
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