Transcript - Interview: Donald Trump Is Interviewed by Chris Plante of WMAL - October 17, 2017 | Factba.se

Chris Plante

00:00:00 - 00:00:21 (22 sec)

The president is now headed over in our direction from, from across the room, or being vectored over here, so we're standing by for the arrival of the president, who will hopefully join us and sit down in just a couple of minutes for, for a quick interview on the, the news of the day, and first, of course, he wants to talk about taxes. Mr. President.

Donald Trump

00:00:21 - 00:00:22 (1 sec)

Nice to see you.

Chris Plante

00:00:22 - 00:00:32 (9 sec)

How are you, sir? Very nice to see you. You know, I sat two tables from you on Saturday night at the Trump Hotel -- we happened to be having dinner at the Trump --

Donald Trump

00:00:32 - 00:00:33 (1 sec)

Oh, I said hello, huh?

Chris Plante

00:00:33 - 00:00:47 (14 sec)

You, well, you know what, I talked about it the next day on the radio and what you were doing was the right thing. You were talking to the staff. You were, you were saying hello to the people with the white jackets with the chokers and so on. You were thinking all of the right people is what you were doing.

Donald Trump

00:00:47 - 00:00:49 (1 sec)

Good. Absolutely.

Chris Plante

00:00:49 - 00:01:09 (20 sec)

So thank you for for being with us today. I appreciate it very much. And I know that you're, you're talking about taxes today and I've just been speaking to some of your, some of your staff, some of your people about all of that. Now, what's the one thing, the key thing that, that the American people and your voters need to know about about tax reform?

Donald Trump

00:01:09 - 00:01:26 (18 sec)

Well, we’re the highest-taxed nation in the world. Our companies are leaving, although I've stopped the flow to a large extent, but our companies are leaving because our taxes are so high. So they're going to other countries where they pay much lower taxes, they're firing our workers, everybody's fired, they open up and then they build product and they sell it right back into our country.

Donald Trump

00:01:26 - 00:01:35 (9 sec)

So we're the highest-taxed nation in the world. We’ll be one of the lower-taxed nations in the world -- not the lowest, but one of the lowest. We’ll be highly competitive.

Donald Trump

00:01:35 - 00:01:57 (21 sec)

You look at China, they're at 15%, we're at 35%. You look at other countries like Ireland and many other countries are, I mean, they're 8% and 10% and 12%, so we're going from 35 all the way down to 20, which will have a massive impact and keep companies here. I mean, it's going to keep companies here and companies are going to move back to the United States.

Chris Plante

00:01:57 - 00:01:57 (0 sec)

Donald Trump

00:01:57 - 00:02:04 (7 sec)

And what it really means is jobs, because those companies are gonna need people to work, and it's going to be jobs. It's going to be great jobs and great wages.

Chris Plante

00:02:04 - 00:02:16 (12 sec)

Well, and, and all the predictions from the Obama administration people were that you could never get the 3% economic growth, and it took you to the second quarter, and you didn't even own the first quarter. It's the second quarter -- boom we’re at 3%.

Donald Trump

00:02:16 - 00:02:42 (26 sec)

Three point two. And this one would have been even better other than we’ll be affected somewhat by the hurricanes. The hurricanes were so massive that we'll have some kind of an impact by the hurricanes, but we're doing even better than we did then. So you're right, they hadn't hit, as you know, for a full year they never hit 3%, the weakest, the weakest recovery ever by far, and we've already hit 3.2%. And we're doing good, but the tax cuts really make us something special.

Donald Trump

00:02:42 - 00:02:54 (12 sec)

You know, every point in GDP, there's $2.5 trillion and millions of jobs, but think of it, 2 1/2 trillion. So 1 point pays for everything, and I think we're gonna have numerous points not just one point.

Chris Plante

00:02:54 - 00:03:11 (16 sec)

Well, and there are so many things going on and the world is such a wacky place these days. If I could, I was reading this morning and yesterday that ISIS was being crushed. They're on the run, they're losing their last strongholds. Even in Syria and in Iraq, crushed.

Chris Plante

00:03:11 - 00:03:23 (12 sec)

What is going on with that, surrendering by the thousands we're hearing, giving up, running away. Paradise is no longer there. Was that about a change of rules of engagement, was that about Secretary Mattis, what’s --

Donald Trump

00:03:23 - 00:03:52 (29 sec)

It had to do with the people I put in and it had to do with rules of engagement. We weren't fighting to win, we were fighting to be politically correct. It had to do with a whole set of things that I did. I also gave the power to the people on the ground. The White House used to get calls, ‘Can we do this? Can we do that?’ to places and in places that they've never even heard of, and by the time they get back a week and two and three weeks later, there was no fight left, OK? It was ridiculous, so I totally changed rules of engagement.

Donald Trump

00:03:52 - 00:04:09 (16 sec)

I totally changed our military. I totally changed the attitudes of the military, and they have done a fantastic job. Yea, ISIS is now giving up, they're giving up, they're raising their hands, they're walking off. Nobody's ever seen that before, and that's good.

Chris Plante

00:04:09 - 00:04:11 (2 sec)

Why didn’t that happen before?

Donald Trump

00:04:11 - 00:04:23 (13 sec)

Because you didn't have Trump as your president. I mean, it was, It was a big difference. I mean, there's a big, big difference if you look at the military now -- and you look at what's going on in Afghanistan. Afghanistan is a breeding ground for terrorists.

Donald Trump

00:04:23 - 00:04:27 (4 sec)

That's why I had to stay in. I would have loved to have gone out, but I had to stay in.

Chris Plante

00:04:27 - 00:04:28 (0 sec)

Donald Trump

00:04:28 - 00:04:45 (18 sec)

But you see what's going on with Afghanistan, we're making more headway in the last, I changed rules of engagement about a month ago and we're fighting now to win as opposed to fighting to just stay there, and, and you know, we were losing, now we're winning. So you know, a lot of good things. We have to get rid of the terrorists.

Chris Plante

00:04:45 - 00:04:50 (5 sec)

Yeah, I think almost almost everyone would agree with that anyway. Now --

Donald Trump

00:04:50 - 00:04:51 (1 sec)

Probably not everybody.

Chris Plante

00:04:51 - 00:05:07 (16 sec)

Probably not everybody. I remember when you when you were president-elect and you came to the White House and President Obama hosted you, and it was supposed to be a 15-minute meeting, they said. It and it went on for considerably longer, and you said that President Obama was very gracious and I have no doubt that he was -- [Crosstalk]

Donald Trump

00:05:07 - 00:05:08 (1 sec)

Chris Plante

00:05:08 - 00:05:32 (24 sec)

-- and all of that. Now, General Kelly, your chief of staff, said at the podium the other day, that, he said, you know, he didn't want to hurt anybody's feelings, but he said really they were left -- you, I'm sorry -- were left a lot of messes, a lot of t

Chris Plante

00:05:32 - 00:05:39 (7 sec)

What, what kind of messes were, did you find on your plate that took you by surprise when you got here?

Donald Trump

00:05:39 - 00:06:23 (45 sec)

So I was left with a big, fat mess, the Middle East, North Korea, so many different problems, so many bad relationships with other countries, an economy that was not doing well, an economy that had the lowest, you know, it was the lowest improvement that anyone's ever seen outside of some very bad times, and we were not doing well, people were leaving, jobs were leaving, and we've turned it around. I've turned much of it around. Now, North Korea continues to be a big problem and we will handle it. The Middle East is something, it’s too bad we ever went there in the first place I wish that they decided not to go.

Donald Trump

00:06:23 - 00:06:53 (29 sec)

I wish President Obama didn't get out the way he got out because that's, you know, left the vacuum and ISIS was formed, but we have done some job in the Middle East and we've done a great job with ISIS in terms of getting rid of vast numbers. We've done more in terms of ISIS, doing what we have to do -- doesn't sound very pleasant, but doing what we have to do. We've done more in nine months, than the previous administration has done literally during the entire eight-year period.

Chris Plante

00:06:53 - 00:06:59 (6 sec)

What surprised you the most and in terms of big messes left on your plate when you got here that just sort of knocked you back?

Donald Trump

00:06:59 - 00:07:22 (23 sec)

Well, I think I've been surprised by a lot of things, and when you say surprised, I know the level of viciousness in the world, I know the level of hate in the world, I know the level of -- actually, dishonesty in the media is one of the things that surprised me the most. I thought after I won the media would become much more stable and much more honest. They've gone crazy. CNN is a joke.

Donald Trump

00:07:22 - 00:07:41 (19 sec)

NBC is a total joke. You watch what they report, it bears no relationship to what I'm doing. But the media is absolutely dishonest and I have never seen, frankly, I've never seen anything quite like it. But the New York Times, The Washington Post, they write whatever they want to write.

Donald Trump

00:07:41 - 00:07:59 (18 sec)

You know, they have an agenda. We'll have to figure out what their agenda is, but they do have an agenda. I think that's one of the biggest surprises, is a level of dishonesty. Interestingly, after I won, I said, ‘Well now I'll bet the media starts to shape up, and, you know, it's over, so now …’ and it actually has gotten worse than during the campaign.

Donald Trump

00:07:59 - 00:08:11 (12 sec)

What what impresses me most is that the people, the voters, they get it. They get it and they, I think we're higher now than we've ever been. I think people are loving the job I'm doing. Yesterday you saw what we did with Iran.

Chris Plante

00:08:11 - 00:08:11 (1 sec)

Donald Trump

00:08:11 - 00:08:21 (9 sec)

And you saw what we did with the CSR payments, which were going right into the pockets of the insurance companies, and now we're going to be able to do something very good, so we're doing a good job.

Chris Plante

00:08:21 - 00:08:24 (3 sec)

You think it would be in good shape by the midterms?

Donald Trump

00:08:24 - 00:08:35 (11 sec)

I think so. I think we'll have a lot done. We need some votes from some of the Republicans that, for some reason, they weren't there on health care. They should have been, we thought we had it, but John McCain voted no, which was a shocker.

Chris Plante

00:08:35 - 00:08:37 (2 sec)

Was taking shots at you again yesterday.

Donald Trump

00:08:37 - 00:08:39 (2 sec)

Well, we're, it's a shocker and, you know.

Chris Plante

00:08:39 - 00:08:43 (3 sec)

You heard what he said yesterday, Senator McCain.

Donald Trump

00:08:43 - 00:08:48 (5 sec)

Yea, well I’II hear it and people have to be careful because at some point I fight back.

Chris Plante

00:08:48 - 00:08:48 (0 sec)

Donald Trump

00:08:48 - 00:08:55 (6 sec)

You know, I'm being very nice, I'm being very, very nice, but at some point I fight back and it won't be pretty.

Chris Plante

00:08:55 - 00:08:59 (4 sec)

All right. Mr. President, thank you very much. Getting the wave off over here from your good people.

Chris Plante

00:08:59 - 00:09:01 (2 sec)

I appreciate your time. [Crosstalk]

Donald Trump

00:09:01 - 00:09:08 (7 sec)

Thank you for everything. We really do appreciate you very much. You take care of yourself.

Chris Plante

00:09:08 - 00:09:23 (16 sec)

Thank you very much, sir. Thanks for being here, Mr. President. President of the States, Donald Trump, here, at the here at the White House, and [Inaudible] stand by, and perhaps we could take a minute here.

Unidentified

00:09:23 - 00:09:27 (4 sec)

This is the Chris Plante Show.