Transcript - Interview: Jon Decker Interviews Donald Trump on the Fox News Rundown Podcast - September 10, 2020 | Factba.se

Note

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[The following transcript was provided by Fox News Radio. It was checked and confirmed for accuracy.]

Jon Decker

00:00:00 - 00:00:18 (19 sec)

[Voiceover] Just hours after learning that he had been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by a Norwegian Member of Parliament, President Trump spoke exclusively with Fox News Radio. The President gave his reaction to the high honor and explained how he's following up on his pledge to end what he calls America's endless wars.

Donald Trump

00:00:18 - 00:00:23 (5 sec)

[Interview] Well, I'm really honored by it. It's a tremendous thing, I think, for our country.

Jon Decker

00:00:23 - 00:00:31 (8 sec)

[Edit, Voiceoiver] He also expressed confidence that other Arab countries will follow the UAE's lead and establish diplomatic relations with Israel.

Donald Trump

00:00:31 - 00:00:52 (21 sec)

We're trying to help the Middle East. That is – it's a very difficult place, as you know. It's been – tremendous treasure has been spent there, but our greatest treasure of all are the lives and the lives of both sides and all sides because so many different countries have been involved there for so many years and so many, frankly, if you look for so many decades.

Donald Trump

00:00:52 - 00:01:18 (26 sec)

So it's a great honor to be nominated, and you know, has tremendous significance. And we'll have other countries joining, too. We have tremendous interest from other countries joining, but UAE's highly respected. Mohammad is a great gentleman, a great man, and again, also individually highly respected. So it was a great honor to receive the nomination.

Jon Decker

00:01:18 - 00:01:37 (19 sec)

[Interview] In 2009, many people were surprised when President Barack Obama received the Nobel Peace Prize. Even the president, President Obama, was surprised. You've been critical about that in the past. For those that are receiving this news and are similarly surprised by this nomination, what do you say to those individuals?

Donald Trump

00:01:37 - 00:01:58 (21 sec)

Well, I just think it's a great thing for our country. It shows that we're trying to make peace, not war all the time. We've had a lot of wars. We're pulling our soldiers, our great military people out of a lot of areas. We're way down in Iraq. We're way down in Afghanistan. We're working on a peace deal in Afghanistan, working directly with the Taliban, and that's going along pretty well.

Donald Trump

00:01:58 - 00:02:08 (10 sec)

And we'll probably know about that fairly soon. So we're looking to create a lot of peace around the world because the world has other problems that we have to focus on.

Jon Decker

00:02:08 - 00:02:30 (22 sec)

I want to read, if I could, Mr. President, a description of you coming from your former Defense Secretary James Mattis. Let me read this to you. "Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people. Instead, he tries to divide us." Today in the nomination letter, you were described very differently.

Jon Decker

00:02:30 - 00:02:43 (13 sec)

You were described by this Member of Parliament as someone who has created peace among nations for us more than any other recent Nobel Peace Prize nominee. How do the American people square those two descriptions of you?

Donald Trump

00:02:43 - 00:03:01 (18 sec)

Well I think sometimes you have to break up the eggs to make the omelet, and I'm not saying that he's necessarily wrong. That's a phase one. Sometimes you do have to go in and rough it up and mix it up, so to speak, and then all of a sudden you come out with something that could be very beautiful, but we never got there.

Donald Trump

00:03:01 - 00:03:18 (17 sec)

We never got – we never had the people. We never had the talent to get there and to negotiate these deals. And I will tell you that other countries from the Middle East are dying to come in. They are – they want to come in so badly. Why didn't you call us and we're going to start piecing it all together like a beautiful puzzle, and that's what it is.

Donald Trump

00:03:18 - 00:03:33 (15 sec)

It's been a very complex puzzle for a lot of people, but I understood it and I do understand it. They want peace. They've been fighting for decades and decades and they've been fighting for centuries in some cases and they would like to see peace, and it's going to happen.

Jon Decker

00:03:33 - 00:03:54 (21 sec)

Mr. President, you are drawing down the American military presence in the Middle East. You're drawing down forces in Afghanistan, in Iraq as well. What do you say to those defense hawks who say that by removing U.S. troops from those two countries, you create a power vacuum that could be filled by bad actors?

Donald Trump

00:03:54 - 00:04:28 (34 sec)

Well, we're at a stage now where we can go back very quickly. If something happens, we can be back very quickly. This is a different age militarily. We've just spent $2.5 trillion on military equipment and other things having to do with our military. Our budget has never been like this, we've never had more modern equipment and today it's equipment that's much different than it was even 10 years ago, even five years ago and we don't necessarily have to be there, and they all have an understanding and they've all been told that anything happens, we can be back so fast with a power that's far greater than we have right now.

Jon Decker

00:04:28 - 00:04:48 (21 sec)

We are 55 days today from Election Day, and this news comes out today in regards to the Nobel Peace Prize nomination. There are about anywhere from five to 10 percent of the American electorate that's undecided. They don't know at this point whether they're going to vote for you, Mr. President or for former Vice President Joe Biden.

Jon Decker

00:04:48 - 00:05:03 (15 sec)

With this news coming out about you, do you think that this may have those undecided Americans see you in a different light, perhaps as a statesman, a diplomat in terms of bringing peace in these parts of the world?

Donald Trump

00:05:03 - 00:05:21 (18 sec)

Well when I ran, everybody thought that because of a certain type of personality, we'd be in war very quickly. And look what happened. North Korea, where three and a half years, we talk, we have a relation, no war. You would have been in a war -- had Hillary Clinton got in, you would have been in war with North Korea, and it would have been a nasty war.

Donald Trump

00:05:21 - 00:05:37 (15 sec)

Millions of people potentially would have been killed in that war. So many other places, they thought we'd be at war, instead, we're making peace and we're making deals and we're making trade deals which are wonderful, and we're building up our military and we're using it for the right things and we will only use it to win.

Donald Trump

00:05:37 - 00:05:47 (10 sec)

We only use it to win, but hopefully, we don't have to use it, because I see the destructive power of what we have and you have to pray to God that we never have to use it.

Jon Decker

00:05:47 - 00:06:06 (19 sec)

Mr. President, looking ahead, if you are elected to another four-year term, your foreign policy over the next four years, taking into account this nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize, what will be your policy towards Europe, in terms of trying to mend fences with the European Union, with Iran and also with North Korea?

Donald Trump

00:06:06 - 00:06:12 (6 sec)

So it's an interesting question, it very -- could be a very long answer, but I'll make it as short as possible.

Jon Decker

00:06:12 - 00:06:12 (1 sec)

Donald Trump

00:06:12 - 00:06:35 (23 sec)

We've been taken advantage of with respect to NATO. Many of the countries, of the 28 countries, you had 20 of them are not paid and they're delinquent, frankly. They owe a lot of money. They don't pay their bills. And the United States made up the difference and we were taken advantage of. I got them to pay $130 billion more, going up to $400 billion more a year.

Donald Trump

00:06:35 - 00:06:54 (19 sec)

And Secretary General Stoltenberg is probably my biggest fan. He said I -- he never thought that could happen. But these are countries that weren't paying and now they're paying tremendous amounts and much more, it's good. So we're getting that straightened away. We are getting the trade straightened away, European Union took tremendous advantage of us.

Donald Trump

00:06:54 - 00:07:13 (19 sec)

With China, we made a deal, but I have to tell you, the ink wasn't dry before the China plague came in and when it came in I was -- I felt a lot different -- much more differently about the deal -- the deal itself. Last week they ordered the largest amount of corn in the history of our country, they ordered the largest amount of soybeans.

Donald Trump

00:07:13 - 00:07:35 (22 sec)

All of this stuff is good, but it pales in comparison to what they've done with the virus. We will be doing things in terms of trade which can make peace -- in terms of trade and in terms of other things that will bring the world together. I believe. At the same time, we had the most powerful and we will have the most powerful military by far.

Donald Trump

00:07:35 - 00:07:55 (20 sec)

You need it just in case, you never want to have to use it, but you have to have it. And frankly, it's a very good negotiating chip. We have -- and I've built -- because when I came in it was a totally depleted military, it was under siege, our people weren't treated properly, our great warriors weren't treated properly and it was very unfair to the people in the military.

Donald Trump

00:07:55 - 00:08:16 (21 sec)

So, they've given pay raises and we've bought equipment, the likes of which we've never done before to this extent. So, we took a depleted military and made it great. What we have now, much of this equipment, all made in the USA, has been delivered. We will negotiate tremendous deals with many countries and hopefully, we're going to have a very peaceful four years.

Jon Decker

00:08:16 - 00:08:22 (6 sec)

And what about those two other hotspots, Mr. President, Iran and North Korea?

Donald Trump

00:08:22 - 00:08:41 (20 sec)

Well, North Korea, I have a very good relationship with Kim Jong-Un and nothing's happened there, I think because of my relationship but nothing's happened there. And hopefully, that will continue and we'll see what it all leads to, but the relationship has been very strong. As you know, we had meetings and nobody else met.

Donald Trump

00:08:41 - 00:09:02 (20 sec)

And we had meetings and they were very productive meetings. And remember, nothing's happened, we haven't done anything, sanctions are on, everything is just as it was. There's been no war. President Obama thought there was going to be a war, Hillary Clinton would have started the war and it would have been a long, it would've been millions of people, it would have been a very difficult one.

Donald Trump

00:09:02 - 00:09:21 (20 sec)

As far as Iran is concerned, if I win the election, I believe they will be in to see me within virtually minutes after the election. They'd love to have Joe Biden because he is weak, he's a terrible negotiator. They already made this horrible deal that I terminated, the deal that Biden and Obama made was a horrible deal.

Donald Trump

00:09:21 - 00:09:49 (28 sec)

He gave $150 billion, they tried to buy peace by giving $150 billion, but it was a short-term deal, it meant nothing and they gave $1.8 billion in cash. Anyway, I believe that Iran is desperate to make a deal. Their GDP is down 24 percent, which nobody even heard of a number like that. And as soon as they find out the results of the election, they will be calling me, hopefully, they'll be calling me, because if they call Biden, they're going to end up owning our country.

Donald Trump

00:09:49 - 00:10:11 (22 sec)

They and China will end up -- I can say this with certainty, if Biden should win this election, China will end up owning the United States, owning it. And I have no doubt about it. I'll say one other thing, if that ever happened, you will have a stock market crash the likes of which you've never seen before.

Donald Trump

00:10:11 - 00:10:26 (14 sec)

He's going to raise taxes, he's going to put regulations back on, even bigger than we had before. It will be a crash the likes of which you've never seen before. People's 401(k)s and stocks will be -- I can't say worthless, but pretty close.

Jon Decker

00:10:26 - 00:10:29 (3 sec)

Thank you, Mr. President, appreciate the time.

Donald Trump

00:10:29 - 00:10:30 (1 sec)

Thank you very much. Thank you.