In his first major interview since winning the presidential elections on November 5, Donald Trump has somewhat lowered the tone of some of the most radical proposals with which he campaigned. He maintains his promise to deport undocumented immigrants, but assures that initially he will focus on “the criminals” and then with the rest he will see “how it goes,” opening the door to a pact so that the so-called dreamers (who arrived as minor children of immigrants and have made their lives in the country) stay in the United States. He also assures that he will not promote a judicial persecution against his political rivals and that he will not appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the current president, Joe Biden, and his family. He does reiterate that there will be pardons on his first day in office for those convicted of the assault on the Capitol and also that he will impose tariffs, although he now admits that he cannot guarantee that this will not affect the pockets of Americans.
Trump’s rhetoric has been so extreme during the campaign that even a tone down is far from moderation. But in the interview broadcast this Sunday on the program Meet the Press NBC shows signs of less radical positions on some issues. He rules out dismissing Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell – as he had hinted he would do, although he has no legal power to do so – or restricting access to abortion pills. But it is in immigration and in the supposed fight against what during the campaign he called “the internal enemy” where his position has become more nuanced.
Trump does not renounce mass deportations, but emphasizes that the first to be expelled will be convicted criminals. Asked if the goals would go beyond that group, Trump answers: “Well, I think it has to be done, and it’s difficult… it’s a very difficult thing to do. But you have to have rules, regulations and laws. “They entered illegally.”
The deportations will not end there, despite the logistical difficulties, but their message is less clear about whether they would reach all undocumented immigrants. “We are going to start with the criminals, and we have to do it. And then we’re going to start with the others, and we’re going to see how it goes,” he says in the interview.
Asked about families with mixed immigration status, where some are in the United States legally and others illegally, Trump replied: “I don’t want to be breaking up families, so the only way to not break up the family is to keep them together and you have to send them all back. lap”. But there is also an exception: dreamerswho came to the United States as minors as children of undocumented immigrants, but who have made their lives in the country, have studied or have jobs or businesses. “I will work with Democrats on a plan,” Trump maintains. “Republicans are very open to dreamers. They were brought to this country many years ago. Some of them are no longer young. And in many cases, they have become successful. They have great jobs. In some cases they have small businesses. In some cases they have big businesses. And we are going to have to do something with them,” says the president in the interview.
Political revenge
Regarding political revenge, Trump has also lowered the message somewhat. “I’m not looking to go back to the past. I seek the success of our country. “The revenge will be through success,” he says, ruling out proposing that a special prosecutor investigate Joe Biden, although ultimately leaving the decision to the attorney general. And asked if Kash Patel, whom he has proposed to head the FBI, will investigate political adversaries, he answers: “No, I don’t think so,” but without completely ruling it out. “If they were corrupt, if they did something wrong, if they broke the law, probably. They came for me. They came after me and I didn’t do anything wrong,” he adds.
The president-elect promises that his inauguration speech, on January 20, will be a call for “unity”, but he still does not admit his defeat in the 2020 elections. Asked how it is explained that the Democrats stole those elections, but not this year’s, despite the fact that they now control the White House, Trump answers: “Because I think [la victoria] It was too big to rig.”
The Republican describes the members of the House committee that investigated the assault on the Capitol as “political thugs” and “creeps.” “For what they did, honestly, they should go to jail,” he says in the interview. But when the journalist asked him if he would order the Department of Justice and the FBI to pursue them, he distanced himself: “No, not at all. I think they’ll have to study it, but I’m going to focus on drilling, baby, drill”, its tagline to refer to policies with which to produce more oil and gas. At the same time, and after criticizing Biden for breaking his word and pardoning his son Hunter Biden, he affirms that if the current president wants, he could pardon the members of that committee, “and maybe he should.”
The president-elect also takes stock of the elections. “I won in two things. “I won on the border and I won on food,” Trump says at one point in the interview, attributing his victory to immigration and inflation, the two issues on which the Republican knew how to capitalize on the discontent of the working class. To this the president-elect adds his own popularity: “Now people like me, you know? It’s different than the first time. When I won the first time, I wasn’t nearly as popular as I am now. And one very important thing, in electoral terms, is that I love having won the popular vote, and by a lot.”
In the interview, Trump insists on his faith in the benefits of a protectionist trade policy. “I believe a lot in tariffs. I think tariffs are the most beautiful word. I think they are beautiful. “They will make us rich,” he maintains. He disagrees with those who say that the tariffs he threatens to impose on imports will cause inflation. He gives his previous mandate as an example, but in it the tariffs were much lower than those he now advocates and the pandemic caused deflationary pressures. Asked if he can guarantee that it will not affect the pockets of Americans, he answers: “I can’t guarantee anything. “I can’t guarantee tomorrow.”
And also in this matter he qualifies his message somewhat, by saying that he will not impose tariffs “like crazy.” “Tariffs serve many purposes, if used properly. I’m not saying to use them like crazy. I say that they be used appropriately,” he says. “Tariffs are a very powerful tool, not only from an economic point of view, but also to achieve other things outside the economy,” he adds.
Support for your candidate to the Pentagon
Trump also makes clear in the interview that, at least for now, he maintains support for his nominee for Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth. “Pete seems to be doing well now. I mean, people were a little worried. He’s a young guy, with a tremendous track record actually. He went to Princeton and Harvard. He was a good student in both. But he loves the military and I think people are starting to see that, so we will work on his nomination along with many others.”
“He is a very intelligent guy. I know him through Fox, but I’ve known him for a long time. And he is basically a military man. Every time I talk to him, he only wants to talk about the army. “He is a military type,” he argues. And when they raise the risk that his appointment will not be confirmed by the Senate, he assures: “Many senators call me saying that it is fantastic.”
The interview was recorded on Friday, therefore, before his meeting with the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, in Paris and the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria. In it, he says that Ukraine “probably” should prepare to receive less aid from the United States when he is president. This Sunday, after the fall of Assad and his meeting with the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, and that of France, Emmanuel Macron, in Paris, he called for an “immediate ceasefire” in said war. In the interview he conditions, as on previous occasions, his willingness to comply with the United States’ commitments to NATO: “If they pay their bills and I believe they treat us fairly, the answer absolutely is that I would stay in NATO.”
