[Scott Jennings interviewed Donald Trump on September 2, 2025 in the morning and aired part of the interview at 2 p.m. Eastern the same day and the remainder was aired on September 3, 2025. The interview was edited in pieces throughout the show. To provide continuity, the following is a transcript of the show, as context would be lost in the interview without in intros and outros. Audio courtesy and copyright The Scott Jennings Show. Source: http://cqrc.al/scott-jennings-show-20250902]
Tuesday, September the 2nd, greetings from our nation's capital, a beautiful day in Washington D.C. And this is a special edition of the Scott Jennings Show.
[Begin audio clip]
You think Biden would have done this phone call? I don't think so. I don't think so.
[End audio clip]
This morning, I spoke to President Donald J. Trump at length on the phone and boy, did he have a lot on his mind. The president is alive and well today, much to the chagrin of the liberal conspiracy theorists out there. Oh, he was in rare form today, folks, and we're going to bring it to you this afternoon on the Scott Jennings Show.
By the way, you can always stream this show here on X, YouTube and Facebook. You can go to ScottJenningsShow.com. You can pick up the podcast on Apple and Spotify. And you can always find it at 2:00 eastern and other times across the Salem Radio Network. Now, let's get to the news, my conversation with President Trump today.
First of all, we're grateful to the president and the White House staff for making Mr. Trump available to the Scott Jennings Show. The president had a lot on his mind this morning, Chicago, Washington D.C., the issue of crime. We talked about Russia, immigration and some politics, but we start with tariffs.
Last week, a Federal Trade Court of appeals ruled that most of the president's tariff policy is unconstitutional, the tariffs that he announced on Liberation Day back in April, but, but the court left them in place while the administration appeals its ruling to the Supreme Court. The president told me, he will appeal and he's quite concerned about what the future holds if for some reason the Supreme Court rules against him.
Here's the president.
[Begin interview clip]
It's an economic emergency. And if I don't do it and if we don't get it -- if we don't win that -- if we don't win that decision, you'll see a reverberation like maybe you've never seen before. That's how bad it will be. We are so strong now and we are so respected. And this decision is the only thing -- the stock market is down today because of the possibility that that's going to happen.
If we win this, the stock market's going to go right through the roof because we'll find -- this has been hanging over us for a year, literally, this decision. Even before because we knew it was filed. And you know who files it, foreign companies are filing it.
Yeah, right. Right.
Foreign companies. They're not American companies, they're foreign companies because they want to take away, you know, what we have. Because we were a lapdog for the whole world and foreign interests are against -- foreign interests are involved with this lawsuit. They're the ones. Good, American companies, they're pouring into our country.
You know, Scott, I don't know if you've seen, we have more investment, close to $17 trillion of investment coming into our country. We never had anything -- we never had one tenth of that.
Mr. President, the --
And now it's all coming in. And this decision is an overhang. Let me tell you something, until this decision -- it's an emergency. We're going in as an emergency. We'll be probably doing it tomorrow for an emergency meeting because this decision -- you see the stock market. This decision is an emergency.
Without tariffs, we have an entirely different country. We'll be an entirely different country. And on top of it, they'll have their tariffs and they'll be able to use them and we won't.
[End interview clip]
More on the president's views on the use of tariffs as both an economic and diplomatic tool at 33 minutes past the hour. Also, on the president's mind today, crime and what he's done in Washington D.C., and what he may do in Chicago this week. First of all, the president could not be more pleased with his crime crackdown in Washington.
[Begin interview clip]
I'll tell you what, D.C. is now a no -- it's a free crime city. We have no crime in D.C. It's cleaned up. It's in great shape. You can go out to dinner. The restaurants -- it took me 12 days, OK? We have tough people in the military and you need tough people to deal with Tren de Aragua and all these criminals that are in our country, let in our country by Biden.
You know, many of these are people that came in through the big wave, the big wave, the big, ugly wave that was -- that was allowed to come in by this incompetent president. But think of it, D.C. was a place -- was very unsafe. You know it well. You can walk down now, Scott -- you can walk down the street, go to lunch, have lunch, walk to the White House.
You're not going to -- nobody's going to touch you. We have a -- it's a crime-free zone. We have -- it's called a crime-free zone. We don't have crime. 12 days, it took me.
Yeah.
And [Inaudible] --
Yeah. I walked -- I walked my family around town all weekend, and the National Guard, they were being greeted by people. They were posing for pictures. People couldn't be nicer to the National Guard. They were happy to see them.
And they walk into gangs of Tren de Aragua, MS-13 and they fight them. They don't give a shit. They fight them. They don't use a lot of words actually. They like fighting. But they fight them and they knock the shit out of them and they take them out. And these are -- these are criminals. These are really bad -- these are really bad criminals.
These people are born to be criminals. You know, like you're born a good -- you're born a good putter, OK? These people are born to be criminals.
[End interview clip]
The latest stats on D.C., 200 arrests this Labor Day weekend, 1,669 overall since the president dispatched the feds and the troops. 168 illegal guns taken off the streets. I did walk around town this weekend with my family, and folks, don't believe the fear mongering. What the president is doing is working, and I'd like to thank the National Guardsmen who were patrolling D.C. this weekend.
We saw many fine soldiers watching over the streets. As for Chicago, I asked the president, point blank, does he plan to surge federal resources into the city where murder and mayhem are routine. And later in the show, we'll play his answer, plus what he had to say about the Democratic leadership of Illinois.
You're listening to a special edition of The Scott Jennings Show, as we run through our expansive conversation with President Trump.
[Commercial break]
The president himself was thinking about the country's 250th anniversary this morning, plus some other major events that he was able to secure for the United States that will take place before his second term ends. Here's what the president had to say about that.
[Begin interview clip]
It's a much more powerful term than my second term would have been. I think you understand that, Scott.
Yes, sir.
We've spoken about it. It's a much, much more powerful term, plus I got a few bonuses. I got the Olympics and I got the World Cup to come here. And I said -- when I did it my first term, I said, boy, it's a shame I got them, but it's going to be in eight years, I won't be president. And now I turned out to be president during these two biggest events, and 250 is going to be a great event.
[End interview clip]
More on my conversation with President Trump throughout today's show.
[Commercial break]
You are listening to The Scott Jennings Show on the Salem Radio Network. This is a very special edition of the radio show today. I had a tremendous conversation with President Trump this morning. We covered the waterfront. And when we come back from our short break, I talked to the president about his efforts to stop the Russia, Ukraine war.
I asked the president, point blank, whether Vladimir Putin had betrayed his trust following the meeting in Alaska and the conversations that were then held with the Europeans there in the White House. We're going to do that next. Later in the show, we'll get more of the president's thoughts on tariffs and what he plans to do in Chicago later this week.
You're listening to a special edition of The Scott Jennings Show here on the Salem Radio Network.
[Commercial break]
Coming out of the Labor Day weekend to a special edition of the Scott Jennings Show here on the Salem Radio Network, a very special edition because this morning, I had a chance to talk to President Trump on the telephone for quite a long time. We covered a lot of topics and one of the big topics going on in the world, a discussion about the president's diplomatic efforts to end the war in Ukraine.
First -- first, let's hear from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who said this last night on Fox News.
[Begin audio clip]
[Audio clip] When the European leaders and President Zelenskyy were at the White House the following Monday, has done the opposite of following through on what he indicated he wanted to do. As a matter of fact, he has in a despicable, despicable manner, increased the bombing campaign. So I think with President Trump all options are on the table and I think we'll be examining those very closely this week.
[End audio clip]
I followed up on that comment from Bessent today in my exclusive conversation with President Trump.
[Begin interview clip]
Thank you, Mr. President, and it's an honor to have you on the Scott Jennings Show. Congratulations on a first a few months of your administration. I think for most of your supporters, beyond their wildest dreams what you've been able to accomplish. I do want to start with foreign affairs today, specifically with Russia and Ukraine.
Last night, Secretary Bessent said that Vladimir Putin has not followed through on what he said he would do. Following your meetings, he called the increased Russian bombings despicable. I want to ask you, are you personally disappointed in Putin and has he betrayed you following your conversations in Alaska and beyond?
I'm very disappointed in him. He and I always had a great relationship. I'm very disappointed. Thousands of people are dying. They're not Americans that are dying, but they're Russians and they're Ukrainians and there's thousands and it's a war that makes no sense, and it would have never started if I were president.
And that's what bothers me even more because the election was totally rigged. And it's a shame. Although I must tell you, we've done more in this -- in this term than I probably could have ever done in the second term, through various reasons. So I don't know, maybe some things are good, but we're also trying to cover up and end some of the horrible policies like open borders, where as you know, millions and millions of people came into our country and many of them shouldn't be here.
And you know that's going to be a long-term project. We're doing very well with it. We're getting a lot of them out, but it's a tough project. They gave us a very, very tough hand. But it's working and we're doing really well, and the country is doing really well. We're the most talked about country in the world.
We're respected again. We were laughed at. A year ago, we were laughed at. Now we're the hottest country in the world. So we'll -- we'll see what happens, but I'm very disappointed in President Putin. I can say that. And we'll be doing something to help people live. You know, it's not the question of Ukraine, it's help people live. 7,000 people are dying every single week, soldiers mostly, but 7,000 people.
And if I can help to stop that, I think I have an obligation to do it.
Mr. President, are you concerned about an axis forming against the United States with China and Russia? Obviously, there were some meetings among them and other countries over the weekend.
Yeah. I'm not concerned at all. Nope, I'm not at all. We have the strongest military in the world by far and they would never use their military on us, believe me. That would be the worst thing that could ever do.
[End interview clip]
That was a portion of my conversation with President Trump today, asking him about his diplomatic efforts to end the war in Ukraine. It's still unclear what happens next in the pursuit of peace between Russia and Ukraine. The New York Times today is reporting that Ukraine is pursuing a multibillion dollar arms build-up that would be funded by Europe and they see that as the best chance of ensuring the country's long-term survival, Ukraine seeing a military buildup as necessary to its postwar survival, a deterrent against further Russian aggression.
As Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president recently said, and this is quoted in the New York Times, Ukraine must become a steel porcupine undigestible for potential invaders. You are listening to a special edition of the Scott Jennings Show on the Salem Radio Network. We had an amazing opportunity this morning to talk to President Trump.
I have to tell you, he was talking about a lot of topics today, very much on top of his game. We covered everything from politics to immigration, to Ukraine, to crime, what's going to happen in Chicago, and really also, a lot of talk about tariffs. You could really tell this morning, what was on the president's mind was tariffs, what he believes has been a tariff policy that has been succeeding, fighting this out in the Courts.
Obviously, the court ruling last week and now they're going to go to the Supreme Court and appeal that ruling. When we come back, in the next block, an expansive conversation with the president about his tariff policy. It's Common Sense for the American People, the Scott Jennings Show on the Salem Radio Network.
[Commercial break]
Common Sense for the American People. It is September the second. Big day for the Scott Jennings Show, a special edition because this morning I interviewed President Donald Trump and as you know, he is facing a very busy fall. Top of mind for the President today, tariffs and last week's court ruling putting his major tariff policy in jeopardy.
Here's some of that conversation.
[Begin interview clip]
Two questions. One, how confident are you in winning at the Supreme Court? And number two, what are you prepared to do if you don't? What could be done beyond that?
Well, I'm not going to be thinking about -- you know, because it's only bad answers. It will be a disaster if that is lost for our country. Our country will be weak, pathetic and not -- not rich. It will be -- you know, I've put us in a position -- even negotiating, I negotiated seven peace deals because I was able to use tariffs.
Without tariffs, many of those deals, half of those deals, I wouldn't have been able to do. It gives us tremendous negotiating power. It gives us tremendous economic power. And it's the same exact thing that they've done to us for 30 years, and they're still doing it. If that decision would be lost, it would be an economic disaster for the United States.
The United States will be the richest country. If we lose that decision, we'll be one of the very poor countries.
And it sounds like you linked --
And possibly, a judge -- that's a tremendous -- and the writing is plain. We're entitled to it. This was a group of liberal -- in fact, one of them, an Obama judge went on a -- you know, it was a seven to four decision. One of them was a far-left Obama judge, Obama-appointed judge who voted for us. We even had that.
This was a very liberal court. We knew we would get a very, very hard trial at that court. And you know, we were surprised we got four votes. Now, to be honest, it's -- it's -- we should get -- based on the law, we should have gotten all 11 votes, but these people will vote against -- they don't care about the country.
They don't love the country. They don't care about the country. They want it to do badly. But if we don't win that decision in the Supreme Court, it will be an economic disaster for America.
It sounds like you think the tariffs not just to the future of the country's economy, but to your own ability to get other things done in a broader foreign policy space. Is that how you view it, tariffs are both economic and diplomatic power for the office of the president?
Yeah, it's the single most powerful word in the world. And everyone else uses them on us. And we're not allowed because of some people that -- some radical left people. We have the right to do this. I have the right as president to do it. It's an economic emergency. And if I don't do it and if we don't get it -- if we don't win that -- if we don't win that decision, you'll see a reverberation like maybe you've never seen before.
That's how bad it will be. We are so strong now and we are so respected, and this decision is the only thing -- the stock market's down today because of the possibility that's going to happen. If we win this, the stock market's going to go right through the roof because we'll find -- this has been hanging over us for a year, literally, this decision, even before, because we knew it was filed.
And you know who files it, foreign companies are filing it.
Yeah, right.
Foreign companies. They're not American companies, they're foreign companies because they want to take away, you know, what we have. Because we were a lapdog for the whole world and foreign interests are against -- foreign interests are involved with this lawsuit. They're the ones. Good, American companies, they're pouring into our country.
You know, Scott, I don't know if you've seen, we have more investment close to $17 trillion of investment coming into our country. We never had anything -- we never had one-tenth of that.
Mr. President, the --
And now its all coming in. And this decision is an overhang. Let me tell you something. Until this decision -- it's an emergency. We're going in as an emergency. We'll be probably doing it tomorrow for an emergency meeting because this decision -- you see the stock market. This decision is an emergency. Without tariffs, we have an entirely different country.
We'll be an entirely different country. And on top of it, they'll have their tariffs and they'll be able to use them and we won't.
Sounds like you think we'll have a much weaker hand on a number of fronts.
Much weaker hand. Oh, no, we won't. We will lose tremendous. Without the tariffs -- you heard it was always my favorite word. Without the tariffs, we are a different country entirely. We will be abused by other countries. We will be laughed at by other countries and we have to get this decision now. These radical left lunatics that made this decision in court, they should be ashamed of themselves.
You know, I actually thought I was one of the few because they know these courts. They know these judges. I was very impressed with the Obama judge that voted for us. I think he's a man of great courage, actually. I don't know him, but I think he's a man of great courage. Think of it. We had an Obama judge, strong Obama judge vote for us, one of the four and we had three Republicans.
So you know, but think of that, that's a big statement, but it shouldn't be that way. We should have had a unanimous vote because this will -- this will destroy our country.
[End interview clip]
Part of my conversation this morning with President Trump, and one thing that was clear to me in our talk today, the use of tariffs is perhaps the president's most deeply and longest held political view. Here's more with President Trump.
[Begin interview clip]
We have to be able to fight on a fair term. They have tariffs against US. China kills us with tariffs. India kills us with tariffs. Brazil kills us with -- now that I know how to -- but I've understood tariffs better than they did. I understood tariffs better than any human being in the world, OK? And now with my tariffs, they were all dropping them.
India was the most highly tariffed nation in the country and you know what, they've offered me no tariffs in India anymore, no tariffs. If I didn't have tariffs, they would never make that offer. They would never make that offer. So you have to have -- you have to have tariffs. We're going to be economically strong.
We're so strong right now, but there's a pall over the country waiting for the Supreme Court. If the Supreme Court, for any reason -- and they shouldn't because the language is clear, and also, the facts are clear. If we don't have it, we're not going to have a country. We're going to be in very, very serious financial trouble.
You know, we're taking in $17 trillion. Every inch of that money is because of tariffs, $17 trillion. Nobody else. This nation has never taken in one-tenth of that. We're taking in $17 trillion. They're coming -- like, if we don't have tariffs, those same big plants that we have, they're going to be built in other countries.
It's a pretty bad statement. And when the stock market goes down, it's going down because of the, you know, uncertainty. We have a court case. And again, we have a court case sponsored by other nations because they're taking advantage of us and they want to keep taking, and they're not going to take advantage anymore.
Look at the deal I signed with the European Union, the deal I signed with Japan, the deal I can sign with India. It's a different world from what we were doing. We're rich again. But if we lose the power of tariffs and -- and that means -- that's not only the money that comes in, it's the power to negotiate.
Because I can say, if you do that, then I'm going to charge you tariffs on that.
Mr. President, does the -- does the court case on -- does the court case on tariffs and now the uncertainty and the timeline on the judicial process here, does that put a pause, or does that sort of force you to have to go away from the table with China as you work out, you know, the trade deal with them?
Is that -- is that on delay because you got to wait and see what happens?
No. No, but it does psychologically -- the answer is no, because the court ruled that I -- that the tariffs will continue until the Supreme Court makes it -- essentially until the Supreme Court makes its decision. They didn't stop it. In other words, they said, we will, you know, give you the stupid ruling, but it won't go into effect, because essentially, they ended tariffs.
It will not go into effect until the Supreme Court makes their decision.
[End interview clip]
My conversation with President Donald Trump continues here on The Scott Jennings Show on the Salem Radio Network.
[Commercial break]
This is the Scott Jennings Show, Common Sense for the American People. Now more of my conversation with President Trump, I had a chance to ask the president about his political opposition today, the Democratic Party and how he views their reflexive opposition to his policies and his nominees. Here's what the president told me.
[Begin interview clip]
Have you spoken to the Senate Republican leaders about breaking the logjam on your nominees? You have all these people waiting to be confirmed --
Yeah. Yeah.
-- and the Democrats are stopping it.
Yeah. Thune is a good man and Mike Johnson is a good man and they're going to do things that are very good, actually, I think on that. We're going to -- we're -- look, we're coming back. We have Democrats that will vote against everything, unanimous. The one thing they do is they stick together. That's the one thing, Scott.
They stick together on bad crime. I mean, they are all fighting for criminals, just like they fought for transgender for everybody, just like they fought for open borders, just like they fought for men in women's sports, just like they fought for all these crazy things. These people are crazy.
[End interview clip]
And what does the president think of this new crop of Democratic leaders? You're going to want to hear this?
[Begin interview clip]
You look at their bench. They have Crockett. How about Crockett?
Oh, man. [Laughs]
I watched her the other day. That can't be serious. I mean, it can't be serious. But look at Crockett, look at some of the people they have.
[Begin audio clip]
[Audio clip] Baby, because these people, they are crazy because they always talk about how Christian they is. Yet, I don't know how many of them on that side are getting divorced because they're getting caught up sleeping with they coworkers, staffers, interns, all the things. Yeah, you ain't got to believe me, just go Google. You'll find some of it.
[End audio clip]
I watched Maxine Waters on television yesterday. She's an insult to intelligence. I mean, she's -- she's a -- she's terrible.
[Begin audio clip]
[Audio clip] It is time to call for article 25 of the Constitution of the United States of America to determine his unfitness.
[End audio clip]
They're just terrible people. They don't have a bench. AOC, she speaks like a mouse. She's a little mouse. You know, that's why you don't hear her speaking very much. So I think when she gets exposed, she'll be known as of average. You know, her -- she's the one that actually started a lot of this.
[End interview clip]
That is the president of the United States, Donald J. Trump, and he was nice enough to call me up this morning and we had a very lengthy and expansive conversation. I can only tell you this, the president sounded great. He was extremely engaged on a number of topics and one of those topics is crime. He talked a lot about the success that he's having in Washington D.C. with sending in the National Guard and surging federal resources into that situation.
And that of course led to a conversation about what's happening in Chicago. You're seeing massive Democratic resistance from Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, and also from the mayor of Chicago. In fact, this weekend, I believe I heard the mayor of Chicago say that they shouldn't cooperate with the president if he sends federal resources there.
But then I heard the governor of Illinois complaining that the White House won't cooperate or coordinate with the people in Illinois. It's sort of a circular amount of stupidity going on in Illinois. More with my exclusive conversation with Donald Trump when we come back. It's Common Sense for the American People, the Scott Jennings Show on Salem Radio network.
[Commercial break]
Amazing day for the Scott Jennings Show. We had the president of the United States on the phone this morning. We're bringing you that conversation throughout the show today. I just glanced up at my television. I see the president's in the Oval Office, announcing he's moving the US Space Command from Colorado to Huntsville, Alabama.
So the president making a little bit more news today. We're wrapping up today's show with our brand-new interview with the president and turning our attention to Chicago's crime problem. He had a lot of thoughts on the shootings and the mayhem there. And he had some thoughts on Democratic leaders, Governor JB Pritzker and the Mayor Johnson of Chicago, who are enabling it and fighting for the status quo.
I asked the president, will we see federal intervention in Chicago this week. Here's what he said.
[Begin interview clip]
Pritzker is -- is losing 10 people a week. Every weekend, he's losing 10 people with 30 or 40 or 50 people shot. It's not even believable. And I said in front of this foreign leader, I'm pleased to announce that there were no murders in Washington this week, and that's something that hasn't happened in nine years.
And I said, so this is a really great thing. He looked at me like I'm crazy, like, what kind of country is this? You know, I was sort of embarrassed when I said it, there were -- there were [Inaudible] -- like this is a great achievement. And he comes from a country where they don't have, like, murders. You know, it's like, they're civilized people, but they come from a country where they don't have a problem.
And when I said -- he -- first thing he did when the news conference ended, he said, do you really have murders every week? I said, yes, we do. We have cities where we have many murders every week because we have weak liberal laws that have allowed this to happen. You know, they've allowed this to happen.
So we're stopping it. And Chicago's a mess and we have a governor that doesn't have a clue. They threw him out of the family business because he didn't have a clue. And now he's running a state. And the mayor is worse than him. I mean, this mayor is a very low IQ person. They're all low IQ, I think. I think anybody believes in what they believe is low IQ in their own way.
So can I infer from --
In one way -- in one way, they may be genius, but in the important way they're low IQ.
Can I infer from your comments on Chicago that this is the week, you will be surging federal resources there sometime this week? And will that include the National Guard?
Well, I don't want to mention when, but it's going to be happening there. It's going to be happening elsewhere too. You know, if I didn't go into Los Angeles, we have a weak, very weak governor there, very pathetic. I had to deal with him when I was president. He's a weak guy.
[End interview clip]
And let's hear a little bit more from President Trump, what does he really think about JB Pritzker in Illinois? He didn't hold back.
[Begin interview clip]
They've tried to indict me and impeach me. They're sick. They're sick people and they're dishonest people and they don't want to have -- as an example, crime. You know, you have this slob, Pritzker, he's a governor of Illinois. So Chicago, Illinois, is there and it's got -- last night, they had like 10, 12 murders.
They had 44 people shot. The week -- the weekend before, they had seven murders and 24 people shot. The week before that, they had six murders and 28 people shot. And he's trying to say that there's no problem with crime. It's a joke -- these are sick people.
[End interview clip]
Finally, the president had some thoughts on law enforcement. Let's hear what the president said about the cops.
[Begin interview clip]
You have to have respect for law enforcement. You have to have respect for law enforcement. Law enforcement has to be respected and they will be and they are going to be. They're great people. They want to do the right thing. You see what happened in D.C. In 12 days, I took a horrible, horrible, dangerous place where people were being routinely mugged and beat up and killed and shot.
I mean, I had one of my people shot in the face because they wanted his car. He said, I'd like to keep my car and they said you're not going to keep it and they shot him in the face, and just animals and you can't have that. So you have to have great law enforcement and you have to be proud of them. You have to take care of them.
[End interview clip]
I sincerely want to thank President Trump for making some time for the Scott Jennings Show this morning. And we have a lot more from this conversation. We're going to bring you even more from President Trump tomorrow. We talked about his artificial intelligence plan for the future and how that ties in to the nation's energy needs.
I asked President Trump if he has spoken to Elon Musk lately and is there a chance of a reconciliation between Elon and the Republican Party. I talked to President Trump about the future of the Republican Party. I asked him what issues that they should work on long after he is gone, what are his signature issues that must continue to keep the Republican Party together.
We talked about whales, we talked about windmills, we talked about a lot more stuff with President Donald J. Trump this morning and we're very grateful to him and we're grateful for the White House staff for making him available to us. Thank you so much for listening to this special edition of The Scott Jennings Show today.
We're going to post all the clips of the President on X, @ScottJenningsKY. Tune in again for more Trump tomorrow. It's Common Sense for the American People, Salem Radio Network.
[A second portion of the same interview aired on September 3, 2025. That portion is below.]
Common sense for the American people. And again, is September 3rd, live from the Big Apple, having a big week on the Scott Jennings show. We gotta thank President Trump for the big conversation yesterday. In fact, let's hear from the president to start the show today.
[Begin audio clip]
Well, I want to thank you. You've been great. You've been a voice in the wilderness, because that is the wilderness. When you go CNN, it's just, uh, terrible. Those two, CNN and MSDNC, the, the good news is they're failing badly. The bad news is there aren't that many people watching you. [Laughs] But that's okay.
But I, I do when I can, I watch and I -- You're really a tremendous voice for -- Since, you know, not even -- It's not even Republicans common sense, because that's really a very important term. And I just appreciate all Republicans do and all, all Patriots. So you're in there fighting a nasty battle.
[End audio clip]
See, the president gets it. We're delivering common sense for the American people here on the Scott Jennings Show, on the Salem Radio Network. We have a few more nuggets from our conversation with the president, which we'll get to in just a moment. If you ever miss this show live, you could pick it up on a podcast on Apple or Spotify.
We stream it on the X platform every day, @ScottJenningsKY, also on YouTube, also on Facebook. Now, let's get to the news. We lead today with more of our exclusive conversation with the President of the United States, Donald J. Trump.
[Begin interview clip]
Mr. President, let me talk to you quickly about artificial intelligence.
You announced your AI action plan earlier this year. It got great reviews from big tech, little tech. You know, people across the spectrum we're very pleased with your administration's, uh, announcements on this. And a lot of people have forgotten you made critical decisions in your first term. For instance, you blocked a --
Right.
A foreign hostile takeover of Qualcomm, uh, which is an American company. And now, they remain a big part of the AI and 6G future. Is it your belief that winning the AI race against China is sort of the defining, possibly the defining policy legacy, a legacy for your term? Is this the new space race?
Is this the new Cold War?
It is. It's all of those things all put in one. That's how big it is. And without tariffs, it's much harder to win that race. We're winning it now easily. You know, you're, you're appearing. I watch you all the time. I think you're fantastic, by the way.
Thank you, sir.
But we are beating China easily. Uh, the one advantage they have, I've taken away from them, that they have electric, you know -- They can produce electricity at the snap of a finger, a certain man's finger, which is nice. But we can too, because what we're doing is we're allowing the companies to, when they build a plant, build their own electricity in the plant, whether they use oil and gas, they use coal.
We're not letting them use windmills because windmills are out in this country. If you see what windmills have done to England, to the United Kingdom, to Germany, to p- -- they, they destroy everything. And they're all in Depressions. I mean, it's just so horrible. They're so expensive. You can't -- They sell, of course, many times more than oil and gas or coal, or nuclear.
Now, we're, we're not doing, uh, we're not allowing windmills in this country. We're not gonna let them -- And they destroy the, the views, the vistas, the, you know, the planes, the beautiful planes. I'm not talking about airplanes. They destroy them too, I guess --
[Laughs].
If you think about -- I'm talking about the kind of planes that you ride a horse on, right?
Yes, sir.
But, uh, they destroy him. So, uh, we're not -- We are just not allowing this to happen to our country with the windmills all over the ocean with the whales. You know, the whales are washing up on shore and we've never seen anything like it. They're driving the whales loco. That's what's happening, I think.
[Laughs] We, you --
But, uh, the numbers --
You've taken --
-- were infinitesimal 10 years ago. Now, they're piling up. Nobody's ever seen anything like it. They're dying. They're killing the whales.
You've, you've already taken a number of executive actions and the republicans in Congress took legislative action on energy. Are you confident that the policy decisions you've made already will produce enough energy to win the AI race? Or do you think there's more to be done here for the rest of your term?
Well, there is more to be done, but we've really got it going. Lee Zeldin is fantastic. He's doing it. The environmental gentleman who's really doing such a good job. We're getting, uh, the AI plants when they come in and there are a lot of them. We're getting them, uh, approved in a matter of weeks as opposed to years.
They would've taken 5, 10, 15 years to get unapproved. They would've, at the end of 15 years, they vote no. And now, we're doing, we're getting things done in two weeks. Environmentally friendly, but we're getting them done in two weeks. Nobody's ever seen anything like it. And you have to remember, it's very important.
Uh, we are letting them build their own electric. So they're not relying on us. I'm giving them the right to become like a public utility, like a Con Edison. You have the right to build, because these plants are massive. You saw the one superimposed over Manhattan the other day, and uh, that's Zuckerberg's plan.
It's unbelievable. It's being built in Louisiana, but the size is like the size of Manhattan. These things are giant. They're the biggest buildings ever built by far. So what's happening -- and -- and the jobs that are being created. So we're giving them, I'm giving them, when they build this massive plant, they're allowed to build their electricity with it. So we don't even have -- It was one of, that was my idea and it was a great idea.
What -- We're getting them approved very quickly and they're building their own electric, so they have nothing to worry about. You know, it's a shame that places like New England can't partake because they don't have oil and gas up there and, you know, they don't have the pipeline. They suppo- -- they need a pipeline going through New York, and I guess, uh, New York is having a hard time giving them the pipeline.
I just heard that last night. Again, I thought that was all worked out with New York, but I guess it wasn't.
[End interview clip]
That's the voice of the President of the United States Donald Trump here on the Scott Jennings Show, on the Salem Radio Network. Finishing up my conversation with President Trump today. I also asked the President about his political legacy. Now, there is no doubt that he has changed politics and created this unique and potent coalition.
So I asked the President, is there anyone who can hold the coalition together and carry the Trump banner into the future after the President leaves office? Here's what he said.
[Begin interview clip]
Well, I hope so. I don't know. I -- I, you know, we have one thing that has turned out to be a phenomenon 'cause it's never happened in any country. I go to make a speech on a normal day, you know, normal day [Laughs], and like 40,000 people show up. It's sort of crazy because, you know, normally if you get 200 people, even as a president, 200 -- Ronald Reagan used to get crowds of three or 400 people in a ballroom someplace.
And, you know, we were getting crowds. I'll tell you, the crowds we had this year, it's never been anything like it. But I've had them from the beginning, you know, really, I've had them from the beginning. I think they're bigger now than ever before. But, you know, and during the -- during the race, but you know, you have a stadium.
We -- we went to Madison Square Garden and everyone said, "Wow, that's a tough one," 'cause, you know, it's 22,000 seats, but we do much more than that. And I got there, we could've filled it 10 times. You heard that. It was -- it was all the way down to the Hudson River and all the way up to 5th Avenue, the hundreds of thousands of people are on the streets.
The owner of Madison Square Garden, Jim Dolan, a good guy, said -- said that he's never seen anything like it. He's owned it for many years, he's never seen anything like it. So we have a -- a thing that's happening, and -- and I do bring a unity to the Republican Party. Do you know almost every single person I've endorsed has won?
Yeah.
I can't think of anyone -- one who hasn't. If -- if I endorse a person, they win. And I do well on the elections too. I don't wanna put that down because with the Republican Party, it's like, uh, 399 and oh, think of that. And many of those are insurgents, people that I like better, you know, I didn't like a certain Republican, and, you know, we -- we -- Like this guy Massie, he's gonna be taken out, he's no good, he never votes, he never votes or anything, you know.
It's like, he's from Kentucky. He's always a no-vote. It's like automatic. If it's good or bad, he thinks he gets publicity by voting now. He's like -- We call him Rand Paul Jr.
[Laughs].
But, uh, it's, uh, it's terrible, some of these guys. So sometimes you have to take them out, and I do and I win. You know, it's, uh, it's -- it's something. Now, uh, I do think this, we have a very good bench, we have a great bench of people, we have some very talented people.
[End interview clip]
Thanks again to President Trump for appearing on the Scott Jennings Show. I'll have more from the President later in the show, including asking him whether he's been in touch with Elon Musk and does he think of, uh, think of himself as a conservative or more of just a common-sense political leader when he goes through the, uh, process of making his policy decision.
So we'll hear more from the president later in the show.
[Commercial break]
Common sense for the American people here on the Salem Radio Network. It's the Scott Jennings show. As we wrap up today's show, just a couple of more clips from the president.
I asked President Trump, have you been in touch with Elon Musk and does the president think Elon will come back to the Republican Party? Here's what the president had to say.
[Begin audio clip]
Well, I don't think he has a choice. So what's he gonna do? He is gonna go with the radical left lunatics, you know, the lunatics. Uh, I don't think he has a choice. He's, he's a man of common sense. He's a good man. He got off the reservation incorrectly, and, uh, that's okay because, you know, it's just one of those things.
But, but he's a good person. He's got, you know, 80% super genius and then 20% he's got some problems. And, uh, when he works out that 20% he'll be great. But he's got some difficulty. But I like him. I always like him. I like him now, but, but he, uh, he went off the reservation and he wished he didn't do it.
[End audio clip]
And one last comment from the president branding of the Republican Party. Here is our final bite in our conversation with President Donald J. Trump.
[Begin interview clip]
And I know, uh, we're, we're a little beyond time, but you raised a phrase that I just have to ask you about. Is the Republican Party brand Common Sense? And do you ever think about ideological branding?
Some people say, "Oh, Trump did this. It's not conservative." Do you think about being labeled as a conservative, or do you think more about --
Yeah.
-- being labeled as common sense?
Well, I think common sense is oftentimes conservative, Scott. So, you know, I mean, I think a lot of it's conservative. So, so like, uh, common sense is you have to have a wall. Common sense is you can't let people come in from prisons and jails and this, that, that's also conservative. Almost everything common sense is conservative.
So it's sort of, I think it's one and the same. Uh, you can't have men swimming in a swim meet with women, you know, because they're gonna go faster, which like, sort of, so people would say, "Well, that's a conservative stance." You, you know, we want women to swim with women and men to swim with men and let everybody have a good time.
But you can't just can't do it. You know, men and women's sports. If you think of it, every single thing you can think of is common sense. So I am conservative, but I'm conservative, but I'm also a person. I would say this, if, if something was conservative but it was bad for our country and it was common sensically bad, I would, you know, I would go with the common sense.
I, I wanna go what's good for the country. But it just seems that virtually everything that we, we need and have. And if you want safety, if you want strength, you have to go at least somewhat conservative. You really have to. So they seem to work together hand in hand.
Mr. President, the 45th and 47th President of the United States, Donald J. Trump. Thank you for your time today, sir.
You think Biden would've done this phone call? I don't think so.
[Laughs]
I don't think so.
Mr. President, it's, uh, it's uh, it's in the morning. He wouldn't have been awake yet.
No, they'd be asking him, what's your -- How many times did they ask him, what's your favorite flavor ice cream? Right?
[Laughs]
[End interview clip]
What a conversation. Yesterday morning I had a chance to talk to President Trump. We talked for about 40 minutes. I got most of it on the show the last couple of days. Uh, and I hope you've enjoyed it.