Welcome back to Pod Force One. Today we're coming to you from the president's golf course in Turnberry, Scotland. I'm Miranda Devine and I'm joined by President Donald Trump.
Thank you so much, Mr. President, for coming on Pod Force One again and especially on this momentous occasion --
Yeah.
-- when you have managed to get a trade deal with Europe, the biggest trade deal ever. How did you pull that off?
Well, we've been dealing a long time and I have a lot of respect for the group. And as you know, you have a woman president who's very, very brilliant and very good, very talented at what she does, Ursula, who you know. And we made -- it is the biggest deal ever made, I guess you could say. It's certainly the biggest trade deal ever made.
And --
Was she tough to deal with?
No. I mean, she was respectful. She was -- we were all respectful, but she's very good at what she does and her people are very good and our people are very good. And when you think of it, we were getting nothing in the old days, you know, meaning prior to this. We were getting nothing and now we're getting a lot.
And it's going to be good for everybody and I think it's going to pull a big part of the world together too. It--
--Well, she seemed very happy at the--
--She was very happy and we're all very happy. Yeah.
And who's next?
Well, we're dealing with China. We sort of have the confines of a deal, but we're dealing with China. We just concluded a deal, as you know, with Japan, where they're going to pay $550 billion and lots of good things are happening there and they were happy. I'm happy. You know, both sides have to be happy.
But we're taking in hundreds of billions of dollars. Look, we were a dead country a year ago and now we're the most vibrant -- we're the coolest country, they say in the world, but I think we're the most successful country in the world right now. We're doing numbers that nobody would have believed is really even possible.
And it seems that a lot of countries in Europe are now coming around to your way of thinking, even Germany is talking about MEGA --
Yeah.
-- making Europe great again. And so are you noticing that there is a difference that people are, especially on migration, on pro-business policies, that the Europeans are changing?
Europe has a tremendous migration problem, immigration if you want to call it that. People are coming into Europe, it's like --
Illegal. Yeah.
Well, it's going to be a different place. You can't do this. It's beautiful Europe, that you know and I know so well and I told them, they have to stop that. They have to stop windmills all over the place too. You go around, you look at these beautiful valleys and beautiful hills and mountains and you got windmills all over the place.
It's crazy.
Well, you were playing golf, weren't you, on this beautiful golf course in western Scotland?
Right.
And what happened at the 18th hole?
Well, I'm looking down the 18th hole and Turnberry is, I think, probably the best course in the world is considered that by many people and it's had four open championships, etc., and I'm looking down and in the distance, I know it's a pretty far distance, but it doesn't matter. These things are massive and you're looking at these ugly windmills and it's a shame.
It's really a shame. It's really hurting. It's a con job saying the environmentalists want them, because I can't believe they really want them. It kills the birds, ruins the look. They're noisy. If you see them from your house, your house is worth like 50 percent or more or less. No, I just think it's -- I think it's a very bad thing.
Environmentally, it's horrible and in every way it's bad and you have to subsidize them. You know, they cost money. When you put them up, they cost money. Energy is supposed to make money.
Yeah.
It's not supposed to lose money and they lose a lot of money and they -- they're going to be abandoned -- they already are. They're being abandoned and then nobody takes them down. They just stand up there and rust.
And Europe's got -- yeah, they've got them everywhere.
So it's -- you know, I just -- I do mention that, they talk about -- and I talked about immigration first, but I said, and by the way while you're at it, get rid of the windmills.
Yeah. So what would you do if you were president of the European Union? What would you change?
Well, I think the biggest thing that you could do is get a deal made like we did today.
Yeah.
You know, they're buying $750 billion worth of our energy. They're going to invest $600 billion or $650 billion into the United States and they're going to invest probably $300 billion for the military, maybe $400 billion in military equipment separately. I mean, it's a massive deal for everybody. I think what they did is very smart.
You know, they have a deal now with us and it's going to bring us together. It's going to unite us, we'll work together, but it's numbers that nobody's ever heard of before.
And we're sitting in Turnberry, your beautiful golf course here. You're been playing golf with Eric, your son, and Don and your two grandchildren, Chloe and Spencer.
Right.
And how was it for you? Like, you're back in your ancestral home, really.
Right.
Your mother's home. She was a McLeod from not far from here. How do you feel about -- do you feel sort of Scottish and having three generations here?
Well, you know, I've been here and we have incredible investments in Aberdeen.
Yes.
Aberdeen is actually the oil capital of Europe, but we have -- they should really let that go, meaning let it go to town instead of doing all this other nonsense because they have tremendous oil reserves in Aberdeen. And they should be doing that instead of focusing on other things that aren't so good.
Yes. Yeah.
But no, it makes me feel good and you know, Turnberry is a long term. It's just this incredible place. In Aberdeen, I built something that's really special, the most beautiful land you've ever seen and you know, it makes me feel good. My mother was born in Scotland. She loves Scotland. She was a big fan of the queen, I have to tell you.
And anytime the queen was on television, my mother liked watching. She said, oh, the queen's queens aren't. So you know, she was a fan, a lot of people are and some people probably aren't in terms of the monarchy.
Yeah.
But a lot of people are.
And your mother's island of Lewis is well known as being -- having the best black pudding in the whole of Scotland.
Well, yeah. I heard that.
Do you like black pudding?
Well, I don't know about black pudding. I've heard that about it, but I'll tell you, it has among the most beautiful landscapes you've ever seen, I tell you. It's seriously Scottish. It is -- in fact, I looked at a map. It's interesting, the Isle of Lewis, I looked at to get there, you -- it's just -- it's in a remote section.
Yeah.
You know, when she came to New York, she was a young girl, about 18 years old and she came to New York and she hadn't seen the world and she met my father and he was, you know, a successful guy. He was a young guy, but he was a successful guy, doing well. He was building houses and homes.
And she was beautiful.
And she was beautiful. She really was beautiful. She was a beautiful woman. And he came home that night. He said, I've just -- to my grandmother, who was a fantastic person, my father's mother.
Yeah.
And he said, well, I just met my wife.
Really?
Yeah, and he was about 32. So he was a little older, she said, you know, when are you going to get married? But he was -- he was a great guy and -- but he immediately knew. There's a great -- you know, the Scottish people are really amazing and they're great fighters too. You know, that's why England sort of never --
Yeah, Braveheart.
Braveheart, one of the great movies of all time, but England had a hard time with Scotland.
Yeah.
They just -- they couldn't quite tame them.
They're very -- it's the first time I've been here. They're just such lovely people, aren't they?
Yeah, they're great people. No, they're great. No crime. You don't have crime, you don't have muggings. You don't have people getting hit over the head when they're not looking, with the baseball bat. They're not pushed into a subway, if they had them. It's not --
Yeah. It's not New York.
You wouldn't have them pushed into a subway.
No.
No, it's a different kind of a place.
And do you feel an affinity here? Do you feel --
I do. I feel so great and to have this property because this is a very iconic property. This was owned, originally built many years ago by the railroads, which were great --
The Barons, right.
That was the big wealth, the railroads. And they built a few resorts. This was the biggest of them all at the end of the line. And you know, to own it, it's one of the great iconic properties in the world.
And we just had a press conference in your grand ballroom here.
Right.
And is that the sort of ballroom you're going to build at the White House?
Yeah. So I built a ballroom at Turnberry that really is beautiful. It's one of the great places of Scotland now. It's a tremendous business, because this is a location that sort of everyone comes.
For weddings and -- yeah.
Well, it's also known -- it's a little bit like, I don't know what it is, but it seems to be a little warmer and better and the weather's good.
And the views, right?
It's one of the reasons -- yeah. So I added on a ballroom, which we finished about three years ago. And it's a beautiful room. I said, I could take that room right now and place it down next to the White House. So in the White House, as you know, for 150 years, they've wanted to have a ballroom. They don't have a ballroom.
They have meeting rooms. They have those beautiful -- you've seen -- you've interviewed me in those rooms.
Yes.
But they're beautiful meeting rooms, but they never had a ballroom, a ballroom meaning someplace they could sit 600 or 700 people. If the President of China or France or UK or Ursula comes to town, you give them a big state dinner. We don't have a room like that. At the White House, they have to use a tent.
And if it's raining, it's soaking wet soggy. The area is a very low area, all the water rushes to it and it's a disaster. So I said, you know, if I win this second term, I'm going to build a ballroom, a beautiful ballroom for the White House and we actually have a really beauty -- but that's a beauty right there.
It is.
I said, could take that right now and --
It's enormous. Eight chandeliers.
It's a beautiful room and it's a very successful room and they need that at the White House. You know, they can't do the kind of things that they'd like to do, their big room, which is really a beautiful reception room, but not as a ballroom.
So how long will it take to finish that ballroom?
So we'll start in two months, maybe, two and a half months and we'll have it completed in less than two years. It's a very incredible structure. I mean, a lot of it's the interior work, it's going to be beautiful. I'd rather -- because normally, I could build a building like that in four or five months, but it's very intricate inside.
It's beautiful, beautiful, the best marbles. It'll be a great tribute to the White House. It's going to be something. But they've wanted it for 150 years. And other presidents have talked about it, but it never got done well.
Well, you're the builder, the first builder.
I'm the builder. Yeah, I know how to do it.
And we're sitting in this lovely room next to the ballroom with a view out over the Irish Sea.
Right.
And there's big rock out there that's called Paddy's Milestone because it's halfway to Ireland.
Right.
Now, who went to Ireland, but Rosie O'Donnell to escape you. So are you --
Oh, that's too bad. I feel so badly for them. No, she's so bad, but you know.
Are you happy she's gone? And Ellen DeGeneres?
I mean, I don't think -- you know, it's funny, I did Ellen's show numerous times, but you know, they just get into the mood, I guess. It's -- I don't know what's happened to them, you take a look at them, it's like, what's going on.
Trump derangement.
It's Trump derangement syndrome, but you don't know why. I mean, the country is doing better. As I said, it's the hardest country in the world right now and you'd think they'd be happy. And I sort of with a little fun said, well, we're thinking about not allowing Rosie back into the country because she's very bad for our country and things and she's gone crazy.
No, she's a different kind of a person.
She's more famous than she ever was.
Oh, she's probably doing better than she ever did. Yeah. She never did great, but she's doing better than she ever did. It's sort of funny. I guess it really -- the big moment was the debate, when we had the debate and I said only Rosie O'Donnell, when they mentioned lots of bad things. I said, only Rosie O'Donnell.
And the whole audience burst into laughter.
But it's funny. You're right. She may be doing better than ever before. Maybe that's OK.
[Commercial break]
Now, talking about Trump derangement, we've just -- Tulsi Gabbard, your DNI, has just released all this incredible declassified information about the Russia hoax.
Right.
Which you already -- always said was a hoax.
We knew anyway.
But now she's referred President -- former President Barack Obama, CIA Director John Brennan, James Clapper, Jim Comey from the FBI, to the Department of Justice for Criminal Investigation for potential charges. Do you hope that --
And Obama.
And Obama.
Who is the ringleader, yeah.
Yes and I mean he should be thanking you because you got presidential immunity.
Yeah, he's probably covered by that. It's OK. That's all right. That's the way it's supposed to be, I guess. But no, what they've done is so bad for this country and it really started right at the 2016 election. And there's a difference when you know it and when you know it and it's all written down for you.
Prove it.
I mean, it's all there. It's right there, the orders, the memos, the whole thing is right there.
Were you surprised when you saw it all laid out?
I would have thought they maybe would have thrown it out. I don't know. You know, they handed it -- they say, put this in highly classified. It was in highly classified. You know, in areas that normally you wouldn't get to. But I guess when you put it in there, it's a file, right and they got to it and it's unbelievable.
When you read it, it's unbelievable. A real hoax, you know, it's a real hoax. If they would devote their time to winning elections or if they devote their time to, like, great -- greatness, making America Great again, it would be -- because there's a certain genius to it. But it's also sick. I mean, they're sick.
And you look at Hillary Clinton, you look at all of the terrible things with the Steele dossier. And you know it better -- nobody's covered it better than you, to be honest with you. I mean, you're sitting here so innocently talking to me, like -- you know, it's wonderful. You know the story better than I do, but it's incredible.
It's all there now. It's in writing and Tulsi's done a great job. You know there were some people that really wanted Tulsi -- They thought she was going to do a fantastic job. And when you look, a lot of people would not have found it. They wouldn't have found it to be politically correct to find it, OK? It would be easier not to.
Yes. And she's tough.
And she's tough and she's smart and she did, she went into -- deep into the files and she found it. And what it says is just terrible. Look, this was an attempted coup. It was a failed coup. I mean, I got to be -- here we are -- I mean, talking as president of the United States. So you almost say, how did it happen?
Yeah.
There are people that say it's a miracle in a way that I was able to go through all these agencies, and this is before I was president and they did the Steele dossier, which was a total scam.
What a joke. Didn't your wife say she knew it was a hoax from the beginning.
She did. She said, that's not you, you know?
Because it was so dirty.
Well, there were a couple of things in there and she said, well, on that one, I tell you what, it's not you and it wasn't me. No, it was all made up stuff. It was all made up.
Do you feel angry now?
Yeah, I do a little bit. So you know, we had Hillary Clinton down to whatever we wanted to do with her and I felt it was inappropriate. She's the wife of a president. She was a secretary of state and we could have done a very big number. And I said, we don't want to be doing that. Let's put it into the country and not -- the concept of putting her in jail, indicting her, all the things that you have to do, it's tough stuff.
And I said, we don't want to do that. In fact, you remember I made speeches when I mentioned her name, they started -- lock --
Lock her up. Yeah.
Lock her up. And I said no, no. This is after we won, we just won. And I said, nope, we have to get back --
Because you wanted the country to heal.
We want to heal. And yet they did it to me.
Yeah.
So I feel differently. I mean, I'm a human being. I have my feelings too and so I feel differently about it. Obama, what he did was terrible. What Brennan did and Clapper and Comey and all these lightweights that -- I mean, they're stupid people actually, but what they did -- and so unnecessary. And they made it really hard.
But ultimately, I don't know. They toughen you up, you either learn that you can do that. How many people could handle that? I've had so many people said how did you handle that every day and they come up with these different scams? They're all scams and they're still doing it. You know, they're doing it now.
How do you? Because I think for people out there would like to know what the secret of your resilience is. What would you tell your children or other people's children?
Well, it helps to be innocent, right. It really does. I mean, you know, you know it's not true. And I thought it was so far-fetched. I think a lot of the things they do is far-fetched. When you look at these scams, it's almost a way of life with the Democrats. They've got to stop. They've got to stop. And now you look at the kind of leadership they have.
Look at these people that they have, they're third rate. These people are never going to get elected no matter what they do or say. But on top of that, they continue with -- I saw somebody today arguing about men playing in women's sports, arguing ferociously that it should be allowed. And you know they say that's an 80/20, it's not.
It's a 97/3 issue. And if they're going to keep doing that -- open borders, somebody was arguing about open borders, let everybody pour into our country. So last month we had nobody come in, nobody, zero. I'm not even sure I can believe that. You know, you're talking about hundreds of thousands of people, but they had hundreds of thousands of people pour into our country from gangs and from prisons where they let them out of prisons from all over the world.
They come in from Africa, the Congo and Africa in particular. And they come in from South America. They come in from all over the world. And you know they're criminals. I mean, there are many criminals. There are 11,888 murderers. We got a lot of them out, but we're getting them out. It's a big job to get them out.
It almost feels like an unforced error. You know, if you think, inflation I've already taken care of. Prices are way down for everything groceries, everything. We had the worst -- the worst inflation in the history of our country.
Joe Biden, yeah.
Biden. So now inflation has done, all these things. We're doing so great, but the one thing we really have to keep focusing on for a long time is getting the criminals out of our country that this guy let in. And you say, why would they do it? You know, a lot of people say it was for the voting, they get their vote, I don't think so. But look, there are a couple of reasons.
They're stupid or they hate our country. That's what I view. I don't think it was for the votes because they're very good at cheating. They don't need to do that. But you say, why would they allow criminals to come in? Why would they allow people from mental institutions to come into our country and disturb our country?
And they're violent people. Many of these people are violent people. You know better than anybody. I mean, they're real -- you write on it so much.
In New York. Yeah.
They're violent, violent people. Why would they do that? And you know, the only thing I can think of is they may hate our country.
And so do you -- are you feeling like even if Barack Obama has presidential immunity, do you think it's kind of justice for them to have to lawyer up, as James Clapper says they're doing?
I do. I do. Look, Clapper lied to Congress. Comey lied to everybody.
Brennan.
Brennan, he was maybe the worst of the group. These are all bad. These are lowlifes. These are losers. These are losers and you know, I've been beating them for ten years. You know how many times they were after me for so many different things? And when you think of it, I've been beating them for 10 years, but that I have to waste time and effort instead of focusing on the European Union deal or all these positive things that we can do.
Because it wrecked your first term, didn't it?
Well, it didn't -- well, we had a great first term.
Yeah, but imagine what you could have done.
But it certainly made it -- it certainly made it less comfortable and you know, you know it was false, you know it was all bullshit. It was absolutely disgusting. But you have to explain that to other people. But in the end, they got it. They got it and we won by -- you know, we won every state. We won -- we won everything.
We won every swing state. We won the popular vote. We won the Electoral College by a lot, much more --
That was the American people pushing back.
They got it. The people understand it and the people understand it now. So I said, look, you can't do that to Hillary Clinton. I was the one, I killed it and then they do the same thing to me, like --
Say no more, Mr. Nice Guy?
Well, I just want to be fair, it's up -- ultimately, it's up to Pam. I think she's doing a great job as attorney general. It's up to her and her group, but they did a lot of bad things. I mean, this was -- I would say it was treason. It was treason. They made up all these stories, just fake stories. And yeah, I would say it was serious treason and hurt the country and put the country in danger.
You know, they did on the Russia, Russia, Russia hoax, they lied unbelievably. How about Putin being accused? And he's no angel, that's for sure. But you know, what does he think? He's sitting back and he's being accused of stuff and he's probably saying, like, these people are crazy.
Yes, it's not good for the country. Do you think --
No, it's dangerous, actually dangerous for the country.
Why is that?
Well, you get into problems, disputes, to put it mildly, with other countries. We didn't have a dispute with him because he knew it was nonsense, I guess. I don't know. We didn't have a dispute, but it did make it harder to deal with him.
Do you think it emboldened him to invade Ukraine under Biden?
I don't know. I know that it would have never happened. So probably the answer is no, because it would have never happened. That whole invasion would have never happened if I were fairly elected at that time because I won that election. I'll tell you what has been shown in the last period of a few months.
We knew it before, you knew it before, everybody knew it. I knew it two days after the election. I knew it the night of the election, but we knew that I won the election.
2020
I won that election by -- 2020. I won that election by so much and the only reason I ran is because that was my ultimate goal. I knew how well I did. I won that election by millions of votes.
So that's why you ran again in '24?
Well, I wouldn't have done it -- if I thought I lost, I wouldn't have done it because if I thought I lost, but we won that election by millions of votes and we had an incompetent guy that never left his basement, that they kept quiet. Nobody knew -- because you know, he was incompetent 25 years ago, really.
Yes.
The senators will tell you. And Joe at his best was an incompetent and now, he's really bad.
What did you think of Hunter Biden coming out and saying -- lashing other Democrats for blaming his father for losing the election?
Well, you know, there are a lot of -- they had two chances to win the election. They had him and that didn't work out and he was down by 25 points or something and then they switched him. It's like taking a prizefighter out in the middle of the fight. It's not fair. They took him out. They put Kamala. Nobody knew who Kamala was.
They didn't even know her last name. Nobody knew her last name. They still don't. Poor Kamala. But I watched where she made her speech this weekend and it was on tape. This was supposed to be the big event and it was like a minute and a half on tape. I said, I've never seen that before. You go and make a speech and she's going to be -- I guess, they say she's going to try it again and I don't see it. But how about Crockett?
Crockett's their new star?
Yeah. That's right.
And she's a low IQ person.
Well, it might be her and Hunter Biden. They could do a joint ticket.
This would be something. No, these people are crazy, so you never know what's going to happen.
[Commercial break]
We had our driver, whose name is Jim, brought us here to Turnberry and he's a fan of yours and he asked me to ask you this question. He said when you finished your term as US president, could you come over to Scotland and run Scotland as the first minister?
Yeah. Well, Scotland, though, and I think you probably have a very good first minister right now. Scotland, look, they don't have crime.
You could do it.
They don't have -- I could do that.
You're eligible. You could do in your spare time these days.
I would think -- I might be eligible, I could be within six months or something like that. No. But it is a special place, but they don't have some of the problems we have. You know, they don't have big crime. They don't have -- they'll have a different form of crime. They'll get into an argument on something and it'll be very minor compared to the kind of things that you witness every day.
But you know, it's a very good way of life actually.
Yeah.
They have nice views too. All you have to do is look out the window. There's beautiful views of the ocean.
And the UK, you're having your state visit with King Charles.
So he's coming tomorrow and he's a man -- a very good man.
Oh, Keith Starmer.
Yes, and he's coming tomorrow and he's coming to Turnberry, actually. So we're going to meet and then we're going to Aberdeen and we're going to do a little tours and things. But he's doing a good job as the prime minister.
Yeah, and you're opening a new golf course in your mother's name?
Yeah, we started it a couple of years ago and it's a very beautiful, beautiful piece of land. And it's going to be very good. I have a course there, and I had to start this within a certain period of time, where I lost the zoning and Sean Connery got me the zoning. Sean --
Yeah, what did he do?
So Sean Connery, I didn't know him well. I met him one time, but he liked me. I liked him and you know, and he's a tough kind of a guy, as you probably know. If you look at the Barbara Walters interview, you know what I'm talking about. But he was a tough guy and beloved in Scotland. And you know, big -- he was the first James Bond and all of the things.
And it was very tough zoning environmentally here to get that approved. And when they approved it, they approved two courses. But I had to start the second one within 10 years from the first etc., etc. So they didn't start at, let's say two years ago, we would have lost that, right? You'd never get it back.
But Sean Connery, it was very hard getting the zoning because of the environment and it was very highly protected and all. It's called SSSI. And he let out a howl once he said, let the bloody bloke build his damn golf courses and let him put money into our country, what's wrong with you? And as soon as he said that, the whole thing got approved like so fast.
It was crazy. I called him. I said, thank you very much. I said, you have great power. He's like the king. I call him the king of Scotland, but -- so I got to know him a little bit after that. He was great. He was a tough cookie. But --
You do a very good Scottish accent.
Yeah, well, but he did say that he said, let the bloody bloke build his bloody golf course, is his exact -- and you know what, when he said that, it all -- it just it got approved. But I had to start the other one within a certain period after the first or you'd never get the zoning again. You know, the environmental stuff is very tough.
A lot of people use the environment to stop projects.
Yes.
And I didn't want that to happen.
And it's going to be called the Marianne McClellan.
Well, it's going to be called -- we have a section of it that's beautiful in honor of my mother. It's a beautiful section. We call it -- it's because it's Aberdeen, it's a very -- it's actually the oil capital of Europe and it's --the oil capital of Europe is very important and it's also really a beautiful area.
And we did the first course, it was tremendously successful. You know, esthetically incredible and they're the largest dunes of -- just about the largest dunes anyone's ever seen. They're incredible. The whole place is amazing. And so the trick was, could I ever match the first one, which is so beautiful?
And I think we did. We might have -- I don't know, I can't say we surpassed it. It would be hard to say that. It's gotten such great reviews. But they're cutting a ribbon tomorrow and I'll be there with the prime minister.
Will you play?
I may. If I get a chance, I'll do it.
And while you've been playing golf here, you've been doing work as well.
Yeah.
I understand you had a phone call with the leaders of Cambodia --
I did.
-- and Thailand who have been having a skirmish.
I did. So I'm doing trade deals, and I've been reading in your papers and seeing on Wonderful Fox and seeing on the wonderful New York Post, which is great and headed by a fantastic person, Keith Poole. I'm sure you don't know him.
Who's from this area. Yes. His father was from here.
That's right. That's right. And so I've been reading about the conflict with Cambodia. And as you know, it's been a real -- the two countries have really been -- they've really been fighting. And we called -- we got them both together and I think they're going to make -- I think they're going to make a peace deal.
I just saw it two minutes ago. You know, I'm trading -- I'm doing trade deals with all of these countries and I'll say sometimes, I had it Serbia Kosovo. I had with the Congo. Now, the Congo is not heavy on trade, but I was able to get that done with Rwanda and --
So you're using trade as a --
Well, I'm using trade to make peace.
Peace, right.
India and Pakistan was really important. I mean, if you look. But India and Pakistan was a very -- a very big thing and that that could have gone nuclear. Those are both nuclear.
Yes.
Five jets were shot down. I mean it was getting worse and worse. And I said, look, we're supposed to be making a trade deal. If you don't make the trade -- we're not going to make a trade deal if you guys are going to fight. Anyway, that's stopped and we've done some others. I think I did five and could even be six.
So I think we have a situation where you could end up with peace and they've had, I think a few thousand people were killed in this one.
Right.
And in some cases, a lot more than that. So I think we have maybe a deal and we did a deal with Cambodia. We were doing a deal. We're getting ready to sign it. And I'm saying, we're not signing it unless you make a deal with your next door neighbor, which is a very good neighbor. They've been neighbors for a long time, but they've had some fights over the years.
And I think I think it's going to get done.
And what about Putin, Russia?
And by the way, I get no credit for it. Nobody's going to give me credit for any of them.
Well, we're giving you credit now.
They'll give the Nobel Prize to somebody that wrote a book about Donald Trump and analyzed his mind perfectly.
Well, they gave it to Barack Obama when he'd been there five minutes.
I know, after two minutes.
It's like the Pulitzers that went to the Washington Post, the New York Times.
Isn't that a great one, the Pulitzers? You know, there's litigation on that right now because the Pulitzers got it exactly wrong. It was the exact opposite on the Russia, Russia, Russia hoax. And you know this litigation going on, major --
You sued.
I think -- yeah, I think there's going to be turned around. I think there's no way they can -- the Pulitzers have lost so much credibility and prestige over that whole thing. It's terrible.
Yeah. Well, like the Nobel when they gave it to Barack Obama for doing nothing.
Yeah. Or gave it to other people.
You could restore it.
If you add the Abraham Accords to all of the other things, but I can't be the one to --
So what about Putin then?
I've had many people say that I could have gotten six of them for what I've done. I could have gotten six of them right now. So Putin, it's too bad. We have wonderful conversations and then I go home, I turn on the news and I see that Kyiv has just been bombed, it's just been ripped into -- you can't do that stuff.
I mean, I said wait a minute, I just spoke to him four hours ago and now all of a sudden, they're sending bombs into Kyiv and other places.
And the first lady is very aware of all that, isn't she?
Well, she is. And look, we know Putin and she likes him. And I -- look, it is what it is. You get along with people. I get along with him very well.
Well, you have to.
And you know -- well, ideally you have to. It's a lot better if you have to. But she said it's too bad, they just bombed Kyiv and I had just spoken to him that afternoon. And I come home and I find out that people are laying all over the streets that are dead. And so it's a tough situation. I'm disappointed in him, I must be honest with you.
You gave him a 50-day deadline, didn't you?
I did, but I think I'm going to move the deadline up because there's no reason to wait that long. It's a deadline and after that we'll either do sanctions or tariffs or something.
But you might shorten the deadline?
Yeah, I'm going to move it up. Yeah.
Why, to stop the killing?
I think when you know the answer. Look, I said from the beginning, first of all, it never would have happened, but once it started, I said, he's going to go for the whole thing. He's not going to -- and I was -- I think I was probably right about that.
So what do you think -- how will it end?
To be determined. Let's see what happens, let's see what happens. But we've had great conversations, but it hasn't been followed up with -- you know, just some very bad things have happened. Very, very bad things have happened after we've had conversations and I'd leave, I'd say, well, I really thought we had it settled three or four times.
Now, with all of that being said, it should have never started that would have been 100 percent -- and that was 100 percent. It was never going to start. I used to talk to him about Ukraine. It was the apple of his eye. But you know what, he's had a hard time. He's had a hard time. This has not been -- you know, it was supposed to be a three-day war and now you're going past three years.
It's brutal.
And it's a vicious -- and they're losing 5,000, 6,000 people. Every single week they're losing 5,000 people. And they're soldiers. Look, I don't have to be involved. They're Russian and Ukrainian soldiers and there's some people in the towns as they lob missiles into these towns and cities. But it's 5,000 souls that have parents and wives and girlfriends and boyfriends and everything else.
Do you think of your own sons and grandsons?
I don't think of it. I don't like to think of it that way, but it would be easy to settle and it's going to be a long time. And one thing I will say, the European Union now is going to take over all payments that we were -- you know, we were giving them hundreds of billions of dollars. We gave them, Ukraine, $350 billion.
And we're on this side of the ocean. You know, it's not -- it wasn't our war.
No.
But through Biden, he gave $350 billion and I wonder where it all went. It didn't just all go to weapons. But Europe gave $100 billion. We gave $350 billion and it should probably be exactly reversed, if you want to know the truth. But now the NATO is going to pay us 100 percent the cost of all the weapons and everything.
So NATO will distribute the weapons and they're going to pay for them.
That's a good deal. Yeah.
Well, it's a much different deal than we had before.
Yes. Yeah. Thank you so much, Mr. President. You're very kind with your time and thank you for hosting us in this beautiful part of the world.
Well, thank you. And your ratings are very good and I want to congratulate you. I was very impressed. I saw them the other day and I said, well, I'm not surprised.
Thank you. Well, with stars like you and Susie Wiles, your chief of staff --
Oh, yeah, she was great.
-- and Monica Crowley and the rest of your cabinet, they're all superstars really.
Congratulations.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
That's all we've got from Turnberry today. I'm Miranda Devine and this is Pod Force One. We've got some big interviews in the works. You won't want to miss any of them, so make sure you hit the like and subscribe buttons below.