CBS Evening News anchor Tony Dokoupil got an interview with Donald Trump on Tuesday, and one of the unusual moments came when the president talked about what would happen if Kamala Harris won the 2024 election.
The president was claiming that Harris would continue what he called a “mess” of an economy under Joe Biden.
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“You wouldn’t have a job right now, if she came in. You probably wouldn’t have a job right now,” Trump told Dokoupil during the interview, which took place on the floor of a Ford plant in Detroit.
Watch the full interview below.
The president then appeared to refer to David Ellison, who became CEO of Paramount last year after his Skydance bought parent company CBS. Ellison’s father, Larry, has long been a supporter of the president.
“Your boss is a great guy,” Trump said. “It could be a bust. Okay. It could be a bust. I doubt it in his case, but you never know. Let me tell you, you wouldn’t have this job. You wouldn’t have this job, certainly, whatever the hell they’re paying you.”
Dokoupil later said that “I think I’ll have this job even if the other guy wins.”
“Yes, but with a lower salary,” Trump replied.
the Evening News he conducted the entire interview, Dokoupil said, and it lasted about 15 minutes.
During the conversation Trump spoke about taking “very strong action” against Iran if the regime cracks down on the protesters amid unrest that has spread throughout the country. The president, however, was not specific about what that meant. At other points, Dokoupil let some of Trump’s claims go unchallenged, including that he “ended eight wars.” This has been disputed as hyperbole by the AP and other fact-checking sites.
Trump also claimed that “there is no inflation,” and later said he had them “to a level they haven’t seen in about nine years.” In fact, consumer prices rose about 2.7% in December, according to the Labor Department, and inflation was below 2% at points in Trump’s first term. the CBS Evening News anchor noted that “when I travel the country and go everywhere and talk to everyday Americans, they tell me they don’t feel it.”
“I’ve only been here 11 months, okay,” Trump replied, before saying that he “inherited a mess” and that “now we have the hottest country in the world.”
The most revealing part of the interview may have been when Dokoupil asked Trump about the shooting death of Renee Good by an ICE agent last week.
Dokoupil noted that he spoke with Good’s father, who is “a big supporter of yours.”
“He’s heartbroken because his daughter is dead. He’s also heartbroken because your administration quickly came out and said she’s a domestic terrorist. What do you want to say to her father right now?”
Trump replied, “Well, I want to tell the father that I love all our people. They can be on the other side, as you say. He can be on my side.”
Dokoupil said, “He’s on your side.”
Trump replied, “And I think that’s great … and I’ll bet that under normal circumstances she was a very solid person, wonderful, but pretty tough.” He then went on to defend ICE and blast Joe Biden, before returning to the video of Good’s murder, acknowledging that the footage is open to interpretation. Shortly after the murder, the Department of Homeland Security quickly said that Good was trying to hit the ICE officer with her vehicle.
“When you look at that tape, it can be looked at two ways, I think,” Trump said. “But when you look at the way it was, that car was pulled away. There are a few versions of that tape that are very, very bad.”
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