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Another day, another ocean of self-pitying, self-congratulating nonsense
If you haven't read Time Magazine's April 22 interview with Trump, ... maybe keep it that way, your brain will hurt less and your blood pressure will be lower, but there it is.
Time provides a page of fact-checks of the President's statements in the interview. On trade and tariff issues, he makes up a bunch of numbers that are much higher than the actual numbers, equates buying more than you sell with "losing" money, describes inflation under Biden as "the highest inflation we've ever had", says we're "taking in billions of dollars in tariffs from other countries" that are actually paid mostly by US consumers, etc. He also mis-states crime trends to make Biden look worse and himself look better, overstates evidence against Kilmar Abrego-García, understates prosecutions of rioters in the George Floyd protests, describes Jan. 6 rioters repeatedly as "peaceful and patriotic", overstates the fraud and savings found by DOGE so far, alleges incorrectly that "Stacey Abrams got $2 billion on the environment... something that she knows nothing about" (in fact there was a $2 billion grant to a consortium of NPO's, of which one of the smaller member organizations had formerly employed Stacey Abrams), and alleges widespread Democratic election fraud in both 2020 and 2024.
Trump brags about companies investing in the US: "the companies, the chip companies, the car companies, the Apple. $500 billion. Apple is investing $500 billion in building plants. They never invested in this country.... We have $7 trillion of new plants, factories and other things, investment coming into the United States.... Saudi Arabia, I happen to like the people very much, and the Crown Prince and the King—I like all of them, but they've agreed to invest a trillion dollars in our economy. $1 trillion."
The only way a foreign company or country can invest in the US is with dollars, which they can acquire only by selling stuff to the US, which Trump doesn't want them to do. I'm not an economist, but I get the impression that a country's trade deficit is almost by definition equal to its investment surplus: cut one and you've cut the other.
"[Time] it seems like you are expanding the power of the presidency. Why do you think you need more power?
[Trump] Well, I don't feel I'm expanding it. I think I'm using it as it was meant to be used. [changes topic to tariffs]
[Time] ... you've taken congressional authority on trade and appropriations. You fired the heads of independent agencies. You're challenging the courts right now, as you know. You're using the levers of government to weaken private institutions like law firms and universities. Isn't this seizing power away from institutions and concentrating them inside the presidency?
[Trump] No, I think that what I'm doing is exactly what I've campaigned on. [changes topic to immigration enforcement, equating immigrants with violent criminals]"
[Time] So you're not concentrating more power in the presidency?
[Trump] I don't think so. I think I'm using it properly, and I'm also using it as per my election. You know, everything that I'm doing—this is what I talked about doing. I said that I'm going to move the criminals out. [changes topic to immigration enforcement, blaming Biden for stopping wall construction]"
"[Trump] ... I've made all the deals.
[Time] Not one has been announced yet. When are you going to announce them?
[Trump] I’ve made 200 deals.
[Time] You’ve made 200 deals?
[Trump] 100%.
[Time] Can you share with whom?
[Trump] Because the deal is a deal that I choose. View it differently: We are a department store, and we set the price. I meet with the companies, and then I set a fair price, what I consider to be a fair price, and they can pay it, or they don't have to pay it."
In other words, simply by imposing tariffs, he has made 200 deals. This is a guy whose name is on a book entitled "The Art of the Deal". "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."
"[Time] Let me quote from the ruling. “The order properly requires the government to facilitate Abrego Garcia's release from custody in El Salvador.” Are you facilitating a release?
[Trump] I leave that to my lawyers. I give them no instructions. They feel that the order said something very much different from what you're saying. But I leave that to my lawyers. If they want—and that would be the Attorney General of the United States and the people that represent the country. I don't make that decision.
[Time] Have you asked President Bukele to return him?
[Trump] I haven’t, uh, he said he wouldn’t. ... But I haven’t asked him positively, but he said he wouldn’t.
[Time] But if you haven't asked him, then how are you facilitating his release?
[Trump] Well, because I haven't been asked to ask him by my attorneys. Nobody asked me to ask him that question, except you.
...
[Time] Mr. President, whatever he might have done, whoever he might be affiliated with, doesn’t he deserve his day in court? Nazi saboteurs who came on our shores at Montauk during World War II had their day in court. Al Qaeda terrorists had their day in court.
[Trump] I really give that to my lawyers to determine, that’s why I have them. That’s not my determination. It's something that, frankly, bringing him back and retrying him wouldn't bother me, but I leave that up to my lawyer. You could bring him back and retry him—
[Time] That’s exactly right. You could fix this simply by bringing him back and going through the legal process—
[Trump] But I leave that decision to the lawyers. At this moment, they just don’t want to do that. They say we’re in total compliance with the Supreme Court."
"[Time] Some Republicans are considering raising taxes on millionaires in the package you're planning to pass that would extend your 2017 tax cuts. Do you support that idea?
[Trump] ... I actually love the concept, but I don't want it to be used against me politically, because I've seen people lose elections for less, especially with the fake news. ... I would not mind personally paying more. But the concept is something that may not be acceptable to the public."
Time provides a page of fact-checks of the President's statements in the interview. On trade and tariff issues, he makes up a bunch of numbers that are much higher than the actual numbers, equates buying more than you sell with "losing" money, describes inflation under Biden as "the highest inflation we've ever had", says we're "taking in billions of dollars in tariffs from other countries" that are actually paid mostly by US consumers, etc. He also mis-states crime trends to make Biden look worse and himself look better, overstates evidence against Kilmar Abrego-García, understates prosecutions of rioters in the George Floyd protests, describes Jan. 6 rioters repeatedly as "peaceful and patriotic", overstates the fraud and savings found by DOGE so far, alleges incorrectly that "Stacey Abrams got $2 billion on the environment... something that she knows nothing about" (in fact there was a $2 billion grant to a consortium of NPO's, of which one of the smaller member organizations had formerly employed Stacey Abrams), and alleges widespread Democratic election fraud in both 2020 and 2024.
Trump brags about companies investing in the US: "the companies, the chip companies, the car companies, the Apple. $500 billion. Apple is investing $500 billion in building plants. They never invested in this country.... We have $7 trillion of new plants, factories and other things, investment coming into the United States.... Saudi Arabia, I happen to like the people very much, and the Crown Prince and the King—I like all of them, but they've agreed to invest a trillion dollars in our economy. $1 trillion."
The only way a foreign company or country can invest in the US is with dollars, which they can acquire only by selling stuff to the US, which Trump doesn't want them to do. I'm not an economist, but I get the impression that a country's trade deficit is almost by definition equal to its investment surplus: cut one and you've cut the other.
"[Time] it seems like you are expanding the power of the presidency. Why do you think you need more power?
[Trump] Well, I don't feel I'm expanding it. I think I'm using it as it was meant to be used. [changes topic to tariffs]
[Time] ... you've taken congressional authority on trade and appropriations. You fired the heads of independent agencies. You're challenging the courts right now, as you know. You're using the levers of government to weaken private institutions like law firms and universities. Isn't this seizing power away from institutions and concentrating them inside the presidency?
[Trump] No, I think that what I'm doing is exactly what I've campaigned on. [changes topic to immigration enforcement, equating immigrants with violent criminals]"
[Time] So you're not concentrating more power in the presidency?
[Trump] I don't think so. I think I'm using it properly, and I'm also using it as per my election. You know, everything that I'm doing—this is what I talked about doing. I said that I'm going to move the criminals out. [changes topic to immigration enforcement, blaming Biden for stopping wall construction]"
"[Trump] ... I've made all the deals.
[Time] Not one has been announced yet. When are you going to announce them?
[Trump] I’ve made 200 deals.
[Time] You’ve made 200 deals?
[Trump] 100%.
[Time] Can you share with whom?
[Trump] Because the deal is a deal that I choose. View it differently: We are a department store, and we set the price. I meet with the companies, and then I set a fair price, what I consider to be a fair price, and they can pay it, or they don't have to pay it."
In other words, simply by imposing tariffs, he has made 200 deals. This is a guy whose name is on a book entitled "The Art of the Deal". "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."
"[Time] Let me quote from the ruling. “The order properly requires the government to facilitate Abrego Garcia's release from custody in El Salvador.” Are you facilitating a release?
[Trump] I leave that to my lawyers. I give them no instructions. They feel that the order said something very much different from what you're saying. But I leave that to my lawyers. If they want—and that would be the Attorney General of the United States and the people that represent the country. I don't make that decision.
[Time] Have you asked President Bukele to return him?
[Trump] I haven’t, uh, he said he wouldn’t. ... But I haven’t asked him positively, but he said he wouldn’t.
[Time] But if you haven't asked him, then how are you facilitating his release?
[Trump] Well, because I haven't been asked to ask him by my attorneys. Nobody asked me to ask him that question, except you.
...
[Time] Mr. President, whatever he might have done, whoever he might be affiliated with, doesn’t he deserve his day in court? Nazi saboteurs who came on our shores at Montauk during World War II had their day in court. Al Qaeda terrorists had their day in court.
[Trump] I really give that to my lawyers to determine, that’s why I have them. That’s not my determination. It's something that, frankly, bringing him back and retrying him wouldn't bother me, but I leave that up to my lawyer. You could bring him back and retry him—
[Time] That’s exactly right. You could fix this simply by bringing him back and going through the legal process—
[Trump] But I leave that decision to the lawyers. At this moment, they just don’t want to do that. They say we’re in total compliance with the Supreme Court."
"[Time] Some Republicans are considering raising taxes on millionaires in the package you're planning to pass that would extend your 2017 tax cuts. Do you support that idea?
[Trump] ... I actually love the concept, but I don't want it to be used against me politically, because I've seen people lose elections for less, especially with the fake news. ... I would not mind personally paying more. But the concept is something that may not be acceptable to the public."
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