Trump wont detail what he plans to do as president in Time interview

The cover story of Time magazine is presented as definitive.

“If he wins,” it states over a picture of former president Donald Trump sitting on a stool. The story from reporter Eric Cortellessa bears the headline, “How far Trump would go,” and interweaves quotes from a lengthy interview Trump granted Cortellessa with the reporter’s assessments of what it tells us about a potential second Trump term.

But as is often the case, a lot of what Trump is reported as planning to do is constructed from murky, noncommittal answers Trump offered to specific questions. The interview is very revealing about Trump’s approach to the position in that it strongly suggests he hasn’t thought much about important issues, and makes clear how relentlessly he relies on rhetoric to derail questions.

The interview is not revealing about what Trump is firmly committed to doing. But that’s revealing in its own way: It makes it obvious that a second term, like the first, would see policy and executive actions driven by whomever is around Trump. And Trump is clearly committed to having around him only people who share his political worldview.

Before we list the firm policy commitments Trump offered to Cortellessa, which won’t take long, it’s useful to point out all the revealing comments Trump made simply by being given the space to talk.

For example, when asked whether he would use the military to help deport immigrants despite prohibitions against deploying the military against civilians, Trump told Cortellessa that “these aren’t civilians.” He claimed they were, instead, part of an “invasion,” rhetoric he’s used before. This is false — but revealing about Trump’s potential willingness to use force as part of a deportation effort.

He dismissed his comment to Fox News host Sean Hannity about wanting to be a “dictator for a day” by saying he was joking, just as he was joking in July 2016 when he asked Russia to dig up Hillary Clinton’s old emails. (That same day, Russian hackers attempted to access Clinton’s email server.) Cortellessa pointed out that a lot of people found language about dictatorship and suspending the Constitution worrisome.

“I think a lot of people like it,” Trump countered, which is true but hardly reassuring.

So what did he commit to?

On the deportation effort, he said that “we will be using local law enforcement,” and that while he “would have no problem using the military, per se,” he also thought “the National Guard will do the job.” Would he build internment camps? “It’s possible,” he said, which is his preferred response to many things.

He told Cortellessa that he wanted “to give police immunity from prosecution” but didn’t say whether that necessitated new legislation. This, too, is a benefit of being vague; this is a statement of support for police (which he likes to do) but nothing that can be picked apart as unworkable.

Trump pledged that he “will be complying with court orders,” which is a low bar for a president, certainly. He started to tell Cortellessa that he would finish the wall on the U.S.-Mexico border before shifting into a riff about how much he already built, etc.

One place where he was specific was on new protectionist moves for American manufacturers. He would introduce tariffs of “more than 10 percent” and also add “a reciprocal tax.” When Cortellessa pointed out that his tariffs were disproportionately paid by American consumers, Trump simply replied that they weren’t. It was the same approach he took to Cortellessa pointing out that crime was down: No, it wasn’t. (He cited information that came out “last night” about the FBI giving “fake numbers” — possibly a reference to a dubious report from Fox News’s Jesse Watters this month.)

Should Israel and Iran go to war, Trump said he “will protect Israel.” Asked about Ukraine, though, Trump said he was “going to try and help Ukraine, but Europe has to get there also and do their job.” Perhaps relatedly, Trump also pledged that he would get Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich released from detention in Russia.

“[Russian President Vladimir ] Putin is going to release him,” Trump promised.

Cortellessa tried to get Trump to commit to taking a position on issues related to abortion. The former president demurred, waving away questions by insisting that abortion policy would be left to the states, so he would never have a role.

He also pledged to make a public statement on enforcement of the Comstock Act (which some allies have pointed to as a vehicle for blocking abortion access) “over the next 14 days” and said he would offer his views on the abortion pill mifepristone “over the next week.” When Cortellessa continued the interview by phone a few weeks later, he asked Trump about the lack of a mifepristone announcement. Trump promised he would “be doing it over the next week or two.”

There was one other second-term action that Trump embraced: He would “absolutely” consider pardoning all of those in jail or sentenced for participating in the Capitol riot. The sole caveat he offered was if “somebody was evil and bad.” Where Trump draws the line for bad actors in relation to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack is unclear.

Trump’s lack of interest in committing to policy details is long-standing. During the 2016 campaign, he rejected the idea that he needed to offer specific proposals because it would tie his hands should he win the presidency. When Cortellessa asked about his policy on Taiwan, Trump offered a version of the same idea: “It puts you in a very bad position if you actually come out and make a statement one way or the other.” If you don’t make a clear statement, on the other hand, it allows voters to view his comments in whatever light they wish, useful for a political candidate.

One of the words used most frequently in the interview, in fact, is “depends.” The policy issue depends on this or that, Trump tells Cortellessa, a rational-seeming approach that has the happy side effect of allowing him to be vague. That vagueness can itself be revealing, though, as when Cortellessa pressed him on whether he was worried there might be violence in the event he loses in November.

“I don’t think we’re going to have that. I think we’re going to win,” Trump said. “And if we don’t win, you know, it depends. It always depends on the fairness of an election.”

There’s no reason to assume that Trump has spent a lot of time poring over specific policy issues. In a 2016 interview, for example, he offered a hard-line position on abortion off the cuff, forcing his team to do clean-up. His presidency certainly didn’t offer much reason to think he was implementing a detailed agenda of his own creation. Instead, his initiatives were often driven by congressional Republicans and administration staffers.

This brings us to the most clearly articulated plan Trump offered for a second term as president: overhauling the government.

“We want to get rid of bad people, people that have not done a good job in government,” Trump told Cortellessa. And unlike the first time around, where he “was not there very long” and so “had to rely on people” — his explanation for Mark T. Esper’s service as defense secretary — this time would be different. “Everybody wants to work for me,” he insisted.

Trump offered an ominous assessment of government officials.

“They have gotten very far astray from our Constitution,” Trump told Cortellessa. “I’m talking about the fascists and the people in our government right now, because I consider them — you know, we talk about the enemy from within. I think the enemy from within, in many cases, is much more dangerous for our country than the outside enemies of China, Russia and various others that would be called enemies depending on who the president is, frankly.”

This is the important takeaway from Cortellessa’s interview. Not that Trump has vague plans about the specifics of, say, deporting millions of people. It is that, instead, Trump has clear plans for putting loyalists into power where they can effect their priorities.

Trump wants to drain the swamp and restock it with his own piranhas.

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Trump wont detail what he plans to do as president in Time interview