In newly launched audio recordings from a 2020 interview, former President Donald Trump admitted he most well-liked international leaders “the harder and meaner they’re.”
“I really like Putin. Our dating will have to be an excellent one. I campaigned on getting along side Russia, China and everybody else,” Trump advised veteran journalist Bob Woodward in a Jan. 2020 interview, consistent with CNN, which got a replica. “Getting along side Russia is a great factor, now not a nasty factor, all proper? Particularly as a result of they have got 1,332 nuclear fucking warheads.”
“It’s humorous, the relationships I’ve, the harder and meaner they’re, the easier I am getting along side them. You realize?” Trump added. “Provide an explanation for that to me one day, ok. However possibly it’s now not a nasty factor. The straightforward ones are those I possibly don’t like as a lot or don’t get along side as a lot.”
He additionally spoke about his dating with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
“I am getting alongside really well with Erdogan, although you’re now not intended to as a result of everybody says what a terrible man,” Trump stated. “However you recognize for me it really works out excellent.”
Trump automatically touted his excellent dating with authoritarian leaders all the way through his presidency, whilst alienating allies equivalent to Canada, France and Germany.
Woodward is liberating the tapes from 20 interviews he carried out with Trump from 2016 to 2020 as a brand new audiobook, titled “The Trump Tapes.” CNN launched excerpts from the audiobook after acquiring an advance reproduction.