Trump takes on NBC host in latest contested interview

If there is one thing that cannot be denied about Donald Trump, it is that he will sit down with any outlet to do an interview.

To that point, Trump sat down with “Meet the Press” and Kristen Welker this weekend, and the clips from the interview have been blowing up on social media.

Dishonest interview

One thing that bothers me about the media is how it always looks to cherry-pick certain things to create a narrative rather than just telling the story.

When Welker asked Trump about the impact of pricing due to his tariffs, Trump let her have it, stating, "This is such a dishonest interview already. Prices are down on groceries. Prices are down for oil. Energy prices are down at tremendous numbers for gasoline.”

Trump then added, "Strollers are going up. What kind of a thing? I'm saying that gasoline is going down. Gasoline is thousands of times more important than a stroller or something.”

Trump’s point is that key items are going down, and maybe people will have to do without in other areas for a bit while all this plays out.

Give it a chance

When I first started writing about the tariff war, I made it quite clear that we would probably take it on the chin for a bit, but I firmly believed we would be better off on the other side of this if we could remain committed and get new trade deals in place. The key has always been China.

Trump basically just told Welker the same thing, stating, "They don’t need to have 250 pencils, they can have five… I'm basically saying we don't have to waste money on a trade deficit with China for things we don't need, for junk that we don't need."

He later stated, "Mortgage rates are going down, despite the fact that we have a stubborn fed… I can tell you that we're making a lot of money. We're doing great. Again, we're losing more than $5 billion a day, $5 billion a day. You don't talk about that. And right now we're going to be at a point very soon where we're making money every day.”

I agree with that take because many of the things coming from China are, quite literally, junk that most of us can do without. I can tell you flat out for my part I simply stopped buying anything but necessities to keep my spending down while this tariff war plays out.

Doesn’t it just sound good

My favorite part of the interview, however, was when Trump challenged Welker on his border policies.

Welker noted how border crossings are at record lows, and when Welker took the bait and asked Trump of the border was really secure, he responded, "When you say that, doesn't it just sound good?

“After being abused for years by an incompetent president that allowed people to pour through an open border, criminals from all over the world, murderers, insane people from mental institutions and insane asylums… isn't it a beautiful thing when you say it's the most secure it's ever been in the history of our country? Isn't that a nice statement?"

Trump then discussed the biggest issue he is having, which is judges who will not let him deport hardened criminals. Unfortunately, for Trump, there is nothing he can do about that other than hire a ton of immigration judges and build more courts, as the Court has been clear that everyone, including illegals, is entitled to due process. That is exactly why, at the start of this administration, I stated that Trump would be lucky to deport two million by the end of his administration, and it is exactly why it is so important for us to win in 2028 to continue this work.