Transcript - Interview: Brooke Lennington of KSNT Topeka, KS Interviews Donald Trump - October 6, 2018 | Factba.se

Note

00:00:00 - 00:00:00 (0 sec)

[There is an edit between the introduction and the interview. KSNT has indicated this is the complete video, and no questions were removed. There are no edits in the video other than that break.]

Brooke Lennington

00:00:00 - 00:00:01 (1 sec)

[Voiceover] It started with a handshake.

Brooke Lennington

00:00:01 - 00:00:02 (1 sec)

Welcome to Topeka, President Trump.

Donald Trump

00:00:02 - 00:00:03 (2 sec)

Nice to see you. Fantastic.

Brooke Lennington

00:00:03 - 00:00:04 (1 sec)

Donald Trump

00:00:04 - 00:00:05 (1 sec)

Brooke Lennington

00:00:05 - 00:00:06 (1 sec)

Brooke Lennington, KSNT News.

Note

00:00:06 - 00:00:06 (0 sec)

Brooke Lennington

00:00:06 - 00:00:09 (3 sec)

[Inaudible] of course, a Kavanaugh-related question. What was your reaction when you found out?

Donald Trump

00:00:09 - 00:00:32 (24 sec)

Well, I was so happy. He's so talented. He's a great scholar. Number one at Yale, number one at Yale Law School, and a terrific person. And what they put him through, the Democrats, it was horrible. And one of the reasons I chose him is that he was as good as you could ever find, from the family life, from every standpoint there was just -- and then they try to give this false narrative that was so terrible.

Donald Trump

00:00:32 - 00:00:43 (11 sec)

So, we're really happy. Nobody would have thought it would have been so difficult in his case. But the bottom line is we won, and he's going to be one of our great justices.

Brooke Lennington

00:00:43 - 00:00:52 (9 sec)

[Inaudible] So can you tell me, why did you choose to come to Topeka, and what is it about these two political races in particular that kind of interest you to -- to decide side to come here?

Donald Trump

00:00:52 - 00:01:12 (20 sec)

Well, Kris Kobach been with me from the beginning. He's been a fan of ours, and he's a big border person as you know, and he's very strong on law and order, protection, safety for the families, and for the communities. It's a very great thing, He'll be a great governor. And Steve Watkins has been great. He's going to be a fantastic Congressman.

Donald Trump

00:01:12 - 00:01:29 (17 sec)

I hope -- I hope he goes out and wins. The person he's running against, I hear, is not too good. And he is going to be fantastic, and he'll back us. It's make America great again. So I'm here for Steve Watkins, and I'm here for Kris Kobach, and I think that we're going to have some great success.

Brooke Lennington

00:01:29 - 00:01:31 (2 sec)

But you're not here for the barbecue. You're not sticking around for the barbecue?

Donald Trump

00:01:31 - 00:01:44 (12 sec)

I'd like to be for the barbecue. I know your barbecues. I've been -- I actually was here once for a barbecue, and it was pretty good. You know, it's a great state. I have so many friends in this state. It's a great state. And the crowd is phenomenal, I understand.

Brooke Lennington

00:01:44 - 00:01:46 (2 sec)

And as you know we have a lot of farmers out here.

Donald Trump

00:01:46 - 00:01:46 (0 sec)

Brooke Lennington

00:01:46 - 00:01:47 (1 sec)

Brooke Lennington

00:01:47 - 00:01:53 (6 sec)

[Voiceover] My next question was about the recently drafted USMCA trade deal, and how it would impact farmers in the Midwest.

Donald Trump

00:01:53 - 00:02:16 (22 sec)

OK, so we made a tremendous deal, as you know, and I don't know if other people are happy, in terms of Canada, Mexico, but I can tell you our people are really happy, and our farmers are really happy. We opened up the Canadian markets, opened up to Mexican markets, and, you know, the alternative was to put a lot of tariffs on the things that they had coming in, and we made a deal.

Donald Trump

00:02:16 - 00:02:33 (18 sec)

Our farmers are thrilled, as you know, it's gotten phenomenal reviews, and I love the farmers because they stuck with me. You know, you can't do it too fast. If you go too fast, it's like cooking a pie. You go too fast, it's not going to work out so well. And I said, just stay with me. We opened up the Canadian market, opened up the Mexican market.

Donald Trump

00:02:33 - 00:02:49 (15 sec)

We're now working on China, and our farmers are going to do great, because our farmers have not done well over the last 15 years. You know, if you look at even soybeans, from five years before the election, they were cut in half. And now, as you know, people are starting to buy again, and it's going to be great.

Donald Trump

00:02:49 - 00:03:11 (22 sec)

But another one that's coming along will come is going to be China. And then we're working with the EU, who basically have a barrier. We can't even sell into the EU. It's so unfair. They made $151 billion last year. So we're opening it all up for our farmers. Our farmers are going to be big beneficiaries, and they're really happy with the USMCA, which is the old NAFTA.

Donald Trump

00:03:11 - 00:03:15 (4 sec)

But I refuse to use the name, because with such a bad deal for our country.

Brooke Lennington

00:03:15 - 00:03:20 (4 sec)

And it sounds a lot like YMCA. So it's fitting. You can do the dance with it.

Donald Trump

00:03:20 - 00:03:22 (2 sec)

It works. I heard the way you said it. [Laughs]

Brooke Lennington

00:03:22 - 00:03:30 (8 sec)

Now, one thing. I do want to get to the viewer questions, because I know it means a lot to them. So Sloane Lewis wanted to know, what is one thing Americans can do to bridge this political divide?

Donald Trump

00:03:30 - 00:03:48 (18 sec)

Well, you know, there's a lot of things that are very opposite. Usually some bad things happen, and everybody gets together. But I don't want to get it together that way. If you look at health insurance, we want great inexpensive health insurance. They want a single payer that's going to put the country out of business.

Donald Trump

00:03:48 - 00:04:05 (17 sec)

They're going to have to double their taxes, triple their taxes, to pay. So, there are a lot of things. But I think what's happening -- people are loving our strong military, and all of it's made in the United States, the planes the jets, the rockets, everything. But we need it. You know in these times. They are loving our low taxes.

Donald Trump

00:04:05 - 00:04:22 (17 sec)

And that means the other side is loving them. They're loving the less regulation. I think it's coming together. I think, you have politicians in Washington that exacerbate problems, and that causes problems. But we just had a tremendous victory, as you know, with Judge Kavanaugh. He's now a Justice of the Supreme Court.

Donald Trump

00:04:22 - 00:04:43 (21 sec)

And that just took place a little while ago. In fact, in theory I shouldn't be in Kansas right now. I'm supposed to be back in Washington. But I said, there's no way I'm canceling. The tens of thousands of people, I guess, they have 11,000 people in the room. And there's a lot of people outside. So I think, if I would have said, by the way I'm going to cancel, Kansas wouldn't have liked me too much ,and that's not -- never going to happen.

Donald Trump

00:04:43 - 00:05:04 (21 sec)

Never going to happen. But I think -- I think we're going to get together. I think that as they see -- look, the economy is the best it's ever been in the history of our country. Unemployment numbers are the best they've ever been. If you look -- African-American, Asian, Hispanic, the numbers are the best they've ever been in the history of the United States, history of our country. And I think that's bringing people together.

Brooke Lennington

00:05:04 - 00:05:12 (8 sec)

All right. Now this one, it was one of my favorites. Brett Mallon wanted to know what is the American dream, and to what extent is it achievable for all Americans?

Donald Trump

00:05:12 - 00:05:26 (13 sec)

Well, I think the American dream is really a great economy, where people can either start a business, small business, it becomes big, or get themselves a great job that they really love going to. That seems to be -- and have a great family, always. Always, number one. To me, always number one.

Brooke Lennington

00:05:26 - 00:05:28 (3 sec)

Alright, and you're not sticking around for the barbecue, just to be clear?

Donald Trump

00:05:28 - 00:05:32 (4 sec)

Well, I'll -- maybe. Maybe, if I'm invited by the right people, maybe.

Brooke Lennington

00:05:32 - 00:05:33 (1 sec)

[Voiceover] And then it ended with a handshake.

Brooke Lennington

00:05:33 - 00:05:35 (2 sec)

Alright, yeah, thanks, I appreciate it.

Donald Trump

00:05:35 - 00:05:36 (1 sec)

Great honor. Thank you very much.