Trump on ’60 Minutes:’ 5 takeaways from Sunday’s televised interview – By Steve Kiggins (usatoday.com) / Oct 15 2018
President Donald Trump faced questions on many of the usual subjects during a far-ranging “60 Minutes” interview that aired Sunday night.
From North Korea to Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination process to the 2016 election, Trump answered and, at times, verbally sparred with “60 Minutes” anchor Lesley Stahl – ending one particularly tense exchange by telling her, “In the meantime, I’m the president – and you’re not.”
Twice, Trump defended his knowledge of world politics and events by telling Stahl that he wasn’t “a baby,” and, after Stahl persisted on questions about his treatment of Kavanaugh accuser Christine Blasey Ford, Trump told her, “I’m not going to get into it, because we won. It doesn’t matter. We won.”
Here are five takeaways from Trump’s “60 Minutes” interview:
Climate change isn’t a hoax … but we don’t know the cause
In the aftermath of Hurricane Michael, one of the most powerful hurricanes in recorded U.S. history, Trump and Stahl dueled over climate change.
“I think something’s happening. Something’s changing and it’ll change back again. I don’t think it’s a hoax, I think there’s probably a difference. But I don’t know that it’s manmade,” Trump said.
When Stahl told Trump she had considered the “impact” of him changing his mind and admitting, “There really is climate change,” the president answered, “I’m not denying climate change. But it could very well go back. You know, we’re talking about over millions of years.”
“But that’s denying it,” Stahl said.
When Stahl pushed Trump to acknowledge scientists’ findings regarding climate, the president said, “You’d have to show me the scientists because they have a very big political agenda, Lesley.”
Trump trusts Kim Jong Un … but not everybody in the White House
Do you trust Kim Jong Un? Stahl asked; Trump answered.
“I do trust him, yeah, I trust him,” the president said. “That doesn’t mean I can’t be proven wrong about (denuclearization).”
“Why would you trust him?” Stahl persisted.
“Well, first of all, if I didn’t trust him, I wouldn’t say that to you,” Trump said. “Wouldn’t I be foolish to tell you right here, on ’60 Minutes.’”
He added, “But the fact is, I do trust him. But we’ll see what happens.”
Later, Stahl raised first lady Melania Trump’s comments in an ABC News interview last week in which she said she didn’t trust everybody in the White House.
“It’s harder to govern. You always need to watch your back,” Melania Trump said during the interview.
“I feel the same way,” the president told Stahl. “I don’t trust everybody in the White House, I’ll be honest with you.”
Russia meddled … but so did China
There was interference in the 2016 election – but Russia wasn’t alone, Trump stressed to Stahl.
“They meddled. But I think China meddled, too,” Trump said when Stahl asked if he believed Russia had run interference in the last presidential election.
“And I think other countries,” the president continued.
“This is amazing,” Stahl said. “You are diverting the whole Russia thing.”
“I’m not doing anything,” Trump responded.
“You are, you are,” Stahl said.
The country needs to heal … but Democrats won’t let it
When Trump lamented Democrats’ treatment of Brett Kavanaugh during his overly contentious Supreme Court nomination process, Stahl asked the president why didn’t attempt to unify the country following Kavanaugh’s confirmation.
“I don’t think they want to heal yet, I’ll be honest,” Trump said, referring to the Democrats.
“You don’t want to heal yet?” Stahl asked.
“I saw Hillary Clinton made a really nasty statement,” Trump said. “I don’t think they want to be healed. I do want to heal.”
Trump didn’t immediately feel like POTUS … but he does now
To close the interview, Stahl asked Trump about finding his “sea legs” as president.
While Trump said he found it “a little surreal to say I’m President of the United States,” in the beginning, he quickly added, “Now, I very much feel like POTUS. I do. I feel like the president.”
“And you feel comfortable,” Stahl asked.
“I feel very comfortable, yeah,” the president answered.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/10/14/trump-60-minutes-cbs-takeaways/1645388002/
