Politics
By Phillip M. Bailey
PRESIDENT Donald Trump kept his foot on the gas during an extended version of his Super Bowl interview that aired Monday, expressing trust in billionaire Elon Musk while defending his whiplash use of executive authority.
The one-on-one interview with Fox News chief political anchor Bret Baier, part of which aired ahead of Sunday’s game, touched on plenty of topics as 53% of Americans say they approve of his handling of the job in a CBS News/YouGov poll released Sunday.
Trump exuded confidence for much of the conversation, saying that unlike his first term in office he’s learned how to maneuver Washington better by having the right staffers working with him.
“I put people in office, some great, some really good ones, but I had some that I wouldn’t have put,” the president said in the interview taped at his private Mar-a-Lago club and personal residence in South Florida. “I would have known better if it were a couple of years later or I had a little more experience in D.C. I was a New York person.”
Americans made clear that consumer anxiety was at the center of their decision making during last year’s presidential campaign between Trump and Democratic nominee Kamala Harris, and it remains a chief concern.
A USA TODAY/Suffolk University poll released last month, for instance, showed 47% said the economy was the top priority. Trader Joe’s is putting purchase limits on eggs and Waffle House is putting a surcharge on them too as a result of ongoing pricing and availability issues brought on by the H5N1 bird flu.
But Trump ducked a critical question about how much longer Americans will have to wait until they see prices begin to come down, a topic that dominated the 2024 campaign and help catapult him back into power.
He said that the U.S. is “going to become rich” but must first stop foreign countries from “taking advantage of us” before defending his tariffs against allies and foes alike.
Here are the most important moments from the interview.
‘He’s a great guy’: Trump has trust in Musk
The role of Musk, the world’s richest man and the source of more than $250 million to support Trump’s 2024 campaign, has been a serious point of contention in the early days of Trump 2.0, with Democrats trying to demonstrate that the South African-born entrepreneur is a weak spot in the new GOP-led administration.
A larger legal battle is being waged against many of Musk’s moves inside the Trump administration, with roughly three-dozen lawsuits already filed against the president’s executive actions. The legal clap back challenges Trump’s authority to freeze government spending; end birthright citizenship; buyout federal employees; and eviscerate the U.S. Agency for International Development.
A federal judge pumped the brakes last week on Musk and other members of the Department of Government Efficiency, for instance, from accessing government payment processing systems in response to a challenge from the attorneys general in 19 states.
Fifty-three percent of voters disapprove of Musk playing a prominent role in the Trump administration, including 56% of independents. But for the moment, the president is standing by Musk, the tech billionaire who bragged on his social media site X that he fed the U.S. Agency for International Development “into the wood chipper.”
“We have to solve the efficiency problem,” Trump said. “We have to solve the fraud, waste, abuse, or the things that have gone into the government.”
The president described Musk as a “great guy” and “extremely intelligent” who wasn’t a supporter initially, but that he will clean up various departments and agencies in the federal government, including the military.
Trump say he’s serious about making Canada the 51st state
More: ‘Snowball’s chance in hell’: Trudeau responds to Donald Trump’s threats to annex Canada
Trump’s broad and brash style continues to vex political observers, and no better place is that demonstrated than the back-and-forth with America’s neighbors to the north.
Asked if it is true he wants Canada to join the U.S. rather than being a foreign ally, the president didn’t back off.
“I think Canada would be much better off being the 51st state,” Trump said.
Trump’s interview comments were backed by a new executive order Monday imposing 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports, including the closest U.S. neighbors.
Success will bring unity, Trump says
America remains bitterly divided after a bruising election and most of Trump’s early actions appear to have further aggravated that partisan split.
A Pew Research Center survey released last week found 40% of voters strongly disapprove of Trump’s performance versus 37% who strongly approve.
Asked what he can do to bring back a sense of unity after his more decisive win in 2024, the president pointed to economic success before the COVID-19 pandemic first struck five years ago during his first term.
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“We have to come together, but to come together, there’s only one thing that’s going to do it, and that’s massive success,” Trump said.
The president said that it will be hard for the country to unite while mentioning certain divisive issues such as border security, transgendered athletes and diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
Vance ’28: Not so fast, Mr. VP
At one point Baier used the interview to turn attention to the still too early to think about 2028 presidential contest, and if the president thinks of Vice President JD Vance as his natural successor.
“No, but he’s very capable,” Trump said. “I think you have a lot of very capable people.”
The 40-year-old Vance would be the top choice to take the presidential nomination with 27% of those polled saying they would back the former Ohio senator, according to a recent survey of Republican voters. The person in second place was the president’s oldest son, Donald Trump, Jr., 47, who raked in 21% of those polled.Trump is term limited under the 22nd Amendment of the Constitution, but the president has joked for years about serving for longer than eight years. He mentioned it again during last week’s National Prayer Breakfast.
One of Trump’s more provocative proposals is the idea of buying and redeveloping Gaza, which has been bombarded by Israel as a result of its war with Hamas.
But Trump, a former real estate mogul, said in his Fox interview that the enclave is a “demolition site” currently and that Palestinians should be shipped to other Middle East countries but would not have the right of return.
“No, they wouldn’t, because they’re going to have much better housing,” he said. “I’m talking about building a permanent place for that, because if they have to return now, it will be years before you could ever, it’s not habitable.”
Trump’s Gaza proposition has drawn rebukes from global leaders, including several U.S. allies, and also a host of human rights organizations, Arab nations and Palestinian leaders.
But Trump suggested a deal with Jordan and Egypt to take the displaced Palestinians could still be made, and that U.S. troops won’t be needed as some anti-war supporters have expressed concern about.
“Israel will watch it,” Trump said of Gaza. “Because it’s right next to Israel.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump on Musk, Canada and Vance: 5 takeaways from Super Bowl interview
A.I
Feb. 12, 2025
Tags: President Donald Trump
