Since the whole dynamic of the 2024 race for the presidency was totally upended in the aftermath of President Biden’s abysmal performance in the Trump-Biden debate on CNN on June 27, former president Donald Trump has done few interviews – preferring to allow Biden to twist in the wind.
The failed assassination attempt on Trump on July 13 in Pennsylvania went further in resetting the Election 2024 race. The contest is now seen as the Republicans’ to lose.
Yesterday’s historic news that President Biden was abruptly ending his campaign for a second term, and endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris as his successor, sent further shockwaves into the already unpredictable race for the presidency.
After last week’s successful Republican Convention that nominated Trump and his VP pick Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, Trump and Vance sat down for their first television interview on Saturday.
Significant portions of the interview, with FOX News anchor Jesse Watters, will be shown on Watters World tonight (Monday July 22) on FOX News at 8:00 p.m. ET/10:00 p.m. PT.
In advance of the program this evening, FOX News has released excerpts from the interview.
The video clip is here.
The first batch was reported on at AT here yesterday. Later on Sunday, transcripts and video clips of three more Q&As from the interview were released – and they continue to put some new information on the record, pointing to the Republicans’ strategies for the upcoming race and how they will address the current vice president and possibly the 2024 Democrat presidential nominee, Kamala Harris.
On the state of the Democratic party and the upcoming Democratic National Convention:
JESSE WATTERS, FOX News Host: You don't even know who you're running against.
FORMER PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: No.
WATTERS: You could be debating Kamala. You could be debating Kamala. What's going on?
TRUMP: I have no idea. So, we are the most unified party, I think, that's ever existed. We had 100 percent of the delegates that are with us. And you saw the spirit. There was never a convention like this. And it's so fresh in everyone's mind. It was just a beautiful event. It was – everything about it was beautiful. The camaraderie, but the unity, there's never been anything like it. 100 percent of the people for us.
SEN. J.D. VANCE: Yes.
TRUMP: And they're for the party. They're for everybody. They're for the senators. They're for the congressmen and women that are running. It was a beautiful thing to watch. There was no dissension. There were no fights on the floor. I mean, some of these conventions are vicious.
VANCE: Yes.
WATTERS: There might be a vicious [Democrat] convention in Chicago.
VANCE: It could be.
TRUMP: It could be.
WATTERS: So, they're going to cook up something at the [Democrat] convention. They might throw [Michigan Gov.] Gretchen Whitmer at you. They might throw [California Gov.] Gavin Newsom at you. They might throw Michelle Obama at you.
TRUMP: Yes, I wouldn't be worried about any of them. Look, they have bad policies. Forget about the people. They have an open border policy. They have a high tax policy. They have a bad military policy. The whole world is going woke. Their world is going woke. The Green New Scam. We're spending all our money on things that don't work. The whole thing is a mess.
Jesse Watters interviewed Donald Trump and J.D. Vance July 20, 2024 in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Screenshot of FOX News video by Peter Chowka. Used with permission of FOX News.
Watters’ next question was addressed to Sen. Vance, including about the possibility of removing President Biden from office using the 25th Amendment to the Constitution.
The video link is here.
WATTERS: Is it a coup against Joe Biden?
TRUMP: Sort of, yes.
VANCE: I think it is. I mean, look, there's a constitutional process, the 25th Amendment. If Joe Biden can't run for president, he can't serve as president. And if they want to take him down because he's mentally incapable of serving, invoke the 25th Amendment. You don't get to sort of do this in the most politically beneficial way for Democrats. If it's an actual problem, they should take care of it in the appropriate way.
In the final interview excerpt released yesterday, (link is here), Watters asked Trump about President Joe Biden’s relationship with former President Barack Obama. Keep in mind that this interview was conducted less than 24 hours before Biden announced the end of his re-election campaign.
TRUMP: And now, Biden's hating Kamala because she's out there now campaigning for herself. She's out there trying to get him to quit so she can run for president. And she's not a competent person. She shouldn't be president. I mean, she's being laughed at all over the world.
WATTERS: Barack Obama trying to get him out. Barack Obama still plotting against you, trying to take you out.
TRUMP: They got some big problems over there. First of all, Obama hates Biden, and Biden hates Obama. And when Obama walked Biden out a couple of weeks ago off the stage [at the Los Angeles fundraiser], he didn't have to do that. He could've let him wave to the people a little bit longer. I don't know if Joe knew who he was waving to, but he was waving. And all of a sudden, Obama comes along and grabs him, “come on Joe,” like he was a child. It made him look so bad. And I know people with Biden, I know people with Obama, and they were not happy about that. It made him [Biden] look really bad. Like a child. Like a child. They don't like each other. And I think that it's pretty tough. This guy [Biden] got, what, 14, 15 million votes? Delegates, he had the votes. So, he goes through a process, he gets them, and the whole thing has been a con. Look, when they kept him in the basement in the first [election in 2020], those people should be looked at, because they lied to the American public.
Peter Barry Chowka is a veteran journalist who has covered national politics and other topics for over five decades. His most recent interview on BBC Radio in the U.K. can be listened to here. His web page with links to his work and a bio is http://peter.media. Peter’s extensive American Thinker archive: http://tinyurl.com/pcathinker. His X/Twitter account is @pchowka.