Sept. 2, 2024

Exclusive! The Trump Interview with Stephen Strang

Exclusive! The Trump Interview with Stephen Strang
The player is loading ...
Charisma News

This episode was released on August 22, 2024.

In this exclusive interview from 2016, Donald Trump sits down with Stephen Strang to discuss key issues important to evangelical and Catholic voters. Trump reassures listeners about his commitment to protecting religious liberty, repealing the Johnson Amendment, and supporting Israel. He also shares personal insights about the role of faith and family in his life. This candid conversation provides valuable context on Trump's perspective as he seeks the presidency. Whether you're an ardent supporter or still deciding, this interview offers a unique window into Trump's beliefs and priorities.

God and Donald Trump https://a.co/d/5MGGTLk

Trump Aftershock https://a.co/d/3ZEePXd

God Trump and the 2020 Election https://a.co/d/bbF7Mt6

Transcript
1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:06,160
On August 11th of 2016, before he ran for president the first time, I had the privilege

2
00:00:06,160 --> 00:00:08,160
of interviewing Donald Trump.

3
00:00:08,160 --> 00:00:11,940
I negotiated a 10-minute face-to-face interview.

4
00:00:11,940 --> 00:00:15,760
It happened in, I'll say, the green room down at the convention center.

5
00:00:15,760 --> 00:00:18,120
I was ready with my questions.

6
00:00:18,120 --> 00:00:22,800
I got questions from people I respect, including Mike Huckabee.

7
00:00:22,800 --> 00:00:26,800
And Donald Trump was respectful.

8
00:00:26,800 --> 00:00:28,240
He gave me good answers.

9
00:00:28,240 --> 00:00:30,480
I've been able to get a lot of mileage out of it.

10
00:00:30,480 --> 00:00:36,360
And I ran it as a podcast, even though it was really for print in Charisma magazine.

11
00:00:36,360 --> 00:00:39,420
And then later I used it in some of my books.

12
00:00:39,420 --> 00:00:41,880
So I hope you enjoy my interview.

13
00:00:41,880 --> 00:00:57,640
A lot of the stuff he said in 2016 is just as valid today in 2024.

14
00:00:57,640 --> 00:01:02,240
So first question is, evangelicals and Catholics have been under attack from the Obama administration

15
00:01:02,240 --> 00:01:06,560
for their pro-life convictions and desire to be left alone from forced government acceptance

16
00:01:06,560 --> 00:01:10,600
of that which violates their biblical views on marriage.

17
00:01:10,600 --> 00:01:15,560
How can you reassure them that you will respect religious liberty for them?

18
00:01:15,560 --> 00:01:22,040
Well I think that, you know, I even mentioned in my speech, religious liberty is the foundation.

19
00:01:22,040 --> 00:01:24,920
Without the religious liberty, you don't have liberty.

20
00:01:24,920 --> 00:01:28,360
And I feel that so strongly.

21
00:01:28,360 --> 00:01:31,320
And so many other people do, except they don't express it.

22
00:01:31,320 --> 00:01:34,640
And plenty of politicians do, but they don't express it.

23
00:01:34,640 --> 00:01:44,400
So religious liberty is something that I find, that I cherish, and you will never be disappointed.

24
00:01:44,400 --> 00:01:49,160
When you met with evangelical leaders, of course I like this, for a church speech, you

25
00:01:49,160 --> 00:01:54,080
said that you would support repealing the Johnson Amendment so churches and ministries

26
00:01:54,080 --> 00:01:57,960
can maintain tax exemption without giving them free.

27
00:01:57,960 --> 00:01:58,960
How will you do it?

28
00:01:58,960 --> 00:02:01,320
Well I'll start it very early on.

29
00:02:01,320 --> 00:02:03,400
I'm not actually selling it if you order it on the truth.

30
00:02:03,400 --> 00:02:05,600
I started it already because I put it in the platform.

31
00:02:05,600 --> 00:02:06,600
You know, it's in the platform.

32
00:02:06,600 --> 00:02:09,840
A lot of people didn't even know where it was.

33
00:02:09,840 --> 00:02:12,120
And I put it in the platform.

34
00:02:12,120 --> 00:02:17,360
And now a lot of the pastors and ministers have seen it.

35
00:02:17,360 --> 00:02:19,920
And they can't even believe it.

36
00:02:19,920 --> 00:02:24,200
Because how this happened in the first place is shocking, how they were able to take it.

37
00:02:24,200 --> 00:02:27,600
So it's not something that was written from the beginning.

38
00:02:27,600 --> 00:02:29,960
This is something that was written by a very strong politician.

39
00:02:29,960 --> 00:02:30,960
That's all it is.

40
00:02:30,960 --> 00:02:34,280
But it silences great people.

41
00:02:34,280 --> 00:02:37,000
Silences people that we want to hear.

42
00:02:37,000 --> 00:02:38,000
Afraid to open things.

43
00:02:38,000 --> 00:02:39,000
They're afraid to talk about anybody.

44
00:02:39,000 --> 00:02:41,520
Because they can lose everything.

45
00:02:41,520 --> 00:02:44,680
You know, can lose everything with this.

46
00:02:44,680 --> 00:02:51,920
And we will, I will too, if I win, one of the first things I will do is lobby very strongly

47
00:02:51,920 --> 00:02:54,800
to have this terminated.

48
00:02:54,800 --> 00:02:58,720
And I will tell you something, it won't be hard.

49
00:02:58,720 --> 00:03:00,900
Because your lobby is so powerful.

50
00:03:00,900 --> 00:03:04,160
So even Democrats are outgrown.

51
00:03:04,160 --> 00:03:07,800
Because this is bigger than men, bigger than women in terms of numbers of people.

52
00:03:07,800 --> 00:03:09,680
So I'll be able to get it done.

53
00:03:09,680 --> 00:03:12,760
I have absolute confidence that I'll be able to get it done.

54
00:03:12,760 --> 00:03:16,400
Have you been lauded for the very strong bond of your adult children?

55
00:03:16,400 --> 00:03:21,000
Why does it stand the secret that you have such a close relationship with your children

56
00:03:21,000 --> 00:03:23,360
and their very obvious respect for you?

57
00:03:23,360 --> 00:03:26,520
Well I worked very hard when it came to my children.

58
00:03:26,520 --> 00:03:32,040
And one of the things that I would tell them all the time is no drugs are important.

59
00:03:32,040 --> 00:03:34,040
No cigarettes, I also tell them no cigarettes.

60
00:03:34,040 --> 00:03:36,400
But no drugs, no alcohol, no cigarettes.

61
00:03:36,400 --> 00:03:39,720
And I would say that to a point where they would go.

62
00:03:39,720 --> 00:03:45,760
Every time they'd go out or see them, saying no drugs, no alcohol, no cigarettes.

63
00:03:45,760 --> 00:03:49,680
And you know, I have friends who have very small children, but their children are hooked

64
00:03:49,680 --> 00:03:51,840
on drugs or they're hooked on alcohol.

65
00:03:51,840 --> 00:03:55,280
I had cigarettes because of the health thing because it's just easier if you're not

66
00:03:55,280 --> 00:03:56,280
smoking.

67
00:03:56,280 --> 00:03:57,280
I was lucky enough not to smoke.

68
00:03:57,280 --> 00:04:01,560
If I did smoke, I mean I have friends who can't get off and they're strong people.

69
00:04:01,560 --> 00:04:03,480
But if you've never started, it's not a problem.

70
00:04:03,480 --> 00:04:05,440
Same thing with drugs, same thing with alcohol.

71
00:04:05,440 --> 00:04:07,880
If you've never started, it's not a problem.

72
00:04:07,880 --> 00:04:08,880
And that's a big factor.

73
00:04:08,880 --> 00:04:14,920
And the fact that they're not hooked and you know, cults play a little bit.

74
00:04:14,920 --> 00:04:17,040
You never know what's the fragile world.

75
00:04:17,040 --> 00:04:19,600
So who knows what happens.

76
00:04:19,600 --> 00:04:28,080
But I would always talk about drugs, alcohol, and to a lesser extent, seen.

77
00:04:28,080 --> 00:04:32,500
As president, who will you reach out to for spiritual counsel and why do you feel that

78
00:04:32,500 --> 00:04:36,480
president need God's wisdom and guidance?

79
00:04:36,480 --> 00:04:37,520
Well I had many.

80
00:04:37,520 --> 00:04:41,240
I have so many friends, including Paula White was here.

81
00:04:41,240 --> 00:04:49,880
I have many friends within the community and some of the people who are here today.

82
00:04:49,880 --> 00:04:53,800
But one of them has been so incredible is Franklin Gray.

83
00:04:53,800 --> 00:04:57,680
Franklin Gray has been, I mean he's been amazing.

84
00:04:57,680 --> 00:05:00,800
He's been really direct.

85
00:05:00,800 --> 00:05:02,400
So we're close to Franklin.

86
00:05:02,400 --> 00:05:05,000
Pastor Jeffress has been direct.

87
00:05:05,000 --> 00:05:08,680
Paula White has been incredible.

88
00:05:08,680 --> 00:05:11,320
So many, so many.

89
00:05:11,320 --> 00:05:16,400
And I will, I really like to stay with people that have been so loyal because they were

90
00:05:16,400 --> 00:05:23,720
here at the beginning where this was a very, very little tiny flame.

91
00:05:23,720 --> 00:05:28,160
And they were here whenever we were saying, well you can't be actually 70 because actually

92
00:05:28,160 --> 00:05:29,160
the real level is 18.

93
00:05:29,160 --> 00:05:34,760
You're reaching off the record if you include Gilm Bar.

94
00:05:34,760 --> 00:05:38,640
But how do you beat 16 seasoned politicians?

95
00:05:38,640 --> 00:05:41,140
Because there were 17 total.

96
00:05:41,140 --> 00:05:43,600
But how do you beat 16 seasoned politicians?

97
00:05:43,600 --> 00:05:51,520
And in the case of Ben Carson, who's a terrific guy who endorsed us, but how do you beat these

98
00:05:51,520 --> 00:05:53,680
tremendously talented people?

99
00:05:53,680 --> 00:05:54,680
So they were there at the beginning.

100
00:05:54,680 --> 00:05:59,580
And that is something nice about people that were there at the beginning.

101
00:05:59,580 --> 00:06:03,680
You've already said that you support his will to claim to Jerusalem as capital.

102
00:06:03,680 --> 00:06:07,840
Many evangelical Christians are very strong supporters of Israel.

103
00:06:07,840 --> 00:06:12,440
How will your policies toward Israel differ from your opponent?

104
00:06:12,440 --> 00:06:14,600
Well for one thing, I support Israel.

105
00:06:14,600 --> 00:06:18,240
I don't think Obama supports Israel.

106
00:06:18,240 --> 00:06:21,600
I think he's the worst thing that's ever happened to Israel.

107
00:06:21,600 --> 00:06:24,720
The Iran deal is a disaster for Israel.

108
00:06:24,720 --> 00:06:26,640
And I'm very supportive of Israel.

109
00:06:26,640 --> 00:06:28,880
I have tremendous friendships in Israel.

110
00:06:28,880 --> 00:06:37,640
I have a son-in-law who's Jewish and married to my daughter.

111
00:06:37,640 --> 00:06:40,040
I have a daughter who's Jewish.

112
00:06:40,040 --> 00:06:46,680
So I will be very strongly in favor of Israel.

113
00:06:46,680 --> 00:06:51,320
In the book of Deuteronomy in the Old Testament, it says to be kind to the stranger of the

114
00:06:51,320 --> 00:06:52,320
land.

115
00:06:52,320 --> 00:06:56,280
How would that scripture guide your policy of immigration?

116
00:06:56,280 --> 00:07:00,200
Well I think that's good, but we have to be careful with the same.

117
00:07:00,200 --> 00:07:01,880
We're allowing people to come into the country.

118
00:07:01,880 --> 00:07:03,760
We don't know anything about them.

119
00:07:03,760 --> 00:07:04,760
There's no paperwork.

120
00:07:04,760 --> 00:07:06,400
There's no documentation.

121
00:07:06,400 --> 00:07:10,400
You see what's going on in Germany and France and many other places where they have an open

122
00:07:10,400 --> 00:07:13,440
door policy essentially.

123
00:07:13,440 --> 00:07:14,880
And it's going to go on here too.

124
00:07:14,880 --> 00:07:18,320
I mean we're going to allow thousands and thousands of people into our country.

125
00:07:18,320 --> 00:07:20,240
We have no idea who they are.

126
00:07:20,240 --> 00:07:22,880
At the same time, we want to build safe havens.

127
00:07:22,880 --> 00:07:25,280
We want to build safe havens.

128
00:07:25,280 --> 00:07:30,640
And we're going to get the Gulf states to fund that money because it's a tremendous

129
00:07:30,640 --> 00:07:34,800
amount of money and this country doesn't have it.

130
00:07:34,800 --> 00:07:38,000
So we want to take care of people, but we can't allow them in because we just don't

131
00:07:38,000 --> 00:07:39,000
know.

132
00:07:39,000 --> 00:07:40,000
You see what happened in St. Bernardino.

133
00:07:40,000 --> 00:07:44,040
You see what happened in Orlando right here.

134
00:07:44,040 --> 00:07:46,480
You see what happened with the World Trade Center.

135
00:07:46,480 --> 00:07:54,000
We can look at all over to look at what's going on in France, Nice, Germany.

136
00:07:54,000 --> 00:07:56,400
We just can't, we have enough problems.

137
00:07:56,400 --> 00:07:57,400
We can't do that.

138
00:07:57,400 --> 00:08:04,040
You know, you talked about the rough and tumble campaign, the 17 candidates and so forth.

139
00:08:04,040 --> 00:08:08,280
And you have won over the evangelical vote and you've changed a lot.

140
00:08:08,280 --> 00:08:11,160
How has this whole process affected you spiritually?

141
00:08:11,160 --> 00:08:19,040
Well, I can tell you I've always been spiritual, but I really appreciate evangelicals because

142
00:08:19,040 --> 00:08:20,400
they really support it.

143
00:08:20,400 --> 00:08:25,200
You know, when somebody supports you, you feel pretty good about it.

144
00:08:25,200 --> 00:08:29,960
And I'd go into a very evangelical state and people would say, oh, gee, I won't win that

145
00:08:29,960 --> 00:08:33,800
state and I ended up winning in a landslide because I had tremendous support.

146
00:08:33,800 --> 00:08:38,520
You see the polls when people are leaning, they support it over other people that in

147
00:08:38,520 --> 00:08:43,200
theory they could have supported very easily and they didn't.

148
00:08:43,200 --> 00:08:48,240
So I think the fact that I had that tremendous support from the evangelicals meant a lot

149
00:08:48,240 --> 00:08:51,400
to me and it will mean a lot to me in the future.

150
00:08:51,400 --> 00:08:56,080
Before you spoke, they had a speaker talking about Judeo-Christian values and the founding

151
00:08:56,080 --> 00:08:57,880
of the nation and so forth.

152
00:08:57,880 --> 00:09:02,720
In our secular society, a lot of people, you know, discount that.

153
00:09:02,720 --> 00:09:06,480
Do you believe that America was founded on Judeo-Christian principles?

154
00:09:06,480 --> 00:09:08,720
Yeah, I think it was.

155
00:09:08,720 --> 00:09:15,280
I think to a large extent when I look at football coaches being fired because they held a prayer

156
00:09:15,280 --> 00:09:22,240
of the field like, yes, you, I think it's absolutely terrible.

157
00:09:22,240 --> 00:09:23,640
I think it's a terrible thing.

158
00:09:23,640 --> 00:09:28,680
You see so many things happening that are so different from what our country used to

159
00:09:28,680 --> 00:09:29,680
be.

160
00:09:29,680 --> 00:09:36,120
So, you know, religion is a very important part of me and it's also, I think it's a

161
00:09:36,120 --> 00:09:38,320
very important part of our country.

162
00:09:38,320 --> 00:09:39,320
Final question.

163
00:09:39,320 --> 00:09:45,080
What is the most important thing in your life?

164
00:09:45,080 --> 00:09:48,840
Well, you know, you always have to say family.

165
00:09:48,840 --> 00:09:49,840
It's family.

166
00:09:49,840 --> 00:09:53,040
It's a good thing from that standpoint.

167
00:09:53,040 --> 00:09:57,440
Religion is very important, but I assume you're not talking about religion or family, but

168
00:09:57,440 --> 00:10:00,600
you know, those two things are very important.

169
00:10:00,600 --> 00:10:04,320
Belief is very important.

170
00:10:04,320 --> 00:10:09,400
But you would always have to put family number one.

171
00:10:09,400 --> 00:10:16,400
And then give us some advice as we tell your story and persuade people like, you know,

172
00:10:16,400 --> 00:10:20,760
like you're encouraging that crowd, except instead of the church, you know, we'll be

173
00:10:20,760 --> 00:10:24,480
speaking to hundreds of thousands and several millions.

174
00:10:24,480 --> 00:10:26,240
Well, I'm going to get the job.

175
00:10:26,240 --> 00:10:31,400
I'm going to do a great job for religion and for the evangelicals.

176
00:10:31,400 --> 00:10:32,680
I'm going to do a great job.

177
00:10:32,680 --> 00:10:36,600
And that's why we got a standing ovation from pastors who don't get much of standing

178
00:10:36,600 --> 00:10:41,600
ovation, because they've heard a lot of people speak.

179
00:10:41,600 --> 00:10:42,800
So that was a great honor.

180
00:10:42,800 --> 00:10:44,520
But I will do a great job.

181
00:10:44,520 --> 00:10:47,680
I will get the job done.

182
00:10:47,680 --> 00:10:49,080
And I'll get it done properly.

183
00:10:49,080 --> 00:10:51,240
And that will be a great thing for the evangelicals.

184
00:10:51,240 --> 00:10:53,840
Well, thank you for your time.

185
00:10:53,840 --> 00:10:54,840
Thanks so much.

186
00:10:54,840 --> 00:10:55,840
Have a great day.

187
00:10:55,840 --> 00:10:56,840
Be blessed.

188
00:10:56,840 --> 00:10:57,840
God bless you.

189
00:10:57,840 --> 00:11:12,640
B naked.