CLAY: We are joined now by 45 himself, President Donald Trump. President Trump, we appreciate you making the time for us. What is your reaction as you see this unmitigated disaster of Joe Biden’s leadership in Afghanistan, and how much different do you think it would be if you were president of the United States right now?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, it would have been the exact opposite, because, frankly, we were in perfect shape. Abdul, he’s now the head guy. That was the one I was dealing with, and he understood exactly what I was saying. I said, “There will be hell to pay if you touch any American soldiers or any Americans.” And even Biden said the other day — I think probably mistakenly from his standpoint, because they don’t usually do this.
But he came out and said, “Well, no American soldier was killed since the previous administration came to that agreement,” which is true. We had many other conditions, and they were strong conditions. And they didn’t meet some of them and we bombed the hell out of them. And they would have met them all. And we would have been out.
We would have had all of our people out. We would have had all of our equipment. I said, “Every nail! I want every nail, every screw, every tank, every plane,” and those planes are in very good working order. You look at Apaches. They cost a fortune, tens of millions of dollars, and they were flying them yesterday. They were having a good time flying our Apache helicopters. And they have, whether it’s 73, 83 or $85 billion worth of equipment — thousands of trucks, hundreds of tanks and other kinds of military gear — and it’s just disgraceful what happened. I think it’s the greatest embarrassment in the history of our country.
BUCK: President Trump, it’s Buck Sexton here —
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Hi, Buck!
BUCK: — and I just wanted to know, do you think…?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Hi.
BUCK: Hey. Good to talk to you again, sir. Do you think that we’re going to get all these Americans out and do you think that…? What would you want to see happen here? What would you like to see to get them all out?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, now I’m hearing stories that they were trucked to the border and the Taliban turned them back and said, “You go back,” and they even sent armed guards with them. This is coming out today. Yesterday tremendous disrespect was paid by Biden, when he kept looking at his watch over and over again. I understand every time — every time — a coffin came off the plane, he was looking at his watch.
And the people, the parents and the relatives are just angry as they should be. Nobody should have been killed. We had that under perfect control, and after I got out — which was a rigged election. It just shows you how important it is. But after I got out, Abdul and his group, they went wild. They went wild. The Americans were told to leave by that time, too.
That’s why they ran out. They wanted to make it that last minute. The plane went off. But they left a lot of people behind, and probably a lot more than the 200 or 250 that they’re talking about, and now people are calling in saying they’re afraid for their lives. American University, they’re all afraid for their lives. The kids are calling in. What kind of a thing is this?
And the Marines are so brave. And the Navy, and the Army and all of them, the Air Force. And you see what’s happening. And I’ll tell you, the soldiers didn’t want to leave. But our television generals are terrible. We have great generals, because I wiped out 100% of the ISIS caliphate in Iraq and Syria and we did it quickly — a lot quicker than the television guys said we could do it. We have great generals, we have great people, but not the television generals.
BUCK: President Trump, I know you can’t… I watched you on Hannity and I know you said because of FEC rules you couldn’t announce whether you were going to run again in 2024. But when you see how much of a disaster Joe Biden has been in the first eight months —
PRESIDENT TRUMP: A disaster.
BUCK: — and I’m sure you’ve seen some of the data where a lot of different people who voted for Joe Biden have come out and said: “Boy, if we had this to do all over again, we’d vote for President Trump.” It feels like if you got the opportunity to run against him — assuming they try to run him again in 2024 — that you would absolutely wallop and destroy him. How much would you relish that opportunity?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, number one, I have to tell you, I think they did vote for me, okay? If you look at what’s going on in the various states, I think they did vote for me. I got 75 million votes, which was 12 million more votes than I got the previous election, 2016.
CLAY: That’s right.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: And I think they actually did. And I put out a statement yesterday: If they could run a war as well as they rig an election, we’d have no enemies. We’d have total control over everything. It’s very sad. When you look at this, it’s very, very sad. But, you know, when you do that, when you announce regulations — rules, regulations, everything else — it’s a whole new set.
But I’ll be honest with you. I am thinking about, Clay, doing something early, because this is ridiculous what’s happening. They’re destroying our country! These people are destroying. They’re using prosecutors to their own benefit. That’s all they know how to do is cheat and use prosecutors to their own benefit. They have prosecutors all over the place going after Republicans — IRS going after Republicans — and we don’t play that game. The Republicans haven’t played that game with our guys. That’s for sure. But it’s a disgrace.
CLAY: So you’re thinking, though already —
PRESIDENT TRUMP: What’s happening is a disgrace.
CLAY: You’re so frustrated that you’re thinking about stepping in and going ahead and saying, “Let’s go.”
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, I’m thinking about it much more. Look, I figured I’d wait until after midterms, but I am thinking about it. When I look at the border, when I look at what he’s doing with inflation and when… I was so proud. We were energy-independent really for the first time in the history of our country. They say 75 years.
For the first time in the history of our country, we were energy independent. Gasoline was $1.87 — and think of it, $1.87 a gallon — and now it’s going to be over $5 or $6 very soon. We’re no longer energy independent, by the way, and he stopped so much. They stopped ANWR. They’ve been trying to get ANWR in Alaska, probably the biggest drilling site in the world; I got that done. Reagan couldn’t get it done. Nobody could get it done. I got it done.
And they just gave it back. They gave it up. And now they’re going to see — and you’ve seen it. You’ve reported on it. Now, they’re going to see OPEC to see if they will give us some oil and energy. They want energy now from OPEC! We didn’t have to talk to OPEC. OPEC talked to us. So, when I look at what’s happening with that, with the border, with Afghanistan…
Afghanistan makes the border look good. Because, frankly, I mean, what they did with the border was grossly incompetent. We had the best in our history; now it’s the worst in our history in just a few months. But that looks good compared to this horror show in Afghanistan. It’s so disrespectful.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, the MAGA movement, as you say, is stronger than I think it’s ever been. You saw the crowd, the massive crowd I had in Alabama on Saturday night. It was incredible — in the rain and thunder and everything else — and you couldn’t even see the end of it, it was so big. I’m going… I’ll be doing rallies. But I think maybe most… We’re going up to Iowa. We’re going to Georgia.
We’re doing rallies and we have massive rallies, probably bigger than even before the election because they’re seeing what’s happening. But one of the things I’m doing that you cover very well is endorsing people, and I’m 128-2 in endorsements. We just got somebody great in if you look at what just happened in Ohio, the great state of Ohio. And, frankly, Texas where we had two Republicans running.
It’s the first time that’s happened, two Republicans running for a House seat. We’re doing great, and the endorsements seem to be very important. You know the expression, “An endorsement’s not worth the paper it’s written on”? Except if Trump does it! And I’m honored by that. It’s a great honor, and we’re getting great people in. So, we’re endorsing really great people and that’s what I’m focused on. That. But I may be taking a look at exactly the first part of your question, because our country is being destroyed.
CLAY: What we need, Mr. President — we appreciate the time you’re giving us today. We hear from our audience so much, they miss you and they want you throwing punches on behalf of them, because there’s so few people standing up in an aggressive way to the Biden administration. What Buck and I would like to do is we’d like to come down Mar-a-Lago and do the show with you — let you take calls, do as much of the show as you would like with us — to talk to our people and your people and help lead that fight. Will you pick a day?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Sure.
CLAY: We’ll come down any time in the future that works for you —
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Yeah. Yeah. I’ll do that.
CLAY: — and bring the show down to Mar-a-Lago with you.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Sure.
CLAY: We’ve been talking about it.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: It would be my honor and we’ll do it. And you guys are doing a great job and I’ve been watching and I’m looking at your ratings. Rush would be very proud of you. I’ll tell you, Rush was our friend. Rush was incredible. You know, I didn’t know Rush, and I came down the escalator with the great First Lady — our future First Lady at that time — and Rush loved it and he loved what I had to say. He said, “He’s speaking the truth,” and he was there and I didn’t know Rush. And I got to know him well and he was great. He would be very proud of you two guys.
BUCK: President Trump, we appreciate your time today, sir. We appreciate you bringing the fight to the left and helping this country get back on its feet. But also, we’ll see you down in Mar-a-Lago, sir.
BUCK: Probably in the wintertime when it’s a little chilly up here in the Northeast.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: We’ll do that. We will do that.
BUCK: Thank you so much, President Trump.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: We’ll have some… Well, not fun. We have to do it.
BUCK: We’ll do it. Absolutely. An honor, sir.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: We have to do things because this country’s in trouble.
BUCK: Thanks for being with us. Clay, I mean, does it get…? How else could we finish off a show?
CLAY: It’s a good way to finish off the show!
BUCK: (laughing)
CLAY: We’ll talk about that tomorrow. We appreciate all of you. He’s always fantastic.
BUCK: Fantastic.
CLAY: How good is that Mar-a-Lago show going to be at some point in the future?
BUCK: Amazing!
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