Former President Donald Trump pushed back on claims that he rips on a lot of top people who he hired in his administration by saying that for every one bad example there is, there are ten good examples.
Trump made the remarks in response to a question from Fox News anchor Bret Baier, who noted that Trump said in 2016 that he was going to “surround myself with only the best and most serious people.”
“Well, I did do that,” Trump told Baier. “That’s tremendous. Look, we had the best economy we’ve ever had, the world has ever seen.”
Baier responded:
This time, your Vice President Mike Pence is running against you. Your ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, she’s running against you. Your former Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, said he’s not supporting you.
You mentioned National Security Adviser John Bolton. He’s not supporting you either. You mentioned Attorney General Bill Barr. Says you shouldn’t be president again. Calls you ‘the consummate narcissist’ and “troubled man.” You recently called Barr a “gutless pig.”
Your second defense secretary is not supporting you. Called you irresponsible. This week, you called your White House Chief of Staff John Kelly “weak and ineffective” and “born with a very small brain.” You called your acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney a “born loser.” You called your first Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, “dumb as a rock,” and your first Defense Secretary, James Mattis, “the world’s most overrated general.” You called your White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany “milquetoast.”
And multiple times, you’ve referred to your Transportation secretary, Elaine Chao, as “Mitch McConnell’s China-loving wife.”
When asked why he hired all those people, Trump responded that he “hired ten to one that were fantastic.”
“We had a great economy. We had phenomenal people in charge of the economy,” Trump continued. “We had phenomenal people in the military. I’m not a fan of Milley and I’m not a fan of certain of the television people. But I knocked out ISIS, I defeated ISIS. They said, Mattis, it will take three years and I don’t think we can do it. I did it in a period of like four weeks.”
“There’s a lot of people who praise you for your policies,” Baier acknowledged. “I just said that.”
“That’s true. Well, I mean, you just went through a list,” Trump concluded. “But don’t forget, for every one you say, I had ten that love us.”
LOL omg pic.twitter.com/jwBAMvhLMl
— Acyn (@Acyn) June 19, 2023