Subject: Donald Trump, After Difficult Stretch, Shows a Softer Side - NYTimes.com
From: "Berns, Jeremy" <[email-masked]>
To: Comm_D <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 20 Apr 2016 11:04:13 -0700

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/04/21/us/politics/donald-trump-interview.html?referer=

Donald Trump, After Difficult Stretch, Shows a Softer Side

By ASHLEY PARKER and MAGGIE HABERMAN

April 20, 2016

It has been a rough few weeks for Donald J. Trump<http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/us/elections/donald-trump-on-the-issues.html?inline=nyt-per> and his team: a bruising loss in Wisconsin<http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/06/us/politics/republican-primary-results.html>, a public campaign shake-up<http://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2016/04/18/top-donald-trump-campaign-aide-quits-in-shakeup/>, and some high-profile missteps and gaffes, including his reference to the attacks on the World Trade Center as occurring “on <http://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2016/04/18/donald-trump-invokes-memories-of-7-eleven/> 7-11<http://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2016/04/18/donald-trump-invokes-memories-of-7-eleven/>.”

In a lengthy interview in his office on the 26th floor of Trump Tower on Tuesday, shortly after casting a ballot for himself and hours before the polls closed, the usually boastful Mr. Trump seemed a bit more humbled as he reflected on his “evolving” campaign and looked to the challenges ahead.

Alongside his oldest son, Donald J. Trump Jr., and his spokeswoman, Hope Hicks, Mr. Trump spoke freely, talking about whether to court delegates with lavish perks like visits to his mansions.

Below are some condensed excerpts from the conversation.

On what it was like to vote for himself in New York on Tuesday: I got over to the booth, a lot of people on the street. Obviously, they saw somebody was coming, and when I got out, it was all cheers. And then I went in and I got the voter slip, and I saw my name, and I said: “Oh, that’s very interesting. I’m voting for myself as president of the United States.” And it does sort of hit you, a little bit differently than when you’re thinking of it in a different context. You see your name, and it says “president of the United States” on a quite nicely printed form. And check the box. And it’s very big for not very many names. So it’s a great honor. Honestly, it’s a great honor.

On the recent shake-up he ordered, which diminished the role of Corey Lewandowski, his campaign manager: Well, now we are evolving. I’m very happy with my people — the people that both got me here and the people that will take it to the next level. I think that Corey, and my whole group, I’m just very happy with them. We’ve become something that’s a very big thing.

On Jeb Bush: I think Jeb would have been the nominee had I not gotten in, but I was able to define Jeb early.

On what he sees as his unique ability to bring fresh thinking to old issues: Don’t forget I’m the one that, when Jeb would say, “The country was safe when my brother was president,” I said, “Excuse me, the World Trade Center came down.” Do you know, nobody thought of that? It’s like the paper clip. Nobody thought about the paper clip except for the guy that thought of it, and he became rich. And everyone else said, “Why didn’t I think of that idea?”

On the race for delegates: It’s a rigged system. It’s a disgraceful, disgusting rigged system in the Republican Party<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/r/republican_party/index.html?inline=nyt-org>. Worse than the Democratic Party, because in the Democratic case it’s obvious with superdelegates. Look at Bernie. He wins every week, and everyone says he can’t win. In the Democrat Party, it’s obvious because they have a superdelegate, that’s like throwing it in your face. The Republican Party is worse, the Republican Party has a system where you can buy the delegates if you want. And you can do anything you want with a delegate, except give them cash. I can play the game better — I can fly them on a 757 to Mar-a-Lago, I can fly them to California where I own a place that’s unbelievable, on the Pacific Ocean. But it’s a bad system. You’re buying the election. It’s really wrong, and I’m looking into it, legally.

On whether he will emphasize the economy and trade in the Pennsylvania and Indiana primaries: I think my message is so incredible for those two places, because they’ve been decimated, they’ve been decimated. There are some places where it wouldn’t work as well.

On Ted Cruz possibly beating him in the delegate race: Look, other than the fact that he’s using a corrupt system and rigged system to get delegates, he’d be out of it already. He can’t win. But how do you pick a guy who’s down millions of votes and many hundreds of delegates. I’m already over 200 delegates up. So how do you do that? Do you understand? That’s pretty hard. I won. The voters voted for me. I think you’d have bedlam in the party. On top of it, Cruz is not a popular guy. He’s not liked.

On Senator Marco Rubio of Florida’s attempts to wage a war of insults with him: He played Don Rickles, and then I played Don Rickles times five. And then he stopped. They had to try something. All right?

On not wanting to woo delegates: I don’t like the process of it — you’re buying the election. I’m not ruling anything out, but I’ll tell you what — I think that there’s a serious legal challenge to all of this, and it starts with the “super PACs<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/c/campaign_finance/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier>.” This is a very serious dilemma for the Republican Party.

On whether he actually wants the job of president or simply wants to win: Look, there’s no greater honor. But I’m not doing it for the honor. I’m doing it because I really believe that with substance, intelligence and having the proper decision-making ability, which I have, we can make this country so successful, so fast. We can bring it back. You know, make America great again. Which is also a great slogan.

On how the past year has turned out for him: A couple of people who know me actually said, “Be careful what you wish for.” It was very interesting. It was a compliment. Well, they understand that I win. My life is winning. I win. I know how to win. Most people don’t know how to win. In golf, in sports, in life — I win, always. Better knock on wood. [Knocks on his desk.]

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