The Bully with a Heart of Gold
In the WSJ, James Taranto discusses Donald Trump’s interview with the journal’s editors. The interview oscillated between bullying and ingratiating. Among those Donald Trump seemed to be trying to influence were WSJ editors and would-be immigrants.
Donald Trump believes he is the man to strike the balance between “restriction and openness,” implying that was how our immigration policy always worked. It was much like, reflects James Taranto, Trump trying to win over the WSJ editors by oscillating between “harsh criticism and admiration.”
Kamala’s Intense Interest in Donald Trump
One subject in which Mr. Trump was unusually silent: discussing Kamala Harris: He mentions her name only once, at the very end of the meeting:
“Kamala—she wasn’t a good student. She didn’t pass her law exam. Other than that, she’s excellent. I know a lot of people didn’t pass it, but it’s not what we need for our president.”
Of Mr. Gigot, Trump asks, “Do you endorse, by the way?” (We haven’t endorsed anyone for president since 1928.)
“By contrast,” writes Mr. Taranto, “in Ms. Harris’s 27-minute interview with Fox’s Bret Baier on Wednesday, she mentioned Mr. Trump by name 23 times. The two nominees have one thing in common: an intense interest in Donald Trump.”
Yes, I’m sure you’ve read: former President two days earlier had sneered at the WSJ during an address to the Economic Club in Chicago:
“Well, I’ve had some great support, have great respect for the board, for everybody having to do with The Wall Street Journal. Read it all the time. Don’t get treated well by the editorial board. But I will say on the weaponization of justice, I have been treated very well, and I appreciate it.”
Why Trump Is Running
Why he is running has much to do with the WSJ, according to Trump, before giving “a little recap” (26 minutes long), including launching into reasons he thinks the WSJ is wrong. He deftly wove through “the New York attorney general’s civil case against him (currently under appeal), the functional and aesthetic design of the border wall, the migrant crisis in New York and elsewhere, energy, defense, Covid, inflation, crime and more.”
Trump then cites a topic on which he thinks the WSJ is wrong and “alludes to 1 Corinthians 13:13”:
“Just to finish, I think that—I know you’re very anti-tariff, and I think it’s the most beautiful word in the dictionary. I think it’s more beautiful than any word I can think of, other than ‘faith’ or ‘love.’”
Another three minutes and Trump’s ready to take WSJ questions.
Trump, Curiously Disarming
This push-pull wasn’t intimidating at all, reveals Mr. Taranto:
Mr. Trump came across as a human being who craved approval, and that neediness made him—to me at least—more likable than the bombastic celebrity we’d seen on television.
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