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When you meet Donald Trump, the first thing you notice is his hospitality. He is a bountiful host who always wants to make visitors feel comfortable.
He will quite literally offer you the food off his plate. He will endure constant bruises on the back of his hands from well-wishers showing their gratitude with vigorous handshakes that he reciprocates warmly, even though he’s a renowned (maybe reformed) germaphobe.
He likes people and is always generous with his time and attention. It’s a quality his detractors will never allow but it has been a big part of his success.
Whether it is rearranging portraits and beautifying the Oval Office or personally curating the songs at his rallies, he obsesses over details that he knows will please people and create a convivial atmosphere. As one White House intimate says, “it’s a party every day” in the Oval Office of the famously teetotaling president from Queens.
That was what I found Monday afternoon when I arrived in the White House for the first interview of our new podcast, “Pod Force One.”
The leader of the free world had kindly allocated 45 minutes to kickstart the enterprise, and had chosen the elegant, red-walled library as his set. But first he ushered me into the Oval Office to meet some of his cabinet gathered around the Resolute Desk.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Vice President JD Vance, Homeland Security boss Kristi Noem, Attorney General Pam Bondi and deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller were there to discuss pressing matters of state, but the president also made sure to put everyone at ease with a perfectly timed joke and effusive praise for his A team.
Wide-ranging talk
When he finally arrived in the library at 6 p.m. for the podcast, he was still in good cheer despite the momentous burdens he carries. The LA riots were top of mind, but his decision to reinstate “law and order” by calling out the National Guard and sending in the toughest Marines, over the objections of the feckless Gov. Gavin Newsom, was bullish instinct.
We covered everything from Elon to Iran, drones over New Jersey to the secret of Joe Biden’s autopen (he knows how to spot the fake signatures).
As his Treasury and commerce secretaries, Scott Bessent (“straight out of Central Casting”) and Howard Lutnick (“a killer”), wrestled with the Chinese on trade over a conference table in London, he divulged that President Xi Jinping’s team is “a little spoiled from having such great success against our negotiators” in the past. No such luck this time.
He was remarkably candid about family life: his formula for good parenting (no drugs or alcohol!), the possibility of a Trump political dynasty (you can hear Rosie O’Donnell screaming from Ireland!), why his father bundled him off to military college when he was 13, his inner “genius” and the musical instrument his mother had him learn as a child — you will never guess what it is!
He also revealed what he believes is the greatest ingredient for success when he judges other people. You’ll have to tune in to find out!
I hope you do find the time to listen. Love or hate Donald Trump, he is a singular man of history who is bending the world to his will for the benefit of the country he loves.
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