Asked how to heal a divided nation amid civil unrest, the global coronavirus pandemic, and his re-election campaign, President Donald Trump – acknowledging he can be a lightning rod "sometimes for a purpose" – pointed back to economic success for working Americans.
"I think it was happening, and then we got hit by the China virus," Trump told Barstool Sports' famed bad boy "El Presidente" Dave Portnoy in an exclusive White House interview Thursday posted on Trump's Facebook page. "I think it was happening: Success. Our country never did better.
"We're doing really well, and we're trying to get rid of this pandemic, but success does it. And we were ready to do it."
Portnoy, who had ridiculed national anthem kneeling protests before George Floyd race riots raged and destroyed American cities, now believes kneeling might not have been so bad after all.
Trump, though, remained resolute against kneeling in the interview and said protests can be more "friendly."
"You always say you can run for office, you become successful, you can run for local office, you can do things, but there are ways," Trump told Portnoy. "You can get groups together. There are friendly ways of doing it and you can be very successful."
Trump added that the violent turn of protests are going to have the opposite effect.
"You're going to have rebounds, negative rebounds if it keeps up the way it is," he added.
"Speaking your mind is good, but you have to do it fairly. We are for justice, because there's got to be law and order, and there is law and order."
Portnoy, pointing to anti-Trump campaigns, asked if the president would consider stepping aside for a hypothetical "perfect" candidate.
"I don't know that such a person exists, and I should say, 'yes, absolutely, I would' – so let me say it that way," Trump said. "Because that's much more politically correct [way], 'absolutely,' but it doesn't work that way. It just doesn't, unfortunately. But I really believe success: We were there. Everybody was working."
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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