President Donald Trump said in an interview Tuesday that he'd give himself an A-plus for effort for his first weeks in office, but when it comes to messaging, he would give himself a "C or a C-Plus."
"So my messaging isn't good," he said during a Fox News' "Fox & Friends" interview. "In terms of achievement, I think I would give myself an A. I think I have done great things, but I don't think I and my people, I don't think we have explained it well enough to the American people."
Maybe that will change, Trump said, during his speech before a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night.
Trump also hit back at reports that there are hundreds of jobs in his administration that he has not yet filled, saying they remain open because in many cases, he doesn't want them filled.
"A lot of those jobs I don't want to appoint because they are unnecessary to have," said Trump. "You know, we have so many people in government. Even me, I look at some of the jobs and it's people over people over people. I say what do all these people do? You don't need all those jobs."
But Trump said he does not think that is a bad thing, as "we are running a very good, efficient government."
Trump said he has found many of the aspects of becoming president surprising.
"It started out being a surreal experience," said Trump. "You wake up and you are in the White House or walking through the White House and all that. You do get over all of that."
Further, he said, the massive size of everything is stunning.
"The numbers are so big," said Trump. "You buy an airplane, but here, you are buying 3,500 airplanes. The size of the numbers is really staggering."
Protesters do remain, said Trump, but many of them are the people whose candidate, Hillary Clinton, lost the 2016 election.
"I'm going to try to bring people together," said Trump. "The way you do that is through success, when I create jobs, when I create a healthcare plan that works as opposed to Obamacare, which does not work."
The protests will also change, Trump said, "when we do the kind of things, when we get rid of a lot of bad players, really bad players that we're doing right now on the border. People are loving what [Homeland Security Secretary] General [John] Kelly is doing, I will tell you."
Trump also led the Fox anchors through a tour of the White House and to the First Lady's office, where wife Melania spoke about the successful Governor's Ball planning.
"You're planning it almost like you're planning a wedding every time," the first lady said.
Trump also talked about the path from the living quarters to his offices, and pointed out the ramps put in for late President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
"This is a very, very famous walk," he said. "You will oftentimes see the great foreign leaders walking this with the president, whoever he or she may be, some day she."
Fox anchor Steve Doocy also pointed out Trump's new hotel can be seen from the White House, but Trump said he is so focused on what he's doing, "I don't even think about it."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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