President Donald Trump insisted Tuesday that he had prepared Americans for a tough “transition period,” despite having run a campaign that made explicit Day One promises to bring down prices and restore economic prosperity.
In an interview with ABC News’ Terry Moran, Trump defended his trade policies, which have raised fears of skyrocketing prices and an unstable economy.
When Moran noted that Trump had told Americans to “hang tough” as the stock markets and the business community account for his tariffs on foreign countries, Trump suggested that any resulting hardships should come as no surprise to those who voted for him.
“I said all these things during my campaign,” Trump said in the recorded interview, which was timed to coincide with the 100th day of his second term in office and broadcast in prime time. “I said, ‘You’re going to have a transition period.’”
Trump’s sales pitch hardly braced voters for the tough times he now says he prepared them to expect. While he did promise to implement tariffs, he often spoke of an instant recovery that would be triggered by his inauguration and his first executive actions.
In August, for example, Trump staged a news conference complete with a backdrop of groceries at his New Jersey golf club, vowing to “immediately bring prices down, starting on Day One.” And at a rally in Saginaw, Michigan, in October, he pledged: “Starting on Day One of my new administration, we will end inflation, and we will make America affordable again.”
Trump made his “hang tough” comments on social media April 5, long after the campaign was over.
Moran also suggested to Trump that Americans “didn’t sign up” for a trade war.
“Well, they did sign up for it,” Trump countered. “This is what I campaigned on.”
Throughout the interview, Trump rejected the idea that his policies would be a long-term hindrance. When Moran, continuing to press on the tariff issue, asked whether his message to voters was that everything “is going to be hunky dory,” Trump nonchalantly replied: “Everything is going to be just fine.”
He quickly added: “It wouldn’t have been if I didn’t do this. I had a choice. I could leave it, have a nice, easy time, but I think ultimately it would have had an implosion.”
At another point, Trump took aim at the board that sets U.S. monetary policy, arguing that “interest rates should be down, but we have a Federal Reserve that wants to be stubborn.”
When the conversation turned to other topics, Trump defended Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth — who has come under scrutiny for communicating sensitive information over unsecure channels and for how he runs the Defense Department — as “smart” and “talented.” (He told The Atlantic, in an interview published this week, that Hegseth’s job was safe.)
But Trump stopped short of a total vote of confidence. When Moran asked whether Trump had “a hundred percent confidence” in Hegseth, he balked.
“I don’t have a hundred percent confidence in anything, OK? Anything,” Trump replied. “Do I have a hundred percent? It’s a stupid question.”
Pressed further, Trump added: “You don’t have a hundred percent. Only a liar would say, ‘I have a hundred percent confidence.’”
Trump also defended his administration’s hard-line approach on deportations, at several points questioning whether people alleged to be undocumented immigrants were entitled to their due process of hearings.
“Well, I’ll have to ask the lawyers about that,” he replied when Moran asserted that the law requires anyone up for deportation to first have a hearing.
“All I can say is this,” Trump added. “If you’re going to have 21 million people — and we have to get a lot of them out because they’re criminals — we’re going to have to act fast. Do you think we can give 21 million trials? Let’s say each trial takes two weeks. Is that what you want us to do?”
There are an estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the U.S., according to the Department of Homeland Security.
Trump also said he does not believe the cost-cutting efforts by the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency have gone too far or been too reckless. And when he was asked at the interview’s conclusion what he would say to people who think he is seizing too much power and becoming “an authoritarian,” Trump rejected the notion and reverted to his campaign’s slogan.
“No, I would hate them to think that,” he said. “I’m doing one thing: I’m making America great again.”
