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Lex Fridman Podcast

#442 – Donald Trump Interview

3 Sep 2024 · 1h 12m · Lex Fridman, Donald Trump · 24 quoted facts

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In brief

Donald Trump uses a long, free-flowing conversation to make his case for a second term. He says he can end the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East by negotiation, fix the border, and restore respect for America abroad. He blames the Biden administration and Kamala Harris for inflation, immigration and the Afghanistan withdrawal. The interview is more about his self-image and style than about detailed policy.

The main tension is between Lex Fridman's hopes for a unifying conversation and Trump's combative answers. Fridman keeps steering toward positive visions, a deal-making approach and common ground. Trump keeps returning to attacks, grievances and claims about the 2020 election. He also refuses to give details of his plans, saying surprise is part of the strategy. In a solo closing segment, Fridman reflects on why he does these long interviews.

Key insights

  1. Trump says secrecy is part of his negotiating strategy

    Asked how he would end the Ukraine war or avoid war with China, Trump says he has a plan but will not share it. He argues that revealing it would make it unsuccessful because surprise matters.

  2. Trump says carrots or sticks depend on the counterpart

    He says negotiation depends on the person, but that the 'stick' (threat of force) is generally more successful. He cites a claimed 18 months without US troops being shot at in Afghanistan after he warned the Taliban leader.

  3. Trump still says the 2020 election was fraudulent

    Pressed by an independent-minded host, Trump says the fraud was on the other side and proposes paper ballots, voter ID, same-day voting and proof of citizenship. He then pivots quickly to the border and inflation rather than debating evidence.

  4. Trump says he hasn't read Project 2025

    He says he purposely did not read the conservative policy blueprint, dislikes some things he has heard are in it, and says it has nothing to do with him. He frames this as easier than defending its contents.

  5. Fridman says AI changes programming but doesn't end it

    In his closing remarks, Fridman says LLMs already write excellent, approximately correct code. He advises people to learn to use the newest tools, as he moved from VS Code to Cursor, and to act as a big-picture designer rather than compete with AI.

Questions

What did Trump say his plan to end the war in Ukraine is?

He did not give one. He said he has a 'very exacting plan' but cannot share it because surprise matters, and that he would have a deal made as president-elect. He also said the war has become much harder to settle than it would have been before it started.

Does Trump think the 2020 election was stolen?

Yes. He said 'the election was a fraud' and that people need to be able to challenge elections. He said he focuses on the future rather than the past and proposed paper ballots, voter ID and proof of citizenship.

What does Trump say about Project 2025?

He said he knows nothing about it and has purposely not read it. He said some parts are fine and others he doesn't like, and that it has 'absolutely nothing to do' with him.

What is Trump's position on legalizing marijuana?

He said medical marijuana has been 'amazing' and that his campaign can live with legalization if it is done safely. He said it needs an age limit and strict rules, and he praised Florida's approach.

What advice does Lex Fridman give programmers worried about AI?

At the end of the episode he says not to compete with AI for your job but to learn to use it to do the job better. He says he now designs in natural language first and edits the code the AI generates.

Facts

Stated by the speakers. Each quote matches the transcript, which shows what was said, not that it is true.

Donald Trump said he took part in an X Spaces audio event with Elon Musk that drew audience numbers he said were unprecedented.

“I did spaces with Elon, and they got numbers like nobody's ever heard before.”

0:13:06 · Donald Trump · Social media · 2024

Donald Trump said he received 63 million votes in his first presidential run and that he got millions more in his second.

“I was told if I got 63 million, which is what I got the first time, you, you, you would win, you can't not win.”

0:18:49 · Donald Trump · Election votes · 2016

Donald Trump said his first debate as a politician was the Republican primary debate in which Rosie O'Donnell was a topic.

“My first debate was the Uh Rosie O'Donnell debate, right?”

0:18:49 · Donald Trump · Debates · 2015

Donald Trump said Japan is rearming because China is taking over certain islands.

“They're starting to rearm now, they're starting to rearm because China's getting, you know, taking over certain islands.”

0:21:31 · Donald Trump · Japan and China · 2024

Donald Trump said 13 US soldiers died during the 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan and that many more were badly wounded.

“We left thirteen dead soldiers. Think of it, thirteen dead soldiers, many soldiers horrifically hurt”

0:28:21 · Donald Trump · Afghanistan withdrawal · 2021

Donald Trump said that after he spoke to the Taliban leader, no US troops were shot at or killed for eighteen months before the Kabul airport attack.

“We went eighteen months before this happened, this horrible day happened. We went eighteen months and nobody was shot at or killed.”

0:29:29 · Donald Trump · Afghanistan · 2020

Donald Trump cited President Dwight Eisenhower as a precedent for removing large numbers of people who entered the country illegally.

“Dwight Eisenhower was sort of a moderate president, moderate type person, but he hated when he saw people pouring into the country”

0:31:14 · Donald Trump · Immigration history · 1950s

Donald Trump said the US southern border situation in 2024 was twenty-five times worse than in 2016.

“Our border is twenty five times worse right now than it was in 2016.”

0:31:14 · Donald Trump · Border · 2024

Donald Trump said he deliberately did not read Project 2025 and said it had nothing to do with him.

“No, I purposely haven't read it, and I've heard about it.”

0:32:20 · Donald Trump · Project 2025 · 2024

Donald Trump said marijuana legalization should be tightly regulated and praised Florida's approach, which was headed to a state referendum.

“it's got to be done in a very concerted, lawful way, and the way they're doing it in Florida, I think, is gonna be actually good.”

0:33:13 · Donald Trump · Marijuana policy · 2024

Donald Trump said he visited Arlington National Cemetery at the invitation of Gold Star families from the Afghanistan withdrawal.

“I went to Arlington at the request of people that lost their their children.”

0:40:45 · Donald Trump · Arlington visit · 2024

Donald Trump said Kamala Harris proposed price controls and claimed they have been tried 121 times and have never worked.

“she came out with price control. It's been tried like 121 different times at different places over the years, and it's never worked once.”

0:46:49 · Donald Trump · Price controls · 2024

Donald Trump said no new wars began during his presidency and that this had not happened in seventy-eight years.

“we had no wars when I was president. That's a big thing. Not since seventy eight years has that happened”

0:48:24 · Donald Trump · Trump presidency · 2017-2021

Donald Trump said Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán told him the world needs Trump back because leaders feared him.

“Victor Orban, the prime minister of Hungary, said the world has to have Trump back because everybody was afraid of Trump.”

0:48:24 · Donald Trump · Foreign relations · 2024

Donald Trump said he ended the Nord Stream 2 pipeline during his presidency and that Joe Biden later approved it.

“I mean, I ended the Nord Stream two pipeline, the Russian pipeline. Nobody else could have done that.”

0:48:49 · Donald Trump · Energy policy · 2017-2021

Donald Trump said he chose not to pursue prison for Hillary Clinton during his presidency because it would look bad.

“I thought it looked terrible to take the president's wife and put her in prison.”

0:50:06 · Donald Trump · Hillary Clinton · 2017-2021

Donald Trump said he never visited Jeffrey Epstein's island and that many prominent people did.

“I never went to his island, um, fortunately, but a lot of people did.”

0:52:33 · Donald Trump · Jeffrey Epstein

Lex Fridman said he admires historian William Shirer, author of The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, as a model for his interviews.

“I admire William Shirer, the author of many books on Hitler, including The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich.”

0:56:35 · Lex Fridman · Historians

Pavel Durov is the CEO of Telegram, a messaging app that offers an optional end-to-end encryption mode.

“Pavel Durov is CEO of Telegram, which is a messenger app that has end to end encryption mode.”

1:00:59 · Lex Fridman · Telegram · 2024

Pavel Durov was arrested in France in 2024 on charges related to criminal activity on Telegram.

“Pavel was arrested in France on a long list of charges related to quote unquote criminal activity carried out on the Telegram platform”

1:01:31 · Lex Fridman · Durov arrest · 2024

Lex Fridman said Brazilian Supreme Court justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered X to block accounts and threatened to arrest its local representatives when X refused.

“He ordered X to block certain accounts that are spreading quote unquote misinformation. Elon and X denied the request, then de Marías threatened to arrest X representatives in Brazil”

1:03:10 · Lex Fridman · X ban in Brazil · 2024

Lex Fridman said he recently moved from the VS Code editor to Cursor, an LLM-based editor, having earlier moved from Emacs to VS Code.

“I recently switched from VS Code to Cursor, and before that it was Emacs to VS Code switch.”

1:05:25 · Lex Fridman · Coding tools · 2024

Lex Fridman said he earned his bachelor's, master's and doctorate degrees at Drexel University.

“I went to Drexel University for my bachelor's, master's, and doctorate degrees, and I took a while”

1:07:33 · Lex Fridman · Education

Lex Fridman said he trained and competed in judo and jujitsu through his twenties and earned a black belt.

“I trained and competed in judo and jujitsu for my entire twenties, got a, uh, black belt from it.”

1:08:05 · Lex Fridman · Martial arts

Chapters

  1. 0:10:43What drives champions to win

    Trump says he likes winning and dislikes losing about equally. He says great athletes share an intense drive even when their personalities differ.

    “There's a different mindset among champions.”
  2. 0:13:47Why business success doesn't transfer to politics

    Trump argues that politics demands public speaking and courage that many successful businesspeople lack.

    “then you realize they can't speak. They choke”
  3. 0:16:35Ukraine and the carrot-or-stick question

    Trump promises a Ukraine deal but won't describe it. He says the best negotiating approach depends on the person and that the stick is usually more effective.

    “If if I win as president elect, I'll have a deal made guaranteed.”
  4. 0:24:35The 2020 election and the border

    Asked by an independent-minded host about fraud claims, Trump repeats them. He then spends most of his answer on immigration and crime.

    “I think the fraud was on the other side. I think the election was a fraud”
  5. 0:27:52Afghanistan withdrawal and the Taliban

    Trump calls the 2021 withdrawal the country's most embarrassing moment. He says threats of force kept the Taliban from attacking for 18 months.

    “Afghanistan was, in my opinion, the most embarrassing thing that's ever happened to our country.”
  6. 0:32:20Project 2025 and distancing from it

    Trump distances himself from the Heritage-linked policy blueprint, saying he purposely has not read it.

    “No, I purposely haven't read it”
  7. 0:50:06Power, Hillary Clinton and restraint

    Asked whether power could corrupt him, Trump says he held back from prosecuting Hillary Clinton in order to unify the country.

    “I could have done something very bad.”
  8. 0:52:33UFO footage, JFK files and Epstein

    Trump says he would push for release of UFO footage and favors disclosing the Epstein client list. He treats the JFK files as a separate case.

    “I never went to his island, um, fortunately, but a lot of people did.”
  9. 1:02:36Fridman on Durov, Brazil and censorship

    In his solo remarks, Fridman calls the arrest of Telegram's CEO and the ban of X in Brazil power grabs by governments seeking control of speech.

    “arresting a CEO of a tech company for the things said on the platform he built is just nuts”
  10. 1:06:27Fridman on AI and programming careers

    Answering a listener's fear of being replaced by AI, Fridman urges people to master AI coding tools instead of competing with them.

    “Don't compete with AI for your job. Learn to use the AI to do that job better.”

Transcript

0:00:00
Lex Fridman

The following is a conversation with Donald Trump on this the Lex Fridman podcast. And now a quick few second mention of each sponsor. Check them out in the description. It's the best way to support this podcast. We got Ground News for a nonpartisan news aggregator, Encord for unifying your machine learning stack, Eight Sleep for naps, Netsuite for business, and Shopify for e-commerce. Choose wisely, my friends. Also, if you want to, uh, get in touch with me for a multitude of reasons, go to Lex Fridman dot com slash contact.

0:00:35

And now on to the full ad reads. As always, no ads in the middle. I try to make these interesting, but if you skip them, please still check out the sponsors. I enjoy their stuff, maybe you will, too. This episode is brought to you by one of my favorite websites, Ground News, a nonpartisan news aggregator. I use to compare media coverage from across the political spectrum. The point is to see every side of the story, especially political stories, and come to your own conclusion.

0:01:06

We've been talking about it on this podcast, on many podcasts, just how biased specific media sources are. Like most problems in the world, this can be explained by incentives. The funding is drying out for news organizations, so they more and more rely on clickbait journalism, and, uh, clickbait journalism requires extreme polarization. So just like in the Soviet Union, when, uh, everyone knew the official sources was propaganda, you have to, uh, arrive at the truth by getting a lot of sources and integrating them yourself and understanding where exactly the truth lies because it often lies in the nuance, in the details, in the middle.

0:01:57

Anyway, all that said, it's obvious that this is a a thing that can be solved with a tech solution, and that's exactly what Ground News is. Every story they provide comes with a breakdown of political bias and reliability of sources, and it offers multiple perspectives. It's just a really, really nice website. Oh, and uh, a cool feature, the blind spot feed shows discrepancies in media coverage on the left and the right. So go to groundnews dot com slash lex to get 40% off the ground news vantage plan, giving you access to all of their features.

0:02:32

That's ground g r o u n d news dot com slash lex. This episode is also brought to you by Encord, a new sponsor. It's a platform that provides data-focused AI tooling for data annotation, curation, and management, and for model evaluation, and a bunch of other stuff, basically the whole machine learning stack. But what they do really well is focus on the data side of machine learning, which does not often enough get the love it deserves.

0:03:02

Many of the things they do go under the flag of active learning. This is a topic that's always been, uh, fascinating to me, but they just they pull off the whole thing really well. I just have to celebrate them for, uh, doing a great job just on the interface. Getting the annotation interface easy and natural and efficient is amazing. Like days after Sam two, the uh Meta's Segment Anything model two was released, they integrated it into their tooling.

0:03:30

So you can, uh, run this uh real-time object segmentation model inside their tool, and this works on both images and videos, and so provides you an initial segmentation that you can then adjust. On top of that, they provide uh instructions on how you can fine-tune the segment anything model, such that, uh, it can perform better based on the annotations that you provide. They also have a bunch of other data management kind of features, for example, indexing.

0:04:01

You can, uh, unify multimodal data from local and from cloud into one platform, and you can do all kinds of stuff like visualize it. You can search it, you can do granular curation. I mean, it's just amazing. The fact that these uh folks put together the whole machine learning stack into one place, I just, uh, I don't know, fills me with joy. So thank you to them. And, uh, if you're a person or company that is using machine learning, go try out Encord to curate, annotate, and manage your AI data at Encord dot com slash Lex.

0:04:37

That's Encord dot com slash Lex. This episode is also brought to you by Eight Sleep as Pod four Ultra. The night before I had a conversation with, um, Donald Trump, I didn't sleep in my eight sleep. I wasn't home, and so I didn't sleep too well. I was going in my head through all the possible trajectories that conversation could go. Uh, but primarily there was a temperature issue, cause the bed wasn't cold like it would be with eight sleep.

0:05:06

I just can't understand how amazing it is to have a cold bed with a warm blanket. It's an escape from the turmoil of the world, this temporary respite from the chaos, from the suffering that is life. And I wonder why it is that the world I saw on ayahuasca is not the world I've ever seen in my dreams. Where was it that I was able to go with the help of this rocket ship that I couldn't go while taking a nap?

0:05:41

What is the human mind capable of? That's what psychedelics make me think. What are the limits of my mind? The limits of my visualization capability, the limits of my cognition capability, the limits of my consciousness. I wonder. Anyway, go to hatesleep dot com slash Lux and use code LEX to get 350 bucks off the Pod four Ultra. This episode is also brought to you by NetSuite, an all-in-one cloud business management system. It's the machine within the machine of capitalism.

0:06:19

It helps you, uh, manage all the disparate components of a company, financials, HR, inventory, e-commerce, and so on. I speak to it at the end of this episode in the AMA. All the amazing possibilities I have in my life to build, to create, and one of them is indeed running a company. Every time I talk about NetSuite, I'm pulled back into this thought, if for a brief moment. Sometimes I feel like it is not me that decides where my life goes, but some kind of, uh, winds of fortune.

0:06:56

More and more I'm starting to realize that I'm less the guy who plans and more the guy who follows his instinct. But anyway, it does seem that, uh, if I get a chance to follow down this path, it would be a difficult but, uh, fulfilling one. And if you are walking down that path, join over 37,000 companies that have upgraded to NetSuite by Oracle. Take advantage of NetSuite's flexible financing plan at netsuite dot com slash Lux.

0:07:26

That's netsuite dot com slash Lux. This episode is brought to you by Shopify, a platform designed for anyone to sell anywhere with a great-looking online store. I even I am selling shirts on Lex Fridman dot com slash store. I've been wearing this shirt that says birds aren't real. If you're not aware, it's a conspiracy theory that, uh, birds aren't real, like like the name of the conspiracy theory suggests. And that, in fact, the birds we see in the sky are drones used by the government to, uh, engage in, uh, mass surveillance of a citizenry.

0:08:05

So I have actually two birds aren't real shirts. In one of them, it says birds aren't real in really big letters, and I wear it around town and, uh, I get to start conversations with some interesting people. I think the shirts you wear create opportunities for discovering interesting people. So think of it that way. Merch as gateway for conversation. And if you want to sell gateways of conversation or other kinds of, uh, products, you can sign up for a one dollar per month trial period at Shopify dot com slash Lex.

0:08:45

That's all lowercase. Go to Shopify dot com slash Lex to take your business to the next level today. This is a Lex Freeman podcast. To support it, please check out our sponsors in the description. And now, dear friends, here's Donald Trump. They're getting smaller and smaller. They're getting smaller. I mean, peop- people do respect you more when you have a big camera for some

0:09:25
Donald Trump

No, it's cool, and about twenty guys that you pay a fortune to, right?

0:09:28
Lex Fridman

all right. Okay. You said that you love winning, and you have won a lot in life in, uh, real estate, in business, in TV, in politics. So let me start with, uh, mindset, a psychology question. What drives you more, the love of winning or the hate of losing?

0:09:51
Donald Trump

Maybe equally, maybe both. Uh, I don't like losing, and I do like winning. Uh, I've never thought of it as to which is more of a driving force.

0:10:02
Lex Fridman

You've been close with a lot of the greats in sport. Uh, you think about Tiger Woods, Muhammad Ali. You have people like, uh, Michael Jordan, who I think hate losing more than anybody. So what do you learn from those guys?

0:10:16
Donald Trump

Well, they do have something different, you know, the great champions have something very different, like the sports champions. And you know, you have champions in other fields, but you see it more readily in sports. You see it over a weekend, or you see it during a game, and you see that certain people stand out and they keep, uh, they keep standing out. But it's there for you. It doesn't take a lifetime to find out that somebody was a winner or a loser.

0:10:43

And so the sports thing is very interesting. But, uh, you know, I play golf with different people and, uh, you have. There's a different mindset among champions. There's really a very different mindset. There's a different, uh, there's a different thought process, you know, talent-wise, uh, sometimes you can't tell the difference in talent, but at the end of a weekend, they seem to win. And it's very interesting, uh, like, as an example, uh, Tiger or Jack Nicholas.

0:11:13

He was a phenomenal winner, and he does have a different way about him, and Tiger has a different way about him and Michael Jordan. And there's never one. You would think that there'd be one way. Arnold Palmer was the nicest guy you'd ever meet. And then you have some champions that aren't really nice. Uh, they're just focused on doing their job. Uh, so you have, you know, there's not one type of person. But the one thing I I would say that everybody seems to have in common is they're very driven.

0:11:47

They're driven like beyond.

0:11:49
Lex Fridman

They don't seem to give up easily.

0:11:51
Donald Trump

They don't give up, they don't give up, eh? But they do seem to be, uh, you know, they have a passion that's maybe more than people that don't do as well.

0:12:01
Lex Fridman

You've said that politics is a dirty game in the past.

0:12:05
Donald Trump

it is a dirty game. It's certainly true.

0:12:08
Lex Fridman

Uh, so if it is a game, how do you win at that game?

0:12:12
Donald Trump

Well, you win at that game by getting the word out and by u using sense. You have to have a feeling where it's going. You also have to have a feeling of what's right. You can't necessarily just go what's popular. You have to do what's good for a country if you're talking about countries, or but you, you have to get the word out, and you have to just continuously. Like, for instance, you have a great show, you have a great podcast, it's very well watched.

0:12:37

And I'm sitting here and I do this, and a lot of people see it, and I do other things, and a lot of people see that. And I go traditional also, you know, you have traditional television, which is getting a little bit, um, older and maybe less significant, could be less significant, I don't know, but it's changing a lot. The, uh, the, uh, the whole plane of of platform is changing a lot. It's changed a lot in the last two, three years.

0:13:06

But from a political standpoint, you have to find out what people are doing, what they're watching, and you have to get it, you have to get on. I, I just see that these platforms are starting to dominate. They're getting very big numbers. I did spaces with Elon, and they got numbers like nobody's ever heard before. So, you know, this is y- you wouldn't do that on like radio, you wouldn't do that those numbers. No matter how good a show, you wouldn't do those numbers on radio, you wouldn't do them on television.

0:13:38
Lex Fridman

You've been successful in business, you've been successful in politics. What do you think is the difference between, uh, gaining success between the two, the two different disparate worlds?

0:13:47
Donald Trump

Yeah, and they're different, very different. Um, I have a lot of people that are in business that are successful, and they'd like to go over to politics, and then you realize they can't speak. They choke, you know, it's hard to make a speech in front of thou. And let's say you're talking about a big audience, but I get very big audiences. And, you know, f- for many people, it's virtually impossible to get up and speak for an hour and a half and have nobody leave.

0:14:19

You know, it's not an easy thing to do, and it's an ability. But I have many people that are very, very successful in business, would love to do what I did, and yet they can't pull the trigger. And in many cases, I I don't think it would work almost almost for everybody. It's not going to work. It's a very, it's a very tough thing to do. It's a big transition. And now, if you talked about people in the business and politics going into business, likewise, that wouldn't generally work out so well either.

0:14:55

It's different talents, it's different skills. I have somebody who wants to go into politics so bad, but he's got a little problem, he's got stage fright. Now he's a total killer, but if he gets up into a stage in front of people, he doesn't do well, to put it mildly, actually. I mean, he does badly.

0:15:13
Lex Fridman

So you have to be able to make hard decisions like you do in business, but also be able to captivate an audience.

0:15:19
Donald Trump

Look, if you're a politician, you have to be able to speak in front of large crowds. There are a lot of people who can't do that. I've seen it, they can't even think about doing it, and they don't. There are many people in business right now. I could name them, but I don't want to embarrass anybody. They've been talking about running for president for fifteen years, and they're very big in business, very well known, actually. And but it takes guts to run, like for president, I can tell you it takes guts to run.

0:15:49

It's also a very dangerous profession, if you want to know the truth, but, uh, dangerous in a different sense, too. But it takes a lot of courage to run for president. It's not easy, but you have, and you know, same people as I do. There are a lot of people that would like to run for president that are very, very successful in business, but they don't have the guts to do it, and they have to give up a lot.

0:16:15
Lex Fridman

One of the great things about people from the business world is they're often great dealmakers, and you're a great dealmaker. And you've talked about the war in Ukraine and that you would be able to find a deal that both Putin and Zelensky would accept. What do you think that deal looks like?

0:16:35
Donald Trump

I think the deal and I, I wouldn't talk about it too much because I think I can make a deal. If if I win as president elect, I'll have a deal made guaranteed. That's a war that shouldn't have happened. It's terrible. Look, Biden is the worst president in the history of our country, and she's probably worse than him. That's a that's something that should have never happened, but it did happen, and now it's a much tougher deal to make than it would have been before it started.

0:17:04

Millions of people, I think the number's gonna be a lot higher when you see this all at some point iron out. I think the numbers are gonna be the death numbers are gonna be a lot higher than people think. When you take a look at the destruction and the buildings coming down all over the place in Ukraine, I think those numbers are gonna be a lot higher. They they lie about the numbers, they try and keep them low.

0:17:25

They knock down a building that's two blocks long. These are big buildings, and they say, uh, one person was mildly injured. No, no, a lot of people were killed, and those there are people in those buildings, and they have no chance. Once they start coming down, there's no chance. So, so, um, that's a war that absolutely has to get done. And then you have Israel, and then you have a lot of other places that are talking war.

0:17:52

The world is is a rough place right now, and a lot of it's because of the fact that America has no leadership. And I believe that she'll be probably worse than Biden. I watched the interview the other night. I mean, it was just a softball interview.

0:18:09
Lex Fridman

So you would like to see her do more interviews, challenged more?

0:18:13
Donald Trump

I don't know, I, I, I can't believe the whole thing is happening. We had a man in there that should have never been in there. They kept them in a basement. They used COVID, they cheated, but they used COVID to cheat, and they cheated without COVID, too. But, uh, you had somebody in there, and now we have a woman that is not, I mean, she couldn't do an interview. This was a really soft interview. This is an interview where they give her multiple choice, uh, questions, multiple guess.

0:18:40

I call it multiple guess. And, uh, I don't think she did well. I think she did very poorly.

0:18:46
Lex Fridman

How do you think you'll do in the debate coming up? It's in a few days.

0:18:49
Donald Trump

So I've done a lot of debating only as a politician. I never debated. My first debate was the Uh Rosie O'Donnell debate, right? The famous Rosie O'Donnell debate, the answer, uh. But I've done well with debates. I mean, I became president, and then the second time I got millions more votes than I got the first time. So I was told if I got 63 million, which is what I got the first time, you, you, you would win, you can't not win.

0:19:16

And I got millions of more votes on that and, uh, lost by a whisker. But and look what happened to the world with all of the wars and all of the problems, and, uh, look what happened with inflation, because inflation's just eating up our country, eating it up, so it's too bad. But, um, there are a lot of things that could happen. We have to get those wars settled. We have to get, I tell you, you have to get Ukraine done.

0:19:44

You c- that could end up in a third world war, so could the Middle East, so could the Middle East.

0:19:49
Lex Fridman

So maybe let's talk about what it takes to negotiate with somebody like Putin or or Zelensky. Do you think Putin would be willing to give up any of the regions that are already captured?

0:19:59
Donald Trump

I don't know, uh, I can tell you that, uh, this, all of this would have never happened, and it would have been very easy because you don't have, like, that question wouldn't be asked. You know, that's a tougher question. Once that starts happening, because he has taken over a lot of territory. Now, I guess they're insurgents now, too, right? So, you know, it's a little bit interesting, uh, that that's happening, and that it can happen, and it's interesting that Putin has, uh, allowed that to happen.

0:20:31

Look, that's one that should have s should have never started. We have to get it stopped. Ukraine is being demolished. They're they're destroying a great culture that's largely destroyed.

0:20:42
Lex Fridman

What do you think works better in those kinds of negotiations? Leverage of, let's say, friendship, the carrot or the stick, friendship, or sort of the threat of using the economic and military power.

0:20:56
Donald Trump

So it depends on who the person is. It's, uh, you know, it's everyone's different. Negotiation's interesting because it depends on who the person is. And then you have to guess or know through certain knowledge, which is, you know, more important, the carrot or the stick. And with some people, it's the stick, and with some people, it's the carrot. Uh, I think the the stick probably is generally more successful in that, you know, we're talking about war, but, um, the kind of destruction that we're witnessing now that nobody's ever seen.

0:21:31

I mean, it's it's a terrible thing. And and we're witnessing it all over. We're witnessing it in, um, in all parts of the world, and a lot of things are going to get started. Look what's going on with China, look at Japan. They're starting to rearm now, they're starting to rearm because China's getting, you know, taking over certain islands. And um, there's a lot of danger in the war right now in the world. There's a lot of, and there's a great possibility of World War III, and we better get this thing done fast.

0:22:01

Because five months with people like her and him, he's checked out. He just goes to the beach and thinks he looks good in a bathing suit, which he doesn't. Uh, he's sort of checked out. Hey, look, you know, you can't blame him. That was a coup. They took it over, they took over the presidential deal, the whole presidential thing was taken over in a coup. He had 14 million votes, she had no votes, not one, and nobody thought it was gonna be her, nobody wanted it to be her.

0:22:35

She was a a joke until six weeks ago when they said we're gonna have to. Politically, they felt they had to pick her, and if they didn't pick her, they thought there'd be a a problem. I don't know if that's right or not. I actually don't think it's right, but you know, they they thought it was right. And now immediately the press comes to their aid.

0:22:58
Lex Fridman

If we can go back to China on negotiation, how do we a avoid war with China in the twenty first century?

0:23:06
Donald Trump

Well, there are ways now. Here's the problem. If I tell you how, and I'd love to do it, but if I, if I give you a plan, like I, I have a very exacting plan how to stop Ukraine and Russia. And I have a certain idea, maybe not a plan, but an idea for China, because we do, you know, we're gonna. We're in a lot of trouble. They'll be in a lot of trouble too, but we're in a lot of trouble.

0:23:33

Uh, but I can't give you those plans because if I give you those plans, I'm not gonna be able to use them. They'll be very unsuccessful. You know, part of it's surprise, right? But they won't be able to help us much.

0:23:45
Lex Fridman

So you have a plan of what to say to Putin when you take office?

0:23:48
Donald Trump

exactly. No. I had a very good relationship with him, and I had a good relationship with Zelensky, too, but I had a very good relationship with Putin,

0:23:57
Lex Fridman

Tough topic, but important. You said, lost by a whisker. Uh, I'm an independent. I have a lot of friends who are independent, many of whom like your policies. Uh, like the fact that you're a dealmaker, like the fact that you can end wars, but they are troubled by, uh, what happened in the 2020 election and, um, statements about widespread fraud and this kind of stuff, fake election scheme. What can you say to those, uh, independent voters to help them decide who to vote for?

0:24:35
Donald Trump

I think the fraud was on the other side. I think the election was a fraud, and many people felt it was that, and they wanted answers. And when you can't challenge an election, you have to be able to challenge it, otherwise it's gonna get worse, not better. And there are lots of ways to solve this problem. Go to paper ballots and do it the easy way. I mean, the paper ballots, and you, uh, have voter ID, and you have same day voting, and you have proof of citizenship, which is very important because we have people voting that are not citizens.

0:25:10

They just came in and they're loading up the payrolls, they're loading up everything. They're putting students in schools that don't speak a word of English, and they're taking the seats of people that are citizens of our country. So, uh, look, we have the worst border in the history of the world. We have coming into our country right now millions and millions of people at levels that nobody's ever seen. I don't believe any country's ever seen it.

0:25:41

And they would use sticks and so stones not to make it happen, not to let it happen. We don't, we don't do anything. And we have a person who was the border czar, who now says she wasn't really the border czar, but she was, she was the border czar, but she was in charge of the border. And we have her, and she's saying, uh, very strongly, Oh, I did such a good job. She was horrible, horrible, the the harm she's done.

0:26:06

But we have people coming in from other countries all over the world, not just South America, and they're coming in from prisons and jails, they're coming in from mental institutions and insane asylums, and they're street criminals right off the street. They take them and they're being given to our country. D drug dealers, human traffickers. We're destroying our country. This is a sin. What's been allowed to take place over the last four years? We're destroying our country, and we'll see how that all works out, but it's not even believable.

0:26:43

And now you see, you saw in Aurora, Colorado, um, a group of very tough young thugs from Venezuela taking over big areas, including buildings. They're taking over buildings, they have their big rifles, but they're taking over buildings. We're not gonna let this happen. We're not gonna let them destroy our country. And you know, in those countries, crime is way down. They're taking them out of their prisons, which is good because good for them. I do the same thing.

0:27:15

By the way, if I ran one of those countries, any country in the world, I would make sure that America has every one of our prisoners, every one of our criminals would be here. I can't believe they're going so slowly, but some aren't, and but they all are doing it, and we can't let that happen. They're emptying out their prisons and their mental institutions into the United States of America. We can't let that happen.

0:27:40
Lex Fridman

So a lot of people believe that there was some shady stuff that went on with the election, whether it's, uh, media bias or big tech, but still, the the claim of widespread fraud is the thing that bothers people.

0:27:52
Donald Trump

Well, I don't focus on the past, I focus on the future. I mean, I talk about how bad the economy is, how bad inflation is, how bad things like, um, which is important. Afghanistan was, in my opinion, the most embarrassing thing that's ever happened to our country. And because of that, I think Putin went in when he saw how stupid we were. Putin went in, but it it was the most embarrassing moment in the history of our country.

0:28:21

I really believe that. But, you know, we left. We left thirteen dead soldiers. Think of it, thirteen dead soldiers, many soldiers horrifically hurt, with arms and legs and everything else gone. Um, we left hostages behind, we left Americans behind, we left military equipment the likes of which nobody's ever left behind before. Billions and billions of dollars of equipment. They're now selling the equipment. They're one of the largest arms dealers in the world. And, um, very sad, very sad.

0:28:59

And and you know, we were there for a long time. I was going to get out, we were getting ready to get out, then we got interrupted by the election, but we would have been out with dignity and strength. Uh, we were having very little problem with the Taliban when I was there because they knew it was gonna be tough. I dealt with Abdul. Abdul was the leader, and we got along fine. He understood, but, you know, they were shooting, they were killing a lot of our people before I came down.

0:29:29

And when I got there, I said, I spoke to him, I said, you can't do it, don't do it anymore. We went eighteen months before this happened, this horrible day happened. We went eighteen months and nobody was shot at or killed.

0:29:44
Lex Fridman

What do you think? That was the carrot or the stick in that case in Afghanistan? The stick, That worked, so

0:29:48
Donald Trump

definitely the stick.

0:29:48
Lex Fridman

the threat of military force.

0:29:50
Donald Trump

That was the stick. Yeah, it doesn't have to be, but that was the stick.

0:29:54
Lex Fridman

Well, let me just linger on the election a little, a little bit more. For this election, it might be a close one. What can we do to avoid the insanity and division of the previous election, whether you win or lose?

0:30:08
Donald Trump

Well, I hope it's not a close one. I mean, you know, I don't know how people can vote for somebody that has destroyed our country. The inflation, the bad economy. But but to me, in a way, the worst is what they've allowed to happen at our border, where they've allowed millions of people to come in here from places that you don't want to know about. And I can't believe that that's going to be a close election.

0:30:31

You know, we're leading in the polls, but and it looks close, but I think in the end, it's not going to be a close election.

0:30:39
Lex Fridman

What do you think is the right way to solve the immigration crisis? Is mass deportation one of the solutions you would think about?

0:30:45
Donald Trump

Well, you've got to get the the criminals out of here fast, right? Yeah, you know, the people from mental institutions, you got to get them back into their mental institution. No country can afford this, you know, it's just too much money. You look at what's happening in New York and Chicago and LA. and lots of places, and you take a look at what's happening. There's no country can afford this. We can't afford it, and we've got to get the bad ones out immediately, and the rest have to be worked on.

0:31:14

You know, it's happened before. Dwight Eisenhower was sort of a moderate president, moderate type person, but he hated when he saw people pouring into the country, and they were nothing like now. You know, I probably got elected in 2016 because of the border, and I told people what was happening, and they understood it, and I won the election, and I won the election, I think because of the border. Our border is twenty five times worse right now than it was in 2016.

0:31:45

I had it fixed to I had it. The last week of my the famous chart that I put up was exactly that, you know, the chart. When I looked to the right, I said, There's the chart being, uh, that was not a pleasant experience, but the chart that I put up said, and that was done by Border Patrol. That was the lowest number that we've ever had come into our country in recorded history, and we have to get it back to that again.

0:32:12

We will

0:32:14
Lex Fridman

Let me ask you about Project 2025. So you've publicly said that you don't have any direct connection to Project nothing. I twenty five?

0:32:20
Donald Trump

know nothing about it, and they know that, too. Democrats know that. And I purposely haven't read it because I want to say to you, I don't. I have no idea what it's all about. It's easier than saying I read it, and you know all of the things. No, I purposely haven't read it, and I've heard about it. I've heard about things that are in there that I don't like, and there are some things in there that everybody would like, but there are things that, uh, I don't like at all.

0:32:50

And I think it's, uh, unfortunate that they put it out, but it doesn't mean anything because it has nothing to do with me. Project twenty five has it has absolutely nothing to do with me.

0:33:03
Lex Fridman

You posted recently about marijuana and, uh, that you're okay with it being legalized, but it has to be done safely. Can you explain your policy there?

0:33:13
Donald Trump

Well, I just put out a paper, and first of all, medical marijuana has been amazing. It's been I. I've had friends and I've had others and doctors telling me that it's been absolutely amazing, the medical marijuana. And we put out a statement that we can live with the marijuana. It's got to be a certain age, it's got to be a certain age to buy it. Uh, it's got to be done in a very concerted, lawful way, and the way they're doing it in Florida, I think, is gonna be actually good.

0:33:51

It's gonna be a very good, but it's got to be done in a good way, it's got to be done in a clean way. You go into some of these places, like in New York, it's all it smells, all marijuana, you can't. The way you've got to have a system where there's control, and I think the way they've done it in Florida is is very good.

0:34:09
Lex Fridman

Do you know anything about psychedelics? So I'm I'm not a drug guy, but I recently did ayahuasca, uh, and uh, there's a lot of people that speak to sort of the health benefits and the spiritual benefits of these different psychedelics. I think, uh, we would probably have a better world if everybody in Congress took some mushrooms, perhaps. Um, now I know you don't, you stay away from all of that stuff. Um, I, I know. Also, veterans use it for dealing with PTSD and all that kind of stuff, so it's it's great.

0:34:43

And it's interesting that you're thinking about being more accepting of some of these drugs, which don't just have a recreational purpose, but, uh, a medical purpose, a treatment purpose.

0:34:55
Donald Trump

So we put out a statement today, we're gonna put out another one probably next week, be more specific, although I think it's pretty spec specific, and we'll, uh, we'll see how that all goes. That's a referendum coming up in some states, but it's coming up and we'll see how it does. I will say it's been very hard to beat it. Uh, you take a look at the numbers, it's been very hard to beat it, so I think it'll generally pass, but you want to do it in a safe way.

0:35:24
Lex Fridman

Speaking of marijuana, let me ask you about my good friend Joe Rogan. So you had a bit of tension with him. So when he said nice things about RFK Jr. I think you've, uh, you've said some not so nice things about Joe, and I think that was a bit unfair. And as a fan of Joe, I would love to see you do his podcast because he is legit the greatest conversationalist in the world. So what's what's the story behind well, the tension?

0:35:51
Donald Trump

I don't think there was any tension. And, uh, I've always liked him, but I don't know him. I mean, I've only seen him when I walk into the arena with Dana and I shake his hand. I see him there, and I think he's good at what he does, but I don't know about doing his podcast. I mean, I guess I do it, but I haven't been asked, and I'm not asking them, you know, I'm not asking anybody.

0:36:19
Lex Fridman

it sounds like a challenging negotiation situation.

0:36:21
Donald Trump

No, it's, it's not, it's not really a negotiation. And he's sort of a liberal guy, I guess, you know, from what I understand. But he likes Kennedy. This was before I found this out, before Kennedy came in with us. He's gonna be great, he's doing Bobby's gonna be great, but I like that he likes Kennedy. I do, too. You know, he's a different kind of a guy, but he's got some great things going, and, uh, I think he's gonna be beyond politics.

0:36:48

I think he could be quite influential in taking care of some situations that you probably would agree should be taken care of.

0:36:55
Lex Fridman

The Joe Rogan post is an example. I would love to get your psychology, uh, about behind the tweets and the posts on truth. Uh, are you sometimes being intentionally provocative, or are you just speaking your mind? And are there times where you regret some of the truths you've posted?

0:37:14
Donald Trump

yeah, I do, I mean, but not that often, honestly, you know, I do a lot of reposting. The ones you get in trouble with are the reposts, because you find down deep they're into some group that, uh, you're not supposed to be reposting. You don't even know if those groups are good, bad, or indifferent, but the reposts are the ones that really get you in trouble. When you do your own words, it's sort of easier, but the reposts go very quickly.

0:37:40

And if you're gonna check every single little symbol, and, uh, I don't know, it's worked out pretty well for me, I tell you, it's, uh, truth is very powerful, truth, and it's my platform, and it's been very powerful, very, very powerful. Goes everywhere. I call it my typewriter, you know, that's actually my typewriter.

0:38:04
Lex Fridman

What are you doing usually when you're composing a truth? Like, are you chilling back on a couch? Couches, beds, Okay,

0:38:12
Donald Trump

a lot of different things. I mean,

0:38:14
Lex Fridman

like late at night and just just

0:38:16
Donald Trump

I'd like to do some late at night, you know, I don't. I'm not a huge sleeper, I, but whenever I do them, you know, past like three, 00:00, they criticize you the next day. Trump was up truthing, okay, Trump was truthing at three, 00:00 in the morning, and there should be no problem with that. And then when you think about time zones, how do they know that you're, like, you know, in a time zone, like an Eastern zone?

0:38:42

So, but but every time I do it after like two or three, 00:00, it's like, why is he doing that? But it's gotten, um, I mean, you know, the truth has become a very successful, uh, platform, and I like doing it, and it goes everywhere. As soon as I do it, it goes everywhere.

0:39:04
Lex Fridman

The country seems more divided than ever. What can you do to help alleviate some of that division?

0:39:09
Donald Trump

well, you can get rid of these two people. They're terrible, they're terrible. You don't want to have them running this country. They're not equipped to run it. Joe, just Joe, it's a disaster, okay? And Kamala, I think she'll end up being worse than him. We'll see. I think a lot's now, you know, the convention's over with, and I I see I'm leading in just about all the polls now. They had their little honeymoon period, as they call it, and we'll see how that all goes.

0:39:40

Who knows?

0:39:41
Lex Fridman

From my personal opinion, I think you you are at your best when you're talking about a positive vision of the future versus criticizing the other side.

0:39:51
Donald Trump

Yeah, I think you have to criticize, though. I think I think they're nasty. They came up with a story that I looked down and I called soldiers that died in World War I suckers and losers. Okay, now, number one, who would say that? number two, who would say it to military people? Nobody. It was a made up story, it was just a made up story, and they like to repeat it over again. They know it was made up.

0:40:19

I have twenty six wit witnesses that nothing was said. They don't want to hear about that. Uh, like she lied on McDonald's, she said that, uh, that she worked at McDonald's. It's not a big lie, but it's a big lie. It's so, you know, I mean, they just went and they checked, and unless she can show something, they don't talk about. The presses are going to follow up with it, but I I'll keep hammering it. But she never worked at McDonald's.

0:40:45

It was just a, you know, sort of a cool thing to say, Hey, I worked at McDonald's, you know? Um, but one of the worst was two days ago. I went to Arlington at the request of people that lost their their children. They'll always be children to those people. You understand that that's not politically incorrect thing to say. M the mother comes up, I lost my child, but, you know, the child is a soldier and lost a child because of Biden and because of Kamala.

0:41:17

As just as though they had the gun in their hand because it was so badly handled. It should have been done at Bagram, which is the big airbase. It shouldn't have been done at a small little airport right in the middle of town where people stormed it. Uh, it was a true disaster. And they asked me if I'd come and celebrate with them. Three years, three years, they died three years ago. And I said, I'm gonna try.

0:41:48

I got to know them because I brought them here. Actually, one night they they almost all came here, and they said, I wonder if Trump will actually come and see us. I heard that we here. I came, so we stayed for like four hours listening to music up on a deck right upstairs. Beautiful, and they were great people. So they called me over the last couple of weeks and they said, we're gonna have a reunion, our three year reunion.

0:42:14

Would you be able to come? It was very hard for me to do it logistically, but I said, I'll get it done. And I got there and we had a beautiful time. I didn't run away. I didn't, you know, I didn't just walk in, shake hands and walk out like people do. And I wasn't looking at my watch like Joe Biden does, and it was amazing. So I did it for them. I didn't do it for me.

0:42:39

I don't need the publicity. I mean, I get more publicity probably than anybody. You would know that better than me, but I think maybe more than anybody, maybe more than anybody that's ever lived. I don't know, but I don't think anyone could have any more. Every time you turn on television, there's like nine different stories, all on different topics in the world about Trump. As an example, you interview a lot of people, good people, successful people.

0:43:04

Let's see how you do with this interview versus them. Okay, I mean, I I can tell you right now, you're gonna get the highest numbers you've ever had by sometimes a factor of ten. But but um, when a gold star family asks me to come in and spend time with them. And then they said, Sir, we did a ceremony and then we went down to the graves, which was quite a distance away. They said, Sir, would you come to the grave?

0:43:39

And then they said, when we were there, it's very sad, actually, because these people shouldn't have died. They shouldn't have died. They died because of Biden and because of Kamala. They died because it just like if they pulled the trigger, okay? Now I don't know if that's controversial to say, but I don't think it is. Afghanistan was the most incompetently run operation I think I've ever seen, military or otherwise, they were incompetent. But the families asked me if I'd go, I did go.

0:44:09

Then the families said, could we have a picture at the tombstone of my son? And we did son or daughter. There was a daughter too, and I took numerous pictures with the families. I don't know of anybody else that was in the pictures, but they were mostly families, I guess. That was it, and then I left. I s I spent a lot of time with them, then I left, and I get home that night and I get a call that the Biden administration with Kamala is accusing me of using Arlington for publicity.

0:44:42

I was a news just the opposite, just the opposite. And and actually, did you see? It just came out? The families actually put out a very strong statement defending me. They said, We asked him to be there.

0:44:55
Lex Fridman

Well, politicians and the media can play those games, and you're right, your name gets a lot of use. You're probably legit, the most famous person in the world. But on the previous thing, in the spirit of unity, you used to be a Democrat, uh, setting the politicians aside, what do you respect most about people who lean left, who are Democrats themselves, or of that persuasion, progressives, liberals, and so on?

0:45:25
Donald Trump

well, uh, look, I respect the fact that everybody's in there. And, you know, to a certain extent, life is what you do while you're waiting to die, so you might as well do a good job. I I think in terms of what's happening now, I think, you know, we we have a chance to save the country. This country's going down, and I called it with Venezuela, I called it with a lot of different countries, and this country's going down.

0:45:51

If we don't win this election, the election coming up on November fifth is the most important election this country's ever had. Because if we don't win it, I don't know that there'll be another election, and it's gonna be a communist country or close.

0:46:11
Lex Fridman

There's a lot of people listening to this, myself included, that doesn't think that Kamala is a communist. Uh, Well, she's a Marxist, her, her father's a Marxist,

0:46:22
Donald Trump

that's right. and she's advocated It's a little unusual, you know?

0:46:25
Lex Fridman

she's advocating for some policies that are towards the direction of, um, democratic socialism, let's say. But there's a lot of people that kind of know the way government works and they say, well, none of those policies are going to actually come to reality. It's just being used during the campaign to, you know, uh, groceries are too expensive, we need them cheaper, so let's let's talk about price controls, and that's never gonna come to reality.

0:46:49
Donald Trump

It could come to reality. Look, I mean, she came out with price control. It's been tried like 121 different times at different places over the years, and it's never worked once. It it leads to communism, it leads to socialism, it leads to having no food on the shelves, and it leads to tremendous inflation. It's just It's a bad idea.

0:47:12
Lex Fridman

whenever we use terms like communism for her, and I don't know if you know this, but some people call you a fascist.

0:47:18
Donald Trump

Yeah, they do, so I figure it's all right to call them a communist. Yeah, they call me a lot worse than I call them.

0:47:24
Lex Fridman

They they do indeed. Uh, it's just sometimes

0:47:26
Donald Trump

It's interesting, though. They'll call me something that's terrible, and then I'll hit them back and they'll say, Isn't it terrible? What Trump said? I said, Well, wait a minute, they just called me. So I believe you have to fight fire with fire. I believe they're very evil people. These are evil people. You know, we have an enemy from the outside, and we have an enemy from within. And in my opinion, the enemy from within are radical left lunatics, and I think you have to fight back.

0:47:54
Lex Fridman

whenever there's a lot of fighting fire with fire, it's too easy to forget that there's a middle of America that is, uh, that's moderate and kind of sees the good in both sides and just likes one side more than the other in terms of policies. Like I said, there's a lot of people that like your policies, that like your skill in being able to negotiate and end wars, and they don't see the the, uh, impending destruction of America.

0:48:24
Donald Trump

You know, we had no wars when I was president. That's a big thing. Not since seventy eight years has that happened, but we had no wars when I was president. We defeated ISIS, but they were that was a war that was started that we weren't anywhere near defeating. But think of it, I had no wars, and Victor Orban, the prime minister of Hungary, said the world has to have Trump back because everybody was afraid of Trump.

0:48:49

Now, that's what he said, so I'm not using that term, but I think they respected me. But he said China was afraid, Russia was afraid, everybody was afraid. And I, I don't care what word they used, I'd it probably. That's even a better word if you want to know the truth, but let's use the word respect. They had respect for me, they had respect for the country. I mean, I ended the Nord Stream two pipeline, the Russian pipeline.

0:49:14

Nobody else could have done that. I ended it, it was done. Then Biden comes in and he gave it, he approved it. So we're defending Germany and these other countries for peanuts compared to what it's worth, and they're paying the person we're defending them against billions and billions of dollars for energy. I said, How does that work? And we had it out with them and it worked out good, and they paid bill, they paid hundreds of billions of dollars.

0:49:41

Or you wouldn't even have a NATO right now. You wouldn't have NATO if it wasn't for me.

0:49:46
Lex Fridman

As the leader of the United States, you were the most powerful man in the world, as you mentioned, not only the most famous, but the most powerful. And if you become leader again, you will have unprecedented power just on your own personal psychology. What does that power do to you? Does it is there any threat of it corrupting how you see the world?

0:50:06
Donald Trump

No, I don't think so. Look, I, I've been there for four years. Uh, I could have done a big number on Hillary Clinton. I thought it looked terrible to take the president's wife and put her in prison. She's so lucky. I didn't do anything. She's so lucky. Hillary is a lucky woman. Uh, because I had a lot of people pushing me to. They wanted to, they wanted to see something, but I had I. I could have done something very bad.

0:50:34

I thought it looks so bad. Think of it. You have the president of the United States, and you also had Secretary of State, right? She was, but you're gonna put the president's wife in prison. And yet when I got out there, you know, they have all these hoaxes, they're all hoaxes, but they have all these dishonest hoaxes, just like they did in the past. With Russia, Russia, Russia, that was a hoax. Uh, the fifty one different, uh, you know, agencies or agents, that was a hoax.

0:51:03

The whole thing was a hoax, the whole there was so many hoaxes and scams. And but I didn't want to put her in jail, and I didn't, and I explained it to people. You know, they say, lock her up, lock her up. It doesn't we won. I said, we don't want to put her in jail. We want to bring the country together. I want to bring the country together. You don't bring the country together by putting her in jail.

0:51:30

But then when I got out, you know, they went to work on me. It's it's amazing. And, uh, they suffer from massive Trump derangement syndrome, TDS, and I don't know if they're it's curable from their standpoint.

0:51:47
Lex Fridman

A lot of people are very interested in f footage of UFOs. The the Pentagon has released a few, uh, videos, and, uh, there's been anecdotal reports from fighter pilots. So a lot of people want to know, will you help push the Pentagon to release more footage, which a lot of people claim is available?

0:52:07
Donald Trump

Oh, yeah, sure, I'll do that. I would do that. I'd love to do that. I have to do that. Uh, but they also are pushing me on Kennedy, and I did release a lot, but I had people come to me and beg me not to do it. But I'll be doing that very early on. Uh, yeah, no, but I would do that.

0:52:26
Lex Fridman

there was a moment where you had some hesitation about Epstein releasing some of the documents on Epstein. Why the hesitation?

0:52:33
Donald Trump

I don't think I had a. I mean, I'm not involved. I never went to his island, um, fortunately, but a lot of people did.

0:52:43
Lex Fridman

Why do you think so many smart, powerful people allowed him to get so close?

0:52:50
Donald Trump

Um, he was a good salesman. He was, you know, he was a hail and hearty type of guy. He had some nice assets that he'd throw around, like islands, but a lot of big people went to that island. But fortunately, I was not one of them.

0:53:09
Lex Fridman

It's just very strange for a lot of people that, uh, the list of clients that went to the island has not been made public.

0:53:17
Donald Trump

Yeah, it's, it's very interesting, isn't it? Probably will be, by the way, probably.

0:53:23
Lex Fridman

So if you're able to, you'll be

0:53:25
Donald Trump

Yeah, I'd certainly take a look at it now. Kennedy's interesting because it's so many years ago, you know, they do that for danger, too, because, you know, it endangers certain people, et cetera, et cetera. So Kennedy, uh, is very different from the Epstein thing. But yeah, I'd be inclined to do the Epstein. I'd have no problem with it.

0:53:46
Lex Fridman

that's great to hear. What gives you strength when you're getting attacked? You're one of the most attacked people in the world.

0:53:53
Donald Trump

I think you, you can't, you can't care that much. I know people, they care so much about everything, like what people are saying. You can't care too much because you end up choking.

0:54:05
Lex Fridman

One of the tragic things about life is that it ends. How often do you think about your death? Are you afraid of it?

0:54:13
Donald Trump

I have a friend who's very, very successful, and he's in his eighties, mid mid eighties. And he asked me that exact same question. I said, I turned it around. I said, Well, what about you? He said, I think about it every minute of every day. And then a week later, he called me to SA tell me something, and he starts off the conversation by going tick tock, tick tock. This is a dark, this is a dark person, you know, in a sense, but, uh, it is what it is.

0:54:46

I mean, you know, if you're religious, you have, I think, a better feeling toward it. You know, you're supposed to go to heaven, ideally not hell, but you're supposed to go to heaven if you're good. I think our country's missing a lot of religion. I think it really was a much better place with religion. It, it was some, it was almost a guide, you know, to a certain extent, it was a guide. You wanna be good to people.

0:55:10

Without religion, there's no real, there's no guardrails. I'd love to see us get back to religion, more religion in this country.

0:55:19
Lex Fridman

well, Mr. President, thank you for putting yourself out there and thank you for talking today.

0:55:23
Donald Trump

Look, I I love the country, I wanna see the country be great, and we have a real chance of doing it, but it's our last chance, and I appreciate it very much.

0:55:32
Lex Fridman

Thank you.

0:55:33
Donald Trump

Thank you.

0:55:35
Lex Fridman

Thanks for listening to this conversation with Donald Trump. To support this podcast, please check out our sponsors in the description. And now, as I've started doing here at the end of some episodes, let me make a few comments and answer a few questions. If you would like to submit questions, including in audio and video form, go to Lexfriedman com slash aMA, or get in touch with me for whatever other reason at Lexfriedman com slash contact. I usually do this in a T-shirt, but I figured, uh, for this episode, I'll, uh, keep my suit and tie on.

0:56:08

So, first, this might be a good moment to, uh, look back a bit. I've been doing this podcast for over six years, and I first and foremost have to say thank you. I'm truly grateful for the support and the love I've gotten along the way. It's been, I would say, the most unlikely journey, and on most days, I barely feel like I know what I'm doing. But I wanted to, uh, talk a bit about how I approach these conversations.

0:56:35

Now, each conversation is its own unique puzzle, so I can't speak generally to how I approach these. But here, it may be useful to describe how I approach conversations with world leaders, of which I hope to have many more and do a better job every time. I read a lot of history, and I admire the historian perspective. As an example, I admire William Shirer, the author of many books on Hitler, including The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich.

0:57:03

He was there and lived through it and covered it objectively to the degree that one could. Academic historians, by the way, criticize him for being a poor historian because he editorialized a little too much. I think those same folks criticize Dan Carlin and his Hardcore History podcast. I respect their criticism, but I fundamentally disagree. So in these conversations with world leaders, I try to put on my historian hat. I think in the realm of truth and public discourse, there's a spectrum between the ephemeral and the eternal.

0:57:42

The outrage mob and clickbait journalists are often focused on the ephemeral, the current thing, the, uh, current viral shitstorm of mockery and derision. But when the battle of the day is done, most of it will be forgotten. A few true ideas will remain, and those the historian hopes to capture. Now, this is, uh, much easier said than done. It's not just about having the right ideals and the integrity to stick by them. It's not even just about having the actual skill of talking, which, uh, I still think I suck at, but let's say I.

0:58:20

It's a work in progress. You also have to make the scheduling work and set up the entirety of the environment in a way that is conducive to such a conversation. This is hard, really hard, with political and business leaders. They are usually super busy and, in some cases, super nervous, because, well, they've been screwed over so many times with clickbait, gotcha journalism. So to convince them and their team to talk for two, three, four, five hours is hard, and I do think a good conversation requires that kind of duration.

0:58:53

And I've been thinking a lot about why. I don't think it's just about needing the actual time, of three hours, to cover all the content. I think the longer form, with a hypothetical skilled conversationalist, relaxes things and allows people to go on tangents and to banter about the details. Because I think it's in the details that the beautiful complexity of the person is brought to light. Anyway, I look forward to talking to more world leaders and doing a better job every time.

0:59:25

As I said, I would love to do interviews with Kamala Harris and some other political figures on the left and right, including Tim Walz, AOC, Bernie, Barack Obama, Bill and Hillary, and on the right, JD Vance, Vivek, George W. and so on. And on the topic of politics, let me say, as an immigrant, I love this country, the United States of America. I do believe it is the greatest nation on earth, and I'm grateful for the people on the left and the right who step into the arena of politics to fight for this country that I do believe they all love as well.

1:00:02

I have reached out to Kamala Harris, but not many of the others. I probably should do a better job of that, but I've been doing most of this myself, all the reach out, scheduling, research, prep, recording, and so on. And on top of that, I very much have been suffering from imposter syndrome, with the voice in my head constantly pointing out when I'm doing a shitty job. Plus, a few folks graciously remind me on the internet the, uh, the very same sentiment of this aforementioned voice.

1:00:32

All of this while I have the option of just hiding away at MIT, programming robots and doing some cool AI research with a few grad students, or maybe joining an AI company, or maybe starting my own. All these options make me truly happy. But like I said, on most days, I barely know what I'm doing, so who knows what the future holds? Most importantly, I'm forever grateful for all of you, for your patience and your support throughout this rollercoaster of a life I've been on.

1:00:59

I love you all. Okay, now let me go on to some of the questions that people had. I was asked by a few people to comment on Pavel Durov arrest and on X being banned in Brazil. Let me first briefly comment on the, uh, Durov arrest. So basic facts Pavel Durov is CEO of Telegram, which is a messenger app that has end to end encryption mode. It's not on by default, and, uh, most people don't use the end to end encryption, but some do.

1:01:31

Pavel was arrested in France on a long list of charges related to quote unquote criminal activity carried out on the Telegram platform, and for quote unquote providing unlicensed cryptology services. I think Telegram is indeed used for criminal activity by a small minority of its users, for example, by terrorist groups to communicate. And I think we all agree that terrorism is bad. But here's the problem. As the old saying goes, one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter.

1:02:04

And there are many cases in which the world unilaterally agrees who the terrorists are. But there are other cases when, uh, governments, especially authoritarian inclined governments, tend to propagandize and just call whoever's in the opposition, whoever opposes them, terrorists. There is some room for nuance here, but to me, at this time, it seems to obviously be a power grab by government wanting to have backdoor access into every platform so they can have censorship power against the opposition.

1:02:36

I think generally government should stay out of censoring or even pressuring social media platforms. And I think arresting a CEO of a tech company for the things said on the platform he built is just nuts. It has a chilling effect on him, on people working at Telegram, and on people working at every social media company, and also people thinking of launching a new social media company. Same as the case of X being banned in Brazil. It's, I think, a power grab by Alexandre de Marías, a Supreme Court justice in Brazil.

1:03:10

He ordered X to block certain accounts that are spreading quote unquote misinformation. Elon and X denied the request, then de Marías threatened to arrest X representatives in Brazil, and in response to that, X pulled the representatives out of Brazil, obviously, to protect them. And now X having no representatives in Brazil apparently violates the law. Based on this, de Marías banned X in Brazil. Once again, it's an authoritarian figure seeking censorship power over the channels of communication.

1:03:44

I understand that this is complicated because there are evil people in the world, and part of the role of government is to protect us from those evil people. But, as Benjamin Franklin said, those who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. So it's a trade-off, but I think in many places in the world, many governments have leaned too far away at this time from liberty. Okay, next up, I got a question on AI, which I emotionally connected with.

1:04:18

I'll condense it as follows. Hello Lex, I'm a programmer, and I have a deep fear of slipping into irrelevance because I am worried that AI will soon exceed my programming skills. Let me first say that I relate to your fear. It's scary to have a thing that gives you a career and gives you meaning to be taken away. For me, programming is a passion, and if not for this podcast, it would probably, at least in part, be my profession.

1:04:48

So I get an uncomfortable feeling every time Claude, the LLM I use for coding at this time, just writes a lot of excellent, approximately correct code. I think you can make a good case that it already exceeds the skill of many programmers, at least in the same way that, uh, the collective intelligence of Stack Overflow exceeds the skill of many programmers, many individual programmers, but in many ways, it still does not. Uh, but I think eventually, more and more, the task, the profession of programming, will be one of writing natural language prompts.

1:05:25

I think the right thing to do, and, uh, what I'm at least doing, is to ride the wave of the ever improving code generating LLMs and keep transforming myself into a big picture designer versus low level tinkerer. What I'm doing and, uh, what, uh, I recommend you do is continually switch to whatever state-of-the-art tool is for generating code. So for me currently, I recently switched from VS Code to Cursor, and before that it was Emacs to VS Code switch.

1:05:55

So Cursor is this editor that's based on VS Code that, uh, leans heavily on LLMs and integrates the code generation really nicely into the editing process. So it makes it super easy to, uh, continually use the LLMs. So what I would advise and what I'm trying to do myself is to learn how to use it and to master its code generation capabilities. I personally try to now allocate a significant amount of time to designing with natural language first versus writing code from scratch.

1:06:27

So using my understanding of programming to edit the code that's generated by the LLM versus sort of, uh, writing it from scratch and then using the LLM to generate small parts of the code. I see it as a skill that I should develop in parallel to my programming skill. I think this applies to many other careers too. Don't compete with AI for your job. Learn to use the AI to do that job better. But yes, it is scary on some deep, sort of human level, the threat of being replaced.

1:07:01

Uh, but at least I think we'll be okay. All right, next up, I got a very nice audio message and question from a gentleman who is 27 and feeling a lot of anxiety about the future. Just recently he graduated with a bachelor's degree and he's thinking about going to grad school for biomedical engineering. But there is a lot of anxiety. He mentioned anxiety many times in the message. It took him an extra while to get his degree, so he mentioned he would be 32 by the time he's done with his PhD.

1:07:33

So it's a big investment. But he said, in his heart, he feels like he's a scientist. I think that's the most important part of his message, of your message. By the way, I'll figure out how to best include audio and video messages in future episodes. Now, onto the question. So thank you for telling me your story and for submitting the question. My own life story is similar to yours. I went to Drexel University for my bachelor's, master's, and doctorate degrees, and I took a while, just as you are doing.

1:08:05

I did a lot of non standard things that, uh, weren't any good for some hypothetical career I'm supposed to have. I trained and competed in judo and jujitsu for my entire twenties, got a, uh, black belt from it. I wrote a lot, including a lot of really crappy poetry. I read a large amount of non technical books, history, philosophy, and literature. I took courses on literature and philosophy that weren't at all required for my computer science and electrical engineering degrees, like a course on, uh, James Joyce.

1:08:39

I played guitar in bars around town. I took a lot of technical classes, many, for example, on theoretical computer science, that, uh, were way more than were needed for the degree. I did a lot of research, and I coded up a bunch of projects that didn't directly contribute to my dissertation. It was pure curiosity and the joy of exploring. So, like you, I took, uh, the long way home, as they say, and I regret none of it.

1:09:10

Throughout that, people around me, and even people who love me, wanted, uh, me to hurry up and to focus, especially because I had very little money. And so I had a sense like time was running out for me to, uh, take the needed steps towards a reasonable career. And just like you, I was filled with anxiety, and I still am filled with anxiety to this day. But I I think the right thing to do is not to run away from the anxiety, but to lean into it and, uh, channel it into pursuing with everything you got the things you're passionate about.

1:09:46

As you said, very importantly, in your heart, you know you're a scientist, so that's it. You know exactly what to do. Pursue the desire to be a scientist with everything you got. Get to a good grad school, find a good advisor, and, uh, do epic shit with them. And it may turn out in the end that your life will have unexpected chapters. But as long as you're chasing dreams and goals with absolute, unwavering dedication, good stuff will come of it.

1:10:15

And also try your best to be a good person. This might be a good place to read the words if by Roger Kipling that I often return to when I feel lost and I'm looking for guidance on how to be a better man. If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you, if you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, but make allowance for their doubting too.

1:10:41

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, or being lied about, don't deal in lies, or being hated, don't give way to hating, and yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise. If you can dream and not make dreams your master, if you can think and not make thoughts your aim, if you can meet with triumph and disaster and treat those two imposters just the same. If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken, twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools, or watch the things you gave your life to broken, and stoop and build em up with worn out tools.

1:11:18

If you can make one heap of all your winnings and risk it on one turn of pitch and toss and lose, and start again at your beginnings, and never breathe a word about your loss. If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew to serve your turn long after they're gone. And so hold on when there's nothing in you except the will which says to them hold on. If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, or walk with kings nor lose the common touch, if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you, if all men count with you, but none too much.

1:12:01

If you can fill the unforgiving minute with sixty seconds worth of distance run, yours is the earth and everything that's in it, and which is more, you'll be a man, my son. Thank you for listening and see you next time.