The Washington Post publishes an interview with Donald Trump in which he says he and his friend Roy Cohn know how to deal with the Soviets (USSR) and handle nuclear concerns. Trump wants to negotiate on behalf of the United States. When asked for more, Trump says he’s saving the plans for himself or “for whoever else is chosen.”
This morning, Trump has a new idea. He wants to talk about the threat of nuclear war. He wants to talk about how the United States should negotiate with the Soviets.
He wants to be the negotiator.
He says he has never acted on his nuclear concern. But he says that his good friend Roy Cohn, the flamboyant Republican lawyer, has told him this interview is a perfect time to start.
“Some people have an ability to negotiate,” he says. “It’s an art you’re basically born with. You either have it or you don’t.”
He would know what to ask the Russians for, he says. But he would rather not tip his hand publicly. “In the event anything happens with respect to me, I wouldn’t want to make my opinions public,” he says. “I’d rather keep those thoughts to myself or save them for whoever else is chosen . . .
“It’s something that somebody should do that knows how to negotiate and not the kind of representatives that I have seen in the past.”
He could learn about missiles, quickly, he says.
“It would take an hour-and-a-half to learn everything there is to learn about missiles . . . I think I know most of it anyway. You’re talking about just getting updated on a situation . . . You know who really wants me to do this? Roy . . . I’d do it in a second.”
The Washington Post
Three years later, Trump goes to Russia.
