The transcript of Donald Trump’s deposition – from the lawsuit accusing him of inflating his company’s net worth for the sake of more favorable loan rates – was released on Wednesday.
During the seven hour long testimony, recorded last April, Trump made some noteworthy, and trademark, comments.
And of course, Trump advised New York Attorney General Letitia James to “drop” her lawsuit because “you don’t have a case.”
Donald Trump Defends his Record
“So many things I did for this city,” Trump said during the deposition. “And now I have to come and justify myself to you.”
Trump also deferred responsibility. When asked if he were the “ultimate decision-making authority for the Trump Organization,” Trump answered that he was not because he was “very busy.” Trump then proceeded to throw his son Eric under the bus.
“My son Eric is much more involved with it than I am. I’ve been doing other things,” Donald Trump said. “I guess you could say on something major, finals decisions, whatever. But I’ve been much less involved in it than over the last five or six years than ever before.”
That makes sense given that during the time period described, Trump was the sitting President of the United States – which Trump said he considered the “most important job in the world, saving millions of lives.”
Arguably, Trump is correct – POTUS is probably the most important job in the world (assuming such an evaluation could be reasonably made).
However, the saving millions of lives bit is likely Trumpian hyperbole.
Maybe if you rolled up your sleeves and dug into the numbers of every decision Trump made while in office, you might find his presidency did save millions of lives. I don’t know. But neither does Trump, as his following statements demonstrated.
“I think you would have nuclear holocaust if I didn’t deal with North Korea. I think you would have a nuclear war if I weren’t elected. And I think you might have a nuclear war now, if you want to know the truth,” Trump said.
Trump and North Korea
That seems unlikely. Trump deserves some credit for attempting to normalize relations with North Korea. But Trump only attempted to normalize relations after purposefully, and recklessly, antagonizing the hermit kingdom.
Besides, Trump’s statement implies that North Korea was teetering on the brink, ready to push the button and unleash nuclear war upon America; Trump’s comments assume North Korean leadership is irrational – which also seems unlikely.
North Korea understands that any sort of nuclear deployment against America would be reciprocated with a nuclear strike against North Korea. In the event of reciprocal nuclear attack, North Korea’s regime would likely fall, meaning North Korea as we know it would cease to exist – which is the absolute worst-case scenario for the reigning regime, meaning the regime would take just about any step to avoid such an outcome.
What I’m saying is that Trump didn’t Art of the Deal his way out of a nuclear exchange with North Korea. Rather, North Korea is a rational actor who understood that unleashing nuclear war ran counter to their interests (and their existence) and never had any intention of using their nuclear weapons (only possessing their nuclear weapons).
Remember that every president since Dwight Eisenhower onward has successfully avoided nuclear war with North Korea – so there is nothing superlative about Donald Trump accomplishing the same.
Harrison Kass is the Senior Editor and opinion writer at 19FortyFive. An attorney, pilot, guitarist, and minor pro hockey player, Harrison joined the US Air Force as a Pilot Trainee but was medically discharged. Harrison holds a BA from Lake Forest College, a JD from the University of Oregon, and an MA from New York University. Harrison listens to Dokken.
From the Vault
The Navy Sent 4 Battleships To Attack North Korea
‘Sir, We Hit a Russian Submarine’: A U.S. Navy Sub Collided with a Nuclear Attack Sub
