And if you don’t believe me, just ask this guy:

In late March, two journalists from The Atlantic — Ashley Parker and Michael Scherer — through sheer perseverance and a stroke of good luck, scored an interview with Donald Trump.

Their report on that conversation is detailed, fascinating . . . and chilling. From my perspective, it is well worth your time to read it in full, as I could not begin to do it justice here.

But one paragraph — near the end of the interview and before the authors segue into a discussion of how Trump’s second term even came to be — leapt out at me. I just want to quote that part, and let you judge for yourselves what to make of it.

The interviewers had asked Trump if his second term felt different from his first. And this was his response:

“The first time, I had two things to do — run the country and survive; I had all these crooked guys. And the second time, I run the country and the world.” [Ashley Parker and Michael Scherer, The Atlantic, April 28, 2025.]

I have nothing to add . . .

Brendochka
4/29/25