FULL REMARKS: Trump Praises Xi and Modi, Defends G7 'I'm the Boss' Joke, Talks Iran and AI — AC1B

[0:00] Welcome to the Axios Show. [0:01] Thank you. [0:01] We wanted to make this more of a conversation than a typical interview where we're just going to hop around from topics. [0:06] What have you learned about not just the exercise of power, but the limits on your power as a result of the conflict? [0:12] There are no limits. [0:13] No limits. [0:14] No. [0:14] I haven't learned that lesson yet. [0:16] I know there are, but, you know, there are no limits. [0:19] We defeated them totally militarily. [0:22] I was asked by Pakistan, because they're close, to please not do any more. [0:27] I said, I like them a lot. [0:30] You know, I stopped, and they were going to use those nuclear weapons, and the prime minister of Pakistan said— [0:36] And it certainly brought Iran to the table more than before. [0:40] However, beginning a conflict, you had talked about you only wanted unconditional surrender. [0:46] And the MOU doesn't look like unconditional surrender. [0:49] Well, it really probably is unconditional surrender. [0:52] It is? [0:53] I think so. [0:53] Look, they have no military. [0:56] They're all at the bottom of the sea. [0:58] 159 ships, that's what they have. [1:00] Sure, but they could still menace. [1:02] They only had these small, what, gosh-deep bouncer. [1:05] Well, look, you call it what you want. [1:06] You know, I hear the JCPOA, the Obama nuclear catastrophe, which was so bad. [1:15] When Obama left, he didn't hit their military. [1:18] He didn't damage their Navy or destroy their Air Force. [1:22] I'd destroy the Air Force. [1:23] You can't just say, oh, forget about it. [1:25] No. [1:26] Excuse me. [1:26] I wiped out their military. [1:28] I don't dispute that. [1:29] They then put a new group in there. [1:31] Very good, but very nasty. [1:33] I dealt with them. [1:34] They're gone. [1:35] They're all gone. [1:36] And we're dealing with the third group, who I actually think is the smartest group. [1:39] And I actually think it's regime change, if you want to know the truth. [1:42] It's these are different people. [1:43] How is a regime change if you have— [1:44] Because they're different people. [1:45] But you have Khamenei Jr. [1:46] You still have a lot of IRGC officials there. [1:49] They're different people. [1:51] Khamenei Jr. is different from the father. [1:53] You have a number of— [1:53] And we have people that are much less radicalized than the previous two groups, of which I knew them both. [2:02] But think of it. [2:03] Oh, why aren't you tougher? [2:05] Let me—the only way I can get tougher is if I go in there for another two or three weeks and continue to bomb the hell out of them, right? [2:12] But what does that get us? [2:15] The strait of Hormuz will not be open. [2:18] Let's say I did that. [2:19] Let's say I decided to do that. [2:20] That was a decision I had to make. [2:23] So right now, our stock market is through the roof. [2:26] The oil prices are tumbling. [2:28] The oil prices are practically the same as they were before I saw it. [2:32] The big difference is that Iran will never have a nuclear weapon. [2:35] They're never going to have a nuclear weapon, okay? [2:37] It's very clear and very simple. [2:39] What are you going to do— [2:40] By the way, Obama never got his plan approved. [2:42] You know that, right? [2:43] Now, Obama did something very different. [2:45] He thought he was going to say, some guys that I used to respect—I don't respect anymore. [2:50] They're hardliners, but I have the argument with them. [2:53] They're unable to win the argument with me. [2:55] They can't win it. [2:56] And so they go, here's the end to say, all right, I don't care. [3:00] I still don't like it. [3:02] Okay? [3:02] That's what—you're so sure. [3:03] If I went further, the stock market would be much lower. [3:11] Now, think of this. [3:14] I have one primary wish as president in terms of people. [3:20] I never want to be the late, great Herbert Hoover. [3:25] So this is the kind of thing that could cause a worldwide depression. [3:31] Do you know that— [3:33] For two terms, what's your definition of a great leader? [3:36] How do you define special intelligence? [3:38] Well— [3:38] Just—excuse me, just for a second. [3:41] If it weren't for Donald Trump and Bibi Netanyahu worked well with me, but he will tell you, [3:47] we're the ones with the guns, we're the ones with the whole deal, we're the ones with the B2 bombers, etc. [3:53] If it weren't for Donald Trump, Israel would have been eviscerated. [3:59] Your relationship with Netanyahu's— [4:01] It's good, but we have to keep him a little bit sane. [4:05] Are you going to be able to control Israel from attacking Lebanon? [4:11] Yeah, I will be. [4:12] I mean, I wonder. [4:14] They have a lot of respect for me, and they do as I say. [4:20] Remember this. [4:22] If I don't terminate the JCPOA road to— [4:27] Remember, that was a road to a nuclear weapon, legally. [4:32] It says right there. [4:34] And Obama thought he could pay them off. [4:35] If he gave them billions and billions of dollars, $1.7 billion in cash, you know? [4:40] You mentioned the G7. [4:42] You saw a number of world leaders. [4:43] President, welcome to the Axios Show. [4:45] Thank you. [4:46] We wanted to make this more of a conversation than a typical interview where we're just going to hop around from topics to topic. [4:52] You mentioned the G7. [4:54] You saw a number of world leaders. [4:56] You walked in and you said, I'm the boss. [4:58] Yeah. [4:58] How many of them believe that? [5:01] All of them. [5:02] But I was just being funny. [5:04] What happened is they're all sitting, and then I walked into the room. [5:08] And it was just sort of funny because it was a very long table, but there's only seven of them. [5:12] The table was meant for like 30 people. [5:14] So the whole end of the table looked like almost the perfect podium-type setup, right? [5:20] And I saw them all sitting. [5:23] They're all well-known figures, right? [5:24] The heads of countries. [5:26] We had a couple of others in there, too, as you know, some as an example. [5:31] Modi of India, great guy. [5:32] A lot of people came. [5:34] They're allowed to come if they want and sit. [5:37] But I walked in there, these leaders, and I just looked at them. [5:41] I said, I'm the boss, and you remember. [5:43] And you know that was done as a joke. [5:45] This thing got carried all over the world. [5:47] I can't believe it. [5:48] I was just being cute, funny. [5:51] I wasn't trying to be the boss. [5:52] You're not a fan of Lula, if I'm not mistaken. [5:55] I'm not a fan or not a fan. [5:56] And I don't think about him, to be honest with you. [5:58] I don't really think about him. [6:00] I couldn't care less. [6:02] But he's a different kind of a person now, very volatile. [6:05] I watched as he made a speech, and it's fine. [6:10] It's all different types. [6:11] So when you say about leaders, when you say about, you know, what do they all have in common? [6:15] Look, they're all smart. [6:19] You can't get to that level without being smart. [6:22] You know who's very smart is President Xi of China? [6:25] He's a very smart man. [6:26] And you don't get to those levels where you're running a country, even if it was a small country. [6:33] You have something special. [6:34] Now, in some cases, it doesn't work out. [6:37] But you need something special. [6:40] It's not an easy thing to do. [6:42] What is it about Xi that you find most admirable? [6:45] So we have a very good relationship. [6:49] And you probably heard me say yesterday, I said, you know, I want to thank him because he didn't get involved with the whole thing with Iran. [6:56] He could have gotten involved. [6:57] He could have sent a nice oil ship surrounded by 12 destroyers and see if he could blast his way through the blockade, which was an unbelievable military. [7:06] I think it's going to go down as one of the great military maneuvers. [7:11] It was every bit as important as all the bombing we did. [7:14] It really, they were dying. [7:17] They had no money, no nothing for months. [7:20] But President Xi, I asked him, I said, I'd really appreciate you not getting involved. [7:25] And he was great. [7:27] He didn't get involved. [7:29] Obviously, if I ask you who are the two greatest or leaders you like the most on the world stage, I'd assume one of them is Xi. [7:39] Yeah, I think in terms of leadership, I think that's true. [7:43] Who's the other? [7:44] When you think of power and leverage and the ability to execute on that. [7:49] Well, I think Modi is very good. [7:51] Yeah. [7:52] They've had some very good numbers announced. [7:55] He stays out of wars, which is smart. [7:56] He's 1.5 billion people. [7:59] He's actually the biggest. [8:00] India's actually the biggest. [8:02] Modi's a great leader. [8:04] And we do a lot of business with them. [8:06] But now we do fair business. [8:07] They used to really rip us off. [8:09] I don't blame them for that. [8:10] You know, we had stupid politicians that allowed that to happen. [8:13] But now we do a lot of business. [8:16] They're not that happy about it because they used to do a lot better. [8:19] So, but Modi's great. [8:22] President Xi is great. [8:24] Classics, you know. [8:24] I mean, if you were going to make a movie about either one of them, you wouldn't be able to find the man in Hollywood. [8:33] I'm telling you. [8:35] Do you view Anthropic and, to a degree, its CEO, Dario Amadei as a threat to national security? [8:44] Well, not now, but a week ago, maybe. [8:48] I was with him yesterday. [8:50] He made a speech. [8:51] I made a little speech. [8:52] We were in the room on the G7. [8:55] And seems like a nice guy, smart guy. [8:58] But he responded to us very quickly. [9:04] Because, you know, it's tremendous liability. [9:06] People get put in prison immediately for that. [9:08] You know, you can't play games with that. [9:10] And he responded very responsibly, I thought. [9:13] So far, I think he will. [9:15] Do you have the power and the inclination to shut them down or possibly take them? [9:21] Well, I don't want to do that because I'm somebody that, you know, we're beating China by a lot on AI. [9:26] I was with President Xi. [9:27] We talked about it. [9:28] We're beating China by a lot. [9:30] You need more than two hours for him, right? [9:33] Anyway, thanks. [9:34] Well, I appreciate your time. [9:34] Thank you very much, sir. [9:35] I appreciate it. [9:36] Thank you.