Part 4: Trump Quotes
— Logan Tarr
In order to understand Trump’s foreign policies, we must first understand Trump. Using Trump’s own words, we can begin to understand who Trump is at his core. In 1990 Trump told Playboy, “When the students poured into Tiananmen Square, the Chinese government almost blew it. Then they were vicious, they were horrible, but they put it down with strength… Our country is right now perceived as weak… as being spit on by the rest of the world” (Glover and Reston 2016). This view of Trump shows he favors strength over all else. This sentiment is echoed in other quotes from him. In his 2004 book titled How to Get Rich Trump wrote, “When somebody hurts you, just go after them as violently as you can” (Glover and Reston 2016).
He doubled down on this in his 2007 book titled Think Big Trump wrote, “When somebody screws you, screw them back in spades” and “Go for the jugular so that people watching will not want to mess with you” (Glover and Reston 2016). One can begin to see Trump’s mentality is built on strength and realistic suspicion of people. So much so a chapter in Think Big is titled “DO NOT TRUST ANYONE.” Another important character trait of Trumps is revenge. In his 1997 book titled The Art of the Comeback Trump wrote, “Some of the people who forgot to lift a finger when I needed them, when I was down, they need my help now, and I’m screwing them against the wall. I’m doing a number… and I’m having so much fun” (Glover and Reston 2016).
Trump’s most telling idiosyncrasy is his lack of trust. In Think Big Trump writes, “I used to say, ‘Go out and get the best people, and trust them.’ Over the years I have seen too many shenanigans, and now I say, ‘Get the best people, and don’t trust them” (Glover and Reston 2016). One can begin to see his realistic tendencies. This is based on how Trump sees Trump, we can see these trends when we take a look at Trump’s foreign policy views.
