In an interview with nationally-syndicated radio talk show host Hugh Hewitt on Wednesday, Republican candidate for president Donald Trump addressed criticism of his temperament made by the host, the truth about his phone call with Bill Clinton, and the U.S. being the "policemen of the world."



Trump says we need a leader with a "strong temperament"





HUGH HEWITT: Now one of the things this article used to try and get you into a fight with me, and me into a fight with you, is that I mentioned temperament on Sunday, and I said you’ve got, you don’t have presidential temperament. I should have said an unprecedented temperament. I said that on Morning Joe the next day before this article came out. I want to know when the temperament issue comes up, and you talked yesterday about the Doral deal, and you said you punch and you punch, and you beat the hell out of them until you get the deal done. Does that work in the Oval Office, do you think, Donald Trump?



DONALD TRUMP: Absolutely. I mean, you do it, and you do it in a dignified way. Hey, look, I went to an Ivy League school. I was a great student. You know, I had to sit in class, and sometimes, they weren’t exactly exciting, but I was an excellent student at the Wharton School of Finance, which is the best in the world, one of the hardest to get into in the world, maybe the hardest, but one of the hardest to get into, even back then, I mean, it was always at that level, and did well, came out. I made a fortune. I made over $10 billion dollars, and that’s a lot, and I only say that because that’s the kind of, I’m not saying that as a braggadocios thing. that’s the kind of thinking that our country needs, the kind of mindset. I’m not saying the nicest person, the not nicest, although I like to be nice, but the fact is that’s the kind of mindset or thinking we need to beat China on trade. I don’t know if you noticed they just devalued their currency again.



HEWITT: Oh, yeah, twice.



TRUMP: They’re killing us.



HEWITT: Twice.



TRUMP: And the biggest, by the way, Hugh, the biggest in 20 years, the biggest in two decades, the biggest devaluation. They are killing us. They are taking our money, and then on top of it, they take out money, they take our jobs, they make our product, and we owe them $1.4 trillion dollars. We owe them right now $1.4. That’s like a magic act. Anyway, do the Apprentice, massive success, do The Art of the Deal, the most successful book, business book, you know, everything I’ve done. Now temperament, because I noticed that in your statement, and I actually saw you on television, we need a strong temperament in this country, and I tell the story that you know, illegal immigration, I don’t even think, people would be talking about it if I didn’t bring it up, and now it’s a very important subject and a good subject, and people have apologized to me who came down on me because I was right. But if you look at what’s going on in the world, heads chopped off if you happen to be a Christian in the Middle East, and there are plenty of other people having their heads chopped off. We need a strong temperament. We don’t need these people that sit around with very low-key, where everyone falls asleep listening to him. We need a strong temperament.



HEWITT: Do you agree with me that yours would be unprecedented in the Oval Office, that we have never had anyone like Trump in the Oval Office?



TRUMP: Well, I’ve been a great success. I’m the most successful person.



HEWITT: Oh, no, I mean, I’m talking about past presidents.



TRUMP: …to run for office, and I think that’s what we need to turn the country around. I know what to do. I know how to get the debt paid off. I mean, I know things that other people won’t have a clue. And you need energy. You know, it’s interesting, sometimes the word temperament, it’s an interesting word to really define. But part of that word is energy. And I see some of the people, and I have great respect for a number of the people that we’re talking about, the candidates. Let’s call them the candidates. But I have a lot of respect for some of them, and I’ve really gotten to like a few of them, but I must tell you, the word energy is very important. We need great energy. And some of those people, let’s just use some, some of those people do not have energy. And if you don’t have the energy, which is a part of temperament, this country is never going to get better, it’s never going to be great again, Hugh.

HEWITT: Now people are worried that Bill Clinton called you, and a lot of Republicans are worried that Trump is in this to set up Hillary. What did you talk about with Bill Clinton?



TRUMP: Ah, it’s so crazy. Well, first of all, nobody, and you actually said this before, nobody has been tougher on Hillary than I have.



HEWITT: Exactly.



TRUMP: Look, I’m the only one that came out and said what she did, and I said this two months ago, was a criminal act. I saw it two months ago. Nobody else, even now, they don’t say it. I think the reason politicians don’t say it is they think that they could likewise be there someday, so they’re afraid to say it. But I’m the only one that said it was a criminal act. Nobody’s been tougher. And he did call me, and the reason, and by the way, he called me after.



You know, there’s a lot of false reporting. He called me after I made my decision. And in my opinion, he was very unhappy when he heard what the outcome was. But he called me long after I made my decision. I made my decision, and I think, and you know, look, I have nothing against anybody, but I think that he wanted to find out if I’m actually doing it. But he called after I made, not before I made my decision. And



I said to people, look, they would know that if I run, because my whole life has been about winning. That’s what we need in this country. I think that they would know, and he understands me well enough, that it’s going to be their worst nightmare. I will be their worst nightmare. And interestingly, a recent poll that came out, while I’m killing everybody in the regular polls in terms of the Republicans, one poll that just came out had me even with Hillary. And this was, I don’t know why this would be, but I was a little bit down to Hillary when some of the other guys that I’m killing as a Republican, frankly beating badly, as a Republican, were even with Hillary. Well, one came out yesterday where I was even with Hillary. You see, I don’t worry about Hillary right now. I worry about her later. I want to do one thing as a time. I like to do, I would like to make it as simple as, it’s a complex world. I like to make it as simple as possible. But the first thing I have to do is this. But Hillary, I think, I really believe it might not be Hillary, Hugh, because of the fact that I really think she’s got a huge problem with the emails.



HEWITT: Did Bill Clinton ask you not to run?



TRUMP: No, not at all. He didn’t ask me not to run, but I had already made my decision to run. He called me after I made my decision.



HEWITT: All right. Let’s…



TRUMP: He didn’t call me before.



HEWITT: Let’s finish…



TRUMP: It wouldn’t have mattered. He would have had no influence. But he called me after I had made my decision to run.

HEWITT: All right, let’s finish with a hard issue, the China issue. They are running live fire drills in the South China Sea today near the disputed island that John Kerry asked them to stay away from last week. That’s a show of disrespect. What would Donald Trump do?



TRUMP: Well, they have no respect for our president. They have no respect for John Kerry, who falls off bicycles at 73 in the middle of a negotiation that’s very important, which by the way, it turns out to be, I think, one of the worst deals that we will ever make ever. And you know the sad part about that deal, and I found out about it three or four days ago, if the deal doesn’t go through, we still have to give them the money. You ever hear of a deal like that? If the deal doesn’t happen, we give them the money. This is the most incompetent group of negotiators. As far as the South China Sea, which is what we’re talking about, it’s a long ways away. I flew to China not too long ago, and I was on a plane for 21 hours. That’s a long, long ways away. And at some point, we are going to have to stop being the policemen of the world, Hugh, whether we like it or don’t like it. You know, they talk about Ukraine also. Now Putin can’t stand Obama, and I understand that, and Obama can’t stand Putin, either, but he can’t stand him. And Ukraine, we’re with them. We’re with the Europeans and all. But you know, wouldn’t it be nice if Germany, who is minting money, they’re coining money, they have an unbelievable, actually, they have a very smart leader. She’s one of the great leaders of the world today, but Germany and all of these countries that are affected by Ukraine aren’t the ones that are fighting. We are. At what point do we say Germany, you know what, you better start handling Ukraine, because we have enough to do. We have to rebuild our country, Hugh. Our infrastructure is dead, our roads, our highways, our airports, our schools.



HEWITT: When you say…



TRUMP: We don’t have to worry about Ukraine. Now we’d be with the Europeans, but that’s not a fight that should be led by us. That’s a fight that should be led by the Europeans, and in particular, Germany, not by us.



HEWITT: Now President Reagan, whom I served, said we’re the last best hope of the world. We’re the bright, shining city on the Hill. If we aren’t the policemen of the world, who is, Donald Trump?



TRUMP: Well, don’t forget, you know, when he was doing it, it was a little bit different. They didn’t owe $19 trillion in debt, they weren’t going to be Greece in another six months if it keeps going the way it’s going. You know, when you hit $24 trillion, that seems to be a very sacred number. That’s the magic number. When you hit $24 trillion, and we’re going to be there very soon, because it’s building up very quickly, and Obamacare is a disaster. Obamacare is going to add, it’s got to be repealed and replaced by something better, but it’s got to be. But when we hit that $24 trillion number, we become Greece on steroids. I mean, we have a lot of problems in this country. We can’t do what maybe they would have done in those days. Now that doesn’t mean we can’t come back to do it, Hugh, when we straighten ourselves out. But we have made so many mistakes, we have had such incompetent leadership in this country, that we really have to be in a position where we straighten out our own house first. We just can’t be going all over the world fighting battles all over the world that have, in many cases, nothing to do with us. And let Germany, let Europe, and we’ll be with them. You know the expression we’re right behind you, just go in there, we’re right behind you. But if they don’t want it bad enough, what are we doing? What are we doing?