President Donald Trump sat down for a series of extended interviews as he neared his 100-day mark, talking about the successes, surprises and setbacks of his early tenure. As the first president elected without prior political or military experience — on the promise that he could overthrow the established order — Trump has been stymied in the early-going by an entrenched political system.

His recent words have been revealing. Some have been familiar — Clinton-blaming, media-bashing and self-promoting. Others have been fresher, even self-reflective.


Here are Trump’s unfiltered takes on living in and running the White House:

1. “This is thousands of times bigger, the United States, than the biggest company in the world.” (AP)

2. “The one thing I would say — and I say this to people — I never realized how big it was.” (AP)

3. “I really just see the bigness of it all, but also the responsibility. And the human responsibility.” (AP)

4. “Making business decisions and buying buildings don’t involve heart. This involves heart. These are heavy decisions.” (Politico)

5. “I am somebody with a lot of heart.” (Washington Examiner)

6. “You have to love people. And if you love people, such a big responsibility.” (AP)

7. “I loved my previous life. I had so many things going.” (Reuters)

8. "This is more work than in my previous life.” (Reuters)

9. “I thought it would be easier.” (Reuters)

10. “You're really into your own little cocoon, because you have such massive protection that you really can't go anywhere.” (Reuters)

11. “I like to drive. I can't drive any more.” (Reuters)

12. “A lot of good things are happening. Really good things. We're very proud of the job we've done.” (Washington Examiner)

13. “I think we've done more than perhaps any president in the first 100 days.” (Washington Examiner)

14. “But I don't want to set the 100 days as a standard.” (Washington Examiner)

15. “I think we've set some incredible foundations going onward, with relationships, with other countries, et cetera, et cetera.” (Washington Examiner)

16. “I'd give us an A.” (Washington Examiner)

17. “Did you see Aya [the released Egyptian-American aid worker]?” (AP)

18. “You know Obama worked on it for three years, got zippo, zero.” (AP)

19. “Many people, human rights people, are talking about it. It's an incredible thing, especially when you meet her.” (AP)

20. “Have you seen the tremendous success? ... That's another thing that nobody talks about. Have you seen the tremendous success we've had in the Middle East with the ISIS?” (AP)

21. “We have had tremendous success, but we don't talk about it.” (AP)

22. “Not since Harry Truman has anybody done so much. That's a long time ago.” (Washington Examiner)

23. “I don't talk about it.” (AP)

24. “I would say communication would be a little bit less than an A because I don't think we've gotten the word out what we've done because I think we're so busy getting it done that we're not talking about it.” (Washington Examiner)

25. “But Sean [Spicer]'s doing a good job, excellent job.” (Washington Examiner)

26. “I have different teams. I think my military team has been treated with great respect. As they should be. I think my other team hasn't been treated with the respect that they should get. We have some very talented people.” (AP)

27. “I think Reince has been doing an excellent job.” (AP)

28. “The team gets along really, really well.” (Politico)

29. “I think that, you know, this is a very tough environment not caused necessarily by me.” (AP)

30. “It's great when everybody can agree.” (Washington Examiner)

31. “But I like having dissent — if it's a close topic.” (Washington Examiner)

32. “I think a lot of the media doesn't want us to get the word out.” (Washington Examiner)

33. “The fake media is some of the media.” (AP)

34. “Fox treats me well, it's that Fox is the most accurate.” (AP)

35. “I don't watch CNN anymore. I don't watch MSNBC anymore.” (AP)

36. “I don't watch ‘Morning Joe.’ I never thought I had the ability to, and who used to treat me great by the way, when I played the game. I never thought I had the ability to not watch what is unpleasant, if it's about me.” (AP)

37. “I saw on one of the networks that covers us extremely incorrectly and unfairly, they actually said…” (Washington Examiner)

38. “I have all the ratings for all those morning shows. When I go, they go double, triple. “(AP)

39. “[John] Dickerson had 5.2 million people. It's the highest for ‘Face the Nation’ or as I call it, ‘Deface the Nation’… since the World Trade Center came down. It's a tremendous advantage.” (AP)

40. “Here, you can take that, that's the final map of the [electoral] numbers.” (Reuters)

41. “The Democrats had a tremendous opportunity because the Electoral College, as I said, is so skewed to them.” (AP)

42. “If Abe Lincoln came back to life, he would lose New York and he would lose California.” (AP)

43. “You have to win Florida, you have to win South Carolina, North Carolina, you have to win Pennsylvania, you have to win all the way up, and then you have to win in the Midwest and you have to win places that — you know you win Michigan, you win Wisconsin, you win Ohio and Iowa.” (Washington Examiner)

44. “It's pretty good, right? The red is obviously us.” (Reuters)

45. “The Electoral College is a very, very hard thing for the Republicans to win.” (Washington Examiner)

46. “Democrats are using that faux — or fake — Russia story in order to make themselves feel better for losing an election that's very hard for a Democrat to lose.” (Washington Examiner)

47. “The Russia is a faux story. It's made up.” (Washington Examiner)

48. “Nobody asks Hillary Clinton why her husband was over making speeches in Russia.” (Washington Examiner)

49. “So she had this massive advantage, she spent hundreds of millions of dollars more money than I spent. Hundreds of millions.” (AP)

50. “So they lost an election, and they use the Russia story as a way — as best they can — as a way of justifying how they lost the election.” (Washington Examiner)

51. “I've developed great relationships with all of these leaders. Nobody's written that.” (AP)

52. “President Xi [of China], we have a, like, a really great relationship.” (AP)

53. “A terrific relationship with Xi.” (Politico)

54. “Now I don't know that I think that's going to produce results but you've got a good chance.” (AP)

55. “One of the best chemistries I had was with [German Chancellor Angela] Merkel.” (AP)

56. “People have given me credit for having great chemistry with all of the leaders, including [Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah] el-Sissi.” (AP)

57. “I think I've established amazing relationships that will be used the four or eight years, whatever period of time I'm here.” (AP)

58. “I have great relationships with Congress.” (AP)

59. “I've passed a lot of legislative bills that people don't even know about. (Washington Examiner)

60. “You know, there are some cases where like people are saying, we're being obstructed by the Democrats, very much so.” (Washington Examiner)

61. “There's a hard-line group you can't break through, you can't. It's sad. You can't.” (AP)

62. “The Republican Party has various groups, all great people. They're great people. But some are moderate, some are very conservative. The Democrats don't seem to have that nearly as much. You know the Democrats have, they don't have that. The Republicans do have that.” (AP)

63. “I have a great relationship with all of them.” (AP)

64. “I like them a lot. I have great relationships, don’t forget most of them I didn’t even know.” (Fox News)

65. “I think everybody is trying very hard. It is a very tough system.” (Fox News)

66. “President Obama took 17 months to do Obamacare. I've been here 92 days but I've only been working on the health care, you know I had to get like a little bit of grounding right?” (AP)

67. “So I've been working on health care for 60 days...You know, we're very close.”(AP)

68. “I’m disappointed that it doesn’t go quicker.” (Fox News)

69. “Because we're going to have great healthcare at a lower cost.” (Washington Examiner)

70. “It'll be a beautiful thing.” (Washington Examiner)

71. “We have to get it approved.” (AP)

72. “My base definitely wants the border wall. My base really wants it.” (AP)

73. “My base, which is a big base.” (AP)

74. “We are not after the dreamers. We are after the criminals.” (AP)

75. “The dreamers should rest easy. OK? I'll give you that.” (AP)

76. “I am very upset with NAFTA. I think NAFTA has been a catastrophic trade deal for the United States.” (AP)

77. “I am going to either renegotiate it or I am going to terminate it.” (AP)

78. “I was all set to terminate. I looked forward to terminating. I was going to do it.” (Washington Post)

79. “In one way, I like the termination. In the other way, I like them [Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau]— a lot, both of them. (Washington Post)

80. “We have a very good relationship.” (Washington Post)

81. “They called me up, they said, ‘Could we try negotiating?’ I said, ‘Absolutely, yes.’” (Washington Post)

82. “[Nieto] said to me, ‘I would really appreciate if we could negotiate instead of you terminating, because terminating sets a lot of things in motion that could be pretty devastating for a lot of people.’” (Washington Post)

83. “I do have a very big farmer base, which is good. They like Trump, but I like them, and I’m going to help them.” (Washington Post)

84. “We are going to be doing trade deals that are going to be much better trade deals.” (Reuters)

85. “We’re getting destroyed in [South] Korea.” (Washington Post)

86. “It’s a horrible deal. It was a Hillary Clinton disaster, a deal that should’ve never been made. It’s a one-way street.” (Washington Post)

87. “We’ve told them that we’ll either terminate or negotiate. We may terminate.” (Washington Post)

88. "There is a chance that we could end up having a major, major conflict with North Korea. Absolutely." (Reuters)

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89. “I believe [President Xi] is trying very hard. He certainly doesn’t want to see turmoil and death. He doesn’t want to see it. He is a good man.” (Reuters)

90. “I got to know him very well.” (Reuters)

91. “They are working with us on North Korea. Now maybe that'll work out or maybe it won't. Can you imagine?” (AP)

92. “If he's helping us with North Korea, with nuclear and all of the things that go along with it, who would call, what am I going to do, say, ‘By the way, would you help us with North Korea? And also, you're a currency manipulator.’ It doesn't work that way.” (AP)

93. “The media, some of them get it, in all fairness. But you know some of them either don't get it.” (AP)

94. “In which case they're very stupid people.” (AP)

95. "[North Korean leader Kim Jong Un] is 27 years old. His father dies, took over a regime. So say what you want but that is not easy, especially at that age.” (Reuters)

96. "I'm not giving him credit or not giving him credit, I'm just saying that's a very hard thing to do. ((Reuters)

97. “As to whether or not he's rational, I have no opinion on it. I hope he's rational.” (Reuters)

98. “Hey, I’m a nationalist and a globalist. I’m both.” (WSJ)

99. “And I’m the only one who makes the decision.” (WSJ)

100. “Believe me.” (WSJ)