Monday, May 1, 2017

Trump: 'You make a mistake here, there is nothing to work out'



...listen closely, especially when he speaks about decisions involving life and death, and you sense that sitting here, in the Oval Office, as the 45th president has humbled even Donald J. Trump.

"You can make a mistake in deals, and you work it out," he explains at one point. "You make a mistake here, there is nothing to work out. You know it's trouble. It could be big trouble. And it is life-threatening trouble for lots of people, potentially."

A portrait of Thomas Jefferson hangs to his right, one of Andrew Jackson, perhaps his favorite president, is to his left. A bust of a sober-looking Abraham Lincoln sits beneath Jefferson, while Trump's father smiles broadly from a black-and-white photo behind the Resolute Desk, given by Queen Victoria in 1880 to Rutherford B. Hayes and used by many presidents since.

"It's a very intensive process," he says of the presidency. "Really intense. I get up to bed late and I get up early." He rarely sleeps more than four hours, which is good, he explains, because he can call leaders around the world in the dark hours while the rest of Washington sleeps.

"When I was doing many real estate deals at one time, I always thought that was going to be more comprehensive and lengthier than a day like this.

"It's not."....