BW: Which is the party of Lincoln and the party of Nixon. . . . And so we have this party that you are running to be the nominee in, and it’s got two heritages. Lincoln and Nixon.
DT: That’s true. That’s true.
...
DT: ...And Nixon failed, I think to a certain extent, because of his personality. You know? It was just that personality. Very severe, very exclusive. In other words, people couldn’t come in. And people didn’t like him. I mean, people didn’t like him.
BW: And he broke the law.
DT: And he broke the law, yeah. Yeah. He broke the law. Whether that’s insecurity . . . .
BW: I mean, you listen to those tapes, and he’s a criminal.
DT: Yeah. Whether that’s — right. And he broke the law.
BW: And time and time again, break in, get the FBI on this, get the IRS on.
DT: Sure. Sure.
BW: I mean, it is an appalling legacy of criminality.
DT: Right.
BW: And at the end, the day he resigned, an amazing day, he gives that speech which is kind of free association about mom and dad.
DT: Right.
BW: He’s sweating. And then he said, “Always remember: Others may hate you, but those who hate you don’t win unless you hate them, and then you destroy yourself.” The piston was hate.
DT: Well, and he was actually talking very much about himself, because ultimately, ultimately, that is what destroyed him. Hate is what destroyed him. And such an interesting figure. I mean, you would know that better than anybody. But such an interesting figure. And such a man of great talent. I mean, Nixon had great potential, great talent. Unfortunately it was a very sad legacy in the end. It turned out to be a very sad legacy. Such an interesting figure to study. I think. . . .
BW: Do you take any lessons from that? Because what did is he converted the presidency to an instrument of personal revenge.
DT: Yeah.
BW: You’re my enemy, I’m going to get you. I’m going to get so-and-so on you.
DT: Yeah. No, I don’t. I don’t see that. What I do see is — what I am amazed at is, I’m somebody that gets along with people. And sometimes I’ll notice, I’ll be, I have the biggest crowds. Actually we’ve purposefully kept the crowds down this past week. You know, we’ve gone into small venues and we’re turning away thousands and thousands of people, which I hate, but we didn’t want to have the protest. You know, when you have a room of 2,000 people, you can pretty much keep it without the protesters. When you have 21 or 25,000 people coming in, people can start standing up and screaming. What has been amazing to me — I’m a very inclusive person. I actually am somebody that gets along with people. And yet from a political standpoint, although I certainly have a lot of fans — you just said hello to Senator Sessions. Cruz and everybody wanted Senator Sessions as much as they’ve wanted anybody, and he’s a highly respected guy, great guy. And we have some— and he endorsed me. We have some amazing endorsements, some amazing people, but I’m amazed at the level of animosity toward me by some people. I’m amazed.