Trump repeats love for tariffs, says he'd "do something" about Google in Economic Club of Chicago interview
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Former President Donald Trump was in Chicago on Tuesday, speaking to the Economic Club of Chicago, where he degraded the press, doubled down on false claims of a stolen 2020 election, and talked about his love of tariffs.
The audience of Economic Club members and their guests was very receptive to Trump, who while tackling his normal campaign talking points also covered some new ground.
Trump was asked why he might work to break up Google, and whether he would hire someone his age – 78 – to be a CEO of one of his companies.
Three times in 60 minutes, Trump referenced his predecessor, former President Barack Obama as "Barack Hussein Obama."
Discussing his age, Trump was asked whether he would hire a CEO who, like him, was 78 years old?
"Yeah, I would," Trump said. "Some of our great world leaders are in the 80s."
Talk shifted to his relationship to Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Kremlin has confirmed Trump sent COVID-19 tests to during the early days of the pandemic, when test kits were scarce in the U.S. Trump was asked if he's spoken to Putin since leaving office. A new book from veteran journalist Bob Woodward claims Trump has had at least seven calls with Putin since leaving office.
"I don't comment on that, but I will tell you that if I did, it's a smart thing," Trump said.
Trump said it's also a smart thing to impose ultra-high tariffs on countries not producing products in the U.S.
"To me, the most beautiful word in the dictionary is tariff," Trump said.
The former president also lauded his own handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.
"I was just getting started, then COVID came. … I tell you what, I did very good job on COVID. Nobody knew what it was. I call it the China virus," he said.
Trump also was asked if Google's parent company, Alphabet, should be broken up for being too large, Trump said, "I'd do something."
"Google has a lot of power. They're very bad to me," he said. "I'm getting a lot of good stories lately, but you don't find them in Google. I think it's a whole rigged deal. I think Google's rigged, just like our government is rigged all over the place."
The event ended with the moderator trying to correct Trump's pronunciation of California Gov. Gavin Newsom's name, when Trump called him "Gavin Newscum."
"Newscum, I call him," Trump said. "Oh, he corrected me. He corrected me. That's the first time I've ever been corrected."
Trump said Pennsylvania is the most pivotal state this election, and when asked whether there would be a peaceful transfer of power if he loses, he vaguely signaled that something "strange" happened on Jan. 6, 2021 – the day of the assault on the U.S. Capitol as Congress was certifying President Biden's victory in the 2020 election.
"Some people went to the Capitol, and a lot of strange things happened there, a lot of strange things, with people being waved into the Capitol by police, with people screaming 'go in,' that never got into trouble," Trump said.
His two loudest applause lines were on immigration and his criticism of the press.
Trump has yet to produce his medical records this election cycle. He said he has passed two cognitive tests, but didn't produce evidence to back it up.
Trump said he has a better feel than the Federal Reserve on where interest rates should be. He also took pride in naming three Supreme Court justices while he was president.
The Economic Club also has extended an invitation to Vice President Kamala Harris for a similar sit-down. She has yet to accept.