Trump holds court with reporters aboard Air Force One
President Donald Trump has addressed everything from the colour of the presidential plane to the fate of TikTok, Greenland and Canada in a 20-minute question-and-answer session with reporters aboard Air Force One.
The president popped in to the plane’s press cabin on Saturday night while flying from Las Vegas to Florida, where he was staying at his Doral golf club until Monday evening, although he insisted he would be too busy to hit the links.
He scoffed at reporters getting “a bit more access” than under his predecessor, Joe Biden, and joked it was “like 5000 per cent” different – meaning he was willing to answer more questions.
Here are some highlights from the conversation:
* AIR FORCE ONE
– Trump called Air Force One a “special plane” but observed it had not changed much since his last term – and yes, he still wants to change the plane’s exterior colours
– “We want power blue, not baby blue. Everything has its time and place. We’ll be changing the colours.”
* TIKTOK
– Trump said he was talking with potential investors about the future of TikTok
– He said he’s considering several possible investors who are looking to purchase TikTok, which faces the prospect of a US ban if it isn’t sold by its Chinese parent company
– “Numerous people are talking to me,” he said. “Very substantial people.”
– He said he expects to decide what happens next “probably over the next 30 days”
– The president said he’d not been in contact with Oracle about buying TikTok, despite reports that he had, and that he’d not spoken to Oracle’s billionaire co-founder Larry Ellison, who he called a friend and who he noted lives “right down the road” from his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida
– He there were many other potential buyers
– “We have a lot of interest in it, and the United States will be a big beneficiary (of a potential sale). I’d only do it if the United States benefits.”
– He said he had “a warm spot in my heart for TikTok” because he felt it improved his standing with young voters in November’s presidential election
* THE END OF WORK-FROM-HOME
– Asked about the executive orders he’s signed since taking office that have placed new rules on the federal workforce, Trump said he was opposed to work-from-home concessions that became more common during the COVID-19 pandemic
– “You have to go to your office and you have to work, otherwise, you’re not going to have a job.”
– Trump also said he’s not worried about existing federal employees leaving and the talent pool to find replacements being diminished: “We have very deep talent. We also have a lot of excess people.”
– “This was a gimmick for Democrats, to a certain extent,” he said of existing federal worker rolls, which he suggested were too large
* GREENLAND AND CANADA
– Trump reiterated his desire to somehow purchase Greenland from Denmark, despite that country insisting it’s not for sale
– “I do believe Greenland, we’ll get because it really has to do with freedom of the world. It has nothing to do with the United States, other than we’re the one that can provide the freedom.”
– The president made some of his most extensive comments about his recent suggestions that Canada could become part of the US
– “I love Canada. I have so many friends up in Canada. And they like us, and they like me. But Canada’s been taking advantage of the United States for years, and we’re not going to let that happen.”
– He suggested the US is losing hundreds of millions annually to Canada in trade deficits while Canada does “almost 90 per cent of their business with the United States”
– “I don’t want to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on supporting the country unless that country is a state. And, if it’s a state, the people of Canada will pay a much lower tax.”
– He said Canadians would also “have no military problems, they’d be much more secure in every way, and I think it’s a great thing for Canada.”
– “I view it as, honestly, a country that should be a state. Then, they’ll get much better treatment, much better care and much lower taxes and they’ll be much more secure.”
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