Photo: Anna Moneymaker / Getty Images News / Getty Images
Former President Donald Trump recently appeared on The Joe Rogan Experience for a three-hour interview covering a wide range of topics, including Trump's time as president, the 2020 election, and Trump's plans for a second term.
The former president discussed his "biggest mistake" during his first term as president, stating that he picked a few people he shouldn't have, referring to neoconservatives and policy-makers who champion an interventionist U.S. foreign policy. He specifically mentioned his former White House chief-of-staff, John Kelly, and former U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton, whom he described as "an idiot" but useful at times.
Trump also discussed his relationship with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, claiming that he got along well with him despite initial nuclear saber-rattling.
"I got to know him very well. We had no problem with him. If you have a smart problem, if you have a smart, really the right president, the smart president, you're not going to have a problem," Trump explained.
He also argued that Russia would never have invaded Ukraine if he had been president, stating that Russian President Vladimir Putin would not have gone in because he did not respect Biden.
When asked about his false claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him by mass voter fraud, Trump told Rogan, "We'll do it another time."
He alleged irregularities with the ballots in Wisconsin and that Democrats "used Covid to cheat."
During the wide-ranging interview, Trump also suggested that he would eliminate the income tax.
"Did you just float out the idea of getting rid of income taxes and replacing it with tariffs?" Rogan asked. "Were you serious about that?"
"Yeah, sure. Why not?" Trump replied. "Because, we, ready, our country was the richest in the, relatively, in the 1880s and 1890s. A president who was assassinated named McKinley. He was the tariff king. He spoke beautifully of tariffs."
"And then, around in the early 1900s, they switched over stupidly to frankly an income tax. And you know why? Because countries were putting a lot of pressure on America: 'We don't want to pay tariffs, please don't.' You know they, believe me, they control our politicians," Trump said.
The former president also expressed his commitment to working with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. despite their differing views on environmental issues. Trump stated that he loves oil and gas, while Kennedy is known for his skepticism about vaccines and claims about pharmaceutical companies.
You can listen to the entire interview below: