Trump and Sean Hannity agree that SNL is bad and getting along with Russia is good
On Thursday night, Fox News host Sean Hannity broadcast his hour-long interview with President Trump, and he noted that in all the years they've known each other, they've only talked around midnight or at 5 or 6 a.m. "Well, I like working," Trump said. "I don't think I'm a workaholic, I just like what I'm doing. I don't go too much with the vacations because I'm bored." "You get bored?" Hannity asked, laughing. "And the good thing about this, I have plenty to do," Trump said.
The interview touched on some weighty subjects, but Hannity dwelled a lot on softer topics. On a tour of the West Wing, he asked about Trump's family, noting the "attack" on 10-year-old son Barron — a reference to a Saturday Night Live writer who tweeted something tasteless, apologized, and was then suspended indefinitely. "Well, Saturday Night Live, a person from Saturday Night Live was terrible," Trump said. "It's a failing show, it's not funny, Alec Baldwin's a disaster, he's terrible on the show — and, by the way, I don't mind some humor — but terrible. But for them to attack, for NBC to attack my 10-year-old son is a disgrace."
Trump talked about being briefed on the nuclear launch codes: "When you see the kind of destruction that's explained to you, you realize that getting along with people is a very good thing." Hannity brought up Russia, and Trump agreed it's better to get along. In the Oval Office, he complained about the quickly corrected pool report that incorrectly said Trump had removed the bust of Martin Luther King Jr. from the Oval Office — "these are lying people, these are bad people" — then pointed to his desk, smartphone visible among the stacks of paper: "Look at my desk — papers. You don't see presidents with papers on that desk."
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Hannity asked about the letter former President Barack Obama left on Trump's desk, and Trump said that he and Obama have been very cordial since the election. "I was tough on him, he was tough on me," he said, "and I like him, he likes me — I think he likes me, I mean you're gonna have to ask him." "He doesn't talk to me," Hannity said.
In the more substantive parts of the interview, Trump criticized media dishonesty again, called terrorists "sneaky, dirty rats," and told Hannity he will pick his Supreme Court nominee from the list he unveiled during the campaign. "I have made my decision, pretty much, in my mind — I mean, subject to change at the last moment," he said. If "obstructionist" Democrats demand 60 votes for confirmation, Trump said, he wants Senate Republicans to kill the filibuster. Peter Weber
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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
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