US politics Conservative radio host asked Trump if he’d run for president in 2024. Hear his reply ‘You like me?’ Randall Terry, a conservative radio host from California, had Trump call into his program on Tuesday. Photograph: Ted Soqui/TESTV/EPA
Uncovered footage from a Republican television advertisement shows a prime-time presidential debate, a hostile question, and a promise by Donald Trump in his own personal broadcast.
Randall Terry, a conservative radio host from California, had Trump call into his program on Tuesday in a live, one-on-one interview for his show. The then Republican presidential candidate is seen sitting in front of a Trump Tower building surrounded by busts of Thomas Jefferson and Theodore Roosevelt.
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Terry began by asking if Trump would run for president in 2024 if he remained popular after his 2016 victory. Trump replied: “You like me? Let me tell you this, if it were like in Hollywood, like in the good old days when it was really what it was about, not what it is now, like in the ’70s, you would be much happier.”
Terry asked about the electoral college, which awarded the 2016 election to Trump. Trump joked: “I like the electoral college because even if I lose, at least I know that nobody can run to me and say that I owe them money.”
Terry then asked if Trump might run as an independent if Republicans don’t choose a candidate who he said stood for most of the core principles he believes in. Trump replied: “We have a lot of unity, and we’re going to be all set and I’m going to have such a big, big win [for 2020].”
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Trump added: “But, Randall, in the meantime, it’s been fun to campaign with you.” The answer prompted laughter from listeners.
The commercial then aired in its entirety on Fox News Channel.
Republican operatives have told Reuters the ad is aimed at motivating Trump’s base of white, working-class voters, though it is unlikely to sway swing voters who will likely only see or hear it if it is not included in a wider set of Trump-related campaign ads. The overall cost of the $1m project, which began in late 2018, is not clear.
Ads, according to the Democratic National Committee, target voters likely to be angry at Trump or close to the president, but are seldom seen by media outlets.