Trump, who promised Day 1 relief and lower prices, talks of a ‘transition period’ – NBC New York

President Donald Trump insisted Tuesday that he had prepared Americans for a tough “transition period,” despite having run a campaign that made explicit Day 1 promises to bring down prices and restore economic prosperity. 

In an interview with ABC News’ Terry Moran, Trump defended his trade policies, which have raised fears of skyrocketing prices and an unstable economy. 

When Moran noted how Trump had told Americans to “hang tough” as the stock markets and business community account for his tariffs on foreign countries, Trump suggested that any resulting hardships should come as no surprise to those who voted for him.

“I said all these things during my campaign,” Trump said in the pre-recorded interview, which was timed to coincide with his 100th day in office and broadcast in primetime. “I said, ‘You’re going to have a transition period.’”

Trump’s sales pitch hardly braced voters for the tough times he now says he prepared them to expect. While he did promise to implement tariffs, he often spoke of an instant recovery that would be triggered by his inauguration and his first executive actions.

Last August, for example, Trump staged a news conference complete with a backdrop of groceries at his New Jersey golf club, vowing to “immediately bring prices down, starting on Day 1.” And at an October rally in Saginaw, Michigan, Trump pledged: “Starting on Day 1 of my new administration, we will end inflation, and we will make America affordable again.”

Trump made his “hang tough” comments in a social media post on April 5, long after the campaign was over.

Moran also suggested to Trump that Americans “didn’t sign up” for a trade war.

“Well, they did sign up for it,” Trump countered. “This is what I campaigned on.”

Throughout the interview, Trump rejected the idea that his policies would be a long-term hindrance. When Moran, continuing to press on the tariff issue, asked if Trump’s message to voters was that everything “is going to be hunky dory,” the president nonchalantly replied: “Everything is going to be just fine.”

He quickly added: “It wouldn’t have been if I didn’t do this. I had a choice. I could leave it, have a nice, easy time, but I think ultimately it would have had an implosion.”

At another point, Trump took aim at the board that sets U.S. monetary policy, arguing that “interest rates should be down, but we have a Federal Reserve that wants to be stubborn.”

When the conversation turned to other topics, Trump defended Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth — who has come under scrutiny for communicating sensitive information over unsecure channels and for how he runs the Pentagon — as “smart” and “talented.” (He told The Atlantic, in an interview published this week, that Hegseth’s job was safe.) 

But Trump stopped short of a total vote of confidence. When Moran asked if Trump had “a hundred percent confidence” in Hegseth, the president balked.

“I don’t have a hundred percent confidence in anything, OK? Anything,” Trump replied. “Do I have a hundred percent? It’s a stupid question.”

Pressed further, Trump added: “You don’t have a hundred percent. Only a liar would say, ‘I have a hundred percent confidence.’”

Trump also defended his administration’s hardline approach on deportations, at several points questioning whether alleged undocumented immigrants were entitled to their due process of a hearing.

“Well, I’ll have to ask the lawyers about that,” Trump replied when Moran asserted that the law requires anyone up for deportation to first have a hearing.

“All I can say is this,” Trump added. “If you’re going to have 21 million people — and we have to get a lot of them out because they’re criminals, we’re going to have to act fast. Do you think we can give 21 million trials? Let’s say each trial takes two weeks. Is that what you want us to do?”

Trump also said that he does not believe the cost-cutting efforts by the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, have gone too far or been too reckless. And when asked at the interview’s conclusion what he would say to people who think he is seizing too much power and becoming “an authoritarian,” Trump rejected the notion and reverted to his campaign’s slogan.

“No, I would hate them to think that,” he said. “I’m doing one thing: I’m making America great again.”

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt slammed Amazon Tuesday over reported plans to display the cost of President Donald Trump’s tariffs next to product prices on its site. Amazon later confirmed the plans were “never approved” and are “not going to happen.”

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