Bob Woodward After ‘Unusual’ Trump Interview: He Can Change

Reporters Bob Woodward and Robert Costa sat down for an interview with Donald Trump, revealing a side to the candidate that rarely appears in the media. Woodward explained that there was a refreshing openness from the candidate to answer questions, and speculated on his desire to pivot to the general election. Of course, the primaries aren’t over, and, as Trump put it, there are still two eggs left to break.

Donald Trump’s latest controversy isn’t one of his Twitter attacks; it’s a policy issue, namely abortion. As previously reported by the Inquisitr, the real estate mogul has gone back and forth, saying at one point that he believes women should be punished, and other times saying the laws should stay the same.

The candidate has been accused of flip-flopping, but it might be tactical. Bob Woodward, reflecting on his interview at the Washington Post offices, said he was very receptive to questions. Before, Trump once threatened the national media, saying he’d “open up” the libel laws to prevent certain kinds of reporting. Now, he answered a lot of questions while keeping the RNC waiting, saying unprecedented things.

The first, was explaining that the economy looked bleak, even saying it was in a bubble. As Woodward explained, that’s very unusual for a candidate to say, even in the face of dire realities. John McCain once famously said, “the fundamentals of the economy are strong” in his 2008 bid for the Presidency, but was later chastised for the comment, according to the Huffington Post.

According to the transcript, Bob Woodward asked Trump about his belief that there’s a bubble in the economy, to which the real estate mogul replied, it’s a serious one.

“I’m talking about a bubble where you go into a very massive recession. Hopefully not worse than that, but a very massive recession.”

He pointed to the incredibly low-interest rates for borrowing unlimited amounts of money in the U.S., which he explained are only available to the very rich. He said people who were very talented business people, but not incredibly wealthy, simply had no chance at getting the nearly free funding. His overall stock market tip seemed to be to stay out, explaining that it’s a terrible time to invest right now.

When Bob Woodward explained that the people on Wall Street wouldn’t like Trump’s comments, he said he didn’t really need them.

“Yeah, I don’t care about the… I know the Wall Street people. I know the Wall Street people probably better than anybody knows them. You know.”

Then there was his list of judges for high court positions.

Donald Trump told Woodward that people were worried about what kind of judges he would choose. So he’s taking names from big think tanks like the Heritage Foundation and the Federalist, and he has a plan for them.

“I’m going to submit a list of about 10 names, 10 or 12 names, as judges. I’m going to announce that these are the judges, in no particular order, that I’m going to put up. And I’m going to guarantee it.”

Bob Woodward said he never heard of such a thing from a politician. It would mean voters would not only be voting for Trump, but for a list of judges that could fill major vacancies. The empty seat left by the late Justice Antonin Scalia is already causing problems, according to USA Today.

Then there’s the GOP candidate’s choice of Vice President. Bob Woodward explained that Trump now wanted a Washington insider, who could easily meet with members of Congress. Robert Costa called it an “evolution” from the real estate mogul’s previous statements.

Overall, the big question remains: is there a Donald Trump ver. 2 preparing for his run as the GOP nominee?

The full transcript of Bob Woodward and Robert Costa’s interview with Trump can be found here.

[Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images]