Ahead of US President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's meeting back in February, Japanese officials reportedly prepared by, among other things, reading Trump's 1990 interview with Playboy Magazine, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal.
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Trump's 1990 Playboy interview perfectly lays out his view of the world
The interview touched on familiar issues of trade, alliances, and strong leadership.
Donald Trump made an appearance for the media atop a Beverly Hills, California hotel Monday, Dec. 6, 1999. The potential Reform Party presidential candidate was in the Southern California area to address party leaders and to test the political waters.
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Although reading a quarter-century old article from Playboy in preparation for talks may at first seem to be somewhat unorthodox, in the interview Trump discusses many talking points about foreign policy and economics similar to those he pitched during his campaign for the White House.
At the time, he told Playboy that he was "one hundred percent sure" he does not want to be president unless he saw "" Nevertheless, he did answer a variety of questions regarding what he would do as president and how he, at the time, perceived other countries and leaders.
We put together three of his comments on various subjects from 1990 and compared them to what he said and did in 2016-2017.
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On the first thing he would do upon entering the Oval Office:
What Trump said in Playboy in 1990: "."
What Trump did in 2016-2017:the debate over free traderipping up
On America:
What Trump said in Playboy in 1990: "I like [President] George [H. W.] Bush [...]
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"[A president Trump] ."
What Trump said and did in 2016-2017: Trump has repeated the idea that America is a "laughing stock" numerous times since the 1990s. For example, in November 2016 he said, "Our country is a laughingstock. All over the world, they're laughing." A few months earlier, he said that Hillary Clinton would not be capable of negotiating with Russian President Vladimir Putin: ". ."
Moreover, over the course of his campaign, Trump repeatedly commented on the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), saying that it is "" and that it "is ."
Notably, Trump did select businessmen for his Cabinet, including former Chairman and CEO of ExxonMobil Rex Tillerson for secretary of state, billionaire investor Wilbur Ross to head up the Commerce Department, and former Wall Street banker Steve Mnuchin for treasury secretary. (Ross and Mnuchin have not been confirmed yet as of this publication.)
On leadership:
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What Trump said in Playboy in 1990 about former leader of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev and the Tiananmen Square protests: ". [...]"
"."
What Trump said about Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2016: Trump has spoken about Putin on various occasions over the course of his campaign and his new presidency, echoing his earlier interest in the "strength" of leaders.
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