For decades, Donald Trump both toyed with and coyly denied any interest in pursuing the presidency — until his expectation-shattering campaign of the 2016 election.
But if you go back and watch old clips — and by old, we mean decades-old — you hear a young Donald Trump sounding very much like the current Trump. Common themes include his view that trade wasn’t fair, that the world has long laughed at America and countries have taken advantage of U.S. generosity while refusing to pay their “fair share” for all the U.S. does globally.
Trump does something else in these interviews. Talking to Playboy magazine in 1990, for example, he accurately predicts where his strongest support would come from should he ever decide to run for office — the working class.
Here’s journalist Glenn Plaskin, who wrote the Playboy story, recalling what Trump said when asked who would support him for the White House: “When I walk down the street, those cabbies start yelling out their window. … The working guy would elect me; they like me.”
Here are six clips of Trump from the 1980s and ’90s that make the point:
Feature Photo:
Donald Trump interviewed on Larry King Live on Oct, 7, 1999. Trump said he had formed an exploratory committee to help him determine whether he could win the White House as a Reform Party candidate. (Marty Lederhandler/AP)
