7 Takeaways from Trump’s Interview with Joe Rogan

1. Trump's 'Biggest Mistake' in Office

According to Trump, his "biggest mistake" during his 2017-21 presidency was "I picked a few people I shouldn't have picked."

"Neocons or bad people or disloyal people," he told Rogan, referring to neoconservatives, policy-makers who advocate for an interventionist US foreign policy. 

Trump also called his former US National Security Adviser John Bolton "an idiot" but sometimes useful.

"He was good in a certain way," said Trump. "He's a nutjob.

"And every time I had to deal with a country when they saw this whack job standing behind me, they said: 'Oh man, Trump's going to go to war with us.' He was with Bush when they went stupidly into the Middle East."

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2. Trump Encouraged Kim Jong-un to 'Go to the Beach'

Trump said he got to know Kim Jong-un "very well" even when they both discussed nuclear weapons when Trump told him: "Little Rocket Man, you're going to burn in hell."

"By the time I finished, we had no problem with North Korea," Trump said.

He also urged Kim to stop building his "substantial" weapons stockpile.

"I said: 'Do you ever do anything else? Why don't you go take it easy? Go to the beach, relax."

"I said: 'You're always building nuclear; you don't have to do it. Relax!' I said: 'Let's build some condos on your shore.'"

Additionally, Trump contended that Russia would have never invaded Ukraine if he had been president.

"I said, 'Vladimir, you're not going in,'" he told Rogan, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin. "I used to talk to him all the time.

"I can't tell you what I told him because I think it would be inappropriate, but someday he'll tell you, but he would have never gone in."

The former president said Putin invaded Ukraine because "number one, he doesn't respect Biden at all."

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3. Trump's Ongoing Claims about the 2020 Election

During the interview, Rogan asked Trump to present him evidence that the 2020 election was stolen, to which Trump replied: "We'll do it again another time."

"I would bring in papers that you would not believe, so many different papers. That election was so crooked, it was the most crooked."

When Rogen pressed him for evidence, Trump alleged irregularities with the ballots in Wisconsin and that Democrats "used Covid to cheat."

"Are you going to present this [proof] ever?" asked Rogan.

"Uh…," Trump said before switching over to talk about how 51 former intelligence agents aligned with Biden implied that stories about his son Hunter Biden's laptop were Russian disinformation.

"I lost by, like, I didn't lose," said Trump, quickly correcting himself.

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4. Trump Calls Kamala Harris a 'Very Low IQ Person'

Trump lashed out at his political rivals, including his rival, Vice-President Kamala Harris, a "very low IQ person" and described California's Gavin Newsom as "one of the worst governors in the world."

Meanwhile, he praised allies like Elon Musk, who had previously appeared on Rogan's podcast, as "the greatest guy."

He also said he is "completely" committed to bringing former independent presidential candidate Robert F Kennedy Jr. into his administration if elected. Kennedy Jr., a close friend of Rogan, dropped out in August and endorsed Trump for president. 

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5. Trump Open to the Possibility of Extraterrestrial Life

Trump told Rogan he did not rule out the possibility of life in outer space. 

"There's no reason not to think that Mars and all these planets don't have life," he said, referring to discussions he'd had with jet pilots who'd seen "very strange" things in the sky.

Well, Mars - we've had probes there and rovers, and I don't think there's any life there," Rogan said.

"Maybe it's life that we don't know about," said Trump.

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6. NBC Tried to Keep Trump from Running for President

Trump said that some senior figures at NBC attempted to convince him not to run for president in 2015 in order to keep his show, The Apprentice, on the air. 

"They wanted me to stay," he said. "All the top people came over to see me, try and talk me out of it because they wanted to have me extend."

The Apprentice, first launched in 2004, featured Trump for 14 seasons until NBC severed ties with him in 2015 after he made "derogatory" comments about immigrants after launching his presidential bid.

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7. Trump Talks Health and Fitness Amid Pressure to Release Records

After Harris released hers earlier this month, Trump has recently been under pressure from Democrats to release his medical records. At the time, Trump's team said his doctor described him as "perfect and excellent health" without sharing his records.

Although Trump didn't directly address the topic in Friday's podcast, he told Rogan during one undated physical that his doctor was impressed by his ability to run on a treadmill.

"I was never one that could, like, run on a treadmill. When passing a physical, they asked me to run on a treadmill, and then they made it steeper and steeper and steeper, and the doctors said it was at Walter Reed [hospital]; they said: 'It's unbelievable!' I'm telling you, I felt I could have gone all day."

At the same time, however, Trump finds treadmills "really boring" and would rather play golf as his means to stay healthy. 

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