Trump says GOP is 'party of common sense' during contentious Bloomberg interview

Former President Trump said the Republican Party is "the party of common sense" Tuesday during a contentious interview with Bloomberg News in Chicago. 

Trump sat for an interview with Bloomberg News’ editor-in-chief John Micklethwait at the Economic Club of Chicago. The two discussed Trump’s plans for the economy in a potential second term during a heated interview that lasted nearly an hour. 

Micklethwait spoke about the economy to start, but later got into the state of the presidential race, asking the former president which state he believed was most critical to deciding the election. 

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"They say Pennsylvania. I think we’re doing very well there. I think you look at Michigan, too, and I’m doing very well," Trump said. "We’re way up in Pennsylvania. We’re way up in Michigan. We’re doing very well in Arizona. In fact, somebody said they’re going to pull the plug in Arizona – they’re going to give it up because it looks like we’re quite a ways ahead." 

A RealClearPolitics polling average as of Tuesday afternoon showed Trump slightly ahead in Pennsylvania, as well as in Arizona and Michigan. 

Trump went on to say that the Republican Party is "the party of common sense." 

"Forget about conservative, liberal. We’re, let’s say, conservative, but we’re really a party of ‘We need borders. We need fair elections. We don’t want men playing in women’s sports. We don’t want transgender operations without parental consent,’" Trump explained. "It is 99.9% common sense. It really is common sense. I say we’re really a party of common sense, and we want to have great people in our country." 

Trump added: "I have a good heart. I have a heart where I want people to be taken care of. But I don’t want to take in people where millions of people – 21 million people at least have come in the last three and a half years unvetted, unchecked. We don’t know anything about them." 

Micklethwait began Tuesday's interview by claiming Trump’s economic plan would drive up debt and inflation, with the former president claiming that he served in office without inflation. 

"Yeah, I had four years – no inflation," Trump said. 

Micklethwait also hit Trump on his plan for tariffs on foreign goods, but Trump fired back, explaining that foreign countries will pay a "100% tariff on everything sold into the United States."

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Earlier this year, Trump rolled out a plan to eliminate China's most favored nation trade status and impose universal baseline 10% tariffs on imports. In private, Trump has even floated tariffs as high as 60% on Chinese goods. Economists have warned that increasing tariffs would also cause an increase in prices for everyday goods due to American companies relying on cheap raw materials from China.

Micklethwait said Trump’s plans would "have a serious effect on the overall economy." 

"It’s going to have a massive effect – positive effect. It’s going to be a positive effect," Trump replied. "It must be hard for you to spend 25 years talking about tariffs as being negative and then have somebody explain to you that you’re totally wrong."

Micklethwait fired back at Trump, saying he could be "plunging America into the biggest trade war." 

"No, there are no tariffs – all you have to do is build your plant in the United States and you don't have any tariffs," Trump said. "That's what I want." 

The former president's response was met with applause from the audience. 

"The higher the tariff, the more likely it is that the company will come into the United States and build a factory in the United States so it doesn't have to pay the tariff," Trump explained. 

As for national security and foreign policy, Trump touted his relationships with adversaries, like Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, saying the United States was respected under his administration. 

Trump was asked if he would send American troops to defend Taiwan if China invaded. The Chinese military are currently engaged in rehearsals for a naval blockade of the island nation. 

"The reason they're doing it now is because they're not going to do it afterward," Trump said – a response met with applause from the audience. 

Trump was also asked if he has spoken to Putin since he left office, to which he replied: "I don’t comment on that." 

"But I will tell you that if I did, it’s a smart thing," Trump said. "If I’m friendly with people, if I can have a relationship with people, that’s a good thing, not a bad thing, in terms of a country." 

"President Trump was in his element as he spoke passionately about restoring economic growth, prosperity, and opportunity for all Americans," his campaign wrote in an email to supporters following the interview, adding that he "put on a master class outlining his plan to return American citizens and businesses to the successes they enjoyed during his first term." 

The campaign added: "Kamala could NEVER." 

The Trump campaign touted the former president's responses and policies, and added: "President Trump did it once with record success – and he'll do it again."