President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to move aggressively on a
conservative agenda in filling Supreme Court vacancies, cracking down on
immigration and cutting taxes, but also sought to reassure worried
Americans they have nothing to fear from his presidency.
Setting aside the strident tone of his campaign,
the 70-year-old assumed a gentler manner in his first television
interview since his shock election, saying he was “saddened” by reports
of harassment of Muslims and Hispanics, and telling the perpetrators:
"Stop It."
The interview with CBS’s "60 Minutes," which was taped
Friday and aired in full Sunday, offered Trump an opportunity to
reintroduce himself after an ugly, name-calling campaign and surprise
victory that sparked protests in cities across the United States.
"I
just don’t think they know me," the billionaire real estate mogul said
at one point, of the thousands of protesters who have massed in streets
below his Trump Tower headquarters with signs that read "Not our
president."
Told that many Americans are scared of his presidency, Trump said: “Don’t be afraid. We are going to bring our country back.”
– Conservative agenda –
Millions
were expected to tune in to Trump’s interview for clues on how the
billionaire will govern, and how far he intends to convert his slogans
into policy.
Trump earlier Sunday named anti-establishment
firebrand Steve Bannon his top strategist and senior Republican Reince
Priebus his White House chief of staff, blending pragmatism with a
rabble-rousing edge in the first appointments of his new administration.
On
the issues, however, Trump made it clear he intends to aggressively
push a right-wing agenda, pledging to name justices to the Supreme Court
who are against abortion and for gun rights.
“The judges will be
pro-life,” Trump told CBS. “In terms of the whole gun situation,” he
added, “they’re going to be very pro-Second Amendment.”
He will
have an immediate opportunity to fill a vacancy on the court left by the
death of arch conservative justice Antonin Scalia. President Barack
Obama’s attempt to fill the seat was blocked by the
Republican-controlled Senate.
On immigration, Trump reaffirmed
his signature campaign pledge to build a wall on the border with Mexico,
although he conceded parts of it may be just a fence.
And he said as many as three million undocumented immigrants with criminal records would be deported or incarcerated.
“What we are going to do is get the people that are criminal and have criminal records, gang members, drug dealers,” he said.
“We
have a lot of these people, probably two million, it could be even
three million, we are getting them out of our country or we are going to
incarcerate,” he said.
– Conciliatory notes –
He left the door open, however, on the fate of the millions of other immigrants in the country illegally.
“After
the border is secured and after everything gets normalized, we’re going
to make a determination on the people that you’re talking about who are
terrific people,” he said.
Immigration, he said, was one of
three top legislative priorities he has discussed with House Speaker
Paul Ryan, the others being action to undo Obama’s signature health care
reform and a bill to cut taxes and simplify the tax code.
Trump
had previously indicated he would keep some aspects of Obamacare,
including a ban on insurance companies denying coverage for pre-existing
conditions.
He signaled that he would not seek to overturn the legalization of same-sex marriage in the United States.
“It’s
law. It was settled in the Supreme Court. I mean it’s done,” Trump said
when asked if he supports marriage equality. “And I’m - I’m fine with
that,” he added.
He also confirmed he would forgo the $400,000 salary that comes with the office of US president.
“I’m
not going to take the salary. I’m not taking it,” he said. “I think I
have to by law take $1, so I’ll take $1 a year,” he added.
The
choice of Bannon and Priebus as Trump’s first high-level appointments
suggest he intends for his new administration to preserve the populist
edge that won him the White House, tempered by political pragmatism.
Priebus,
head of the Republican National Committee, is a seasoned political
operative with close ties to Ryan, the House speaker.
But Bannon,
the campaign chairman in the final months of the Trump campaign, is CEO
of the right-wing, conspiracy-mongering Breitbart News website known
for withering attacks on the Republican elite.
In the “60 Minutes” interview, Trump made no promises to tone down his own rhetoric as president.
“I don’t want to be just a little nice monotone character,” he said.