“No, I don’t think so. He is -uh – after I lost the election, I won the election” Trump’s Slip Reveals the Truth in New Recording
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A newly released recording of former President Donald Trump has exposed a significant slip in his narrative, effectively undermining one of his own lies. The recording, shared by author Ramin Setoodeh, is detailed in his new book “Apprentice in Wonderland.” Setoodeh revealed the tapes during an interview with MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace on Thursday.
The conversation in question centers around Trump’s falling out with Fox host Geraldo Rivera, who was once a close ally of the former president. In the recording, Trump reflects on his past relationship with Rivera, saying, “He was good. He did a good job. He was smart and cunning. He did a good job.”
When Setoodeh asked if they were still close, Trump responded, “No, I don’t think so. He is -uh – after I lost the election, I won the election, but when they said we lost, he called me up three or four times. I didn’t take his call because I was so busy fighting it, you know, with what went on. And we’ve caught them, I don’t know if you’ve seen it, but you will. But he called me up three or four times, and finally, I had a little time. I called him back. And he went on Fox and he started talking about, ‘the president called me.’ I didn’t call him.”
Trump clarified, “I returned his phone call. And he started talking very personally about how I was feeling, how I was doing. And I said that’s really a betrayal. I didn’t talk about how I was feeling. It just was a phone call that lasted very quickly. Just, ‘Hey, how you doing, Gerlando? How’s it going?'”
“It’s not my deal — he’s not my psychiatrist,” Trump added. “But he made it sound like it was such a big deal. It was nothing. All I did was return his call, but he said, ‘The president called me,’ like I was reaching out to him. And I haven’t spoken to him since.”
Nicolle Wallace highlighted the broader implications of Trump’s falsehoods, noting that his lies have significantly impacted voting rights, with almost 400 voter suppression bills passed in 48 states tracing back to his false election claims.
Setoodeh noted that the comments were made in August 2021, during a period when Trump appeared “comfortable” and happy while watching clips of “The Apprentice.” In interviews with contestants from the show, Setoodeh found that they uniformly viewed Trump as an actor playing a role. As the aggrieved ex-president, Trump continues this pattern, with his lies about the election being a key part of his ongoing performance.
