Trump ‘too often’ regrets some tweets, but not decision to go into politics – Portnoy interview

Dave Portnoy of Barstool Sports has faced a torrent of criticism online for a ‘softball’ interview with US President Donald Trump, yet no one else got Trump to admit he actually regretted anything, much less some of his tweets.

Posted on Twitter on Friday in three parts, the video shows Portnoy and Trump in a very informal chat on the White House porch earlier this week. About two and a half minutes into the second part, Portnoy asks if Trump ever regrets tweeting out some things.

“Often, too often,” the president replies.

“It's not the tweets, it's the retweets that get you in trouble,” Trump added, noting how he would see “something that looks good” and retweet without investigating it further.

This has backfired on the president more than once. Most recently, he shared a video from Florida showing a confrontation between some of his elderly supporters and detractors – including one man yelling “white power.” Whether he was doing so ironically or earnestly did not matter with the media, who dogpiled the president until the tweet was deleted, and then some.

There are other perils to retweets. Last month, Trump shared a criticism of his former national security adviser John Bolton by left-wing journalist Max Blumenthal – who then proceeded to change his display name to a series of political slogans such as “US sanctions kill kids,” “Free Julian Assange,” “Free Palestine, Fire Jared,” and “Defund the Police.” 

Mainstream media have also clutched their collective pearls when Trump would retweet meme videos showing cartoon violence against them, and eventually succeeded in running the president’s favorite meme-makers off Twitter entirely. 

Though his critics have called the interview “softball,” unprofessional and self-serving, Portnoy actually got Trump to open up on a personal level, even admitting he was surprised at the vitriol that greeted his entry into politics.

“The best day in my life in terms of business and life and everything was the day before I announced I’m running for president. Everything was good,” Trump said. 

The day after he announced, he was attending a charity event when his wife Melania noticed that some people were booing – the first time that ever happened, Trump said. Since then, he’s noticed “I have more fervor on the one side and I have far more animosity on the other side.”

Even so, he does not regret running for president. “Now, I’m really glad I did,” he told Portnoy.

The head of Barstool Sports ended the interview by asking Trump to help him prank-call his father – with the president happy to oblige. He later tweeted he should have asked about Trump’s friend, political operative Roger Stone, “dressing like a super villain.”

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