US president-elect Donald Trump has vowed to move aggressively on a conservative agenda in filling US 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 perpetrators to “stop it.”
The interview with CBS 60 Minutes, which was taped on Friday and aired in full on Sunday, offered Trump an opportunity to reintroduce himself after an ugly, name-calling campaign and surprise victory that sparked protests in cities across the US.
“I just don’t think they know me,” Trump said 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.”
Millions of people in the US were expected to tune in to Trump’s interview for clues on how he would govern and how far he intends to convert his slogans into policy.
Trump earlier on Sunday named filmmaker Steve Bannon his top strategist and senior US Republican Reince Priebus his White House chief of staff, blending pragmatism with a rabble-rousing edge in the first appointments of his new administration.
However, on issues Trump made it clear he intends to aggressively push a right-wing agenda, pledging to name justices to the US Supreme Court who are against abortion and for gun rights.
“The judges will be pro-life,” Trump said.
“In terms of the whole gun situation,” he added, “they’re going to be very pro-Second Amendment.”
He is to have an immediate opportunity to fill a vacancy on the court left by the death of associate justice of the US Supreme Court Antonin Scalia.
US 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 might be just a fence.
And he said as many as 3 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 2 million, it could be even 3 million, we are getting them out of our country or we are going to incarcerate,” he said.
He left the door open on the fate of the millions of other immigrants in the US 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 US House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan, the others being action to undo Obama’s signature healthcare 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.
There were other conciliatory notes as well.
He signaled that he would not seek to overturn the legalization of same-sex marriage in the US.
“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 US$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 US$1, so I’ll take US$1 a year,” he added.
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