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SEE ALSO: These are the most shocking quotes to come out of Trump’s 60 Minutes interviewOh, sure, he's preaching a message of bringing a divided America together. And he knows how to put on a good show. But at the end of the day, he's still Donald Trump.
Two weeks removed, he's already backtracked on one of his biggest -- and most incendiary -- promises of the campaign: seeking charges against Hillary Clinton for her use of a private email server.
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But there's more to it than that and Trump flashed that same mix of inconsistency and bombast when he sat down yesterday with the New York Timesfor one of his only major, on-the-record interviews since winning the election.
And there are plenty of quotes that show Trump may be playing nice, but, deep down, he's still Trump.
1. "Well, I just appreciate the meeting and I have great respect for the New York Times. Tremendous respect. It’s very special."
Wait, what?
This was literally the first major thing he said in the on-the-record portion of the meeting with the Timesand it goes against everything he has said about the Timessince God knows when.
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He even took time to slam the paper just hours before he arrived, flip-flopping on going through with the planned sit-down thanks to, reportedly, erroneous information purposely fed to him by his own chief-of-staff, Reince Priebus.
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But by the time he actually sat down with the Times, it was all hearts and hugs, with Trump using the following words to describe the paper: "tremendous respect," "very special," "great respect," "a great, great American jewel" and "a world jewel."
2. "We won it pretty big."
Here's Trump doing that thing where he manipulates information and adds a dash of braggadocio to make a statement that really rides the line between "factual" and "false."
True: Trump did win the Electoral College vote by a substantial margin, 290 to 232 with Michigan yet to be counted. But there's no mention of the margin of victory for Hillary Clinton in the popular vote, which currently stands at just over 2 million votes.
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Trump doubled-down on this later in the interview, saying, "I won the presidency, easily, and I mean easily — you look at those states, I had states where I won by 30 and 40 points." (Trump, indeed, won both Oklahoma and North Dakota by over 30 percent, but didn't win any states by 40 percent.)
If there's one thing he's truthful about, it's that he's happy with the Electoral College now that he won thanks to it.
He dances around the popular vote issue, saying, "I mean I’d rather do the popular vote from the standpoint — I’d think we’d do actually as well or better — it’s a whole different campaign." But then, after praising the "genius" of the Electoral College in getting him out to places he wouldn't have otherwise campaigned, he says, "I was never a fan of the Electoral College until now."
Fact check: True.
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Trump is nothing if not the perfect opportunist.
3. "But it’s not a group I want to energize, and if they are energized I want to look into it and find out why."
This is Trump's comment when pushed on his appeal to the alt-right and white supremacy movements and it comes off as more than a little disingenuous. After all, he's appointed Steve Bannon, an admitted leader of the alt-right, as a lead advisor (more on that in a moment).
But even if you were to put Bannon aside, there's still plenty of evidence that shows Trump has appealed to the alt-right, whether it's retweeting a Twitter user with the name "@WhiteGenocideTM" or sharing the below image that originally came from a white supremacy message board.
Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable Trump also campaigned on a platform that cast Mexicans as "rapists" and demanded a ban on Muslim immigration, continually positing a feeling of "otherness."
Plus, it doesn't look good when one of you're most notable endorsements comes from a man most well-known for being a Ku Klux Klan leader, and who you initially refused to condemn.
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4. "If I thought he was a racist, or alt-right, or any of the things that we can, you know, the terms we can use, I wouldn’t even think about hiring him."
Okay, now back to Steve Bannon, the former chairman of conservative publication, Breitbart.
In July, at the Republican Convention, Bannon himself told a reporter from Mother Jones of Breitbart, "We're the platform for the alt-right."
He also alluded to how the outlet might appeal to some white nationalists and anti-Semites:
"Look, are there some people that are white nationalists that are attracted to some of the philosophies of the alt-right? Maybe," he says. "Are there some people that are anti-Semitic that are attracted? Maybe. Right? Maybe some people are attracted to the alt-right that are homophobes, right? But that's just like, there are certain elements of the progressive left and the hard left that attract certain elements."
There are other quotes that also show how Bannon has perceived of Breitbart as an alt-right publication and there have been plenty of headlines published during Bannon's time in charge of Breitbart that fed into that idea as well.
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5. "It’s just not something that I feel very strongly about." / "I don’t think [supporters] will be disappointed."
When it was announced on Tuesday morning that Trump had decided he wouldn't pursue charges against Hillary Clinton regarding her private email server, many of his supporters were livid about his decision to back down from one of the biggest promises in his platform. So chalk one up to misjudging your audience, Donald.
And as for not feeling "very strongly about it," well, we'll let Trump's own words do the speaking for him.
6. "I have an open mind to it."
Trump is a master of saying nothing at all and making it seem like something. When asked about climate change and the recent Paris climate agreement, he said he was holding an open mind but then launched into a defense of climate change deniers like Joe Kernen and dropping nuggets like, "We’ve had storms always" and "You know the hottest day ever was in 1890-something, 98. You know, you can make lots of cases for different views."
So TL;DR, Trump still thinks climate change is "just weather."
7. "...the wind is a very deceiving thing"
This nugget came during an extended exchange about Trump's reported pressure to UK leaders to oppose offshore wind farms he thinks will ruin views at the two golf courses he owns in Scotland, which would be Trump using his political power to benefit a private business interest.
It's not a new line of argument for Trump, who has tweeted his opposition to wind farms dozens of times since 2012.
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In his interview with the Times, Trump takes the paper's point -- that his pressuring UK leadership is a conflict of interest -- and, instead, launches into an extended criticism of wind farms and their alleged environmental impact.
Trump was able to generate more press coverage for a part of his business platform without having to directly answer the questions whether or not that was a conflict of interest for a president, another example of Trump stumbling through a masterful sleight of hand.
8. "I think you’ll be happy."
This is perhaps the strangest answer in the whole interview (and that's saying something).
It comes at the very end when someone brings up Trump's threat to strengthen libel laws (which the president actually has very little control over) and asks, "are you committed to the First Amendment to the Constitution?"
This is a straight-up yes or no question. There is no wiggle room. Either you are dedicated to holding up the First Amendment as president or you're not (and some are concerned Trump won't be). And Trump even name-checked the Timeswhen suggesting his libel laws idea.
But instead of giving that simple one-word answer, Trump gives a response that's too long even for a series of tweets.
Oh, I was hoping he wasn’t going to say that. I think you’ll be happy. I think you’ll be happy. Actually, somebody said to me on that, they said, ‘You know, it’s a great idea, softening up those laws, but you may get sued a lot more.’ I said, ‘You know, you’re right, I never thought about that.’ I said, ‘You know, I have to start thinking about that.’ So, I, I think you’ll be O.K. I think you’re going to be fine.
And people wonder why the press is so concerned.
Again, it's that sleight of hand that uses bumbling language to hide the fact that, despite using so many words, he hasn't really said anything at all.
For business, it's a winning tactic. For foreign relations, though, it'll be met with much stiffer resistance.