(The first part of this interview ran in Saturday's newspaper.)
CT: The Rev. Billy Graham once told me that he kept people around him who would say, 'You're not as great as people think you are.' They helped keep him centered. Do you have people like that, and would you in the White House? Who would tell you what they think, even if it goes against what you think?
DT: I do have that, including members of my family. I believe in that.
CT: Talk to me about power. You have power over your employees, but the presidency is something quite different. How would you handle that kind of power?
DT: While there are differences, there are similarities in terms of cost-cutting and many other things, but you also have to be talking about heart. You need heart. You can't do the same things in government that you do in a company. Every decision in government is so important, especially when it comes to the military where thousands of people can lose their lives. I would need to display great restraint, but we've got to have toughness. Other people have to understand where we are coming from, including our allies. Our allies have taken advantage of us.
CT: As president, what would be your first executive orders?
DT: My first would be to get rid of a lot of the executive orders, especially on the border where President Obama wants people to pour through like we're Swiss cheese. I would countermand those orders. Our country must have borders. Second, I would immediately start working on the military. We have to build up our depleted military. And I would start working on repealing and replacing Obamacare.
CT: In Michelle Obama's commencement address at the City College of New York, there was a veiled criticism of you and your supporters. She said, 'They seem to believe diversity is a threat to be contained rather than a resource to be tapped. They tell us to be afraid of those who are different and suspicious of those with whom we disagree.
They act as if name-calling is an acceptable substitute for debate, as if anger and intolerance should be our default state, rather than the optimism and openness that have always been the engine of our progress.'
DT: I think I have more optimism than they do and I think I have a better vision for the country than they do and I think it's a nasty statement. In actuality, it doesn't pertain to me.
CT: Every president has called upon God at some point. Lincoln spoke of not being able to hold the office of the presidency without spending time on his knees. You have confessed that you are a Christian
DT: And I have also won much evangelical support.
CT: Yes, I know that. You have said you never felt the need to ask for God's forgiveness, and yet repentance for one's sins is a precondition to salvation. I ask you the question Jesus asked of Peter: Who do you say He is?
DT: I will be asking for forgiveness, but hopefully I won't have to be asking for much forgiveness. As you know, I am Presbyterian and Protestant. I've had great relationships and developed even greater relationships with ministers. We have tremendous support from the clergy. I think I will be doing very well during the election with evangelicals and with Christians. In the Middle East-and this is prior to the migration-you had almost no chance of coming into the United States. Christians from Syria, of which there were many, many of their heads chopped off. If you were a Muslim from Syria, it was one of the easiest places to come in (to the U.S.). I thought that was deplorable. I'm going to treat my religion, which is Christian, with great respect and care.
CT: Who do you say Jesus is?
DT: Jesus to me is somebody I can think about for security and confidence. Somebody I can revere in terms of bravery and in terms of courage and, because I consider the Christian religion so important, somebody I can totally rely on in my own mind.