Trump on Netanyahu Relationship: “It’s Good, But We Have To Keep Him A Little Bit Sane”
President Trump sits down with Axios White House correspondent Marc Caputo for a wide-ranging conversation about power, war and America’s role in the world. In this section, Trump discusses his relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Trump also discusses the Strait of Hormuz, Israel and Benjamin Netanyahu, Cuba, Venezuela, artificial intelligence, Anthropic, China’s AI race and how he thinks about maintaining power in the final stretch of his presidency.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Excuse me just one second. If it weren’t for Donald Trump, and Bibi Netanyahu worked well with me, but he will tell you, we’re the ones with the guns. We’re the ones with the whole deal. We’re the ones with the B-2 bombers, et cetera. If it weren’t for Donald Trump, Israel would have been eviscerated. MARC CAPUTO, AXIOS: Your relationship with Netanyahu is — TRUMP: It’s good, but we have to keep him a little bit sane. CAPUTO: Are you going to be able to control Israel from attacking Lebanon? Yeah, I will be. How? TRUMP: They have a lot of respect for me, and they do as I say. Remember this. If I don’t terminate the JCPOA, remember, that was a road to a nuclear weapon, legally. It says right there. And Obama thought he could pay them off. He gave them billions and billions of dollars, $ 1.7 billion in cash. It was a well-known story, but it didn’t work. You can’t bribe your way out of it. You can’t pay off your way. But if I didn’t do that, and if I didn’t attack their nuclear supply 10 months ago with the B-2 bombers, Israel would not exist today.
