Trump says running for president was good decision in hindsight

Former President Trump says running for president was good for him, according to a forthcoming book from New York Times correspondent Maggie Haberman. 

“The question I get asked more than any other question: ‘If you had it to do again, would you have done it?’ The answer is, yeah, I think so. Because here’s the way I look at it. I have so many rich friends and nobody knows who they are,” Trump said in an excerpt published Sunday in The Atlantic. 

The excerpt comes from one of three interviews Trump gave Haberman after he left the White House.  

According to the excerpt, Trump also mentioned how much easier he would have had it if he had not run for the presidency, but lauded the fame it had brought him. 

He reportedly noted “getting things done” as something he enjoyed about the job. 

Trump has hinted at making a third bid for the Oval Office after losing to now-President Biden in their 2020 matchup. Recent polling shows the two potential candidates neck and neck in a hypothetical 2024 rematch.

Also in interviews with Haberman, Trump said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) “kisses my ass” in order to secure endorsements for his friends and called Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) a “piece of shit.”

At one point, Trump also said he “loved” being with Haberman. “She’s like my psychiatrist,” Trump said, according to the excerpt.

Haberman’s book “Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America” is slated for publication next month. 

–Updated at 1:56 p.m.