‘Did You Break That Promise?’ NBC’s Kristen Welker Grills Trump On ‘No New Wars’ Pledge — President Snaps in Response, Calling Her ‘A Big Liberal’

NBC’s Kristen Welker grilled President Donald Trump on his repeated campaign pledge not to start any new wars — a line of inquiry which was not well received by the president.

As part of a fiery interview which aired Sunday on Meet the Press, Welker pressed Trump on his vow — amid the ongoing Iran conflict.

“One of your consistent campaign promises was no new wars, going all the way back to 2015,” Welker said. “Did you break that promise to the American people?”

“No,” Trump said. “I had to stop a country, very powerful, very dangerous country, from having a nuclear weapon because they’d use it. They’d blow up the world. They’d blow up the Middle East. They’d blow up Israel. They’d come here. They’d blow up Europe. They’re nuts, okay? They’re crazy people. I deal with them. And very high-strung people. Little crazy. And – I get along with them. I like them. But you don’t want to let them have a nuclear weapon. And I’m doing the world a service, but I’m doing our country a service. You know, it’s America first. I’m doing our country a service.”

The interview — conducted Friday in Wisconsin — was paused for a few moments due to a loud storm outside the location of the taping. When it resumed, Welker picked up where she left off.

“So you’re saying you didn’t break your promise,” Welker said. “And yet, Mr. President, in your first term, you held to that promise and it was so fundamental to who you were as a candidate, to a first-term president. What changed, because you insisted ‘no new wars?'”

“Well, first of all, I didn’t guarantee no war,” Trump replied. “Why would I have built the strongest military in the world? I built our military. I inherited a terrible military. We had no equipment. We had nothing. I built a tremendous military. Biden gave a lot of it away, but it’s still a relatively small portion compared to what I built.”

“But you said it over and over again, Mr. President,” Welker replied — noting the numerous occasions on which he explicitly said he would not start any wars.

“Wait a minute,” Trump snapped back. “Why would I build a military — Now, I didn’t want to use this, but I’m doing you and everybody else a big favor. In the midst of the greatest stock market in history, in the midst of the most successful country because, as you know, in the last term, we were a dead country, Kristen. I know you, you’re a big liberal, a big progressive.”

“I’m just a journalist,” Welker said.

Trump went on to say, “The reason I won an election is people have confidence in me. I have good judgment. I had to make a judgment. Do I want to go along and have a country that’s doing really well, but somebody is going to try and kill us? Or do I want to put out that horrible threat? And I did. It put it out. I put it out for many, many years. Now, I’m going to put it out permanently. I’m going to do it either through negotiation, where we’re very close to a deal, or I’m going to blow the hell out of them, to be honest with you. And it’s going to be very easy for me to do that. That’s actually the easier path. So when you say I promised, I didn’t promise anything. I don’t like these endless wars. This is not an endless war.”

Watch above, via NBC.

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