--- title: Donald Trump Transcripts: Mexico, Australia Calls Are Latest description: Transcriptions of conversations, interviews and speeches with the U.S. president have turned into a hot commodity. canonical: https://time.com/4885985/donald-trump-transcripts-mexico-australia/ author: Jack Brewster article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-08-03T20:47:50.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-08T09:27:11.713Z article:section: Politics og:title: Why We Can't Stop Reading Trump Transcripts og:description: He's turned transcriptions into a hot commodity. og:url: https://time.com/4885985/donald-trump-transcripts-mexico-australia/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt40d00db6220358e8/6988d451e76ad2828262e319/gettyimages-802383336.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4591 og:image:height: 2582 og:image:alt: President Donald Trump og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Why We Can't Stop Reading Trump Transcripts twitter:description: He's turned transcriptions into a hot commodity. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt40d00db6220358e8/6988d451e76ad2828262e319/gettyimages-802383336.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Why We Can't Stop Reading Trump Transcripts > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=5f73af7b-6db7-43e8-849d-3eeb369f8b3e&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Why Donald Trump Always Says He's Joking [Watch (HLS stream): Why Donald Trump Always Says He's Joking](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/yQmxnCOX.m3u8) (2:39)  _Published 2017-08-03. Donald Trump and His Frequent Joking_ by [Jack Brewster](https://time.com/author/jack-brewster/) ## Jack Brewster Aug 3, 2017 8:47 PM UTC Donald Trump and His Frequent Joking by [Jack Brewster](https://time.com/author/jack-brewster/) ## Jack Brewster Aug 3, 2017 8:47 PM UTC You can add presidential transcripts to the list of things that have experienced a “Trump bump.” While transcriptions of [conversations](https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2017/politics/australia-mexico-transcripts/?utm%5Fterm=.278dcf633a7e), [interviews](https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/23/us/politics/trump-new-york-times-interview-transcript.html) and [speeches](http://time.com/4872118/trump-boy-scout-jamboree-speech-transcript/) with the U.S. president have always been of interest, the Trump Administration has turned them into a hot commodity. The latest example: The leaked transcripts of two phone calls Trump had with the [leaders of Australia and Mexico](https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2017/politics/australia-mexico-transcripts/?utm%5Fterm=.dc8d0ac53448) shortly after he was inaugurated. One reason why they’re so popular: Trump is unpredictable. [Kathleen Hall Jamieson](https://www.asc.upenn.edu/people/faculty/kathleen-hall-jamieson-phd), communications professor at the University of Pennsylvania, said many readers may be drawn to the transcripts just because Trump has such a quirky way of talking. “People are interested in his transcripts for the same reasons they’re interested in watching his speeches,” she told TIME. “The unexpected content makes him inherently interesting. With President Trump you can never be sure what is going to happen next.” Some of those unpredictable comments are also controversial—another reason Trump transcripts do so well. In recent weeks, Trump has told the New York _Times_ he wouldn’t have [hired his attorney general](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/19/us/politics/trump-interview-transcript.html) if he’d known he would recuse himself from overseeing an investigation, told an anecdote about a friend who [partied on yachts](http://www.slate.com/blogs/the%5Fslatest/2017/07/25/what%5Fwas%5Fthat%5Fsex%5Fyacht%5Fstory%5Ftrump%5Ftold%5Fthe%5Fboy%5Fscouts.html) to a group of Boy Scouts and told a group of police not to be [“too nice”](http://time.com/4878838/president-donald-trump-police-officers/) to suspects in custody. Peter Baker, chief White House correspondent for the New York _Times_, recently wrote an [op-ed](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/24/insider/the-new-presidential-interview.html) on what it’s like to interview President Trump. Of all the presidents he’s interviewed–Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama and now Trump–Baker says no one has rivaled the current president “in his capacity to provoke.” He added, “A product of the New York tabloid world, Mr. Trump has an unerring instinct for saying things that will produce gasps.” Trump also regularly criticizes news coverage of his Administration, only adding interest to the source material. In February, he called [news coverage](http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/01/politics/malcolm-turnbull-donald-trump-pena-nieto/index.html) of a heated phone call he had with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull “fake news” and said the media “lied about” the conversation. > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/827480386120929280) But that only drove interest in the leaked transcript, which confirmed that Trump himself called it [“the most unpleasant call all day”](https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2017/politics/australia-mexico-transcripts/?utm%5Fterm=.ecd960769115) and said their disagreement over a refugee deal was “ridiculous.” Even without Trump’s attacks, trust in the media is at a historic low, making transcripts even more valuable. [According to a Gallup poll](http://www.gallup.com/poll/195542/americans-trust-mass-media-sinks-new-low.aspx), in 1976, 76 percent of Americans had a “great deal” or “fair amount” of trust in the media. By September 2016—the last time Gallup conducted the poll—it stood at 32 percent. “The other phenomenon with President Trump is that there’s interest in finding out whether the private and the public individual are saying the same thing,” added Jamieson. “There have been a number of instances where he has been caught saying things that are not true. The stake in understanding what he said in private is higher as a result.” Still, Jamieson cautioned relying on transcripts that are not publicly confirmed. “You don’t know who made the transcripts,” she said. “There’s a somewhat naive assumption that anything is leaked and is represented as being a transcript must be a transcript. In the political climate we’re in, I wouldn’t assume that.” ## Transcript [00:00] ISIS is honoring President [00:04] Obama. He is the founder of ISIS. He's the founder [00:08] of ISIS. Donald Trump tells jokes, at least he says he [00:12] does. Some of the things the President calls jokes don't [00:15] sound that way to his critics, and its not always clear [00:17] he meant them as jokes when he said them. So [00:19] Obama's talking about all od this with the global [00:23] warming and the that, a lot of it is a hoax. It's a hoax. I [00:25] mean, it's a money making industry, okay? Where I can [00:28] stand in the middle of the 5ft avenue and shoot [00:30] somebody and I wouldn't lose any voters, okay? It's [00:33] like .>> It's a defense he often used during the 2016 [00:35] campaign when he was in hot water for something he [00:37] said. Border. Well you don't think I was joking, you [00:40] know I was joking. Of course I was joking, and the [00:42] whole room was laughing, and I was laughing when I [00:44] said it. Since Trump moved into the White House, his [00:47] staff has also used it to deflect attention from some of [00:49] his more controversial statements. Was the President [00:51] joking when he said this, or did he check his remarks [00:55] out with The International Association of Police Chiefs [00:58] or maybe the Attorney General? I believe he was [01:01] making a joke at the time. Trey? You know, the way [01:04] you put the hand like don't hit their head [01:08] and they've just killed somebody, don't hit their head. I [01:11] said, you can take the hand away, okay? Russia, if [01:13] you're listening, I hope you're able to find the 30, 000 [01:16] emails that are missing. I think you will probably be [01:18] rewarded mightily by the press. How can you accuse [01:22] President Obama of obstructing when he was egging [01:24] Russia on? He was joking at the time. We all know, [01:26] and- He was joking? And- He said that as a candidate [01:29] and he was pressed during that press conference over [01:31] and over again. Russia, if you're listening, I hope [01:35] you're able to find the 30, 000 Emails [01:40] that are missing. I think you will probably be rewarded [01:44] mightily by our press. In fact, the Trump administration [01:48] has used the excuse so frequently that they've even [01:50] had to clarify when the President wasn't joking. Can [01:53] you say affirmatively that whenever the President says [01:55] something, we can trust it to be real? If he's not joking, [01:58] of course. I mean, but in that case, hold on, but no, no. [02:01] You're asking, hold on. Okay, no, no, but your point is [02:06] if he's. I mean, he, every time that he speaks [02:08] authoritatively, that he speaks, he's speaking as the [02:10] President of the United States .>> More than 3 million [02:13] Americans voted illegally .>> Yes, and he still believes [02:15] that .>> Was he joking or does he believe [02:16] that ?>> He does believe it. For Trump claiming he [02:19] was only joking is a great way to get out of trouble, [02:21] while also painting his critics out of touch. But the down [02:23] side is, it makes it hard for listeners to tell when he's [02:26] being serious., So I said, the founder [02:31] of ISIS, obviously I'm being sarcastic, then but not that [02:35] sarcastic to be honest with you. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4885985/donald-trump-transcripts-mexico-australia/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4885985/donald-trump-transcripts-mexico-australia/"},"headline":"Why We Can't Stop Reading Trump Transcripts","datePublished":"2017-08-03T20:47:50.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-08T09:27:11.713Z","description":"Transcriptions of conversations, interviews and speeches with the U.S. president have turned into a hot commodity.","url":"https://time.com/4885985/donald-trump-transcripts-mexico-australia/","keywords":["Donald Trump","Australia","White House","Mexico","transcripts"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt40d00db6220358e8/6988d451e76ad2828262e319/gettyimages-802383336.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jack Brewster","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/jack-brewster/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt40d00db6220358e8/6988d451e76ad2828262e319/gettyimages-802383336.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"President Donald Trump","caption":"President Donald Trump","creditText":"Jabin Botsford—The Washington Post/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/tag/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4885985/donald-trump-transcripts-mexico-australia/","name":"Why We Can't Stop Reading Trump Transcripts"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Why Donald Trump Always Says He's Joking","description":"Donald Trump and His Frequent Joking","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/yQmxnCOX/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2017-08-03T18:34:56.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/yQmxnCOX.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4885985/donald-trump-transcripts-mexico-australia/","duration":"PT2M39S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4885985/donald-trump-transcripts-mexico-australia/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```