Former President Donald Trump spoke emphatically in a new interview with Dr. Phil McGraw about the toll the Stormy Daniels hush money trial took on his wife Melania and said it was impacting son Barron as well.
Trump speculated that each of them likely wanted to speak to him about the difficulties, but chose not to.
‘I have a wonderful wife. I mean, it’s not easy for her to read this kind of stuff, that’s fake,’ he told the TV host. That’s totally that’s fake stuff.’
‘But that’s the way it is. It certainly is not a good thing. And it affects me more than it would if it were just about me. I wish it could be just about me,’ he told McGraw in their hour-long sit down interview from Mar-a-Lago.
Trump also hinted at the impact the trial and the constant political and legal combat had on her – revealing that it ‘wasn’t easy.’
It was his first extended interview since a Manhattan jury found him guilty on 34 counts of falsifying financial records related to the hush payments.
When Dr. Phil asked how the former first lady was holding up, Trump responded: ‘I think good,’ stretching out the word during his answer in a way that made the answer less than certain.
Former President Donald Trump told Dr. Phil McGraw that ‘sometimes revenge can be justified’ after the host pleaded with him to be a ‘hero’ and and declare that ‘it stops with me’
‘But I don’t think it’s an easy thing for her,’ he then allowed. ‘And I think if it wasn’t good, she wouldn’t want to tell me about it, to be honest with you. Because, you know, she sees that I’m fighting like hell.’
The former first lady notably did not attend Trump’s five week trial in Manhattan, instead keeping a low profile in Florida, even as a parade of supporters including family members, House members, and senators joined Trump in the courtroom.
Trump also suggested the public attention is difficult for his son Barron, 18.
As is his practice, he declined to reveal too much about his youngest child, and his only child with Melania, although he did give a hint about his college plans.
‘He’s a good boy. He’s a tall boy – very tall. He’s very tall. And he’s a great kid. He’s good looking kid. And he’s going to be going to college.’
‘He doesn’t say because he doesn’t want to hurt me,’ Trump said. ‘And he thinks it’s a possibly a hurtful conversation. But it has to affect my family,’ he lamented.
He called Barron a ‘great kid’ and a ‘good student,’ while revealing clues about his college plans.
He ‘got accepted to different colleges – some of those colleges, all of a sudden they’re rioting all over the place.’
Trump said former first lady Melania Trump ‘reads this c***,’ in a rare acknowledgement of the impact of campaign coverage on her
‘He doesn’t say because he doesn’t want to hurt me,’ Trump said when asked about the impact on son Barron, who recently turned 18. ‘And he thinks it’s a possibly a hurtful conversation’
McGraw tried repeatedly in his ‘psychological’ interview with Donald Trump to be a ‘hero’ and call off his vows of retribution – only to have the former president tell him revenge can be ‘justified.’
The two longtime acquaintances had an hourlong sit-down where the the TV host repeatedly tried to probe Trump’s fear and anger, even while McGraw himself attacked Trump’s prosecution in the Stormy Daniels trial.
‘I find it to be a very different and very interesting … It’s a psychological interview that you’re doing,’ Trump told him. ‘You’re sort of being my psychiatrist, and maybe I could use a psychiatrist every once … it’s pretty cool.’
During one long portion, McGraw tried three times to persuade Trump to call off what he has said will be retribution against his enemies if he wins a second term.
‘There are headlines out there that say when you win your second term, you are going to make the people that have come after you pay. Every situation needs a hero. What a great opportunity to step up and say you know what? It stops here. It stops with me,’ Dr. Phil told him.
‘I think you’ll be impressed. We have to unite the country,’ Trump said – failing to explicitly agree.
Later, McGraw pointed to psychological research on crime and revenge. ‘Neurologically in the brain … there’s an addiction to revenge just like to opioid or whatever,’ he told Trump, a teetotaler, who responded with a ‘hmm.’
Dr. Phil described a cycle between criminals and police. ‘They see themselves as the victim and they want revenge against the person that arrested them. And then the person that arrested them gets hammered,’ he said.
‘It’s got to stop and you’re – we’re better than this. We must be better than this. And you’re big enough to do it,’ he told Trump.
‘I think you’ll be proud of the job we do,’ was Trump’s response. ‘And you know the word revenge is a very strong word, but maybe we have revenge or success.’
Then Dr. Phil quoted Pope Frances – who Trump attacked during the 2016 campaign – as writing that ‘there must be no resentment among us.
‘Well, revenge does take time, I will say that,’ Trump said. And sometimes revenge can be justified, though. I have to be honest. Sometimes it can.’
The exposition came in an interview where Trump spoke about ‘dark forces’ he claims are arrayed against him and said his darkest moments involve what wife Melania reads in the press.
The TV host tried to probe Trump about darkness he faces, in his first interview since a Manhattan jury convicted the former president on 34 counts in the Stormy Daniels trial.
‘When the crowds aren’t cheering, what’s the darkest moment you think of?’ Dr. Phil asked him.
Dr. Phil pleaded with Trump to be a ‘hero’ and put a stop what he called a cycle of revenge
‘There are people that control him,’ Donald Trump said of President Joe Biden in an interview with TV host Dr. Phil McGraw
‘The hardest part for me is probably my family,’ Trump responded. ‘Because it’s very unfair to my family. I have a very good wife. She reads this crap. I have great kids,’ he said.
Multiple Trump family members attended the five-week trial. They included sons Don Jr. and Eric, daughter in law Lara and daughter Tiffany, although Melania did not attend his trial, which resulted in conviction on charges of falsifying business records related to paying off the porn star.
‘I have a wonderful wife. I mean, it’s not easy for her to read this kind of stuff – that’s fake – that’s fake stuff,’ he said.
Trump went on an extended discourse about Don Jr., who he called a ‘good kid’ who became the subject of accusations during the Russia probe. That got Trump railing against California Rep. Adam Schiff, who he called ‘watermelon head.’
In between Trump’s digs at Biden and the judges overseeing his criminal trials, Dr. Phil kept trying to press him with questions about the emotional impact on himself and people he cares about.
‘What is the hardest, darkest moment that you can think of in this journey?’ McGraw asked him in the interview on streaming channel Merit+.
That prompted Trump to talk about ‘evil forces’ he said were controlling President Joe Biden.
‘You have to be very strong. You’re fighting very evil forces and they’re very smart forces. There are people that control Biden. Totally true. I think I know who they are largely. But there are people that control him. They’re very smart, very energetic. Possibly they’re real believers, what their sick ideology is. But you have to be smart and you have to have confidence,’ Trump told him.
At one point Trump called attention to the questions that touched on emotion.
‘It’s a psychological interview that you’re doing. You’re sort of being my psychiatrist,’ Trump told his interviewer. Dr. Phil called it a ‘no holds barred’ interview from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home.
Dr. Phil’s first comment to Trump as the interview began was that ‘you look well,’ which prompted an answer that had Trump mentioning ‘corrupt judges’ and ‘corrupt politicians’ within seconds. Trump also used the interview to settle scores with figures dating back years, including former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele.
The interviewer put Trump at ease with an early blast at government prosecutions of him.
‘They need to stop this. They need to stop pursuing you,’ he told Trump. McGraw started his career working in ‘trial sciences’ advising lawyers how to pitch to juries, and said he had a particular interest in the dynamics of the trial setting.
Trump spent part of the interview inveighing against the gag order Judge Juan Merchan imposed in the case. Both he and McGraw ended up speaking about witnesses and potential witnesses in the case.
‘I do think he knows what’s going on. I think he’s sort of an evil guy,’ Trump said of President Biden at one point
Trump spoke about the impact on son Barron, who graduated from high school this spring
‘I even lost Oprah. Oprah used to like me so much,’ Trump told Dr. Phil
McGraw said the judge ‘muzzled’ the case, and took a shot at former Trump fixer Michael Cohen, a star witness as well as ex-National Enquirer CEO David Pecker, another witness, reaching a non-prosecution agreement.
Trump complained about the pressure on former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg, who both sides had considered calling from Rikers Island prison to testify.
Trump also blasted the E. Jean Carroll defamation suit, after a jury finding him liable for sexual abuse.
He said he had ‘no idea who she is. I had to pay $91 million and that judge was just as bad, just as corrupt,’ Trump said.
In the hush money case, where Trump never took the stand, ‘I would have loved to have testified. I wanted to. I’m telling you: they had to hold me back,’ he said.
He also complimented Judge Aileen Cannon, the judge he appointed who is overseeing his classified documents case. He called her ‘a very brilliant judge in Florida.’
On foreign policy, Trump complained about the Biden administration’s recent move to allow Ukraine to use U.S. weapons to strike inside Russia closer to the Ukrainian border.
‘I’ll get the war in Ukraine settled and one by the time I take office as president-elect,’ Trump said, vowing to act on the world stage even in the last months of Biden’s term.
Trump spoke about Dr. Phil’s former colleague and partner Oprah Winfrey.
Oprah used to really like me. She was here many times. She loved my key lime pie. We have key lime pie – and she loved a lot of things about Mara Lago,’ Trump said.
‘We’ve sort of lost contact as the expression goes,’ Trump said.
Trump came back to Winfrey later in the interview. Winfrey famously threw her support to Barack Obama in 2008 and interviewed Trump decades ago about his White House ambitions.
‘I even lost Oprah. Oprah used to like me so much,’ he told Dr. Phil. ‘And you know I haven’t spoken to her since. But she’s a good person. Please give her my regards.’
Trump tore into opponents during the interview, settling scores with people dating to the Russia probe. ‘I do think he knows what’s going on. I think he’s sort of an evil guy,’ Trump said of President Biden at one point.
He called Rep. Adam Schiff ‘watermelon head.’
‘Very unattractive guy both inside and outside,’ Trump said of the California Senate primary winner.
Dr. Phil told a studio audience that he knew Trump was going to spend much of the interview getting his message out.
‘It’s kinda like talking to a waiter and they’ve got the specials. They’re going to give you those specials. And it doesn’t matter what you want, they’re going to give you those specials. … and if you interrupt them on number 12 out of 15, they’re going to start back up at the top,’ he said.
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Inside Tanzania’s Life-Saving Birthcare Model
Tanzania is winning the battle against maternal and newborn deaths, as the latest numbers reveal a significant decline.
“Tanzania is committed to reducing maternal and newborn mortality and ensuring safe deliveries as part of the national development plan. The Safer Births Bundle of Care is one of the key strategies supporting this effort,” said Dr. Benjamin Kamala, the Senior Research Scientist at Haydom Lutheran Hospital and Principal Investigator for the program, leading its implementation across five regions in Tanzania.
A groundbreaking study published in the New England Journal of Medicine shows that the innovative health program in Tanzania – centered on regular, on-the-job training for healthcare workers – reduced maternal deaths by 75% and early newborn deaths by 40%. The three-year study, conducted across 30 high-burden healthcare facilities in Tanzania, tracked approximately 300,000 mother-baby pairs under the Safer Births Bundle of Care (SBBC) programme. The programme focuses on improving care for mothers and babies during the day of birth, the critical time when a woman goes into labor and delivers her baby.
Maternal health is a key focus of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), specifically Target 3.1, which aims to reduce the global maternal mortality ratio to fewer than 70 deaths per 100,000 live births by 2030.
Tanzania’s program combines continuous, simulation-based training for frontline healthcare workers alongside innovative clinical tools to improve labour monitoring (fetal heart rate monitoring) and newborn resuscitation.It also uses data to drive ongoing improvements, ensuring that healthcare workers have the skills, confidence, and competence to manage birth-related complications for both mothers and newborns.
“We work closely with healthcare workers, equipping them with the necessary tools to improve the quality of care, ensuring they can effectively manage both mothers and babies during and after childbirth,” Dr. Kamala said, which helps them build on over a decade of innovative research and collaboration to improve care during childbirth.
“To give you a sense of the scale of the burden of maternal and newborn mortality in Tanzania when the Safer Births Bundles of Care program was in early development in 2015/16, there were around 556 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births and 25 neonatal deaths per 1,000 live births,” he said.
The published study demonstrates the “transformative impact” of the Safer Births Bundle of Care program conducted across 30 hospitals in five high-burden regions of Tanzania, where there were about 300,000 mother-baby pairs.
Maternal deaths at the start of the program were recorded at 240 per 100,000 live births, with postpartum hemorrhage and hypertensive disorders being the leading causes of death, he said. Over the 24-month study period, this number dropped to approximately 60 per 100,000 live births, representing a 75% reduction. The number of newborn deaths – which are primarily due to breathing difficulties and complications related to prematurity – declined by 40% – from 7 deaths per 1,000 live births to 4 deaths per 1,000 live births.
“These results are remarkable,” Dr. Kamala said.
According to Dr. Kamala, the 75% reduction in maternal deaths was not expected, and a key lesson was the important role of the in-situ team simulations – including for postpartum bleeding – with reflective debriefings that trained facilitators led.
“This seems to be a major part of the success of the program,” he said. “We are delighted by these results and hope that other countries adopt and scale the Safer Births Bundle of Care program… Beyond the numbers, the Safer Births Bundle of Care program has fostered a dramatic culture shift in our healthcare system,” he said. “Healthcare workers are now more confident and better equipped to handle birth-related complications for both mothers and babies.”
Maternal death drop
Dr. Kamala attributed the 60-70% reduction in newborn deaths in Geita and Manyara to several factors.
“Firstly, Manyara was the first site for implementation, giving the region more time to adapt and experience the impact of the program. Most importantly, both regions had a high burden of stillbirths and neonatal deaths, making them ideal targets for focused intervention. As a result, newborn deaths decreased by 60-70%, showcasing a clear positive impact on newborn survival,” he said.
Dr. Kamala said another possible explanation is the differences in the culture of practices, where some health facilities reported inaccurate data due to the fear of blame and shame. However, with the project’s implementation, reporting became more accurate after mplementation. Some regions, such as Tabora, reported an increase in the number of referrals to the study hospitals from other care centers after the program was implemented. These were more likely to be late admissions, which increase the likelihood of poor health outcomes, he said.
After the implementation of the program, there was a 40% decrease in newborn deaths within the first 24 hours after birth, according to the study.
Dr. Kamala said Tanzania’s remarkable progress in reducing maternal mortality by 80% is driven by strategic investments and innovative programs focused on improving maternal and child survival rates.
“Over 2,000 new healthcare facilities have been developed, free health services are being provided to expectant mothers and children under the age of five, and emergency obstetric care – including better transport to hospitals in rural areas are helping to ensure timely, life-saving interventions.
“Most importantly, the Ministry of Health works in collaboration with healthcare workers, hospitals, and development partners to strengthen the skills of frontline healthcare workers, which has been a key factor in driving this progress.
“Political leadership, alongside strategic partnerships and financing, has been crucial in driving progress in maternal and newborn health,” he said.
The program was made possible by the support of the Global Financing Facility for Women, Children, and Adolescents, Norad, UNICEF, and Laerdal Global Health, as well as the Ministry of Health and Haydom Lutheran Hospital. Their partnership and investment enabled the scaling of the Safer Births Bundle of Care to 30 hospitals and supported the research. “The government has now scaled the program to over 150 sites, and there are plans for further expansion to three regions this year and then nationally,” he said.
Dr. Kamala outlined key policy recommendations for other governments can adopt to prioritize maternal health.
“Firstly, it focuses on cost-effective and relatively simple interventions that are essential to preventing maternal and newborn deaths. For example, stronger primary healthcare that is delivered in the community and a well-trained healthcare workforce are also critical. Additionally, working in close collaboration with national, regional, and local health authorities is key.”
He said Tanzania’s approach, where the Safer Births Bundle of Care program was successfully scaled and sustained by aligning the initiative with national guidelines for obstetrical and newborn care. In addition, the creation of mentorship programs and regular supervision has helped to sustain the results.
Looking ahead
Tanzania now plans to expand to three new regions in 2025, followed by a nationwide rollout.
The success of the program has attracted interest from other countries, with Botswana, Ethiopia, Lesotho, and Namibia expressing interest in adapting the program to their healthcare system. In Nigeria, the program has already been launched in two states, Gombe and Borno, marking a significant step in its scaling.
Source: allafrica.com
