THE WRECKONING: President Trump DESTROYS ABC’s Terry Moran in 100-Day Interview

Jorge Bonilla
April 29th, 2025 10:56 PM

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Shortly after I began live-tweeting the ABC exclusive interview between correspondent Terry Moran and President Donald Trump, a commenter questioned why the president would put himself up to the scrutiny of the “legacy media”. The response should be clear as day to anyone who sat through the interview, as we did so you wouldn’t have to. Trump simply likes to, and enjoys the sparring. In most cases, certainly today, the same can’t be said for the interviewer.

In an interesting bit of foreshadowing, Moran performed his introduction to the interview in front of the signs of detained and/or deported criminal illegal aliens.  

The interview opened with some pleasantries exchanged about Trump’s redecoration of the Oval Office, including the several presidential paintings that now hang there, including those of Presidents Reagan, FDR, and Monroe. Moran’s first series of questions were on the economy, opening by trying to create friction between Trump and his voting base (click “expand” to view transcript).

MORAN: But I wanna start --

DONALD TRUMP: Sure.

MORAN: -- with the economy, the number one issue for so many people, for just about everybody. It -- it's one of the main reasons that you're back in this office. And now we have this trade war with China that -- that Moody's and other analysts say is gonna cost American families thousands of more dollars per year. And there is a lot of concern out there. People are worried, even some people who voted for you, sayin', "I didn't sign up for this." So how do you answer those concerns?

TRUMP: Well, they did sign up for it, actually. And this is what I campaigned on. I said that-- we've been abused by other countries at levels that nobody's ever seen before. We were losing $3 to 5 billion a day on trade. We were losing-- a trillion and a half to $2 trillion a year. Not sustainable.

Moran’s manipulation got shot down, as did his attempts to corner Trump on tariffs, and to get him to say that “hard times” were ahead for Americans. 

Moran proceeds to shift to immigration, where he begins by descending into outright open advocacy for criminal illegal aliens. After attempting a weird appeal to authority that got promptly shot down, Moran gives us the exchange of the night.

While arguing on behalf of MS-13 gangbanger Kilmar Abrego Garcia (KAG), Moran inexplicably asserts that the tattoos on his hand were photoshops:

MORAN: Well, let me ask about one man and one court order. Kilmar Abrego Garcia. He's the Salvadoran man who crossed into this country illegally but who is under a protective order that he not be sent back to El Salvador. Your government sent him back to El Salvador and acknowledged in court that was a mistake. And now the Supreme Court has upheld an order that you must return him to the -- facilitate his return to the United States. What are you doing to comply?

TRUMP: Well, the lawyer that said it was a mistake was here a long time, was not appointed by us -- should not have said that, should not have said that. And just so you understand --

MORAN: Said it in court. Said it in court --

TRUMP: -- the person that you're talkin' about, you know, you're makin' this person sound -- this is a MS-13 gang member, a tough cookie, been in lots of skirmishes, beat the hell out of his wife, and the wife was petrified to even talk about him, okay? This is not an innocent, wonderful gentleman from Maryland --

MORAN: I'm not saying he's a good guy. It's about the rule of law. The order from the Supreme Court stands, sir --

TRUMP: He came into our country illegally.

MORAN: You could get him back. There's a phone on this desk.

TRUMP: I could.

MORAN: You could pick it up, and with all --

TRUMP: I could

MORAN: -- the power of the presidency, you could call up the president of El Salvador and say, "Send him back," right now.

TRUMP: And if he were the gentleman that you say he is, I would do that.

MORAN: But the court has ordered you --

TRUMP: But he's not.

MORAN: -- to facilitate that -- his release--

TRUMP: I'm not the one making this decision. We have lawyers that don't want --

MORAN: You're the president.

TRUMP: -- to do this, Terry --

MORAN: Yeah, but the -- but the buck stops in this office --

TRUMP: I -- no, no, no, no. I follow the law. You want me to follow the law. If I were the president that just wanted to do anything, I'd probably keep him right where he is --

MORAN: The Supreme Court says what the law is.

TRUMP: Listen. I was elected to take care of a problem that was -- it was -- a, a unforced error that was made by a very incompetent man, a man that turned out to be incompetent that you always said was wonderful, a great genius, right? And now you find out -- all of the media, now they're saying what a mistake they made. A man who was grossly incompetent allowed us to have open borders where millions of people flowed in --

MORAN: Alright.

TRUMP: I campaigned on that issue. I wouldn't say it was my number one issue, but it was pretty close.

MORAN: Right up there.

TRUMP: I campaigned on that issue. I've done an amazing job. I have closed borders. He said you couldn't do it, you wouldn't be able to do it, it would never happen. Well, it happened. And it happened --

MORAN: Alright.

TRUMP: -- very quickly. Wait a minute. When we have criminals, murderers, criminals in this country, we have to get 'em out. And we're doing it.

MORAN: By law --

TRUMP: And you'll pick out one man, but even the man that you picked out --

MORAN: He's got --

TRUMP: -- he said he'd -- wasn't a member of a gang. And then they looked, and --

MORAN: Alright.

TRUMP: On his knuckles -- he had MS-13 --

MORAN: Alright. There's dis -- there's a dispute over that --

TRUMP: Well, wait a minute. Wait a minute. He had MS-13 --

MORAN: Well --

TRUMP: -- on his knuckles tattooed.

MORAN: -- he -- he -- he -- it didn't say-- oh, he had some tattoos that are inper -- interpreted that way. But let's move on

TRUMP: Wait a minute.

MORAN: I want --

TRUMP: Hey, Terry. Terry. Terry.

MORAN: He -- he did not have the letter --

TRUMP: Don't do that -- M-S-1-3 -- It says M-S-one-three.

MORAN: I -- that was Photoshop. So let me just--

TRUMP: That was Photoshop? Terry, you can't do that -- he had --

-- he-- hey, they're givin' you the big break of a lifetime. You know, you're doin' the interview. I picked you because -- frankly I never heard of you, but that's okay --

MORAN: This -- I knew this would come --

TRUMP: But I picked you -- Terry -- but you're not being very nice. He had MS-13 tattooed --

MORAN: Alright. Alright. We'll agree to disagree. I want to move on --

TRUMP: Terry.

MORAN: -- to something else.

TRUMP: Terry. Do you want me to show the picture?

MORAN: I saw the picture. We'll -- we'll -- we'll agree to disagree --

TRUMP: Oh, and you think it was Photoshop. Well --

MORAN: Here we go. Here we go.

TRUMP: -- don't Photoshop it. Go look --

MORAN: Alright.

TRUMP: -- at his hand. He had MS-13 --

MORAN: Fair enough, he did have tattoos that can be interpreted that way. I'm not an expert on them.

I want to turn to Ukraine, sir --

TRUMP: No, no. Terry --

MORAN: I-- I want to get to Ukraine--

TRUMP: Terry, no, no. No, no. He had MS as clear as you can be. Not "interpreted." This is why people --

MORAN: Alright.

TRUMP: -- no longer believe --

MORAN: Well.

TRUMP: -- the news, because it's fake news --

MORAN: When he was photographed in El Sal -- in-- in El Salvador, they aren't there. But let's just go on --

TRUMP: He is --

MORAN: They aren't there when he's in El Salvador.

TRUMP: --there -- oh, oh, they weren't there --

MORAN: Take a look at the photograph --

TRUMP: But they're there now, right?

MORAN: No. What --

TRUMP: But they're there now?

MORAN: They're in your picture.

TRUMP: Terry.

MORAN: Ukraine, sir.

TRUMP: He's got MS-13 on his knuckles.

MORAN: Alright. I --

TRUMP: Okay?

MORAN: -- we'll -- we'll take a look at it --

TRUMP: It's -- it's -- you do such a disservice --

MORAN: We'll take a look. We'll take a look at that, sir --

TRUMP: Why don't you just say, "Yes, he does," and, you know, go on to something else --

Photoshop. That exchange will live in infamy and will haunt Moran for a very long time.

Moran tries to shift to Ukraine, but finds himself on the back foot over KAG, tattoos again. 

TRUMP: So, Putin went in. I think Putin wanted all of Ukraine.

MORAN: Right.

TRUMP: I think if I didn't win the election, he would have gotten all of Ukraine. I think he would have taken all of Ukraine.

MORAN: From --

TRUMP: I think his first choice -- never with me. He would have never gone in. With this group of losers, he went in. He saw what happened in Afghanistan. He said, "Wow, this is my chance," because it was always the apple of his eye. I talked to him. Ukraine was the apple of his eye. I think he wanted the whole country.

MORAN: You've said for months that --

TRUMP: And because of me, I do believe that --

MORAN: Yeah. Yeah.

TRUMP: -- he's willing to stop the fighting. Don't forget --

MORAN: You think he wants peace?

DONALD TRUMP: -- this is --

MORAN: You think Vladimir Putin wants peace?

TRUMP: I think he does, yes. I think he does--

MORAN: Still?

TRUMP: I think because of me --

MORAN: Even with the raining missiles on --

TRUMP: I think he really -- his -- his -- his dream was to take over the whole country. I think because of me, he's not gonna do that.

MORAN: Do you trust him?

TRUMP: I think --

MORAN: Do you trust him?

TRUMP: I don't trust you. I don't trust -- I don't trust a lot of people. I don't trust you. Look at you. You come in all shootin' for bear. You're so happy to do the interview.

MORAN: I am happy --

TRUMP: And then you start hitting me with fake questions. You start tellin' me that a guy -- whose hand is covered with a tattoo --

MORAN: Alright. We're back to that.

DONALD TRUMP: -- doesn't have the tattoo, you know.

MORAN: Alright.

DONALD TRUMP: I mean, you're being dishonest.

MORAN: No, I'm not --

DONALD TRUMP: Let -- let-- let me just tell you --

MORAN: No, I am not, sir.

TRUMP: Do I trust -- I don't trust a lot of people. But I do think this. I think that he -- let's say he respects me. And I believe because of me he's not gonna take over the whole -- but his decision, his choice would be to take over all of Ukraine.

Moran then tried shifting to personnel: getting shut down on questions about Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Elon Musk and DOGE, and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. After an exchange on Trump’s de-weaponization of government, Moran asks about the Canadian election, and whether Trump is an authoritarian, getting wrecked one last time:

MORAN: Okay. I understand you just had a phone call with the new Canadian premier. And they just had this election. You were a big issue in it. And Canadians, many of them, are really angry, furious, about your talk about, "We're gonna take over Canada. It's gonna become the 51st state--"

TRUMP: That’s their prerogative.

MORAN: And it kind of is of a piece -- a lotta -- travel is down into the United States from around the world.

TRUMP: We're doing great --

MORAN: Feels like there's been reputational damage --

TRUMP: The country's doing great.

MORAN: Well --

TRUMP: Prices are down.

MORAN: Not the tourism industry --

TRUMP: Gasoline's down. Energy's down. Tourism is gonna be way up. Wait till you see the numbers. The tourism is way up.

MORAN: Not now.

TRUMP: Now, Canada -- oh, sure -- tourism's doing very well. We're doing very well. We're doing very well. Wait till you see the real numbers come out in about -- in six months from now wait till you see the numbers.

MORAN: But do you think --

TRUMP: They're gonna be very good --

MORAN: I'm gonna ask -- if I may, do you think the reputation of the United States has gone down under your presidency?

TRUMP: I -- no, I think it's gone way up, and I think we're a respected country again. We were laughed at all over the world. We had -- a president that couldn't walk up a flight of stairs, couldn't walk down a flight of stairs, couldn't walk across a stage without falling. We had a president that was grossly incompetent. You knew it, I knew it, and everybody knew it. But you guys didn't want to write it because you're fake news.

MORAN: Alright. Thank you --

TRUMP: And, by the way, ABC is one of the worst. I have to be honest with you --

MORAN: Okay. Thank you for the opinion. But more importantly, thank you for having us here. I have one more question.

It's a big one. It's a question that you know a lot of people have out there. What do you say to people who are concerned you are taking, seizing too much power and becoming an authoritarian president like we haven't had before?

TRUMP: No, I -- I would hate them to think that. I'm doing one thing: I'm makin' America great again. We have a country that was failing. We have a country that was laughed at all over the world. We had a leader that was grossly incompetent. He should have never been there.

The election was rigged. He shoulda never been there. Our country suffered greatly, and now our country's coming back like nobody can believe. I have editorials just today where they're saying they've never seen anything like it. They love it. Our country's coming back, and we're respected again.

MORAN: Mr. President, thank you.

TRUMP: Thank you, Terry, very much.

The interview ended with a whimper, and without so much as a post-panel on ABC. I wondered why ABC World News Tonight promoted the Hegseth exchange, and now we have our answer. Moran struggled to find a moment, and looked terrible. The Hegseth exchange was the closest thing to a highlight. And our commenter now knows why Trump enjoys sitting down with the fake news media.

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