A recently resurfaced interview from 1995 offers a powerful reminder that President Donald J. Trump’s political instincts, worldview, and straight-shooting style have been consistent for decades — and that the elites hated him long before he ever stepped foot in the Oval Office.

The interview, conducted by the late Roger Ailes during his tenure as President of CNBC, shows a pre-presidency Trump already in full command of the populist message that would later reshape American politics. Ailes, who would go on to found and lead Fox News, introduced Trump as “one of the most famous men in the country,” noting that average, working-class New Yorkers “felt comfortable with him — like he was one of them.”

Trump’s response? Classic Trump: “The people that don’t like me are the rich people,” he said bluntly. “I have enemies, jerks. They hurt people… and then they call up, ‘can you help me get a reservation at a restaurant?’” He added with characteristic flair, “The rich people do not like Donald Trump … I sort of love it.”

Even three decades ago, Trump understood what many in Washington still don’t — the deep cultural and political divide between the coastal elites and everyday Americans.

During the interview, Trump’s disdain for dishonest media was already crystal clear — a theme that has become central to his 2025 rallies and presidential agenda.

“Some of the most dishonest people I’ve ever met are in the press,” he told Ailes. “When you see the public hates the press so much — the public understands.” His critique wasn’t vague. He accused reporters of deliberately distorting facts: “They know exactly what they should be writing, and they write exactly the opposite for the sake of the story.”

It’s hard to argue Trump wasn’t ahead of his time. The American people’s current mistrust in corporate media is sky-high — and here he was, sounding the alarm long before “fake news” became part of the national lexicon.

Perhaps most strikingly, Trump laid out his "America First" trade vision years before taking on China and globalist trade deals as president. Recalling a failed negotiation with Japan, he slammed U.S. officials for folding under pressure.

“This last auto deal as an example. Here we are, we’re sitting there. It’s restricted in Japan… and all of a sudden, this country folds. We do the old foldup. I’ve never seen anything like it,” he said. “People realized we got duped. They’re afraid, politically, to make a little bit of a tough stand.”

It’s the same weakness President Trump still rails against — politicians who bend the knee to foreign interests instead of standing up for American workers.

Even in 1995, Trump knew what entering politics would mean. “I’d take a much more difficult stand,” he said. “Make a couple of enemies. I think I’d make a lot of friends, ultimately. But I’m not sure that type of person is really electable.”

Of course, history proved him wrong — in the best way possible.

In a political era filled with shape-shifters and poll-tested scripts, the Trump of 1995 sounds almost indistinguishable from the Trump of today — the same bold voice that challenged the establishment, dismantled globalist trade policies, exposed media corruption, and restored patriotic pride in American leadership.

And while legacy media and left-wing power brokers continue to loathe him, it’s clear: he’s always been on the side of the American people.