On Tuesday morning, Donald Trump abruptly canceled a meeting with the New York Times—on Twitter, no less—before eventually changing his mind and putting the meeting back on his calendar just hours later. And when he finally got around to attending the meeting, Trump talked about the alt-right movement (which he weakly disavowed), climate change (which he now has an "open mind" about), the Electoral College (which he now supports), Hillary Clinton (whom he won't lock up), torture (which he apparently no longer agrees with), and, of course, the New York Times itself.
The president-elect started things off by telling the NYT executives, editors, and reporters who attended the meeting that he has "tremendous respect" for the newspaper, despite his past differences with the publication. He had said this on Twitter early Tuesday.
But he changed his tune when he was sitting in front of those who work at the NYT.
Trump also wrapped up the interview later by describing the NYT as "a great, great American jewel. A world jewel."
Once the actual interview started, Trump talked about the presidential race, which he described as "18 months of brutality in a true sense." He also talked about his opponent Hillary Clinton while discussing the toll the campaign trail took on both of the presidential candidates.
After that, Trump was asked about Clinton and a report that indicated he won't be pursuing legal charges against Clinton, in spite of the "Lock her up!" chants that were used at his rallies throughout his campaign. Trump said he doesn't want to "hurt the Clintons" and suggested that he wants to "get the focus of the country into looking forward."
Trump was then asked his thoughts on the Electoral College. Back in 2012, when President Obama was re-elected, Trump tweeted that the electoral college "is a disaster for a democracy."
After this election, however, Trump changed his mind and praised the electoral college as "genius." In the interview, Trump elaborated and added, "I was never a fan of the Electoral College until now."
Elsewhere, the issue of the "alt-right" came up. Last weekend, white nationalists quoted Nazi propaganda and raised the Nazi salute in support of Trump at conference in Washington, D.C. Trump told the NYT that he's "not looking to energize" alt-right groups.
Trump was also pressed on his decision to appoint Chief Strategist and Senior Counselor Steve Bannon, who's a hero among the bigots of the alt-right and defended his selection.
Of course, Trump seems to be oblivious to Bannon and his history. While running the misogynistic, Islamophobic, racist, homophobic, inflammatory right-wing website Breitbart, Bannon proudly described it as "the platform for the alt-right" as recently as this summer.
Trump has a weak record on climate change and has previously said that climate change is a hoax created by the Chinese.
But in his NYT interview, Trump said he now has an "open mind" to climate change issues.
And while elaborating on his climate change views, Trump argued that owning golf courses means he's "actually an environmentalist."
Towards the end of the interview, Trump also said he recently met with a general who convinced him—perhaps surprisingly—that torture doesn't actually work, which is a big change from Trump's previous rhetoric.
After a few more questions, Trump left:
You can read the full New York Times interview here.