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‘Keep America Great’: Trump says he has already locked down his 2020 slogan

Trump's already got his eyes on 2020. (Photo illustration by Yahoo News; photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
Trump’s already got his eyes on 2020. (Photo illustration by Yahoo News; photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

President-elect Donald Trump has yet to take the oath of office in Washington, D.C., where he has promised to “Make America Great Again.” But he’s apparently already found a slogan for his 2020 reelection campaign: “Keep America Great!”

Trump revealed the tagline in an interview, published Wednesday with the Washington Post during which he called his lawyer into the room and requested that two versions be trademarked.

“Will you trademark and register, if you would, if you like it — I think I like it, right? Do this: ‘Keep America Great,’ with an exclamation point. With and without an exclamation. ‘Keep America Great,’” Trump said.

“Got it,” the lawyer replied.

Trump told the Post that he didn’t intend to reveal the presumptuous plan in the interview.

“But I am so confident that we are going to be [great again], it is going to be so amazing. It’s the only reason I give it to you,” Trump said. “If I was, like, ambiguous about it, if I wasn’t sure about what is going to happen — the country is going to be great.”

Trump signs a hat for a supporter after speaking at a campaign rally in Albany, N.Y., on April 11, 2016. (Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/Getty Images)
Trump signs a hat for a supporter after speaking at a campaign rally in Albany, N.Y., on April 11, 2016. (Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/Getty Images)

Landing on a campaign slogan years in advance isn’t unusual for politicians, especially one as unusual as Trump.

But as the Post notes, Trump filed the paperwork for “Make America Great Again” in 2012 shortly after Mitt Romney lost his bid to unseat President Barack Obama. And Trump has more than just an eye on 2020. According to Politico, Trump intends to keep his campaign office in Trump Tower open during his first term to work on his reelection.

The conversation with the Post was one of at least four new interviews Trump granted over the last several days.

In an interview with the New York Post, Trump said he doesn’t believe he’ll be tested by a foreign adversary soon after taking office.

“I don’t think we’re going to be tested,” he said. “I’m not a game player. They understand me.”

Trump also said he has yet to consider whether he’ll push for the Justice Department to reopen its investigation of his former rival, Hillary Clinton. Since the election, Trump has repeatedly suggested he would back off of that campaign promise.

“We have not gotten into that yet,” he said “calmly,” according to the paper. (The Post’s headline: “Don’t believe the tweets — Trump is one cool customer.”)

In an interview with “Fox & Friends,” Trump claimed he’d rather not be on Twitter but he has no choice.

“Look, I don’t like tweeting. I have other things I could be doing,” Trump said. “But I get very dishonest media, very dishonest press, and it’s my only way that I can get out and correct.”

“When people misrepresent me … I have at least a way of saying it’s a false statement,” Trump continued. “Now, if the press were honest, which it’s not, I would absolutely not use Twitter. I wouldn’t have to.”

And in a wide-ranging interview with Axios, a new publication led by former Politico reporter Mike Allen, Trump tried to clarify comments he made in several other interviews this week, including that he would “start off trusting both” German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Russian President Vladimir Putin equally.

“All I said was that I give everybody an even start; that’s all I said,” Trump said. “So, I give everybody an even start; that right now, as far as I’m concerned, everybody’s got an even start. … I think people start off on a somewhat equal footing.”

Trump also defended his recent assertion that he wants “insurance for everybody” with his Obamacare repeal plan. The claim raised eyebrows because such a policy is sure to be expensive, and it cuts against Republican health care orthodoxy.

“There are many people talking about many forms of health care where people with no money aren’t covered,” Trump said. ” We can’t have that. Now, whether it’s Medicaid block grants or whatever it may be, we have to make sure that people are taken care of, and it’s going to be a very important part to me.”

Trump was also asked about something he’s often accused of: lying.

“I don’t like to lie, no. I don’t like to lie, no,” he said. “It’s not something that I would like to be doing.”

But is it ever OK to lie?

“I don’t want to answer the question,” Trump said. “Because it’s, it gets to, you know, a different level than what we’re talking about for this interview.”

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