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Interview: Steve In His Own Words on his Meeting with Trump · The Steve Harvey Morning Show

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  Speaker 1: All right, here we are on this very special Martin
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  Speaker 1: Luther King Day Show as we honor the great man
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  Speaker 1: that was Dr Martin Luther King. We say this is
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  Speaker 1: a day of service. Um. You know, a lot of
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  Speaker 1: people are doing uh community type things today, working in
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  Speaker 1: the community. There will be a lot of parades in
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  Speaker 1: the community to honor Dr Martin Luther King. Uh. We
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  Speaker 1: here on the Steve Harvey Morning Show are also doing
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  Speaker 1: something very special. As you may know, as you may
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  Speaker 1: have heard, our very own leader or Captain Steve Harvey,
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  Speaker 1: had a meeting with President elect Donald Trump on last Friday,
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  Speaker 1: and Steve is here too. Uh. Well, actually you called
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  Speaker 1: in Steve to tell us about that meeting. You've had
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  Speaker 1: an interesting last couple of days, to say the least,
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  Speaker 1: un Steve, it's been. It's been a little bit more
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  Speaker 1: than interesting. Uh. What I'm gonna do, Shirley, Because I've
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  Speaker 1: been getting so many requests for interviews, But since I
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  Speaker 1: at my own platform that reaches so many I decided
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  Speaker 1: to make my statement here on my morning show, which
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  Speaker 1: has been so relevant for so many years as to
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  Speaker 1: getting out messaging. So I'm gonna make my statement on
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  Speaker 1: it and it will be my final statement, and it's
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  Speaker 1: directed and aimed at the majority of my listening audience
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  Speaker 1: and people everywhere. So, uh, I'm gonna make my statement
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  Speaker 1: concerning my meeting with President like Donald Trump. Um. First,
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  Speaker 1: i want to say thank you to all the people
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  Speaker 1: who have reached out and shown me so much love
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  Speaker 1: and support. But I'm also very aware of the anger
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  Speaker 1: that so many people feel, and these voices will continue
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  Speaker 1: to be heard as they should. But I have an
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  Speaker 1: obligation to take a seat at the table when invited.
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  Speaker 1: You know, change can only happen when we sit at
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  Speaker 1: the table. If we sit at the table, then we
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  Speaker 1: can have a say soul onto what's to be eaten
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  Speaker 1: on the menu. If you're not at the table, you
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  Speaker 1: can't even refuse the menu or suggest what we should
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  Speaker 1: be eating. And so therefore, it was very important for
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  Speaker 1: me to take the meeting. Okay, all right now, Steve,
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  Speaker 1: let's get into it. How did this meeting come about
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  Speaker 1: in the first place. Well, several conversations were had prior
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  Speaker 1: to the meeting, but I didn't know if it was
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  Speaker 1: really real or not until I received an email through
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  Speaker 1: my TV show And uh it was an email through
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  Speaker 1: uh some people from the Trump side, and and it
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  Speaker 1: gave me an opportunity to meet the president. Let Donald
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  Speaker 1: Trump and President Trump did not request this meeting personally,
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  Speaker 1: as I understood it, but it was set up by
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  Speaker 1: members of his team. And I didn't even know if
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  Speaker 1: it would happen until I got an email from an
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  Speaker 1: assistant who gave me a time and a day, and
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  Speaker 1: and sure, I want to be clear here. Mr Trump
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  Speaker 1: didn't ask me for any advice or help. And people
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  Speaker 1: should know that. I'm assuming that the transition team thought
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  Speaker 1: this would be a great meeting between the two of us.
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  Speaker 1: And and where we met, Uh, it was a very
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  Speaker 1: cordial meeting. He was he was very warm, uh friendly
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  Speaker 1: and I'm a sleep When we talked, he was very sincere.
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  Speaker 1: You know. We talked about golf, we talked about favorite
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  Speaker 1: golf courses, we talked about the election, and it started
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  Speaker 1: as just a meet and greet. I'm not ignorant here,
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  Speaker 1: I'm pretty sure and his team is pretty smart. They
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  Speaker 1: know who's in that room. Uh clearly, Uh, they know
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  Speaker 1: what side I was on. Now, Steve, let me stop
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  Speaker 1: you right there and just ask you. I'm sure you
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  Speaker 1: had to be conflicted to some degree about the phone
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  Speaker 1: call about actually meeting with him. What was the determining factor,
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  Speaker 1: What were you trying to do? What was your goal
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  Speaker 1: in meeting with him? I know you mentioned something in
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  Speaker 1: your opening statement about a seat at the table. Why
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  Speaker 1: did you decide that it was important for you to
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  Speaker 1: meet with him? Well, I thought it was important because
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  Speaker 1: the only way we can heal the divide in this
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  Speaker 1: country is through conversation. I don't think that we will
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  Speaker 1: ever unify this country or begin a healing process until
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  Speaker 1: we talked to one another. When I listened to President
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  Speaker 1: Obama's final speech in Chicago, one of the things he
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  Speaker 1: said to stuck out of my head where he was
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  Speaker 1: asking people to get from behind the computers and get
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  Speaker 1: out and get involved. Well, I don't text and tweet,
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  Speaker 1: and I don't blog, but I have a microphone, so
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  Speaker 1: I form my standpoint being a person that I am
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  Speaker 1: and the person that God has made me to be.
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  Speaker 1: I took that and said, okay, well, let me step
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  Speaker 1: from behind the microphone and take a seat at the table.
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  Speaker 1: When invited to discuss I didn't know what it would
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  Speaker 1: be about exactly, but to my surprise, it turned out really,
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  Speaker 1: really interesting because after the beating Greek section of the conversation.
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  Speaker 1: To his credit, he asked me what did I want?
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  Speaker 1: So you're saying Donald Trump, president elect, asked you what
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  Speaker 1: did you want? Yeah, because I'm assuming that people who
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  Speaker 1: have been meeting when he wanted certain things, and so
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  Speaker 1: we after we exchanged all the pleasantries and everything, he
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  Speaker 1: asked me, well, Steve, what do you want? And that's
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  Speaker 1: when I took the opportunity to say that I wanted
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  Speaker 1: to help aid in any way I could to help
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  Speaker 1: improve the housing conditions in the inner cities. I was
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  Speaker 1: aware that he had appointed uh doctor being cautious the
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  Speaker 1: head of Housing and Urban Development or heard and if
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  Speaker 1: I could be of assistant in helping him move that
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  Speaker 1: initiative along, that I would be of service in that regard.
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  Speaker 1: And I felt that I could get the voice of
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  Speaker 1: the people in those communities and was my reaching these
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  Speaker 1: communities could possibly get some positive things done. Now here's
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  Speaker 1: what was amazing to me, and I have to tell
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  Speaker 1: you what he did while we were talking. He said
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  Speaker 1: that sounds great. He immediately got Dr Being Carson on
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  Speaker 1: the phone and he said, Steve, who wants to help
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  Speaker 1: with any heart initiatives? And that through because I'm sending
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  Speaker 1: a picing. I've never seen anybody jump into action so
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  Speaker 1: quickly at a at a request. You know, I'm not
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  Speaker 1: a politician, so quite naturally, I'm thinking it's a turn
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  Speaker 1: of red tape. You gotta go there. This man on
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  Speaker 1: the phone immediately and Dr being Carson and I talked
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  Speaker 1: for the first time. He talked for several minutes over
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  Speaker 1: the speaker. He's very receptive to me and aiding him
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  Speaker 1: in that area. And that was the beginning of it.
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  Speaker 1: But I tell you what the part was that I
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  Speaker 1: also had a chance to say. Was I said to
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  Speaker 1: the President elect, And we had some facilities provided in
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  Speaker 1: these inner cities, in the cities that could provide a
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  Speaker 1: place where young boys and girls could come for hope
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  Speaker 1: and vision with some type of training component to it
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  Speaker 1: to help curve I knew it wouldn't alleviate, but it
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  Speaker 1: would help curve some of the problems that's plagued in
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  Speaker 1: our inner cities. And I don't have all the answers,
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  Speaker 1: but I do know that mentoring and guidance has changed
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  Speaker 1: for the young people's lives. So Dr Carston and I
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  Speaker 1: talked briefly about Chicago as a place we talked about
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  Speaker 1: his hometown of Detroit. I mentioned that I was from Cleveland,
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  Speaker 1: and they were very receptive because they want to do
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  Speaker 1: something with these inner cities. And I didn't expect him
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  Speaker 1: to respond so quickly, but he did. And Sharon, I'm
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  Speaker 1: gonna tell you, when I walked away feeling that there
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  Speaker 1: might be a real chance for some positives to come
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  Speaker 1: out of what so many things is all doom and gloom. Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: and that's an opportunity you could not have missed. Now,
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  Speaker 1: let me ask you this, Steve, were you surprised? I
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  Speaker 1: know you mentioned at the top that there was there
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  Speaker 1: was a lot of love that you got, But were
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  Speaker 1: you surprised at the backlash from the very people you
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  Speaker 1: felt you were representing and trying to help with having
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  Speaker 1: a meeting with the president elect? On a personal note,
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  Speaker 1: a lot of y'all hurt me, You really did. I
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  Speaker 1: didn't expect the black the backlash to be sulficious, and
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  Speaker 1: you know, but also understand that if I'm gonna keep
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  Speaker 1: getting stabbed at now, I'm still Steve Harvey. So please understand.
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  Speaker 1: If I'm gonna keep getting stabbed at, then at least
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  Speaker 1: who are you stabbing me? Should understand my intent for
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  Speaker 1: even taking the meeting in the first place. See when
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  Speaker 1: I'm in there and in this, in this table, I'm
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  Speaker 1: sitting in these meetings with people who make policy decisions
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  Speaker 1: and decide what the media is. When I'm sitting at
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  Speaker 1: the table, it gives me an opportunity to say what
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  Speaker 1: we would like to have on the fire and so
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  Speaker 1: as far as hood going and better housing and conditions
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  Speaker 1: in the inner cities, See, Steve Harvey ain't got a
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  Speaker 1: dollar invested in rental property. I don't have any money
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  Speaker 1: being made in the housing industry. I've never had uh
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  Speaker 1: a renovated apartment or house or anything so in It
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  Speaker 1: ain't about me and my personal games. It's only that
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  Speaker 1: I care about the inner cities. I'm from the hood.
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  Speaker 1: I've been trying to do my part for years for
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  Speaker 1: boys and girls. Look, man, I don't want to have
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  Speaker 1: to sit here and y'all y'all know who I am,
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  Speaker 1: but don't going to Hey man, this Steve Harvey Hire.
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  Speaker 1: I've been putting in the work for years. These are
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  Speaker 1: not my children. I care about Charles kids. I care
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  Speaker 1: about these inner cities because that's where I'm from. I
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  Speaker 1: love kids. That's not mine. And so when I got
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  Speaker 1: the chance, surely I don't need housing. I got the house.
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  Speaker 1: You know, I got seven kids to mentor. My kids
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  Speaker 1: ain't in trouble. Oh, they made bad decisions because they're
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  Speaker 1: growing up. They're trying to get it, because they've got
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  Speaker 1: it and made some bad decisive But you know, I
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  Speaker 1: just love children who need a chance. I've been fighting
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  Speaker 1: to help single mothers with their boys all this time.
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  Speaker 1: And if I can get an opportunity to say to
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  Speaker 1: the man that's about to become the forty first president
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  Speaker 1: of the United States, who wanted to talk to me,
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  Speaker 1: who was cordial to me, who talked to me with respect,
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  Speaker 1: and actually be something instantly, why would I not take
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  Speaker 1: the opportunity to say some of these things? And then
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  Speaker 1: he responded immediately I had to give a cutter for that.
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  Speaker 1: All right, Steve, you know we have to take a break,
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  Speaker 1: So hang on, we'll get back to this. You're listening
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  Speaker 1: to show. Alright, we're back with Steve Harvey, the captain
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  Speaker 1: of our ship. Steve, let's continue. Uh, A person in
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  Speaker 1: your position, you know, just like any other powerful man
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  Speaker 1: or woman that's in a powerful position such as yours
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  Speaker 1: or um you know that that has a voice for millions.
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  Speaker 1: They're going to have to make hard decisions, tough decisions.
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  Speaker 1: And I'm sure you anguished about the decision a little bit,
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  Speaker 1: but uh, you know before and after. But I mean,
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  Speaker 1: you know, you do. A person does what he has
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  Speaker 1: to do. And in this instance, like you said, you
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  Speaker 1: weren't in it for yourself. You were in it for
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  Speaker 1: the people that you are trying to help. And you know,
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  Speaker 1: from my perspective, all we can do is salute you
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  Speaker 1: for that because you didn't make the call. They called
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  Speaker 1: you and they asked you, what can we what do
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  Speaker 1: you want? What do you you know what? Surely that's
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  Speaker 1: that's true. You know. Um. But I'm gonna be clear,
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  Speaker 1: and and everybody hearing me clear, I'm gonna continue this
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  Speaker 1: fight at this new level that God has placed me
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  Speaker 1: in it. See I've often said, and this is true,
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  Speaker 1: that your career is what you paid for. But you're
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  Speaker 1: calling is what you made for. See. I didn't ask
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  Speaker 1: for this. It's landed in my lap. So you know,
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  Speaker 1: there's a poet when I pledged, and a lot of
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  Speaker 1: people who pledged will understand. There's a line in Invictus
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  Speaker 1: that helps me so many times. Nothing helps me more
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  Speaker 1: than my heavenly father. But there's a line in the
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  Speaker 1: poem and invictors to said, my head is bloody, but unvowed. See,
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  Speaker 1: I still love my people, even the ones that don't understand.
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  Speaker 1: I'm gonna keep on fighting for you until more of
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  Speaker 1: us do understand that all the fights ain't in the streets.
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  Speaker 1: Some of these fights is in the boardroom. Some of
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  Speaker 1: these fights is in the vote. And that's what our
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  Speaker 1: president has said. It's in the vote. It's in the boardrooms.
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  Speaker 1: And when you consider these tables, we can't be mad forever. Okay,
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  Speaker 1: So what am I gonna say now, Shirley on behalf
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  Speaker 1: of people that I respect in love across this country. No,
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  Speaker 1: we don't want better housing. No we don't want no facilities.
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  Speaker 1: No we don't want none of that because we're mad
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  Speaker 1: at who president. Well, he is the forty fifth president
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  Speaker 1: on the twentieth. Now, we ain't got to like that,
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  Speaker 1: but that's what it is. But if this man was
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  Speaker 1: willing to talk and hear anything and then reacts so swiftly,
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  Speaker 1: I just have to get him to credit to that.
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  Speaker 1: I will. If they ever asked me to talk again,
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  Speaker 1: I have to do it again. I wish everybody understood,
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  Speaker 1: I really do, but I get it. You don't. You
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  Speaker 1: have to stay in the game. You have to continue
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  Speaker 1: to look at the big picture because that's who you are.
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  Speaker 1: And you know, I wish I could talk to you
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  Speaker 1: forever for this, but you know we have to go.
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  Speaker 1: You know I'm always on you about going to commercials
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  Speaker 1: and all of that. But um, your takeaway as we
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  Speaker 1: close this, this will be your final question, your takeaway
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  Speaker 1: and your thoughts in the future. Well, my takeaway is simple,
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  Speaker 1: what God is leaving me in my life. I've often
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  Speaker 1: not cared about the route that You've chosen to send
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  Speaker 1: me on. I ain't been crazy about some of the
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  Speaker 1: trips out of the hand to take to get to
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  Speaker 1: the destination. I wasn't happy with miss universe. I didn't
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  Speaker 1: like that, but I did ask God to increase my
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  Speaker 1: global presence and persona to say things that would help others.
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  Speaker 1: Now Here I am, and so this is where I'll stay.
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  Speaker 1: I thank everybody surely. I love you. I love the people,
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  Speaker 1: I love my listeners, I love the people I represent.
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  Speaker 1: I love people around the country who supported me. I
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  Speaker 1: love people around this world who sometimes don't get it,
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  Speaker 1: but it's okay. But it's okay. I'm gonna keep fighting
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  Speaker 1: and fighting. I love y'all, Thank you very much. All right,
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  Speaker 1: you're welcome, and hey, listen, happy birthday tomorrow. We'll say
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  Speaker 1: it again, but happy birthday. Enjoy yourself. Tomorrow we're gonna
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  Speaker 1: get back to the Reggord ship. I ain't gonna mission.
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  Speaker 1: There's no moment tomorrow. I'm hoping enough to do and
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  Speaker 1: start bowing sick. All right, Steve, love you too. You're listening.