NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
    • Cooking the Books
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / World

Steve Braunias: The Secret Diary of ... Donald Trump

Steve Braunias
By Steve Braunias
Senior Writer·NZ Herald·
6 Nov, 2020 04:00 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

    Reminder, this is a Premium article and requires a subscription to read.

President Donald Trump speaks at the White House. Photo / AP

President Donald Trump speaks at the White House. Photo / AP

Steve Braunias
Opinion by Steve Braunias
Steve Braunias writes for the Listener and Newsroom.
Learn more

OPINION:

MONDAY

Washington has never looked so beautiful. The fake news media want to try and say bad things about business owners boarding up their premises with plywood in anticipation of election rioting but plywood, as you know, is an engineered wood from the manufactured boards family, which also includes particle board. It's made from thin plies of veneer glued together in alternating right angles to create a cross-grain pattern. And so when we look at Washington, what we're looking at is the beauty and resilience of American plywood.
It will withstand the left-wing militia. It will withstand anarchy and chaos. By the way, the leading American manufacturer of plywood, Boise Cascade, recorded sales of $1.6 billion for the third quarter ended September 30, 2020, compared with sales of $1.3 billion this time last year. Another success story that the fake news media don't want you to know about.

You know, we had the virus from China, but we found a way to live with it, and all you have to do is look around at all the plywood. It might not be bad idea to paint the stars and stripes on a length of plywood and fly it from a flagpole but maybe it would warp in the sun, I don't know. But we have made American plywood great again.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

TUESDAY

Once this is all over, and we win by a landslide, which we will, just wait and see, then I think it would be a very good idea if we collected all that plywood in Washington and took it down to the Mexico border and found a way of using it to reinforce the steel and concrete wall.

By the way, we have built 15 miles of the wall in the last four years, as well as 350 miles of replacement wall, with 221 miles under construction and 157 miles in pre-construction. We said, "Build a wall!" And that's what we did and that's what we're doing. But you don't read about that. You only read about the things I say, not the things I've done.

Workers board up a Zara store in preparation for the US election results protests.  Photo / AP
Workers board up a Zara store in preparation for the US election results protests. Photo / AP

WEDNESDAY

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

I want to thank the millions and millions of American people who voted for us tonight but a very sad group of even more millions and millions of American people are ruining it for everybody except themselves.

We won Florida. We won Texas. We won Georgia. We won Arizona and Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. California, we won California, too. We won the Super Bowl and the Oscar and the Grammy and the meat raffle down at the pub but the way things are going we're not going to have a sausage, and it's due to the actions of millions and millions of people who I understand are not Americans.

Discover more

New Zealand|politics

Steve Braunias: Secret diary special edition - inside Judith Collins' MP meetings

28 Oct 09:46 PM
Opinion

Steve Braunias: The secret diary of the Collins Gang

23 Oct 04:00 PM
Opinion

Steve Braunias: The secret diary of that other election

16 Oct 04:00 PM
Opinion

Steve Braunias: The secret diary of the leaders' debates

09 Oct 04:00 PM

THURSDAY

I WON THE ELECTION AND YOU CAN MEASURE THE STRENGTH OF MY CONVICTION AND LEVEL OF SANITY IN THESE CAPITAL LETTERS.

FRIDAY

I won. Okay? I'm not moving. I'm not leaving. I'm boarding up the White House. The doors, the windows. Seal it in. Put up the barricades. You think I won't? It's not what I say, it's what I do. Let's make American plywood great again, again.

Save

    Share this article

    Reminder, this is a Premium article and requires a subscription to read.

Latest from World

World

RFK Jr proposes barring govt-funded research from top medical journals

29 May 07:51 PM
World

Herald NOW's political panel talk truancy, trade and the price of butter

World

Herald NOW: Trump's tariffs could head to Supreme Court after second decision declares them unlawful

Gold demand soars amid global turmoil

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from World

RFK Jr proposes barring govt-funded research from top medical journals

RFK Jr proposes barring govt-funded research from top medical journals

29 May 07:51 PM

The US Secretary of Health says the Lancet is under control of pharmaceutical companies.

Herald NOW's political panel talk truancy, trade and the price of butter

Herald NOW's political panel talk truancy, trade and the price of butter

Herald NOW: Trump's tariffs could head to Supreme Court after second decision declares them unlawful

Herald NOW: Trump's tariffs could head to Supreme Court after second decision declares them unlawful

Court blocks Trump's tariffs, White House vows to appeal

Court blocks Trump's tariffs, White House vows to appeal

29 May 06:34 PM
Explore the hidden gems of NSW
sponsored

Explore the hidden gems of NSW

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • What the Actual
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven CarGuide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP