I assumed he was too busy tweeting about how SNL hurt his wittle feewings to actually talk about policy in interviews these days. Going to have to track that down haha.
Trump just threatened to dismantle the European-American alliance as we know it
It'll be an interesting four (eight? shudder) years.
I thought this comment on reddit was pretty insightful.
I think the second part of your question is the easiest to answer first. In his mind, his mind, is indeed the country. This self regard for his opinion is only likely to be heightened now that he's been mandated by the American people. In other words he's speaking for his country, because he can - to late to do anything now.
The first part is more complicated, and I took a few downvotes for expanding on it last week, but this latest interview only serves to reinforce my view I was right.
Political commentators have been continually caught out by Trump because they're viewing everything through the limitations of their own training; political commentary. They haven't seen anything like Trump before, and don't know how to judge him.
Trump is a businessman. For this reason viewing him through the prism of a business commentator makes him much easier to read. His background is not one of partnership working and political collaboration. It's about establishing market superiority. It's entirely predictable that he sees the EU as a competitor, in much the same way as he would a rival hotel chain.
If he's thinking in these sorts of terms, then he has an interest in weakening the components that constitute his rival. He also has a temporary interest in giving the UK a decent deal. He suspects that this becomes a European wedge issue. He's predicting Brexit will be a success (and remember he doesn't like being wrong) because he knows he's in a position to help make it one (remember he's anglophile).
Now I don't know if Ted Malloch has been appointed yet? I don't think he has? But he's been giving some very revealing interviews in the UK during the last week.