President Trump sat down with Ross Douthat to discuss Republican losses in the midterm elections, the wars in Iran and Ukraine, the economy and more. Below is a transcript of their conversation.
ROSS DOUTHAT: Mr. President, thank you so much for doing this--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Thank you.
ROSS DOUTHAT: We're gonna start with the midterms. Two years ago, you won a big, some might say historic, victory. Just now, the Republican party in the midterms shu-- suffered a big, some might say, historic defeat. Give me your political analysis of what just happened.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, number one, I was not on the ballot. But I campaigned hard for some people. And-- I think if I was on the ballot, it would've been a much different situation because you saw the level of popularity and love. There was love. I mean, we had massive rallies.
Nobody's ever seen rallies like that for midterms. And-- there wasn't one room that didn't have thousands of people outside, couldn't get in. So-- you had to transfer those voters, however, to candidates that they didn't like. But there's something beyond that.
They didn't like the war. They didn't like the fact that gasoline went up, 'cause I had it down at a low. In Iowa, it was $1.85 cents a gallon. $1.85 a gallon. And-- when you look at $1.85 and you go up to $3.50, $4, h-- still lower than Biden, lower than Obama, but the war was blamed for that. And they didn't like the war I think mostly for that reason because I think everyone agrees that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. And they will never have a nuclear weapon.
They won't have that. But-- and there's-- a great dislike, incredibly, for Israel. There seems to be a dislike for Israel. So you have that. You have the war itself. You have the gas prices. And I think those are the primary reasons. And, you know, MAGA-- and-- always, I wanna keep out of wars.
I've settled eight wars. I settled eight wars. I mean, India-Pakistan would've been a nuclear war. I got it settled before it got going. They had 11 planes shot down. They were ready to go. The prime minister of Pakistan said, "Trump saved 30-50 million lives." I settled a lot of wars.
ROSS DOUTHAT: So let's-- let's--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Azerbaijan.
ROSS DOUTHAT: --let's go th-- let's go through those then one by one.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Go ahead.
ROSS DOUTHAT: Start-- start with the candidates, right? You said it was tough to transfer your own appeal to candidates --
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Yeah.
ROSS DOUTHAT: --But in a lot of cases, you picked the candidates. You picked-- you endorsed Ken Paxton--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, I--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --in Texas.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --I--
ROSS DOUTHAT: He had a tough time.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Sure.
ROSS DOUTHAT: You endorsed Darline Graham--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: But-- but Cornyn--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --in South Carolina.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --Cornyn would've lost also. Darline, I did that in-- honor of a man named Lindsey, who was a friend of mine. Good politician, good guy. A very good guy. And she fought hard. She fought hard. She really did. She--
ROSS DOUTHAT: Sh-- sh-- she l-- I-- but she lost a very Republican state.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Oh--
ROSS DOUTHAT: To a very liberal challenger--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --I won-- I won South Carolina by the highest vote in history by far. I won Texas by the highest vote in history by far. I won Florida who, by the way, I did endorse. And he's gonna be-- a great governor and a great senator. I endorsed both of them. And, had I not endorsed them, they wouldn't have won 'cause there was a wave.
You know, I also brought a lot of people to-- a lot closer to victory. If you look at Ohio-- he was-- Jon Husted-- was a good guy, but he was 15 down. He ended up losing by a point, maybe less than a point. It was-- he almost won. But-- I don't make excuses for that. I won Ohio by the most votes in history too.
ROSS DOUTHAT: But why--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: You're only talking--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --why couldn't it--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --about the--
ROSS DOUTHAT: I just-- why can't it transfer? You-- you were out on the trail, and you said--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: It didn't transfer--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --you said, "Vote like I'm on the ballot."
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Yeah. It didn't--
ROSS DOUTHAT: And people didn't? Or-- or did they? Did they vote because they were mad at you--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: No, they--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --about--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I think they didn't vote, really. I think they didn't vote. I think in some cases, they didn't like the candidates. And that's, you know, their prerogative. Look-- three times, they've not necessarily listened to me. The-- two other times-- I didn't go as much out as I did this time. I went all out. I did I think 30 rallies in, like, 28 days or something. And they were massive rallies. And they were very good. And they loved me. I mean, you saw the-- the p-- I-- it was, like, unbelievable. But--
ROSS DOUTHAT: There's--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --maybe they--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --I mean, there's no--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --disagreed.
ROSS DOUTHAT: --question that part of the country loves you. But--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I think--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --as you said--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --I think it's --
ROSS DOUTHAT: --there's another part of the country I think that, just by your own description, right, was unhappy with the war in Iran--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Yeah, that's--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --unhappy with the--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --that's--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --economy. Ta-- talk about the economy for a moment. You handed me the jobs numbers--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Right.
ROSS DOUTHAT: --that just came out, couple days after the election. They're very good job numbers. Low unemployment rate. That's been true throughout your second term. But in poll after poll, people say they're unhappy with this economy in a way they weren't in the first term. Cost of living, inflation, and so on. Is that all just the Iran war? Or are there other things that haven't been fixed?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, it's not really the Iran war because the numbers are phenomenal. The numbers that we have are historically good numbers. I think it was bad messaging, maybe by me, but I would talk about it all the time. So I don't know, how much can I talk about it? Look--
ROSS DOUTHAT: But--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --the-- the press--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --so are-- are people--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --doesn't cover it--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --are Americans-- are amer--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: The press doesn't cover-- positive news for Republicans. They don't cover, certainly, positive news for me. So I have to do it myself. I have to get it out there. One of the reasons I did rallies was to do that. But I would talk about how good –
We have historically good numbers. We have the highest stock market in history. Now, we lost yesterday, because of the election, $3 trillion. The market lost almost 2,000 points because of the Democrats. They got in. And the world said, "I don't want to invest with these people" because they look what happened in France, they look what happened in Italy and all over the world.
And they say, "This is the same ideology." But we have had-- let's go be-- the day before yesterday, right? Before-- where the election-- you know, and we're talkin' about now a day before the election. We picked up $25 trillion in worth, in the worth of our-- in value. Nobody's ever done that before.
ROSS DOUTHAT: But why don't Americans feel it, that--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: They don't--
ROSS DOUTHAT: Why-- why don't they-- 'cause they're--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Because I think--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --obviously, like, you and the press, you and the media, you and our business have been in tension throughout your career.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Correct.
ROSS DOUTHAT: But you still won elections, right?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Yeah.
ROSS DOUTHAT: So why couldn't you win this time--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I think it was bad messaging.
ROSS DOUTHAT: What was the bad message?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: We couldn't get the word across. Look, you've just seen job numbers that came out the day after the election, right? Too bad they didn't come out the day before the election, but they came out. And the numbers are way beyond anybody's expectations by h-- by over 125,000, 130,000. We had 165,000 jobs--
ROSS DOUTHAT: But shouldn't--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --created just--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --shouldn't Americans--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --in a short of time--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --notice this in-- like, they're-- when you look at polls, they're upset about their everyday--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I think--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --life--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --they're gonna notice it--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --right?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --in the next two, three, four months. Now, tariffs, let me just – So we have trillions of dollars right now being built in factories and everything else. That's why these numbers. The construction numbers, the job numbers, are through the roof.
If I-- you know, I-- I listen to these people. And I'm really good at money and finances. Probably, maybe my best thing, although I was very good on the border too. I was good in a lotta things. But in terms of that, w-- you take a look at the kind of numbers that we're doing.
We're doing numbers that have never been done before. 401(k)s are at their all-time high by a lot. Under other presidents, they were a disaster. 401(k)s have made people rich. And for some reason-- remember during rallies I'd say, "Please look at your 401(k) before you go to vote." Maybe people--
ROSS DOUTHAT: I mean, not everyone has a big 401(k)--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: But a lotta people--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --right?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --do. (UNINTEL)--
ROSS DOUTHAT: It's wages. It's gas prices--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: But you know what? I-- I'd say--
ROSS DOUTHAT: Well, let's-- let-- but let's--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I'd say, "Who has a 401(k)?" And almost half the room--
ROSS DOUTHAT: Lots of people have them. Let's-- let's-- on gas prices and Iran, couple days ago your vice president, JD Vance, wrote a social media post where he says, "The reason we lost is the war," meaning Iran. And he said things in that post--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I don't disagree--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --about Israel. Yeah. So do you agr-- you agree with his analysis?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I don't disagree with it, other than--
ROSS DOUTHAT: Did you know--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --other than--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --he was gonna--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --one thing.
ROSS DOUTHAT: Did you n-- first, did you know he was gonna write that post?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP:He told-- he asked me what do I think. I said, "You write what you're--" I said--
ROSS DOUTHAT: "Write what you--"
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --"You write what you want--"
ROSS DOUTHAT: --"write what you feel"?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: By the way, "What are you gonna write," okay? (LAUGH) So-- but, no--
ROSS DOUTHAT: What's the one thing--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --what he said--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --you disagree with--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: The one thing he left out is-- that I would say, and maybe he wouldn't say it, I don't know. I've never asked him really, but-- if you had it to do again, would you do it? And that's Iran. Would you go and ta-- attack Iran and take away their-- 'cause we won that war.
That war has been won. Now they're withering away as a country, and they'll come and they'll make a deal. They'll definite-- they wanna make a deal. We-- by the way, just before we get-- they wanted to make a deal just before the election. And that gives them a little bit of a hope certificate now. But we were close to makin' a deal. If we didn't have this election, we might've even had-- or within the next few days we woulda had a deal.
ROSS DOUTHAT: Then let's-- let's--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: But this gives--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --let's--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --them hope.
ROSS DOUTHAT: --let's go with that.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: But I just--
ROSS DOUTHAT: Are-- are--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: But wait, wait, wait--
ROSS DOUTHAT: So does that mean--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: No, no--
ROSS DOUTHAT: Does that--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Before (UNINTEL)-- the only thing I wish you would've said there, if he felt it, and you'd have to ask him about that, but if you had it to do again, would you do it? You know, he's part of a decision-making process. And my answer is an emphatic yes because you can't let Iran have a nuclear weapon.
I think historically, this will be a very good decision. Is it a good decision for today and tomorrow? Maybe not. But I would-- I-- you know, I have to go with what's right for our country. If they had a nuclear weapon, you and I would not be speaking the way-- oh, then I'd really be excoriated. If they had a nuclear weapon during my term, I would be excoriated far worse than what's happened. So--
ROSS DOUTHAT: All right. Let's-- let's--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --I've stopped--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --come--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: But Ross, I've stopped them from having a nuclear weapon. That's a big thing.
ROSS DOUTHAT: Just stay--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: And they were--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --stay--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --ready to make a deal with me. We would've had a deal, except for this election. And we'll make a deal anyway because they'll get over their--
ROSS DOUTHAT: So you're not gonna escalate the war now that the midterms are over?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, I'm not looking to. I don't think there's any reason to. I don't think there's any reason to. Look--
ROSS DOUTHAT: They still have--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --the Hormuz Strait--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --they still have nuclear-- they still have nuclear material--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: They have--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --right?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: They have nothing. It's buried under thousands of tons of rock. And we have-- through Space Force, which I created, we have-- we have telescopic lenses that are unbelievable. I can-- I can tell the color of the red dots on your tie. And we watch every one of those-- sites, the three that we blew up, and also pick-ask-- Pickaxe Mountain.
ROSS DOUTHAT: So there's still stuff in Pickaxe Mountain?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, we don't know that.
There wasn't. W-- there's been very little activity there. They have other problems. They're not lookin' at Pickaxe Mountain. But--
ROSS DOUTHAT: So what does--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --if-- if we need it--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --what does-- what does a deal--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --if we needed to do--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --what does a deal--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --Pickaxe--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --look like?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: If we needed to do Pickaxe-- we'll watch it. If we needed to do Pickaxe, which we don't at this moment, we would have that done in one hour, it would be taken care of.
ROSS DOUTHAT: So what's the deal in the end with them--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: The deal--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --that gets--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --the--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --that gets the strait open--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: The deal--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --'cause it's important-- it's important to stress--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: No, no, the d--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --'cause--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: The strait is open, Ross.
ROSS DOUTHAT: The strait has traffic moving through it--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: No, no--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --because the U.S. military--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Your Wall Street--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --is sitting there.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Your--
ROSS DOUTHAT: Is sitting there.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --your favorite newspaper, The Wall Street Journal, two days ago had an article that said, "There's more oil going through the Hormuz Strait than there was at the beginning of the war." Think of that. We have ships--
ROSS DOUTHAT: But--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --going--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --but the ships--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --through--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --that are going through are being babysat by a large U.S. military presence. So how do we make a deal--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Not a very--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --that gets that--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --not very expensive--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --presence outta there?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Not very expensive.
ROSS DOUTHAT: We can just leave--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: And--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --them there--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --at the end of--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --indefinitely?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --this whole thing, those countries that we've protected are going to pay us back any and all costs that we've had for the war. We're gonna get all that money back. And I've told 'em, and they're gonna do it, 100%, 'cause without us, they wouldn't exist. Without us, Israel wouldn't exist. Let me tell you--
ROSS DOUTHAT: Israel--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --Israel--
ROSS DOUTHAT: Tell me-- tell me about--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Israel would not exist except for Donald Trump because we went in with those beautiful B2 Bombers more than a year ago, and we hit the three sites at-- at the time. You know, I call it nuclear dust. They were loaded up with nuclear dust.
They were two weeks away from having a nuclear weapon. And if I didn't hit them-- and it was an incredible raid. And people said, "Oh, well, maybe they hit--" it turned out to be, when atomic energy went in and they said, "It was the most accurate imaginable--" I mean, they were totally destroyed.
ROSS DOUTHAT: You ta-- you s-- you say you have no regrets about that decision. Do you have--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: If-- if I didn't--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --any regrets--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --if I didn't--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --on-- on-- on-- but on Israel, do you have regrets about the decision to help the Israelis do decapitation strikes on Iran because that changed the Iranian regime, and it seems like it made them escalate. You could've just kept hitting the–
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: N--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --nu-- the nuclear facilities, right--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Yeah, you could've done that, but-- we had people that w-- would have gone further. Look-- this-- I wanna have it for the long term, not for the short term. We decapitated their nuclear arsenal. If I didn't do that, there would be no Israel right now.
Israel would be gone. In my op-- look, I deal with these people. I deal with a lotta people, and that's what I've done my whole life. I make deals. And obviously, I make good deals 'cause I beca-- I made a lotta money and I became president. Bil-- you know, it's-- that's a deal too. I became president of the United States. A lotta smart politicians thought, "Oh gee, this should be easy," but it wasn't easy for them. I became president--
ROSS DOUTHAT: Wasn't easy.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I became president easily. So that's what I do. I deal with the Iranians, right. They would use a nuclear weapon in 24 hours, just like the Democrats will terminate the filibuster immediately. And I'm trying to get that knowledge imparted into the Republican Senate. But the Democrats will immediately, or as soon as they have the right opportunity, they will terminate the filibuster and do things to our country that--
ROSS DOUTHAT: All right--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --are w-- are very, very bad.
ROSS DOUTHAT: I'm g-- I'm trying to weave with you--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Yeah. We'll do--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --through this.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --the weave.
ROSS DOUTHAT: So let's-- let's do the weave and talk about the--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Go ahead.
ROSS DOUTHAT: --Democrats.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Thank you.
ROSS DOUTHAT: You came out after the midterms. You congratulated the Democrats.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Correct.
ROSS DOUTHAT: You said that you were open to working with them.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: True.
ROSS DOUTHAT: What is one thing you would like to work with a Democratic majority on--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I'd love to do something on immigration.
ROSS DOUTHAT: What?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Because-- well, so--
ROSS DOUTHAT: Do you think immigration hurt you in the midterms?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I think--
ROSS DOUTHAT: Do you think the crackdown hurt you--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I think it both helped and hurt. I think I got an A+ for closing up the border because we had 25 million people come in through Biden over a four-year period, and many of those people were-- as you know, they were from prisons, they were drug dealers, they were from mental institutions. They were from all over the world, not just South America.
ROSS DOUTHAT: And some of them--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I think I did--
ROSS DOUTHAT: Some of them--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --an A+--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --as you once said, are good people.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: No.
ROSS DOUTHAT: Right?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I-- I said that-- yeah, some are good, and some are really bad--
ROSS DOUTHAT: Just-- just--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Look--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --clarifying.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --you had 11,888 murderers, most of whom, more than half of whom, committed more than one murder. They were allowed into our country. We've gotten most of 'em out.
ROSS DOUTHAT: So the bor-- so closing the border--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I think I get--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --helps you--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --an A+.
ROSS DOUTHAT: --so what hurt-- so what hurt you--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: And I think you would agree that I get an A+ for that. I get an A+ for closing. Nobody-- in the last 17 months, just came out, zero people came in through our southern border, as opposed to 25 million people-- 25 million people. They came in through caravans.
Nobody ever saw anything like it. Okay. For getting people out, I get very high marks for getting the bad ones out. But I get hurt because we also took people that had good jobs, that-- that created one violation, or breaking of the law, and that was that they came into the country illegally.
Now, there is a large part of the country that think that they should be put out. And there's a large part of the country that think that they should be allowed to stay if they're good people working in a landscaping company, or workin' in a hotel, or doing something, right? And in some cases, paying taxes. And there's a large group of people [who] think that they should be allowed to stay. So--
ROSS DOUTHAT: So-- so you think your deportation policy--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I think it was--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --went too far--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --too tough.
ROSS DOUTHAT: It was too tough?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I think it might be too tough, yeah. And a lotta people would say that it's great. But a lotta people think it's too tough.
ROSS DOUTHAT: What would--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: And-- and I think--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --happen-- what does--
(PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: UNINTEL)
ROSS DOUTHAT: --a deal look like--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I think ultimately--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --with the Democrats?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --that hurt me.
ROSS DOUTHAT: W--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I think it-- well, the deal would be we would work something out. And I think it's something-- I think that's something that's actually doable. But a lot of people--
ROSS DOUTHAT: Doable to create--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: When you go into--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --some kinda-- some kind of legal status--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Yeah, Ross, when you go in--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --for the landscapers and the--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Yeah. When you go into a hotel and you say, "Let me see your pass," and you have a woman that's worked there as a-- you know, as a maid, as a cleaner, as a this, as a that, as a waitress, a lotta good things, great job, and all of a sudden, they're being taken outta the country, it's tough. It's a tough thing. Also, 25 million people came in through Biden. That's a lotta people to take out. But there's a group of people that I would say on the sort of pretty far right that would like everybody taken out.
ROSS DOUTHAT: Do some of them--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Then there's a group of people on the--
ROSS DOUTHAT: Do-- do any of those people work in your administration? Are they in--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Yes.
ROSS DOUTHAT: --the building with us right now?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Yeah, no, no. Well, there're a lotta those people. Then there's also people that are more modified on that. In other words, get the killers out. Get the-- get the rapists out. Get all the-- the rough ones out. Get the drug dealers out. But let the people that are here, and in some cases here for 10 and 15 years, work a deal for them, okay? So that's another group.
And then you have a group that-- so you have the group that wants to get everybody out. Then you have the group that wants to modify it. And then you have a group that's a very dangerous group, the sanctuary city group, that wanna let murderers stay.
They wanna-- they don't wanna give us the criminals. We have-- they have murderers that they know are murderers. And I don't understand that group. They don't want them out of our country. They wanna protect them. And they've literally murdered people. They're drug dealers. They're really bad people. And--
ROSS DOUTHAT: But do you think-- but you think the Democratic party right now has people in it who would be interested in this kind of deal?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I think so, yeah. People have already called me.
ROSS DOUTHAT: Who's called you--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: You know, I get along--
ROSS DOUTHAT: Who's-- who's called you?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I get along with a lotta the Democrats, lotta people--
ROSS DOUTHAT: So I saw-- so I'll say I saw James Talarico, the new Democratic senator--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Said very nice things, yeah--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --from Texas, I saw him on Fox News. And he said immigration was one of the things he wanted--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Others--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --to work with you on--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Others too. South Carolina said. Numerous--
ROSS DOUTHAT: You did-- you did--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Numerous people that won--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --in the course--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --said that.
ROSS DOUTHAT: --of the campaign, you did occasionally call him Talafreako--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Yeah, I did.
ROSS DOUTHAT: Do you think you could work with the Democrats without insulting them--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Yeah, I do--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --consistently?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: C-- I could.
ROSS DOUTHAT: You think so--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I also call-- I also--
ROSS DOUTHAT: But you--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --call many of them Dumbocrats--
ROSS DOUTHAT: You did that just--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --'cause (UNINTEL PHRASE)--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --the other day. If-- if it took six months of not insulting the Democrats to get a deal done, do you think you could do it?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Very easily.
ROSS DOUTHAT: Okay. That'll be interesting--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: But you have to understand--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --to watch. Do you think you could--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --I'm here-- I'm here--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --do it if they're--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --to help the country.
ROSS DOUTHAT: Do you think-- think you could do it if they're investigating you? If they're running investigations into your administration, can you work with them?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, I did it for four years. You know, I-- they-- what they did with me was-- there's never been weaponization. They impeached me twice. And there are those that say that worked out to my advantage. I mean, you know, 'cause I made it--
ROSS DOUTHAT: Do you think they'll impeach you again?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I can't imagine it, you know? They d-- hey, look, what have I done? I've had the best two years in the history of the presidency. You just read the numbers--
ROSS DOUTHAT: – -
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --you just read, in terms of the economy, in terms of everything, up until--
ROSS DOUTHAT: Except for public opinion. Right?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well-- the only public opinion that's-- you also saw public opinion with the rallies. I mean, I had the largest rallies in history. I had the greatest amount of love, if you wanna call it love. Those people love what I'm doing. They love what I've done. But-- but just so--
ROSS DOUTHAT: Would you--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --you understand--
ROSS DOUTHAT: Would you make a deal with--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --in two years, think of it, we have for 91 days, the highest stock market in history. We have more jobs created than ever before in history. We have the highest amount of exporting. We're exporting.
ROSS DOUTHAT: So-- so--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: We've become a manufa--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --a big part of-- le-- let me ask you about that economy. A big part of that economy has been the success of artificial intelligence. I know we call it super intelligence in this house. And you have said repeatedly, "Whoever wins super intelligence wins the future."
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: That's right.
ROSS DOUTHAT: But again, if you go into polls, Americans, they don't love data centers. They're pretty negative about AI, super intelligence. What does the average American get out of AI?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: First, let me just tell you that-- when you say a big part, yes, it's a part. But we're also building automobile factories like we've never built before.
ROSS DOUTHAT: But--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Audi just announced--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --but stay on s--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --$4 billion--
ROSS DOUTHAT: I-- I--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I know, but you have to--
ROSS DOUTHAT: Stay on super intelligence--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: No, but you said a big part. Automobiles--
ROSS DOUTHAT: A part.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: How about pharmaceutical? Eli Lilly, Merck, Pfizer. They're building hundreds of--
ROSS DOUTHAT: There's a lot going on--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --billions of--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --in the economy. But I wanna know--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: There has never--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --about super intelligence--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --been-- I know. But there has never been a time where there is the activity. Trillions and trillions of dollars right now as we sit is being built. In a year from now, 'cause they--
ROSS DOUTHAT: S--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --started a year ago-- in a year from now, many of those plants are gonna be open, operating--
ROSS DOUTHAT: But--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --and--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --I want-- I want what do Americans get-- you-- you have-- I talk to people in Silicon Valley who say that the decisions you make around AI are the most important things that you'll be remembered for. That's what-- that's what they-- that's what they think.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I don't know if that's--
ROSS DOUTHAT: And-- and--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --true, but th-- they're--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --at the same-- but at the same time, there is all of this anxiety and concern. And I just want you to know, as someone-- you are an AI bull.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I am.
ROSS DOUTHAT: What do-- what does the average American get out of that technology?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Excuse me before I answer that. The reason I'm an AI bull--
ROSS DOUTHAT: Yes.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --one of the reasons is because President Xi left here two weeks ago. We had a great meeting. He's all in to SI, a I call it –
ROSS DOUTHAT: Yep
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: - - Cause it really is super intelligence. It's-- it's a much better name I think, 'cause it's not artificial. It's-- it's actually--
ROSS DOUTHAT: Well, that at least--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --super.
ROSS DOUTHAT: --is what-- it's what they think they're racing towards, yes. So China--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: What (UNINTEL)--
ROSS DOUTHAT: So we're in a race with China.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: And if-- and I've said whoever wins that race wins. The level of power of winning that race is very important.
ROSS DOUTHAT: What is the power--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: And China has no problem with data centers. China has no problem with electricity. And, by the way, we don't either because I'm letting-- I'm demanding that they build their own electric plant. Every one of those centers that goes up now, under me, is building their own electric.
ROSS DOUTHAT: You have the--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: And they're giving the excess electric-- they're giving the excess electric-- right now, they're giving it into the old grid that we had. We have an old, broken grid. And that juice is pouring into the grid.
ROSS DOUTHAT: You had--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: It's gonna lower electric.
ROSS DOUTHAT: Y-- you had all of the AI tycoons in here.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Yeah, I did.
ROSS DOUTHAT: And Elon Musk said then, as he said often, "The end game with AI, super intelligence, is that we're incredibly rich, and nobody has to work, and everyone gets paid a universal high income."
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Yeah.
ROSS DOUTHAT: You like to work.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Yeah.
ROSS DOUTHAT: Does that sound like a good future to you?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: No. What-- what he meant I think is that when a data center, as an example, goes to a community-- look at West Virginia. They're goin' wild. They love it. They say, "Come on in." And many-- many country-- many places like it. By the way, other countries like it. They're building 'em in Finland all of a sudden. Because if we lose that, we're losing a cash cow. It's a cash cow. But here's the thing.
ROSS DOUTHAT: I think you're save-- so, look. I think you are taking his very weird statement and, because you're a good politician, making it sound normal. But the people in the su-- AI industry-- I almost said the super intelligence industry--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Right.
ROSS DOUTHAT: You're working on me--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Right.
ROSS DOUTHAT: --are weird. They're strange. They do things like stand outside their company and say, "Hey, we're creating this amazing company, and there's a 10% chance it kills--"
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Oh, that's (UNINTEL)--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --"humanity." Like you standing outside--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: That was--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --a hotel (LAUGH) and saying, "Here's my new hotel."
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I know.
ROSS DOUTHAT: "And it might collapse."
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I know. But that's (UNINTEL PHRASE)--
ROSS DOUTHAT: But you think that's-- you think that's fake. Why are you not worried--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Because--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --about the doom fears that the people--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Because we--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --building it have?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Yeah. Because w-- first of all, because China's gonna have it, okay? So if we don't have it, China's gonna have it. That would put us at an unbelievable disadvantage. It's all between us and China. There's nobody else. China's gonna have it. China is now one year behind us, which is amazing. And President Xi said, "You are really move--" President Xi got off his plane. He said, "Wow, have you done a great job." And he means it. He's not a guy that, you know, okay--
ROSS DOUTHAT: He doesn't-- he doesn't trade in casual flattery--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: He-- I don't think so. No, I mean, I know him-- I know him better than probably--
ROSS DOUTHAT: But--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --almost anybody.
ROSS DOUTHAT: But so we're racing China, and that makes it worth the risk? Or you just--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --think the risk is not real?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I think that the risk is not nearly as real as it-- as they talk. And I think the risk can be managed. And it's managed, you know who? By who? The DOJ. We had a situation where somebody was reported to us to be doing something bad with AI. We called them very strongly and said, "Get ready to go to jail. Please give your wife a kiss good night."
ROSS DOUTHAT: Who was this person?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I can't tell you--
ROSS DOUTHAT: Or this company?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I can't tell you. But we said-- "Do you like the color orange because get rid --" said, "Go home right now. See your wife and children. Give 'em a kiss good night, and--"
ROSS DOUTHAT: If--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --"that's the story because--"
ROSS DOUTHAT: If the Democrats--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --"because tomorrow morning--"
ROSS DOUTHAT: --wanted--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --"you're goin' to jail."
ROSS DOUTHAT: If the-- if they--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Let me tell you--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --wanted to make a deal--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --this person--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --to put that (UNINTEL)--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --this person totally changed everything. Totally. "Yes, sir. Yes, sir--"
ROSS DOUTHAT: "Yes, sir"?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Okay--
ROSS DOUTHAT: Was it a leader of a major AI company?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: One of the big ones. Yeah.
ROSS DOUTHAT: Okay.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: One of the big ones. And--
ROSS DOUTHAT: If the Democrats--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --and-- and I don't think--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --said, "We wanna put th-- we wanna--"
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --I don't--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --"codify this into law--"
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --I don't think it was--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --would you work with them--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --done maliciously. But it coulda been malicious, but--
ROSS DOUTHAT: Would you-- but would you work with the Democrats? You're saying the DOJ--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I would absolutely--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --could handle this?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Yeah. Yeah.
ROSS DOUTHAT: On an AI--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I don't mind guardrails--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --on AI safety?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I don't mind guardrails. But I don't wanna put us in a deep second position. We're leading number one. And China has no guardrails, by the way. So if AI's dangerous--
ROSS DOUTHAT: Well, they have the guardrails of being a totalitarian state--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: They have--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --right?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: They have the guardrails that whatever--
ROSS DOUTHAT: Where everyone is--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --President Xi says goes. With me, it's pretty strong, but it's not quite that strong.
ROSS DOUTHAT: Let's--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: By the way, you know, we have very brilliant people watching every one of these companies. Brilliant people.
ROSS DOUTHAT: I mean--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: People--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --I hope so.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --that-- well, they're the smartest. They're of, hopefully, equal-- (LAUGH)
ROSS DOUTHAT: Equal-- equal intelligence--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Equal (UNINTEL), which is not easy--
ROSS DOUTHAT: Equal intelligence though to the people running the companies--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Which is not easy--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --or to super int-- are they super intelligent?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: They're super intelligent (UNINTEL)--
ROSS DOUTHAT: Okay, good. Speaking of your powers, I'm weaving again-- in a previous lifetime, you were rather famous for saying, "You're fired" quite often. (TRUMP: Yeah.) After a big midterm defeat like this, do you expect to fire anyone from your team--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I do. Yeah.
ROSS DOUTHAT: You do?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Little bit.
ROSS DOUTHAT: Little bit?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I love my Cabinet. I think they're good. But I'll do-- be doin' maybe a few changes. I don't wanna mention who 'cause I think (UNINTEL)--
ROSS DOUTHAT: Well, I will say that we passed-- or we saw Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth in the hall. He was meeting with you just before now. His name has come up a few times--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: It has.
ROSS DOUTHAT: --as someone people have called for his resignation.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: They do.
ROSS DOUTHAT: Do you have confidence in him?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I do. Look, we've won two wars. We've won Venezuela and taken out billions and billions and billions of dollars already. And we will be taking out many billions of dollars and get along very well. And-- you could call it a territory, you could call it whatever you want. We won that war in less than one hour.
ROSS DOUTHAT: And you credit Hegseth--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: And nobody was killed.
ROSS DOUTHAT: You credit Pete Hegseth for that--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: No. But he was a part of it. You know, he was--
ROSS DOUTHAT: Yeah, he was there--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --he was a p-- I credit great soldiers, great generals, and great equipment. We have the best equipment in the world. We make-- you know, I have--
ROSS DOUTHAT: Do you think Hegseth gave you good advice going into Iran--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Yeah. Let's talk Venezuela first. We did an attack that very few people would've done. We went into a fort, a military base, with a very bad person who did very bad things to our country, and a lot of other countries, including drugs and including s-- you know, giving us his prison population.
Venezuela's-- that's where we got the Tren de Aragua and everything else. And we went into a fort with many, many people. And we had 201. And we flew in with fire and fury, as they said, and we got him out of a steel cage. He lived in a house that was a steel cage--
ROSS DOUTHAT: Is that-- is that-- is Venezuela the reason that you decided to do the decapitation--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: No.
ROSS DOUTHAT: --strikes in Iran?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: No, no--
ROSS DOUTHAT: No? It didn't factor into your--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: One thing had nothing to-- no--
ROSS DOUTHAT: Nothing? Okay--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: We just-- I just say the Venezuela attack will go down in military histories as one of the-- people said, "Don't do it, you can't do it." You know, they have-- they're a very military-type nation. You know, you walk around, everybody's a soldier. We went into that--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --and we took out their leader and-- and his wife, who was also very powerful, and they're right now awaiting trial. And they're guilty. They're very-- I won't even say-- let me not refer to it, I won't talk about it--
ROSS DOUTHAT: You won't-- you won't pre--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --but they are--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --you wouldn't wanna prejudge anyone, surely.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, I don't wanna prejudge, I'm not involved in the case. But they were-- they were very bad people.
ROSS DOUTHAT: Back-- back to-- back to your--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Wait a minute, they were very bad people. And it was one of the most incredible attacks anyone's ever seen. They left the-- the aircraft carriers at 1:00 in the morning, pitch black. Everything went perfect. This wasn't a Jimmy Carter deal. This wasn't--
ROSS DOUTHAT: In-- in--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --you know, where the helicopters are crashing into each other. This was a perfect thing. Okay--
ROSS DOUTHAT: It was in the future. So-- so you have con--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Okay, that's number one--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --so you have confidence in Hegseth--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: People don't like talking about that. No, then we have another one, we have Iran. Iran is decapitated. Their navy's gone. Their air force is gone.
ROSS DOUTHAT: So these are all things--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Their--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --the-- I-- I'm just-- you're-- you're-- you're--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, no, militarily they're defeated--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --you're telling me this for reasons you would keep Hegseth, basically.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I'm telling you this--
ROSS DOUTHAT: What about this--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: We had-- wait-- let me just tell you. We had-- 'cause I read the papers, they wanna impeach him. Very unfair. We had two wars, we won both. We won Venezuela, we won Iran. Now, Iran--
ROSS DOUTHAT: How-- how--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --is simmering. But it's-- it-- it's just-- we are taking out more oil. We-- we own the Hormuz Strait--
ROSS DOUTHAT: How-- how--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Just-- just so you understand--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --how about-- yup, I do. No, I do, I do--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: No, but-- but how do you--
ROSS DOUTHAT: How about--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --impeach a guy that-- we had two wars--
ROSS DOUTHAT: All right, how about your--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --we won 'em both.
ROSS DOUTHAT: --how about the succession--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Let's impeach him.
ROSS DOUTHAT: How about the succession, speaking of personnel.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Yeah.
ROSS DOUTHAT: In two years someone else is gonna be the Republican nominee for president--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Correct.
ROSS DOUTHAT: I assume you're going to endorse someone for that.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Probably. Not necessarily--
ROSS DOUTHAT: Not necessarily? What would make you--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I've got so--
ROSS DOUTHAT: What are you thinking about when you decide whether or not to endorse someone--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I don't know, we have a tremendous bench. I mean, I have so many people that I have great relationships with. And-- you know, not necessarily--
ROSS DOUTHAT: Who do you-- who-- who would be on the list besides the vice president?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, I think Marco's great. I think--
ROSS DOUTHAT: Is he staying, by the way, as Secretary of State--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I think so. I mean, he certainly loves it and he's doing great. He's doing a fantastic job. The ones they think about, but there are many others and I'd rather not mention their names. There's some senators that are excellent. I know 'em all, I like 'em a lot. So I may or may not get involved. I don't know. Maybe I'm better off not getting involved. I think it would play a big role if I did, because my endorsement capacity has been very strong. People I endorse get nominations--
ROSS DOUTHAT: Do you think you can have MAGA without you as the leader?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I think so. Because MAGA is basically common sense, you know? MAGA's strong borders, good military. I'd like to see the interest rates lower. I mean, the problem with interest rates is we have a board that was largely composed of Obama and Biden people.
And they wanna keep the interest rates as high as possible because that's bad for the country, which is therefore bad for me. Very unfair. We should have much lower interest rates because, you know, in the old days when you had success the interest rates went down. You just see numbers. But those numbers are nothing. We have created-- we have created wealth at a level that our country has never seen before--
ROSS DOUTHAT: Including for yourself. There's a Forbes story that said that your net worth, maybe it's changed with the stock market recently, but your net worth went up by $3 billion since you--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, so did everyone--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --since you returned to--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Okay, you ready? So here's--
ROSS DOUTHAT: Everyone's-- my net worth did not go up by $3 billion for--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, you should've had stock--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --for the record. I-- I should've-- I should've--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: You should've had stock.
ROSS DOUTHAT: I should've had stock.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Excuse me. So I devote--
ROSS DOUTHAT: did-- how--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --I devote--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --how did-- how did it go up by $3 billion--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, let me explain. I devote almost no time to my net worth. I don't care. I make-- I have a lotta money, and far more than I ever thought I'd have. And I guess it's gone up. I don't even know. But-- but just so you know--
ROSS DOUTHAT: Well then, okay, so this is-- this is--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Wait, wait, wait--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --this is a really important question I have--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, let me explain it. Let me explain it--
ROSS DOUTHAT: Okay, explain it--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --to you. I have a son who's a very straight, good guy. He watches over money. I don't even talk to him about it. He watches. He gives-- they gave my money, I have a lotta cash, h-- had a lotta cash long before I came in here. I don't take a salary, you know? $2.5 million, I don't take a salary.
ROSS DOUTHAT: But you're doing okay.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I'm doing fine. But I don't take a salary. Do you know I'm the only, supposedly, I don't know if that's right--
ROSS DOUTHAT: It's very generous of you to the American taxpayer, but--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I am the only--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --I am the only president--
ROSS DOUTHAT: So--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --that didn't take-- every other president took their salary. I'm sup--
ROSS DOUTHAT: But this is-- all right, here's-- here's what I wanna understand. Now, this is something I've thought about f-- for a while, right? So your son manages or helps manage a cryptocurrency company called World Liberty Financial. You are--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Which-- which son are we talking about? Which--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --a co-- you are a co-owner of that company.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: That's correct, yeah--
ROSS DOUTHAT: Right? That's correct, right? This company is also partially owned by investors connected to the government of the United Arab Emirates. I think if I told you that story and it was about the Biden family, if I said Joe Biden is the part owner of a company and it has all of these investments from the Middle East, you would say, "That sounds corrupt," right--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, he-- he did have a lotta different--
ROSS DOUTHAT: Sure, but-- but you--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: But here's the difference--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --but-- but-- but why is it-- why is it different--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Here's-- well, here's--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --for you?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --I'm gonna tell you why. Because I know nothing about it.
ROSS DOUTHAT: But why do you--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I made a lot of money before--
ROSS DOUTHAT: But then why do you need the money? Why not just divest? Walk away--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, I-- I do. Look, most of--
ROSS DOUTHAT: But no, you didn't.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --my money-- most of my money is in g-- is given to the biggest firms on Wall Street to invest. I have--
ROSS DOUTHAT: Also true of me--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I have--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --through index funds.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I have--
ROSS DOUTHAT: So we have that in common.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: And-- and-- and they're index funds. So it came out that I trade-- traded, like, 40,000 stocks. So among the stocks would be, like, they'd have a tiny, little amount. It's billions of dollars--
ROSS DOUTHAT: Right, no, I-- I--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: It's billions, just so you understand--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --I under-- I understand that. But companies that are--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I have no idea--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --invested in by people in foreign countries--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I-- I-- I would like to--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --it seems like you could just walk away from that and then, you know, and then you would not be accused--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, I have--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --of corruption, right?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --I have, but you have sons where they go around and they build buildings. That's what they do. That's what I did long before I became president. I did it better than anybody. Now I'm putting my expertise to use at the White House, fixing the White House and doing things that should've been built-- long ago. But-- I was very good at real estate. I made a lotta money. But-- but I have a company. My sons run the company. It's hard to say to them, "Don't do anything anymore for four years because I'm president." It's really--
ROSS DOUTHAT: But no, you-- but-- but you could divest from the company yourself and let them do whatever they want. That's all--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, but w-- how do we-- you di--
ROSS DOUTHAT: You're not, like, sitting in the Oval Office thinking--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Here's the thing--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --"Thank God I have that $50 million in World Liberty Financial"--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: You're right, Ross, but how do you divest from cash? So I took a lotta heat because I think they traded, like, 50,000 stocks, because that's what they do. It's all computer generated. So if they buy a little tiny piece of Nvidia, "Oh, Trump is"-- I have no idea what the hell they're buying.
I've never even heard of it before. It's all computer generated. They-- it's done by the biggest companies in the world. I've never even spoken to the company. I don't care. Honestly, I don't care. What it is is you take billions of dollars, you give it to these guys, good luck. And then they start trading. And they trade where--
ROSS DOUTHAT: But do you think--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --they go up, they go down--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --do you think the people-- the people who are investing in the company that you co-own with your sons, who are coming from foreign countries who want things from your government, don't you think they think that they are buying influence?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I don't know. But that's true-- look, every president has a problem. You have people and they work for you, and guys like you cover them, and you do profiles on them, and they become, like, everybody thinks that Trump loves them and everything else, which in some cases is true and some cases is not. This is true for every president.
ROSS DOUTHAT: True.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Going back to George Washington.
ROSS DOUTHAT: Yes, every president has not owned--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Okay, but here's what happened--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --a cryptocurrency company. However--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, but-- but they own something, whatever crypto was at the time, okay? You know, there's crypto and before that there was oil and the-- okay. And every president has had this problem. So you have a guy, a trusted aide, everything's good.
And then the trusted aide says, "Sir, I love you so much, and I'll be leaving." I say, "Well, good luck." And he goes into a company that's a defense company, or-- I mean, defense more than crypto, frankly. They go into the defense, they go into the this, they go into the financial market, they go to Wall Street.
They go-- no matter what they do there's a conflict, because the president is all-encompassing, right? And this is not me. Every president that there's ever been, they have people, many people, I watch it all the time, every time you have a president, their top people, sometimes they stay. I mean, I have some that will stay right till the last second. Other-- but after they leave they go crazy. They go crazy. It's true for every president. Sometimes they'll leave--
ROSS DOUTHAT: I feel like-- there have been more people doing things like that while serving in the administration. But listen, I-- I--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, I'm a bigger name than other presidents, whether we like it or not. I am a bigger name--
ROSS DOUTHAT: Whether we like it or not.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: And people will leave office and then they'll go into the oil business, and then-- immediately everyone says, "Oh, they have a conflict." Look, every p-- I watched Bush. I watched-- look at-- look at-- Biden. But look at Obama. Obama got from Netflix--
ROSS DOUTHAT: I mean, frank-- frank-- frank-- frankly--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: How much did Obama get--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --what Obama-- what Obama did after his--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Wait a minute, Obama got $100 million to make a movie--
ROSS DOUTHAT: What Obama did--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --that never even--
ROSS DOUTHAT: What Obama did after his presidency was, again, different--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: No he didn't. He made the deal during his presidency--
ROSS DOUTHAT: Different.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Obama got $100 million from Netflix--
ROSS DOUTHAT: During his presidency?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: During his presidency--
ROSS DOUTHAT: I'll have to--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: And he made a movie afterward--
ROSS DOUTHAT: I'll have to--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: And the movie made about $0.03--
ROSS DOUTHAT: I'll have to ask-- I'll have to ask ChatGPT about that after this conversation. Your administration alone among modern administrations has spent a lot of time releasing footage of UFOs.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Yeah.
ROSS DOUTHAT: Unidentified flying objects. I think a lotta that footage, for people who are interested in the topic, has been interesting but fuzzy, you know, unclear, maybe a little disappointing. Is there anything that you have seen or heard about or been told about that would lead you to think that there's something more there than just, "We're having a good time looking at things in the sky"?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: It's so amazing that you asked this question, because it is one of the questions in private I get asked about. More people ask me about UFOs than-- I mean--
ROSS DOUTHAT: I believe it.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: People-- people that you wouldn't think. People--
ROSS DOUTHAT: So what's-- so what's the answer--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: So here's the story. I'm not too much of a believer, but I sat in the Oval Office, first term and a little bit second term, meeting with Air Force pilots that are really good, solid people. These are not people that you would say are conspiracy theorists. They don't even know what it means. But they're great, great pilots. Young, handsome. They have cr-- beautiful, nice flat tops. I'd like to have a haircut just like 'em. They look perfect, like Tom Cruise. They look-- Tom Cruise, I--
ROSS DOUTHAT: Uh-huh (AFFIRM), very, very fit in the--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I won't say that--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --in the posterior.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: They're thin, you know, very thin and very everything. And-- but they're real-- they're the real deal. And they've told me things that are very strange. They said that-- in-- in certain cases. They said yes, there's something going on out there. Because they're flying an F-22, which is the best there is, the fastest, the best plane that anyone's ever seen. And something goes by them at three times their speed and it's round. It's not aerodynamic, it's round. And then I say--
ROSS DOUTHAT: So that's--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --"Well, maybe it was a comet."
ROSS DOUTHAT: So that's the mystery. But then along with those pilots there's a set of people who have styled themselves as whistleblowers who have come out and said, "Actually there's also a secret program that even presidents don't know about to study this stuff." Have you seen any evidence that that is the case--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: No. And I haven't heard that. But if there is I'm gonna find out about it right after this interview. It's an amazing thing though. I have more interest-- and, you know, if you go to Nevada, where they have a very, very common chain link fence, there's more tourists at that chain link fence because that's where they say it all happens. I don't know if that's true. I don't think it's true. But did you ever see the people, thousands and thousands of people are looking over a piece of l-- there's more interest in that subject than any of the questions--
ROSS DOUTHAT: But you're interested in it because people are interested in it--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I'm interested--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --not because you're on the way to--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: No, I'm-- I'm (UNINTEL)--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --discovering a secret.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I-- I would like to find out whether or not it's true. I will tell you, you have a lot of very solid people that believe it's true.
ROSS DOUTHAT: You came into office promising to make peace in Ukraine.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Yeah.
ROSS DOUTHAT: There is still a war going on. What's the biggest obstacle to peace?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: It was the hatred between Zelenskyy and Putin. I believe that we're very close to making a deal, and I think it-- two things, if I were president, because as you know, the-- well, you're not gonna admit it, the-- I-- it was rigged. That's why I did it a third time, because it was rigged. That was my ultimate pull. If I had been president that war would've never started. Zero chance. But it did start. So I inherited that war. I believe we're very close to making a deal--
ROSS DOUTHAT: Who-- who do you trust more, President Putin or President Zelenskyy--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, I'd rather not say, but I get along with both. And in fact, we have--
ROSS DOUTHAT: Why-- why is it--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --we have a meeting-- we have a meeting. This show will air and-- the meeting will have taken place. It's gonna be on Saturday, but it's gonna extend to Sunday and to Monday and to Tuesday. And there's-- so you'll be seeing it. There's a very important meeting taking place. I believe that that war is going to end, and it's gonna end soon. And the only reason it's gonna end is because of me. There is tremendous hatred between President Putin and President Zelenskyy. And-- you know, I--
ROSS DOUTHAT: Isn't it more understandable coming from President Zelenskyy, given that his country was actually invaded?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, it is. But it was also-- very, very-- when they had their first meeting there was great disrespect shown to Russia. So I'm not gonna say anything--
ROSS DOUTHAT: I mean, but balancing out--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well-- well--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --invading, disrespecting--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --let's-- let's put it this way: the war never happened during my four years, and it was never going to happen, even though it was the apple of President Putin's eye.
ROSS DOUTHAT: Do you think that Putin is stringing you--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: But w-- just one thing--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --you don't think he's str-- do you think he is stringing you along?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Oh, I don't think so.
ROSS DOUTHAT: 'Cause you've been saying over and over you're gonna make peace. And it just seems like he's the obstacle in the end--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, there's been nobody that's been tougher on Russia than me. Look at our trade. Look what I've done to them on trade with the sanctions and everything else. Look what I did to them. As an example, I gave them the anti-tank busters, right? I gave them-- I gave them--
ROSS DOUTHAT: Well, you've--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: When I say-- wait a minute--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --you've gone back and forth. You've-- you've--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --wait a minute. No.
ROSS DOUTHAT: You've gone back and forth. You-- at some points you have done lots of things, big things in support of Ukraine. But just recently you lifted diesel sanctions on Russia. Like, you've done various things to take pressure off Russia--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I didn't lift diesel sanctions. I made it possible for Russia to give not us, but to the world-- thousands and thousands of barrels of oil, of diesel, which it needed. Didn't-- do any big favor. But look at what I've done. I've given them-- in fact, there's an old statement that Obama gave them sheets, and I gave them anti-tank busters, okay? That's what I gave them. And-- but thousands of them.
ROSS DOUTHAT: But now it's-- but now it's Europe supplying them weapons, not us.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: No, it's us. We're supplying the weapons.
ROSS DOUTHAT: Well, Europe is--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: But Europe is paying for them--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --Europe is buy-- Europe is--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Here's the difference--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --Europe is buying the weapons, yeah--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Biden gave them $350 billion worth of cash and weapons. I gave them-- nothing. I give it to Europe, sell it at full price, and they pay us. And not only that, their $350 billion, I felt so bad about it because I thought it was so stupid. Europe has money.
Europe would've paid, but nobody asked. So we just gave m-- weapon after weapon after weapon, and we supplied the weapons. And by the way, Ukraine had the courage to use 'em. Because you still have to have courage to use 'em, and they've been very formidable. But they had the best weapons on Earth. And we got nothing for it. I sell weapons--
ROSS DOUTHAT: But we got--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I sell--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --we got-- we got Ukrainian independence for it, right--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: But you haven't gotten it yet. (LAUGH) You haven't gotten anything yet. Let's see how it all works out. But I hope--
ROSS DOUTHAT: But you expect it to all work out with a free and independent Ukraine--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I think we're gonna have it done, and I think it's gonna happen and they're gonna end up with a little bit different shape Ukraine. Look, this is a war that shoulda never happened. If I were president--
ROSS DOUTHAT: Last--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --this war would have never happened.
ROSS DOUTHAT: Last Ukraine question on the aid and support we give them. One form of support comes through Starlink, which is the satellite--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Yes.
ROSS DOUTHAT: --system owned by Elon Musk.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Right.
ROSS DOUTHAT: There is a version of it that's controlled by the U.S. government. There is a recent case where Starlink speeds were slowed down a lot, which made it harder for the Ukrainians to use it. Who is actually in charge of that sys-- system in-- in the war zone? You or Musk--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, it wasn't me. It wasn't me. I don't know. I would say that probably I have a lotta power over everything. You know, you're the president. You have a lotta power, so I'm not gonna, but I shouldn't--
ROSS DOUTHAT: Right. Shouldn't you have the power to control a system that's--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Probably, probably.
ROSS DOUTHAT: --part of a war zone that we're involved in?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: And if it was necessary, probably. That situation was fixed pretty quickly, but--
ROSS DOUTHAT: So did Elon turn it down? I-- I don't think he literally turned a dial, but--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, I know this, I can't tell you who turned it down. I can tell you ultimately he turned it back up and so they have it.
ROSS DOUTHAT: Why can't you tell me who turned it down? Seems like--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I don't know, because I don't know.
ROSS DOUTHAT: --a pretty important question.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: No, I don't know. I mean-- the system is a very good system and it was perhaps turned down. I mean, I don't even know. I haven't been-- it hasn't been proven to me that it was turned down. There's a lotta lies going on with that war. But I know this, that when I heard about it, it went back up.
ROSS DOUTHAT: All right. Let's finish up. Last legacy questions. First, do you expect to issue a lot of pardons when you leave office?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Yes, I do.
ROSS DOUTHAT: Do you expect to pardon yourself?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I don't, but it's certainly--
ROSS DOUTHAT: Do you think you have the power to pardon yourself--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --not unreasonable. I do. But-- but more importantly-- I don't want to have good people that are serving this country and doing a great job spending the rest of their life like I had to do for four years defending myself by radical left lunatics, by people that were very nasty and mean. I intend to issue tremendous numbers of pardons, in fact, I say oftentimes anybody that get-- got within a thousand miles of the Oval Office, because I don't want people spending the rest of their lives--
ROSS DOUTHAT: So will you pardon me?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I-- I think-- I think I might--
ROSS DOUTHAT: I mean, we're very close to the Oval Office right here--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --I think I might have to.
ROSS DOUTHAT: After this interview, I think--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I think I might have to. No. I think it's very unfair. I pardoned the J6ers. I don't think any group's been treated more unfairly than them, and-- and to this day when they see me they cry. They were--
ROSS DOUTHAT: Even the ones who attacked police officers were treated unfairly--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, there-- there were some that-- there were some that got rough, but, you know, they were rough to them too. You d--
ROSS DOUTHAT: Don't cops have a right to use force against people--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --the way they-- nobody better with police than I am.
ROSS DOUTHAT: Uh-huh (AFFIRM).
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I've-- I had 99.9%, you know, every police. Every group of police endorsed me, the fraternal order. Every single--
ROSS DOUTHAT: Do the Capitol Police like you?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: They love me, and, by the way, speaking of that, the crime rate in Washington, D.C. is down 89%. It's the safest, and when I was here it was a killing field, three murders a week. Now we haven't had a murder in a long time. And, by the way, nobody has died.
You know, when you call it a war, it's not a war. If you look at what's happened with Iran, in the last six months, five months, six months we haven't lost one soldier. You know, I wrote one thing down. I think it's interesting. I just wrote it-- I just looked at it this morning.
So we've been in Iran seven months, maybe eight months. There have been 18 people, and that includes Venezuela, two wars. Venezuela where, by the way, we've taken out 50 times what the war has cost already. To the victor belong the spoils. But listen just one second--
ROSS DOUTHAT: Yeah, I'm listening.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Afghanistan, 20 years, thousands of people killed. Iraq War, nine years, 5,000 people killed. Vietnam, 21 years, 60,000 people killed. The Korean War, four years, 40,000 people killed.
ROSS DOUTHAT: This is-- this is a good segue--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: This war-- wait.
ROSS DOUTHAT: Yeah?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: This war, seven months, 18 people killed. That includes Venezuela, 18. Now-- now I-- I-- I want to just--
ROSS DOUTHAT: This is a good segue to my last question.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Okay, but just sec.
ROSS DOUTHAT: Yeah, I-- I hear you. I hear you--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Eighteen is too much, but you're talking about 40,000, 50,000, 60,000.
ROSS DOUTHAT: I-- I agree that the Iran War has had many fewer casualties than past American wars--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: And but what did we get? What did we get? No nuclear. We won, and there will be no nuclear. And they didn't get anything. Those wars were lost. And they lost 60,000--
ROSS DOUTHAT: Death. Let's talk about death.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Okay.
ROSS DOUTHAT: You have survived multiple assassination attempts.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I have.
ROSS DOUTHAT: One came very, very close to you. I imagine that that had some kind of effect on how you think about mortality.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Yeah.
ROSS DOUTHAT: What do you think happens when you die?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, I hope I'm missed. (LAUGH) I hope--
ROSS DOUTHAT: No, I mean-- I mean to you-- I mean to--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: No, but I really mean it. I hope I'm missed. I don't know.
ROSS DOUTHAT: I-- I-- I-- I understand. I mean to you.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I think I've done a good job as-- I-- I--
ROSS DOUTHAT: What do you think happens to Donald Trump when you die?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, again--
ROSS DOUTHAT: Not your memory, yourself.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Okay. You mean where I go?
ROSS DOUTHAT: Exactly.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, I'm a religious person, so in theory I go to heaven.
ROSS DOUTHAT: Do you think you're going to heaven?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I hope so. I don't want to go to hell.
ROSS DOUTHAT: So I watched you at Charlie Kirk's memorial service–
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Yes
ROSS DOUTHAT: And Erica Kirk, his widow got up--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Right.
ROSS DOUTHAT: and gave some very moving remarks about Christian forgiveness, how you have to forgive your enemies and your opponents--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: That's right.
ROSS DOUTHAT: And you followed her, and you said, and I know this was a little bit of a joke but I think facts come through jokes. You said, quote, "I hate my opponents and I don't want the best for them." Let's say you pass away, you're entering the next life, and all you have to do to enter paradise is feel love and forgiveness for James Comey, Nancy Pelosi, anyone who you have expressed hate for over the years. Do you think you can do it?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, then I wouldn't be real, would I? I mean, if I said to you, sure, the easy answer to that is "Oh, yes, I could forgive."
ROSS DOUTHAT: No, I don't think it's an easy question at all.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I found them to be extremely dishonest people, very bad people, very bad for our country. I love our country far more than I can love people and people like that.
ROSS DOUTHAT: Is the answer no then?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: The answer is no. I want to be honest, no. I think it would--
ROSS DOUTHAT: Before the judgment throne of God?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Before the judgment. No, I think they were very bad people and-- I dislike, I can use the word hate, I do hate some of my enemies. I think they're-- they've been terrible. Look what they've put me through, the weaponization. I got indicted--
ROSS DOUTHAT: You have fought-- Mr.--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --I got impeached--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --President-- Mr. President. You have had the most charmed and remarkable life of any American in my entire lifetime, and you are telling me that before the judgment throne of God you couldn't find it in your heart to forgive some of your enemies? After all that's been given to you? Come on. Help me out here.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I mean, it's such an easy answer. All I have to do is say, "Yes, I can."
ROSS DOUTHAT: I-- I, again, I don't think it's an easy answer--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Honestly, Ross, can I-- can I be honest--
ROSS DOUTHAT: --that's why I asked it. Yes.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I probably cannot do that, no, because I do hate some of my enemies and I always will.
ROSS DOUTHAT: Lots of presidents are remembered with a single line, "He freed the slaves." "He won the Cold War." A hundred years from now while you're working out your situation in purgatory what is the line that your presidency is remembered with?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: That I made America great again.
ROSS DOUTHAT: I guess I asked for that. Thank you, Mr. President.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Thank you. Thank you very much.
Source: CBS News
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