In an interview with CBS’s ‘60 Minutes,’ President Trump said his hard-line immigration policies may have hurt Republicans in the midterm elections. Photo: Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA/Bloomberg News
WASHINGTON—In his first sit-down interview since Republicans’ devastating election losses, President Trump floated a deal with Democrats on immigration, suggested he might not endorse a Republican successor ahead of the 2028 election and said he had no intention of forgiving his political enemies.
Here are five takeaways from the president’s “60 Minutes” interview, which aired on Sunday.
His immigration policies might have gone too far
Trump acknowledged that his hard-line immigration policies may have hurt Republicans in Tuesday’s midterm elections—and he expressed openness to reaching a compromise on the issue with newly empowered Democrats.
He told “60 Minutes” correspondent Ross Douthat that while he got an “A+” for securing the border, his administration’s pursuit of mass deportations may have been “too tough.”
“For getting people out, I get very high marks for getting the bad ones out,” Trump said. But he added: “When you go into a hotel and you have a woman that’s worked there as—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.”
The president suggested that immigration was an area where he could work with Democrats, saying that such a deal would be “something that’s actually doable.”
He might not endorse a successor
Trump suggested that the 2028 Republican field is wide open, and he was noncommittal about the endorsement of a successor to his MAGA movement.
When Douthat told the president that he assumed he would endorse a presidential candidate in two years, Trump said, “Probably. Not necessarily.” He said Republicans will have a “tremendous bench” of candidates, adding that there were many people with whom he had great relationships.
When asked who would be on his list in addition to Vice President JD Vance, who is widely seen as a potential 2028 candidate, Trump mentioned Secretary of State Marco Rubio, adding that GOP senators are expected to run.
“I know ‘em all, I like ‘em a lot,” Trump said. “So I may or may not get involved. I don’t know. Maybe I’m better off not getting involved.”
In the aftermath of the midterm elections, Vance released a public statement on social media blaming the Iran war for Republican losses. The president told reporters Sunday that “a lot of people didn’t like his comments.” Trump has said he agreed with the notion that the war hurt Republicans politically. But in the “60 Minutes” interview, Trump said he wished Vance had addressed whether the war was necessary.
“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?…And my answer is an emphatic yes because you can’t let Iran have a nuclear weapon,” Trump said.
Rules out ever forgiving his political enemies
Douthat asked Trump a philosophical question at the end of the interview: What happens when you die? Trump said that he hoped to go to heaven.
Then Douthat pressed further, asking whether Trump would be willing to forgive his political enemies—including former Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi—to go to heaven.
“I want to be honest, no,” Trump said. “I probably cannot do that, no, because I do hate some of my enemies, and I always will.”
Trump went easier on his political allies, saying he has confidence in Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who has come under criticism from lawmakers of both parties for his role in advocating for the war in Iran.
The president said he expected to make changes to his cabinet. “I’ll be doin’ maybe a few changes,” he said. “I don’t wanna mention who.”
Rejects allegations of self-dealing
Douthat pressed Trump on the increase in his net worth since he returned to the White House. “I devote almost no time to my net worth. I don’t care,” Trump said.
The “60 Minutes” correspondent pointed to the Trump family’s co-ownership of World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency company that counts an Abu Dhabi royal as a major shareholder.
“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?” Douthat asked.
Trump responded that he knows nothing about his family’s investments, adding that he made a large amount of money before becoming president. When asked why he wouldn’t walk away from companies with foreign investments and avoid allegations of corruption, Trump replied that his sons run the company and that “It’s hard to say to them, ‘Don’t do anything anymore for four years because I’m president.’”
Plays down concerns about AI
The president maintained in the interview that the U.S. could manage the potential risks from artificial intelligence, arguing that he wasn’t willing to cede ground to China in the race to develop the technology.
“I don’t mind guardrails. But I don’t wanna put us in a deep second position,” Trump said. “We’re leading, number one. And China has no guardrails, by the way.”
Trump also said that his administration had recently threatened an unnamed official at an AI company with jail time.
“We had a situation where somebody was reported to us to be doing something bad with AI,” Trump said. “We called them very strongly and said, ‘Get ready to go to jail. Please give your wife a kiss good night.’” The president declined to name the company or the individual.
- Promo photo by Eric Lee/Reuters
Appeared in the November 9, 2026, print edition as 'Trump Says Deal On Immigration Is a Possibility'.
