Trump’s 60 Minutes Interview Had Some Shocking Moments, Especially on This Issue

President Donald Trump sat down with CBS News’ Ross Douthat to discuss the GOP’s historic drubbing in the 2026 midterms. The massive shifts that benefited him in 2024 went back to the Democrats, partly because Republicans offered next to nothing to excite base voters. The Iran War contributed to higher gas prices. While prices were higher under Biden, the only way to take that issue off the table was to lower them. Trump opted for an endless carousel of bombing, ceasefire, deal announcement, Iran reneging on or violating the ceasefire, and then the resumption of bombing. The subplot here: the Iran operation exposed Trump’s limits in his political skills and deal-making abilities. That’s not a knock on Trump, but he obviously learned that Tehran is full of crazy people; there’s no negotiating with terrorists. 

Ross Douthat’s questioning of Trump on this was polite, persistent and revealing. A model for how to interrogate a president: non-hostile, respectful but penetrating. Good for him.

— Brit Hume (@brithume) November 9, 2026

Neocons also learned this lesson about the limits of their power, specifically American power, even though their venture cost regional instability, a trillion dollars, and thousands of Americans’ lives. Some things are obvious, like the war and the appalling messaging strategy, though, again, that got kneecapped by the lack of legislative wins in the year leading up to Election Day. The immigration issue is worth watching for changes. Trump said his deportation policy might’ve been too tough and that he might rethink it. There could be some amnesty talk, even though the American people still trust the GOP to handle this issue, tough deportation policy and all. Amnesty is arsenic to the GOP. But the president, while initially waving his pen regarding the veto threat, now says he’s willing to work with Democrats on affordability issues. White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles resigned last Friday — more changes could be coming.

Full exchange on immigration: Trump is open to doing a deal with the Democrats on immigration, says current policy “helped and hurt”, deportation policy was “too tough”, and is open to doing something for “landscapers” and “hotel workers” who’ve been in the country 10-15+ years, is open to working with Talarico

— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) November 9, 2026

The president defended his stewardship of the economy in his 60 Minutes sitdown, which came hours after a stronger-than-expected jobs report. He said “the numbers are phenomenal.”

heir all-time high by a lot. Under other presidents, they were a disaster. 401(k)s have made people rich,” the president said. Pressed on the fact that not all Americans have large retirement accounts, Mr. Trump responded: “But a lot of people do.”

But exit polling shows three-fourths of midterm voters viewed the condition of the economy as either poor or not so good — and 70% of that group voted for Democratic House candidates. Voters were especially concerned about prices of gasoline, food, utilities and healthcare, and two-thirds of voters believed that Mr. Trump’s tariff policies hurt the country’s economy.

Mr. Trump said the problem is that “we couldn’t get the word across.”

“I think it was bad messaging, maybe by me, but I would talk about it all the time.”

[…]

The president said immigration “both helped and hurt.”

“I think I got an A+ for closing up the border,” he said.

So, which immigration policies hurt him?

“For getting people out, I get very high marks for getting the bad ones out,” Mr. Trump said. “But I get hurt because we also took people that had good jobs, that created one violation, or breaking of the law, and that was that they came into the country illegally.”

He continued: “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 working in a hotel, or doing something, right? And in some cases, paying taxes.”

“I think it was too tough,” the president said of his deportation policies.

[…]

Mr. Trump spoke with 60 Minutes shortly before announcing Wiles’ departure. During the interview, he hinted at impending personnel changes.

Asked whether he expected to fire anyone after Republicans’ midterm losses, he said: “I do, yeah. Little bit.” He added that “I love my Cabinet,” but “I’ll … be doing maybe a few changes.”

Uh oh

— Mark Mitchell, Honest Pollster (@honestpollster) November 9, 2026

BRUTAL HONESTY. This might be one of the deepest introspections into President Trump’s mind ever recorded. In just 90 seconds, Trump gave 60 Minutes viewers a rare glimpse into how he views his enemies. Host Ross Douthat repeatedly tried to give the president an opportunity to say he could forgive his political enemies. Every time, Trump refused to pretend. DOUTHAT: “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?” TRUMP: “Then I wouldn’t be real, would I?” “Sure the easy answer to that’s, oh yes, I could forgive.” “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.” DOUTHAT: “Is the answer no then?” TRUMP: “The answer is no. I want to be honest!” DOUTHAT: “Before the judgement throne of God?” TRUMP: “Before the judgement.” Most people would have given the politically correct answer and said they could forgive. Trump chose to tell the truth, even when it wasn’t the answer people wanted to hear.

— Overton (@overton_news) November 9, 2026

Trump is describing amnesty. It’s insulting that @RapidResponse47 thinks the voters who elected Trump because he promised mass deportations don’t know what amnesty is. Amnesty (or whatever you want to call a “deal” for “people who are here…for 10 or 15 years”) is a betrayal.

— Brianna Lyman (@briannalyman2) November 9, 2026

The president said there wouldn’t be an escalation in the Iran operation, but we’ll see how things turn out. For the traditional Bush-Reagan types, this will likely drive them insane, though we’ve known for years that Trump isn’t your run-of-the-mill Republican. 

He just can’t cave on immigration. 

Republicans will never regain power by becoming more like Democrats. We need bold colors. No pale pastels.

— Mike Lee (@BasedMikeLee) November 9, 2026

Almost everyone who cosponsored The Dignity Act lost re-election. Cosponsoring The Dignity Act is political cancer

— Ryan James Girdusky (@RyanGirdusky) November 9, 2026 

🚨 UPDATE: President Trump just dropped this line on whether he’s going to Heaven or Hell Q: Do you think you’re going to Heaven? TRUMP: “I hope so — I don’t wanna go to Hell!” Trump also famously said this aboard Air Force One: “I don’t think anything’s gonna get me in Heaven! I think I’m not, maybe, Heaven-bound! I’m not sure I’ll be able to make Heaven, but I’ve made life a lot better for a lot of people.” You can do it, Mr. President 🙏🏻

— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) November 8, 2026

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