Staring down the final two years left in office, President Donald Trump is in legacy mode.
The Republican Party is busy staving off major losses in the midterm elections, but Trump’s main focus is on how to ensure that his remaking of presidential power in Washington isn’t erased when his second term ends.
In an extensive interview with Time magazine, the president dismissed much of the criticism he has faced for the Iran war, his embrace of artificial intelligence, the American public’s frustration with the economy, and the multiple construction projects he has launched. The president also said he doesn’t believe polling, which shows him facing historic low job approval numbers.
“They’re fake numbers,” said Trump. “I would beat anybody running today by 20 points.”
Trump’s appearance on Time’s cover marks his 56th time gracing the magazine’s front page, more than anyone else. Here are the top takeaways from the president’s interview.
Fighting Democrats and pardoning White House staff
Democrats are poised to retake the House if most polls and historical precedent are to be believed. Yet Trump did not seem worried about the possible investigations, hearings, and impeachment attempts that could occur over the latter half of his term.
“They’ll probably go after me and I’ll go after them,” said Trump.
But Trump also claimed that the GOP can still win the House if he hits the campaign trail. “I think we’ll do okay if I campaign, and I intend to,” he said. “When I campaign, I give people a lot.”
The president appeared willing to pardon members of his Cabinet before the end of his term, similar to what former President Joe Biden did in 2024.
“Yeah, sure I’d do that,” said Trump. “Well, Sleepy Joe Biden, he gave pardons to everyone.”
‘Annihilating Iran’ and dodging on whether Nethanyhu deserves ‘another term’
Trump told the magazine it was possible his administration would ramp up its bombing campaign against Iran after the midterm elections.
Trump argued that he had to launch the Iran war, which led to higher gas and diesel prices, to protect the nation from harm.
“I care about the American economy more than any human being that’s ever been president, but I also have to put out the fire,” he said. “I have to put out the fire in the Islamic Republic.”
Preventing Tehran from obtaining nuclear weapons meant Trump “had no choice,” the president claimed.
“I’d do it again today,” he added. I’d do the same thing. I have no choice.”
“Because by annihilating Iran, we’ve created peace in the world,” Trump said. “With Iran, I don’t think you could ever have peace.”
Tehran’s control of the Strait of Hormuz has forced Trump into a much longer battle, although he claimed the war’s length was because he wants to completely destroy Iran.
“When I said I was going to be there for a short period of time, I was, and then I decided I wanted to go further than that because I didn’t want to have them come back in some different form,” he said.
On the topic of the Middle East, Trump was also pressed repeatedly on whether he supported Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to win another term in October’s national elections. The president dodged the question repeatedly, but did admit that Netanyahu could not be counted out.
“Well, people have written off Bibi many, many times, just like they’ve written off me many, many times,” Trump said.” I wouldn’t underestimate Bibi.”
Insurrection Act and ICE at the polls
Trump has long pushed for Congress to pass the SAVE America Act, an election integrity bill. But with Congress out until after the midterm elections, the legislation won’t be passed in time to impact them.
Trump told Time he hadn’t “thought of” sending Immigration and Customs Enforcement to the polls to ensure illegal immigrants do not vote in the midterms. But the president also refused to rule out invoking the Insurrection Act if there was violence or civil unrest in the run-up to the election.
“I don’t rule anything out or in,” he said. “I could use it. A lot of people think I should use it sometimes.”
“We have the lowest crime in the history of our country. We have the lowest murder rate since 1900, 125 years,” Trump added. “We have the lowest murder rate. That’s despite the fact that they allowed 25 million people.”
Doubling down on AI
Trump remains adamant that the U.S. will not back away from the artificial intelligence race, even as the public, tech leaders, and Congress worry about the threats it could pose against humanity.
“My attitude is, we’re winning against the world by a lot, and I want to keep winning,” Trump said. “And from our standpoint, we have trillions of dollars being invested in our country because it’s probably the biggest business there is. We’re the most advanced, we have the, we have the smartest people.”
This week, Trump released an agreement with tech CEOs to self-regulate AI, which Trump has renamed to “super intelligence.” The agreement, titled the White House Accord on Super Intelligence Joint Commitment on Frontier Responsibilities, is a morally binding agreement with some of the nation’s top tech leaders, including Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, SpaceXAI CEO Elon Musk, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, and OpenAI co-founder and President Greg Brockman.
Trump also provided more details about the SI Force, formerly known as the AI Force.
“It’s going to be a group of very smart people that understand it, who will be advising me,” said Trump. “But I will tell you right now, I’m not going to be easy because I’m not going to kill a thing based on phony threats.”
But Trump stopped short of calling for a nationalization of the top frontier AI labs.
Oval Office demolition and saving the Kennedy Center
Trump’s focus on redesigning the East Room ballroom, the South Lawn helipad, the Kennedy Center, and other projects remains unbroken, with Trump, a real estate developer, claiming he’s motivated by his love for the nation.
“The White House is a very special symbol,” Trump said. “It’s a symbol of America. It’s a symbol of our greatness.”
The president claimed that the White House was a disgraceful dump and that his revamping of the Oval Office was necessary. But he claimed he would be willing to save the Kennedy Center with some caveats, even after a judge had blocked him from renaming it the Trump-Kennedy Center.
“It’s in terrible shape. I’d be willing to save it, but it’s in terrible, terrible shape. Only I can save it,” he said. “The Kennedy Center, long before I got there, was losing hundreds of millions of dollars. Do you know that? And if I’m going to go out and put up the money myself or raise that kind of money, I think the Trump Administration should be recognized.”
Protestors have rallied against the administration’s attempts to knock down the Kennedy Center, which Trump did not rule out. “I’m not committing to anything. We’re going to see how it plays out in court,” he said.
In one shocking anecdote, Trump said a Secret Service agent suggested he tear the Oval Office down and renovate it.
“I see the Secret Service looking, and I say, ‘What are you guys looking at?’” Trump recounted. The agent told him: “Sir, we think the Oval Office should be taken down, and we’ll build a new one, sir.” I said, “My ass, you can’t build a new one. This is a special place.”
White House Media ban
Trump’s battle against CNN, Politico, and MS Now hasn’t abated after Trump initially banned the three outlets from the White House and a judge ordered the administration to grant their journalists access to campus grounds.
“I do respect the free press, but I don’t respect fake news,” Trump said as CNN was left out of the TV pool on Thursday. “I haven’t had a good story on CNN for years. They’re incapable of being — they’re fake news. Same thing on MS Now.”
He also attacked other outlets that were left out of the ban for negative press coverage of his administration.
“You know, when they write stories that are knowingly false, and everyone knows NBC’s, NBC’s bad too, but CNN is terrible,” said Trump. “MS Now changed their name because they have no friends.”
TRUMP DIRECTS MEDIA IRE TOWARD FOX, SAYING IT FEATURES TOO MANY DEMOCRATS
The president claimed he wasn’t ignoring U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly’s order to restore their access after blocking CNN from Air Force One. The news outlets have asked Kelly, a Trump-appointed judge, to extend his order reinstituting their access beyond the initial 14-day order.
“No, I’m not. I’m not ignoring his order,” said Trump. “I’m just saying that when I don’t have to go out of my way, these people write only bad stories. When they say orders, what order? I’m not even aware.”