Trump concedes immigration 'too tough' in first post-midterm interview

President Trump conceded his deportation policy “might be too tough” in a 52-minute 60 Minutes interview that aired Nov. 8, his first sit-down since Republicans lost both chambers of Congress.

The interview, conducted Friday at the White House by correspondent Ross Douthat, ranged across the midterm losses, the Iran war, immigration, the president’s personal wealth and his own mortality. CBS News published a full transcript.

The appearance came three days after Democrats swept the House and Senate, costing Republicans more than 40 House seats and at least seven Senate seats. With subpoena power shifting to the new majority and the 2028 campaign already taking shape, the interview was the first test of how a weakened Trump intends to handle the second half of his term.

Trump offered several explanations for the losses. He said he “was not on the ballot,” blamed “bad messaging” on the economy and acknowledged that voters “didn’t like the war” with Iran. He disputed the idea that his endorsed candidates dragged the ticket down, insisting that Sen. John Cornyn of Texas “would have lost also” had he been the nominee. About 63% of midterm voters disapproved of Trump’s job performance, according to CBS News exit polling.

On Iran, Trump declined to disown the war. Vice President JD Vance had written on social media that “the reason we lost is the war,” and Trump said he did not disagree, except to say his own answer to whether he would “do it again” was “an emphatic yes.” He argued Iran’s nuclear program had been set back and pointed to a portrait of Ulysses S. Grant in the Oval Office, noting that Grant’s reputation improved with age. He said he was “not looking to” escalate now that the midterms were over.

The immigration concession was the most striking admission. Exit polling showed 58% of voters thought the administration’s actions had gone too far, and Latino voters in Texas who had shifted to Trump in 2024 moved back to Democrats, the New York Times reported. Trump said he got “an A+ for closing up the border” but conceded that removing workers who held good jobs and had committed only the violation of entering illegally “might be too tough.” He said a deal with Democrats was “actually doable.”

An hour after the interview concluded, Trump announced that White House chief of staff Susie Wiles would be replaced by Stephen Miller, the architect of the administration’s immigration enforcement strategy. The move cut against the conciliatory tone Trump had struck on camera. CBS News reported that Miller had pressed Immigration and Customs Enforcement to conduct at least 3,000 arrests per day.

Douthat pressed Trump on reporting by Forbes that his net worth had grown by nearly $3 billion since he returned to the White House, fueled partly by his family’s cryptocurrency ventures. Trump said he devoted “almost no time” to his net worth and that his sons run his company. Asked about investors connected to the United Arab Emirates in a crypto firm he co-owns, Trump said “I know nothing about it” and argued that “every president has had this problem” with conflicts of interest.

Looking ahead to 2028, Trump said he would “probably” endorse a successor but “not necessarily,” naming Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio as possibilities. He said he intends to issue “tremendous numbers of pardons” before leaving office and called a self-pardon “certainly not unreasonable,” though he does not expect to attempt one. He also defended Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, saying “we won two wars” in Venezuela and Iran.

The interview ended on a personal exchange. Douthat asked Trump, who has survived multiple assassination attempts, whether he could forgive his enemies to enter heaven. “The answer is no,” Trump said. “I probably cannot do that, no, because I do hate some of my enemies and I always will.”

The broadcast drew praise across the political spectrum for Douthat, who joined 60 Minutes over the summer after 17 years as a New York Times columnist. McKay Coppins of The Atlantic called it “the most interesting Trump interview I’ve seen in a long time,” Mediaite reported. The hiring of Douthat by CBS News chief Bari Weiss had been controversial, and the broadcast was seen as a vindication of that decision.

What I think

The interview was two things at once, and the contradiction between them is the story.

Trump conceded that his deportation policy was “too tough.” He said he could work with Democrats. He said a deal on immigration was “doable.” Then he replaced his chief of staff with Stephen Miller, the man who built the deportation policy he had just criticized. The concession and the personnel move happened within an hour of each other.

The Iran portion was the same pattern in reverse. Trump said he would “do it again” and compared himself to Ulysses S. Grant. But he also said he was “not looking to” escalate. The war that his own vice president blamed for the midterm defeat is the war Trump defends on historical grounds. The voters who rejected it are not the audience he is playing to.

Douthat asked the right questions and let the answers stand. The wealth exchange was the most revealing. Trump’s defense of his family’s cryptocurrency firm with foreign investors was that “every president has had this problem.” Every president has not owned a cryptocurrency company with investors from the United Arab Emirates. The deflection worked anyway, because the interview moved on.

The forgiveness answer at the end will be the clip that survives. Trump said he hates his enemies and always will. He said it plainly, without hedging. It is the one statement in the interview that matches everything he has done in the decade he has been in public life. The rest is negotiable.