Interview: Tanya O'Rourke of WCPO Channel 9 Cincinnati Interviews Donald Trump - October 3, 2026

Sir, you won this state by a whopping 11 points two years ago. Now, you've got a gubernatorial and Senate candidate who are str- -- statistically neck and neck. What do you con- -- attribute that to?

Well, I'm not sure I believe that poll, because they're very good. Uh, Jon Husted is fantastic, and Vivek is Vivek. I mean, he's a very talented guy, loves the state, all of those things. And, uh, I see they're sort of even, but they're just great. I think they're gonna end up coming, and I'm here now to do that.

And I won by a lot all three times, so we have to put some of that, whatever it is, into their, uh, system. And I think they're gonna do very well. And they're gonna do a fantastic job.

Gas prices, everyone's talking about them. In Ohio, they just dropped the gas tax. Um, starts tomorrow, actually. But gas prices are high. What can you say to the folks in this area about when? When will they come down?

Well, they're actually lower than Biden, and he didn't get rid of a nuclear weapon from Iran. So, Iran's not gonna have a nuclear weapon. You're gonna see the war is gonna end very quickly. It's gonna, it's almost over. Uh, we totally control the Strait of Hormuz and all of that. But beyond that, it's gonna be over very quickly.

As soon as it ends, uh, you're gonna see gra- -- gas prices, and almost all prices drop like a rock. We inherited the worst inflation in the history of our country. We inherited the highest prices in the history of our country. And they pinned the word affordability, but they're the ones that cause the affordability prices.

If you look at all prices are coming way down. Uh, gas is coming down a lot over the last couple of weeks. Uh, the war's gonna be over. When it's over, it's gonna be over soon. When it's over, uh, you're gonna see it drop like a rock. I think even below to, below the level we had it just before we started.

And we had to start the war, because we cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon.

You've said it, it's gonna end soon. And you've said that it will happen as soon as the election is over.

I think so.

Do you, you maintain that and?

Well, because it's I know how we're doing. We, they have no Navy, they have no Air Force, they have no radar, they have no anti-aircraft equipment. Their leaders have been wiped out. Number one group, number two group. And, uh, yeah, I mean, I, I also know what, I know things that other people don't know, even you. [Laughs]

Well, I, I hope so. [Laughs]

I'd better.

Data cen- --

If I don't, we have a problem.

Data centers are a huge flashpoint right now. And Ohio especially has become part of the campaigns. What, what are your feelings on push, on, on, uh, on data centers and why they're receiving so much pushback?

Well, I think what's happening, is they are very, very big sources of income for a lot of places. A lot of places love them. And I think what is happening is they're sort of forming partnerships with some of these massive companies, where, uh, teachers are being paid lots of dividends and lots of money because of any inconvenience.

There really is no inconvenience. It's a lot of it, I really believe is a hoax, like Russia, Russia, Russia, and all of the other hoaxes. But if I were a community in Ohio, I'd like to have it, because, uh, the money is i- -- incredible to the people that live there. And one of the things that's very new, I saw, where Meta, I guess, offered the community $10,000 apiece.

That's okay. There's nothing wrong with doing that and taking it. Uh, in Louisiana, they're paying teachers $50,000, uh, and everybody all of a sudden is loving data centers. So, I can see that. Let people negotiate with these people, and let them be popular. And also pick the right location. And it's very important.

You don't want them to be right next to a community or something, but this tremendous space in Ohio, uh, you know, you've got some data centers that are making a lot of people rich.

Yes, they are. Um, I wanted to just kind of throw something out there. The SAVE Act. In the state of Ohio, you have supported, over Twitter --

Right.

-- Issue 3, which essentially is the SAVE Act baked into our Constitution.

Yeah.

Why?

Uh, because of voter ID. We want voter ID, and we want, uh, proof of citizenship. And you're gonna do that. You're gonna put it in. And Jon Husted's been fighting it very, fighting for it very hard, and so is Vivek. And, uh, everybody has to get out and vote, because of that. I think that's in your voting, uh, agenda.

And that's very important. That's good, because you'll get out and vote for Vivek and Husted.

I wanna ask you kind of a more fun question.

Go ahead.

You have been in office essentially six years. I mean, okay, we had a few years out of there. But you've spent a lot of time as the president of the United States. Can you tell me what the best thing, your favorite thing you've gotten to do, and maybe the worst thing too?

Well, the best thing is making America great again. That's what we've done. We've made America great. We have the hottest country anywhere in the world. We're respected by everybody. Two years ago, we were a laughingstock. We had a president who was a joke. Everybody knows it. And we were just a laughingstock.

Now, we're the most respected country anywhere in the world. Our military, I've built up our mi- -- I built it really in my first term, but, uh, our military is amazing. Our country is doing unbelievably. We have $21 trillion being invested. We're the hottest country in the world. Uh, as far as the worst, I would say the hoaxes that we have to go through, the constant hoaxes with the Democrats.

Uh, you see the way they are the, they have the worst policy I've ever seen. Men and women's sports, transgender for everybody. All of the crazy things that they have. Our open borders, they caused all these problems with open borders, tremendous inflation. But everything's a hoax with them. It's all made up stuff.

And that's, you know, never fun to handle, but you have to handle it as a politician. But there's never, there's something wrong with them. And they are going communist, or certainly socialists, but they're going communist. And if you look back for thousands of years under different names, it's never worked.

And it won't work now. And I think we're gonna have a great midterm, really. I'm, I'm going to --

You're confident in it?

Yeah. I'm going to a lot of different places, as you know. I was in, uh, I was all over the place. Over the last, uh, three days, I was in Texas. I went to Oklahoma.

I saw that.

Last night I was in Alabama. Uh, tomorrow I'm someplace else. And the entire week, I'm, every single night, I'm in another great location. This is one of my favorite at all because I won this year, and I have the highest vote in the history of Ohio. That's pretty good. I like that. Three times I have the highest vote in the history of Ohio.

So I love Ohio. And, uh, I used to work in Ohio. You don't know that.

Yes.

And I worked in Cincinnati.

I'm in Cincinnati and --

That's right.

-- I drive by where you used to work all the time.

Swifton Village in Cincinnati.

Swifton Commons, yeah.

Yeah. It's, it was great. It was, uh, great years. It was a real estate job that really I did well with. I had a good feeling. It's like sinking the first putt. I sank the first putt. It was when I was very young and my father and I, we bought a job in, in Cincinnati, Ohio. And I worked at the job and we made it very, very successful.

We ultimately sold it and it worked, you know, for a lot. At the time, a lot. Now it's not so much, I guess. But, uh, I have just great feeling for Ohio. And the people of Ohio know that. That's why they voted for. That's why we have the record, all-time record vote.

When do you sleep?

Uh, well, I don't need that much sleep, fortunately.

Yeah.

But I, I look at it this way. We, two and a half years, I don't expect to sleep much. I wanna get it all done. And I can worry about sleeping after I'm finished with my, perhaps you could call it my third term. I just don't want the results of the second.

Do you ever think about what's next for Donald Trump after the presidency?

No. I don't think about that. I only think about what I can do during the presidency. Maybe I'll do something wonderful after, but I don't think about that. I think about what I can do during my presidency. We have two and a half years left. That's a long t- -- that's like an eternity and we're gonna do some great things.

If the midterms don't go as you would like it to, how will that change what you do?

I don't know. I mean, I'll become a blocker, I guess. I'll be blocking communist agendas and, uh, policies. I'll be blocking things that, you know, are, will be very unfortunate. They want big tax, tax increases. I'll be blocking that. I won't let the people do that. Uh, I'll be fighting for the people.

You face a lot of criticism every day. I don't think it really bothers you.

And, and a lot of pr- -- no, it does bother me, but, uh, but I get much more praise than I get, look, what we've done, nobody's ever done what we've done, the biggest tax cuts in history. When you see no tax on tips and no tax on Social Security for our seniors and no tax on overtime and all of the things we've done, I get a lot of praise.

That's why the crowds are like this.

Well, then let me rephrase.

Go ahead.

You take a lot of criticism, you're used to it, but when people criticize your wife, the first lady of the United States, what does that do to you?

Well, I, I don't see too much of it.

Yeah.

And certainly a lot less. She's doing a fantastic job. She's a very charitable person, very good person. And I think she's a great representative for the country. Uh, she did a movie. It's a n- -- it was a num- -- I think it's the number one movie of the year, "Melania." And, uh, the one, the people that like it the most are women.

Women would go to see it four or five times. But no, I think they like her, but she's strong and you have to be able to take it. You're in politics.

She's tough?

She's, well, yeah, she's, I guess she's tough.

Yeah.

But, uh, sometimes it's unfair criticism. Sometimes I guess it's fair for both of us. But overall, it's been amazing. I hope it's been the most consequential presidency.

You're back here in Ohio. We saw you a lot. Every time you've campaigned, you've been back many times. Did you think you'd have to be back here for a midterm to kind of whip everyone in shape?

Well, I might have come anyway, but I'm surprised that it's close because I won in a landslide and I'm surprised, you know, I won by so much and I'm surprised it's close. And maybe it's not because polls are fake, like so many other things. But, uh, these are two, I mean, Husted is fantastic and Vivek is fantastic.

And I think after tonight, maybe they'll take a big lead, I hope. I've done that too for a lot of people.