[Donald Trump sat for an interview with Josh Pate at The Varsity restaurant in Rome, Georgia at approximate 3:45 PM on Thursday, February 19, 2026. The interview was released at 7:50 PM on Sunday, February 22, 2026. Video courtesy Josh Pate's College Football Show.]
I live in the world of college football. You're at college football games all the time. We just saw you down in Miami last month.
Right, right.
The national championship game. So you love the game. You've always loved football.
Always.
I've always loved college football.
Right.
So on the field, love what I see. Then you get off the field and then you just got a whole bunch of mess. People talk about right now with the structure of the game and --
Right.
What rules can you make? What rules can you enforce? I know how I feel, I know how fans feel. How do you feel when you see that from your vantage point?
Well, it's too bad. I, I hate to see it and I hate to see a lot of things in football and a lot of things in a lot of other events. Uh, when I look at the kickoff, I hate to see this new kickoff rule they have. It's, uh, you know, it takes the glamour, the glory that it takes everything outta the game. Uh, when I watch a kickoff, you know, that's a, that's a big event.
That's the opening of a game and, you know, important. It's an important thing. And then they do this. I'm not even sure if, does anybody understand what they're even doing? Uh, they kick it short of the end zone. Now you have to kick it short of the end zone. And somebody said they wanna see more runbacks.
Actually, they wanna see much less runbacks, I guess. And that's why they're doing it. But I think it's very bad for the NFL and I hope college football doesn't do that.
You um, so you're at a lot of college football games.
Yeah.
You show up all the time. What's the process of that when you're looking on the landscape and you, you say, "Ah, we got a big one coming up. May want to go to that one."
Yeah.
How do you decide where you go?
Uh, I look ar- -- around and I'll say like, uh, South Carolina's good and Georgia's good. I like Georgia. I like this Georgia team. I like your quarterback, by the way. I like Gunner. He's gonna be a great quarterback. I'm telling you, he's already a great quarterback, but he is only gonna get better. He's asking how I, uh, how I judge and how I judge players and which games do I want to go to. I want to go to any game, that guy, 'cause he's been a big Trump fan.
So, uh, I'm gonna be watching him very closely this year. You're gonna have a big year. So I like certain people, players, and teams. Uh, Alabama, I was just with Coach Saban together, he's fantastic coach. Uh, Coach Myers. We have a lot of, a lot of good, have a lot of good friends in college football.
You mentioned, uh, the golfing outing you had with Coach Saban, Coach Meyer. I believe Ron DeSantis was there the other day.
Right.
What's the conversation like specifically when you're around big college figures, whether it's a commissioner, a former head coach?
Yeah.
What's the conversation right now?
Well, you know, they talk to me about, uh, the politics really more so than football. They liked politics. They're all, uh, obviously very highly competitive people. But I would say for the most part, we're talking politics. They want to know what's happening with Iran, what's happening, what, how do you do that with Venezuela?
That was pretty good, you know, that was very, very, uh, successful, to put it mildly. But they, they always wanna seem to, 'cause they play with a lot of athletes, a lot of coaches, you know, play golf. I'm a good golfer. And, uh, some of them are good. Some of them aren't very good, but doesn't matter.
One thing a golfer doesn't really matter. That's why they have handicaps. But, uh, they always want to talk about politics.
You were, you were down at the national championship game.
Yeah.
So Indiana was this incredible story.
Right. Amazing.
Throughout the entirety of last year.
Amazing.
And then, national championship winner. And then, the assistant coaches start winning all these awards.
Right.
And a lot of praise on Curt Cignetti as there should be. And he put together an incredible roster. He put together an incredible staff.
Right.
And afterwards, everyone wants to ask, "What's the secret? How did he pull it off?" You're a guy, you've hired thousands of people in the business world. You've vetted people for cabinet positions, but you've sat across from 'em like we're doing right now.
Right.
What do you look for in someone to know, that's the characteristic I want, that's a guy or that's a girl I want on my team?
Well, I have it a little bit now in myself. I have a great staff. I have, you know, really good people working for me. I would say first term, I had never done it before. I won. You know, I came outta business. I was to Washington 17 times in my entire, entire life. I'd never stayed over. And I had some very good people, but I had some people that I wouldn't have chosen had I had a little more experience.
Once I got all that experience, now we have an unbelievable cabinet. And you, you know, experience really helps. You see people under fire. Uh, when you go in there and you don't have that feel, not good, but there's a, a great deal of experience. I think there's also an instinct. I've had a good instinct for people.
I think I've had a good instinct for athletes, for athletes. But Herschel's a special guy. I think Herschel did really well. He tried really hard with, uh, his run, his Senate run. And I think he did really well. He got some, I think he got some unfair treatment, frankly. But I would say Herschel maybe was the greatest player ever in college football.
You know, you could make a case. He was the greatest running back in college football.
Sure.
He was, he was legendary here. And he actually had a very good, a lot of people don't realize what a good career he had in the NFL. He had a very good career in the NFL too.
You mentioned experience. I mean, not many people get to be the President of the United States.
Yeah.
Not many people, even further down the line, get to do it twice. And so, you kind of got to experience.
Yeah.
And then reassess --
Get a lot of experience.
Go there a second time. What, what are the things when people ask you, "Hey, what'd you learn the first time that you applied the second time?" What are the go-tos for you?
Well, it's about people. You know, you have to get the right people. If you don't get the right people, you can be really good but it's never gonna be the same. It's never gonna be, uh, fantastic the way they run it. You know, you can see all the good people they have working here. They've been here a long time.
Uh, you have to get, uh, look at the people we have. I mean, they're so, they're outstanding, they're stars. And I learned that in the first term. And again, I had a lot of great people, but I had some that I wouldn't have used again. It's been amazing.
You mentioned the word instinct a second ago.
Yeah.
I love talking to coaches about that. 'cause oftentimes, you're in a room and you got important decisions to make every day football-wise or running the country.
Right, right.
And there are a lot of times probably where you've got expert voices, nearly consensus, telling you one thing.
Yeah.
Your instinct may say another thing.
Yeah.
How do you know how to balance that when you pull the trigger?
You never know, that's what instinct's all about. You never know. You just go with your gut. And some people can do that, some people don't do it. You know, look, you have to put a lot of things into the equation and that equals what you could call instinct. But, uh, you know, instinctually I said I should run and then I said I should run again.
And, uh, we're having a lot of fun. We're doing a good job.
A lot of times, it's great when you just got one popular decision or unpopular.
Yeah.
Or, or one right and wrong.
Yeah.
Oftentimes in your world, you got those level 10 decisions where it's just --
Yeah --
-- both of them are gonna be bad.
Yeah. Or, or good.
Yeah.
You know, you have good, like, for instance, candidates, you're choosing candidates, sometimes I have three or four people that I really like. It's very hard to do. And they've supported me. Sometimes they have to take a pass because it's just, it's too, it's heart wrenching when you, you know, somebody's running and you're supporting somebody, let's say outta four candidates and they're all 100% like Trump candidates.
Now I have this a lot where I like 'em all the same. I mean, I literally like it. They're all really great and you have to make a choice. And it's very, it's a very tough thing to do.
When you are, um, elected president, everybody's got like a vision of how that would be. Most of the time it's just a dream for someone. I heard you, I think it was on Joe Rogan's show, you talked about walking in there and just walking in the Lincoln bedroom and saying --
Yeah.
-- this is a Lincoln bedroom. This is unbelievable.
Yeah. You know, it's, uh, they talk about having that feeling. I walked in and I won and you know, you're so busy and you realize you won and maybe you take it a little bit for granted, then you win a second time and then you win a third time, to be honest. But I, I stood the first time and I was standing upstairs in the beautiful White House, there's no building like it, there's no building in terms of the feel.
And I'm standing right outside with, uh, our First Lady who's now a movie star, can you believe it?
Yes, she is.
She's got a very successful movie. But, uh, I'm standing outside of the Lincoln bedroom and I'm looking, and it's so historic. You know, it's Abe Lincoln, it's a big deal. And, uh, it's a little bit of a deja vu or it's a, it's a feeling of like, uh, have I been here before? What's going on? [Laughs] And, and it really, uh, it really is something, it really is something when I did it the second time and then the third time, uh, and that is deja vu because I've been there, I've seen it, and uh, here I am again.
But when you stand in the White House and you see all of the great history from, uh, from Lincoln, you could go to what, even if you don't like FDR, you know FDR was a four term president and you see all of the e- -- everybody leaves something. There's always a mark.
Yeah.
Uh, there's such great history. And if you love the country, you know, you love the history, the whole history, the Democrat and the Republican history. But the White House is a special place when you're over there. But I stood out there that first night, the very first night and, uh, 2016, and I'm looking and I'm standing right outside the door of Lincoln, I'm looking into the Lincoln bedroom and I'm saying that's pretty, that's, uh, that's pretty wild.
You, um, you, you frequently have to be face-to-face with people who have maybe said not such nice things about you in the past.
Yeah.
Maybe you've said things their way in the past.
Yeah.
And there's this separation. It's always fascinated me, 'cause normal people aren't really capable of the separation of business and personal.
Right.
And I watch you do it all the time. And I mean, is that, is that instinctive? Is that something you need to have? Is that something you can learn? 'Cause it, it's not normal.
Well, when I, when I do that, I mean, you're talking about like some people that you don't like and you're dealing with 'em. But I'm not so good at that. I usually go after 'em. I shouldn't. [Laughs] Uh, I shouldn't go after 'em, but I do, I tend to probably do it. I don't know if that's good or bad. Nobody's ever gonna figure that one out.
But, uh, no, I have a lot of people I don't like, and I have a lot of people I like a lot. And, uh, you know, I'm, I'm very loyal. I'm, I'm loyal to the people that I like and we have a lot of good people. I have a lot of people that I'm not a fan of necessarily, but I think they're right on a lot of issues.
I go with them all the time. I go with those issues all the time. I want to, I want to just do what's right for the country.
Mr. President, we appreciate you joining us today.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Congratulations on your show.
I appreciate that.
I hear he is got a hell of a show. Is that right? Quarterback? He's got a good show. Thank you.
Thank you.
Lot of fun.
Yes, sir.
Congratulations.
Appreciate it.
This is a good interview, these --
Thank you.