Interview: Donald Trump Calls in to Fox News for a Live Election Night Interview - November 3, 2026

Uh, the 45th and 47th president of the United States, President Trump joins us by phone. Mr. President, thank you for calling in.

Good evening, Mr. President.

OK. Hi, Bret. Hi.

Well, let's just get your reaction to this night and what you take away from it.

Well, I'm a little bit surprised. I thought they'd do better. We had tremendous rallies. We had about 30 of them. There were thousands and thousands of people outside, let alone inside, couldn't get in. And they'd watch from big tele -- you know, screens on the outside of the buildings, and they were excited.

There was great excitement. Uh, so I'm a little bit surprised. I thought that I could transfer those people into candidates, but maybe, in certain cases -- you know, don't forget, we had a lot of candidates that did win, also. But in certain cases, they didn't win. I felt badly about Darline. I felt very badly.

She's gone through -- you know, her relationship with Lindsey was extraordinary. It's just -- she was essentially mourning and -- and campaigning at the same time, and then on top of it, this happens. But I'm a little surprised; I thought they'd do better, actually.

Mr. President, now, you know, we've called the House for Democratic Control, we've called the Senate for Democratic Control, the -- the House margin could be as high as 255 seats. Uh, the Senate, we don't know yet what the margin is going to be, but you're now going to have to work in the last two years with a Democratic House and a Democratic Senate.

It's been done before.

How do you approach that and what do you -- how do you how do you look at that?

It's been done before, as you know, numerous times, and, uh, it's a power of veto. It's one of the stronger powers that a president has, and they'll send over things that are insane, and I'll veto them. And after a couple of months of vetoes, they'll call and they'll say, uh, how do we get this stuff done, and we'll work together.

You know, I have a lot of friends that are Democrats, believe it or not. I've already spoken to some of them. I've had four calls from meaningful Democrats. And, uh, people, uh, and two -- two Senators and three Congressmen, actually. So it's a total of five, and I have three waiting to call me, so I don't know, they obviously want to talk, but I have the power of veto.

And the power of veto is a -- you know, it's impervious.

So President Trump, I'd love to hear, you know, how you think you can work with them. But I think the first question that I have for you is, what do you think the takeaways are from -- from tonight? You know, are there anything that you would -- that you would change? I know you said in a comment just a moment ago, you know, maybe a bit of it was Iran.

So what are your thoughts on that, sir?

No, I think a part of it was Iran, but at the same time, people understood the importance of what I've done with Iran. I think historically, it's going to be much more important than this evening, because you can't let the number one state sponsor of terror have a nuclear weapon. You know, it's the most dangerous country in the world, and we wiped them out, practically, haven't finished the job.

And maybe I will and maybe I won't. Maybe they'll get smart and maybe they won't. But we've, uh, you know, we've put big hurt on them, and they're bad people. They've killed thousands of our soldiers, thousands of people, hundreds of thousands. They killed 75,000 people in the last eight months, protesters, 75,000 that we know of and that was as of two months ago.

So these are bad people, and this should have been done long before me. This should have been done by other presidents, or other countries. And I was given the task and I had no choice because they were two weeks away from having a nuclear weapon. The JCPO3, that's the Obama deal, the nuclear deal that he made was one of the worst and dumbest deals maybe I've ever seen.

It was a road to a nuclear weapon, and you can't give them -- they're lunatics. You can't give them a nuclear weapon.

You know, you put out a message on Truth Social, Mr. President, saying, I wasn't on the ballot, if I was, this would have been a landslide. When you did go to Dallas in that midterm convention and in -- in various rallies, you said, pretend I'm on the ballot.

That's true.

And clearly there were MAGA faithful that were fired up that you visited all those places.

They were.

But looking at this map, it doesn't seem like that message got out to the Republican base.

They didn't like the candidates, and some of the candidates that I endorsed fought me, and they didn't like that they fought me. I mean, this MAGA base is incredible, the most loyal people, the greatest people, the people that built America. And I've had -- you know, I -- I was trying to get people in that were people that frankly, let's say that I didn't get along with, but for purposes of the party, I went along with it. And the base would tell me, you know, hundreds of thousands of people would just say, sir, they weren't for you.

And, you know, they'd -- they'd spell out all the flaws. They knew more than I did about these people, in some cases. In other cases, they just didn't inspire the people to get out and vote. And I wasn't on the ballot. If I was on the ballot, they would have gotten out. Look, they got out for the rallies.

You never saw rallies that big. I mean, outside of the rallies I have when I have, you know, the general election, which is, you know, a step above in all fairness, like maybe a few steps above, outside of that, I mean, these were the biggest rallies ever. Nobody's ever seen anything like it. I left every one of those states, and the places were packed with thousands and, in some cases, tens of thousands of people outside trying to get in and having to watch a jumbotron, as they call it, these big, massive television screens that we would hook onto the sides of the building so they could see.

So, you know, they just weren't inspired and they didn't want to -- if I'm not on the ballot, they wouldn't go. And they did -- by the way, it wasn't that they didn't go, they didn't go enough. You know, some people did win tonight. We had some wins that were not bad wins at all, but we didn't have enough.

Well, in Florida, Florida, your home state, you did have two big wins.

Well -- two of them, two good ones, and two great people.

That were a little closer than people thought they were going to be.

A lot -- no, not a little, they were a lot closer.

Yeah.

Yeah.

They were a lot closer. I thought they were going to win --

To the issue Martha mentioned, about the war, clearly, that's a message in some of the polls that we see, in these exit polls, that across the board --

Well, I don't think it's the war, though, Bret, I think it's the gasoline price. People agree with what I'm doing on Iran, but they really, probably weren't willing to do the short term consequence of playing -- paying more for gasoline. And that, you know, I understand that. That's like -- I don't agree with it. And I would say to people, you know, it's a short term -- it's a short term problem, but for long term gain.

But, you know, it's too bad. Hey, look, bottom line is they were not able, in many cases, to get the votes. And I think the Democrats did a good job. I really do. I think they did a good job. They fought hard. They were -- um, you know, they've been fighting for a long time. They've been fighting me for a long time.

This fight's been going on for ages. You know, I started in, really, if you look at it, I've been doing it for 12 years with them and I've come up on top all the time, and this is -- I don't say -- you know, I don't like to consider it a defeat for me. I wasn't on the ballot. If you're on the ballot, it's different than if you're not on the ballot.

But nevertheless, you know, I feel badly for a lot of very good Republicans, a lot of very good patriots that lost tonight, because for them to lose is a tough thing.

President Trump, you said you've spoken with some of the Democrats who won tonight. Where do you think you could work together and what would you like to accomplish, if you can give us any window into that?

I think I can work with everything. You know, a lot of people say, what about immigration? You know, I closed the border. There was an open sieve with 25 million people coming into our country and killing a lot of -- lot of people, killing a lot of people. A lot of bad ones coming in, and they came out of jails and they came, came out of mental institutions, and they were drug dealers and they were murderers.

I always say, 11,888, that's how -- think of it, 11,888 murderers came into our country through an open border. Now, could I work with them on an open border, I don't think so. Could I work with them on certain other things, could I work with them on men playing on, you know, in women's sports, no, I don't think so. I mean, I don't think men should be playing.

I view that as an issue I don't think I could work with them on, but I could work with them on many, many things. Could I work with them on transgender mutilization of children, no, I don't think so, but I can work with them on many things.

Mr. President, what about, do you think that they're going to want to work with you, considering all that you've experienced, with what you call Trump Derangement Syndrome.

Yeah, I do.

And Democrats in control now of the House and the Senate coming up in January, do you think that they're going to give you a bill that you can sign?

Well, they're in control, but they're really not in control because they can send over, you know, 50 different great bills that they're all excited about and I send them back with a nice stamp, veto. And, uh, you know, there's not a thing they can do about that. And I hope not to have to do that. I'm -- you know, I'm a person that likes getting things done.

And there are things that we can work with. We can't work on everything. There are some things, like some of the things I just named, I don't think we can work. I don't know if they really believe in the fact -- you know, I've always really never understood how they could, you know, believe in the things I mentioned.

Like as an example, the men playing in women's sports, I can't believe they really believe that's a good thing, but maybe they do. I don't understand that thinking, but I can work with them on a lot of things. I mean, we can work with them on immigration, I think. Immigration is a big deal. I've always felt we should be able to work on immigration.

Do you think, Mr. President, that you're going to make changes in your cabinet as a result of this -- this election?

No, I don't think so. Had nothing to do with my cabinet. It was just a point -- honestly, look, I've been doing a lot of great things for a long time, and it's just a point in time, Bret, just a point in time. It's the way it is. There was a mood in the air, I guess. And, you know, if you look, I shouldn't feel guilty because virtually -- I saw you on your show the other night saying that almost never does the sitting president, no matter how good or bad or Republican or Democrat he or she is, but no matter how good the president is, uh, you lose.

I don't know why. Nobody's explained that, but it's almost every single time. And the one time, you know, it's twice, they won, in many, many, many years. And one of the times was a World Trade Center, so, you know, that was like an automatic gimme. So they won, really, effectively, one time. Nobody's ever explained to me why.

If you're doing -- because we've done a great job. We -- you know, you talk about the border, we closed the border. We had an open wound. It was horrible. What we had was absolutely horrible. And we've done so many different things and, you know, we have trillions and trillions of dollars flowing in. We have -- think of it, the wealth that this nation has made in the last short period of time since I've been in, $25 trillion.

We're $25 trillion richer. Under Biden, we were -- we were losing, we were losing, $25 trillion, and we have tens of trillions of dollars of investment coming in. I mean, nobody could have done these things. We have -- we actually have the greatest economy we've -- you know, I had the best economy in my first term, this blows it away.

But because of the gasoline price, people don't see it as much as they would have without it, and the gasoline was caused by Iran.

President Trump --

And was going away. In a short while, it's going to be low. You know, we were at $1.85 a gallon in Iowa and other -- other places. You know, I -- you know, you probably heard me say it during speeches, like I was in Iowa making a speech, I look at the gas pumps, and one was $1.95 and one was $1.85. I said, wow, that's something.

And the next day I said, you know, sorry, but we have to make a U-turn and we have to go to Iran because we have to put out a fire, they're going to have a nuclear weapon in two weeks. Because that area that -- you know, those three areas I blew up, and now we also have Pickax Mountain now to start, you know, they never stop.

They just don't learn. So, you know, I did the right thing. Historically, I think I'll be judged for having done the right thing, but that gave us an evening that was not that pleasant.

Do you think you're going to go forward with more there?

Well, I don't want to tell you that, but --

No, but --

-- certainly -- certainly, if Iran doesn't behave, I will. And if they do, you know, we can sign something up. And if it's going to be binding and good and they're never going to have a nuclear weapon, good. Otherwise, I'll just finish the job very easily. We have the greatest military in the world. I built it in my first term and we have the greatest military.

Look at the blockade. You know, we're taking in -- on Wall Street Journal, we're taking in -- this week they wrote, or I guess last week, that we're taking in more oil through the Hormuz Strait than we were before this war started. The oil is pouring out. The oil is -- you know, the job we've done is amazing, the Navy -- that Navy blockade will go down in the annals of history as being incredible as a military maneuver.

Look at Venezuela. We took over Venezuela, probably right after us, as much oil as any country in the world, maybe more. And we took it over in 48 minutes, 48 minutes. So let's say one day. And, you know, that oil is pouring into our country. Wait till you see. I mean, in a short period of time, now that's also subject to Iran, because, you know, if we have to do something large, if we do something that some people would love me to do, you know, some people would love to do that, other people -- I listen to Jack -- Jack Keane and other people on your various shows, and a lot of people would like to do the heavy hit, a lot of people wouldn't. Uh, but, uh, the only thing I can tell you with certainty, they will never have a nuclear weapon.

And if they did, uh, you would not be -- you -- this world would be a lot different, and our country would be a lot different.

Do you think that you've changed your perspective about support for Israel? I know that you announced this morning that you wouldn't give -- continue aid after the end of this year --

Yeah.

-- and that it would shift to purchases of military equipment, not unlike what you've done in Europe with supporting the war in Ukraine. And you said something about, you know, it sort of gave an argument to some of these lunatics. Can you explain that thinking?

Well, basically, we give $4 billion a year to Israel, including weapons and other things, which is more than any other country. And people use that and they don't need it. They've become quite rich. And I spoke with Bibi Netanyahu about it. I've talked to him about it over the last four months. I said, you know, Bibi, you guys can afford to do your own thing now and you don't need this.

And we actually have already, you know, a number of weeks ago, we've come to an agreement. He doesn't disagree, by the way. He gave me very little opposition to it. In fact, he, at one point, suggested it. But no, it's -- in a pretty short period of time, we won't be paying them anything. Now, they'll be able to buy weapons because we make the greatest weapons anywhere in the world, our patriots and our Tomahawks and everything.

There's nothing even close. You saw that during Venezuela. I mean, Venezuela -- and again, look what we did with Venezuela, we don't get credit for that. We took over -- look about Greenland, you know, everybody said, oh, Greenland, Greenland, he's not going to get -- I got Greenland. We have Greenland, and nobody talks about it. Greenland is massively rich, and we made a deal on Greenland.

I didn't have to go to war to do it. That's what I do, I make deals. We've made -- we've done things that -- think of it, Greenland is three times the size of Texas, and we got it, very little fanfare when we got it.

Yeah.

If I didn't get it, there'd be massive fanfare, I can tell you. But we got it and it's -- and it's permanent, it's forever. It's not like 100 years. The JC -- you know, the -- the Obama nuclear thing --

JCPOA.

The Obama -- that was -- that deal would have been over two years ago, OK? You know, they say, oh, if he would have -- and that was a road to a nuclear weapon. It was a disaster. It was a horrible deal. And he also gave them tens of billions of dollars and $1.7 billion in cash, in green -- that they put into a Boeing 757, took out the seats.

They stacked piles of cash up in that plane and brought it to Iran. They thought they could buy their way out of a -- a deal, out of -- out of a problem with Iran and it didn't work. They used that money to develop nuclear weapons, and stole the rest of it, by the way.

So the message tonight that you take away, and by the way, as -- as we're talking to you, we can call the Minnesota race, Lieutenant Governor Flanagan beats Michele Tafoya in Minnesota, increasing the Democrats majority in the Senate. Michele Tafoya, by the way --

Well, you know, Minnesota, there's an interesting one because Minnesota -- it's hard to believe that somebody could win being the lieutenant governor, and then saying she didn't know about billions of dollars of theft and fraud. But Minnesota has been 1952, Richard Nixon was the last to win it, and it's a joke because I won it three times.

And the people that count the votes are much more important than the candidates. That's one. So that's one I complain about but it's not going to matter because the end result is what you saw tonight on television. But I think it's -- I think it's hard to believe that anybody could lose that race to somebody from the administration.

The lieutenant --

But you're going to accept all these races, right?

Yeah, sure, I'll accept them. Why wouldn't I accept? Yeah.

But let me ask you this, candidate quality, do you have regrets about Ken Paxton or Darline Graham, looking back at the beginning of this choice that you --

Well, I had no choice. Ken Paxton, who's a good guy, and I just wasn't a fan of Cornyn. You know, I just wasn't a fan. I found him to be a disloyal guy. He was not a fan of mine, when -- you know, to be honest, when it wasn't fashionable, he wasn't there, and I can say that about a lot of people, could say that about you.

Uh, when it wasn't fashionable to be with Trump, he wasn't there. When it was fashionable, he kissed my ass, all right? But, you know, I remember the -- I remember the other days. And I just felt I couldn't endorse him. And I will tell you, the MAGA base, you know, the Bangor base, I think -- I think the MAGA base is 100 percent, by the way, of the Republican Party.

CNN had a poll that I'm at 99 percent approval in the Republican Party, the highest ever. That was -- and that -- I shouldn't say this, but Abraham Lincoln was at eight percent, Ronald Reagan was at 13 percent, and Trump was at like 54 percent. And then I read it, Fox said, I'm not popular. You know, I mean, the Fox polls are terrible.

You ought to get yourself a good pollster because your pollster is the worst.

But tonight, actually, the results are pretty close to what the Fox poll showed.

Well, I don't know about that. I can just tell you about speaking for myself. And, uh, the results with Fox with me were wrong for 12 years. I mean, they've gotten me wrong for 12 years. But I don't care, it doesn't matter. People -- you know, people see. When you -- when you look at the pollster recently that admitted they weren't even doing polls and they gave the information to the New York Times and they weren't even a legit -- It wasn't even a question of legit.

The one that just went out of business, they announced, we never really did a poll.

Bottom line, you're going to accept these polls --

The polls are very dangerous.

Yeah, you're going to accept these results and you say you're going to try to work with Democrats in this new Congress?

Yeah. I would do that, yeah, I think, and the Democrats want to work with me. Yeah.

I want to ask you, we started a little bit of a conversation about 2028, because once the midterms are over, it does seem to turn to that picture. So what are your thoughts given tonight's results? Um, you know, you look at your vice president, your secretary of state, people that are often discussed to succeed you, what are your thoughts on that now?

I think we have an unbelievable bench of talent. I don't want to talk about individuals because it's still a little bit too soon to do that. We still have a long way to go, but I guess it's going to be time now. You know, they use this as the benchmark, tonight. But we have a great bench. I mean, we have a great group of talented people that I think would do a very good job.

And who's the most --

You want them to have a primary? You want them to have an open primary process?

Well, I think it's going to end up being somewhat of that. They say whoever Trump endorses is going to win or whoever Trump picks is going to win. I don't know if that's true or not, but they asked that question two nights ago. They said, who's going to be the candidate on the Republican side? They said, whoever Donald Trump wants.

It could be possible that it could be true, but it's a little bit early to talk about it. We do have a good bench, we have a lot of great people.

Who's the most formidable Democrat you think right now after tonight?

Well, I'd rather not say, because I actually know some that I think would be formidable, but I don't want to put them in play. They're absolutely not in play. People aren't even thinking about them, so I don't want to put them in play. I mean, all of a sudden, we'll end up with a real opponent. No, it's -- but they have some good people, they really do. They have some good people, but I don't want to be the one to suggest them.

I hope they can -- well, I'm not sure I hope they find them, but they do have some very formidable, talented people.

Mr. President, you have a final message tonight that you take from tonight and a message to the American people?

Well, I say this, congratulations to the Democrats. They did a good job. They've been looking for this one for 11 years and they finally got it. But I don't view it as a hit on me. I think we've done a -- we've had the greatest two years in the history of the presidency, in terms of the economy, in terms of all the things that we've done.

Look at the border, the border was an open sieve and within two months, it was totally closed. You know, 17 months now with zero people coming in through the -- you report the results, zero people coming in through the southern border. That's a big deal. I ran on that, but that's peanuts compared to what we've done because we have all this money, all over the world they're coming here.

And you look at Europe, it's dying. You look at what's going on in France and what's going on in Italy and all these other countries, I mean, they're going through a terrible time. They may not even survive, frankly, and we are thriving. And we want to keep it that way. But I say, congratulations to the Democrats.

They worked very hard and long.

Mr. President, we appreciate you calling in to Fox. And obviously, we'll be covering the last two years.

Right.

And we hope that back in Washington that getting together that you talk about actually happens. We'll see.

Very good.

Thank you, Mr. President. Good to have you with us tonight.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.