10 Stunning Things We Learned From Trump’s Time Interview

Sadly Trump hurt himself while interacting with his many adoring fans, even though handshakes don’t usually bruise, he hasn’t had a rally since the election, and he generally isn’t big on touching people. Per Time:

Sitting under bright lights for a 30-minute photo session ahead of a 65-minute interview, he’s asked to explain the bruising on his right hand. “It’s from shaking hands with thousands of people,” he says.

During the 2024 campaign, Trump repeatedly promised to bring down the price of groceries, among many other things. For example, he said at an August rally: “Vote Trump, and your incomes will soar. Your net worth will skyrocket. Your energy costs and grocery prices will come tumbling down.”

But now he’s clarified that he’d like to bring prices down, but “you know, it’s very hard.” From the Time interview transcript:

If the prices of groceries don’t come down, will your presidency be a failure?

I don’t think so. Look, they got them up. I’d like to bring them down. It’s hard to bring things down once they’re up. You know, it’s very hard. But I think that they will. I think that energy is going to bring them down. I think a better supply chain is going to bring them down.

Hundreds of studies have shown that childhood vaccinations are safe, and the link between autism and vaccines has been debunked. But President Trump may ban some of those shots anyway, “if I think it’s dangerous, if I think they are not beneficial”:

One of them who is controversial, who I just want to ask you a quick question about, is RFK Jr, who is a noted vaccine skeptic. If he moves to end childhood vaccination programs, would you sign off on that?

We’re going to have a big discussion. The autism rate is at a level that nobody ever believed possible. If you look at things that are happening, there’s something causing it.

Do you think it’s linked to vaccines? 

No, I’m going to be listening to Bobby, who I’ve really gotten along with great and I have a lot of respect for having to do with food, having to do with vaccinations. He does not disagree with vaccinations, all vaccinations. He disagrees probably with some. But we’ll have it. We’re going to do what’s good for the country. 

So that could include getting rid of some vaccinations? 

It could if I think it’s dangerous, if I think they are not beneficial, but I don’t think it’s going to be very controversial in the end. 

Do you agree with him about the connection between vaccines and autism? 

I want to see the numbers. It’s going to be the numbers. We will be able to do—I think you’re going to feel very good about it at the end. We’re going to be able to do very serious testing, and we’ll see the numbers. A lot of people think a lot of different things. And at the end of the studies that we’re doing, and we’re going all out, we’re going to know what’s good and what’s not good. We will know for sure what’s good and what’s not good. 

When asked if he’d go back to separating migrant families at the border, the president-elect claimed this notorious Trump-era policy was Obama’s. He added, “By the way, when you talk about separation, we have 325,000 children here during Democrats. And this was done by Democrats, who are right now slaves, sex slaves or dead, and they were allowed.”

How did you miss this horrific story? Because it’s made up, as a Time fact check explains:

There is no evidence that 325,000 immigrant children are slaves, sex slaves, or dead. These numbers likely refer to an August 2024 report from the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of the Inspector General stating that the government failed to “monitor the location and status of unaccompanied migrant children” after they were released from government custody. That report covered a period from October 2018 to September 2023, which includes more than half of Trump’s first term. According to the report, some 320,000 unaccompanied migrant children did not receive a notice to appear in immigration court, or they received a notice but did not make their court appearance. Experts say this doesn’t necessarily mean the children are “missing” or exploited. Rather, this is likely a bureaucratic failing. Nevertheless, the report says, children who are unaccounted for are at higher risk for trafficking, exploitation, or forced labor. 

Not for all the reasons one shouldn’t trust the Israeli prime minister, but because he’s paranoid:

Do you trust Netanyahu?

I don’t trust anybody. 

When asked about ending the war in Gaza, Trump said that will be simple:

I think that, before I talk about that, I think that the Middle East is an easier problem to handle than what’s happening with Russia and Ukraine. Okay, I just want to say that up front. The Middle East is going to get solved. The Middle East has been—it’s a horrible thing. October 7 was a horrible thing. Everyone is forgetting conveniently about October 7, but that was a horrible day for the world, not for Israel, for the world. And I think the Middle East is going to get—as we speak, things are happening very productively on the Middle East. I think the Middle East is going to get solved. I think it’s more complicated than the Russia-Ukraine, but I think it’s, it’s, it’s easier to solve.

Unfortunately he didn’t elaborate, so the conflict is going to have to keep raging for a few more weeks.

Though “the Middle East is going to get solved,” it seems Trump hasn’t ruled out getting into a new conflict in the region:

Iran recently plotted to have you assassinated. What are the chances of going to war with Iran during your next term?

Anything can happen. Anything can happen. It’s a very volatile situation.

Trump was asked why he made opposing transgender rights a huge 2024 campaign issue, despite saying in 2016 that trans people can use whatever bathroom they choose. He declined to answer, saying twice that transgender people make up a tiny part of the population:

I don’t want to get into the bathroom issue. Because it’s a very small number of people we’re talking about, and it’s ripped apart our country, so they’ll have to settle whatever the law finally agrees. I am a big believer in the Supreme Court, and I’m going to go by their rulings, and so far, I think their rulings have been rulings that people are going along with, but we’re talking about a very small number of people, and we’re talking about it, and it gets massive coverage, and it’s not a lot of people. 

A few minutes later, Trump explained that he won the election because “all of this transgender” has “just taken over”:

It’s really, I think our people want common sense applied to their life, and they don’t want to see a girl be beat up in a boxing ring by a man, as happens. They don’t want to see somebody in a weight lifting contest, a woman against a man. It makes no sense. They don’t want to see, you know, men playing in women’s sports. They don’t. They don’t want to see all of this transgender, which is, it’s just taken over.

When asked to discuss his mother, Trump delivered his version of the Uncle Mo eulogy from Succession:

You get some things from your father. What do you get from your mother? 

So my mother was a woman. She was born in Scotland. She had great respect for the queen, Queen Elizabeth. It was a long time. She was there for 75 years. And she liked the pomp and ceremony. She thought it was a good thing, not a bad thing. But she was glamorous and my father was hard nosed. It’s sort of an interesting combination. Maybe there’s a combination. Here we sit in Mar-a-Lago. Maybe there’s a combination of that.

He loves all his nepo babies equally, from Ivanka (“a great person”) to Eric (“a very different type”) to the other girl … Lara? But let’s not forget who deserves the most credit here:

Do you think he might have a future in politics? 

I think [Don Jr. would] do well, especially in certain areas. I think he’d do very well. I think he’s a very capable guy. Eric is very capable, and a very different type. Lara. You look at some of these people. Ivanka would be, if she wanted to be, would be a superstar in politics. I think she, she, she’s a great person. I think she probably, she’s so family-oriented, Ivanka, and I understand that also it makes it more difficult. It makes it definitely more difficult. But, you know, they’re very capable people. Well, they have a name, which seems to be a very good name.