President Donald Trump has threatened renewed military action against Iran, voiced anxieties over the actions of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and weighed in on his potential 2028 successor in a wide-ranging new interview, which offered blunt assessments of allies and adversaries alike.
Trump also dismissed Republican concerns about the midterm elections this November and claimed to “study” Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, both of whom are rumored contenders for the White House in two years.
“They’re both very talented,” Trump said. “I like them both, and I like them together, you know, it would be great. I don’t know how you beat them if they’re together.”
The president’s interview, with New York Post columnist Miranda Devine on her Pod Force One podcast, comes at a fraught moment in his second term.
U.S. negotiations to end the Iran war have yet to yield results, domestic gas prices remain elevated and Trump’s approval rating is hovering near record lows.
Much of the roughly 45-minute interview, aired Wednesday, centered on the U.S.-Israel war with Iran, which has engulfed other parts of the Middle East and sent global fuel prices soaring. With diplomatic talks and a ceasefire remaining fragile, Trump hinted that he is weighing further military action.
“Now, I have to make a determination,” Trump said. “Do we sign a deal or do we do it the other way? And the other way is not nice.”
Pressed by Devine on what that alternative would entail, Trump replied: “Certainty.”
“It would be over,” he continued. “There wouldn’t be any bull****. There wouldn’t be any talking. There wouldn’t be any delays. But, you know, I’d rather do it the nice way, from a humanitarian standpoint.”
Multiple recent polls indicate Americans are broadly opposed to the conflict. In an Ipsos survey released last month, 61 percent of respondents said attacking Iran was a mistake, while 36 percent said it was the right decision.
During the on-camera interview, Trump said he has become “perturbed” with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over his handling of the war.
Devine asked the president to respond to an Axios report earlier this week that said Trump tore into Netanyahu during an expletive-laden phone call after Iran threatened to suspend negotiations over Israel’s ongoing attacks on Lebanon.
“You’re f****** crazy. You’d be in prison if it weren’t for me. I’m saving your a**. Everybody hates you now. Everybody hates Israel because of this,” Trump reportedly said on the call, according to Axios.
Devine, a conservative columnist for the New York tabloid, asked whether Trump spoke in those terms.
“I did,” the president responded. “I wouldn’t say angry. I was a little bit perturbed at his constant fighting with Lebanon, you know. Some point, I said, Bibi, we gotta stop this, we gotta stop it.”
But the president said he maintained a “very good relationship” with the prime minister, and went on to claim: “If there wasn’t me, there would be no Israel right now.”
Devine then asked Trump to respond to those who say Netanyahu “tricked” him into attacking Iran. This accusation was levied by Joe Kent, Trump’s former counterterrorism chief, who resigned from his post in protest of the war in March.
“Well, they’re just you know the enemy,” Trump replied. “They’re just, you know, the ‘Dumacrats’… These are people that don’t know what they’re doing.”
Devine asked Trump whether the fallout from the Iran war has left Republicans vulnerable heading into the midterms.
“Well, I don’t know,” he said. “I mean, everybody I endorse wins. I mean everybody. You saw that right, last week? Every single person I endorse wins.”
Trump appeared to be referring to recent statewide contest results that suggest his grip on the GOP remains strong. In Kentucky, Trump ally Ed Gallrein defeated Representative Thomas Massie, a vocal critic of the president, in the GOP primary for Massie’s seat on May 19. One week later, Trump-endorsed state Attorney General Ken Paxton defeated incumbent Senator John Cornyn in a runoff election in Texas for Cornyn’s seat.
However in Iowa on Tuesday night, Representative Randy Feenstra — endorsed by Trump just days earlier — lost the GOP gubernatorial primary to businessman Zach Lahn.
Trump told Devine that he remains laser-focused on Iran, not upcoming elections.
“Again, this is a very important moment in history,” he said, referring to the Iran war. “We can’t let this happen, what was going on for 47 years. This should’ve been done for 47 years.”
Later, he repeated his baseless claims that the 2020 election was “rigged” and that no other country in the world uses mail-in ballots. Dozens of nations permit mail-in voting in some form, according to the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance.
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