Assistance from Claude AI.
Executive Summary
In a wide-ranging November 10, 2025 interview on Fox News’ The Ingraham Angle, President Donald Trump defended his handling of the recent government shutdown negotiations, claiming Democrats sought $1.5 trillion for healthcare for illegal immigrants including “11,888 murderers.” Trump proposed replacing Obamacare with individual health savings accounts he dubbed “Trumpcare,” announced a $10,000 bonus for air traffic controllers who worked during the shutdown, and doubled down on his tariff strategy as essential to bringing pharmaceutical manufacturing and other industries back to America. The president engaged in a notable disagreement with host Laura Ingraham over his support for hundreds of thousands of Chinese students studying at U.S. universities, arguing that cutting foreign enrollment would destroy half of America’s colleges including historically black institutions. Trump also criticized Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, defended his demolition of the White House East Wing for a new ballroom, attacked California Governor Gavin Newsom over wildfire management and housing policy, called for SNAP benefit reforms, and clarified that his recent comments about not making it to heaven were “sarcastic” after the New York Times reported them literally.
Participants
- Donald J. Trump – President of the United States
- Laura Ingraham – Host, The Ingraham Angle, Fox News
- Gavin Newsom – Governor of California (brief video clip)
Detailed Analysis by Topic
Government Shutdown and Budget Negotiations
Ingraham opened the interview by asking what lessons Democrats should learn from “this shutdown saga.” Trump responded that “the country loses a lot of money when they do this,” before pivoting to attack Democrats’ negotiating demands. He claimed Democrats “really wanted was one and a half trillion dollars for people that came in illegally” and alleged that countries like Venezuela “emptied, they dumped their prisons” into the United States.
When Ingraham noted that critics said such claims were “exaggerated,” Trump doubled down with a specific figure: “They wanted one and a half trillion for healthcare from people that were, uh, in some cases, 11,888 exactly, murderers, many of whom murdered more than one person.” He insisted his administration is “trying to get ’em out because we don’t want 11,000 murderers in our country” along with “drug dealers and everything else.”
The president framed the shutdown as Democrats attempting to “renegotiate” deals they didn’t get in what he called “the great big beautiful bill.” Trump said Democrats were “trying to renegotiate it at a time where they hold the country hostage,” which Ingraham confirmed as her understanding of events.
When asked how Republicans could avoid another shutdown when the continuing resolution expires on January 30th, Trump said “we’re trying to put in a bill” that would prevent future government shutdowns over budget disagreements. He emphasized that this strategy prevents opposition parties from holding “the country hostage” during negotiations.
Healthcare Policy and “Trumpcare” Proposal
Ingraham pressed Trump on the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), noting that “it’s clear that this was never going to work without these massive subsidies” and that Democrats “wanted to continue the COVID subsidies” during shutdown negotiations. She asked, “given the fact that Obamacare really can’t survive as they thought without these subsidies, what next?”
Trump launched into a lengthy criticism of the healthcare law, recalling that “I opposed it very strongly” and predicted it would “be a disaster.” He noted that “unfortunately, we had a couple of negative votes, which should never have happened”—a reference to Senator John McCain’s decisive vote that preserved the ACA during Trump’s first term. The president said “premiums have gone up like rocket ships” for years, contradicting President Obama’s promise that “premiums will go down.”
Trump then unveiled his alternative vision: “I want, instead of going to the insurance companies, I want the money to go into an account for people where the people buy their own health insurance.” He described this approach enthusiastically, saying “the insurance will be better. It’ll cost less. Everybody’s gonna be happy. They’re gonna feel like entrepreneurs are actually able to go out and negotiate their own health insurance.”
These accounts would be restricted to healthcare purchases only—”they can use it only for that reason. That’s the beauty, only for that purpose”—creating what Trump characterized as giving Americans entrepreneurial control over their healthcare choices. He concluded: “Call it Trumpcare, call it whatever you wanna call it, but anything but Obamacare. Obamacare is a disaster just like he was as a president.”
Tax Policy and the “Great Big Beautiful Bill”
Trump repeatedly referenced what he called “the great big beautiful bill” that Republicans passed, which he described as giving “tremendous middle income tax benefits.” The bill includes several major tax provisions that Trump highlighted:
“Think of it, no tax on tips, no tax on social security and no tax, very importantly on overtime. If you work overtime, you don’t have to pay tax,” Trump explained. He also noted the bill “gives you a deduction if you buy a car, you, you know, borrow money, you put a loan on a car, you’re allowed to deduct the interest.”
The president emphasized this car loan interest deduction was unprecedented: “That’s never happened in our country before, you know, that’s always been for the richer people. They’re allowed to take deductions. Now you can deduct interest on a car.” He called it “the greatest bill ever passed in the history of a country” and said “that’s why we did it all in one. It’s four years worth of goodies and it’s largely for jobs and for the middle class and for security.”
Air Traffic Controllers and Flight Disruptions
Ingraham raised concerns about massive flight delays and cancellations during the shutdown, noting she personally experienced “hours delayed, thousands of flight cancellations” when traveling from Florida to D.C. on Saturday. She referenced a Truth Social post where Trump “blasted the air traffic controllers who had not shown up for work” and offered “potentially a bonus of $10,000 for those who have worked despite the shutdown.”
Ingraham asked if this position might be “difficult” given the existing “deficit of air traffic controllers.” Trump disputed the premise: “we don’t have much of a deficit. And we have a lot of people want the job.” He expressed displeasure with workers who didn’t show up: “Our country’s never done better. We should not have had people leaving their jobs.”
The president explained his bonus policy: “what I basically did is say the ones that stayed, of which were, there were a lot of them, uh, I’m sending them a $10,000 bonus.” When Ingraham asked “Where’s that money coming from?” Trump replied casually: “I don’t know. I get it from someplace. I always get the money from someplace, regardless. It doesn’t matter.”
He justified the bonuses as rewarding loyalty and reliability: “here’s somebody that goes and shows up every single day. Some of them showed up early because they knew there was gonna be a problem. Those people should be rewarded.” Trump noted some workers even “took a second job temporarily” to make ends meet during the shutdown but still reported to their primary duties.
The exchange included a discussion of President Ronald Reagan’s 1981 (not 1983, as Ingraham initially stated) firing of striking air traffic controllers. Trump called it “one of the highlights of his life” and noted “he fired them because they didn’t show up to work and he never let ’em come back”—suggesting he might consider similar action.
When pressed on when flights would return to normal schedules, Trump claimed he’d heard reports of good service despite fewer travelers, though Ingraham interjected “there are a lot of delays now, sir.” The president said “people are gonna start showing up” after his strong message on Truth Social: “I said, ‘Now you get to work.’”
Economic Perception Versus Reality
Ingraham noted that “the economy was listed as a top concern” for voters in states like New Jersey, New York, and Virginia. She acknowledged some improvements—”eggs, gas, uh, a dinner cost for Thanksgiving, way down”—but noted other items like “beef, coffee” and “auto repairs” have increased. She asked whether this represents “a voter perception issue of the economy, or is there more that needs to be done?”
Trump characterized economic concerns as “more than anything else, it’s a con job by the Democrats.” He accused the opposition of coordinating negative messaging: “they put out something, say today, costs are up. They feed it to the anchors of ABC, CBS, and NBC and a lot of other, and you know, CNN and et cetera. And it’s like a standard.”
The president recalled Democrats using coordinated language: “I’ll never forget they had used the word like manufactured. Do you remember the word manufactured? It’s a manufactured economy. Nobody uses that word. Every anchor broker manufactured, they do exactly what they say. It’s such a rig system.”
Trump then pivoted to positive economic indicators: “Costs are way down. Gasoline is gonna be hitting $2 pretty soon or around $2. Gasoline is at $2.70 now, and it was at $4.50 under Biden, under Sleepy Joe.” He attributed falling energy prices to his administration’s aggressive energy production: “drill, baby drill. We’re going, like, wild. We produce more, uh, gasoline, oil and gas in the last month than we ever have before by far.”
The president also announced plans to refill the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which he said “were taken out by Biden in order to try and win an election. Didn’t work out too well.” He criticized this use as inappropriate: “That’s supposed to be for war, for national emergency not to get” electoral advantage.
When Ingraham pressed whether voters are “misperceiving how they feel,” Trump launched into a comparison with the Biden administration’s economic messaging, suggesting both sides face challenges convincing voters of economic conditions. He dismissed polling showing economic anxiety: “I don’t know that they are saying, I think polls are fake. We have the greatest economy we’ve ever had.”
Trump claimed “we will have over $20 trillion come into our economy. And it’s largely because of my election, but it’s also largely because of tariffs.” This $20 trillion figure appeared multiple times throughout the interview as Trump‘s metric for economic success under his administration.
Housing Affordability and the 50-Year Mortgage Controversy
Ingraham raised housing costs as a persistent problem, noting “many Americans, the average age of first-time home buyers are now up to age 40, which is sad.” She then addressed a controversial proposal from Trump’s Housing and Urban Development (HUD) director: a 50-year mortgage option.
This idea, Ingraham reported, has “enraged your MAGA friends” with “significant MAGA backlash, calling it a giveaway to the banks and simply prolonging, uh, the, the time it would take for Americans to own a home outright.” She directly asked: “Is that really a good idea?”
Trump downplayed the significance: “It’s not even a big deal. I mean, you know, you go from 40 to 50 years.” When Ingraham interjected that it’s actually from 30 years, Trump explained: “All it means is you pay less per month. You pay it over a longer period of time. It’s not like a big factor. It might help a little bit.”
The president blamed housing unaffordability primarily on interest rates, which he attributed to “Biden did this. He increased the interest rates.” Trump then launched into criticism of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, calling him “a lousy fed person who’s gonna be gone in a few months, fortunately.”
Trump gave Powell the nickname “too late” because “he was too late and everything, except when it came to before the, you know, the Democrat so-called Democrat election, which didn’t work”—suggesting Powell timed rate decisions to benefit Democrats. Despite this, Trump maintained “even with interest rates up, the economy’s the strongest it’s ever been.”
Looking ahead, Trump said “we’re gonna get interest rates down” and predicted that with “a normal person” at the Fed, “we’ll have somebody that’s” more responsive to his administration’s preferences. He claimed “interest rates are down despite the Fed” and promised lower rates once he can replace Powell.
Tariffs and Trade Policy
Ingraham referenced the Supreme Court case challenging Trump’s tariff authority, asking about potential financial implications “if the Supreme Court rules against the tariffs.” Trump warned: “it would be a disaster for our country” but expressed confidence: “will I do something? I’ll figure something out because I do. That’s what I do in life. I figure things out.”
The president strongly defended tariffs as essential economic leverage throughout the interview. He dismissed critics who claim “no money would have to be paid back. ’cause it’s not that much” by insisting “it’s trillions and trillions of dollars would have to be paid back” if tariffs were reversed.
China: Rare Earth Elements and Strategic Competition
Trump detailed a recent negotiation over rare earth elements (which he called “magnets”) that illustrated his tariff strategy. He explained that President Xi Jinping “was willing to do the rarer thing. That’s magnets. Now nobody knows what a magnet is”—referring to rare earth magnets essential for modern technology.
“If you don’t have a magnet, you don’t make a car, you don’t make a computer, you don’t make, uh, televisions and radios and all the other things. You don’t make anything,” Trump explained. He characterized China’s rare earth dominance as “a 30-year effort to monopolize a very important thing.”
However, Trump said “within two years, we’ll have magnets. All the magnets we want” due to his tariff pressure. He recounted the negotiation: “I called, I said, ‘Listen, here’s the story. You’re gonna play the magnet. I’m gonna play the tariff on you.’ And for national security purposes, I raised the tariff by 100% over and above what they were paying, which was 55. So he was at 155%.”
According to Trump, this aggressive stance worked: “Within 10 minutes, I got a call, ‘We’d like to meet,’ and we settled it out and we made a wonderful deal, great deal for our country.” He warned that without this deal, “we would’ve had a closed country. We would’ve had a depression. We, the whole world would’ve had a depression.”
Reshoring Manufacturing Through Tariffs
Ingraham pressed on continued U.S. dependence on China, citing “a huge piece” in The Wall Street Journal about ongoing reliance on China for “pharmaceuticals, still key industrial components.” Trump insisted “they’re all coming back” due to his tariff strategy.
“I’m charging them tariffs of 100% and 150% for pharmaceuticals,” Trump explained. “What’s happening, the pharmaceutical companies are all back here building plants right now. That’s part of the $20 trillion of money that’s come in because of tariffs. And we’re not dependent on China.”
The president argued dependence stems from leadership quality: “We’re dependent on having a smart president. If we have a smart president, we’re gonna have no trouble. If we have a guy like we had last time who was such an embarrassment, if we have stupid presidents, whether you have tariffs or don’t have tariffs, it doesn’t matter.”
Trump emphasized tariffs’ importance: “If we didn’t have tariffs, if I didn’t have the power of the tariffs right now, we would have a country that wouldn’t be making cars, wouldn’t be making anything.”
China’s Military Expansion and Japan Relations
Ingraham cited “a new detailed report on CNN, of, of all places” documenting “China’s expansion of most, 60% of its missile facilities. It’s staggering, bigger than anyone had ever thought, more robust growth.” She also noted that Japan’s new prime minister, Sanae Takaichi (whom Trump said “I know you like a lot”), “called the Taiwan situation extremely severe in its phase and that they may consider any move on Taiwan by China to be a national survival crisis for Japan.”
Ingraham reported a particularly inflammatory incident: “a Chinese diplomat today said in a social media post that she, the prime minister of Japan, should be beheaded for her comments.” She asked directly: “These are not our friends, sir, are they, in China?”
Trump offered a broader critique: “Well, a lot of our allies aren’t our friends, either, Laura. Our allies took advantage of us on trade more than China did, and China took big advantage.” He noted “we built their military” through trade imbalances.
The president referenced his first-term actions: “in my first term, I took in hundreds of billions of tariffs. I put tariffs on China very early. Then when we got hit with COVID, we fought that. We did a very good job. But that was COVID. It came from a certain place in China.” Both Trump and Ingraham laughed at this reference, with Ingraham calling it “another great gift from China.”
Trump maintained he has good relations with Xi: “I get along great with President Xi, I get along great with China, but the only way you’re gonna get along well with China is you have to deal from a position of strength. We have tremendous strength because of tariffs. We have tremendous strength because of what I’ve done.”
On military concerns, Trump said: “I’ve rebuilt our military. And they have a lot of missiles, but we have a lot of missiles, too, and they don’t wanna mess around with us, I can tell you that Laura.”
Chinese Students in America: A Sharp Disagreement
One of the interview’s most contentious exchanges came when Ingraham challenged Trump on foreign student enrollment. She noted “a lot of MAGA folks, um, are not thrilled about this idea of hundreds of thousands of foreign students in the United States. Um, we have about 350,000 Chinese” students currently.
Ingraham recalled that during COVID, “you were gonna, you know, the, the, push a, you know, get them out, but, um, that was pulled back.” She noted Trump has “said as many as 600,000 Chinese students could come to the United States” and asked pointedly: “Why, sir, is that a pro-MAGA position when so many” American students “wanna go to school and there are places not for them, and these universities are getting rich off Chinese money?”
Trump first clarified: “never said about China, but I, we do have a lot of people coming in from China. We always have, uh, China and other countries.” He then defended foreign enrollment broadly: “we also have a massive system of colleges and universities. And if we were to cut that in half, which perhaps makes some people happy, you would have half the colleges in the United States” go “out of business.”
Ingraham interjected simply: “So?” and “So what?” showing her disagreement.
Trump doubled down: “Well, I think that’s a big deal. You would have the historically” black colleges and universities “would all be out of business.” He emphasized: “you would have a system of colleges, uh, and universities would go down the tubes.”
When Ingraham pressed “So we’re dependent on China to keep our university system going?” Trump replied: “No, not China, but, but I think it’s good to have, I actually think it’s good to have outside, uh, countries. Look, I wanna be able to get along with the world.”
Ingraham pushed back hard: “They’re not the French, they’re the Chinese. They spy on us” and “they steal our intellectual property.” When she suggested the French might be preferable, Trump responded skeptically: “do you think the French are better?” and laughed, saying “I don’t know. I’ll tell you, I’m not so sure. We’ve had a lot of problems with the French” including unfair taxation “on our technology” with “25% taxes on American products.”
Trump defended his position on economic grounds: “we take in trillions of dollars from students. You know, the students pay more than double, uh, when they come in from most foreign countries.” He emphasized: “I wanna see our school system thrive, but at the same time, I want to be — I know you and I disagree. We’re never gonna agree on it.”
The president framed it as business pragmatism: “it’s not that I want them, but I view it as a business. We have millions and millions of people. Also, I wanna get along with countries if possible.” He referenced Hillary Clinton’s warnings: “Remember, Hillary Clinton said, ‘We’ll be in a war.’ I stopped eight wars in the last nine months. I, I don’t wanna be in wars.”
Trump concluded with national interest arguments: “you don’t want to cut half of the people, half of the students, from all over the world that are coming into our country, destroy our entire university and college system. I don’t wanna do that.” Ingraham replied curtly: “I wouldn’t lose any sleep over it.”
In a revealing assertion of authority, Trump said: “And don’t forget, MAGA was my idea. MAGA was nobody else’s idea. I know what MAGA wants better than anybody else, and MAGA wants to see our country thrive.”
Gavin Newsom and California Governance
Ingraham played a video clip of California Governor Gavin Newsom criticizing fellow Democrats for being insufficiently aggressive in opposing the Trump administration. In the clip, Newsom said: “Sounds like some of my colleagues and friends in the United States Senate, some of my Democratic colleagues, just decided that we’re playing by the old set of rules, not the new set of rules.” He warned: “America will become unrecognizable in a year or two unless we fight back.”
Trump responded: “I knew Gavin for four years. I got along great with him, but he’s gone radical left.” The president attacked Newsom’s signature infrastructure project: “he’s building a train system from San Francisco to LA that’s got about a 2000 or 3000% cost overrun. And it’s the worst thing I’ve ever, I’ve never seen anything like it. I’ve seen cost overruns, I’ve never seen anything like that.”
On wildfire recovery, Trump said: “they lost 25,000 houses. Do you know they haven’t issued one building permit yet. These people are trying to rebuild the houses” but can’t. He claimed Newsom “did something even worse than that. He’s now taking a big section of Palisades or some area and he’s gonna build low-income housing where they used to have luxury housing.”
Trump continued his criticism: “His fire stuff is out of control. The forests are burning down all over the place. And honestly, I always liked him, but he’s a horrible governor. He’s a horrible governor. If he ran the country like that, we would have an absolutely gonzo country. This country would be gone.”
The president contrasted his economic vision with what he suggested would happen under Democratic leadership: “if I weren’t president, if Kamala got in, uh, you wouldn’t have, not only wouldn’t you have $20 trillion coming in, you, you would have money leaving.”
Welfare Reform and SNAP Benefits
Trump raised concerns about expanding welfare programs: “Take a look at some of the welfare things that we’re talking about. They’ve doubled, tripled and quadrupled since I left office.” Ingraham confirmed “SNAP benefits have” increased significantly.
The president provided specific figures: “SNAP has gone from like $7 billion to many times $7 billion.” He criticized how the program is currently administered: “people keep talking about SNAP, but SNAP is supposed to be if you’re down and out. You really, really have — That’s what the purpose of it. People are getting, they walk in and they get it automatically now. So the number is many times what it should be. Uh, it’s disgraceful.”
When Ingraham asked “Can we change that?” and pressed about reform, Trump responded affirmatively: “Yeah, I think we can reform them. I think, by sure.” He clarified his position on who should receive benefits: “People that need it have to get it. I’m all for it. But people that are able-bodied can do a job. They leave their job because they figure they can pick this up. It’s easier. That’s not the, the purpose of it.”
Trump framed it as both a fairness issue and a fiscal crisis: “what it does is it really puts the comp- — the country at jeopardy.” He suggested that without his election victory, “this country would’ve been busted, 100% busted within five months into a new administration.”
Chuck Schumer’s Political Future
Ingraham noted “knives are out it looks like for Chuck Schumer” with Representative Ro Khanna “already calling for him to be replaced.” She asked what message Trump had for the Senate Democratic leader.
Trump said: “I think he made a mistake in going too far.” When Ingraham asked “Going too far how?” Trump explained: “he just went too far. He thought he could break the Republicans and the Republicans broke him.”
The president characterized the political divide in stark terms: “we have good policy. They have bad policy. And there’s something, I don’t know if it’s Trump derangement or are they just crazed? They’re like crazed lunatics.” He added: “we have just great policy. We have good people. They have some good people too. I know a lot of Democrats, they’re not all crazy. They’re not all.”
Trump then attacked specific Democratic members, naming Representative Jasmine Crockett: “I look at this Crockett. This is a low, very low IQ person.” He also criticized an unnamed member “that comes from Somalia” (likely referring to Representative Ilhan Omar): “where they don’t have anything. They don’t have police, they don’t have military, they don’t have anything. All they have is crime. And she comes in and tells us how to run our country. The Constitution says this, the Constitution. The whole thing is crazy.”
On Schumer specifically, Trump expressed disappointment: “I feel badly because I’ve known Chuck Schumer. I knew him when he was a” congressman who “loved Israel. And now he’s a Palestinian. He’s become a Palestinian. And it’s amazing. I’ve never seen a politician change so much. Also, he’s, he doesn’t have, you know, he was a pretty talented guy. He’s lost his talent.”
Brandon Johnson and Immigration Enforcement
Ingraham raised Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s call “on the United Nations to investigate what he calls the abusive immigration crackdowns in the city by your, um, uh, ICE officers.”
Trump dismissed the mayor’s authority based on his approval ratings: “he’s got a 4% approval rating.” The president then described grassroots support for his immigration enforcement: “You have, uh, people in Chicago, beautiful black women wearing a MAGA hat, red MAGA hat. ‘Please come Mr. Trump, uh, President.’ They, they call me president, they call me mister, they can call me whatever they want. ‘Please come, President Trump, please come to — ‘ They’re begging us to come.”
White House East Wing Controversy
Ingraham addressed criticism from Michelle Obama about the demolition of the White House East Wing for a new ballroom. The former First Lady had said during a book promotion event: “When we talk about the East Wing, it’s the heart of the work. And to denigrate it, to tear it down, to pretend like it doesn’t matter, it’s a reflection of how you think of that role.”
Trump defended the decision by criticizing the existing structure: “the East Wing was a, uh, beautiful little tiny structure that was built many years ago that was renovated and expanded, and disbanded, and columns ripped out. And it had nothing to do with the original building. Uh, it was a poor, sad site and I could have built the ballroom around it, but it would not have been — We’re building one of the greatest ballrooms in the world.”
The president emphasized private financing: “zero money spent by the government. Zero. The East Wing is being spent by private donors and it’s a $250, $300 million building. It’s gonna be the most beautiful anywhere in the world.”
Trump highlighted the inadequacy of existing facilities: “they had a, an event the other day, they could held, with tables, they could hold 79 people. Now, if you have President Xi from China, where if you have some big state event, we have no place to have it. You know what they did? They would put a tent on the lawn. It was a low section, because that’s the only section you have. So it was a low section. If it rained, you were sitting in six inches of water. It was a disaster.”
When Ingraham asked if “Melania didn’t love this idea,” Trump acknowledged: “she loved her little tiny office” but “in about” one day, “she think, if you would ask her now she says it’s great.” He reiterated that “the East Wing, that building was renovated 20 times, including adding a floor to the top, which was terrible. It was at a common brick, little tiny windows. It looked like hell. It had nothing to do with the original building.”
The president concluded: “I didn’t wanna sacrifice a great ballroom for an okay ballroom by leaving it right smack in the middle.” He promised the new ballroom would be among “the greatest ballrooms in the world” based on his extensive experience: “I built a lot of them, you know that.”
Heaven Comments and Media Coverage
Ingraham addressed controversial remarks Trump made in October about salvation. She noted: “you were asked about ending wars and you talked about that and you said, ‘I don’t think there’s anything that’s gonna get me into heaven. I think I’m not maybe e- — e- — heaven bound.’ A lot of Christians were sort of sad to hear that, because Christ came to forgive our sins, if you believe that as Christians and they open heaven to all of us.”
Trump clarified he was being facetious: “the other day, the New York Times did a story and took that statement totally literally. When I made that statement, I was being funny, sarcastic. You know, it’s bad for a politician to be sarcastic. I said, ‘I’m never gonna make it to heaven.’ A big audience. ‘I don’t think I can make it. I don’t think I qualify.’ You know, et cetera. I was kidding. I was having fun.”
The president criticized the Times coverage, specifically naming reporter Peter Baker: “Peter Baker, who is the sycophant to Obama. You know, he wrote the Obama book like Obama was a good president. He was one of the worst. Biden was the worst. Obama was top three or four.”
Trump complained about the literal interpretation: “I make this statement and The Times as the front page, ‘Donald Trump is now questioning his life and his this, and his that.’ I said to a group of people, a large group, I said, ‘I don’t know if I’m gonna make it. I’m not so sure.’ But I’m gonna fight to ma- — You know, et cetera, et cetera. I was having fun and they made it like serious.”
He concluded: “The thing I thought I learned, but I forgot about it I guess when I made this little, is you can’t be sarcastic as a politician or have fun, but I, I don’t regret it. I don’t regret it.”
Oval Office Gold Decorations
The interview concluded with a brief segment showing Ingraham’s tour of the Oval Office, released as a separate social media clip. The exchange focused on the gold decorative elements in the office.
Trump explained: “You know the one thing with gold? You can’t, uh, you can’t imitate gold, real gold. There’s no paint that imitates gold.” When Ingraham joked “So these aren’t like from Home Depot or something?” Trump replied: “No, this is not Home Depot stuff” and “This is not Home Depot.”
Source Citation
“Interview: Laura Ingraham Interviews Donald Trump on Fox’s The Ingraham Angle – November 10, 2025.” Factbase, Roll Call, 10 Nov. 2025, factba.se. Transcript. Video courtesy Fox News.