Trump says he could stop name-calling for six months to reach a deal
President Donald Trump said in a 60 Minutes broadcast on Sunday that a negotiable deal could allow some undocumented immigrants who had been in the United States for 10 or 15 years to remain. Speaking with CBS correspondent Ross Douthat, Trump said the proposal would target “killers, rapists and drug dealers” while making an accommodation for some people who had been in the country for 10 or 15 years, and he said he believed an agreement was achievable. Asked whether he could refrain from name-calling for six months to secure an agreement, Trump replied: “Very easily.”
“Let the people that are here, and in some cases here for 10 and 15 years, work a deal for them,” Trump said. “I think that’s something that’s actually doable.” Trump suggested Democrats were receptive to a compromise, saying some had already contacted him. Trump proposed a negotiable deal that could allow some long-term undocumented residents in the United States to remain while people convicted of serious crimes continued to be removed.
Trump said there were competing views within the country about whether undocumented immigrants should be deported or allowed to remain if they were working and paying taxes. He said some people believed that “they should be allowed to stay if they’re good people working in a landscaping company” and “in some cases, paying taxes.”
Asked whether his deportation policy had gone too far, Trump said: “I think it was too tough.” He continued: “I think it might be too tough, yeah. And a lot of people would say that it’s great. But a lot of people think it’s too tough.” Trump said the policy had “both helped and hurt” him, since people gave him an “A+ for closing up the border” and “very high marks for getting the bad ones out.” He also said: “I get hurt because we also took people that had good jobs, that created one violation, or breaking of the law, and that was that they came into the country illegally.”
A photograph published with The Guardian’s report was captioned to show federal agents during an ICE operation in New York in October. The outlet reported that since Trump returned to office, Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids at workplaces, homes and public spaces had ensnared people with no criminal records, separated families and spread fear in immigrant communities. The Guardian also reported that federal agents fatally shot two US citizens, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, during operations in Minneapolis earlier this year.
The remarks came after Trump said on Friday that Stephen Miller would become White House chief of staff. The Guardian said the remarks appeared at odds with that decision.
Trump also used the interview to revisit the Republicans’ midterm losses, blaming the war with Iran and higher petrol prices for much of the defeat and agreeing with an assessment by his vice-president, JD Vance, that the conflict had been a major factor. He also cited what he described as growing dislike of Israel. Trump maintained the military campaign had been justified and said he would make the same decision again: “My answer is an emphatic yes because you can’t let Iran have a nuclear weapon.”
Trump insisted the war had been won and predicted that Tehran would eventually negotiate a deal, while acknowledging the military campaign might not have been popular in the short term. “I think historically, this will be a very good decision. Is it a good decision for today and tomorrow? Maybe not.” He said he was not looking to escalate the conflict after the midterms.
On the economy, Trump conceded that his administration had failed to communicate its achievements effectively, despite repeatedly claiming that employment, investment and stock market figures were at record levels. “I think it was bad messaging, maybe by me,” he said.
Trump signalled an openness to safeguards for artificial intelligence, despite having previously favoured allowing technology companies to police themselves rather than imposing sweeping government restrictions. “I don’t mind guardrails,” he told 60 Minutes. “But I don’t wanna put us in a deep second position.”
The interview also raised questions about the substantial increase in Trump’s personal wealth since his return to the White House. Douthat cited a Forbes estimate that Trump’s net worth had increased by $3bn from the autumn of 2024 to the autumn of 2025. Trump initially suggested the increase reflected the general performance of the stock market and said his finances were managed by his son. Asked about his family’s cryptocurrency business, World Liberty Financial, in which he is a co-owner and which has attracted investment from people connected to the United Arab Emirates, Trump said: “I know nothing about it.”
Dan Alexander, a Forbes senior editor who calculates the net worth of wealthy individuals for the magazine, challenged that explanation in a lengthy thread on X, arguing that the president’s increased fortune could not be explained simply by stock market gains. Alexander pointed to cryptocurrency ventures that generated more than $1bn in proceeds, the appreciation of tokens retained by Trump, overseas licensing agreements that expanded the value of his branding business, and the removal of an almost $500m financial penalty in his New York civil fraud case.
Trump also offered a glimpse of the Republican succession battle ahead of the 2028 presidential election, saying he might endorse a candidate but had not decided whether to intervene. Asked whether he expected to endorse a successor, Trump replied: “Probably. Not necessarily.” He described the Republican party as having a strong field of potential candidates and praised secretary of state Marco Rubio while declining to rule out other contenders. Trump said his endorsement would carry considerable weight but suggested he might be better off staying out of the contest, and he expressed confidence that the “Make America great again” movement could survive without him as its leader, citing strong borders and a strong military.
At the end of the interview, Trump was asked whether he could forgive political opponents including former FBI director James Comey and former House speaker Nancy Pelosi, even before the judgment of God. Trump said: “The answer is no. I want to be honest, no.” Douthat pressed him: “Mr President. You have had the most charmed and remarkable life of any American in my entire lifetime and you are telling me that before the judgment throne of God you couldn’t find it in your heart to forgive some of your enemies? After all that’s been given to you? Come on. Help me out here.” Trump remained adamant, insisting: “I probably cannot do that, no, because I do hate some of my enemies and I always will.” Douthat then noted that many presidents are remembered with a single line such as “He freed the slaves” or “He won the cold war” and asked what line Trump’s presidency would be remembered for. The president said simply: “That I made America great again.”