Could Trump forgive his opponents if it meant eternal paradise? "I do hate some of my enemies, and I always will," he told 60 Minutes
Could President Trump forgive his opponents if it meant eternal paradise? That's a question Ross Douthat asked Mr. Trump in an interview for 60 Minutes, which aired Sunday night.
When asked what he thinks happens when he dies, Mr. Trump told Douthat, "I'm a religious person, so in theory, I go to heaven."
Douthat posed the question: "Let's say you pass away, you're entering the next life, and all you have to do to enter paradise is feel love and forgiveness for James Comey, Nancy Pelosi, anyone who you have expressed hate for over the years. Do you think you can do it?"
"Well, then I wouldn't be real, would I?" Mr. Trump said, calling them "extremely dishonest people, very bad people, very bad for our country."
Douthat asked: "Is the answer no, then?"
"The answer is no. I want to be honest, no," Trump replied.
Douthat continued: "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?"
"Can I be honest?" Trump asked. "I probably cannot do that, no, because I do hate some of my enemies, and I always will."
The president has had no shortage of targets for his ire over the past decade. Many of them have come under legal scrutiny during Mr. Trump's second term in office. Three have even come under federal indictment: former FBI Director James Comey, New York Attorney General Letitia James and former national security adviser John Bolton.
Comey, who oversaw the FBI's investigation into ties between Mr. Trump and Russia during the president's first term, was indicted twice by the Department of Justice within the span of a year — first in September 2025 and then in April of this year. The first case was dismissed, while the second, stemming from an Instagram post, is still pending.
Last month, the Justice Department took steps to charge Comey with leaking classified information, a third possible indictment.
James, whose office brought successful civil fraud charges against the Trump Organization in 2022, faced charges for bank fraud and making false statements to a financial institution. Both were thrown out by a judge.
Bolton, an Iran war hawk who worked in the first Trump administration, is the one persistent target to be successfully prosecuted. He pleaded guilty to retaining classified information in June and will be sentenced next month.
