Trump attributed the Democratic takeover of Congress partly to voter frustration with Israel, a close U.S. ally. He noted that public support for Israel has declined since the Gaza war began in 2023.
BY PC Bureau
November 9: U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sunday that one reason Republicans suffered a heavy defeat in last week’s midterm elections was Americans’ strong dislike of Israel, a country with which his administration maintains close ties.
Speaking in a 60 Minutes interview, Trump reflected on the Democratic takeover of both the House and Senate and listed several factors behind the results.
“Number one, I was not on the ballot,” he said, adding that voters disliked some Republican candidates, including those he had endorsed.
“But there’s something beyond that. They didn’t like the [Iran] war. They didn’t like the fact that gasoline went up,” Trump continued. “And there’s a great dislike, incredibly, for Israel,” he said, without providing further details.
Polling has indicated that U.S. public support for Israel has declined since the Gaza war began in 2023 following the October 7 Hamas attack, with the drop especially pronounced among Democrats.
Last week, Vice President JD Vance suggested that Republicans may need to adjust their relationship with Israel if they hope to win future elections.
Ross Douthat: “mr. president, thank you so much for doing this. we’re gonna start with the midterms. two years ago you won a big, some might say historic, victory. just now the republican party in the midterms suffered a big, some might say historic, defeat. give me your political analysis of what just happened.”
Donald Trump: “well, number one, i was not on the ballot, but i campaigned hard for some people, and i think if i was on the ballot, it would have been a much different situation, because you saw the level of popularity and love. there was love, with massive rallies. nobody’s ever seen rallies like that for midterms, and there wasn’t one room that didn’t have thousands of people outside, couldn’t get in. so you had to transfer those voters, however, to candidates that they didn’t like. but there’s something beyond that. they didn’t like the war. they didn’t like the fact that gasoline went up, because i had it down at a low. in iowa was 185 cents a gallon, dollar 85 a gallon, and when you look at 185 and you go up to three and a half, four dollars, still lower than biden, lower than obama, but the war was blamed for that, and they didn’t like the war. i think mostly for that reason, because i think everyone agrees that iran cannot have a nuclear weapon, and they will never have a nuclear weapon. they won’t have that. but, and there’s a great dislike, incredibly, for israel. there seems to be a dislike for israel. so you have that, you have the war itself, you have the gas prices, and i think those are the primary reasons. and you know, maga, and i always, i want to keep out of wars. i’ve settled eight wars. i’ve settled eight wars. i mean, india, pakistan would have been a nuclear war. i got it settled before it got going. at 11, planes shot down. they were ready to go. the prime minister of pakistan said trump saved 30 to 50 million lives. i settled a lot of wars. so let’s answer by john.”
Ross Douthat: “let’s go, let’s go through those then, one by one. start, start with the candidates, right? you said it was tough to transfer your own appeal to candidates. but in a lot of cases you picked the candidates. you picked, you endorsed ken paxton. well, texas, he had a tough time.”
Donald Trump: “sure.”
Ross Douthat: “you endorsed darlene graham.”
Donald Trump: “it would have lost also. darlene, i did that in honor of a man named lindsay, who was a friend of mine. it was a good politician, good guy. he was a very good guy, and she fought hard. she fought hard. she really did. she, she, she lost a very republican state.”
Ross Douthat: “oh, to a very liberal challenge.”
Donald Trump: “i won south carolina by the highest vote in history, by far. i won texas by the highest vote in history, by far. i won florida, who, by the way, i did endorse, and he’s going to be a great governor, and a great senator. i would endorse both of them, and had i not endorsed him, they wouldn’t have won, because there was a wave. you know, i also brought a lot of people to a lot closer to victory. if you look at ohio, he was, john, you said it was a good guy, but he was 15 down. he ended up losing by a point, maybe less than a point. it was, he almost won. but i don’t make excuses for that. i won ohio by the most votes in history.”
Ross Douthat: “you’re only talking about it. i just, why can’t it transfer? you, you were out on the trail, and it didn’t vote like i’m on the ballot.”
Donald Trump: “yeah, it didn’t. people didn’t. or, or did they, did they vote because they were mad? i know that. i think they didn’t vote, really. i think they didn’t vote. i think in some cases they didn’t like the candidates, and that’s, you know, their prerogative. look, three times they’ve not necessarily listened to me. the two other times i didn’t go as much out as i did this time. i went all out. i did, i think, 30 rallies in like 28 days or something, and there were massive rallies, and they were very good, and they loved me. i mean, you saw the, it was like unbelievable.”
Ross Douthat: “but there’s no question that part of the country loves you. but as you said, there’s another part of the country, i think, that just by your own description, right, was unhappy with the war in iran.”
Donald Trump: “yeah.”
Ross Douthat: “i’m happy with the economy. talk about the economy for a moment. you handed me the jobs numbers that just came out a couple days after the election. they’re very good job numbers, low unemployment rate. that’s been true throughout your second term. but in poll after poll, people say they’re unhappy with this economy in a way they weren’t in the first term. cost of living, inflation, and so on. is that all just the iran war, or are there other things that haven’t been fixed?”
Donald Trump: “well, it’s not really the iran war, because the numbers are phenomenal. the numbers that we have are historically good numbers. i think it was bad messaging, maybe by me, but i would talk about it all the time. so i don’t know, how much can i talk about it? look, the press doesn’t cover, americans, the press doesn’t cover positive news for republicans. they don’t cover, certainly, positive news for me. so i have to do it myself, have to get it out there. one of the reasons i did rallies was to do that. but i would talk about how good, we have historically good numbers. we have the highest stock market in history. now, we lost yesterday because of the election, three trillion dollars. the market lost almost 5,000 points because of the democrats. they got in, and the world said, i don’t want to invest with these people, because they, look what happened in france, they look what happened in italy, and all over the world, and they say this is the same ideology. but we have had, let’s go, be the day before yesterday, right before, where the election, you know, and we’re talking about now, a day before the election, we picked up 25 trillion dollars in worth, in the worth of our, in value. nobody’s ever done that before.”
Ross Douthat: “but why don’t americans feel it?”
Donald Trump: “they don’t.”
Ross Douthat: “why don’t they? because there’s obviously, like, you in the press, you in the media, you and our business have been in tension throughout your career, correct, but you still won elections, right? so why couldn’t you win?”
Donald Trump: “i think it was bad messaging.”
Ross Douthat: “what was the bad message?”
Donald Trump: “we couldn’t get the word across. look, you just seen job numbers that came out the day after the election, right? too bad they didn’t come out the day before the election. but they came out, and the numbers are way beyond anybody’s expectations, by, by over a hundred and twenty, five hundred and thirty thousand. we had a hundred and sixty-five thousand jobs. i mean, just a minute. what is this, in like, there, when you look at polls, they are upset about their, i think they’re gonna notice it in the next two, three, four months.”
Ross Douthat: “okay. now, tariffs.”
Donald Trump: “let me just, so we have trillions of dollars right now being built in factories and everything else. that’s why these numbers, the construction numbers, the job numbers, are through the roof. if i, you know, i listen to these people, and i’m really good at money and finances, probably, maybe my best thing, although i was very good on the border. i was good in a lot of things. but in terms of that, you take a look at the kind of numbers that we’re doing. we’re doing numbers that have never been done before. 401ks are at their all-time high, by a lot. under other presidents they were a disaster. 401ks have made people rich, and for some reason, remember during rallies, i’d say, please look at your 401k before you go to vote. maybe not everyone has a big, for, but a lot of, it’s wages, it’s gas prices. i’d say, who has a 401k, and almost half the room, lots of people have them.”
Ross Douthat: “let’s, let’s, on gas prices and iran. a couple days ago your vice president, jd vance, wrote a social media post where he says the reason we lost is the war, meaning iran, and he said things in that post about israel. yeah, so you agree with his analysis. did you know he was, one thing, did you know first, did you know he was gonna write that post?”
Donald Trump: “he told, he asked me, what do i think? i said, you write what you, i said, right, you write what one feel. by the way, what are you gonna write? okay. so, but what he said, the one thing he left out is that i would say, and maybe he wouldn’t say it, i don’t know, i never asked him really, but if you had it to do again, would you do it? and that’s iran. would you go and attack iran and take away there? because we won that war. that war has been won. now they’re withering away as a country, and they’ll come and they’ll make a deal. they’ll definitely, they want to make a deal. we, by the way, just before we get, they want to make a deal just before the election, and that gives them a little bit of a hope certificate now. but we were close to making a deal. if we didn’t have this election, we might have even had, or within the next few days, we would have a deal, and let’s give some hope. let’s go with that. but i just, before, yeah, the only thing i wish you would have said there, if he felt it, and you’d have to ask him about that, but if you had it to do again, would you do it? you know, he’s part of a decision-making process, and my answer is an emphatic yes, because you can’t let iran have a nuclear weapon. i think, historically, this will be a very good decision. is it a good decision for today and tomorrow? maybe not. but i would, you know, i have to go with what’s right for our country. if they had a nuclear weapon, you and i would not be speaking the way. oh, then i’d really be excoriated. if they had a nuclear weapon during my term, i would be excoriated far worse than what’s happened. so let’s, let’s come, but rest, i’ve stopped them from having a nuclear weapon. that’s a big thing. just stay, they were ready to make a deal with me. we would have had a deal except for this election, and we’ll make a deal anyway, because they’ll get over there.”
Ross Douthat: “so you’re not going to escalate the war now that the midterms are.”
Donald Trump: “looking to, i don’t think there’s any reason to. i don’t think there’s any reason to. look, they still have, they still have nuclear. they still have nuclear material. they have, they have nothing. it’s buried under thousands of tons of rock, and we have, through space force, which i created, we have, we have telescopic lenses that are unbelievable. i can, i can tell the color of the red dots on your tie, and we watch every one of those sites, the three that we blew up, and also pickaxe, pickaxe mountain.”
Ross Douthat: “so there’s still stuff in pickaxe mountain?”
Donald Trump: “well, we don’t know that. there wasn’t. there’s been very little activity there. they have other problems. they’re not looking at pickaxe mountain. but so, what if we need is, if we needed to do pickaxe, if we needed to do pickaxe, we’ll watch it. if we needed to do pickaxe, which we don’t at this moment, we would have that done in one hour. it would be taken care of.”
Ross Douthat: “so what’s the deal in the end with them that gives it, gives the strait open? because it’s important.”
Donald Trump: “it’s important. the strait is open. the strait has traffic moving through it, because the u.s. military sitting there.”
Ross Douthat: “your, your favorite newspaper, the wall street journal, two days ago had an article that said there is more oil going through the hormone strait than there was at the beginning of the war. think of that.”
Donald Trump: “we have ships going, but the ships that are going through are being babysat by a large u.s. military presence.”
Ross Douthat: “so how do we make it not very, not very expensive, out of there?”
Donald Trump: “not very expensive. we can just leave, and at the end of this whole thing, those countries that we’ve protected are going to pay us back any and all costs that we’ve had for the war. we’re gonna get all that money back, and i’ve told them, and they’re gonna do it 100%, because without us they wouldn’t exist. without us, israel wouldn’t exist. let me tell you, israel.”
Ross Douthat: “tell me about all.”
Donald Trump: “would not exist except for donald trump, because we went in with those beautiful b-2 bombers more than a year ago, and we hit the three sites. at, at the time, you know, i call it nuclear dust. they were loaded up with nuclear dust. they were two weeks away from having a nuclear weapon, and if i didn’t hit them, and it was an incredible raid, and people said, oh, well, maybe they hit, it turned out to be, when atomic energy went in and they said it was the most accurate imaginable. i mean, they were totally destroyed.”
Ross Douthat: “you took, you, you say you have no regrets about that decision. do you have any regrets on, but on israel? do you have regrets about the decision to help the israelis do decapitation strikes on iran? because that changed the iranian regime, and it seems like it made them escalate. you could have just kept hitting the new, the nuclear facilities, right? you could have done that.”
Donald Trump: “but we had people that would, would have gone further. look, this, i want to have it for the long term, not for the short term. we decapitated their nuclear arsenal. if i didn’t do that, there would be no israel right now. israel would be gone, in my, look, i deal with these people. i deal with a lot of people, and that’s what i’ve done my whole life. i make deals, and obviously i make good deals, because i became, i made a lot of money, and i became president. bill, you know, it’s just a deal, too. i became president of the united states. a lot of smart politicians thought, oh, gee, this should be easy, but it wasn’t easy for them. i became president as an, easy, i became president easily. so that’s what i do. i deal with the iranians. they would use a nuclear weapon in 24 hours, just like the democrats will terminate the filibuster immediately, and i’m trying to get that knowledge imparted into the republican senate. but the democrats will, immediately, or as soon as they have the right opportunity, they will terminate the filibuster and do things to our country that are very, very bad. i’m trying to weave.”
Ross Douthat: “yeah, so let’s, let’s do the weave and talk about the democrats. thank you. came out after the midterms, you congratulated the democrats. you said that you were open to working with them, true. what is one thing you would like to work with a democratic majority?”
Donald Trump: “i’d love to do something on immigration.”
Ross Douthat: “what, because, well, so do you think immigration hurt you?”
Donald Trump: “i think in the midterm, i think the crackdown, i think it both helped and hurt. i think i got an a-plus for closing up the border, because we had 25 million people come in through biden over a four-year period, and many of those people were, as you know, they were from prisons. they were drug dealers. they were from mental institutions. they were from all over the world, not just south america. and some, as you once said, are good people. you know, i said, yes, i’m a good, and some are really bad. you had eleven thousand eight hundred and eighty-eight murderers, most of whom, more than half of whom, committed more than one murder. they were allowed into our country. we’ve gotten most of them out. so the book, so close, plus, and i think you would agree that i get an a-plus for that. i get an a-plus. what, closing, nobody in the last 17 months, just came out, zero people came in through a southern border, as opposed to 25 million people. 25 million people, they came in through caravans. nobody ever saw anything like it. okay, for getting people out, i get very high marks for getting the bad ones out, but i get hurt because we also took people that had good jobs, that, that created one violation, were breaking of the law, and that was that they came into the country illegally. now, there is a large part of the country that think that they should be put out, and there’s a large part of the country that think that they should be allowed to stay if they’re good people, working in a landscaping company, or working in a hotel, or doing something, right, and in some cases paying taxes. and there’s a large group of people think that they should be allowed to stay.”
Ross Douthat: “so, so you think your deportation policy went too far? it was too tough?”
Donald Trump: “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.”
Ross Douthat: “what would, and i think, what is the deal look?”
Donald Trump: “i think ultimately that hurt me. i think it, well, the deal would be we would work something out, and i think it’s something, i think that’s something that’s actually doable.”
Ross Douthat: “but a lot of people, doable to create some kind of legal status for the landscapers.”
Donald Trump: “yeah. when you go into a hotel and you say, let me see your pass, and you have a woman that’s worked there as a, you know, as a maid, as a cleaner, as a this, as that, as a waitress, a lot of good things, great job, and all of a sudden they’re being taken out of the country. it’s tough. it’s a tough thing. also, 25 million people came in through, but that’s a lot of people to take out. but there’s a group of people that i would say on the sort of pretty far right that would like everybody taken out. there’s a group of people.”
Ross Douthat: “and do any of those people work in your administration? are they in the building with us right now?”
Donald Trump: “no. no. well, there are a lot of those people. yeah. then there’s also people that are more modified on that. in other words, get the killers out, get to, get the rapist out, get all the rough ones out, get the drug dealers out, but let the people that are here, and in some cases here for 10 and 15 years, work a deal for them.”
Ross Douthat: “okay.”
Donald Trump: “so that’s another group. and then you have a group that, so you have the group that wants to get everybody out, then you have the group that wants to modify it, and then you have a group that’s a very dangerous group, the sanctuary city group, that want to let murderers stay. they want it. they don’t want to give us the criminals. we have, they have murderers that they know are murderers, and i don’t understand that group. they don’t want them out of our country. they want to protect them, and they’ve literally murdered people. they’re drug dealers. they’re really bad people.”
Ross Douthat: “and, but do you think, but you think the democratic party right now has people in it who would be interested in this kind of deal?”
Donald Trump: “i think so. yeah. people have already called me.”
Ross Douthat: “who?”
Donald Trump: “you know, i guess i get along with a lot of the democrats, a lot.”
Ross Douthat: “so i saw, so i’ll say, i saw james tallarico, the new democratic senator from texas. i saw him on fox news, and he said immigration was one of the things he wanted to work with. others, to, south carolina said.”
Donald Trump: “you did, you did.”
Ross Douthat: “people that didn’t, in the course of the campaign, you did occasionally call him tallarico.”
Donald Trump: “yeah, i did.”
Ross Douthat: “do you think you could work with the democrats without insulting them?”
Donald Trump: “yeah, consistently.”
Ross Douthat: “you think you also call, but you also call many of them, democrats. you did that just the other day. if, if it took six months of not insulting the democrats to get a deal done, do you think you could do it?”
Donald Trump: “very easily.”
Ross Douthat: “okay, that’ll be interesting to watch. do you think, i’m here to help the country. think you could do it if they’re investigating you, if they’re running investigations into your administration? can you work with them?”
Donald Trump: “well, i did it for four years. you know, i think what they did with me was, there’s never been weaponization. they impeached me twice, and there are those that say that worked out to my advantage. i mean, you know.”
Ross Douthat: “because you think they’ll impeach you again?”
Donald Trump: “i can’t imagine it. you know, they did. hey, look, what have i done? i’ve had the best two years in the history of the presidency. you just read the numbers. you just read, in terms of the economy, in terms of everything, up until her public opinion. well, the only public opinion, that’s, you also saw public opinion with the rallies. i mean, i had the largest rallies in history. i had the greatest amount of love, if you want to call it love. those people love what i’m doing. they love what i’ve done. but, but you see, understand, you make, in two years, think of it. we have, for 91 days, the highest stock market in history. we have more jobs created than ever before in history. we have the highest amount of exporting. we’re exporting.”
Ross Douthat: “so, become a big part. let me ask you about that economy. a big part of that economy has been the success of artificial intelligence. i know we call it super intelligence in this house, and you have said repeatedly, whoever wins super intelligence wins the future. but again, if you go into polls, americans, they don’t love data centers. they’re pretty negative about ai, super intelligence. what does the average american get out of ai?”
Donald Trump: “first, let me just tell you that when you say a big part, yes, it’s a part, but we’re also building automobile, sure, factories like we’ve never built before. audi just announced four billion.”
Ross Douthat: “does, i know, but you have to know, but you said a big part.”
Donald Trump: “automobiles. how about pharmaceutical? eli lilly, merck, pfizer. they’re building hundreds of billions on the economy. but i would have never been, but there has never been a time where there is the activity. trillions and trillions of dollars right now, as we sit, is being built. in a year from now, because they started a year ago, in a year from now many of those plants are going to be open, operating.”
Ross Douthat: “but i want, i want, what do americans get? you, you have, i talked to people in silicon valley who say that the decisions you make around ai are the most important things that you’ll be remembered for. that’s what, that’s what they, that’s what they think. but at the same time there is all of this anxiety and concern, and i just want you to know, as someone, you are an ai bull.”
Donald Trump: “i am.”
Ross Douthat: “what do, what does the average american get out of that technology?”
Donald Trump: “excuse me, before i answer that, the reason i’m an ai bull, yes, one of the reasons is because president xi left here two weeks ago. we had a great meeting. he’s all in to si, as i call.”
Ross Douthat: “yes, it really is super intelligence. it’s a, it’s a much better name.”
Donald Trump: “i think, because it’s not artificial. it’s, it’s.”
Ross Douthat: “that, at least, is what, it’s what they think they’re racing towards.”
Donald Trump: “yes. so china, what, we’re in a race with china, and if, and i’ve said, whoever wins that race wins. the level of power of winning that race is very important.”
Ross Douthat: “what is, the china has no problem with data centers, right?”
Donald Trump: “china has no problem with electricity, and by the way, we don’t either, because i’m letting, i’m demanding that they build their own electric plant. every one of those centers that goes up now, under me, is building their own electric. you had to be giving the excess electric. they’re giving the excess electric right now. they’re giving it into the old grid that we had. we have an old broken grid, and that juice is pouring into the grid. it’s gonna lower a lot.”
Ross Douthat: “you had all of the ai tycoons in here.”
Donald Trump: “i did.”
Ross Douthat: “and elon musk said then, as he said often, the end game with ai, super intelligence, is that we’re incredibly rich and nobody has to work, and everyone gets paid a universal high income. yeah, you like to work? does that sound like a good future to you?”
Donald Trump: “no, what, what he meant, i think, is that when a data center, as an example, goes to a community, look at west virginia. they’re going wild. they love it. they say, come on in. and many, many country, many places like it. by the way, other countries like it. they’re building them in finland all of a sudden, because if we lose that, we’re losing a cash cow. it’s a cash cow. but here’s the thing. i think you’re saving, so look.” 1/4
– CBS 60 MINUTES— corgi (@wordsdematthew) November 9, 2026
On election morning, Trump announced that the United States would end its $4 billion in annual military aid to Israel by the end of 2026. The statement reportedly surprised Israeli security and financial officials, as the current memorandum of understanding providing Israel with $3.8 billion annually does not expire until the end of September 2028.
Trump later sought to soften the announcement by emphasizing that Israel has been a reliable ally and even supports the policy. However, the timing of the statement underscored how politically sensitive aid to Israel has become for both major U.S. parties.
Last year, Trump reportedly cautioned one of his Jewish donors about declining support for Israel among his own base.
READ: China Denies Spy Allegations Against Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang
Separately on Sunday, Trump was asked about Israeli President Isaac Herzog granting Yashar chairman Gadi Eisenkot the first opportunity to form a new government, ahead of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“They’re very similar in terms of their policy… [Eisenkot] said very nice things about me. He says he loves Trump, but… I haven’t seen what’s happening. It’s certainly a contest between him and Bibi Netanyahu. We’ll see what happens,” Trump told reporters.
Eisenkot refrained from criticizing Trump after the U.S. president twice endorsed Netanyahu ahead of last month’s Knesset election. Netanyahu had reportedly sought public support from Trump as polls showed his coalition struggling to secure a majority.
After winning the most endorsements to form a government, Eisenkot has focused on distinguishing his governing style from Netanyahu’s while avoiding major policy differences. He has signaled an intention to build a more moderate coalition than Netanyahu’s outgoing government, which included far-right and ultra-Orthodox parties.
Trump has previously criticized Netanyahu’s assertive regional policies. In June, continued Israeli strikes in Lebanon disrupted Iran-related diplomacy, prompting Trump to describe the Israeli premier in strong terms as “fucking crazy.” Earlier this year, he reportedly called Netanyahu “his own worst enemy” amid frustration with certain policies.
Despite these tensions, both leaders have maintained that their working relationship remains positive.
