Donald Trump launched a profanity-filled tirade at TIME reporters in the Oval Office, accusing them of failing to ask “one f***ing positive question” during their hour-long interview.
The confrontation came toward the end of the interview, after reporters questioned whether Trump would pardon members of his administration before leaving office.
The exchange followed a series of questions about his crackdown on the media, plans for a White House ballroom and the future of the Kennedy Center—all subjects Trump dismissed as “negative.”
Trump then reprimanded the reporters for not asking about Venezuela, where he claimed the United States had won “another war” after American forces ousted Nicolas Maduro in January. The reporters had, however, already raised the subject earlier in the interview.
The president also criticized the three Supreme Court justices he appointed, acknowledging that he now regrets nominating Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett.
“I gave them the position of a lifetime, and they vote against me often,” Trump told the magazine.
His frustration with the Supreme Court has been building since February, when the justices ruled 6-3 that an emergency economic powers law did not give him the authority to impose sweeping tariffs unilaterally. The decision opened the possibility of up to $175 billion in refunds for importers.
The court dealt Trump another setback in June. Justice Barrett joined Chief Justice John Roberts and the three liberal justices in rejecting his order to end birthright citizenship, while Justice Kavanaugh voted to block the measure under federal law.
“Well, I hope I get a decent story. I don’t think—you know, it’s hard to get a good story. Every question’s a hit. I don’t know what the hell’s wrong,” Trump told the TIME reporters.
Trump’s frustration with the Supreme Court has been building since February, when the justices ruled 6-3 that an emergency economic powers law did not authorize him to impose sweeping tariffs unilaterally.
Trump complained that the Supreme Court’s liberal justices would “stick like glue,” while his own nominees had drifted away from him. He also argued that the tariff ruling should have included a provision allowing the government to keep the money rather than return it.
When asked about the rising cost of living, Trump offered a pointed admission: “The only thing I have to get down now is the gas.”
Fuel prices surged after Tehran responded to the opening U.S. and Israeli strikes in February by closing the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow passage through which roughly one-fifth of the world’s energy supplies move.
The national average price for regular gasoline is now $4.46 a gallon, up from less than $3 before the war began.
Trump maintained that oil prices would fall sharply if Iran agreed to a deal. However, he rejected Tehran’s latest weekend ceasefire proposal to reopen the strait, calling it “not good enough.”
Republican insiders are privately concerned that soaring energy prices linked to the president’s war could threaten the party’s majorities in the House and Senate in the midterm elections.
Trump dismissed his declining approval ratings as “fake,” claiming he would defeat any current challenger by 20 points. He also described pollsters as “almost as corrupt as the writers.”
As aides prepared to bring the interview to a close, Trump continued displaying old photographs showing the White House in a state of decay.
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The national average for regular gasoline now sits at $4.46 despite a gallon costing under $3 before the Iran war began
‘Well, I hope I get a decent story. I don’t think—you know, it’s hard to get a good story. Every question’s a hit. I don’t know what the hell’s wrong,’ Trump concluded.
Trump’s 56th TIME magazine cover shows him posing in front of his new helipad on the South Lawn of the White House. Construction work on the new ballroom can be seen in the background.
‘Trump’s way,’ the headline says.
The cover marks a record-breaking number for any president, with Trump now surpassing Richard Nixon, who set a huge tally during the Watergate scandal.
