‘I Don’t Want to Go to Hell’: Donald Trump Speaks on Death in New 60 Minutes Interview

President Donald Trump, pressed to contemplate his own mortality in a nationally televised interview, said he hopes he will be remembered fondly, hopes he will go to heaven and does not want to go to hell.

The exchange came during Trump’s first major interview since Republicans lost control of both the House and Senate in last week’s midterm elections. The conversation with correspondent Ross Douthat aired Sunday night on CBS News’ “60 Minutes” and had been recorded Friday.

‘Let’s talk about death’

After a long discussion of the election and policy, Douthat, a conservative Catholic who recently joined the program, abruptly changed course. “Let’s talk about death,” he said, as described by The Independent.

Douthat pointed to Trump’s several close calls in recent years, most notably the July 2024 rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, where a sniper’s bullet clipped the president’s right ear. He suggested such moments must have had “some kind of effect” on Trump’s outlook and asked: “What do you think happens when you die?”

Trump initially answered in terms of legacy. “Well, I hope I’m missed,” he said with a chuckle. “I hope I’m missed, I don’t know… I think I’ve done a good job as…”

Douthat pressed further. “What do you think happens to Donald Trump when you die? Not your memory, yourself.”

“You mean where I go?” the president replied. “Well, I’m a religious person, so in theory I go to heaven.”

“Do you think you are going to heaven?” Douthat asked.

“I hope so. I don’t want to go to hell,” Trump said.

Jokes, hatred and forgiveness

Douthat then raised remarks Trump made last year at a memorial in Arizona for slain Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, when the president said of his opponents: “I hate my opponents and I don’t want the best for them.”

Douthat acknowledged that Trump had been joking at the time but observed, “I think that facts come through jokes.” Trump agreed.

Asked directly whether he could forgive his enemies, Trump said it would be easy to answer yes. But he said: “I probably cannot do that, no, because I do hate some of my enemies, and I always will,” The Associated Press noted.

Election losses and policy

The spiritual exchange followed a broader discussion of the midterm results. Trump conceded that inflation and high gas prices linked to the war with Iran contributed to Republican losses, The Independent said, while also blaming the media, some GOP candidates and low voter turnout.

He also acknowledged his immigration crackdown may have hurt his party. “I think it might be too tough, yeah,” he said of his deportation policy, according to the AP, and said he believed a deal with the new Democratic majorities was “actually doable.” Shortly after the taping, he named Stephen Miller, the chief architect of his hard-line immigration agenda, as his new chief of staff, replacing Susie Wiles. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer called the move “not a course correction” but “a promotion.”

Trump signaled possible Cabinet changes but said Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth would stay. In the 2028 race, he said he may not endorse a successor. “Maybe I’m better off not getting involved,” he said.

Asked about the $3 billion rise in his net worth since returning to office, Trump said: “I devote almost no time to my net worth. I don’t care.”

A rare moment of reflection

Questions about faith and mortality are uncommon in interviews with sitting presidents, and Trump has seldom spoken publicly about what he believes awaits him after death. His answer, a hopeful but hedged expectation of heaven, framed with the phrase “in theory,” offered a glimpse of a side of the president that rarely surfaces in political settings.

Douthat’s line of questioning was notable for linking Trump’s brushes with death to his inner life. The Butler shooting remains one of the defining images of Trump’s political career, and Trump and many of his supporters have described his survival in spiritual terms. Asking the president to reflect on that experience directly invited him to connect those public narratives to private belief.

The pivot to forgiveness gave the segment its sharpest edge. Forgiving one’s enemies is a central teaching of Christianity, and Douthat, himself a prominent Catholic writer, appeared to be drawing an implicit link between Trump’s stated hope of heaven and his openly expressed animosity toward opponents. Trump’s candid refusal to say he could forgive them was consistent with his past remarks.

How audiences interpret that candor is likely to follow familiar lines. Admirers often value Trump’s refusal to offer polished or expected answers and may see honesty in his admission. Critics may view it as an extension of the confrontational politics they believe contributed to division and to his party’s losses at the polls.

The timing also gives the exchange added weight. Coming days after a significant electoral setback, with staffing changes underway and talk of a 2028 race in which he may stay neutral, Trump’s reflections on how he hopes to be remembered arrived at a moment when questions about his legacy are already moving to the fore in Washington.

Sources: CBS News’ “60 Minutes”; The Independent; The Associated Press (AP)