President Donald Trump’s interview with former South Carolina congressman Trey Gowdy on Fox News' Sunday Night in America — a friendly, 41-minute prime-time sit-down that Gowdy had been teasing on air for a full week — aired last night, August 30.
What viewers saw was a president who claimed he had solved inflation, said Israel would not exist without him, insisted Canada believes it is already a U.S. state, described himself as a perfectionist, and asked American voters to pretend his name is on the November ballot.
What they didn’t get was a difficult question.
"Pretend I'm on the ballot"
The centerpiece of the interview was the 2026 midterms. Trump told Gowdy he plans to campaign for Republican candidates the same way he campaigned for himself in 2024, then made a request of voters: pretend that he's on the ballot when they vote.
He warned that a Democratic win would mean "big, big trouble for our country," according to Fox's own promotion of the segment, while simultaneously predicting Republicans would do well.
He took a swipe at Kamala Harris, saying she hadn't campaigned very hard in the 2024 election.
Then he offered an unusually candid admission: some people, he said, like him more than they like the party — and there's nothing anyone can do about that.
He's not wrong about the numbers. He's just wrong about what they mean for November.
The inflation claim
Trump told Gowdy he had "largely taken care of inflation."
Here’s what the federal government's own data says:
The annual inflation rate for the 12 months ending in July 2026 was 3.4 percent, down only a tenth of a point from the month before.
Food prices rose 3 percent over the same 12 months, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics figures released August 12.
Beef is worse. USDA data shows beef and veal running 11.8 percent above year-ago levels, with the agency forecasting a 10.7 percent increase across all of 2026.
Ground beef crossed $6.80 a pound this summer. Trump's own administration was suspending tariffs on imported ground beef just nine days before Trump’s interview with Trey Gowdy aired — an emergency move you don't make when inflation is "largely taken care of."
Robert Wolf, an Obama Foundation board member and former Wall Street CEO, called the claim badly out of touch, pointing to gas, groceries, commodity prices, fertilizer and diesel costs hammering farmers.
Iran, on the night the missiles flew
Trump's Iran comments aired the same day U.S. forces struck Iranian missile launchers on Larak Island and Iran retaliated against American bases in Jordan.
He called Iran a "failing nation," praised the naval blockade, and said Iran's navy, air force and leadership were gone.
Then he made the claim that if he weren't president, there would be no Israel, and probably no Middle East either.
Gowdy didn’t ask about civilian casualties. He didn’t ask about the war's legal authorization, which Congress has never granted.
He didn’t ask about the sailors aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln who spent more than 250 consecutive days at sea before their relief arrived.
He didn’t ask what the plan is after the bombing stops.
The rest of it
On trade, Trump veered into a complaint that the United States spends tens of billions on NATO and other allies without getting help back, naming South Korea as his prime example.
South Korea is not a NATO member.
It’s also, under the 12th Special Measures Agreement that took effect this year, paying roughly $1.1 billion in 2026 toward hosting U.S. troops — an 8.3 percent increase, with annual raises tied to inflation through 2030.
On Democrats, he blamed transgender people for his opponents' politics, returning to his familiar line about men in women's sports.
He claimed public opinion on the issue runs 99 to 1 in his favor.
On Canada, he said the country "thinks" it's a state — after spending much of two years suggesting it should become one.
Canadian author Scott Barber replied dryly that Canadians are sure they're not.
And on himself, Trump declared that he is a perfectionist, then veered into a story about how clean and proud his parents were.
Independent journalist Aaron Rupar, who clips these appearances for a living, described Gowdy's performance as a strong contender for the most pathetic Trump interview ever conducted — stiff competition, he noted.
What wasn't asked
No question about ICE detention deaths. No question about the special master, a federal judge appointed this month to oversee child detention at Dilley.
No question about the electric shock gloves ICE is preparing to buy.
No question about the 800-plus unaccompanied minors, or the families separated, or the American citizens killed abroad while Washington said nothing.
Trump's golf foursome did come up.
The numbers he didn't mention
A Reuters/Ipsos poll taken August 21–24 put his net approval at 32 points underwater.
Trump's approval sits somewhere between 33 and 40 percent depending on the survey, with a polling average around 39 percent — worse than his position at the same point in 2018, when Republicans lost 41 House seats.
On prices, the issue that returned him to office, he is 48 points underwater. Decision Desk HQ gives Democrats a 67 percent chance of retaking the House.
Trump wants voters to pretend he's on the ballot in November.
Hopefully they do.
