Australia’s Largest Christian News Site

Donald Trump’s candid admission that he struggles to forgive his enemies has sparked debate, but Franklin Graham’s response points to a far more important question: salvation.

Donald Trump’s latest sit-down with 60 Minutes revealed a lot more than just his thoughts on the Democrat sweep of the US midterm elections.

While the 8 November interview dropped some of the US president’s first responses to the mid-term elections, it was his closing remarks about life after death that are lighting up some parts of the internet.

Donald Trump told Douthat that he was religious, adding that he hoped he’d be avoiding hell.

Trump Confronted With the Question of Eternity

Talking about death and surviving four assassination attempts, Douthat asked Trump, “What do you think happens when you die?”

Somewhat evasive, the President quipped, “Well, I hope I’m missed.”

“No, but I really mean it. I hope I’m missed. I don’t know.”

“I think I’ve done a good job.”

Douthat repeated the question, and Trump replied, “Okay. You mean where I go?”

“Well, I’m a religious person, so in theory I go to heaven.”

To this, Trump added, “I hope so. I don’t want to go to hell.”

‘I Do Hate Some of My Enemies’: Trump’s Unflinching Admission

He was then asked about forgiveness and hating his enemies. Douthat based this on comments Trump had made last year following Erika Kirk’s speech at the Charlie Kirk Memorial.

Douthat asked Trump, “You said, quote, ‘I hate my opponents and I don’t want the best for them.’ 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?”

Trump stated, “Well, then I wouldn’t be real, would I? I mean, if I said to you, sure, the easy answer to that is ‘Oh, yes, I could forgive.’

“I found them to be extremely dishonest people, very bad people, very bad for our country. I love our country far more than I can love people and people like that.”

Answering Douthat, Trump bluntly said, “The answer is no. I want to be honest, no.”

Asked by the 60 Minutes reporter if he would still answer the same way before the judgment seat of God, the President said, “Before the judgment. No, I think they were very bad people and — I dislike — I can use the word hate, I do hate some of my enemies. I think they’ve been terrible. Look what they’ve put me through: the weaponisation. I got indicted.”

“I got impeached.”

Douthat then asked, “Mr President. You have had the most charmed and remarkable life of any American in my entire lifetime, and you are telling me you couldn’t find it in your heart to forgive some of your enemies? After all that’s been given to you?”

Trump replied, stating that he could fake it, saying it’s easy to answer, “Yes, I can.”

Rather than lie, Trump concluded, “I probably cannot do that, no, because I do hate some of my enemies and I always will.”

“I’m a religious person, so in theory I go to heaven,” President Trump says, discussing what he thinks happens after death. “I don’t want to go to hell.” https://t.co/8o5y8hcqtY https://t.co/5LexpK2jEP

— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) November 9, 2026

In the 8 November interview, Trump put the outcome of the midterms down to voters not liking the candidates, higher petrol prices, him not being on the ballot and a “great dislike, incredibly, for Israel.”

Trump also said that he didn’t disagree with VP JD Vance’s comments that Iran was a major factor, although Trump did restate that stopping Iran’s Islamist regime from acquiring a nuclear arsenal was the right call.

Criticisms were inevitable.

Rod Dreher slammed the president.

On X, the Live Not by Lies author equated Trump to a character in Dante’s Inferno, writing, “My God. My God. The pettiness and hatred in that man’s heart. He is literally a character in Dante’s Inferno.

“Despite being given so much in life, he hates his enemies more than he fears God. MASSIVE respect to Douthat for posing the question, and then pressing him to answer.”

Franklin Graham Points to the Biblical Requirements for Heaven

Franklin Graham chose a different approach.

He took the heart of the Gospel to the heart of the theological problem with Trump’s assertions: works righteousness.

Graham said, “Toward the end of the interview, they talked about something far more important than politics. He asked the President, at 80 years of age and after surviving multiple assassination attempts, what he thinks will happen when he dies. President Trump said he wants to go to Heaven and not to Hell. Most people, if asked, I believe, would say the same.

“But Heaven has borders,” Graham explained. “Heaven has unique and very strict entrance requirements. To enter Heaven, the Bible tells us that you must acknowledge your sins, turn from them in repentance, and receive Jesus Christ by faith. That means, believe that Jesus Christ is God’s Son, that He paid the penalty for your sins by dying on a cross, was buried in a tomb, raised to life on the third day, and walked out of that tomb.

“He’s alive! If you put your trust in Jesus Christ, you will be in God’s presence for eternity. Religion can’t save you — only a relationship with the Saviour, Jesus Christ, can save you. Do you have that assurance?”

Graham’s response trumped Dreher’s quick retort.

‘Forgive and forget’ is a bumper sticker slogan, not good theology.

My guess is Dreher has never had to deal with real hurt from an enemy fuelled by such an unnatural, seething (steal, kill and destroy) evil that trying to make sense of it can literally drive you insane.

It’s the type of evil that wraps itself deceptively in an appearance of Godliness, but is far from Holy. It produces the type of bewildering mistreatment that is cheered on by the gullible and makes little sense outside an Ephesians 6 spiritual explanation.

God hates evil. We’re called in Romans 12:9 (Proverbs 3:5-8, Proverbs 8:13, Amos 5:15) to hate it too. Hatred isn’t a sin. Letting that hatred govern our anger and actions towards our enemies is. (See Matthew 5-7, Peter’s instructions not to repay evil for evil, and James 1’s “the anger of man does not produce the righteousness God requires.”)

Trump should be encouraged here to remember that Vengeance is God’s (Romans 12:19/Hebrews 10:30). He shouldn’t be slammed for valuing a high sense of justice (Micah 6:8).

While the humility bits in Micah 6:8 need work, Trump clearly seems to live out the mercy part. Especially when his works are compared to the people, words and deeds of those he’s being pressured to forgive.

He has, at least for now, turned the other cheek, which doesn’t mean “turn a blind eye.”

As for Trump’s I’m religious, that should get me to heaven remarks in the 60 Minutes interview, may I humbly point the President to Franklin Graham’s spot-on reply? Religion can’t save you.

No Christ. No victory. No cross. No crown.