TRANSCRIPT: Pat McAfee Interviews Donald Trump on His ESPN Show, November 11, 2025
[Video]
McAfee: Ladies and gentlemen, joining us now for the first time ever, the 45th and 47th President of the United States of America, Donald J. Trump.
McAfee: Mr. President.
Donald J. Trump: Hello, Pat. Hi, Pat.
McAfee: So most people would think with our show that this would be an impressionist of the president because no president would actually join us. But on this Veterans Day, we wanna say, Mr. President, thank you so much for joining us.
Trump: Well, thank you, and I -- I'm only joining you 'cause I hear you say such nice things about me from your very large audience. I, I've always heard you've said such nice things. So, when people say nice about me, I join. When they don't say nice about me, I take a pass.
McAfee: Okay, that's not a bad -- uh, way to look at things. You should see -- I, I, I don't know how much you know about me. I, I, I feel very similar, uh, about how I treat people and operate people.
Trump: [Laughs] Right.
McAfee: Mr. President, let's talk about Veterans Day. Obviously, we're down here at Parris Island. I think we're the first show that has ever been broadcasted live from here. We're very thankful to be the --
Trump: Right.
McAfee: -- only show that's currently on a military base and we wanted to say our thanks, even though we're just sports stooges. For you, what does Veterans Day mean, especially now that you're commander-in-chief again?
Trump: Well, to me it means taking care of the veterans 'cause they've taken care of us. And you know, we have a 92% approval rating at the VA. And I just got back from making a speech. It was beautiful. The whole surrounding, the whole -- uh, don't know if you've got to witness it a little bit on television, but it was something and -- uh, the veterans have taken such good care of us. What I think of with the veterans is, how do I take care of the veterans? And we've done a really good job. Doug Collins, as you know, is the secretary. And, uh, we have a tremendous approval rating. We do, uh, couple of things. Number one, we, we allow veterans -- if they have to wait online, we allow veterans to go see a doctor. We take care of the price. You know, the veterans before me had to, uh, wait online for, in some cases, not even believable, months.
Trump: And they had something that could have been taken care of easily and they ended up becoming terminally ill. And I took care of that. Then Biden came in and he, uh --
McAfee: [Laughs]
Trump: -- evaporated that and I just put it back again. And that was choice. And we have a choice and we also have accountability. We call it Veteran's Choice And Accountability. We had a lot of bad people at the VA and you weren't able -- because of the various unions and laws and everything else, you couldn't fire anybody.
Trump: I got that taken care of in Congress and we let go of 9,000 people and put 9,000 loving people, people that love the vets. We had people -- we had sadists in there. We had people that was just horrible. You couldn't do anything about it. I got rid of that and we ended up, uh, putting in 9,000 people that love our vets and we take care of our vets.
Trump: So to me, the vets, they've done their job. They've been fantastic. They're incredible people. They also voted for me about 92% or something --
McAfee: [Laughs]
Trump: -- so we have to remember that.
McAfee: [Laughs]
Trump: It's always nice when you have that. It's like, like the beginning of our conversation, appreciation.
McAfee: [Laughs] Yes.
Trump: But, uh, they're just spectacular people. They don't want much and they gave so much.
McAfee: Yeah, they don't want much. And today is certainly a good day to remind everybody to say at least a thanks, maybe buy a cof- -- a coffee. You talk glowingly there of Secretary of Veteran Affairs Doug Collins who I got to meet this past weekend, whenever he came and visited Texas Tech, as BYU was down there for College GameDay. Massive, massive crowd.
McAfee: He cut a promo --
Trump: Mm.
McAfee: -- and he basically said that the messaging that he is trying to get out, obviously amongst other -- all the other stuff is, there's a lot of young veterans I think that don't know that the VA is there for them. Is that a message that you guys kind of are all giving? Because I think a lot of the younger vets view the VA as, like, an older type thing. And I think if I'm listening to Secretary Doug Collins speak, his big messaging and why he was at GameDay, and I think there's a chance why you guys are joining us is, like, young vets also need to understand that the VA is there for them, Mr. President, is that accurate?
Trump: Well, it's true and Doug really brings that to heart. And it, it's really an amazing factor. The young vets don't know about it too much and, uh, the older do. And frankly, the older vets, uh, they, they wouldn't be able to make it without the VA, they do such a good job. So, we are there for everybody. I mean, we're there -- when you're a vet, you're a vet. And, uh, we take care of our vets like nobody's ever taken care of 'em before.
McAfee: Well, we appreciate the hell outta that, for sure. And that's one big oorah. [Audience responds "Oorah"]
McAfee: -- new Marines, Mr. President, just oorah'd the hell outta you there for what you just said about them.
Trump: -- that's good. Well, we love them. They are a special group indeed. [Laughs]
McAfee: Mr. President, have you ever done an oorah to a bunch of Marines?
Trump: -- the kind that I just heard. I just heard a level of professionalism with, with the way they did it --
McAfee: -- eh --
Trump: -- that, uh, don't think anybody can match it, to be honest. That's very impressive. But you're at the most impressive place.
McAfee: Mr. President, why don't you drop one? Mr. President, why don't you drop an oorah real quick?
Trump: I will. Oorah. [Audience responds "Oorah"]
McAfee: Yes.
Trump: Yes.
McAfee: Okay.
Trump: [Laughs]
McAfee: We love everything about that. Uh, let's, let's pivot away from obviously all the great work, uh, that the VA and you all are trying to do for our vets in our military. Let's talk a little bit about sports and we'll talk about our country. We all saw –
Trump: Yeah.
McAfee: -- you fly over the Ryder Cup. Okay. We all saw the decision that was made while you were wearing golf cleats, uh, in the White House lawn saying, "Hey, the boys need us. We need to fly over there." Obviously, we don't get the win, even though Sunday ended up getting a little bit more of a fight than we thought.
McAfee: Are we ever gonna be able to win a Ryder Cup going forward? How do we answer the questions that we have at USA Golf, Mr. President?
Trump: Well, look, you know, if you look at the Ryder Cup, and I'm -- I play golf and, uh, guess a lot of people play golf and some people understand and some people don't. But, you know, the, uh, the other team, they really sank a lot of putts.
McAfee: [Laughs]
Trump: I mean, they -- you're looking and they're sinking 30-footer, 40-footer, 70-footer, you know, just one after another. And it was interesting. It looked like it was over. And then Sunday it, it really, it -- uh, they almost came back. You know, you have to give a, a big hoot to, uh, an opponent who dropped about a six-foot putt to, uh, That was a big putt, that final putt. Ooh, that was a big putt, but, uh, that, that was very close. Look, I think they sank -- they putted unbelievably. Th- -- really, they weren't conscious with it.
McAfee: [Laughs]
Trump: I, uh, really –
McAfee: -- more.
Trump: -- believe-
McAfee: True.
Trump:-- that that was unusual –
McAfee: Yeah.
Trump: -- because I've never seen so many long putts go in before. And I don't think, generally
speaking, that would happen. We, actually, our team actually hit the ball a little bit better, hit more fairways. If the rough were longer, as an example, they were saying if the rough were longer -- and you had a great captain of the American team. Of both teams, you had a great captain of both teams.
McAfee: Of course.
Trump: -- if the rough were --
McAfee: Both sides.
Trump: -- longer, it might've been a little bit different. But look, uh, they're all great players, everyo- -- I know so many of 'em from both sides, and they are just very talented people.
McAfee: -- were the golf gods letting their putts fall and not ours, Mr. President?
Trump: I don't know. I guess it was just our turn to -- you know, [Laughs] you speak.
McAfee: [Laughs] - - speak. Somebody probably said the wrong thing, but the golf --
Trump: [Laughter]
McAfee: -- gods, they would not -- well, they almost came back in the final day. [Laughs] -- they did.
Trump: -- golf gods, they almost came back.
McAfee: Yeah, they gave us a little bit, they gave us a little bit of a show. Mr. President.
Trump: Well, they looked pretty good, I'll tell you. The, uh, It was [Laughs] looking pretty good, uh, well, pretty good. It was, it was a hope and a prayer –
McAfee: Yeah.
Trump: -- because going in, but to, to come that close was, you have to say, was a pretty good comeback.
McAfee: Okay, absolutely. You know, the American spirit fought –
Trump: Yep.
McAfee: -- on, on that Sunday, even though we need to win next time. The all-time leading --
Trump: Right.
McAfee: -- tackler for the Green Bay Packers, A.J. Hawk, has a question for you. Mr. President.
A.J. Hawk: Yeah, Mr. –
Trump: Okay. He's a great player. It's true.
Hawk: I, I appreciate that. Mr. President, obviously you w- -- you look around the NFL, there's a lot of great leaders that are coaches. You ever, have you ever looked and thought, like, "One of these guys, who would be a great president for United States of America? We got Dan Campbell. We got Mike Vrabel. We got Matt LaFleur last night. You ever think of these guys --
McAfee: Saying, "Hey." Don't you dare.
Hawk -- who could --
McAfee: Don't you dare.
Hawk -- possibly be a great president?
Trump: -- by the way, they were, uh, you know, we had the great Philadelphia team here, and that –.
Hawk Mm-hmm.
Trump: -- he's some coach too, by the way.
Hawk: Sirianni.
McAfee:Coach Sirianni --
Trump: Uh –
McAfee: -- yeah, paisan.
Trump: He's great. And they're all, uh, you got a lot of talented people. I've often thought, you know, strategy-wise, you see some of the good strategy. Every once in a while, you see some pretty bad strategy, [Laughter] too. We can name plenty of that, but you see strategy. I've often said, we go out and we get the best four or five coaches, put 'em in a room, if you go into war and you use them as, as, Because they do it. Ultimately, it's all about strategy. It's about attack, it's about, you know, what angle of the, "Give me the angle of attack." I'll bet you some of these coaches would make great warring generals, and I would say, I, it, I would not be beneath doing that. [Laughs] You get, you get five or six of those guys, I know some of them. You know, they come to the White House every year with the winning team, the winning Super Bowl team.
I've gotten to know 'em really through that. But, uh, that, I, You wouldn't, you wouldn't lose badly if you did that, I'll tell you. It's a, They, they are tremendous guys, great leaders.
McAfee: Mr. President, can you tell me about your chat with foreign leaders about sports? Has it come up much? 'Cause I believe that sports are like the great unifier. I think, in the United States of America, obviously, I mean, you're in the middle of this world now, former businessman drop –
Trump: Yeah.
McAfee: -- dropped into politics. Very, Everybody's gonna yell at each other's face, basically, about a lot of things in your guys's world. You just hope for some progress and obviously make some magic happen. But sports, if you look at a stadium, And I think you mentioned it being a microcosm of life. If you look at a stadium --
Trump: Right.
McAfee: -- there's people from so many different backgrounds, so many different socioeconomic backgrounds, all coming together with different political beliefs, all rooting for their team to kick the other team's ass. I think it's one of the greatest unifiers on earth. Do you and world leaders talk about sports, the importance of sports? And have you ever thought about that as a concept of conversation?
Trump: Well, I did it the other night with two very nice people, as you know, uh, with the Fox broadcast. And it was a, a little bit of a blowout game, in all fairness –
McAfee: [Laughs]
Trump: -- with the Commanders, as opposed to the Redskins. [Laughs]
McAfee: -- geez.
Hawk [Laughs]
Trump: Where, what happened to the Redskins, by the way?
McAfee: [Laughs]
Trump: -- it, it was, uh, The game wasn't the greatest game, but those two guys were really -- we had a, a good talk, and I talked about, um, sports, to me, it's like a microcosm of life. It really is. It's a -- you know, you see the winning and the losing and the comebacks and the, the routes. You see everything, and you see it, uh, quickly. You don't see it in, you know, over a lifetime. You see it over two hours. And, uh, you, ooh, you watch football. You watch games that are won, and all of a sudden they're fighting for survival, and they lose a game, or they barely win the game. It's, it's just, uh, that's what it is. And you know, life is very much like that. You have to fight and you have to just keep, uh, fighting no matter what, no matter what the circumstance, and you gotta win. And ultimately, you gotta win. It's about winning. And you gotta keep winning because if you win, but you don't win the last couple of -- you know, it's what have you done for me lately. Unfortunately, I find that a lot, certainly in politics. We just had a big win against, uh, the Democrats with the opening. They, they shut down our country. They wanted one and a half trillion dollars to be paid to people --
McAfee: Is that open again?
Trump:-- that, uh, came into the country.
McAfee: I heard there's like -- mr. President, is that open? I heard there's like a thirt- -- I don't know your guys's world well, but is it open? I heard there's like a 30-hour time period where maybe it's not. Are we back open for –
Trump: It's a little time. Well, it, it doesn't until the House votes. So, the House is gonna vote, and I think they're gonna vote positively. I think most people wanna see it [Laughs] open. I –
McAfee: Yeah.
Trump: Only people that hate our country wanna see it not open –
McAfee: [Laughs]
Trump: -- because our country is doing so well, so we don't wanna waste these times. These are precious times. You know, we have $17 trillion plus being invested on our country. That's many times more than any country has ever had. We don't want to be wasting time. So, uh, they tried to, basically, renegotiate the great Big Beautiful Deal. They didn't. They didn't, they weren't able to get it, and now they said, let's close up our country and we'll see if we can get it. But again, getting it from people that came, came into our country illegally from prisons, from gangs, from, from uh, mental institutions, from, you know, places that you don't want, and giving them one and a half, think of it, one and a half trillion dollars in medical costs and things.You just can't do this. You can't do it. And it ruins it for everybody else. So they were not successful in renegotiation. And, uh, it looks like it's gonna be opened up, but you're right, it's, uh, the house has to vote and then of course I have to sign it.
McAfee: Okay. So I, once again, I don't know your guys' world. I assume everything you just said there will have some people very about it. And then obviously the rest of the world, uh, United States of America will be very excited that the government is back open. So I think that deserves a big Oorah! [Audience responds "Oorah"] Yeah, I think they're loving that the government's back open over here, Mr. --
Trump: Well, we got the military paid anyway, Pat, you have to understand, we got the, there's no way we weren't gonna pay the military, but how about this? There was a little bit of a shortfall and a friend of mine called a very successful rich guy, a great guy, great patriot. And he called, he said, "Listen, if there's a shortfall, I want to pay for it." So I looked around, I said, "Is there a shortfall?" They said about $130 million. He wrote a check for $130 million so that our military got paid perfectly on time. How about that? That's, that's, that's called the Patriot.
McAfee: Oorah! [Audience responds "Oorah"], People are writing checks, you know, these college football, uh, places to build up facilities and get players. Not 130 million or whatever, but maybe for some building, somebody saying, "Hey, does the military need it? We'll write the check today." That's awesome. That's private business coming together with the government to make things happen for the military. Happy Veterans Day for everybody. Uh, couple more questions. Is that okay, Mr. President? I know you're very busy.
Trump: Yeah, go ahead. Sure. You have a beautiful audience, so the answer is absolutely why not?
McAfee: Hey, why don't you give them another, hey, why don't you give them another Oorah, Mr. President?
Trump: Oorah! [Audience responds "Oorah"]
McAfee: Yeah, it's getting better and better. I think Connor has a question for you.
Connor Campbell: Yeah, Mr. President. It's an honor and a privilege to ask you a question. Uh, one of our friends of the program is Coach Nick Saban and, uh, you know, we're talking about the Ryder Cup and maybe, you know, hit them bouncing back and also the World Cup, uh, is on the horizon in America. Do you think we could possibly get, uh, coach Nick Saban to help out in some aspects so that we could have some, uh, success on these world fronts?
Trump: Well, I know him and I got to know him because he brought his team to the White House. You know, he had the team. He won a lot and I got to know him. He's a fantastic guy. And you know, he's somebody that really, they should get involved in college sports in terms of making sure that, you know, it all works out. Because what's happening is it looks like it's not working out too well, uh, for colleges, for most of the people. And a lot of the lesser sports are being totally terminated. You know, that it's a shame. It was almost like a, uh, training ground for the Olympics. And a lot of those training grounds are being lost. And, you know, Nick knows this stuff better than anybody. He'd be, and he was, he's really active in it. I think they ought to let Nick Saban, uh, take a good strong look at it. And we all, I can tell you from my standpoint, I'd listen to what he has to say, but I know him well and he's a fantastic guy. And what a great coach.
McAfee: Mr. President, he's not gonna love that you just signed him up for that job. He's not gonna love it. The college, the college sports –
Trump: I'll tell you what, that's not as easy as it sounds, that job. I can tell you that.
McAfee: Yes. A lot of questions over there in college sports, because obviously sports are up and to the right with everything. Even the blowout games, which I appreciated whenever the Washington Commanders, okay which I love that you're like, "Okay, that's their name. They lose to the Lions when I'm at the game. Maybe we change the name back to what it was." But on that note, as soon as they score in that blowout game, your immediate thought is that should be good for your ratings. And then they go to a commercial break because the game was getting better. Sports ratings right now, up into the right, everybody wants to come together. College sports up into the right. Everybody just kind of feels like the back end of it is kind of just full chaos and it can't hold up for long enough. I think if you were to get involved, and we asked Governor Jeff Landry from Louisiana about this as well, I think we do need some sort of government something, Mr. President for the back end of college football. I think we all understand that the players deserve money. I think we all understand their value, but I think an actual market and guardrails would be something that would be really good. This could be something along with stopping wars and, uh, building in tariffs and $17 trillion. Maybe just put that on your desk. Go ahead and figure out the back end of college Sports Mr. President.
Trump: Well, it is a very serious problem because even football, when they give quarterbacks 12 million, 13, $14 million, I read a couple of them and all of a sudden you're gonna see it's gonna be outta control. And even rich colleges are gonna go bust because you're not gonna be able to do this. And, you know, they had the old way, they gave scholarships and they did lots of good things, but, uh, yeah there could be some form of payment, but when they start bidding up the costs, look, the NFL and all of, you know, all teams, they have caps. You don't really have that in college sports. And when uh, the guard comes along that weighs 350 pounds to these phenomenal, and they say that's gonna make the difference between having a great team and a lousy team, and they give him $10 million, that's gonna start happening pretty soon. All of a sudden you're gonna have like NFL-type payrolls, and I don't care how rich, the colleges don't make that much money, even the most successful. So, uh, they're not gonna be able to do this. Bad things are gonna happen unless they figure this out. That's why a guy like Nick Saban, and I'd work with Nick, but a guy like Nick Saban and some others getting together because they're gonna have to do something. Colleges can't afford it. And what they're doing, I don't want to use any particular sports 'cause it's, uh, you know, degrading, but they are really, uh, terminating a lot of sports, you know, sports of, you would call 'em lesser sports, but, but big sports, good sports and, and sports where they have tremendous interest. They're getting rid of them. And frankly, the college football, it's very big. But as big as it is, if they don't do, you know, some very powerful caps, these colleges are all gonna go outta business.
McAfee: I'm fasc- –
Trump: No matter how rich they are.
McAfee: I'm fascinated to see what 10 years from now looks like –
Trump: Mm-hmm.
McAfee: -- with college sports. And you said, uh, Coach Saban should be a part of it. We agree completely. He's gonna say, "You're president." All right? [Laughs]
Trump: [Laughs]
McAfee: You go ahead and do it. But anyways --
Trump: He's gonna say, "No, you do it. You tell me, I'm not doing that. You --
McAfee: Exactly.
Trump: -- know, why do you want to get involved in that?"
McAfee: Yeah, exactly.
Trump: That's a, that's a landmine.
McAfee: He's golfing right now. Hey, Mr. President, he's golfing right now, two times a week.
Trump: Pat: Uh-huh. He's got a little speaking circuit. He's selling Ferraris. He does college game day. [Laughs] Yeah.
McAfee: Him and Ms. Terry living good. You know, he's like, "You want me to go take on 1300 student athletes, uh, and every business behind it." He would be perfect. Hopefully you're able to get to that last question here for you, Mr. President, comes from Ty Schmit.
Ty Schmit Yeah, Mr. President. You've obviously been afforded the opportunity to go to some of the best sporting events, you know, over the last, you know, well, I guess, you know, over your lifetime I suppose. But we saw you, you know, in the Yankees Clubhouse on 9/11, which was awesome. A bunch of different big time college football games, army, navy included. You were just at the Ryder Cup, obviously the NFL game. Is there one sporting event that either you haven't been to yet that you'd like to go to? Or is there one where you, uh, you know, are thinking like, "Man, if I could have the opportunity to experience that for the first time again, I would love to do that"?
Trump: Well, you're gonna see, you know, I was able to bring in my first term, uh, sign up the World Cup. So you're gonna have the World Cup and you're gonna have the Olympics. I've never did the Olympic thing, so we're gonna have both the Olympics. I signed both of them up. I never thought I'd go to see him as president. But then we had an election that, uh, was a little hanky-panky going on, as you say.
McAfee: [Laughs]
Trump: And uh, now all of a sudden I'm the president of joining those two. And then of course we have the 250th year, which, you know, the anniversary thing, which is big. I do have to say, look, I like them all. I love sports, but I do have to say, and I'll probably get myself in a little trouble by this, I hate the kickoff, uh, in football.
McAfee: Oh, come on, Mr. President.
Schmit: Yeah. That's weird.
Trump: I think it's so terrible.
McAfee: [Laughs]
Trump: I think it's so demeaning and I think it hurts the game. It hurts the pageantry. I've told that to Roger Goodell.
McAfee: He said.
Trump: And I don't think it's any safer. I mean, you still have guys crashing into each other.
McAfee: [Laughs]
Trump: And it's so, you know, it's the opposite of what the game, the ball is in the air and nobody's moving. It's supposed to be when the ball is in the air, when the ball is played, you're supposed to be –
McAfee: It's a live ball, Mr. President.
Schmit: Yeah.
Trump: And you walk in and the pageantry of the game is so badly hurt. And I don't think NFL, you know, they don't, they do what they wanna do, but I don't think they'll change. I, I hope college football doesn't change because, you know, the, the power of the kickoff is, was so beautiful. And now it, you know, I, I don't want to say what it reminds me of 'cause I'll get myself into big trouble.
Schmit: [Laughs]
Trump: But it, it's not, it's not football. And I have no idea what you guys, you guys may disagree with me. I don't think it's gonna help the pageantry at all.
McAfee: Now, Mr. President, Mr. President. This is how we feel. I feel as if they were just gonna get rid of the kickoff and special teams as a whole. As a former punter and kickoff guy, anything to save the play I'm on board with 'cause they were on their way to kind of move it out. So this version of the kickoff kind of became like the last hope basically for the kickoff.
McAfee: But what you said about the original kickoff, I think every football person is like, "Yeah, let's go back to that." Especially with onside kick capabilities and surprise onside kick capabilities. I --
Trump: Oh, so good.
McAfee: Yeah.
Trump: It was so good.
McAfee: Oh, e- -- exactly.
Trump: And now it's so bad.
McAfee: [Laughs]
Trump: It's so bad. It's so, it's so unromantic and it just is demeaning to football.
McAfee: [Laughs] Oh, geez.
Trump: I don't think they have a right to do that to the game.
McAfee: [Laughs]
Schmit: Right.
Trump: You know, the game is so important. I don't think the, the people that approve that, I don't think anybody has the right to do that to the game. And I hope college –
McAfee: That's right.
Trump: -- doesn't changed. And I hope that someday the NFL will stop it and, and go back to football.
McAfee: Goodell has no idea. You got Kash Patel on the rolls right now to see if he's even allowed to change that kickoff in the United States of America.
Ty Schmit: [Laughs]
McAfee: Mr. President, we appreciate your time. Do you have any final messages to the Marines that are around us and the veterans as a whole on this Veterans Day?
Trump: Well, I just want to say hello to all of the guys and gals that are in your audience. They're fantastic. You just don't get any better. And we love our veterans. And I'm taking care of the veterans better than any president has ever done by far. Nobody's ever had those approval ratings at the VA like we have. And Doug Collins is devoting his life to it. It's the most important thing he's ever done. So I just want to thank everybody. Happy Veterans Day and, Pat, keep up the good work. We really appreciate it.
McAfee: I appreciate you Mr. President. How about one last oorah for the crowd?
Trump: You want me to do another one? I'll do another one. Oorah! [Audience respond "Oorah"]
McAfee: You are the best. Ladies and gentlemen, that's President 45 and 47 of the United States of America, Donald J. Trump. Thank you, Mr. Trump. [Other panelists express thanks]
McAfee: Mr. President.
Trump: Thank you, everybody.
McAfee: Alright.
Trump: Thank you very much.
McAfee: Yeah, you too, Mr. President. See you later. Okay. That's outrageous. [Laughs]