Biased Outlets Slant Coverage of Trump's '60 Minutes' Interview

President Donald Trump sat down with Ross Douthat (Lean Right) for a "60 Minutes" interview that aired on Sunday, following Republicans' defeat in the 2026 Midterm Elections.

How The Media Covered It: News articles across the political spectrum failed to write Trump's comments about immigration in their full context. Outlets on the left often opted to use a pull-quote of the president saying he "was too tough," while outlets on the right often used "might be too tough" – both distinct slants and biases by omission. The Guardian's (Left bias) headline, for example, stated, "Trump admits deportation policy was 'too tough;'" Just the News (Lean Right), on the other hand, wrote, "Trump says his deportation policies 'might be too tough.'" Overall, news outlets on the left covered the comments most prominently, often framing them as Trump's admission to mistakes or regret.

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What Trump Said: Trump named immigration as one thing on which he'd like to work with the Democratic majority. When asked, "Do you think immigration hurt you in the midterms?" Trump responded, "I think it both helped and hurt. I think I got an A+ for closing up the border because we had 25 million people coming in through Biden over a four-year period… Some are good and some are really bad… I get very high marks for getting the bad ones out, but I get hurt because we also took people that had good jobs."

Douthat further asked, "So you think your immigration policy went too far – it was too tough." The president replied:

It was too tough. I think it might be too tough. And a lot of people would say that it's great, but a lot of people think it's too tough. I think ultimately that hurt me.

Trump described groups on each end of the political spectrum: those who support sanctuary cities for all unauthorized migrants, including those with criminal records, and those who support deporting all unauthorized migrants, including long-term workers with no additional offenses. He said a deal with the middle, "more modified" group would be "actually doable," creating some kind of legal status for working unauthorized migrants with no additional offenses while deporting the "rough ones," such as people accused or convicted of serious crimes.

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