On Sept. 28, about five weeks before Election Day, President Donald Trump sat down for an interview with TIME in the White House.
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Trump → sit → House
TIME has published the transcript of that conversation.
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TIME → publish → conversation
What Trump Said: “I won all seven swing states.
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I → say → states
They said if you won three swing states, I won all seven.
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I → say → seven
I won the counties.
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I → win → counties
Trump did win the popular vote in the 2024 presidential election, and he did win all seven swing states, but he’s conflating two figures.
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he → win → figures
He won the popular vote by receiving 49.8% of the vote to Kamala Harris' 48.3%.
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He → win → %
He won the electoral college by 86 votes, 312 to Harris’s 226.
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He → win → 226
He did not win all of the counties in the seven swing states, but he surprised many pundits by winning counties in the Detroit, Milwaukee and Philadelphia metro areas.
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he → win → areas
What Trump Said: “Their economy is gone.
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economy → say → What
At the end of August, Iran’s Central Bank reported inflation at 84%, according to The New York Times.
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Bank → report → Times
The price of food in the country has skyrocketed, and Iran’s currency hit a record low, tumbling to 2.5 million rials to the U.S. dollar.
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currency → skyrocket → dollar
What Trump Said: “I think the press fed it to them.”
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press → say → them
Trump was responding to being asked why many thought the war in Iran would be over in four to six weeks.
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war → respond → weeks
Operation Epic Fury launched Feb. 28.
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Fury → launch → ?
In early March interviews, the President said the action would last four to five weeks.
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action → say → weeks
What Trump Said: “We had more barrels of oil come through last night than at any time in the history of the Strait.”
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barrels → say → Strait
Various reports show about 20 million barrels of oil moving through the Strait of Hormuz daily before the war.
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barrels → show → war
On Sept. 26, Energy Secretary Chris Wright said on Fox News that there was a day last week “where over 20 million barrels of oil, more than pre-conflict levels, flowed out of the straits.
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barrels → say → straits
The running average today is almost 13 million barrels a day.”
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average → run → ?
According to Oil & Gas Mideast, oil is flowing at about 13 million barrels per day, about 77% of pre-war levels.
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oil → accord → levels
What Trump Said: “They killed 75,000 people in the last number of months.
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They → say → months
Trump is referring to the killing of civilians by the Iranian regime during protests that began at the end of December 2025 and lasted until mid-January.
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that → refer → January
The protests began in Tehran after the country’s currency collapsed, and morphed into a widespread anti-regime movement that expanded across the country—until reaching its deadliest peak on Jan 8th and 9th.
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that → begin → 8th
Iranian authorities responded to the protests by cutting off the internet and embarking on what is now considered the deadliest government crackdown by the Government of Iran since the 1979 Revolution.
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what → respond → Revolution
The death toll was likely lower than Trump alleges—and the crackdown is believed to have reached its deadliest point earlier this year.
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crackdown → allege → point
Iran’s state run media has put the death toll at 3,117, while human rights organizations estimate it to be in the tens of thousands.
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it → run → thousands
At the end of January, two senior officials from Iran’s Ministry of Health told TIME that as many as 30,000 protesters could have been killed on Jan. 8th and 9th alone.
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protesters → tell → 8th
What Trump Said: “We're popular [in Israel], like 99%”
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We → say → %
A poll showing a 99% approval rating for Trump among Israelis does not exist, but he has polled well in Israel in the past.
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he → show → past
A 2026 Pew Research Center survey found “66% have confidence in Trump, while only a third or fewer have confidence in the other leaders.”
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third → find → leaders
A 2026 survey by the Jewish People Policy Institute found 73% of Israelis think of Trump as a better-than-average U.S. president for Israel’s interests, and 49% described him as one of the best U.S. presidents for Israel.
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% → find → Israel
However, the poll was sharply divided on party lines, with 92% of the Israeli right calling Trump an above-average president, but only 34% of the Israeli left had a positive view of Trump.
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% → divide → Trump
What Trump Said: “He [Biden] allowed 25 million people that shouldn't have been here.”
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that → say → people
The agency tracks encounters at ports of entry, instances of people being detained for trying to enter illegally or who were seeking legal entry but deemed ineligible.
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who → track → entry
Between the start of the 2021 fiscal year through late 2024, the agency reported 10.8 million of these encounters.
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agency → report → encounters
Pew Research Center has been publishing its own estimates of unauthorized immigrants in the U.S. for the last two decades and reported in 2025 that there were 14 million unauthorized immigrants in the U.S. in 2023—an all-time high.
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Center → publish → 2023
What Trump said: “Look at the poverty numbers.
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said → say → numbers
The lowest we've had in…ever.”
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we → have → ever
According to the Census Bureau’s annual poverty report, the official poverty rate fell to 10.2%—the lowest on record since the agency began tracking in 1959.
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agency → accord → 1959
…and 19 more, not listed.
The Aporia
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