Trump Says He Wants to ‘Try and Get to Heaven if Possible’: ‘I’m Hearing I’m Not Doing Well’

The president explained on Fox & Friends why he’s determined to personally broker a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine

President Donald Trump has revealed that one of his motivations for pursuing international peace deals during his second term is a personal one: securing a place in heaven.

During a phone interview with Fox & Friends on Tuesday, Aug. 19, the president elaborated on his efforts to end the war in Ukraine, including his role as a mediator between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

“If I can save 7,000 people a week from being killed, I think that’s pretty– I want to try to get to heaven if possible,” Trump said.

“I’m hearing that I’m not doing well. I am really at the bottom of the totem pole,” he added, prompting laughter from the Fox News hosts. “But if I can get to heaven, this will be one of the reasons.”

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt later clarified that she believed Trump was serious. “I think the president was serious,” she said. “I think the president wants to get to heaven — as I hope we all do in this room as well.”

Positioning himself as a “mediator in chief” has been a central focus for Trump in his second term. He told Zelenskyy during their meeting on Aug. 18 that he had helped negotiate “six deals” in various global conflicts this year.

Trump and his administration have claimed to help resolve tensions between Israel and Iran; the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda; Cambodia and Thailand; India and Pakistan; Serbia and Kosovo; and Egypt and Ethiopia. However, as The Guardian notes, “the claim to have settled those conflicts is embellished and in some cases contradicted by continued violence in countries like DR Congo, where Rwanda-backed rebels missed a deadline to reach a peace deal in Doha on Tuesday.”

Trump’s attempt to pressure Putin into a peace agreement also appears overstated. The two leaders failed to reach a deal or agree on a ceasefire during their Alaska summit on Aug. 15, despite Trump’s vague threat of “very severe consequences” if Russia did not comply.

Following that meeting, Trump adjusted his stance, telling Zelenskyy and other European leaders that a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine was unlikely and unnecessary while broader peace talks are ongoing.

The president acknowledged the challenges of negotiating with Putin during remarks at the Kennedy Center on Aug. 13. “I’ve had a lot of good conversations with [Putin]. Then I go home and I see that a rocket hit a nursing home or a rocket hit an apartment building and people are laying dead in the streets,” Trump said.

Earlier this month, South Park also weighed in on Trump’s spiritual prospects in its controversial new episodes. The show depicted a fictionalized Trump in bed with Satan in the season 27 premiere, with the red demon comparing him multiple times to “a guy he used to date,” identified by viewers as Saddam Hussein.