Trump dynasty? 5 takeaways from president-elect's Time interview
Donald Trump may not be able to run for president again, but he thinks his children could have a future in politics.
Trump told Time magazine, in an interview released Thursday in conjunction with him being named Person of the Year, that he thinks there could be a Trump dynasty.
"I have some very competent members of my family," he said when asked about their political futures.
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Trump also talked about the difficulty he'll face in bringing down grocery prices, questioned the safety of vaccines and vented his frustration with the conservative Heritage Foundation for releasing its controversial Project 2025 blueprint for a second Trump administration during the election.
Trump celebrated the Person of the Year recognition by ringing the opening bell of the New York Stock Exchange Thursday. It's his second time receiving the honor. Here are some takeaways from his wide-ranging interview with the magazine.
Trump Dynasty?
Trump's second term as president will end in 2029 and the constitution bars him from running again, but he believes someone in his family could continue his political legacy.
Asked what will happen to the MAGA movement when he leaves, Trump said there are "some great warriors" who want to keep it going, and added that includes his progeny.
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Pressed on whether there could be a Trump dynasty, the president-elect said "I think there could be, yeah."
"My kids are very competent," he said.
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While Trump added he's not sure his kids want to "go through this" because "they've been treated very badly," he said his oldest son Donald Trump Jr. would "do very well" in politics and also mentioned his son Eric, daughter Ivanka and daughter-in-law Lara, who was co-chair of the Republican National Committee.
Lara Trump has expressed interest in being appointed to the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Marco Rubio, who Trump nominated for secretary of state. Donald Trump Jr. is extremely politically active and influential with his father, helping to select running mate JD Vance.
A Morning Consult poll released this week had Trump Jr. and Vance tied for the lead in the 2028 GOP presidential primary, with each receiving the support of 30% of primary voters.
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He can't promise grocery prices will come down
In his first big interview Sunday since winning re-election, Trump told NBC's "Meet the Press" moderator Kristen Welker that “I won on groceries. Very simple word, groceries.... I won an election based on that."
Yet in his interview with Time, Trump said his presidency doesn't hinge on lowering the cost of everyday food items. Asked if his second term would be a failure if grocery prices don't come down, Trump said: "I don't think so."
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"Look, they got them up," he added. "I'd like to bring them down. It's hard to bring things down once they're up. You know, it's very hard."
Trump isn't eager to tie his presidency to the price of eggs, milk, bread and other grocery items. That may be because such costs are difficult for a president to control without interfering in the free market, even as Trump hammered President Joe Biden on the issue.
Border bigger factor than economy
While Trump has tied his victory to grocery prices, he told Time that "a bigger factor" was the border.
"I won it in 2016 on the border, and I fixed the border, and it was really fixed, and they came in and they just dislodged everything that I did, and it became far worse than it was in 2016," Trump said.
Unlike the price of milk, the border is an issue that Trump can exert a lot of influence over, both through legislation and executive action. He is expected to issue a flurry of executive orders on immigration shortly after taking office, and has promised a huge mass deportation effort.
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Trump has talked about using the military to help with his deportation effort. Questioned about the legality of that, he said: "I'll only do what the law allows, but I will go up to the maximum level of what the law allows."
"And I think in many cases, the sheriffs and law enforcement is going to need help," Trump added. "We’ll also get National Guard. We'll get National Guard, and we'll go as far as I'm allowed to go, according to the laws of our country."
Linked vaccines to autism
In appointing Robert F Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, Trump drew criticism from those concerned about Kennedy's vaccine skepticism.
Asked about Kennedy's vaccine views, Trump sounded skeptical of the shots himself, despite health officials attesting to their safety.
Responding to a question about whether he would support Kennedy if he seeks to end child vaccination efforts, Trump said: "We're going to have a big discussion. The autism rate is at a level that nobody ever believed possible. If you look at things that are happening, there's something causing it."
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Pressed on whether he believes there is a connection between vaccines and autism, Trump said: "I want to see the numbers. It's going to be the numbers."
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says many studies have looked at whether there is a connection between vaccines and autism and "To date, the studies continue to show that vaccines are not associated with" autism.
Trump said he might get rid of some vaccinations "if I think it’s dangerous, if I think they are not beneficial, but I don’t think it’s going to be very controversial in the end."
Project 2025
Trump continued to blast the Heritage Foundation over Project 2025, a more than 800 page document that laid out priorities for a second Trump administration.
Democrats repeatedly hammered Trump during the campaign on the more controversial aspects of Project 2025.
Trump disavowed the document, but has since appointed some of its authors to positions in his administration.
Trump appeared to be dumbfounded that the Heritage Foundation, which he noted are people who "would like to see me win," released the document, calling it "totally inappropriate" and "a very foolish thing for them to do."
"Why would they do that?" he told Time. "They complicated my election by doing it because people tried to tie me and I didn't agree with everything in there, and some things I vehemently disagreed with, and I thought it was inappropriate that they would come out with a document like that prior to my election."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Takeaways: Trump touts his kids' political futures in Time interview