An interview with Donald Trump

Richard Hall | October 01, 2026

Hello and welcome to The Brief. As of today, Donald Trump has appeared on the cover of TIME more than any other person. His 56th showing on the front sees him overtake the previous record-holder, Richard Nixon. In an interview at the White House with TIME’s Eric Cortellessa, at a pivotal moment for the country and his presidency, Trump is preoccupied by construction projects and old grievances.

In other news, we bring you the winner of Fat Bear Week, an absolute unit named Backpack.

IN TODAY’S BRIEF

Trump’s record-setting cover
Flydubai hijacking attempt
Iran’s letter to Americans
On the ground with Talarico
23 years in Iraq
Meet your Fat Bear Week champion

READ THIS FIRST

‘They’ll probably go after me’: The Donald Trump interview

Photograph by Dan Winters for TIME

President Donald Trump is facing the worst approval ratings of his political career, a quagmire in Iran, persistent inflation, and signs of discontent in the coalition that brought him to power. But when TIME’s Eric Cortellessa meets with him at the White House, he appears fixated on the many construction projects he has underway.

“People say, why do you spend so much time on this?” Trump tells TIME. “But I find it relaxing.” Later, he returns to the subject again. “It’s what I do best,” he muses aloud. “I say, am I a better builder or a politician?”

Now, ahead of midterms in which Republicans face the growing possibility of losing both the House and Senate, Cortellessa writes that senior advisers inside the Administration “increasingly recognize that he has passed the apogee of his second-term power.”

“Democratic control of Congress would bring investigations and subpoenas, hearings, and potentially a third round of impeachment proceedings. Cabinet officials could be hauled before Congress. Trump describes the prospect in characteristic terms. ‘They’ll probably go after me,’ he says, ‘and I’ll go after them.’”

Read the full story here.

REVERB

Live concerts bring millions of fans together through music. Behind the scenes, REVERB channels that energy into environmental action.

See how REVERB has helped eliminate 4.6 million single-use bottles and is driving an entire industry to make sustainability part of every show.

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IN THE NEWS

Flydubai pilot arrested after alleged attempt to crash Israel-bound plane

Jack Guez—Getty Images

The co-pilot of a Flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv has been arrested after seemingly attempting to crash the plane and stabbing the pilot, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday.

Passengers helped a Flydubai crew, who were travellng on the flight, break into the cockpit and hold down the co-pilot, allowing the other pilots to safely land the plane in Saudi Arabia, according to Netanyahu. Saudi authorities will now interrogate ⁠the co-pilot of the flight in question, FZ1073.

Netanyahu identified the pilot who was attacked as Capt. Smit Machchhar, an Indian citizen, who the Israeli Prime Minister called a “true hero.”

“Despite being stabbed and seriously injured, he fought back, resisted, opened the cockpit door, and enabled passengers and crew to overpower the attacker — preventing a catastrophic mid-air disaster,” Netanyahu wrote in a post on X. “He saved the lives of 174 people, including Israeli citizens and other nationals." —Olivia-Anne Cleary and Connor Greene

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THE CONTEXT

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps pens open letter to American voters

Fatemeh Bahrami—Anadolu/Getty Images

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has penned an open letter to Americans, calling on U.S. civilians to “wrest control back from corrupt politicians.”

The letter, published Tuesday, comes weeks before the U.S. midterm elections in November. Addressed to “the honorable people of the United States of America,” the letter accuses the Trump Administration of lying to the American public about the U.S. and Israel’s war against Iran, which has just entered its eighth month, and calls on them to enact change through their votes.

“Americans need to wake up,” the letter reads. “Now is the time, as the American political system is at its weakest.”

IRGC spokesperson Hossein Mohebbi told reporters that the letter is not intended to sway the Trump Administration, but rather appeal to American voters.

Earlier this month, President Donald Trump said the Iranian government was seeking to sabotage the electoral outcome by prolonging the war, which is broadly unpopular with Americans. —Miranda Jeyaretnam

Read the full story here.

SEABOUND

Nearly 90% of the world’s goods travel by ship. From the food on our shelves to the packages at our doors, shipping touches nearly every part of our lives, and so does its carbon footprint.

Seabound is betting on an unexpected solution: a box of rocks. By turning limestone into a sponge that captures CO₂ emissions, the company is proving that small innovations can help change the course of global shipping.

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IN FOCUS

How James Talarico made Texas competitive again

Photograph by Brenda Bazán for TIME

James Talarico has been speaking for 12 minutes and he still hasn’t mentioned Ken Paxton. He’s name-checked Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg. He’s called out Texas resident Elon Musk—not for pledging millions to keep Talarico from representing him in Washington, but for becoming the world’s first trillionaire. He’s taken shots at oligarchs, tax loopholes, and AI data centers.

Finally, with about three minutes left, Talarico lands on his Republican rival in arguably the fiercest Senate race in the country. “Listen, even the most advanced AI couldn’t come up with Ken Paxton’s actual scandals,” he says, drawing chuckles and cheers from the rapt audience in a church hall across from Texas Southern University, a historically Black university. “I don’t need to use AI and deep fakes. The truth about Ken Paxton is bad enough.”

Talarico knows this is not true. His opponent’s scandals actually aren’t enough—not in Texas, where Paxton, the state attorney general, remains a political force even after a grand jury indicted him, his fellow Republicans in the Texas House impeached him, and his own staffers reported him to the FBI. Texas is where Republicans have maintained an almost three-decade lock on political power; the last Democrat to win statewide did so in 1994. For Talarico to break that epic losing streak, he knows he can’t just hammer his opponent and energize hardcore Democrats. He needs to build a broader coalition than any other Senate candidate in the country. He needs to convince millions of Texans that not only this year is different, but that he’s different.

“I want people to vote for something, not against something,” Talarico, 37, tells TIME after his Sept. 13 event. “Obviously, Ken Paxton’s career of corruption is alarming to most Texans, but it’s not enough just to have people showing up to vote against a bad alternative. I want people to feel excited about my vision and my values and what we’re going to do together.”

With a mix of matter-of-fact earnestness and youthful idealism, Talarico is potentially doing something bigger than winning a Senate seat in a state where Democrats forgot how to win; he is nimbly blending the competing versions of the Democratic identity. Here is a seminarian who preaches a progressive message, a pragmatist who found ways to pass bills in a Republican-controlled Legislature, a sharp-tongued brawler who can smoothly veer from dunking on his opponent to celebrating the value of decency. —Philip Elliott

Read the full story here.

ONE NUMBER

23 years

The U.S. withdrew its last military forces from Iraq on Wednesday, 23 years after the 2003 invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein. The final troops left Erbil Air Base in the Kurdistan region, the Pentagon said.

SOURCE:TIME

A VIRAL MOMENT

‘Lord of Lard’

Fat Bear Week is over, and the voting public has crowned its champion. The mighty Bear 89, also known as Backpack, has been declared the winner. He comes from a long history of chonky champions: his mother, Holly, won in 2019. Watch him in action below.

AMINI

Across the Global South, Amini is working to ensure nations are not left out of their digital future. From climate intelligence to sovereign AI, Amini is building the infrastructure countries need to own their data, strengthen public services and create economic opportunity on their own terms.

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