{"id":463826,"date":"2026-02-09T14:10:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-09T14:10:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/463826\/"},"modified":"2026-02-09T14:10:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-09T14:10:09","slug":"trump-declines-to-predict-a-super-bowl-winner-in-nbc-interview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/463826\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump Declines To Predict A Super Bowl Winner In NBC Interview"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tAn eight-minute excerpt of NBC Nightly News anchor Tom Llamas<\/a>\u2018 interview aired during the network\u2019s Super Bowl<\/a> pre-game, continuing a tradition of presidents doing sit downs with the host broadcaster.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhat was perhaps most notable was the newsiest weekend topic that was not discussed: The president\u2019s posting of a video on Thursday in which Barack and Michelle Obama were depicted as apes. <\/p>\n

\n\tIn introducing the excerpt that aired on Sunday, Llamas reminded viewers that his conversation with Trump took place \u201cbefore the president\u2019s social media account reposted that racist video of the Obamas, which was ultimately taken down.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tOnly after Republicans called for it to be removed did the White House do so, blaming it on an unnamed aide. Yet Trump later said it was he who ordered it posted, and although he said he didn\u2019t watch it all the way through, he also didn\u2019t apologize for it.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn the interview portion that aired on Sunday, Trump declined to make a Super Bowl prediction, saying, \u201cYou get yourself in big trouble, but I think it\u2019s going to be a great game.\u201d Trump teased <\/a>his non-prediction in a post on TikTok last week.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe rest of the excerpt featured discussions about the economy and immigration, with Llamas rather gently posing his questions to the president.<\/p>\n

\n\tLlamas said, \u201cFriends and families, just like you will be coming together on Super Bowl Sunday. People are shopping this week. They\u2019re running the kids around. They\u2019re trying to heat their homes with this brutal winter we\u2019ve been having. In the last year, a lot of prices have come down, things like gas and eggs, but but others, since you took office, have come up, like natural gas and coffee. When can Americans expect those prices to come down?\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tTrump answered, \u201cWell, they\u2019ve already come down. I think you\u2019ve seen, Tom, when I took over, eggs, poultry, all these things were through the roof. In fact, the first question I got, what are you going to do about eggs? It was my second day in office, at a news conference, and they were screaming, what are you going to do about eggs? Eggs had gone up like four times. If you notice, over the last few days, the Democrats have gone to another subject. I think they\u2019re probably saying dictator or something. They\u2019ve got a new a new word. They don\u2019t use the word \u2018affordability\u2019 anymore, because prices are way down. Gasoline is \u2014 I just left Iowa, $1.99 and even $1.85 per gallon, $1.85 a gallon. That\u2019s in Iowa. Many states are cracking $2. Gasoline is way down. And honestly, everything is coming way down. Beef is coming down.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tPer AAA, gas prices are averaging<\/a> $2.57 a gallon in Iowa and $2.90 nationwide.<\/p>\n

\n\tLlamas followed up, \u201cYeah, but beef, coffee, natural gas is going\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tTrump answered, \u201cWell, it\u2019s already come down. I\u2019ll tell you what. In the last four days, it\u2019s only four days, the Democrats have not uttered the word affordability. They\u2019re the ones that caused the problem. I took over a mess in every way. The border was a mess, that everybody admits. The border is great. Crime was a mess. Right now 125 years, it\u2019s the lowest crime that we\u2019ve had in 100, since 1900 \u2026 But the one thing that they don\u2019t say anymore is affordability, because I fixed the problem that they created.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tYet Democrats have already seized on Trump\u2019s glowing comments about the economy, and chances are they will talk about \u201caffordability\u201d again, given polling that shows Americans are unhappy with costs. The issue helped boost Democrats in the off-year elections last year.<\/p>\n

\n\tLlamas asked Trump, \u201cYou said you inherited a mess from President Biden when it comes to the economy. But at what point is it on you? And at what point are we in the Trump economy?\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tTrump replied, \u201cOh, I\u2019d say we\u2019re there. Now I\u2019m very proud of it,\u201d as he touted GDP growth and promised that jobs would pick up. <\/p>\n

\n\tMost of the interview aired on Wednesday on NBC News<\/a> Now and excerpts on NBC Nightly News.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn a part of the interview that aired last week, Llamas asked Trump about polls showing that most Americans believe the economy is \u201cnot great.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThey should be great,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThey should be, so why aren\u2019t they?\u201d Llamas asked.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI don\u2019t know. I don\u2019t know,\u201d Trump said. He also said during the interview, \u201cI don\u2019t think we\u2019re good at public relations.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tOther portions of Llamas\u2019 interview that aired last week did make some news, including on Trump\u2019s statement that he would stay out of the DOJ review of a Netflix or Paramount deal for Warner Bros. <\/p>\n

\n\tLlamas didn\u2019t challenge Trump on certain claims \u2014 like his statement, made three times, that $18 trillion is being invested in the country. The NBC anchor at points appeared to want to keep the interview moving to a follow up question or on to another topic, due to time constraints, rather than nail the president down with a fact check on some of his statements.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn the excerpt that aired on Sunday, after Trump made the $18 trillion claim, Llamas asked, \u201cWhen will we see those jobs and those factories open? Because manufacturing has been down month over month?\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tTrump said, \u201cWell, you\u2019re already seeing it in construction because they\u2019re all building. You know, we have factories being built, car plants. They\u2019re coming in from Canada, coming in from Mexico. They\u2019re leaving Germany, Japan, they \u2014 they\u2019re all coming into the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tNBC News posted an extensive post interview <\/a>fact check on its website, noting, \u201cWhile a number of companies, such as tech firms, semiconductor companies and pharmaceutical manufacturers, have made public commitments to invest in the U.S., many of those commitments are either only slight increases from previous announcements or in line with previous plans. In addition, the commitments and investments touted by the White House\u00a0on its own website<\/a>\u00a0total $9.6 trillion.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe network also posted<\/a> the full transcript of the interview.<\/p>\n