Donald Trump offered an unusual reflection on his faith and the afterlife after hosting a high-level meeting with European leaders about the war in Ukraine.
On August 18, the president welcomed Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy to the White House, along with Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer and France’s President Emmanuel Macron. The discussions focused on ways to secure Ukraine’s defense and move toward a peace deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Trump later praised the talks on Truth Social, calling them “very good” and saying that European nations, in coordination with the U.S., were considering security guarantees for Kyiv. He added that “everyone is happy about the possibility of peace for Russia/Ukraine.”
Following the meeting, Trump appeared on Fox & Friends, where he shifted from foreign policy to a more personal subject: his chances of getting into heaven.
Trump, who has in the past described himself as a Presbyterian and “a Protestant who loves God and loves his church,” admitted he sometimes feels uncertain about his standing with the divine. “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,” he said. “I’m hearing that I’m not doing well. I am really at the bottom of the totem pole. But if I can get to heaven, this will be one of the reasons.”
The remark came as he framed his efforts to broker peace between Ukraine and Russia as not only a political mission, but also a moral one. He suggested that Putin and Zelenskyy might already be showing signs of progress in their interactions.
“They’re maybe getting along a little bit better than I expected,” he said. “Otherwise I wouldn’t have set up the bilateral meeting. I would’ve set up a trilateral. But I think they’re doing a little bit better. There’s been tremendous bad blood.”
Trump added that he personally informed Putin about his plans to meet Zelenskyy. “I told him that we’re going to set up a meeting with President Zelenskyy, and you and he will meet, and then after that meeting, if everything works out OK, I’ll meet and we’ll wrap it up. It takes, in this case, two to tango. They have to have somewhat of a relationship, otherwise we’re just wasting a lot of time.”
