Trump: Donating Salary Again; “I Want Crypto”; Iran “Total Dismantlement”; Names Vance and Rubio as Potential Successors

President Trump covered five major topics in a wide-ranging May 2025 NBC interview. He confirmed he would donate his presidential salary: “No other president with the possible exception of George Washington has contributed the salary.” On crypto: “I want crypto. If we don’t do it, China is going to. Millions of people want it.” On Iran: “Total dismantlement. That’s all I’d accept.” When asked about his successor, Trump named Vance first: “I do have a vice president and JD’s doing a fantastic job. He would be at the top of the list.” He added: “Marco is great. There’s a lot of them that are great.” On activist judges blocking deportations: “I think they’re trying to take away the power of the presidency.”

Salary Donation

Trump confirmed the salary donation with characteristic flair.

“No other president, they say, with the possible exception of George Washington — and they haven’t been able to find those records,” Trump said. “And we’ve had wealthy presidents before, but no other president has contributed the salary.”

He revealed the setup: “They told me before this that you will probably be asking me whether or not I’m going to contribute my salary again. But you haven’t asked that.”

The interviewer took the cue: “Are you going to?”

“Yes. Yes, I am.”

“Well, I appreciate — we just made news there.”

The salary donation — $400,000 annually — was a symbolic gesture that nonetheless communicated something important about Trump’s motivation for holding office. A president who gave back his entire salary was a president who wasn’t doing the job for money. The comparison to Washington — the only other president known to have declined compensation — placed Trump in the most rarified company in American presidential history.

”I Want Crypto”

Trump articulated his crypto position with competitive urgency.

“I think crypto is important because if we don’t do it, China is going to,” Trump said.

He described the market performance: “If you look at the market, when the market went down, crypto stayed much stronger than other aspects of the market.”

He stated the demand: “I want crypto because a lot of people — millions of people — want it.”

He contrasted with Biden: “Biden went after it violently. And then before the election, he changed his tune entirely. His head of the SEC — everybody changed their tune. Because there were hundreds of millions of people participating in crypto and they wanted to get their votes.”

The geopolitical framing — “if we don’t do it, China will” — elevated crypto from a financial innovation to a strategic competition. China had been developing its digital yuan and exploring blockchain technology while simultaneously cracking down on decentralized crypto. If the United States drove crypto innovation offshore through hostile regulation, China would capture the technology and the economic benefits it generated.

Trump’s observation that crypto had outperformed traditional markets during the tariff-induced volatility was data that supported the argument for digital assets as a portfolio diversifier. If crypto held its value when stocks declined, it served a genuine financial function beyond speculation.

Iran: “Total Dismantlement”

The interviewer asked the most consequential foreign policy question.

“Is the goal of these talks limiting Iran’s nuclear program or total dismantlement?”

Trump’s answer was two words: “Total dismantlement.”

“That’s all you’ll accept?”

“That’s all I’d accept.”

He addressed an alternative proposal: “There’s a new theory going out there that Iran would be allowed to have civilian nuclear power, meaning to make electricity. But I say, they have so much oil, what do they need it for?”

He described his approach: “I want Iran to be really successful, really great, really fantastic. The only thing they can’t have is a nuclear weapon. If they want to be successful, that’s okay.”

He stated the stakes: “The Iranian people are incredible. I just don’t want them to have a nuclear weapon because the world will be destroyed.”

He noted recent action: “I put pretty strong sanctions on two days ago on the oil.”

The “total dismantlement” position was the most aggressive nuclear negotiating stance any president had taken since the Iranian nuclear program became a diplomatic issue. The Obama-era JCPOA had accepted Iran’s right to enrich uranium, merely limiting the quantities and enrichment levels. Trump was demanding the complete elimination of Iran’s nuclear capability — no enrichment, no centrifuges, no program.

The rejection of civilian nuclear power was based on a practical argument: Iran sat on some of the largest oil and gas reserves in the world. A country with virtually unlimited hydrocarbon energy had no legitimate need for nuclear electricity. The civilian nuclear excuse was transparent — enrichment capability developed for “civilian” purposes could be converted to weapons-grade production at any time.

Vance and Rubio: 2028

Trump provided the most detailed answer he had given about his potential successor.

“It’s far too early to say that,” Trump began. “But I do have a vice president, and typically he would be — and JD’s doing a fantastic job.”

He stated the implication: “He would be at the top of the list.”

He hedged: “It could very well be. I don’t want to get involved in that. I think he’s a fantastic, brilliant guy.”

He named the other candidate: “Marco is great. There’s a lot of them that are great. I also see tremendous unity.”

He analyzed the dynamic: “Certainly you would say that somebody’s VP, if that person is outstanding, I guess that person would have an advantage. But I think the other people would all stay in unbelievably high positions.”

He acknowledged competition: “It could be that he’d be challenged by somebody. We have a lot of good people in this party.”

The naming of both Vance and Rubio as potential successors was the most forward-looking political statement Trump had made. Vance had the structural advantage of the vice presidency — historically, sitting VPs who sought the presidency won their party’s nomination. Rubio had the advantage of his high-profile role as Secretary of State, where his management of Ukraine peace talks, China negotiations, and the Garcia controversy had given him national prominence.

Trump’s “tremendous unity” observation reflected the Republican Party’s current cohesion — a contrast with the fractured party of 2015 or the post-January 6th tensions of 2021. The question for 2028 was whether that unity would hold through a competitive primary.

Activist Judges

Trump addressed judicial obstruction of immigration enforcement.

“We’re doing great on illegal immigration,” Trump said. “We are being hit hard by judges. I think they’re trying to take away the power of the presidency.”

He cited his mandate: “We’ve been elected in a massive landslide. We won the swing states. We won the popular vote. We won the district votes by tremendous numbers. We won everything.”

He stated the purpose: “One of the primary reasons I was elected was to get people out of our country that were allowed in through Biden’s open border policy.”

He posed the fundamental question: “They talk about due process. But do you get due process when you’re here illegally?”

The due process question was the legal crux of the immigration enforcement debate. The administration’s position was that illegal aliens who had been ordered deported by judges had already received due process — and that additional judicial proceedings were unnecessary delays designed to prevent enforcement of orders already issued.

Key Takeaways

• Trump confirmed donating his presidential salary again — “No other president since possibly George Washington has contributed the salary.”
• On crypto: “I want crypto. If we don’t do it, China will. Millions of people want it. Biden went after it violently.”
• Iran: “Total dismantlement. That’s all I’d accept.” He rejected civilian nuclear: “They have so much oil, what do they need it for?”
• Successor: Vance “at the top of the list — fantastic, brilliant guy.” Rubio “great.” But “it’s far too early.”
• On judges: “They’re trying to take away the power of the presidency. Do you get due process when you’re here illegally?”