“I picked you because, frankly, I never heard of you,” Trump told the reporter.

The defensive posture comes as Trump’s approval rating, even regarding immigration, once his highest performing polling issue, is in net negative territory.

Here are four takeaways from Trump’s first 100 days sit-down with ABC:

Trump remains confident in Hegseth — for now

Hegseth faced opposition ever since he was announced as Trump’s nominee to become defense secretary over a lack of government leadership experience.

But despite this month’s reporting of his use of Signal, an unclassified messaging app, to communicate sensitive information to his wife and using it on his work laptop, Trump remains convinced the former Fox & Friends Weekend co-host should be in the Pentagon’s top job.

“I had a talk with him, and whatever I said, I probably wouldn’t be inclined to tell you,” Trump said. “But — we had a good talk. He’s a talented guy. He’s young. He’s smart, highly educated. And I think he’s gonna be a very good defense — hopefully a great defense secretary.”

But Trump provided himself with some room to distance himself from Hegseth in the future if he needs to.

“I don’t have 100% confidence in anything, OK?” he said. “Only a liar would say, ‘I have 100% confidence.’”

Trump defends himself against ‘authoritarian’ allegations

Moran ended the hourlong interview by asking Trump to address critics’ concerns that he has too much power and has become “authoritarian.”

“I would hate them to think that,” Trump said. “I’m doing one thing: I’m making America great again.”

Earlier in the interview, Trump also defended himself when pressed on his desire for “personal retribution,” including against federal government officials, such as former President Joe Biden, and onetime government lawyers.

“There has never been a president in this country … that was persecuted like I was persecuted,” he said. “When you say I’m treating people rough, I’m not treating people rough.”

Trump, for instance, has revoked Biden’s security clearance so he can no longer receive classified briefings in which former presidents can participate.

“That’s not a man that should be allowed to be looking at things that are very confidential,” he said. “Here’s a man that used an autopen to sign very important documents.”

Trump adamant China ‘will eat’ the cost of tariffs

As the stock market recovers from Trump’s tariff announcements, in fact, the S&P 500 entered a bear market this month, the president downplayed the prospect that people will experience higher prices because of the duties.

“China probably will eat those tariffs,” he said. “They were ripping us off like nobody’s ever ripped us off. … They’re not doing that anymore.”

Trump pushed back on the concerns of some Trump supporters who contend they “didn’t sign up” for a trade war, with the president adding that “everything’s going to be just fine” and “great times are ahead.”

“They did sign up for it, actually, and this is what I campaigned on,” he said.

During the campaign, Trump promised to decrease prices on “Day One.”

Trump insists Abrego Garcia has ‘MS-13’ tattooed on his knuckles and not symbols

Despite Moran acknowledging Trump’s success at reducing the number of illegal border crossings, another election promise, the president and the interviewer disagreed over deported alleged criminal illegal immigrant Kilmar Abrego Garcia and whether deportees deserve due process.

“He had MS-13 on his knuckles, tattooed!” Trump said.

“That was Photoshop,” Moran responded of the “MS-13” interpretation added to a widely circulated photograph of the images tattooed on Abrego Garcia’s hand.

“Terry, they’re giving you the big break of a lifetime,” the president replied. “I picked you because, frankly, I never heard of you, but that’s OK to you, Terry, but you’re not being very nice.”

Trump went on to argue it is his attorneys who do not want to, in the words of the federal court order, “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s return to the United States from El Salvador.

Tensions rose again when Moran asked Trump whether he trusted Russian President Vladimir Putin as he sought a negotiated peace in the Russia-Ukraine War.

“I don’t trust you, I don’t trust a lot of people,” Trump said, continuing of Putin. “He would like to stop the war. I think that if it weren’t for me, I think he’d want to take over the whole country, personally.”