Fox News host Jesse Watters offered up one of his trademark oddball takes this week. He described Donald Trump as having a “childlike spirit” while praising the President’s efforts to end the war in Ukraine.
The comment came during Tuesday’s episode of The Five, where Watters and his co-hosts reacted to Trump’s latest phone-in appearance on Fox & Friends. On that call, Trump said his push to broker peace between Russia and Ukraine was motivated not only by saving lives, but also by a hope of improving his chances of getting into heaven.
“I just want to end it. I want to end it, you know,” Trump said. “But, you know, if I can save 7,000 people a week from being killed… I want to try and get to heaven if possible. I’m hearing I’m not doing well. I hear I’m really at the bottom of the totem pole. But if I can get to heaven, this will be one of the reasons.”
Watters: That’s why we love him. He has this childlike spirit, the Sunday school of thought that if you just do good things there’s a chance. It’s like the guy like cheeseburgers and candy and nicknames and that’s kind of why we relate to him because he’s so relatable and revels… pic.twitter.com/pDKdzpJbj2
— Acyn (@Acyn) August 19, 2025
Watters, grinning, latched on to that line. “And that’s why we love him,” he said. “He has this childlike spirit, this Sunday school of thought that if you just do good things, there’s a chance.”
From there, the pundit leaned into the idea, painting Trump as both flawed and relatable. He pointed to Trump’s simple pleasures, “The guy likes cheeseburgers and candy and nicknames, and that’s kind of why we relate to him because he’s so relatable and revels in these childlike moments.”
At the same time, Watters admitted Trump isn’t exactly saintly. “But we can all understand wanting to do good so we walk into those pearly gates. Now, I think he knows he’s been a bad boy, and I think we all know he’s been a bad boy.”
Watters then shifted to last summer’s assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, the July 13 rally where a gunman opened fire, killing a firefighter and wounding two others before being taken out by the Secret Service. Trump himself survived with only minor injuries. To Watters, that survival wasn’t chance. “God saved his life and he is now on a mission from God to put America first and to make peace,” he declared. “And I think that’s great.”
He brushed aside criticism of Trump’s recent meeting with Vladimir Putin in Alaska, likening it to past high-stakes summits such as Nixon with Mao or FDR with Stalin. “There’s nothing wrong with meeting with Vladimir Putin. Biden did it. Obama did it,” Watters argued.
Toward the end of the segment, Watters made things even stranger by turning the conversation back on himself. A practicing Catholic, he said he had been reading about Christianity earlier in the day and realized “you catually can’t just do good things to get into heaven, there has to be more about faith.”
It must be nice to know you can say anything, no matter how stupid or inaccurate, and your audience will eat it up. You can have your grade school child write your show and you know you’ll still be paid. It must be exhilarating.
— JOHN VALENTINE (@SageAmenti) August 19, 2025
“That’s why I’m going in,” he added. “Because I know that Jesus Christ is our lord and savior, and I’m a really good boy. I’m not nearly as bad as The Donald.”
