Phil Collins Criticizes Trump as Nasty in Interview
Left 50%
Center 0%
Right 50%
1 left · 0 center · 1 right
What happened
On Sunday, British musician Phil Collins appeared on the U.K. program Piers Morgan Uncensored ahead of his Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction. Asked about President Donald Trump, Collins said Trump’s “whole manner is unattractive,” called him “nasty,” and said Trump “plays politics like a businessman” and “sees everything as a deal,” while handling U.S. and international relations “isn’t really a business at all” but “diplomacy,” in which “sometimes you can lose, but still come out winning.” Collins called the moment a “very scary time,” said he had a song idea “waiting to be written called ‘Fat People with Guns,’ which is about America,” and said it would not surprise him if Trump tried to “overrule the two-term deal.” Trump has said on multiple occasions that he is not eligible for a third term, including that it is “pretty clear” he cannot run again and that the law is “very strong” against it.
Sourcing check · Fully on the record · 2 articles
2 of 2 articles cite a named source for the story. It was on the record from the first report.
What these terms mean and how they're counted
- On the record · names a source 2 of 2
- On the record means the article cites a source by name for the story's main claim: a person, or an institution speaking officially, such as a company statement or a named agency's spokesperson. The opposite is an unnamed source. The count is how many of the counted articles cite at least one such source; the names are everyone named across them, each once however the articles spell it. Here: Phil Collins and Piers Morgan
- Primary evidence · cites a document or data 1 of 2
- Primary evidence means the article cites a record you could check yourself: a court filing or ruling, a dataset or report, a recording or transcript, an official statement or press release, market data. A quote is not a document. The count is how many articles cite one. Here: interview transcript
- Credits another outlet 0 of 2
- The article says the story comes from another outlet's reporting (“first reported by Reuters”). Those articles relay the story; they are not independent confirmation. Here: Each article presents its own reporting.
- Unnamed sources 0 of 2
- The main claim is attributed to people who are not identified: “people familiar with the matter”, “officials said”. The count is how many articles do this.
- How it developed
- When the first report landed and whether it named anyone; when the first named source and the first document appeared. Here: First report Oct 5, 17:15 UTC by Breitbart, naming its source. First document in the first report, from Breitbart (interview transcript).
- Not counted 0
- Opinion, analysis and video pieces, and articles too short to assess. Every count above is out of the counted articles. An article republished under a new headline is one article.
This is about who is cited, not whether the story is true. Each source below says what it names. How we count
Omitted — what each side leaves out
Unpacked
Left-leaning coverage never tells readers that Collins also took aim at Americans, so his critique of Trump reads as a diplomacy lecture. According to The Hill, he says the president plays politics like a businessman and that handling relations is not really a business at all. That account skips the song idea and skips his guess that Trump might try to overrule the two-term limit. Right-leaning coverage never reports the businessman argument. It hangs the same Piers Morgan appearance, in Breitbart, on a song Collins said was waiting to be written, titled "Fat People with Guns."
The same insult gets opposite verbs. Left-leaning coverage says Collins is "knocking" the president. Right-leaning coverage says he "smears" him.
Did Collins name any negotiation he thought Trump had treated as a deal, or only the president's manner and a phrase he had jotted down?
Bottom line
The Hill and Breitbart split one Piers Morgan interview down the middle: only Breitbart printed "Fat People with Guns," and only The Hill printed Collins saying diplomacy is not a business.
The receipts — 4 facts one side's coverage lacks
- Collins said he has a song waiting to be written called "Fat People with Guns," which is about America
- Collins said it would not surprise him if Trump tries to overrule the two-term limit
- Collins said Trump plays politics like a businessman and that handling relations is diplomacy, not really a business at all
- Collins described the moment as a very scary time and said Trump sees everything as a deal
The Left View
The Hill presents the interview as a critique of Trump’s transactional style in office, leading with Collins’s claim that Trump “sees everything as a deal” and that this is a “very scary time.” It treats Collins’s contrast between business and diplomacy—and the idea that a side can lose a negotiation and still come out winning—as the substance of the story rather than as celebrity color.
The Right View
Breitbart frames Collins as “the latest celebrity to come out bashing” Trump, calling the remarks a smear and highlighting the “Fat People with Guns” idea as Collins going on “to bash everyday Americans.” It attributes the comments to a “TDS-racked head,” labels the third-term speculation an “absurd conspiracy theory,” and stresses that Trump has “shut the door” on a third term “several times.”
Our Take (balanced)
The left’s strongest argument is that Collins is criticizing a governing style—treating diplomacy as deal-making—rather than merely insulting a politician, with his business-versus-diplomacy contrast as the clearest supporting point. The right’s strongest argument is that Collins paired a personal attack on Trump’s manner with a blanket swipe at Americans as “fat people with guns” and a third-term claim Trump has repeatedly rejected, which it treats as evidence of celebrity contempt rather than analysis. The central unresolved tension is whether the interview is best read as a critique of presidential demeanor and transactional statecraft, or as anti-Trump celebrity snark that also targets ordinary Americans.
2 sources
More stories
The week's bottom lines, in your inbox
One email a week: the five stories that mattered and what they actually mean. Free.