At 2:40 min on the video:
KARL: OK. So let me get — you've been very harsh in your assessment of Jeb Bush especially. But let's look back at what you wrote in your book, “The America We Deserve.”
You said, of Jeb Bush, “He is exactly the kind of political leader this country needs now and we very much need in the future. He's bright, tough and principled.”
And not just Jeb Bush; of Hillary Clinton, you said, just in 2012, “She's a terrific woman, works hard and I think she does a good job.”
George Pataki, you said was the most underrated guy in American politics.
Rick Perry, you said, is a very effective governor; Texas is lucky to have him.
I mean, now you're declared Hillary the worst secretary of state ever; Pataki, the worst governor of New York ever and you said Rick Perry's too dumb maybe to be in the debate.
TRUMP: It's a very simple answer to that. I was a business man all my life. I've made a tremendous fortune. I had to deal with politicians and I would contribute to them and I would deal with them and certainly I'm not going to say bad things about people because I needed their support to get projects done. I needed their support for lots of things or I may have needed their support, put it another way.
I mean, you're not going to say horrible things and then go in a year later and say listen, can I have your support for this project or this development or this business. So I say nice about almost everybody and I contributed to people because I was a smart business man. I've built a tremendous company. And I did that based on relationships.
Now I'm no longer a business man. Now I'm somebody that wants to make our country great. And the tone is too weak. You know, they're telling me and Jeb — I understand what he's saying. He said the tone, the tone. And Hillary used the exact SAE word, the tone of Trump.
But we need a tough tone. They're beheading our people in — I mean, they're beheading Christians, the world is going —
(snip)
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/week-transcript-donald-trump/story?id=32829376&page=3
In other words,
I have no deeply held political principles, and I always just tell people what they want to hear.
Seems to me like a pretty good summary of the Trump political program!
Thank you Donna. I am aware lifelong liberal Donald Trump has devised a defense that he hopes will appease conservatives. But I am also aware that one should not just listen to what a candidate says during an election cycle, we must also look at the candidate’s past. And Trump’s past is that of a liberal democRAT. Did you ignore Romney’s liberal past also and if not, why not? He, like Trump, said he was no longer liberal. That appears to be all it takes with some.