Posted on 07/23/2015 3:57:44 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
NEW YORK — Donald Trump says the chances that he will launch a third-party White House run will “absolutely” increase if the Republican National Committee is unfair to him during the 2016 primary season.
“The RNC has not been supportive. They were always supportive when I was a contributor. I was their fair-haired boy,” the business mogul told The Hill in a 40-minute interview from his Manhattan office at Trump Tower on Wednesday. “The RNC has been, I think, very foolish.”
Pressed on whether he would run as a third-party candidate if he fails to clinch the GOP nomination, Trump said that “so many people want me to, if I don’t win.”
“I’ll have to see how I’m being treated by the Republicans,” Trump said. “Absolutely, if they’re not fair, that would be a factor.”
RNC Chairman Reince Priebus called Trump earlier this month asking him to tone down his controversial rhetoric. More recently, the RNC rebuked him for saying that Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) is not a war hero. Trump didn’t apologize but has since said that the 2008 Republican presidential nominee is a war hero.
Trump told The Hill that the GOP establishment in Washington dislikes him because he’s not part of the political class.
“I’m not in the gang. I’m not in the group where the group does whatever it’s supposed to do,” he said. “I want to do what’s right for the country — not what’s good for special interest groups that contribute, not what’s good for the lobbyists and the donors.”
The real estate magnate has upended the Republican presidential primary, with recent national polls showing that he is leading the 16-candidate field. Many in the party’s establishment, pointing to his inflammatory comments about Mexican immigrants and McCain, say that Trump is badly hurting the GOP brand.
Yet he is connecting with a significant chunk of GOP voters. And despite criticism from party leaders and other presidential candidates, Trump appears fueled by controversy.
His office, which has a stunning view of Central Park, is filled with family photos, golf trophies and sports paraphernalia.
At various times during the interview, Trump pointed out that he isn’t a politician. But the reality TV personality has politician-like skills, answering questions he wants to answer and driving the conversation to where he wants to take it. Trump doesn’t shy away from eye contact, and while prone to complaining about reporters, he is comfortable in his own skin.
The 69-year-old, of course, is no stranger to the media, and on Wednesday he complimented his questioners while also urging them — on more than one occasion — “to be fair.”
He insisted that his remarks about McCain and immigration have not and will not hurt him, and pointed to several recent polls to make his point.
Not surprisingly, Trump is a big fan of polls now.
At one point, he whipped out a survey that he had inside his suit pocket, and later he called on an aide to print out the latest poll numbers showing him leading former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R).
“I’m surprised that I’m this high,” he said.
Unlike former Rep. Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) four years ago, Trump is not predicting victory. He won’t utter the former Speaker’s famous “I’m going to be the nominee” statement, saying that would be “presumptuous.”
He attributes his rise to being frank with voters.
“I’m not surrounded by all sorts of pollsters and PR people,” Trump said. “I speak the truth. Our country is in big trouble, and I know how to turn it around.”
“Competence” and “leadership” are what voters are looking for, he says.
While some of his Republican rivals, such as Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, must do well in Iowa, and others are looking to New Hampshire, including Bush, Trump doesn’t see his path to victory as state-specific. And he was tight-lipped on how he’s preparing for the Aug. 6 Fox News debate, which will only allow for the top 10 candidates by poll standing to appear on the stage.
“I’ve got a lot of knowledge having to do with government. For the debates, I’ll work on that,” he said. “As far as the debate is concerned, these politicians debate every night. That’s all they do is talk. I don’t do that. I do other things. I’m a job creator.”
He said he’d appoint judges to the Supreme Court with a “conservative bent,” praising Justice Samuel Alito and criticizing Chief Justice John Roberts.
“Jeb Bush was the one that pushed Roberts through his brother, and Roberts gave us ObamaCare,” Trump said. “Roberts was a terrible choice. We wouldn’t be talking about ObamaCare right now if we didn’t have Roberts.”
He spoke favorably of setting term limits in Congress without offering specifics and didn’t rule out endorsing congressional candidates in 2016. Trump did not show his hand on whether he might endorse a primary challenger to McCain, who has one such competitor in his Arizona race.
Trump said he agreed with Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) in opposing President Obama’s trade policy.
“You know the funniest thing about Bernie Sanders? The one thing we agree on is trade,” the billionaire said with a smile. “He knows the country is ripped off. And I know the country is being ripped off. The difference is that I can do something about it and he can’t. He’ll never be able to negotiate with China.”
Trump said that despite his tough talk about China, he’d be able to have a working relationship with its leaders. To accentuate his point, Trump brought The Hill six floors down to note that the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China rents space in his building.
“They just renewed their lease and you know why? They love Trump,” he said.
He said that Sanders is a sort of “duplicate” of liberal favorite Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who he said has pushed Hillary Clinton, the Democratic front-runner for 2016, to the left.
“She’s had a huge impact on Clinton,” Trump said. “Hillary is going way left, and I sort of laugh because I know Hillary very well. ... The interesting part about Hillary is that her donors are all the hedge fund guys and the business guys and the real estate guys. And they’re all saying, ‘Do you think she means it?’ And I say, ‘Of course she doesn’t mean it — you know her.’ ”
Trump has long said he loves his job of striking deals and making money. But now that job is on hold as he attempts to become the 45th president.
Trump says he’s enjoying running for commander in chief, though he knows it’s early in the game.
“It’s very hard for a very successful person to run for political office — especially for president,” he said, after asking for business cards. “I get that now more than anything.”
“Oh.. when did his go up? Did you have a look at the polls yesterday? They’re in the tank.”
I linked results showing you a 30 point increase since MAY and yet you double down on the stupid.
Donald is going to the border today. What is your candidate doing?
I have no use for Trump and think he's a political fraud, but if he runs Third Party and acts as spoiler for Jeb, I really couldn't care less, just as I really didn't care whether we got Clinton or Bush I/Dole in 1992/6.
The RNC has overplayed its hand of "vote for whoever we pick for you, because the alternative is a liberal Democrat." The reason this no longer works is that the RNC pushes candidates who could just as well run as Democrats.
If the RNC supported halfway decent candidates in the primaries for a change (something they haven't done since 1984), they wouldn't have to worry about third party challengers or low voter turnout to begin with.
Exactly, Trump is useful, so let’s use him while he is still useful. If he destroys the GOPe, that’s a good thing, then we’ll deal with Trump.
Right, the jig is up, and now they are mad.
Here is the thing I don’t get...why does any political party believe it is entitled to votes from a segment of the population? Is it some sort of welfare?
Looking at the candidates the Republicans have fielded -- McCain, the most liberal Republican possible; Romney, another RINO; Dole, too old to win; and Bushes, win elections but don't use their victories to crush the liberal agenda -- does it matter? A Republican candidate like these will not reverse the damage, only slow it down.
I for one am so fed up with Republicans I'd go third party. We gave them the House AND the Senate and they have not done one thing to stop nor even slow down the Obama agenda.
The point is that he’s still deep in the tank, at or near dead last among ALL candidates. How is that “doubling down on the stupid?”
It’s pointless to go on.. you’re obviously OK with Trump’s disdain for property rights and support for “universal health care” and closeness with the Clintons, and I’m not. Trump is not, nor will he ever be my candidate.
Republicans WILL be the third party before too long, especially if they nominate Yeb.
Because of the need for campaign fund raising they have forgotten that money can't actually buy votes.
No, sport. YOU made the accusation I’m some kind of RINO supporter. YOU substantiate it.
Try to keep up. They are threatening to block him from the debates. If they do that, there will be hell to pay.
That's probably what I loathe most about Jeb and Hillary: their candidacies just ooze a sense of entitlement.
Every election, the candidates annointed for coronation by their political parties try to scare voters away from "extremist" candidates in their own parties or away from third parties as "wasted votes," while in the meantime offering voters no real choice with D vs. R. They act as though they somehow own the votes of millions of Americans without doing the least bit to earn it.
I really don't see Trump's appeal, but I understand the appeal of a third party "none of the above" vote as a matter of principle when Jeb and Hillary could switch parties without anyone noticing.
He also told little Anderson Cooper that he would have reason to run Third Party when little Anderson Cooper asked him about it.
His response was, why would I need to do that when I am double digits ahead of most of the other Republican Candidates?
The Liberals are trying to Salt the Ground, and they are failing. Too bad the Republicans are trying to do the same thing.
No, sport. I don’t care what your are. I was just pointing out what I thought was a flaw in your logic.
Having so many conservative or pseudoconservative candidates in the GOP primary seems to be part of the RNC plan to coronate Jeb. Think about it: there are some liberal Republicans running who may take some votes from Jeb (Christie, Pataki, Graham), but their number and poll numbers pale in comparison to the split among conservatives and pseudoconservatives (Cruz, Walker, Paul, Perry, Jindal, Santorum, Huckabee). Rubio probably takes votes from both sides: some establishment Republicans, as well as some Tea Party types who aren't wise to him.
If there were a single conservative candidate as a Jeb alternative, he would win the primaries easily, but splitting it among a dozen candidates practically guarantees that we'll be stuck with him.
The most useful thing Trump accomplished was to show just how serious the conservative grassroots are about securing the border and opposing amnesty. The message to GOPe is "run pro-amnesty candidates, and we'll either vote third party or not vote at all."
As I said before, it's an important message, if only we had a better messenger (i.e. one who wasn't saying the exact opposite 4 years ago when that's what it took to stir the pot and get in the headlines).
“I’d give the election a pass before voting for Trump.”
“I’d give the election a pass before voting for Jebbie.”
Can you seriously not see that he will never keep to his current supposedly conservative positions? Those are the positions he takes when he wears his politician hat. Once Hillary is safely in the White House and Trump has flip flopped all over again to get in the good graces of the NY liberal establishment, he'll just claim (with typical Trump flair and bombast) that he had to take those conservative positions because it's what he needed to do to get votes - but now that he is back to being in real estate he puts on the new hat with all new positions.
I agree with your assessment of Trump and the people who fall for his act. How soon they forget that he was attacking Republicans in 2012 for being anti-amnesty and donating to the Clinton foundation.
The trouble is, while I have no sympathy for Trump's candidacy, I have plenty of sympathy for those who want a third party alternative. The GOP keeps trying to scare us with "vote for our establishment candidates or else you'll get Hillary," which is a stupid threat when you realize that their candidates of choice agree with Hillary on more issues than they disagree.
Take immigration as an issue. The only GOP candidate who has been fairly consistently anti-amnesty is Cruz (though he's also been fairly mealy-mouthed about it), and he's not doing well in the polls, mainly because the conservative vote has been so splintered. That's why people who want something done about this issue are grasping at any straw they can find, even Trump.
Donald could just debate himself, since he changes his mind daily --
Are you Democrat, Republican or independent?
Are you for or against universal health care?
Are you for against amnesty?
Are you for or against using cheap foreign labor for your products?
Are you for or against abortion?
And on and on and on....
bert is right. Folks who didn’t go out in 2012 and vote Romney (When they voted McCain in 2008) can look in the mirror and see who is at fault for the international fix we are in.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.