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.”
But its a lie.
Read the truth.
but you appear to be a paid astroturfing for Establishment Walker .
The best friend of the idiot RNC head .
walker is just another Billionaire butt boy trying to fool people while he secretly tries to hire Amnesty cheerleaders and a RNC employee known for his hatred of true conservative.
No one is fooled by Walker
Not only that, but build him up into some kind of savior of the country, and compare him favorably to Reagan and Churchill. It's nothing short of stunning.
MSM and Leftists keep raising that issue in hopes of Trump running as a Third Party — because that may be the only way Hillary can get elected. Her approvals keep dropping. Hubby only got about 42% of the vote. Hillary will be lucky to get that number. BJ was likeable; Hillary isn’t.
LOL, are you really this easy to manipulate? Trump's promises mean nothing. Trump's policy positions mean nothing. He has all but admitted he takes whatever position he needs to benefit himself at any particular moment in time. He is playing the caricature of a grass roots conservative because he sees an opening in doing so right now, at this moment in time. There is no telling what positions Trump would have if he weren't trying to con people into voting for him. Maybe he'd go back to his liberal positions of just a few years ago when he was busy fawning (and contributing) to Hillary Clinton and telling us all how well Obama would do in the White House?
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 think this is psyops. This is the MSM trying to sow confusion and distrust regarding Trump. One day he's left, the next day he's right. Then he's up, then he's down.
You're supposed to feel disoriented and wary. And apparently, many are.
Personally, I'm willing to wait until the debates before I start filtering. But I would advise others to consider that FNC is using polls to qualify for the debate, so perhaps the MSM is using conflicting news stories about Trump to manipulate the polls in advance of the debates?
-PJ
The reason people are running to Trump is because he's not afraid to stand up for what he believes in. The Republicans haven't done that since Reagan (because they lie about their support for democrat policies) . Even if all we get from Trump is immigration reform - I'll take it! We can't even get close to that with the Republicans in change.
I've had enough of the Republicans back stabbing and doing nothing FOR us. I'd vote for Trump just out of spite if Bush gets the nomination (and let God sort it out).
I owe the Republican party nothing. They owe me! I'm conservative first. If there's no Conservative running this time, then there's no reason to vote Republican anymore. They've been given too many chances to lead already, and they've wasted every one of them.
He has always planned to run as an Independent and siphon votes away from the Republican candidate.
I’ve felt disoriented and wary ever since conservatives built that liberal shyster up into a savior and a cult of personality.
No, you guys have five or six conspiracy theories going. Which one is it today? I am embarrassed for you.
“Trump reminds me of my 3 year old grandchild. “Wah, wah, wah...look at me...look at me.””
It’s Obama fatigue. People just want to enjoy the loudmouth attack dog for now, because it’s cathartic. Don’t worry, nobody will actually vote for this guy.
Do you actually think Trump (who is top in the polls) would drop out so that worn out old bag-o-bones could win.
Trump plays second fiddle to no one. Just ask him.
However, if he does begin to have trouble and realizes he can't win, he will throw his support behind Cruz.
Yeah. Sticking to their own Conservative convictions and keeping their own conscience clean is so......yesterday. Go Jeb! 2016
(/s)
Yeah. Gotta side with Trump on this one. The RINOs threw the first punch every time. It's self defense.
Like I said before, Trump is not my guy. So far I'm Cruz, but the RINOs are acting like total a$$hol_s! The Republicans attacking Trump are being absolutely vicious because he brought up the concept of actually doing something about illegal immigration (something the RINOs protect as much as the democrats)!
Conspiracy theories? Are you going to deny Trump and the Clintons are very close friends?
Do you not know what Trump’s stances are vis-a-vis the Kelo decision and single-payer health care?
Are you so misguided as to think Trump actually has a shot at winning the Presidency? You do know his favorability ratings when compared to all other candidates — democrat and republican — are in or next to dead last, do you not?
I’m embarrassed for YOU.
The GOP wants Trump out sooner rather than later, because he's upsetting their natural order of things, their gravy train.
I don't mind seeing Trump in the mix for as long as he can hold out, just to shake things up. At this point, I don't know how else to keep another Dole/McCain/Romney from emerging early from the primaries, allowing the MSM and big donors again to select the GOP candidate.
Who knows which way Trump will eventually land? I'm never a fan of prematurely eliminating options. I want to see how Trump runs the gauntlet, but more importantly, I want to see how he drags the others through it with him, kicking and screaming, whining and complaining.
-PJ
True. If we don't vote for the GOP Republicrat, the DNC Republicrat will win! Oh no!
(We're so obedient to our masters)
I’ll say it again. Conspiracy theories. If you find yourself believing in them to square a hole in what’s going on, you need to reevaluate.
Favorability ratings go up and down just like everything else. His have already gone up, just like Clinton’s are going down. He is going to the border today. What is your candidate doing?
The PTB have already chosen Bush for us. If we can't do anything to stop them, then we've lost anyway. No one is going to crawl over broken glass to vote for "Jeb."
Only a strict Constitutional Conservative can save this country now. It's the only type of candidate that can rally the country into action. The RINOs have failed everyone who ever voted for them (Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me)and they're no longer trusted to be in charge. People are simply discouraged because they have no strong, reliable leaders to vote FOR.
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