Donald Trump: I’ll tone down the attacks if elected president — but not on the campaign trail
Donald Trump greets supporters after taping an interview with Anderson Cooper in New York City on Wednesday. (Photo: Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
Donald Trump says his recent attacks against Arizona Sen. John McCain and his fellow Republican candidates are in retaliation for their attacks on him. But if the real estate mogul and former reality show host were elected president, he’d tone it down.
“I would deal very differently,” Trump told CNN’s Anderson Cooper on Wednesday. “I think I would be a great uniter. We are not united now.”
“When I am in the private sector and I am a businessman, I like everybody, because I have to deal with these people,” he continued. “I am not going to go and attack people. I have to deal with these people.”
At the moment, though, Trump says he is in attack mode.
“I am fighting because I am No. 1 in the polls by far and I’m being attacked on all sides,” he said. “I don’t even know these people and they are saying these things. Now, am I supposed to, you know, just say, ‘Oh, it’s OK for them to say’ … one guy — I guess it was [South Carolina Sen.] Lindsey Graham — called me a jackass? So, am I supposed to say, ‘Oh, it’s OK if I’m called a jackass’?”
Meanwhile, Trump says former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who is polling second behind him, doesn’t have the temperament to be president.
“In my opinion, when attacked, you have to, you know, defend, and attack back,” he said. “I’m being attacked by certain people. Actually, Bush, I think he is probably a nice guy. I don’t think he has the temperament. … You know why? He is too low-key. He is too laid back. Can you imagine Bush negotiating with China? You want to talk about temperament, I will introduce you to the Chinese. They have temperament. But can you imagine Bush negotiating trade deals with China?”
In Trump’s view, the rest of the GOP field doesn’t have his bulldog mentality.
“You have to fight back,” Trump said. “The country has to fight back. Everyone is pushing our country around. We can’t allow that, Anderson.”
He added: “I’m doing this for the good of the country. Somebody has to do it. Politicians are never going to turn this country around. Our country is a mess. The politicians are going to destroy this country. They’re weak and they’re ineffective.”
“I’m not in the gang. I’m not in the group where the group does whatever it’s supposed to do,” Trump told the Hill newspaper in a separate interview. “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.”
Trump didn’t rule out a third-party run if he doesn’t get the support of the Republican National Committee.
“The RNC has not been supportive. They were always supportive when I was a contributor. I was their fair-haired boy,” he said. “The RNC has been, I think, very foolish.”
“So many people want me to [run as a third-party candidate],” he added. “I’ll have to see how I’m being treated by the Republicans. … Absolutely, if they’re not fair, that would be a factor.”
