Outspoken billionaire Donald Trump is making political waves again, showing up this week at the Iowa state fair — and giving ABC‘s Jonathan Karl a honest view of the potential GOP field in 2016.
After giving a speech at the fair denouncing immigration reform as a “death wish” for the Republican Party, Trump sat down with Karl for a pre-taped interview, aired on Sunday morning. The businessman, who himself might run in 2016, openly supplied the first word he thought of regarding each possible contender.
“Give me kind of the first word that pops to mind,” Karl said. “Marco Rubio.”
“Immigration,” Trump responded.
“Rand Paul,” Karl said.
“Interesting,” Trump answered.
For Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.), The Donald said he liked the fiscal wonk, but settled on the word “Medicare” to describe him. He then called Gov. Chris Christie (R-N.J.) “a wonderful guy” and commended Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) for “trying to stop this absolute disaster for the United States called Obamacare.”
When Karl asked for his view of himself, however, Trump paused and made an odd face.
“Smart,” Trump finally answered.
Karl also asked the billionaire what he would say to people who considered a potential Trump 2016 run a “joke.” The real estate mogul responded that he had built an impressive company and that people had been “shocked” at how successful it is.
“It’s a beautiful company,” Trump said. “It’s a company like this country should look.”
The billionaire said he would spend as much of his personal wealth as necessary if he decided to run for president.
Karl also brought up Trump’s ‘birther’ claims, something that people had used to discount his previous presidential run. The Donald once again stressed that he didn’t know whether or not President Obama was born in the United States.
“Was there a birth certificate?” Trump asked. “You tell me.”
