Donald Trump said the U.S. should declare war on the Islamic State, following in the footsteps of French President Francois Hollande after the terrorist attacks in Paris.
“I think so, why not?” Trump said on ABC’s “20/20” when asked if America should formally declare war on the terrorist group. “Because right now they’re getting people who have this great respect for ISIS because ISIS is getting away with murder.”
Trump said he would launch a more aggressive bombing campaign wherever terrorists operated and stop being so “politically correct, nice and gentle.”
“I would be saying let’s go folks … I am the most militaristic person. I will make our military so strong and so powerful, nobody’s going to mess with us,” Trump said.
Asked to describe himself, Trump said he is a “unifier” who will bring the country together if elected as the next president. He also said he thinks he is a winner, gesturing around his gold-gilded home modeled after the palace at Versailles.
“I like winning better,” Trump said. “Our country has been losing for so long, it can’t go on like this. We’re not going to have a country left.”
Trump’s wife, Melania, also spoke during the exclusive interview about how she encouraged her husband to run for president because she knows the positive effect he can have on the country. Asked why she has been absent from the campaign trail, she said she chooses instead to stay home with their 9-year-old son, who is at a time when he needs a parent in his life.
The former model also said that she had given her husband some advice for the debates, including to “tone it down a little bit,” Trump said.
