Donald Trump told a crowd of supporters in Iowa Thursday evening that he no longer cares about accumulating personal wealth, and is now motivated primarily by a desire to be greedy for America.
“All my life, I made money. I have always been good at making money. All my life, I did well,” the casino tycoon said.
He repeated the claim his campaign is self-funded, which is not exactly true, and bragged that he has turn down millions of dollars because he can’t be bought.
“I do not feel good about turning down money. My whole life, I have been greedy, greedy, greedy. But now I want to be greedy for the United States,” he said. “I will grab all that money. I will be greedy for the United States. But I always feel guilty.”
His remarks came at an event Thursday evening that he scheduled at the same time as a GOP primary debate hosted by Fox News.
Trump’s campaign announced this week he’d skip the Fox debate after the network put out a statement mocking him as a bit thin-skinned and petulant.
He had been grumbling for days about the network’s decision to include Megyn Kelly as a moderator. His feud with the evening news anchor dates back to Aug. 6, when she asked him during the first primary debate to respond to allegations he has a sordid history of sexist behavior. The casino tycoon went on the offensive after the August debate, and accused Kelly of being unprofessional, unfair and “not nice.”
Trump asked his followers on social media Tuesday morning if he should do the debate, and Fox responded with a sarcastic press release reportedly written by network president Roger Ailes himself.
The GOP front-runner quickly made up his mind, and his campaign told CNN that afternoon they’d sit out the debate and schedule a counter-rally for the same time Thursday evening.
The Trump event Thursday evening has been billed as a charitable event to benefit U.S. veterans.
