Former reality television star Donald Trump admitted he remains a “little surprised” at his sudden rise in the polls in an interview with Time published on Thursday. But he added that he intends to stay atop the polls.
When asked why he decided to run for president in 2016, Trump did not respond by citing his slogan, to “Make America Great Again.”
“[I]t was really important that I do it, for myself,” Trump said. “I didn’t want to look back in 10 years and say I could have done that or I could have done that. My family would look at me and say, ‘Ugh, stop.’ I had to do it for myself.”
Trump said he decided not to run in 2012 because he did not have any staff and he had a “very busy” schedule that prevented him from becoming the leader of the free world.
“I mean I really considered it strongly last time,” he said. “Before that I thought about it, but I never even had any staff. My secretary was my staff. But the time I looked at it was [last] time. But I was very busy, I was doing tremendous developments which are now completed and very successful because we’re all over the world. And I had a signed contract with ‘The Apprentice.’ I would have had to break it.”
Trump also talked with CNN on Wednesday night about his approach to international affairs and his intention to “scare the Pope” about the threat of the Islamic State to the Vatican.
“I’m gonna have to scare the Pope because it’s the only thing,” Trump told CNN. “The Pope, I hope, can only be scared by God. But the truth is — you know, if you look at what’s going on — they better hope that capitalism works, because it’s the only thing we have right now. And it’s a great thing when it works properly.”
Trump will campaign in Mobile, Ala., on Friday, the hometown of Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions. Sessions helped Trump develop his immigration policy released last weekend. Asked earlier this week whether Trump expects to receive Sessions’ endorsement, the Trump campaign responded that it had “no comment at this time.”
Late on Wednesday night, the Trump campaign announced a change of venue for his visit to Alabama. He will speak on Friday at Ladd-Peebles Stadium, which seats approximately 40,000 people and hosts the GoDaddy.com college football bowl game.
