Donald Trump has insisted he intends to be “very nice and highly respectful” of the other GOP presidential candidates on the debate stage next week.
In an interview with Fox News on Saturday, Trump at first avoided criticizing former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, a favorite target of his, and turned his sites instead on the “political press.” Trump said he thinks the financial press were more fair to him and generally gave him positive attention and reviews.
“This political press, so much of it is dishonest,” Trump said. “I think I get a fair shake from 40 to 50 percent … and some of it is really dishonest and knowingly dishonest.”
Trump continued to lower expectations for his performance on the debate stage next week, and said he was unsure of how he would fare center-stage.
“I’m not a debater, I produce jobs, I produce beautiful buildings, I do a lot of great things…but the fact is, I’ve never done it before,” Trump said. “Maybe I’ll be good, maybe I’ll be terrible, who knows what I’ll do? But I’ll do my best and I’m representing a lot of people.”
When pressed about what he would ask individual candidates if he moderated the debates, Trump came out swinging.
After saying Bush appeared to be a nice person, Trump called the former governor weak on immigration, wrong on Common Core, and mocked him for soliciting donations for his presidential campaign.
He similarly said he does not know Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, but thinks he is a nice person. He added that the senator has flip-flopped on immigration after Americans did not approve of his 2013 immigration bill, which had several co-sponsors. As the Washington Examiner previously noted, Trump’s policy proposals on immigration do not necessarily separate him from his GOP rivals, and he himself has flip-flopped on several issues.
Trump called New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie a friend, but said the state has faltered under Christie’s leadership. When it came to Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, Trump wasted no time on pleasantries.
“It’s wonderful to fight the unions, but in the meantime they’re [Wisconsin] doing very bad economically,” Trump said of Walker. “They’re doing very poor jobs-wise and they have a huge deficit. So I think it’s a much different Scott than people thought.”
Trump described himself as “pretty conservative,” and declined to hint at who would make a good vice president because, “I don’t want to insult anybody, and frankly, I don’t want to build anybody up.” In June, he suggested Oprah would make a great vice president.
Trump rejected those who’ve criticized his “tone” and said he thinks the next president of the United States needs to have more energy.
“We need a stronger tone,” Trump said. “When Jeb and Hillary, they both the same day said, ‘I don’t like his tone,’ we need a stronger tone. We need strength, we need enthusiasm, we need toughness.”
