Q&A: What Trump had to say before SC stop
Before his campaign rally in Florence on Friday, GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump sat down reporters to discuss the economy, campaign strategy, finishing second in Iowa, winning over African-Amercian voters and his relationship with Gov. Nikki Haley:
A lot of South Carolinians are worried about the middle class shrinking. What will you do to stop that?
“We have a tax program, as you see has been put in … The middle class, middle income is absolutely being decimated in our country. My tax plan lowers taxes for them substantially, lowers taxes for businesses and gets rid of regulations. We’re going to take care of the middle class. The middle class is almost like the forgotten class. They take care of people at the low end and the high end, and they’ve forgotten about the people in the middle.”
You’ve spoken a lot about jobs going to China. What will you do to reverse that?
“We’re bringing back jobs. China’s killing us because China is taking our jobs. When you talk about middle class, those are the jobs they’re taking – those factory jobs. We’re going to be tough on trade. We’ll have of the best business people in the world negotiating real trade deals, not this nonsense.”
I’m curious on your strategy for South Carolina for the coming weeks.
“I think it’s a similar strategy. You know the theme is ‘Make America Great Again.’ It’s very strong on the borders, very strong on the Second Amendment. We’re talking about trade deals where we make great deals instead of horrible deals. We’re getting rid of Obamacare; it’s a disaster. We’re going to replace it … It’s very much the same theme I’ve been having because honestly it doesn’t change.”
I want to address the elephant in the room, which is Iowa. Any thought on that.
“I thought it was very unfair to Ben Carson, who is a good guy and a friend of mine. Had those votes stayed with Ben Carson, the results would have been different. He (U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas) said Ben dropped out of the race and as you know, those votes went to Cruz … If that hadn’t happened, Trump would have won and I don’t think people have forgotten. I thought it was very unfair to Ben Carson.”
There are rumors swirling that Gov. Nikki Haley will endorse in the next week. Any thoughts on that?
“Well, I don’t think she’ll endorse me. I’ve given her a lot of campaign contributions but she obviously won’t be endorsing me and that’s fine … she said my million and millions of followers were angry. I say we are angry because our government is being incompetently run. She can endorse whoever she wants but I don’t think it’ll be me.”
Of the remaining Republican candidates, would you consider any as a potential running mate?
“I don’t like to think too much in terms of running mate. I’m somebody that’s always gotten the deal closed. I want to win and be successful in that way and then think about it. We’ve had some very good people. There were 17 total starting off, and some are gone. We’ll see what happens. I don’t want to talk too much about a running mate until we close the deal.”
Any thoughts on your attempt to address the African-American vote in the Republican Party?
“In the polls I’m doing better than anybody in the Republican Party primaries with African-Americans. We’ve got 25 percent … people say if you get 25 percent you win the election. I think I’ll do fantastically with African-Americans. So many great friendships, such a great relationship. Also, they know I’m going to bring jobs back from China and all these other places that have stolen our jobs.”
This story was originally published February 6, 2016 at 9:55 AM with the headline "Q&A: What Trump had to say before SC stop."