Gary Coronado/AP - Donald Trump attends the South Florida Tea Party's third annual tax day rally Saturday, April 16, 20 at Sanborn Square in Boca Raton, Fla.
Trump is ready with a strategy. “I’m gonna look them in the eye and say, ‘Fellows, you’ve had your fun. Your fun is over.’ ” If they don’t respond, he would pull the U.S. military out of the region, just like that.
To stop the Chinese from manipulating their currency, he would use the same diplomatic approach. “I wouldn’t be holding state dinners with — where Obama is shaking hands and bowing. I would be having a very, very strong talk with the president of China,” he told Camerota.
He believes that, despite the amount of U.S. debt held by the Chinese, the United States has a stronger hand. “They have some of our debt. Big deal,” he says. “It’s a very small number relative to the world, okay?”
If the Chinese did not respond to his overtures, he says, he then would impose a 25 percent tariff on all Chinese products coming into the United States. “As soon as they believe it’s going to happen, they will behave so nicely because it would destroy their economy,” he says.
Trump’s answer to the long-term debt and deficit problem at home is a roaring economy that would generate enough revenue to wipe out both. His answer to questions about how he would restore that kind of growth is equally straightforward.
“We can do it, by getting jobs, by bringing our jobs back, bringing them back. Let the other countries worry about themselves,” he says. How would he do that? “Very easily,” he told Van Susteren. “Just by putting the incentives to have people employ our people, not to employ people from India, China, Mexico and other places.”
As Congress and the president near a critical vote on raising the debt ceiling, Trump stands firm. He would not raise the debt ceiling. Wouldn’t economic chaos loom if the United States defaulted on its debt, as many economists warn?
“What do economists know?” Trump asked Guthrie. “Most of them aren’t very smart.”
If he wouldn’t raise the debt ceiling, how would he avoid default? “I don’t think you have to default,” he says. “You’re going to have to make a deal someplace.”
Trump isn’t ready, however, for big changes in entitlement programs, particularly Medicare. Asked about the Republican plan authored by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), Trump says: “I think he’s way, way, way far ahead. I think he’s got to let the Democrats do a little leading. He’s put himself too far out in front. I am not for doing anything at all negative to senior citizens.”
He once favored a “net worth” tax for people with net worths of more than $10 million. He’s “no longer for that tax.” He strongly opposes Obama’s health-care law, although as Stephanopoulos pointed out, he once favored something akin to universal health care. He has since changed his mind.
“I support health care for people,” he now says. “I want people well taken care of. But I also want health care that we can afford as a country. We have a different country today. We can’t afford things that we could have afforded or that we thought we could afford.”
Trump is near or at the top of recent polls testing the field of Republican presidential candidates. He says he will make a decision about whether to run by June, and some people who have talked to him believe he is more serious than ever. If he does join the race, the Republican debates could be even livelier than expected. The other candidates, who must be itching to challenge his view of the world, should take him seriously.
Campaign 2012 tools
The Post Most: PoliticsMost-viewed stories, videos and galleries int he past two hours
Featured Blogs & Columns
Loading...
Comments