Donald Trump and his swaggering, shoot-from-the-lip bravado is a "disaster" for the GOP in its quest to recapture the White House in 2016, former Sen. Alan Simpson tells
Newsmax TV.
"Some people just think he's the hero of the ages and he's going to clean out all these boobs who won't do anything. And the others think this is 'The Donald,' who is just a walking ego," Simpson, a Wyoming Republican, said Thursday on "The Steve Malzberg Show."
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"Whatever he is, he's going to sure be disruptive to Republicans. It's a disaster for us to have The Donald in here — and especially since he lit the bomb on Mexico and immigration and calling the Mexicans what he did. That isn't really helpful at all to anybody ...
"This guy is, he's a troublemaker and he's got ego and he's got bucks and he's going to create a lot of pain and gas and heartburn."
The billionaire developer and star of TV's "The Apprentice" is riding high among Republican voters, according to
a CNN/ORC poll that has former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush leading with 19 percent of the vote, followed by Trump with 12 percent. This despite Trump's controversial comments about Mexican immigrants as he announced his bid for the 2016 GOP presidential nomination.
At his June 16 campaign kickoff, Trump said: "When Mexico sends its people, they're not sending their best. They're sending people that have lots of problems, and they're bringing those problems with us. They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists. And some, I assume, are good people."
As a result, Univision pulled the plug on televising Trump's Miss Universe pageant and Macy's is yanking its line of Trump-brand clothing. NBC said it's axed "The Apprentice," although Trump insists that decision was because of his presidential aspirations, not because of his remarks.
But Simpson said he isn't impressed.
"That isn't really helpful at all to anybody, regardless of how you feel about the president's decision and when he did the executive order [giving amnesty to undocumented immigrants]," Simpson said.
Asked by Steve Malzberg if every immigrant who crosses the border into the United States isn't automatically a criminal, Simpson said: "Not in my book ... A lot of them are just trying to get away."
Pressed further, Simpson added: "Well, OK, they're criminals. There's 12 million of them here and they're used and abused and exploited.
"How's that for a country? You like that idea? You like to see people used, standing out there for the 7/11 getting two bucks and then when the time comes to get paid, they get them to turn it over to the authorities? Come on. That's not America."
Simpson, former co-chair of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility, also weighed in on the U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalizes same-sex marriage in all 50 states, saying he strongly disagreed with Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas that the nation's top jurists overstepped their bounds.
"He hasn't done anything yet except put on a filibuster that cost about $26 billion," Simpson said, referring to Cruz's marathon speech that helped trigger a costly government shutdown.
"So if anybody thinks that Ted Cruz is going to be a responsible legislator where you learn to compromise on issue without compromising yourself, give it up. He's just shot himself completely in the foot and the head."
He said the high court's same-sex marriage ruling was "a tough one, that's for sure, but when 37 states have already agreed to give it? … I don't care how other people live. And they say, how about the sanctity of marriage? … Hell, I practiced law in Cody, Wyoming, for 18 years and did 1,500 divorces. Don't give me any of that crap!"
Simpson said he supports President Barack Obama's push to open an embassy in Cuba, despite the opposition of many of his fellow Republicans.
"If everybody would clean up their act and just do something whether it's right or wrong and not whether they hate Obama, we may make it out of this mess … If it's just, well, since I hate Obama with a passion, whatever he's for, I'm against, that won't help our country a damn bit."
Simpson said he strongly supports the normalization of U.S. relations with Cuba.
"Hell, yes! … Ninety miles away? You open the door down there and inject capitalism in there," he said.