Explaining the troubles encountered by his campaign in the past several days, Donald Trump said in an interview broadcast Sunday there is a "learning curve" in running for president.
Trump told
"Fox News Sunday" host Chris Wallace he was blindsided by questions on punishing women for having abortions and on
cutting back on America's commitment to funding NATO.
Wallace noted that Trump has been accused of winging it on questions without thinking them through.
"I've been a really successful businessman for a long time," Trump responded. "I was never asked many questions, like I was asked a question about NATO the other day by [CNN's] Wolf Blitzer. I think I gave a great answer. It's obsolete. We spend too much money. We're not getting benefits that we should be getting for the money. We're carrying a lot of countries."
When Trump said he has "been a politician for a very short period of time," Wallace asked, "You still have a learning curve?"
"There is always a learning curve," Trump said. "I don't care if you've been doing it all of your life. It is a very moveable subject."
NATO doesn't aid in the fight against terrorism, Trump added.
Wallace countered that 1,000 NATO soldiers have died in Afghanistan since 9/11 helping the United States.
"Fine. That's a lot of soldiers," Trump said. "I'm saying it's unfair to us."
"But they defend us against terrorism," Wallace told Trump.
"We are paying so much money, disproportionately. We have countries being carried along," Trump said. "It's not fair to the United States. Not fair to the citizens and not fair to the taxpayers. And what I said was exactly right."
Trump argued that press says he doesn't like NATO, but in reality, he said, it just said it needs to be "readjusted."
"I think we have to cover terrorism because we're really not covering terrorism," Trump said.
"In Afghanistan we are," Wallace responded.
"Sure," Trump said. "It counts but I'm saying we have to be very specific on terrorism. NATO is not specific to terrorism."
Trump also vowed to become more presidential after knocking off his two remaining GOP opponents, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Ohio Gov. John Kasich.
"After I beat them, I'm going to be so presidential you're going to be so bored. You're going to say this is the most boring human being I ever interviewed," Trump said.