Donald Trump said he's played the game with politicians his entire career, but he's still surprised at how difficult politics is now that he's running for president.
"I never realized it would be like this in politics. I think real estate is a lot easier," Trump said Wednesday on Fox News Channel's
"On the Record with Greta Van Susteren."
Trump's 15 other Republican opponents and much of the media have lined up against him since he's now leading in the polls, he said.
Should Trump become the Republican nominee he would likely face Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton. Van Susteren pointed out that Trump told her in 2012 that Clinton "works really hard, and I think she does a good job. I like her."
Trump said he still believes Clinton works hard, but that "she was the worst secretary of state in history."
His kinder words were from "a long time ago" when he was a "businessperson" and had to "get along with everybody, Democrats, liberals, Republicans, conservatives."
He gave money to everyone at the time, he said, but that he has amassed a big enough fortune that he isn't beholden to contributors and lobbyists as his competitors in both parties are.
He knows about them, he said, because "I used to be one of them. ... Now, for the first time in my life, I'm a politician, and I can say this is the way it is. And I understand the system, and I know why the system is broken."
Appearing on CNN's
"Anderson Cooper 360," Trump said he can change that culture because, as president, he would show "that the top person can't be bought. I'm worth far too much money. I don't need anybody's money."
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