Donald Trump has been flirting with running for the White House for several election cycles, and said Friday that on a scale of 1-100, he's between "75 and 80" when it comes to putting his name on the ballot in 2016.
"I love building, more than anything else, I love it," Trump told Fox News talk show host Sean Hannity in a question-and-answer session following his speech Friday at the Conservative Political Action Conference. "My children have grown, and I have great executives. I can let them run things."
Unlike career politicians, the real estate magnate and reality TV show star said he has to "give up a lot" when it comes to running for office. However, he said he has already told executives in charge of his highly rated "Apprentice" franchise that he's "looking at it very seriously."
Further, said Trump, he does not want to "see what happened to Mitt Romney happen again," referring to Romney's loss to President Barack Obama in the last presidential election.
"I'm really inclined; I want to do it so badly," said Trump, noting that as a businessman, he's in a particular place to help the United States recover.
During his speech, Trump noted to that "to be winner, you have to think like a winner. Our country hasn't been thinking like a winner."
The American Conservative Union posted his address onto YouTube.
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Instead, other countries are laughing at the United States for its stupidity, said Trump.
"We leave our military for Iraq and ISIS takes it," he said. "We have to use our head. We need brilliant leadership. There's tremendous potential in this country. My concept is to make America great again."
He told Hannity after the speech that 50 million Americans are living in poverty and 92 million Americans aren't working, and it's time to retake the country's jobs "back from China, from Mexico."
"In Iowa, companies are leaving for Mexico," he said. "Mexico is the next China. Mexico is not our friend. Mexico is ripping off the United States. It's big, big league ... we've lost our manufacturing base."
Trump said he has several agenda items should he become president, and his top item is to destroy the Islamic State.
"You have to hit them fast and hit them hard, get rid of that whole situation," said Trump.
Further, he said the nation's leaders need to eliminate Obamacare, and if he was president, he would also "build a tremendously strong military."
He said he would also take further action on Iran and its hopes of becoming a nuclear power, and would not have removed sanctions against that country.
"They were being very badly hurt by sanctions," said Trump. "They're not taking us seriously."
Mexico also does not respect the United States, and allows people to flow through and across the border, even though they may have bad intentions.
In a lightning round with Hannity, Trump also said that he is pro-life, with the exceptions of cases involving the life of the mother, rape, or incest; against legalized marijuana, unless it's medical marijuana, which he supports; and he believes Hillary Clinton botched Benghazi, her husband is a "nice guy" with a lot of problems coming up; and Obama is "an incompetent president."
Meanwhile, Trump said he'd still like to see Obama's college records, and noted the president didn't release his birth certificate — even if "now we have to find out it was real" — until he came along, even though Hillary Clinton and John McCain both also demanded it.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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