Donald Trump acknowledged Tuesday that it's been a "little bit of a struggle" to get people to understand why he fights for his goals, including his growing bid for the Republican nomination, but people are responding to his energy and success.
"I've had a great record of business," the real estate billionaire and surprise front-runner told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" program. "I've had great success and they, you know, just and people see that, I would put all of that energy and whatever that brain power is, whatever that type of power into our country."
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Trump said he's been fighting such struggles all his professional career, including in his early days in New York's real estate development scene, when he came into Manhattan and changed its skyline.
"My father was a Brooklyn builder, Queens," Trump said. "I said, 'Pop, I really want to go to Manhattan.' I had a great father. He's a tough cookie. He was good, taught me a lot. I said I want to go into Manhattan. He said, 'Son, that's not our territory. We should stay here. You know nothing about that. But I said 'I want to build big buildings, pop.'"
He went into Manhattan and "now we're all over the world ... in the end, you have to keep chugging forward."
The nation is responding to his candidacy, Trump said, because "I think people are tired, sick and tired of incompetent politicians."
But just three months ago, he said, "I was on the other side of the ledger, the fair-haired boy in the RNC. I gave $350,000 last year to the Republican governors. You don't even get letters of thank you. You give money, they don't even say thank you anymore. That's how crazy it is."
When it comes to making America great again, "we could have a conversation for hours on that and we'd still have plenty left over," Trump said.
One of the things, said Trump, is dealing with the wealth of the country.
"We are a debtor nation," said Trump. "We owe 18 trillion going up to 21, 22 trillion, very rapidly now. You watch what happens. Obamacare is going to start kicking in. That's a disaster for the country in many ways, a disaster for the people and a disaster for the balance sheet so to speak."
Trump also said that, once in the White House, he'd increase the United States' trade.
"I was in Los Angeles two weeks ago. I see ships coming in from Japan, millions of cars coming in from Japan, all the time, constantly," he said."What do we give them? We give them beef. They don't want it. They picket when we send them our beef."
Part of the issue, Trump said, is that the United States appointed Caroline Kennedy to be its chief negotiator to Japan, who was "shocked to get the job," and she is dealing with expert negotiators.
Trump said he would continue with his quest to strengthen the nation's border, and he also promised to get rid of some of President Barack Obama's executive orders.
"The nice thing about an executive order, the new president can come in and sign it away immediately," said Trump. "You don't have to worry about Congress."
Trump also discussed his thoughts on Obamacare, saying that in many countries, a single payer healthcare system works, and he likes the concept of private enterprise doing something similar in the United States.
"The insurance companies are making a fortune on Obamacare," said Trump. "You look at their stocks. This was done almost you could say for the insurance companies. They're doing great. You have to create competition. And you have to go back to a system of private and the private has to, you have to get rid of the artificial lines drawn around every state."
Part of the problem with the costs, he said, is there is no competition, but companies are still making a fortune "because they have the politicians taken care of, with the lobbyists and special interests and the donors. And one of the things ... there is no competition."
He also gave his opinion of gun control: "I'm a big Second Amendment person. You have very sick people that shouldn't have guns. We're all into that. You have some real whack jobs. It would be nice if the communities would report these people. So often, when you have a shooting, they go back to the community and half the people said we knew he would be a sick puppy."
There have also been questions about Trump's political organization, and he told the show that people don't understand that he has a "big organization, there are those who say I have the biggest organization" in places like New Hampshire, South Carolina and more.
"We have terrific people, real, proven winners," said Trump. "I have a big organization and a lot of people don't write that. In all fairness, I think I might have more people than almost any organization. By the way, that's funded with my money, not with a lobbyist's money."
He also reiterated his claim that he is going to win the Latino vote, even though a new NBC/Wall Street Journal poll shows that he has a 75 percent unfavorable rating among Hispanic voters.
"There was a poll out recently, a Latino poll where I was at 35 percent," he said. "I was leading in the Latinos. I will find it for you. There is another one in Nevada at 35 percent, I'm way ahead in Nevada of everybody else."
Trump said he believes that many Hispanics in the United States agree with his push against illegal immigration, and that he will win the Latino vote, as well as the African-American vote, because of his push for jobs.
"I create jobs and they want jobs," said Trump. "All of these countries that are taking our jobs, they are ripping our country to the shreds. With me, that will not happen."
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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