- April 20, 2015 -
EXCLUSIVE: Trump says kids ‘can run my business’ if I run for president in 2016 – ‘When I looked las
Billionaire Donald Trump says his three adult children – Ivanka, Eric and Donald Jr. – are prepared to take over his business empire if he decides to run for president.
'I have three children now who are grown and could run it,' he told Daily Mail Online in an exclusive interview at a New Hampshire forum for Republicans seriously considering bids for the presidency.
'When I looked last time, they really weren't prepared, and they weren't ready,' Trump said, referring to his brief flirtation with a candidacy in 2011. 'But now they're ready – Ivanka and Don and Eric...'
Moments later the real estate magnate clarified that 'my children and my executives' could take command of The Trump Organization, a sprawling real estate empire whose brand valuation alone is rumored to be in the billions.
Trump has raised eyebrows by forming a political committee that legally allows him to hire and pay staff in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, the crucial early states that can make or break a candidacy and open up the fundraising floodgates.
In his case, however, a campaign would be entirely self-funded, giving him more time and space to make up his mind than a dozen other presumed Republican contenders who must first line up the cash and lock down high-dollar donors.
Trump has hired New Hampshire native Republican operative Corey Lewandowski to manage his Granite State operation.
But it was the addition of veteran campaign director Chuck Laudner in Iowa that got tongues wagging inside the GOP.
Laudner famously spearheaded former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum's effort there in 2012, driving him county to county in his own pickup truck.
Santorum won the state's Republican caucuses after a recount, although the eventual nominee Mitt Romney got credit for the win on caucus night.
Trump has never held elected office but told Daily Mail Online that shouldn't count against him.
In fact, the 68-year-old said his background in business is what makes him more qualified than all the politicians jockeying for GOP nomination.
'I can make the country great again, and they can't. Because I know how to create jobs, because I know how to take jobs away from other places,' Trump said. 'I create jobs. They don't create jobs. They're politicians. It's all talk, it's no action, it's the same old story.'
'The last thing that we need...is another Bush,' he said, unprompted, of former Florida governor Jeb Bush.
Bush has not yet announced his candidacy but told reporters chasing him around New Hampshire over the weekend that he'd make a decision in 'relatively short order.'
Continuing to bash the competition's credentials, Trump added, 'Nobody else has the stance on that, nobody else could create the jobs I could create, nobody else is going to take jobs and manufacturing back from other countries that are ripping us like we've never been ripped before.'
One already declared candidate, Florida Senator Marco Rubio, has also put the focus of his campaign on creating jobs for the middle class and bringing about a 'new American Century.'
But Trump told Daily Mail Online that he'd be a better choice for president because like the rest of the GOP field, 'Marco Rubio doesn't create jobs'
'He's never created a job ... He doesn't do that,' Trump said.
The freshman lawmaker is also 'weak on immigration and borders,' Trump said during his attack, arguing that Rubio had only 'changed tune' on providing amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants because he wants a promotion.
'I've built a great empire, a tremendous empire, and a solid empire. These people don't do that. That's why I get standing ovations all over the place, and they don't,' Trump said.
The Republican-turned-Democrat-turned-Independent who became a Republican again in 2012 as he considered a nationally campaign that election cycle said that if he does get into the race this time, he won't run a traditional whistle-stop campaign that's built on 'photo-ops.'
Rather, he said he'd continue to give big speeches and meet privately with likely voters. No Hillary Clinton-style 'Scooby Doo' van trip for him, he said, or Chipotle runs.
That 'not me,' he explained. 'You have to be true to yourself.'
'It's not me, and people wouldn't expect it to be. I think it looks foolish – for me to do that would look foolish,' he contended.
Trump said he ultimately thinks Clinton's current strategy won't work for her, either. 'I don't think she can continue to do the kind of campaigning that she started doing,' he said and noted that she'll eventually have to start taking questions from the press.
Clinton embarked on the trip to make herself appear more approachable and to play down her wealth as she attempts to champion the causes of 'everyday' Americans.
The multimillionaire's exact net worth is currently a question mark, but she's known to have made roughly $20 million off speeches and her memoir since leaving President Barack Obama's service in 2013.
Trump predicted his own wealth wouldn't be an issue if he enters the contest for the White House, saying 'I've built a great company...one of the greatest companies in the world.'
'I won't be attacked' on that front, he told Daily Mail Online, and if he were, he said, 'I would stone cold stop that.'
Bottom line, Trump said, is 'I would make our country wealthy again, and I would make our country great again. I would devote all of that ability that I have for creating wealth and creating things – great things – and I would devote that to the country. '
'And I think that's what the country's looking for – and that's the kind of mentality the country needs.'
