In Iowa, star of ‘summer of Trump’ makes grand promises

Dubuque, Ia. — Calling this the “Summer of Trump,” the billionaire reality TV star Donald Trump made grand promises Tuesday night in Iowa, saying he can make this country rich.

“I’m working for one thing, for the people and we’re going to make the country strong and rich and great,” Trump told reporters at a news conference before a campaign rally in Dubuque.

“And I hate to say rich, but we’re a poor nation. We owe now $19 trillion. It’s actually much more than that, but it’s $19 trillion. We’re going to get things back in shape. This country’s going to be so strong and so great and you’re going to be so proud of it.”

As usual, he lavished praise on Iowans, calmly took a verbal wrecking ball to his rival presidential contenders, and meted out punishment to members of the press who irritated him.

Once he feels slighted, Trump said, he holds a grudge.

"When people treat me unfairly, I don't let them forget me,” he said during the news conference.

Trump denied access to The Des Moines Register, whose editorial board last month called for him to exit to the race, but the news conference was live streamed on the Internet.

The biggest fireworks Tuesday went off when a reporter from a Spanish-language network tried to ask a question Trump thought was out of turn. Trump gestured for his security guards to escort the Univision anchor, Jorge Ramos, out of the news conference.

“He was out of order. He stood up and started screaming,” Trump explained when other reporters questioned why he’d done that. “He’s obviously a very emotional person.”
Trump later allowed Ramos to return to the news conference.

The New York business mogul predicted victory in the 17-way Republican contest.

"I think we will win. We have tremendous spirit in this party," he said. "I think I'm going to get the nomination."

Trump told reporters he's leading in every poll, including in Iowa. He said he's the frontrunner among evangelicals, whom he described as "incredible people that are really smart."

"I was very honored to lead with evangelicals. I love the evangelicals," he said.

In July in Ames, Trump stirred controversy when he told a crowd of Iowa evangelical conservatives that he has never asked God for forgiveness for his actions. At the same event, he derided the military service of Arizona U.S. Sen. John McCain, a prisoner of war in Vietnam.

After the news conference, Iowa Christian conservative Sam Clovis introduced Trump at his rally at the Grand River Center before a crowd of about 3,000. It was yet another firecracker – Clovis had been chairman of rival presidential candidate Rick Perry's Iowa campaign until this week. The Washington Post reported Tuesday that Clovis has signed on as Trump's national co-chairman and policy adviser.

Trump on Tuesday night delivered a rambling, improvised speech, noting it’s not easy to come up with fresh material for the live TV cameras each time he speaks. The other contenders can just rehash the same boring stump speech, he said, but “I’m working my ass off, OK?”

And in one of his biggest applause lines of the night, he said: “I say we should outlaw teleprompters for anybody running for president.”

Trump declared that he intends to resuscitate the American dream.

“I’m going to make it bigger and better and stronger than ever before, right?” he said to loud cheers. “Good.”

He repeatedly criticized the press, traditionally a popular theme with conservatives. Pointing at the TV cameras, he said he draws huge television audiences.

“If I didn’t get ratings they wouldn’t be here. They wouldn’t be here. They’re not nice people. They don’t care about me, they don’t care about you, they don’t care about anything. The only thing they care about is ratings,” he said.

Earlier in the day on MSNBC, Democratic presidential candidate Martin O’Malley tore into Trump for his over-the-top rhetoric that’s “unbecoming of the United States of America and the office of the president.”

“And all of us in the public arena of this presidential campaign need to push back against Donald Trump and this sort of language. It's not funny it's not entertaining,” O’Malley said.

Dubuque resident Kristin Look told the Register after Trump’s event she’s still undecided, but it was definitely worth her time to give him a look.

“He’s definitely a different kind of politician. Some of the things he said I agreed with, some of the things I didn’t,” Look said. “I noticed his website’s not very descriptive so that’s kind of why I wanted to see him.”

Look said she supports some of his economic ideas. “I’m not sure he’s being realistic in some others. I wish he was a little more in depth on what exactly he’s going to do,” she said.

Another Dubuque voter, Christine Sikula, said she thinks Trump “knows his issues and he knows what he’s talking about.”

“I thought he was just awesome,” she said.

GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump in his own words

On trade: “Speaking of winners, this is so important. We all know about trade, we’ve covered it, it’s horrendous. I’m going to get the greatest negotiators in the world and make great trades. We’re going to make a lot of money, we’re going to be great, everybody’s going to love us. OK?

On China: “Who’s tougher on the Chinese than me? I love them and I have respect for them. I just hate what they do to (their currency).”  

On Japan: “We owe Japan $1.4 trillion. ... If you look at the deficit we have with Japan, the deficit we have with China, the deficit we have with almost everybody, honestly they’re abusers, they’re big abusers. By the way, I love them! They buy my apartments. It’s true.”

On Iraq: “We’re going to be respected. We’re going to be really respected. We shouldn’t have gone to Iraq, but we did. We made a mistake. But we went out. We should’ve kept the oil and we wouldn’t have ISIS, believe me. ... Now Iran is as we speak meeting with Iraq to take over the country and you know who’s getting most of the oil? China! You know what we get? Nothing. Thousands of lives.”

On Ford Motor Co.’s new engine and transmission plants in Mexico: “I would say to let’s say the head of Ford, and you’ve heard me say this, because to me that’s a big abuse. $2.5 billion for a plant. Do you know how big that is? How many plants did we close to build a new plant in Mexico? $2.5 billion. So how many do we do? So I would say very simply, ‘Fellows, sorry, you’ve got to move back.’... They’ve come up with a new scheme: Illegals are going to drive the cars over. No it’s true, it’s true, it’s true.”

On campaign donations: “I don’t want money. I’m just taking little small contributions from people. ... That adds up to the fuel for a trip to Iowa.”

On running for president: “It takes courage to run. You’re really exposing yourself like crazy.”

On politicians: “Something happens in Washington – I promise it’s not going to happen to me – something happens in Washington. They get elected ... They look at these beautiful buildings, these beautiful halls and all of a sudden, they become impotent. They become, it doesn’t work. Put those two together. ... All of a sudden they’re not fighters.”

On Jeb Bush: “I’ve been watching Bush on the border. You know he’s in a seersucker suit, he’s talking about oh, yes, the anchor baby, oh, I shouldn’t say anchor baby. He puts out a report saying do not use the term anchor baby, then I used it, my polls go through the roof, and now he’s using anchor baby and he’s taking criticism. ... He’s very low energy. I’m not used to that kind of a person. I’m used to dealing with killers. ... I don’t care that he’s nice. I want somebody that’s going to make great deals and make us rich again and he can’t do it.” 

On Marco Rubio: “So Marco Rubio was not supposed to run because his mentor in the state of Florida (is running). All of a sudden he announces he’s running, and people thought it was disrespectful to somebody who brought him along. If that were me... I would really go after that guy. I’d say he’s the most disloyal guy. He’s a terrible person, he’s horrible and I hate him, OK? ... And I watch these two guys and they’re hugging and they’re kissing and they’re holding each other.”

On his niceness: “Actually I’m a nice person. Nobody knows that. It’s true!” 

— Henry Hahn contributed to this story