Washington: The Donald Trump bullet train charged full speed ahead, as the unfiltered US presidential hopeful slammed China, Barack Obama’s administration and Republican rival Jeb Bush while reveling in fresh poll results that he said show him “leading everywhere.”
Ignoring warning signs that his campaign may be running into trouble, the brash celebrity billionaire held a wide-ranging press conference before a speech in Michigan and lashed out on several subjects but declined to provide policy details.
“We’ll be announcing over the next two weeks numbers and specifics,” he said when asked of his jobs plan. “You have to be flexible on jobs and everything else.”
He used his take-no-prisoners style to batter Bush in particular, saying the former Florida governor “will not be able to negotiate against China (or) Mexico”.
Trump lit a powder keg during last week’s debut Republican presidential debate, when he refused to pledge he would not run as an independent and clashed with a popular Fox News moderator. But Trump, himself a former reality TV impresario, said he was responsible for drawing millions to that prime-time debate broadcast.
“Who do you think they were watching, Jeb Bush? Huh? I don’t think so,” Trump quipped.
Asked if he would acknowledge he has gone over the top with some of the criticism and his braggadocio, Trump merely pointed to the polls. “Leading in Iowa, leading in New Hampshire... leading in South Carolina, leading in Nevada,” Trump said, rattling off several early-voting states.
“Leading everywhere.”
A new Suffolk University poll in Iowa, which holds the first presidential contest early next year, has Trump ahead with 17 percent support, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker in second with 12 percent and Senator Marco Rubio of Florida with 10. The survey also showed Bush, a one-time frontrunner, slipping to seventh spot.
But in a warning of sorts to Trump, 55 percent of Suffolk respondents said his debate performance made them “less comfortable” with Trump as a candidate. In a Rasmussen Reports poll, Trump led with 17 percent — a significant drop from the 26 percent he enjoyed in the same national poll conducted late last month.
The Donald in Michigan let loose on Beijing, saying something ought to be done to “reign in China” — but again offered no specifics — after its sharp currency devaluation, a move Trump blasted as a “disgrace.” “China has no respect for President Obama whatsoever,” he boomed. “They think we are run by a bunch of idiots.” On domestic race relations, Trump said there were “powder kegs all over the country waiting to explode”.
AFP
