Donald Trump is criticizing Republicans in Congress as "the worst negotiators" ever because of their failure to force President Barack Obama into "one big deal" during the fiscal cliff debate.
"Republicans are the worst negotiators in the history of the world," the business and entertainment billionaire told Fox News' Sean Hannity in an interview that aired Thursday. Trump also held out the possibility of making a run for the presidency in 2016.
Trump said congressional Republicans already had the worst approval ratings in the country, so they should have said no to the short-sighted deal struck by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Vice President Joe Biden that raises the tax rate on the wealthy without making significant spending cuts to help reduce the deficit.
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"They gave up on tax increases," he said, adding that they were already "getting blamed anyway" for the gridlock in Washington.
"They have the lowest [approval] rating in the history of ratings, okay, like the lowest rating anybody's ever seen," Trump said. "And I heard that they were afraid of bad publicity. Their publicity is horrible anyway."
"We should have gone over the [fiscal] cliff," he added later, noting that it would have forced President Barack Obama to give more in spending cuts.
Now, he said, their failure to stand strong in the cliff debate has set them up for failure as well in the upcoming fight over the debt ceiling.
"I'm worried about the debt ceiling because I think the president's going to use the 14th amendment and we're going to end up in lawsuits for the next ten years. And so, I don't like the debt ceiling by itself as a point of strength," he said referring to reports that Obama could issue an order instructing the Treasury to disregard the borrowing limits set by Congress two years ago.
"The strength was, let everybody pay. Let all of his supporters start paying more tax and he will come to you and he will make [spending concessions]. That's called deal making 101, basic deal making," Trump continued.
"In my opinion, for the debt ceiling, he's going to use the 14th amendment and circumvent the problem," he added. "And I believe that the Republicans are going to have a hard time."
Trump said the GOP brand has been damaged to the point that "it's tough to win as a Republican" now running for national office.
He pointed to the Hispanic vote in 2012 that went overwhelmingly for Obama as an example of how Republicans have mishandled immigration and other issues that are important voters. He said Republicans will have "to do something" to show that they recognize how "our country is different place than 50 years ago" if they expect to win in future elections.
As for his own political future, Trump hinted that he might consider a run for the presidency in 2016.
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"I love what I'm doing, I love it the most," he said. But he added: I'm so disappointed with what's going on in the country and with our politicians and our Republican politicians. I'm so disappointed at the opportunities they missed so we'll just have to see."
During the 2012 campaign Trump was one of Obama's harshest critics and he didn't let up in the Hannity interview, at one point saying the president is running the country "almost like a dictatorship."
But when asked what he really thought of Obama as a person, Trump said, "Look, I have a lot of respect for the guy . . . People think I don't respect him. I respect him a lot. I think his story is an amazing story, whether people like him or don't like him.
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