Real-estate mogul Donald Trump tells Newsmax.TV that Mitt Romney will “save Medicare” if elected to the White House while President Barack Obama will almost certainly assure its demise if he wins four more years.
Romney is "very tough, but he's also got a tremendous heart. He's going to save Medicare," Trump said.
But under Obama, “I believe that Medicare is just going to dissolve,” declared Trump in an exclusive interview on what was to be the eve of the Republican National Convention in Tampa. “I don’t think it can make it.”
He charged that $716 billion has been “stolen from Medicare” to supplant and help Obamacare. “And I think Medicare is going to be a thing of the past if Obama wins,” he asserted.
Trump, who has been planning an “amazing” surprise in the opening moments of the Republican National Convention, was honored on Sunday with the Statesman of the Year Award from the Republican Party of Sarasota County, Fla.
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While the billionaire host of the hit NBC show "Celebrity Apprentice," declined to say exactly what the Aug. 27 surprise might be at the RNC, he has said that he won’t be endorsing the re-election effort of President Barack Obama, nor will the surprise be damaging to the Republican ticket of Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan.
Trump did not say whether the cancellation of Monday’s activities at the RNC would affect his plans.
“I think part of being a statesman is telling the truth. And I tell the truth,” said Trump, noting “Sometimes the truth is painful.”
Insisting that the U.S. is in “decline” and being taken advantage of by China, OPEC and “many other countries,” Trump said that the national unemployment rate is far greater than the 8.3 percent touted by the Obama administration.
“If you look at real unemployment in this country, this country is in serious, serious trouble,” he charged. “They give you a number of 8.3. that’s nonsense. The real number is probably much closer to the 21 percent number that I’m hearing from some people, and certainly 15, 16 or 17 percent.”
Trump said that the U.S. may not be able to bounce back if Obama is re-elected.
“A country can’t make it with numbers like that,” he said. "I’m not sure that the country is going to make a very easy comeback, if they can make a comeback at all (with Obama).”
He urged Romney and running mate Paul Ryan to “fight fire with fire” and not “be so politically correct” in their campaign and he accused Obama and Vice President Joe Biden of running a dirty campaign.
“I think they have to fight very hard because the other side is. They’re dirty fighters. They’ve used words that are horrible, whether it’s felony or whether it’s murder,” he said. “They’re using terms and words that are unthinkable and I think that we have to realize that we’re in a very very nasty fight with some very nasty people.”
Trump sidestepped questions of a possible role — if any — he might play in a Romney administration, opting instead to highlight his business qualifications for such a role.
“I do have an expertise,” he responded to the question. “I mean my expertise is the economy and jobs and all of that. I built a great company with a tremendous net worth. I’ve employed tens of thousands of people, but what I’m really into right now is saving the country.”
Describing the Republican standard bearer as “obviously very smart (and) very tough if he has to be,” Trump portrayed Romney as compassionate.
“He’s going to take care of people and he’s going to create jobs in this country,” Trump said.
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