GOP Presidential candidate Donald Trump said Saturday he has become a "whipping post" for telling the truth about illegal immigrants, and that he's shocked that other candidates won't discuss the issues he's brought up.
"I've always said, if you are a successful person, it's hard to run for office because they come at you from all different sides," the real estate billionaire
told Fox News' "Fox and Friends Saturday" program. "Even if people love you, 40 percent hate you."
Story continues below video.
But he said he's has to run for office "because our country is in very serious trouble," and on Saturday fired back at Republican counterparts and businesses who have criticized the comments he made during his presidential campaign announcement.
He's refused to back down on his statement that Mexico sends "people that have lots of problems ... they're bringing drugs, they're bringing crime. They're rapists. And some, I assume, are good people."
And on Friday, two days after the shooting of Kathryn Steinle, a 32-year-old tourist who was killed in San Francisco while walking on a popular pier with her father, Trump continued to refuse to back down on his stance on immigrants.
Francisco Sanchez, the immigrant in Steinle's death, has seven felony convictions and has
been deported five times, most recently in 2009, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said Friday.
He was arrested about an hour after Wednesday's slaying of Kathryn Steinle, 32, at Pier 14 — one of the busiest attractions in the city. Sanchez is believed to be 45 years old and last lived in Texas.
Immigration officials had turned Sanchez over to San Francisco police on March 26 on an outstanding drug warrant, agency spokeswoman Virginia Kice said.
The agency issued a detainer for Sanchez in March, but it was not honored, Kice said.
"I think it's so sad this incredible young woman was shot right in front of her father," Trump said Saturday. "Her father was standing there watching. I saw the brother today. You can never be the same when a thing like that happens. Never."
Sanchez, though, had been sent out of the country many times, and Trump told the Fox program Saturday that the accused shooter "was a violent person," and there are many cases just like the current one, but "nobody wants to talk about it."
"It seems like I'm the whipping post, because I bring it up and I don't understand whether you are liberal or whether you are conservative or whether you are Republican [or] Democrat, why wouldn't you talk about [the] problem."
And, he warned that terrorists will eventually come in through the nation's Southern border, as "it's the easiest thing, you just walk right in."
"You would think that no matter where you are in terms of party affiliation you would want to do something about this," said Trump. "The crime is raging. It's violent and people don't want to even talk about it if you talk about it you are a racist. I just don't understand it."
On Saturday, Trump also responded to candidates such as former New York Gov. George Pataki, who has written a letter to all the GOP candidates to push them to speak out against his statements.
"I know Pataki well," said Trump. "He was a terrible governor of New York. Terrible. If he would have run again he wouldn't have gotten anything. He was a failed governor. And, you know, as far as [Florida Sen. Marco] Rubio he is very weak on immigration and I have been saying that for some time."
Trump said he respects Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who
came out in support of him, but then criticized former Gov. Rick Perry for not doing more "in terms of protecting people."
He insisted he loves the Mexican people and their spirit, but there "are people just just pouring across the border."
Trump continued that he was surprised over
NASCAR's decision to distance itself from him by moving its season-ending awards ceremony away from the Trump National Doral Miami.
"I have so many fans at NASCAR," said Trump. "I love the NASCAR people." But he's not worried about the organization pulling the awards ceremony, as someone else will replace them in the ballroom that night."
He also fired back at some conservatives' claims that he is running for brand recognition, not to get into the White House.
"I'm doing it for one reason, to make our country great again," he insisted. "Our country has such tremendous untapped potential and for the people to say I'm doing it for my brand, I don't think it's good for my brand."
Related stories:
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.