Donald Trump's shoot-from-the-lip style is like a "nuclear weapon" – and Republicans and conservatives "are thrilled that finally there's someone who's using his mouth to attack the other side," former Libertarian Party presidential candidate Wayne Allyn Root tells
Newsmax TV.
In a lively panel discussion on the brash-talking GOP presidential candidate led by "Newsmax Prime" host J.D. Hayworth, Root, author of
"The Power of Relentless," says the latest controversy generated by a report Trump's ex-wife Ivana claimed, during divorce proceedings, that
he'd raped her during their marriage — an accusation Ivana said was untrue — won't hurt his run.
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"It doesn't mean anything," Root says. "The guy's relentless and the definition of relentless is like you're a human energizer bunny. You just keep going and they knock you down, you get back up…"
"His comments about [Arizona Sen. John] McCain" —
a Vietnam POW, whom Trump criticized as"not a hero," — "were about as offensive as Donald will ever make and you think veterans would be mad at him," Root said. "And every veteran I know loves Donald Trump and is ignoring the comment."
"He's a different kind of candidate," he added. "We know he's going to say things offensive, we know he's going to say things that are controversial. It doesn't even bother us. The more he says, the more popular he gets and the more his ratings seem to go up."
Newsmax TV contributor and "The Daily Wrap" co-host Rick Unger pointed out
"Trump is Teflon when it comes to that 25 or 26 percent of the Republican voters who appear to be solidly in his camp."
"Maybe that's going to go up, maybe it's going to go down, we'll see, but right now he can say just about anything and it's OK with them," Unger said.
Root also said speculation Trump would recruit former
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as a running mate should he win the GOP nomination is just his way of "trying to burnish his conservative credentials."
"A lot of conservatives… really like Sarah Palin's moxie, and that's the same thing … that they like about Donald Trump," he said.
"[D]onald Trump's mouth is a nuclear weapon and Republicans and conservatives are thrilled that finally there's someone who's using his mouth to attack the other side."
And Root contends Trump is doing just fine without a bevy of political operatives running his campaign.
"Trump is the Uber of politics," he said. "You know what Uber is? Disruptive. It's going to put taxis out of business. It's changing the world. Trump's redefining politics. He's doing it the nonprofessional way and a lot of people like it."
Unger added it's not necessarily imperative "that you have to have political professionals."
"Maybe you're better off without them," Unger said. "There's a good argument for that, but I also don't think Donald Trump is going to take this all the way, so we're not going to learn it from his campaign."
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