Donald Trump, star of "The Apprentice" TV show and real estate entrepreneur, told the National Review on Friday he's considering a run for the White House and will visit Iowa in August to speak to an audience of evangelical Christians in Ames.
"I’m looking," Trump told the National Review. "I have a large following of people who are tired of seeing this country ripped off, and taken advantage of [by] everyone who does business with us. We used to be the smart one of the block, and now we’re the dummies on the block. They want to see me, and I want to see them.”
Trump insists his economic credentials could help the country confront China effectively in trade negotiations.
"When I see China ripping this country, when I see OPEC [Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries] ripping this country, when I see other nations laughing at us because we’re being too stupidly and foolishly led, it’s infuriating,” Trump told the National Review. “People don’t like to see that happening to our country, but that’s [what's] happening. We’re not making things anymore, the jobs are outside of the country, people recognize that, which is why I have a very, very big base.”
In May, a New York Post report revealed that Trump had raised more than $1 million to explore a possible presidential bid. In 2011, he said he was considering running for the Republican nomination to challenge President Barack Obama in 2012.
Trump famously made repeated calls for Obama's birth certificate when he believed the president wasn't being forthcoming about the truth of his citizenship. At a press briefing in 2011, Obama released his full birth certificate, and later laughed off the controversy during an appearance on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno."
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