Trump: My tone will change once I get the victory

'On the Record' Town Hall with Donald Trump: GOP presidential front-runner says he agrees that tone and tenor matter in a campaign, sounds off on what it means to be presidential and whether he would continue to tweet if elected president

This is a rush transcript from "On the Record," April 3, 2016. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

GRETA VAN SUSTEREN, FOX NEWS HOST: Today, on George Stephanopoulos "This Week," GOP Chairman Reince Priebus said to George that tone and tenor matters in this election. You've gotten a lot of criticism for your tone and -- and tenor. Is it going to change or do you have no objection to it?

DONALD TRUMP, GOP PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I mean I -- I agree with him 100 percent. Tone does matter. I get criticized by Jeb Bush. I was criticized -- the tone. I don't like his tone. In the meantime, he's gone. I get criticized by...

(LAUGHTER)

TRUMP: And I said, my tone is going to change as soon as I finish the victory. I mean I have two left. We had 17. Now we have two left and I'm leading by a lot. I'm leading by millions of votes. You know, people don't talk about it. They say I'm leading by almost 300 delegates but I'm leading Cruz, who would be a terrible candidate, by the way. You talk about health care and other things...

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: -- he would be a terrible candidate.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: I'm leading by hundreds of delegates, almost 300 delegates. But I'm leading by millions of votes, which nobody ever talks about. And yes, tone, to me, matters. Being presidential matters. My wife...

VAN SUSTEREN: What does that mean?

TRUMP: Well, let me tell you, my wife said, please, be more presidential. In other words, don't be so aggressive. And in a way, we want an aggressive president. I always sort of wanted it, but that's OK.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: And my daughter said, the last debate, she said -- Ivanka. She just had a baby, by the way. I'm very proud of that. That sort of why I'm doing this.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: People say, why are you doing this? That's sort of maybe the reason we're doing it. It's make America great again. But Ivanka said, dad, on the final debate, be very presidential. I've done great in the debates. I've won, according to "Drudge" and everybody else, I've won all of the debates, every single one of them -- be presidential. I said, look, if somebody hits me, I have to hit them back. I have to. I'm not going to stand there and be like, oh, I'm wonderful, I'm a president. I want to win. And I'll be so presidential you won't believe it. I will be the most boring...

VAN SUSTEREN: What does that mean to be presidential to you?

TRUMP: Well, it means maybe not be so aggressive, maybe not get so personal. But when people get personal with me, I mean they say, oh, they don't like my hair, OK.

(LAUGHTER)

TRUMP: Now, if I ever said I didn't like their hair, it would be a hardline -- he's so bad. But they're allowed to say whatever they want about me. Look, we started out with people hitting -- and my hair is not that bad, is it? There's no way -- it's not that bad. I mean -- and it is my hair. But -- but you know what happens? What happens is they hit me and I hit them back harder. And usually, I mean almost in all cases, they do it first. But they hit me and I hit them back harder and they disappear. And that's what we want to lead the country. But I promise you, let me finish it off. I will be so presidential. Greta, you will be so proud of me. You know, I'm a smart guy. Being presidential is easy. But you may get very bored.

VAN SUSTEREN: All right...

TRUMP: You won't want to interview me anymore.

(LAUGHTER)

VAN SUSTEREN: All right, what does that mean, uh, you're going to stop Tweeting?

TRUMP: Well, I don't think so. No, I'll -- I'll tell you what. Look, this is a modern form. It's like owning my own newspaper. You know, I have now Twitter, seven and a half million people picking up hundreds of thousands of people in a short period of time, seven and a half. With Facebook, I have like close to seven million or more than seven million people. With Instagram, we have like two million. So I have like 16, 17 million people. That's my -- that's like owning "The New York Times" without the losses. Why should I give it up?

(LAUGHTER)

TRUMP: Why should I give it up, right?

VAN SUSTEREN: Even as president?

TRUMP: As president, I would take it differently. Yes, I would agree with that. No, as president, I think I'd be very much different on that. I wouldn't be doing it much. Now, Obama does it a little bit, but -- and not that I want to use him as an example. That's some example.

(LAUGHTER)

TRUMP: But -- but as president, I would probably not be doing it, maybe not be doing it at all. But I have -- I have millions and millions of people and they rely on it. They love it. And I think it's one of the reasons, frankly, I'm doing so well. You know, as you understand, when you introduced me, you said candidate, but I'm really by far the frontrunner, OK? By far.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: She didn't say that. I was surprised.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: I was going to say let's do that introduction again, but I didn't want to do that. But the truth is, I think some of it is because of social media.