Donald Trump breaks down his debate standing

GOP candidate discusses his campaign, competition and policy on 'The O'Reilly Factor'

This is a RUSH transcript from "The O'Reilly Factor," December 16, 2015. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
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O'REILLY: Continuing now with our lead story my interview earlier today with Donald Trump from Mesa, Arizona. Last night, he got a little testy with CNN.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I think it's very sad that CNN leads Jeb Bush, Governor Bush down a road by starting off with virtually all of the questions, Mr. Trump this -- I think it's very sad.

But I thought it was very unfair that virtually the entire early portion of the debate was Trump this, Trump that in order to get ratings.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'REILLY: OK, so were you mad at them? Were you mad at the CNN people when they did that?

TRUMP: I thought the debate was good. I had a lot of fun doing it. I came in number one by almost everybody even your friend Krauthammer, who is totally biased. But even him I think he thought I did well.

But -- but I will tell you this, I thought it was really unfair what CNN was doing. Every question is like, well, Donald Trump said this, how do you respond to it. And if you look at that first debate, this poor Lindsey Graham, he's got zero in the polls, zero.

But you look at the first debate and every question asked -- and I thought Senator Santorum did a really good job and I thought Governor Huckabee did a really good job. That's primarily because they like me. I mean that's one of those things. But they did. They did a good job, the two of them.

But it was very unfair, I thought, where so many questions were about Donald Trump and let's go after now Donald Trump. So I made my feelings known.

O'REILLY: Do you think CNN dislikes you, the news organization itself?

TRUMP: Well, honestly, I think I get better press from CNN than I do Fox, Bill, if you want to know the truth.

O'REILLY: Well, that's because we're the toughest network. I mean --

TRUMP: No. I don't know why. I don't know why.

O'REILLY: Well, because that's --

TRUMP: I don't know why.

O'REILLY: -- our job is to be tough.

TRUMP: But I think I get covered better --

O'REILLY: You want power.

TRUMP: -- I think I get covered better --

O'REILLY: All right, you want power --

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: I think I get covered better on CNN than I do on Fox.

O'REILLY: But you want power and it's our job to vet you in the best way we can. But look, you're --

TRUMP: I don't mind.

O'REILLY: -- you are -- you are too thin-skinned.

TRUMP: I don't mind bad things about me if it's true. I can handle that but when people say untrue things, I don't like it.

O'REILLY: But you want to be president. Tweet about Putin. Tweet about ISIS. I mean --

TRUMP: Well, I do that, too.

O'REILLY: -- it looks petty.

TRUMP: I do that, too.

O'REILLY: It looks petty.

TRUMP: I do that, too, Bill.

O'REILLY: Don't you think it looks petty?

TRUMP: No, I mean I do that, too. I do a lot of different things. But when people --

O'REILLY: But, you know my point --

TRUMP: -- go after me -- hey look, look, like Jeb Bush went after me. He's a very low energy person. I said that. This is not what our country needs. I go after him.

I didn't start it with Jeb Bush last night. I didn't start it with him. He comes out of nowhere.

O'REILLY: You don't think you are too thin-skinned. You might have to overlook some of this stuff if you become president, you know.

TRUMP: I don't think I'm thin-skinned. No. I like to have the truth told about me.

O'REILLY: All right.

TRUMP: And you know what?

If I do something wrong, I know when it's wrong. And if somebody goes after me, including you, I don't mind it at all.

But when I didn't do something wrong and they make it up and they make things up, that I don't like, Bill.

O'REILLY: Last question. Who on the stage last night do you believe is your main competition now?

TRUMP: Well, the new poll just came out, "Washington Post" and ABC. And it came out where I'm at 38 and second, I think, is at 14 or 15. That's Cruz. And third is Rubio and fourth is, I don't know, it gets very low numbers after that. But -- but, you know, in one of the polls I'm winning -- I'm 41 to 14. I'm winning by 7 -- 27 points -- 27 points. Do you believe that, folks?

So, you know, I -- I don't think, look, I just have to -- you know, I wish we could have the election tomorrow. I wish we didn't have to wait a month. And I'm really happy because we're doing great -- we're doing great in Iowa.

O'REILLY: All right. All right.

TRUMP: The poll just came out and we're doing great in Iowa, too. I think -- I hope I'm going to win Iowa.

O'REILLY: Now, are you going to sit there and dodge my question? Are you really going to do that? Who is your main competition?

TRUMP: I -- I can't say. You know, I don't think -- I don't think there's a lot of -- I -- I like a lot of the people -- by the way, I like a lot of the people (INAUDIBLE) --

O'REILLY: OK -- we're glad you like them. I'm sure they're really happy you like them, too.

TRUMP: But I don't want to say who it is. You know what, if I thought that I really had major competition, I wouldn't be telling you about it, Bill. I'm not like President Obama, where he tells everybody everything, including the enemy and then the enemy knows exactly how to beat us. That's what happens.

O'REILLY: All right.

TRUMP: I'm not going to tell you.

O'REILLY: Look, I probably won't talk to you again before Christmas. I want you and your family to have a good one. You know, no coal in the stocking this year, Donald. Come on now.

TRUMP: No.

O'REILLY: I want you to be nice to everybody.

(CROSSTALK)

O'REILLY: I want you to send Jeb Bush a nice --

TRUMP: Merry Christmas -- Bill.

O'REILLY: -- present.

TRUMP: Bill, you hear the expression, Merry Christmas.

O'REILLY: Merry Christmas.

TRUMP: And Happy Holidays. But Merry Christmas -- we'll bring back the words "Merry Christmas" again, Bill. Thank you.

O'REILLY: All right. Thanks for helping us out, as always.

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