Trump: We have a problem with radical Muslims
Donald Trump goes 'On the Record' on Ben Carson's controversial comments on Islam and the presidency, his choice not to correct a man's comments about Obama at a town hall, his calling rival Carly Fiorina 'robotic' and more
This is a rush transcript from "On the Record," September 21, 2015. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
GRETA VAN SUSTEREN, FOX NEWS HOST: Tonight, ON THE RECORD, presidential candidate Donald Trump is here.
And the G.O.P. race for the White House getting a little bit smaller, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker suspending his campaign. After rise in the polls earlier in the race, Walker's poll numbers have plummeted. The latest CNN national poll gave Walker less than half a percent among Republican voters. But Donald Trump, he is still leading the pack. That's same poll finding 24 percent of Republican voters favor the billionaire businessman. But a little bit of bad news, that's down eight percent from earlier this month.
And former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina rocketing up to second place with 15 points. But that's still nine points behind Donald Trump. Dr. Ben Carson is third with 14 percent.
And G.O.P. frontrunner Donald Trump joins us. Good evening, sir.
DONALD TRUMP, GOP PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Hi, Greta.
VAN SUSTEREN: So, the news that Governor Scott Walker suspending his campaign. Your thoughts tonight, sir.
TRUMP: Well, I feel badly for him. He is a nice guy. I got to know him a little bit during, as we say, the trail. Going out on the trail. And I think he is a terrific guy and a nice guy. And I think it's been tough for him. He started off high and his poll numbers went, but he will do fine. And he is a good governor and he has got plenty to govern.
VAN SUSTEREN: Well, do you intend to ask him for his endorsement?
TRUMP: I don't think so. I think he knows the different players he's probably going to deal. Don't forget, I'm very much of an outsider and you know, it's probably a little bit tough for him to do. And actually the poll that you just gave is, you know, probably the worst of my polls.
I'm at 24 percent. Zogby just came out at 32 and 33. And many of them, I see them averaging 33 percent. So I'm really doing well with the polls. And I love it. I'm having a good time. We are going to make America great again. We are going to fix all of the problems that have been caused by a lot of incompetent politicians.
VAN SUSTEREN: Well, the CNN poll is sort of the one that we relied on because the problem with the Zogby poll although you are winning in both of them, I give that to you as well is that a Zogby is an online poll. So that's why we lean more towards the CNN poll which you are indeed winning as well.
TRUMP: No, NBC just came out with one 29 percent and even above that. So, you know, there is plenty of polls, that's for sure. I don't know why these people hire pollsters when you have polls coming out every 15 minutes but the polls have been terrific.
VAN SUSTEREN: All right. Let me turn now to the latest. It's the Muslim issue. And that's certainly generating some controversy. I don't know if you know but Dr. Ben Carson this weekend said that he would not support a Muslim for president. What's your thought about this controversy?
TRUMP: Well, I have a lot of respect for Ben Carson and I like him a lot. And we have had a very good relationship. I think that basically if somebody can get elected. You know, they are going to be vetted and if somebody can get elected that's what it is all about. It's an electoral process. I would tend to go along with that.
VAN SUSTEREN: Well, you mean tend to go along with that? Along with Dr. --
TRUMP: With an election. If you win an election. You know, in this country, if you win an election. But I would say this. You know, Ben was saying there are difficulties. And I think everybody knows what those difficulties are. And people want to be politically correct. But there have been difficulties. And a lot of people agree with Ben.
I do think that Ben would also agree though if properly vetted. The proper people properly vetted going through an election, I think that anybody that is able to win an election will be absolutely fine.
VAN SUSTEREN: Do I take from that that if properly vetted that you wouldn't have a problem voting with someone who is Muslim, provided the person agreed with you politically?
TRUMP: Well, they would have to go through the long hard process. It's a long, tough road, Greta, I can tell you, and it really is very revealing. And I would have no problem with it, no.
VAN SUSTEREN: Why is this such an issue?
TRUMP: Well, you look at what's happening. I mean, the world has got some terrible terrors and problems. And it seems to be mostly in that area. And I think that a lot of people see it and they see what's happening and they turn on their television every night and they see all of the tremendous damage and destruction that's being caused and, you know, they hear about ISIS and they figure ISIS is not exactly located in the middle of Sweden.
I said the other day to somebody, you know, I don't notice too many Swedish people going back after the bombing of the World Trade Center. So it's a problem. It's a big problem. And it's a problem that's going to have to be solved. And it has to be solved quickly.
VAN SUSTEREN: Is there, in your mind, a difference between moderate Muslims and radical extremists or do you see no difference?
TRUMP: No. Of course, there is a difference. And we're not talking about all. I know some people, some Muslims who are friends of mine who are great people, fantastic people and they are concerned with radicalism. Very, very concerned with radicalism, as much as you are, as much as I am.
But you do have a problem with the radical Muslims and the whole thing that's going on around the world. And, you know, a lot of people don't want to hear about it. They think it's not politically correct to say whatever you want to say about it, but the problem exists so we have to talk about it.
VAN SUSTEREN: All right. You and I haven't spoken since your town hall in New Hampshire in which someone asked you a question and said that President Obama was Muslim and not American. I think essentially it's what he said. Why didn't you say something?
TRUMP: Well, number one, I don't like talking about somebody's faith. I think it's inappropriate for me to. Number two, somebody was asking a question and actually making a statement. And it's not my job to frankly defend the president.
The president is capable of defending himself. And I stood there and said to myself, almost they are thinking, I said, you know, should I speak up? And the fact is this is the first time in my life I didn't say anything and it was a big story.
You know, usually, I have to say something. This was a case, in fact, people sort of smile about it. I didn't say anything and it became this massive story and probably led to, you know, Ben's story because Ben is going -- I have a very good relationship with Ben and Ben is going through a lot with this whole situation.
But this gentleman got up and he made some pretty strong statements. And I think that Obama will -- President Obama, will be able to defend himself if he wants to.
VAN SUSTEREN: You know --
TRUMP: I know one thing, he is not going to defend me. If somebody says something about me, Greta, he is not defending me. That I know for sure.
VAN SUSTEREN: Actually, I will give you that one, Donald. I think that's probably -- I do probably think that that is true. I don't think people defend each other much in politics.
All right. You also were quoted today and correct me if I am wrong that Carly Fiorina was robotic. I mean, I can understand you saying -- disagree with her in business or disagree on her on some policy. But you took a swipe at her saying she is robotic. What's up with that?
TRUMP: Well, a few things. Number one, I have heard her speak numerous times and she uses many of the same lines and many of them I can quote exactly word from word and it comes out like a robot.
And, frankly, if you hear her for periods of time, you get a big fat beautiful headache. And I have seen this and I have watched it. And much more importantly, if you look at Hewlett Packard and if you look at Lucent, which nobody even talks about it, but Lucent might have been a bigger disaster than H.P. She was a disaster at running these companies. She was a total and complete disaster.
The head of the Yale Business School came out with just a report saying one of the worst chief executive officers ever. "Forbes" has had articles talking about what a terrible job she did. I mean, she was an absolute disaster.
VAN SUSTEREN: You know --
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: Now she ran then after failing at H.P. and failing badly at Lucent, that both of them she fail badly. The stock went down the tubes and the company went down the tubes.
Look, H.P. just let go of 25,000 people last week, which they say is still the remnant of Carly. So all of the thousands and thousands of people that have been let go. Then she goes out and she runs for the United States Senate against Barbara Boxer who she criticized actually in a lot of different ways, but she lost in a landslide. She got killed in that election. So now she is running for president. So I don't quite get it but, you know, I don't always get everything.
VAN SUSTEREN: All right. So this is what I don't get. In listening to everything you have said, you know, you have all these arguments against her on, you know, business arguments. What I don't understand is the robotic comment. Is that -- you know, every once in a while, Donald, you slip in and you get personal. And you take a swipe when you got all this other ammunition.
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: Greta, that's not a personal comment.
(CROSSTALK)
VAN SUSTEREN: You don't think calling someone robotic -
TRUMP: Greta, that's not a personal -- no, no, I don't think.
VAN SUSTEREN: You don't think that's insulting?
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: No, no.
VAN SUSTEREN: (INAUDIBLE)
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: And the words come out and a lot of times. And in fact, I read this just the other day. In fact, I used the word robotic in a story. The words come and the exact same words that she used the day before and the day before, it's very interesting. If you watch and if you see, you will see exactly what I'm talking about. No, I find it to be very robotic.
And I think a bigger problem frankly is her horrible tenure at various companies that frankly were destroyed. We don't have to have the United States destroyed from an economic standpoint. We have a lot of problems in this country. The last thing we need is the person that ran H.P. and Lucent to be running the United States.
VAN SUSTEREN: All right, Russian military build up in Syria. That's something that is disturbing. What would you do about that?
TRUMP: Well, you know, I tell people all the time that if I -- you know, I'm leading in all the polls and frankly I don't want people to know, I want to have a certain, I want to have the ability to do what I want to do without everybody knowing exactly what I want to do. So I don't want to have Putin and all of these other people hearing what I am going to do.
(CROSSTALK)
VAN SUSTEREN: Except that, except that -- but you are just telling us then to guess. I mean, you really need to sort of make your case as to what you know. This is important issue. And, you know, we're looking for solutions and we're looking for strong leaders to solve this very important issues. You're telling us, well, you know, just vote for me. I mean, like, you know, American people really want to get some idea of what you think you would do to fix this problem.
TRUMP: Greta, you have to have -- you have to be in a position where people have to be able to guess. They can't have you be so consistent that they know every single move you are going to make.
For one thing, I would probably, because you can't always guarantee it, but I would get along with Putin. I would most likely, which the president right now doesn't. But as far as Syria is concerned, if Putin goes in there and if he is able to knock out ISIS, which he has a big reason to do it because he doesn't want them coming in to Russia, frankly, and other places. But if he goes in and knocks out ISIS, to me, that's not the worst thing I have ever heard of. And I've told that to people. And they love what I had to say.
We're going in. We're fighting ISIS. On behalf of ourselves and who are we helping? We're helping Assad. Assad must think we are the dumbest people on earth, because ISIS wants to fight Assad but they can't get through us because they are fighting us. If Russia wants to go in and do the job on ISIS, it would be something that I would not be extremely concerned about, that I can tell you, Greta.
At the same time, I don't want people to know all my thoughts because I do have a good chance. And if I'm there, I don't want people to go back to your show and say well, this is what he is going to do. I don't want them to be able to figure me out.
You know, if General Douglas MacArthur and if General Patton ever heard and some of the great generals ever heard all of this talk, this political talk, they would be spinning in their grave. You want to go and do what you have to do without telling the world about it.
VAN SUSTEREN: All right, the question I asked Governor Chris Christie the other day, if you had 15 minutes with the Pope who is visiting the United States this week, what would you -- just the two of you, what would you talk about? What would you ask him?
TRUMP: Well, I'll talk to him about a lot of things mostly religion. But I would ask his views on global warming. Because believe it or not, he seems to be getting extremely political and he seems to feel strongly about the whole global warming situation, which I disagree with him on. And I would actually talk to him about that to see if he is serious about it?
VAN SUSTEREN: And anything else?
TRUMP: Well, I would talk about religion. I would talk about a lot of things. I actually like him. I'm not sure that he is getting -- I think he is getting a little bit political with some of his views and some of his statements. And, you know, having to do with global warming and other things, but that certainly is prerogative. But I would certainly like to talk to him.
I think he is a terrific guy. I think he has brought spirit back to the church that was missing. And I think he is going to do a great job and it's wonderful to have him here.
VAN SUSTEREN: Donald, nice to talk to you. Thank you, sir, for joining us.
TRUMP: Thank you very much, Greta.
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