An embattled Donald Trump said Tuesday that he is having “more difficulty” with some Republicans than Democrats, and threatened to go it alone even without the party’s full-throated support.
“We have a party that, I mean, I'm having more difficulty, frankly, with some of the people in the party than the Democrats because they're just — they don't want to come on,” Trump said by phone on the “Today Show.”
“They will probably eventually come on. Honestly, if they don't, it's just fine. I can win it either way. I may be better off winning it the opposite way than the more traditional way.”
Trump’s comments followed a dismal campaign fundraising report Monday night, which showed him with $1.3 million on hand, compared to $42 million raised by presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. Asked if the “lackluster results” indicated a lack of support, Trump insisted his campaign was in a position of strength.
“I raised a lot of money,” he said, claiming he raised $12 million for the party in several fundraising stops he made in Texas, Arizona and Las Vegas over the weekend.
“If it gets to a point, what I’ll do is what I did in the primaries. I spent $55 million of my own money to win the primaries. $55 million — that's a lot of money by even any standard. I may do that again in the general election.”
The problem, he said, was instead a lack of assistance from the Republican National Committee.
“It would be nice to have some help from the party,” he added.
NBC’s Matt Lauer asked about comments made by House Speaker Paul Ryan Sunday, in which he told members in the Republican Party “to vote their conscience,” he said. “That's not exactly saying, ‘get out and vote for our nominee who will be Donald Trump.’”
Trump fired back that Ryan had already endorsed him, along with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
“With that being said, I'd like to see great support,” Trump added. “If I don't have great support, I'll go a different route.”
Trump also addressed the Monday morning firing of his former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, insisting that the campaign is simply “going in a different direction.”
“He did a good job,” Trump said. “I ran the campaign very lean, spent very little money. I won in landslides and Corey was perfect for that… We have a great relationship but we're going in a different direction.”
Asked if Lewandowski had been fired because of objections from his three children, Trump said, “that's absolutely true” before correcting himself.
“It's true that [daughter] Ivanka really respects Corey and it's absolutely true. She likes Corey,” he insisted. “I read all these reports about the children and about, you know, all of this. It's absolutely nonsense.”
Comments