Trump: Still not ruling out presidential bid
Reality television star and real estate mogul Donald Trump on Sunday decried what he described as the "nasty" nature of the Republican presidential race, and once again threatened to run for president himself if the party couldn't coalesce around a candidate he thought would be able to win.
In an interview with CBS' "Face the Nation," Trump blasted Republican infighting in the nominating process and argued it was hurting the party's chances to beat President Obama in 2012.
"I've never seen anything like this. It's Republican against Republican, and yet the level of hatred, I guess you could say, I mean, there's no other word for it, is unbelievable," he told CBS News' Bob Schieffer. "The question is, are they hurting themselves? Are they hurting the party? Are they hurting the Republicans, and are they hurting their chances of winning an election against Barack Obama? And probably the answer is yes."
Trump said he thinks GOP rivals Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney are "both strong guys, they're both tough guys" who would have a "very good chance" of beating Mr. Obama in 2012.
But, he said, he wouldn't rule out the possibility of running as an independent if "I don't see a person that, number one, is going to win."
"You know, I look at the different polls and one of the big things is, can they win? I just think it's really important for whoever's chosen to be able to win," Trump said.
"I think people dislike the Republicans and the Democrats more than they ever have," he added. "So I actually think the right Independent could win, and there was a poll about a month ago, you saw it, where I was the number one Independent choice."
Even so, the businessman, who last year publicly considered a presidential bid under the Republican party before deciding against it, said he didn't want to run unless the people demanded it.
"I love my business. I love what I'm doing. I love this whole thing of what Donald Trump does," he said. "It's not something I want to do, I'd love to see a candidate come along who's going to go up but if I don't see a person that, number one, is going to win, that's tantamount, I would certainly think about doing it after the show ends."
"It's a very sad situation what's happening to the country and I do say that and I say many other things and somehow it resonates with a lot of people and that's why they, you know, would like me to run," Trump continued. "I hope I don't have to, but I may absolutely."
