Thursday

April 25th, 2024

National

25 quotes capturing Trump's final pitch to South Carolina

 Jenna Johnson

By Jenna Johnson

Published Feb. 22, 2016

In his final day of campaigning ahead of the South Carolina primary on Saturday, Republican front-runner Donald Trump held three rallies, did a round of television interviews and sent a bunch of tweets.

What exactly was his message? Here are 25 quotes that capture Trump's final pitch to South Carolina voters:

1) When asked on the Today Show Friday morning about his accusation that President George W. Bush's administration lied about the existence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq: "I don't know if he lied or not. He could have lied. Maybe he did, maybe he didn't. I guess you'd have to ask him. But whatever."

2) In kicking off a rally in Myrtle Beach: "Yesterday we did five speeches, maybe more. It was almost like I was on automatic -- wind me up, go at it and speak. And I tell you, the crowds are unbelievable. The people in this country are amazing. Amazing."

3) "A true conservative would never say what I'm about to say: I believe in free trade, but it's gotta be fair trade, it's gotta be smart trade."

4) On his chief rival, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas: "This guy, Ted Cruz, is really liar. I'll tell you what, I never saw anything like it."

5) Upon hearing that the Vatican clarified the pope's statement about Trump's immigration stances: "The pope is great."

6) On the massive wall he wants to build on the border: "If I call it 'Trump,' then I'm going to have to do it really nice wall. Right? I'm not going to call it Trump -- I'm not going to call it Trump! But I have to make it nice because someday somebody will say: 'We're going to call it the Trump Wall, because boy does it work good and doesn't it look beautiful.' So we're going to build a beautiful wall."

7) "The only thing I'm a little bit weak on is my personality but who the hell cares."

8) As a protester was escorted out for displaying a poster depicting Trump as a pile of manure: "Where do these people come from? Where do they come from? It's so sad. It's so sad... Don't hurt them, but get them out. So sad."

9) On President Obama: "Now, he's African American. If I were African American, I wouldn't like him very much... I will do more for the African American people in one year than Barack Obama has done in his seven years, soon to be eight years - and then, by the way, he's out and thank goodness."

10) "I went to the Wharton School of Finance, the best school in the world... You've got to be really smart to get in, OK?"

11) On the hostile audience at the last Republican debate: "It was very lonely. It was very lonely."

12) At a rally at a golf course country club in Pawleys Island: "Playing golf is good but you have to play with people that you have to make deals with."



13) "We don't want to use our military, honestly. We don't want to use our military. But we're being scoffed at right now and we never fight to win."

14) "When we were all younger -- many of you are my age and many of you are younger -- but when we were all younger we didn't lose so much, right? We don't win anymore. As a country, we don't win."

15) Trump then promised to change that: "We're going to win so much. You're going to get tired of winning. you're going to say, 'Please Mr. President, I have a headache. Please, don't win so much. This is getting terrible.' And I'm going to say, 'No, we have to make America great again.' You're gonna say, 'Please.' I said, 'Nope, nope. We're gonna keep winning.'

16) "I'll be honest, I don't like to speak badly about Bernie because I sort of want him to win so badly."

17) On the news that Apple is refusing to assist the FBI in unlocking an iPhone held by one of the San Bernardino, California, shooters last year: "What I think you ought to do is boycott Apple until such time as they give that security number. How do you like that? I just thought of it: Boycott Apple."

18) "Karl Rove is very bad, in my opinion he's close to incompetent. ... He's just a bad guy. George Will is a bad guy. Steven Hayes is a bad guy. I think Charles Krauthammer is a bad guy, a bad guy. Now, no I know, I know, I know. You can have him, OK? You can have him."

19) An early-evening tweet: "MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!"

20) Upon taking the stage 15 minutes early at his third rally of the day in North Charleston: "Hello, press. Hello, press. We love the press. We're hard on the press -- I've called them so many different names. Tonight I'm going to say: We love you."

21) "We're going to make America great again, but we can't do that if you don't get out and vote. And the more that we can do it and the more that we can win by, the bigger the mandate, the better it is."

22) On his win in New Hampshire: "Last week we won every single category. We won rich, poor, fat, thin, tall, short. We won women, we won men. We won highly educated, we won smart, smart, smart people that don't have the big education."

23) On the millions of dollars former Florida governor Jeb Bush has spent on his struggling campaign: "It's wasted. You can take it and there's a window here someplace -- throw it out that window, right there, and it's going to do the same amount of good."

24) On waterboarding: "The question is: Is it torture or not? In other words, it's so borderline. It's like your minimal, minimal, minimal torture."

25) In closing his final rally before the primary: "You're going to remember this evening, and you're going to say in two years or three years or four years or one year, but you're going to say that: I was there for an evening where Donald Trump, representing all of us, made a speech, and I voted for Donald Trump the next day. And our country started winning again."


Previously:


02/18/16: 'Build that wall' has taken on a life of its own at Trump's rallies --- but he's still serious
02/16/16: Here are 76 of Donald Trump's many campaign promises
02/01/16: Is Donald Trump for real? We'll start getting an answer in Iowa
01/28/16: Fracas with Fox News shows Trump's need for control
01/19/16: Why so many evangelicals have faith in Donald Trump
01/14/16: In Pensacola, Trump said . . . What did he say? Can you hear him?
12/28/15:Trump fans can rally, but will they vote?
12/14/15: Trump really wants to win Iowa; here are 6 signs that he's worried
12/02/15: Trump takes gentler, more personable tone in New Hampshire
11/13/15: No more Mr. Nice Trump: The Donald lets loose in Iowa
10/28/15: Donald Trump to Iowa: 'What the [blazes] are you people doing to me?'

Columnists

Toons