TRUMP DEFENDS TONE,SAYS BID WILL BE 'COMPLETE WASTE' IF HE DOESN'T WIN

                          

Megyn Kelly Special: Trump defends tone, says bid will be ‘complete waste’ if he doesn’t win

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Donald Trump, in an extensive interview with Fox News’ Megyn Kelly, responded to critics of his blunt campaign style by saying he never would have been successful in the primary race if he had acted “presidential” and held back on hitting his political rivals – while declaring that if he doesn’t win the election this fall, he’ll consider his campaign a “complete waste.”
The presumptive Republican nominee was blunt in describing the stakes of the 2016 race as he sees it.
“I will say this: If I don’t go all the way, and if I don’t win, I will consider it to be a total and complete waste of time, energy and money,” Trump said.
As for the way he’s conducted his campaign so far, Trump said he has some regrets, without going into detail. But he said if he hadn’t conducted himself this way, he wouldn’t have come out on top.
“If I were soft, if I were presidential … in a way it’s a bad word, because there’s nothing wrong with being presidential, but if I had not fought back in the way I fought back, I don’t think I would have been successful,” he told Kelly.
 Trump argued that he’s a “counter-puncher” who’s only responding to the attacks against him.
“I respond pretty strongly, but in just about all cases, I’ve been responding to what they did to me,” Trump said.
The interview was conducted on the heels of an April meeting between Kelly and the Republican candidate at Trump Tower in New York City.
Before that meeting, the two had been at odds for months – dating back to a Fox News-hosted debate last August, when Trump accused “The Kelly File” host of asking him unfair questions.
Today, Trump is the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, having vanquished 16 primary rivals and now turning his attention toward an expected general election battle against Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton.
Speaking with Kelly, Trump suggested the August debate actually helped prepare him for the battle ahead.
“In a certain way, what you did might have been a favor, because I felt so good about having gotten through -- I said, ‘If I could get through this debate, with those questions, you can get through anything,’” he said.
He said journalists don’t need to be “nice” but “they have to be fair.”
As for his role in the presidential election in this year, Trump said: “I really view myself now as somewhat of a messenger… This is a massive thing that’s going on. These are millions and millions of people that have been disenfranchised from this country.”
Trump for the last several weeks has been working to reach out to members of the so-called Republican establishment in Washington he’s spent much of his campaign railing against. He met last week with GOP congressional leaders, including House Speaker Paul Ryan – who has held back an endorsement for now. Trump and the lawmakers came away describing the meetings as positive.
Source: Fox News