Clinton is crook. I will not bore as President, Trump assures US
‘I can tell you that if I go too presidential, people are going to be very bored.’
Republican presidential front- runner Donald Trump attacked his top Democratic rival Hillary Clinton on Friday, calling her “crooked,” and promised his supporters that he would not bore them by becoming overly presidential.
The comments undercut what his aides had said would be an attempt by the notoriously blunt-speaking Trump to project a more serious image after his win in New York’s nominating contest this week, including by rolling out more policy details.
“I can tell you that if I go too presidential, people are going to be very bored,” the New York real estate baron told Fox News in an interview that will air on Saturday. He added that he worried his supporters would “fall asleep.”
He went on to say that Clinton “is a person who’s got many, many flaws” and that she’s “the worst possible representative a woman can have,” as he shifted his focus away from Republican rivals and toward the 8 November presidential election.
“The only thing she’s got going is the women card,” Trump said in the excerpts released by the network on Friday. “We call her ‘Crooked Hillary’ because she’s a crooked person. She’s always been a crooked person.”
Clinton said at a campaign among Trump’s supporters about 43% said they liked him because he “speaks his mind,” while only 8% cited his policies. The survey was conducted by the Working America arm of labour organisation AFL-CIO.
Trump’s win in his home state of New York on Tuesday bolstered his chances for the Republican presidential nomination, prompting a more serious study of his prospects in the general election.
Trump will give a foreign policy speech on Wednesday at the National Press Club, part of an expanded policy roll- out the campaign is planning, his aides told Republican leaders and lawmakers this week.
The speech will come the day after a round of primary contests in Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island, in which polls show him likely to do well.
But Trump’s rivals have said he lacks foreign policy expertise, and several foreign leaders have said they are concerned about the idea of Trump in the White House.
“The mantra that somehow Donald Trump has become the presumptive nominee after New York is ridiculous,” Chad Sweet, campaign chairman for Texas Senator Ted Cruz, said on CNN on Friday.
Nationally, Trump has support from nearly half of all Republicans, compared with 28% for Cruz and 17% for Ohio Governor John Kasich, according to a Reuters/ Ipsos poll.