Entrepreneur, author and TV personality Donald Trump told PJ Media President Obama is “in denial” that voters delivered him a “serious blow” by putting Republicans in charge of the House and Senate for the final 2 years of his presidency.
Trump also said it is a “terrible time” to legalize undocumented immigrants as millions of Americans continue to drop out of the workforce.
“This was a big blow to Obama. I can understand his feelings because this is a very serious blow to him and people don’t want Democrats in charge right now,” Trump said in an exclusive interview. “The Republicans have to get out there and do a great job.”
The day after the election, Obama said voters want him to work hard to close “divisions” in Washington, break through the gridlock, and get things done. Trump was asked if Obama is interpreting the results of the election accurately.
“I think he’s in denial. I will say this, I thought that his statement, it was fine, but it wasn’t gracious like it should have been and I thought that Mitch McConnell was very gracious in his statement,” Trump responded.
“He could be in denial because the Democrats did very, very poorly and remember, we’re not even including the seat in Louisiana that’s going to probably happen. Another person I supported very heavily, and I supported [Tom] Cotton very heavily,” he added.
Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) and Rep. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) are facing off in a Dec. 6 runoff election.
Trump donated $350,000 to the Republican Governors Association and made robocalls for candidates, including Lee Zeldin in the NY-1 Republican primary, which Zeldin won 66-34 percent. Trump also recorded a robocall for Zeldin in the general election where he defeated Democrat incumbent Rep. Tim Bishop 54-45 percent. Former President Bill Clinton campaigned for Bishop and made a robocall on his behalf.
Trump, the host of the NBC series The Apprentice, also recorded a robocall for David Perdue, who defeated Michelle Nunn in Georgia 53-45 percent.
“Everybody I supported won, but only the smart people understand that,” Trump said.
In one of his final campaign rallies, Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) said the next Congress must pass campaign finance reform to get rid of Super PACs. Trump disagrees.
“I think the country has much bigger problems; that’s the least of this country’s problems,” he said. “The Democrats raised just as much money as the Republicans, so what are they complaining about?”
Trump said the 2016 election is even more important than the recent midterm election since Obama will likely veto many of the bills passed by the Republican Congress.
“He [Obama] could sit back, veto every bill and just go out and play golf all day long,” Trump said, referring to these final years of Obama’s presidency.
Despite Obama’s veto threats, Trump said the Republican Congress should “send all kinds of great bills to him, and if he vetoes them they should tell the world, ‘look what’s happening.’”
Most of the Republicans who won Senate seats held by Democrats made the repeal of Obamacare a central part of their campaigns. Trump suggested the Republican majority pass a full repeal of Obamacare and replace it with an alternate plan.
“I would repeal it anyway and send it to him [Obama]. Let him veto it. Everybody knows how bad it is,” he said. “I know people that are unable to get insurance now. They had great insurance, now they’re unable to get insurance and deductibles are so high that even if they had insurance it doesn’t matter.”
Trump was asked if Obamacare has had an effect on his businesses or the individuals he employs.
“I spend a lot of money on healthcare for my people. I believe it’s important,” he responded. “I take care of my people very well but it affects a lot of people that are struggling – that I can tell you – and it’s very severely affecting businesses and it’s making full-time workers into part-time workers.”
Trump said the employer mandate in the healthcare law is creating more part-time workers by requiring companies with more than 50 employees to offer health insurance. Some employers are reducing workers’ hours or cutting the size of their staff altogether.
“They’re getting killed and it’s all because of Obamacare, and nobody ever reports that,” Trump said. “In history, we’ve never had so many part-time workers as we have right now, all because of Obamacare. These were full-time jobs. These are people that worked for companies for 30 years and now they’re part-time doing the same thing. It’s very sad.”
According to the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics unemployment figures, roughly 9.3 million Americans are unemployed. Economists have noted that millions of Americans are dropping out of the workforce, young people in particular. Trump was asked if the new Congress should support President Obama’s call to legalize undocumented immigrants as part of immigration reform.
“The real unemployment rate is much, much higher than what they’re showing because everybody that drops out that’s looking for a job because they can’t find one, they’re considered employed,” Trump said.
“It’s a terrible time to do it. They’re going to be competing with people that are looking for jobs,” he added.
“We don’t have a border right now. There is no border,” Trump continued. “When you don’t have a border, you don’t have a country. It’s a real problem.”
Trump called it “inconceivable” that individuals do not have to show identification to vote in some states.
“Everywhere around the world you have show you’re a citizen. One of the hardest countries to become a citizen is Mexico but anybody in that country, they send them to us and we take them,” Trump said.
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