During a town hall held and broadcast by NBC’s Today, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said that he had a life full of adversity, because he only ever got a million dollar loan from his father. Donald Trump's new hampshire town hall: Guns and more— and the last time he ate McDonald's. Donald Trump brought his brash, unapologetic presidential campaign to New Hampshire on Monday for a "pancakes and politics" town hall meeting with voters, hosted by TODAY's Matt Lauer.
9:01: Trump was asked about a segment in his book, "The Art of the Deal," where he said he would do nearly anything within legal bounds to secure victory. Asked if he would be willing to make campaign promises that he couldn't keep as president, Trump said he wouldn't need to. "I don't think I have to do that. Everything I say, I can do. Everything I say, I will abide by," he said. He said his promises, after a four-year term in office, would be legitimate. It won't be like a "Bergdahl swap," where the U.S. government secured the release of an American prisoner of war in exchange for releasing five Taliban prisoners."I will abide by everything that I'm saying on the campaign trail."
8:52: One undecided voter told Trump she and others like her would vote for him "if only you would eat a piece of humble pie once in a while." Asked if Trump could share what weaknesses he had, the candidate declined because "then I'd expose the weaknesses to Putin and then everybody else and we don't want to do that, right. He said "I have weaknesses, I really believe I have weaknesses. I don't like exposing them because if I expose them then the enemy knows." Donald Trump 'building a wall' on Mexico border, wants 'safe zone' in Syria
8:40: On the Syrian refugee crisis, Trump said he would "take a big swatch of land" in Syria and contribute to building safe zones for people who otherwise would seek other nations for shelter. He would especially force the rich Gulf nations to contribute the most."We have to help these people, I'm okay with it, but they're not coming to the United States." He also criticized President Obama's proposal to allow 250,000 Syrian refugees into the nation. "This could be the greatest Trojan horse of all time," he said, suggesting some of those refugees could be terrorist fighting for ISIS. Donald Trump 'building a wall' on Mexico border, wants 'safe zone' in Syria
8:33: The biggest misconception about Donald Trump? "Number 1 is my hair...may not be pretty but it's mine." He also admitted he can relate to average Americans, saying he has eaten at McDonald's and driven himself in a car. Trump said he knows how to deal with foreign leaders — even without his trademark insults. Donald Trump: We already have 'tremendous regulations' on guns Donald Trump: I don't want to reveal my weaknesses
Donald Trump: I don't want to reveal my weaknesses
8:20: Trump promised to build a "military so strong, so powerful, so everything" that other nations — particularly Iran and Iraq — wouldn't even consider challenging the United States. "I would knock the hell out of ISIS," he promised, but if Russian President Vladimir Putin wanted to go over the terrorist group leaders first, "I'm fine with that."
8:17: Is Donald Trump not nice enough to be president? "I really am a nice person," he insisted, although he said that quality is irrelevant for presidential politics. "It's not going to be about niceness. It's going to be about competence."
8:12: "I do my own tweets 90 percent" of the time, the GOP front-runner says of his social media accounts.
8:10: "I think I'm winning in Iowa," Trump says of his standing in recent polls. The real estate mogul also questioned the accuracy of polls putting Carson ahead of him in Iowa, saying "I don't believe I did fall behind."
TODAY's Matt Lauer responded to Trump's characterization of the loan by saying, "By the way, let's just put this in perspective. You said it hasn't been easy for you, but my dad gave me a million-dollar loan. That probably is going to seem pretty easy to a lot of people." "You're right, but a million dollars isn't very much compared to what I've built," Trump replied. "I mean, I've built one of the great companies, but it's always been, you know, you can't do this, you can't do that." "I think my relationship with women in terms of this whole situation has been really good. I actually score very well in most of the polls with women. It's hard to sort of prove it, but I do have my daughter and my wife saying, 'You have to talk more to women because your relationship with women and the respect you have with women has to be out there.' And I do have great respect for women."