Trump: ‘Always Had a Great Relationship With The Blacks’

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Donald Trump shot down a report claiming he would announce his candidacy on the final episode of his show, The Apprentice, on May 15.

“I can’t announce during the show, I really can’t” and “I’m not allowed to” he said, during an interview on Talk1300. “I don’t know where it came from.”

But Trump — who has flirted with two previous presidential runs — said he was serious about it this time. “There’s no doubt in my mind I want to run as a Republican,” he said. “I’ve always felt that. Really, never wavered.”

“Years ago,” he added, “there was a big move to get me to run in the Reform Party. Fortunately I didn’t do that; I decided not to do that. And as you know, that was a strange group.” He added, “I like the people but I just didn’t think they had their act together at that time.”

“I haven’t really thought about it since,” Trump said about running for president.

But now, he has.

The show’s host, Fred Dicker — who is also the New York Post‘s state editor, read a recent poll showing Obama’s sky-high support among African-Americans. 

Trump said the numbers were troubling and pointed to Hillary Clinton as proof that he probably won’t get the kind of support among African-Americans that he deserves.

“I tell it like it is,” Trump said. “[Y]ou’ll hear a political reporter go on and say it had nothing to do with race. But how come she had such a tiny piece of the vote? And you know, it’s a very sad thing.

“I have a great relationship with the blacks. I’ve always had a great relationship with the blacks. But unfortunately, it seems that, you know, the numbers you cite are very, very frightening numbers.”

Dicker said, somewhat rhetorically, that votes should always be based on merit, not on race.

“If that were the case, why did Hillary Clinton do so poorly?” Turmp asked.

Oh, and Trump also stood by his claims that Obama has not produced adequate information about being born in the United States

“There’s something going on,” Trump said. “He either has one [a birth certificate] and there’s something on it that he doesn’t like, or he doesn’t have one.”

“I’m amazed that the press gives him such a free ride on that,” he said. When told that the Washington Post fact-checked many of his claims on this issue and found them to be inaccurate, Trump held his ground.

He said the paper should have called him for his side of the story.

Trump: ‘Always Had a Great Relationship With The Blacks’