Donald Trump said Monday that he didn’t have it easy growing up because his father gave him a paltry $1 million loan to launch his career in real estate.
The billionaire entrepreneur recalled his hard-scrabble beginnings to a New Hampshire crowd to demonstrate how he’s “fought through” adversity his entire life.
“It has not been easy for me,” Trump told a mother of two at a “Today” show town hall meeting.
“I started off in Brooklyn. My father gave me a small loan of $1 million,” Trump said. “I came into Manhattan. I had to pay him back. I had to pay him back with interest. But I came into Manhattan, I started buying up properties. And I did great.”
Host Matt Lauer questioned the hard-knock-life narrative.
“You said that it hasn’t been easy for you, but my dad gave me a million dollar loan. That is probably going to seem pretty easy to a lot of people,” Lauer said.
“You’re right,” responded Trump. “But a million dollars isn’t very much compared to what I built. I built one of the great companies.”
At the town hall with 125 voters, Trump fielded questions — including one about his humility.
One woman suggested he should “eat a piece of humble pie.”
Trump acknowledged he has faults but he refused to reveal them. “I have weaknesses,” Trump said. “…. I don’t like exposing them though. If I expose them then the enemy knows.”
One 21-year-old college student asked the GOP front-runner if he has a economic plan or should “middle class voters just elect you because your name is Trump?”
“Well, I think they should because I built a great company. Everybody agrees on that,” Trump replied.
“Do you have a specific plan,” the St. Anselm College student pressed.
“Sure. I’m going renegotiate trade deals, I going to bring jobs back. I’m going to bring our manufacturing back,” he said.
Trump then claimed responsibility for Ford’s plan to move jobs from Mexico to the US.
“I should get credit for that,” he said. “…Ford was going to build this massive plant. I brought it up in so many speeches. And frankly, I think I embarrassed them. But Ford now is going to build a big massive plant in the United States. I want to do that times 1,000.”
But GOP rival John Kasich insisted he deserves the credit because of what he did four years ago.
“The truth is that Ford began moving jobs back to Ohio four years ago under the leadership of Governor John Kasich,” the Ohio governor’s campaign said in a statement referring to the 2011 agreement with the automaker to shift some truck assembly back to Ohio from Mexico.
The Washington Post reported Monday that Ford is still building a massive facility in Mexico.
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