(CNN) – Real estate titan Donald Trump was all over the map Friday in his speech to conservatives, criticizing a range of Republicans from Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal to former GOP nominee Mitt Romney–and arguing that the country "is in a total mess."
The billionaire also cooked up a plate of his own solutions for fixing the economy while speaking to the audience at the Conservative Political Action Conference. Among his advice: Immigration reform could be a "suicide mission" for Republicans and taking oil from Iraq could help reboot the country's economy.
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As the conference this year serves as a hub for Republican soul-searching, Trump had his own two cents worth of advice. Without mentioning his name, Trump took aim at Jindal, a potential 2016 presidential candidate, for saying at the Republican National Committee winter meeting that the GOP is acting like "the stupid party."
"When I heard that statement, I said what a horrible statement to make," Trump said. "What a horrible statement, because that's the statement that's going to come back and haunt you when the Democrats start using it."
The media mogul also took a swipe at Romney, saying the GOP nominee and former private equity CEO should have talked more about his success during the campaign.
"People really want success. They want a leader who is successful and Mitt has done a great job and I just feel that the Republicans and Mitt–and I told him this–didn't speak enough about the things he did," he said. "The great things. They were on the defensive instead of taking that offensive."
Trump, known for his fiery opinions, further lamented the Obama administration, blasting the country's immigration system, lack of manufacturing and fiscal problems.
"The fact is we're run by either very foolish or very stupid people. What's going on in this country is unbelievable," he said. "Our country is a total mess. A total and complete mess and what we need is leadership."
One of his ideas to boost the economy included a suggestion to take Iraq's oil and "pay ourselves back" for the war.
"What the hell are we thinking? For those soldiers that were killed, I said we should pay those families money," he continued. "They lost their sons and their daughters and a million dollars to a family is nothing compared to the kind of wealth that you are talking about over there."
Trump added that the leader of Iraq-"we don't even know who the hell it is"-is likely building palaces and a kingdom of wealth now that the U.S. has left, while the American people got "nothing out of it," referring to the war.
He also addressed recent calls from Republicans to create a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants in the U.S.
Trump said if Republicans support such a plan, they'll be adding millions of vote into the Democratic column.
"You can be out front, you can be the spearhead, you can do whatever you want to do, but every one of those 11 million people will be voting Democratic. It's just the way it works and you have to be very, very careful because you could say that to a certain extent, the odds aren't looking so great right now for Republicans, that you're on a suicide mission. You're just not going to get those votes."
From CNN Politics
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This guy just likes to think he has some relevancy in polittics, just because you have money does not mean you have brains
@freya
Somebody really ought to put Donald's toupee out of it's misery.
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Somebody already did. The problem is that he just scraped it off the road and put it back on.
Take the Iraqi oil.... how??? invade them again!!! the Genius of Trump never ceases
Non-stop laughs for "The Donald" he should be doing stand up.
trump's just not worth commenting on......all the rest at cpac are losers......if THIS is the best you've got....why even bother???????
Darn, I thought the headline meant he was going on a suicide mission. I was ready to help him pack.
Studies have shown that the economy does better under Democratic leadership. I am becoming more convinced that the Donald, being a business man, says the things he says to help out the democratic party which helps his bottom line. It is a win/win for him as the right pays him to come spew his nonsense and then democrats win and the economy is stronger.
And take a nap...this will be the rhetoric until this is over...yawn...same ol stuff different day...doesn't work anymore...zzz
Now in terms of our Iraqi war veterans, republicans can't wait to take a photo-op with our Veterans but when they return home from war, republicans can't forget about them fast enough. During the debt celing compromise two year ago, stressing deficit reduction, the GOPT killed a bill to get 120,000 homeless Veterans off the streets, while they continued lucrative tax breaks for the wealthy. The GOP even had a problem with the GI bill. During the Republican National Convention, Mitt Romney NEVER mentioned our service men and women in combat or abroad once. When asked why he didn't mention our Veterans, he replied that there was no need to go through a long laundry list. So just imagine our troops are serving our nation, fighting and dying for our freedom and to Mitt Romney, our Veterans are just an expendible body of laundry list. Appalling. Then just a year ago, republicans Joe Walsh attacked double amputee Iraqi war Veteran Tammy Duckworth and riled that "she's no hero." Then at the Democratic National Convention, he followed up on his senseless attacks on Ms. Duckworth by saying that her only concern was what dress she was going to wear at the convention. let's face it, republicans like Donald Trump are a disgrace to America and the world.
Did any of Donald Trumps family serve in the military ?
Didn't think so.
So, don't do the right thing regarding immigration. Only do it if it benefits your party..... OK gotchaa
Conservatives who worry about drone use in the U.S. need to think before speaking. In the U.S. if we wanted to kill a person we could use a hundred cheaper methods – most just as effective. A $1 bullet would work. A helfire missile would do it. A hand grenade, an RPG, or an artillery round could be very effective. If we wanted to employ weapons of war in the U.S. we could have done it all along – but chose not to do so. We use drones to kill bad guys on foreign soil because we can't capture them and we don't want them killing us. Drones have saved the lives of many American Service-members. Would we use a drone to take out a terror cell (located in the U.S.) if they were about to unleash a WMD? I hope so.
If the Donald is going to be the spokeman for the GOP we Dems got nothin' to worry about. Actually sounds like he's been spending too much time in Trump tower watching faux news.
How would Rand Paul feel if we used a robot to enter a building during a hostage situation – for the purpose of killing the bad guys and saving the hostages? Is a robot much different from a drone?
There you go. You can be a billionaire but still be stupid. Keep your priorities right.
@ Thomas
Yes, Donald Trump's father did serve in the military. That's in Adolph Hitler's Third Reich during WWII.
Trump: This is downright is caparicious and arbitrary.
Officer: Your fly is open.
Whenever this man talks, look at him closely. His mouth forms like a booty hole. And what comes out of his mouth is exactly what his mouth looks like.
Want to hear something else that's insane?! Back in the 70's I drove a car (Honda, manual shift, 4 speed civic if I remember right...yikes..old age!) that got 42 mpg. 42!!! By my calculations, cars today at a bare MINIMUM should be getting 60 mpg standard...ON AVERAGE! Part of the problem is obvious...IDIOTIC consumers demanding gas guzzling mid size vehicles.
The people in this country for the past 3 decades are just morons.....and have NO COMMON SENSE about anything.
ringling brothers is small cake compared to these clowns
CPAC sure has a large clown car this year. A bunch of sore losers (Romney , Paul) and people who will never be President ( Rubio, Santorum Jindal Haley etc) giving each other permission to stay the same. Enjoy the politican wilderness Rebublicans.
The lead in to this article got my hopes up with the thought that Trump was going to wear a suicide toupee and walk into the republican congressional play pen with it. Instead we just have a four time bankrupt who can't make money running a casino giving financial advice to people who still think the gold standard is a good idea. That had to be just precious.
Trump is wrong. It is the Republican/Tea Party that is in a total mess. When will the Republican establishment take back the party from extremists and libertarians?
Mr. Trump, Dick Cheney's good buddies at Halliburton made many, many billions from that war. Funny you don't mention that. This article also neglected to print that Mr. Trump also said immigration for Europeans is great(whites only). Mr. Trump also forgot to address the most serious spending issue: CORRUPTION AND GRAFT!. Those two things are amongst the biggest drains on our economy. These republicans won't talk about it as it is the biggest source of income for their donors and lobbyists. $800 for a hammer? Billions in Medicare and medicaid paid to businesses that do not exist? Come on! Give me a break!
Trump is a prime example of what is wrong with the Republican party today. They gave Trump the floor at their meeting allowing him to show his complete ignorance with all the swell headed bluster he could muster. Getting oll from Iraq is a perfect example, he wants us to go over there again and take over the country? Take the oil at gunpoint? That worked so well the first time, didn't it. Next up is that nit wit Sarah Palin...now she is relevant ! Dumb, dumb, dumb. All noise, no substance. Does being consevative mean being noisy and stupid?