Real estate mogul and “Apprentice” host Donald Trump talked vaccines, tax returns, Common Core, illegal immigration, and Israel in a wide-ranging interview set to air on Wednesday’s “Hugh Hewitt Show.”
Trump said that while he is a “total believer” in vaccines “what I don’t like seeing is that 20 pound little baby going in and having this one massive inoculation with all of these things combined. I’d like it spread over, because look, our autism rate is at a level that it’s never been. Nobody’s ever, you know, in the old days, you didn’t even hear about autism, and now it’s at a level that’s so high, especially in boys, but so high that nobody can even believe it. What I’m saying is 100% I want to see it happen. I want everybody, but it should be spread over. Smaller doses over a longer period of time. So spread it out over a year. There’s no harm in that, and I believe autism will go way down.”
When asked by Hewitt if he believed in “a causal connection between vaccines and autism,” he stated “a lot of people do. I mean, there are many people that do.”
He continued, “all I’m doing is saying spread it out over a period of time. I’m not saying don’t get inoculated, don’t get the shots, don’t get the vaccines. I’m saying spread it out over a period of time. It doesn’t hurt anybody other than probably the pharmaceutical companies, because they probably make more money putting it into one shot. Maybe it hurts the doctors. I don’t know. But I can say this. Everybody would get the vaccines. They just, they wouldn’t be pumping these massive amounts of liquid into a child.”
Trump also touched on other issues during the interview. He expressed his opposition to Common Core arguing “I think that education should be local, absolutely. I think that for people in Washington to be setting curriculum and to be setting all sorts of standards for people living in Iowa and other places is ridiculous,” and that Common Core would “kill” Jeb Bush’s presidential chances.
Trump further criticized President Obama’s handling of the Iran talks and said “he’s one of the worst things that’s ever happened to Israel. You look at what’s going on, and I know Bibi very well. In fact, he asked me if I’d do a commercial for him. I think I’m the only so-called celebrity that did a commercial for him. And you know, and it was a nice commercial and everything else, and I hope he’s going to do great, and I think he’s going to do great. But when you think about it, and I have so many friends of mind that contributed the Obama campaign, and that because they’re so pro-Israel, I said how can you contribute to the campaign? This guy is the worst thing that ever happened to Israel. And if you’re living in Israel, believe me, you believe that.”
On ISIS, Trump stated he would “go after them to a point that they would be very, very nervous, if they existed at all. You have to go after it. You have to kill the cancer. You have to go after them really strongly, which is exactly what we’re not doing right now…you have to be very, very strong and you have to just wipe them out, and you have to do it rapidly and with great force.”
He also addressed his prior praise of the United Nations, declaring that the agency, “if properly run, could have a great impact,” but that he had lost respect for it.
Regarding a 2016 presidential run, he said a decision would be made “I would say sometime prior to June, June or prior to, during the month of, maybe, but right around that territory.”
He added that if he ran, he would release his tax returns, but declined to say how many years he would release.
Earlier in the interview, he denied that was only teasing a presidential run for publicity and that he was a Republican who was “so disappointed that whether it’s Benghazi or whether it’s so many other subjects – IRS, so many subjects, whether it’s having to do with whether it’s Hillary or the President, it’s all talk and it’s no action. They start off, they’re going to go after it, and that’s the last you ever hear of it.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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