WASHINGTON
How much is too much? It appears that for Republicans candidates and the 2016 presidential race, there’s really no saying.
Multi-billionaire entrepreneur and reality television personality Donald Trump became the latest Republican hopeful to throw his hat into the ring Tuesday during one of the more bizarre candidate announcements of this, or any other, presidential cycle in recent memory.
“Some of the candidates, they went in, they didn’t know the air conditioner didn’t work, they sweated like dogs. They didn’t know the room was too big, because they didn’t have anybody there. How are they going to beat ISIS?” he asked, using another name for Daesh while poking fun at his fellow Republican candidates.
The party can now count 12 candidates officially seeking the GOP nomination, with a likely final count closer to 20 as several potential candidates continue to weigh their options.
Trump’s declaration closely follows that of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush whose Monday kickoff event struck a much different chord than Trump’s, focusing on the marginalized in American society.
The reality television star made no apologies for his massive wealth, declaring, “I’m really rich,” before outlining his total net worth of $8,7 billion to the audience, drawing cheers.
“I will be the greatest jobs president that God ever created,” said Trump. “Sadly the American Dream is dead, but if I get elected president I will bring it back bigger and better and stronger than ever before, and we will make America great again.”
The boastful real estate developer made no qualms about lambasting the Obama administration, and took special care to poke fun at Secretary of State John Kerry who recently broke his leg in a cycling accident in Europe.
“I will stop Iran from getting nuclear weapons, and we won’t be using a man like Secretary Kerry that has absolutely no concept of negotiation, who is just being tapped along as they make weapons right now, and then goes into a bicycle race at 72 years old and falls and breaks his leg,” he said.
Trump had weighed a potential candidacy during previous presidential cycles, but had waited until this year to do so.
