Businessman and real estate mogul Donald Trump says the chances he’ll launch a third-party run for the White House will increase if he feels he’s being treated unfairly by the Republican National Committee.
“The RNC has not been supportive. They were always supportive when I was a contributor. I was their fair-haired boy,” Mr. Trump told The Hill newspaper in an interview published Thursday. “The RNC has been, I think, very foolish.”
Asked if he would run as a third party if he doesn’t win the Republican nomination, Mr. Trump said “so many people want me to, if I don’t win.”
“I’ll have to see how I’m being treated by the Republicans,” Mr. Trump said. “Absolutely, if they’re not fair, that would be a factor.”
RNC Chairman Reince Priebus spoke to Mr. Trump earlier this month in the wake of Mr. Trump’s remarks that Mexico is sending its criminals into the United States.
After Mr. Trump questioned the heroism of Sen. John McCain of Arizona last weekend, the RNC also released a statement saying that “there is no place in our party or our country for comments that disparage those who have served honorably.”
Mr. Trump said last weekend in Iowa that Mr. McCain, a prisoner of war in Vietnam for more than five years, is only a war hero “because he was captured. I like people that weren’t captured, OK?” He later clarified multiple times he believes Mr. McCain is indeed a war hero.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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