During an appearance on the “Jay Severin Show” on Boston’s Talk 1200, real estate mogul and media personality Donald Trump predicted that President Barack Obama would start a war with Iran for the sole purpose of winning re-election in November.
Trump said starting a war worked for former President George W. Bush, giving him temporary high approval ratings, and he said Obama is almost certainly eyeballing a similar polling bump.
“I’m a man that said that Obama will have a war Iran because I think it’s politically a positive for him,” Trump said. “I actually think it’s very hard. I may be in a minority on this. I think it’s hard to debate him. But that doesn’t mean he’s going to be popular shortly thereafter. But for a short period of time, it’s very, very hard to win. Bush was so popular after the attack. I mean, he had like a 95 percent approval rating. Nobody ever saw anything like it. And by the way, shortly thereafter he went down the tubes. But I happen to think he will have a war.”
Trump said he personally prefers a diplomatic approach to dealing with Iran, but doubts Obama does.
“I think that he will have a war,” Trump reiterated. “I think he’ll probably tie it around the election. You’ll have to tell me if I’m right, Jay. And I think he’ll be hard to beat. That’s actually going to be something that will be much harder for Mitt or anybody else for that matter to beat if he does that. I think he’s going to do it. I think he would do it in order to get elected.”
Earlier Trump had reacted to a George Will column and called The Washington Post columnist a “totally overrated fool” and “a hack.” He repeated that sentiment for Severin’s audience.
“I think he’s a total stiff,” Trump said. “I think he’s a hack and what he said about ‘give up the elections’ — what he’s basically saying is the presidential situation won’t happen. Let’s focus on Congress, etc., etc. You heard it over and over. I think he is — first of it’s such a stupid statement. You look at every poll it’s very close. At worst, everybody knows it’s going to be a close election.”
Trump told Severin that Will has little to offer beyond an intelligent-looking façade. “I think you take away his slick-back hair and his little round glasses and you’ll see a guy who is of average intelligence,” he said.