Donald Trump (file photo)
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump says if he senses women voters are offended by his contention that Hillary Clinton was an “enabler” for her husband’s sexual misconduct, he’ll adjust.
“I can certainly tone it down,” Trump said this morning during an interview with KGLO Radio. “There’s no question about that.”
The former chair of the New Hampshire Republican Party is among a group of women quoted in a USA Today article raising concerns that Trump’s rhetoric about the Clintons might help Hillary Clinton be a more sympathetic figure and drown out discussion of other issues on which she is vulnerable.
“I understand exactly what they’re saying, but I was attacked and I said: ‘How can they attack me when he’s got one of the worst records in history with all he’s gone through?'” Trump said. “So I hit him pretty hard and maybe they won’t be attacking me anymore ’cause, you know, I am somebody that has great respect for women and I’ll do a great job, far better for women than Hillary will ever do for women.”
Trump pointed to Clinton’s work as secretary of state and said he’d do a better job protecting the country than Clinton would as president. Trump also raised an issue that’s roiling in farm country. Trump suggested Iowa voters should question GOP rival Ted Cruz for supporting a phase out the federal Renewable Fuels Standard that mandates a certain level of ethanol be produced each year.
“It’s so many jobs for Iowa,” Trump said during the KGLO interview. “I was a little bit surprised that he would even do well in the polls.”
Trump said he is “totally in favor of ethanol” while Cruz “wants oil.”
“Ted is backed by oil people…He’s from Texas…I understand how the game works and that’s part of the problem, you know, of receiving money,” Trump said. “Again, I’m self-funding, so nobody’s telling me what to do to. I can do what’s right.”
Trump spoke with KGLO Radio in Mason City this morning in advance of his rally at the historic Surf Ballroom in nearby Clear Lake on Saturday afternoon. Former President Bill Clinton is making campaign appearances in Cedar Rapids and Dubuque today, the first solo campaign appearances he’s made in Iowa for his wife’s 2016 presidential campaign.
(Reporting by Bob Fisher, KGLO, Mason City; additional reporting by Radio Iowa’s O. Kay Henderson)