Trump Names Democrats He'd Love To Face in 2020, Calls Beto a 'Dream' Matchup
President Donald Trump said he would love to run against former Vice President Joe Biden or Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, but “we could dream about” running against former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke.
In an interview with Fox Business Network’s Maria Bartiromo, which aired on Friday, Trump stated, “My attitude is, I wouldn’t mind,” running against O’Rourke, who he described as the one the press has already “chosen.”
“I mean, I’d love to have Biden. I’d love to have Bernie, I’d love to have Beto. I mean, Beto seems to be the one the press has chosen. The press seems to have chosen Beto … When I watch Beto, I say we could dream about that.” the president said, according to Fox News.
Trump highlighted O’Rourke’s plans to tear down existing border barriers, instead of building additional ones and upgrading those currently in place as the commander-in-chief has directed.
“You have Beto, so you have Beto. And Beto comes out and he says, ‘Let’s take down the wall.’ If you ever took down the wall, this country would be overrun,” Trump said.
O’Rourke gained national prominence last fall in his unsuccessful bid to unseat Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. The Democrat raised and spent a record $79 million in the endeavor, compared to Cruz’s $45 million, according to Open Secrets.
Following announcing his presidential candidacy last week, O’Rourke raised a record $6.1 million within 24 hours, while Sanders saw $5.9 million come into his campaign coffers within the first day of announcing.
During the interview, Trump contended the Democratic Party overall has become “radical.”
“The Democrats actually are becoming a far left party, I mean, they’re becoming a radical party,” he said. “You look at what they want to do with the Supreme Court. You look at what they want to do with the voting age. Where did that come all of a sudden? The voting age at 16 — they’re becoming radical. They are radicalized.”
The president pointed to the Green New Deal as a case in point, characterizing it as “the most preposterous thing.”
“I don’t want to knock it too much right now, because I really hope they keep going forward with it. Frankly, I think it’s going to be very easy to beat,” he said.
Bartiromo asked Trump about his attacks on the late Sen. John McCain, questioning why he is still going after a dead man.
The president said the news that one of McCain’s associates passed on the Democrat-funded Steele dossier to multiple media outlets during the 2016 presidential election had just come to light.
“They (the Democratic operatives) gave it to John McCain, who gave it to the FBI for very evil purposes,” Trump said. “He handed something to FBI on me. He knew it was a fake.”
The dossier was reportedly used by the FBI and Justice Department to help obtain FISA warrants to spy on the Trump campaign, according to The Hill’s John Solomon.
Trump also hit McCain for casting the deciding vote against repealing Obamacare in 2017.
“(W)hat he did to the Republican Party and to the nation and to sick people that could have had great health care, it’s not good. So I’m not a fan of John McCain, and that’s fine,” the president said.
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