Jenna Buzzacco-Foerster
Donald Trump told “Morning Joe” hosts he’ll do the best he can to persuade caucus goers to vote for him on Monday evening.
Trump appeared on the show by telephone Monday morning, one of several interviews the GOP front runner conducted ahead of the Iowa caucuses. When asked by host Joe Scarborough how he felt about the election, Trump said his camp was “feeling really good.”
“We have a lot of people, we have great support, we hope to do well. You know, I don’t know. I can’t tell you what’s going to happen because it’s an election, and the only poll that matters is the poll that’s going to start in a little while and it’s going to be very interesting. Here we are after a long period of time,” Trump told the “Morning Joe” team.
“The day has finally arrived where we begin this really incredible process. So I look forward to it. It’s going to be very interesting. I just don’t know what to tell you. You had the poll came out yesterday and it says we’re No. 1 and that’s good. I think I’m No. 1 in every single state, and it’s – and we’re No. 1 in every national poll, too.”
Trump told host Mika Brzezinski that he plans to attend the caucus Monday night and said he would “do the best I can to persuade people.”
“But it will be a very interesting evening. I’ve never caucused before and it’s a different way of doing things,” he told the MSNBC host. “And, you know, Iowa is a tremendous place. It’s got a great sort of history behind it for doing this and there’s tremendous spirit. The people are great. So we’ll see what happens tonight.”
Trump leads in the polls in Iowa, New Hampshire and nationwide. According to the final Des Moines Register/Bloomberg Politics Iowa Poll, Trump leads the pack with 28 percent, followed by Ted Cruz at 23 percent. When asked what would happen to Cruz’s chances if he doesn’t win tonight, Trump said he thinks Cruz will “be certainly hurt because he’s put everything he can into Iowa.”
Trump continued: “He put every single person, he put all of his money, and he put a lot of effort. And, as you know, he’s doing terribly in New Hampshire. He’s not doing well after Iowa; this is sort of his hope I guess is to do well in Iowa, to win it, and to then do better in New Hampshire than he’s doing right now.”
The Iowa caucuses start at 7 p.m., CST.
Check out the the full “Morning Joe” interview with Donald Trump.
