Donald Trump on the ayatollah, burqas, and his modest beginnings
ATKINSON, New Hampshire -- Donald Trump held forth on his approach to foreign policy on Monday morning in New Hampshire, starting with what he'd call the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. It wouldn't be, he told a boisterous audience of about 1,200, the customary "Supreme Leader."
"I'll say, 'Hey baby, how ya doing?' I will never call him the Supreme Leader," Trump said. "And I'll get along with him probably. And maybe not. And if he doesn't get along with me, they got problems. We don't."
Trump extended his blunt-force brand of diplomacy and non-interventionist stance to women's rights, saying that America should stop meddling in Middle Eastern affairs because women there "don't want freedom," as evidenced by their desire to wear burqas or niqabs, which cover their faces.
"With the women over there, they don't have to wear the you-know-what," Trump said referring to the veils worn by some Muslim women.
"And then I said, 'Oh well that makes sense. That's nice.' Then, I saw women interviewed. They said, 'We want to wear them. We've worn them for a thousand years. Why would anyone tell us?' They want to. What the hell are we getting involved for? The fact is it's easier. You don't have to put on make-up. Look how beautiful everyone looks. Wouldn't it be easier if "mwah" (kissing sound)? Right? Wouldn't that be easy? I tell you if I was a woman - "mwah" - I'm ready darling. Let's go."
Carson was one of Trump's favorite punching bags this day. He told reporters before the event that he questions the polls that say Carson is polling higher than he is.
"I don't believe those polls actually, because I see the people in Iowa -- and I'm going to be there in two days," Trump said. "But we're doing really well it's been great. He's a nice guy but he's never going to be able to make deals with China."
At the rally, he said of Carson, "By the way Carson is lower energy than [Jeb] Bush," he added. "I don't get it. I saw him being interviewed. He's lower energy than Bush. He's a nice guy....You know, these Chinese negotiators, they come in fierce, fierce. Remember I said, 'Blood coming out of somebody's eyes?'" These people really have blood."
He then hurled a few insults at the media "scum," saying that 50 percent of reporters are "the worst people I've ever met."
It was a theme he picked up again soon afterward, at a town hall, hosted by NBC's Matt Lauer. Trump called out the Des Moines Register, in particular, which showed Carson polling higher than Trump in Iowa over the weekend.
"The Des Moines Register is a terrible paper as far as I'm concerned," Trump said. "Very liberal paper by the way."
Lighter topics in the Q&A with Lauer included Trump's hair, and whether it was really his. "It may not be pretty but it's mine," Trump said. And Trump said he could relate to average Americans because he has driven a car and eaten at McDonalds.
He also argued to the New Hampshire crowd that he has encountered adversity throughout his life, relating a story about his father giving him a "small loan of $1 million."
"I started off in Brooklyn. My father gave me a small loan of $1 million," Trump said. "I came into Manhattan. I had to pay him back. I had to pay him back with interest. But I came into Manhattan, I started buying up properties. And I did great."
Town hall moderator and NBC anchor Matt Lauer pointed out that a loan of that magnitude didn't exactly suggest adversity to a lot of people. Trump responded, "You're right, but a million dollars isn't very much compared to what I built."
The billionaire candidate said that while he does in fact do "90 percent" of his own tweeting, an intern accidentally sent out a tweet insulting the intelligence of Iowans -- despite reports that interns do not have access to Trump's twitter account.
He also stood by his claim that he deserves credit for Ford's shifting of some jobs from Mexico to the U.S., which he tweeted about on Sunday. In fact, Ford made the deal to shift the jobs to Ohio four years ago, in 2011, well before the 2016 race.
CBS News' Katiana Krawchenko contributed to this report