Donald Trump scolds Republicans: "Toughen up"
Real estate magnate and potential 2016 Republican candidate Donald Trump doesn't think the Grand Ol' Party is demanding enough.
"Republicans have to toughen up," Trump said Friday in a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). "Toughen up on the IRS, toughen up on Benghazi, toughen up on everything."
From the dispute over funding the Department of Homeland Security ("right now they're sitting over there on [DHS]... the answer is 'we're going to fund, we're going to fund, we're going to keep doing it"), to the overseas threat of ISIS ("you gotta go hard and fast and firm"), to repealing Obamacare ("which is a total lie"), Trump just wants to see a more aggressive approach.
Speaking to a crowd of right wing activists, the business mogul said he simply wasn't satisfied with the current GOP possibilities for a 2016 White House.
"I'm almost more disappointed with the Republicans," Trump said. He continued on to berate several GOP darlings, including the current leader of the Republican pack, Jeb Bush.
He knocked the former Florida governor, calling him "weak on immigration." Trump specifically mentioned a view Bush espoused in a 2014 Fox News interview that immigrants cross the U.S.-Mexico border as an "act of love."
"We need strong borders. We need a wall," Trump said, addressing his solutions to the immigration issue. "The king of building buildings, the king of building walls -- none of them can build them like Donald Trump."
He also bashed the younger Bush on education, who Trump said was "in favor of common core."
"I thought Romney could do it," Trump, who backed the candidate during the last election, said. "I don't want what happened to Mitt Romney to happen again."
And now, Trump is honing his 2016 pitch with policy proposals that no one can dispute as anything but bullish.
For instance, when asked about ISIS, Trump said he "would hit them so hard and so fast that they wouldn't know what happened." He later claimed his approach would be one that historical military figures General Douglas McArthur and General George Patton would approve of.
When Hannity pressed the businessman on the likelihood of running, Trump answered with a hard figure. Trump said that he has "75 to 80 percent" decided to run.