Trump: If GOP doesn’t hold firm ‘country will go to hell’

It’s fair to say that Donald Trump hasn’t exactly been impressed with the GOP’s competence at the negotiating table. In a tweet sent out after Congressional Republicans and President Barack Obama averted the fiscal cliff, the author of The Art of the Deal and Time to Get Tough noted that Republicans may well be the “worst negotiators in history.”

Human Events caught up with Trump and asked him if he had any advice for the GOP moving forward.

When Republicans and Barack Obama came to an agreement on the fiscal cliff, you claimed that the Republicans might be the worst negotiators in history. Is this due to having the wrong people in place, or do they lack leverage to get it done?

Well, I like John Boehner very much and I respect him very much, so I don’t understand the reasoning behind the last negotiation. Republicans were in an incredibly strong position. They got nothing and they gave up their most powerful card. Republicans just didn’t seem to have the ability to deal with this issue.

Obama and the Democrats are laughing at the deal they just made…the Republicans got nothing!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 1, 2013

How do you think they failed?

They gave up an unbelievably powerful card. If they allowed it to go over the cliff, even for a day or two, I think they would have won on every single item they wanted and gotten the big deal.

Last time, you said that Republicans should not have caved on the debt ceiling. Are you worried about the political and economic consequences if they hold firm this time around?

I think times have changed. Obama feels emboldened and empowered with his election win. He will do things this time that he would not have done then. Obama will just work around Republicans. He will play the 14^th amendment card, there’s no doubt. Republicans have given up their biggest card.

Do you believe that Republicans would be better served risking a government shutdown holding firm on budget cuts, or should they risk default over the debt ceiling?

The best opportunity was lost and now Republicans aren’t in a strong a position either way. But for the good of the country they need to hold firm for the big deal. If they don’t, the country will go to hell. Not for us. For our children and grandchildren. We will never be able to recover.

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