In Seattle this week, the meeting of the World Trade Organization broke down with nothing accomplished. It sparked some of the most violent protests that will live on in the minds of Americans. Many political implications. Trade's become a major part of the campaigns for all the political parties, especially the Reform Party. Withdrawing from the WTO is part of that party's platform. Donald Trump, a potential Reform Party presidential candidate, is touting the party line. But one of his biggest fans, Jesse Ventura, finds himself on the other side of the wing. First, my conversation with Donald Trump in New York City's Trump Tower. This week we've been seeing demonstrations in Seattle. You think they had something to demonstrate about. Well, I happen to think that the World Trade Organization is not necessarily fair to America. I do think that, in many cases, the workers know a lot more than the people that are representing us in trade. Our trade is a disaster with other countries. You look at what Japan's done to us and so many other countries. You can just -- just keep naming them. It's a joke, and I think that this country is a disaster. We don't have our best and our smartest and our brightest. We have people negotiating trade that maybe never negotiated before. And if you look at other countries, they have their smartest, their toughest, their best negotiators, and we're not going to beat them unless we get ours. So your saying that Charlene Barshefsky and the secretary of commerce don't know how to negotiate? I would absolutely say that. I will say that affirmatively. Now, Jesse Ventura, who has been in your corner in -- in the Reform Party, disagrees with you completely. He says Minnesota is thriving as a result of this trade. Yeah, I think certain areas do thrive. I think certain areas are not. I mean, I'm not a NAFTA fan, I'm not a World Trade Organization fan. I'm really a big trade fan. I think we should be trading, but we should be trading on a fair basis. We're not trading on a fair basis right now. Look, the United States has been a sucker for many, many years on world trade. That's why our deficits are so -- you know, in China, we lose a hundred billion dollars to China, and then we have a problem with North Korea, and China won't help us because nobody speaks to them properly. Not tough, properly. The other big issue that's happened this week is George W. Bush has put out his tax plan. What do you think of it? I don't think it's aggressive enough. I don't think it's going to be a plan that's going to keep the economy going anywhere near even what it is. I think we need a bigger tax cut than this plan. I think this plan is very timid. I was surprised. I thought -- I thought that his plan was very timid. And your own plan would put, what, 14 1/2 percent tax... That's just one... ...on anybody with net worth of $ 10 million. That's just one -- that's just one of the points of the plan. It's 14 1/4 percent on people that have a net worth of over $ 10 million. How would you get that through Congress? Well, you know, right now in Washington -- and you know better than I do and better than anybody does, perhaps, you have nothing but gridlock. I don't think you'd have gridlock if I were involved. So you think that by the strength of your personality and your ability to negotiate, you could make Congress do what you wanted it to do? Yes, I do. And they're all... Not necessarily by strength of personality. I think by ideas and by doing the right thing, I believe that they would do what's right. In this Senate race, who are you going to be giving money to? Well, I think Rudy Guiliani is fantastic, and I assume you're talking about the New York race with Hillary. That's right. Rudy's been the greatest mayor that the city has ever had. New York City's the hottest city in the world right now. You know, I happen to be the biggest developer in the hottest city, so that's a very cool thing. You know, unlike Pat Buchanan -- who goes back to Crossfire if he can get the job You talk about being the biggest developer in the hottest city. This beautiful building that we're in had a tax abatement... Sure. ...from the city of New York. How does that square with your defense of the little people? Wouldn't the mayor have been better off getting those taxes? Well, I might not have built this building without a tax abatement, you know, without a tax incentive. I call it a tax incentive. But without the tax incentive, it's possible the Trump Tower wouldn't have been built. It was built, it became very successful, it's extremely successful today, and it's been great for a lot of people, and it employs a lot of -- a lot of workers and people. But perhaps more importantly, it's been a great symbol for New York. And you know, New York is -- New York is hot because of a lot of things, but also because of these great buildings that have been built. So you didn't take the city... Many of which have been built by me, by the way. You didn't take they city for a ride the way you say the Japanese are taking the Americans for a ride? No, and -- and I'm working within the system. I mean, you know, tax abatements are available. I don't want to be the dummy who says... You had the first... ...'You know what?' You had the first tax abatement. I -- I -- I -- I'm very proud to say that I did. For the Grand Hyatt Hotel, for this, and -- and I don't think there's anything wrong with that. A tax abatement can be a very good thing. And I really do like calling it 'tax incentive.' But tax incentive-slash-abatement can be a very, very positive economic development tool. Particularly for the developer. Well, for a lot of people. I mean, a lot of people benefit by it. A lot of people that move into the building that have to pay much more if the abatement weren't available. Mr. Trump, the only people we've ever elected president who've not been elected to another office won wars -- George Washington, Ulysses Grant, Dwight Eisenhower. Why would we take you seriously running for president? Well, I mean, if you look at the other candidates -- give me a break. Now, I made billions of dollars. Do you think that they would have made billions of dollars? I don't think so. Now, I'm not saying that's the sole criteria, but I run a big business. I'm a huge employer. I'm -- I -- I have thousands of people that work for me, thousands and thousands. I have a company with great spirit. I have a -- a very -- in the most competitive world, which is, I think, probably New York City. I'm the biggest at what I do and the best at what I do. And it's company with spirit. I mean, I have great spirit. Some of them have gone bankrupt. Four of them. Well, I have 70 some-odd companies. Every once in a while -- again, you take advantage of the system. It's called the system. And in order to take advantage of the system that we're in, sometimes, on occasion -- seldom, in my case -- but you take a company, and you do -- in my case, I did a couple of [Inaudible]. It worked out great for me, because that's what I'm supposed to do, I'm supposed to make money. But I could be making money for the American people as opposed to letting us get ripped off like we have by other nations. And they're ripping us. And they're ripping us big league, Cokie, and you know it. And so this decision, still February time table.. Yeah. I think February time table. I'm doing this because I think I could do a really good job at it for a lot of people. And I think a lot of people would benefit. You'd have lower taxes. You'd have a -- you'd have a better country. If I didn't think that, I wouldn't do it, because I'm liking what I do right now. OK. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thanks for having us here at your palace. It's been a great honor. Thank you. That's Donald Trump's side.