of greece shipping magnates who wanted to make sure that their long-lost greek family were no longer so poor. >> well, they are not and they are -- you know, beautiful family. interesting to see what happened. honestly i saw that interview an i have to find out more about him. vicky ward, thank you very much, knows all about it. tonight, it doesn't get anymore 1% than this. the most famous billionaire in america. donald trump at full throttle. >> now it's gotten so bad i'm not only talking about deficits. we are not respected anymore. we're -- we're at a level that we probably have never been at. >> tonight, what he really thinks about occupy wall street. >> i think some are very serious people. i think some are down there for dating purposes. >> the president's birth certificate. what does your gut tell you? you are a smart guy. >> my gut tells me a couple of things. number one, you know, it took a

long time to produce the certificate and when it came out as you know check out the internet many people say it is not real. okay? that it's a forgery. >> and the republican candidates. donald trump for the hour. this is "piers morgan tonight." donald, thank you for inviting me in your -- this is almost the lair of the 1% of the 1%. >> thank you for being here. >> what do you think about this whole occupy wall street thing? you, i guess, are in the target range. you're the prime example of capitalist success in america. what do you make of them? do you think they have justification for the anger? >> i think some are very serious people. i think some are down there for dating purposes and i have said, you know, they're down looking for girls, looking for women, looking for men. they're looking for anything.

some are very serious people and they should be serious because the economy's terrible. i personally think wall street isn't their target. i think their target is the white house and certainly washington. but they are some very serious people and it was interesting. somebody called me before from cnn, actually, and they want me to do -- i have a big building right there. 40 wall street. it's actually the tallest building in downtown manhattan and unfortunately because it used to be the world trade center but it's now the world's tallest in downtown and they want me to do an interview with representatives from the group occupy wall street. >> how do you feel about that? >> i sort of think it's cool. there's something i like about it. i might do it. >> michael moore on my show tuesday night in a live kind of town hall thing with an audience. >> right. i saw that show. >> right. he asked a view. i said, come on, the public, wall street, collectively, all financial institutions, the

government. the white house. and he said, it's 100% wall street. >> well, i disagree with that. i sat next to michael years ago. i really like him. i went with him and i said whoa-whoa is that the same guy? we all do our thing in life. right? i disagree with that. a lot has to do with politics, the president and bad decisions that have been made. and we'll see what happens but it's a mess. and i'm not sure that, you know, they have been there a long time and perhaps they shouldn't be allowed to stay that long. a lot of decisions have to be made because it's getting bigger and bigger and businesses are very much affected in downtown manhattan around the wall street area. >> and other cities now. oakland is been a lot of unrest in the last couple of days. how much do you blame the ordinary man and woman on an average american street? in other words, how much is personal responsibility got to come in to play when it comes to finances? >> well, you always say that but

they were duped in to doing mortgages. i used to give speeches of success. they'd ask me about success and they pay more a lot of money. i give a lot of money to charity and i felt guilty when i don't take it and i'd say four or five years ago i would say don't go for these -- i used to call them exploding mortgages. that's what they were. they were exploding mortgages. i was right and so many letters of of people thanking me because they didn't do it. they didn't do the exploding mortgage. 150% of what they're asking for. you move in to a beautiful house. but like you can't afford and you don't have to pay interest the first year. don't worry about it. you have to blame everybody but you have to blame government. you have to blame wall street. you have to blame the bankers in particular and i think today the bankers are a big problem because they're not loaning money. you know, they did get bailed out. >> not only not loaning money but my anger to the bankers is that they seemed to have learned nothing about how to behave in this crisis.

in the sense that having been responsible certainly partly responsible for bringing the country to the financial knees, they get bailed out by the taxpayer. the first thing many of them have done is to stick the noses back in the bonus trough and give themselves millions of dollars again. they don't seem to get it. you work with these guys day in, day out. what do you think of that, in particular? >> some of the banks are asking fees to keep your money. all of a sudden, you know, we are getting fees for keeping money so i don't like that. i don't like a lot of things that bankers have done. when you talk about the occupy wall street protesters, i mean, they do have some points. and i'm -- >> which are the points that you -- >> i'm a conservative guy, a republican guy. >> that you agree. >> the biggest problem i have with what's happening with the system is the banks, unless youl're somebody like me, if i want to borrow money, i can borrow all the money i want at the lowest rates i have ever seen. that's because i don't need it. if you need money or want a house in phoenix, arizona, you didn't get.

they'll get a 25% loan. a 30% loan and tied up like a sardine. >> they have the money, right? >> they have the money. they're not using it. >> what's the way to unlock this? you're one of the smartest business people i know. how do you get through to apparently immovable wall now where the banks have the money but don't want to lend it and the economy is trapped in hell? >> part of the problem that the banks have in all fairness, piers, i'm not a huge fan of the banks. i see what's happening. i sell apartments to people and tell me i can't get financing, mr. trump. you have to get the financing or pay me cash. they can't pay cash, most people. there are a lot of different problems with the banks but one of the things is regulations. the regulators are making it so tough on people. i called a banks and they said the problem we have is the regulators are literally watching every line of every statement and if we loan this guy money to build a building or

if we loan this one, you know, unless he putts up like 60% or 70% equity, that's not even a loan, he said we can't give him the one and tell me the regulators are literally oning the banks. the banks are afraid and rainy lel know even afraid. in some cases they can't make the deal so i don't know what the reason is. i think that's a big part of the reason but i can tell you this. the banks have money. they're not loaning it and especially to people that want to buy houses. >> is there more that barack obama can do as president to unlock this, to move the paralysis? >> you have to get the banks do their thing. you have to tell the regulators, look, some of the deals will be bad but they have to do their thing. not everything's going to be an aaa person with a perfect rating and much more money. you know, if you have a lot of money, they'll give you all the money you want. if you don't have that much money, they're not loaning, so i think if i were president obama, i'd say, fellows, you have to ease up a little bit because they're not loaning the money to

people to buy houses. now, i tell this to people, friends of mine and young people and this is a great time to buy a house but not from you or me. this is a great time to buy a house from a bank and you can get the money because they own the house. they have no choice. they have to get rid of it because these houses are being vandalized. people don't realize. first of all, the group leaves and they hate the bank because they're forced out. so they vandalize the house and then everybody else gets in to the picture. the banks desperate to sell houses. they're not desperate to loan money. but when they already have the house they'll give you a purchase money mortgage and take back financing. this is a great time to buy houses but only from banks. >> did you agree with the bailing out of the banks after lehman brothers collapsed? >> i'll tell you this. look. i'm a very conservative person and i'm a republican but i watched banks that were the strongest banks in the nation and i'm friendly with many of the heads of those banks and those people were scared. they thought it was over.

and i'm talking about goldman sachs, the biggest banks. these people thought it was over. there was going to be a run on every institution. you can have the strongest bank in the world but if there's a run on the bank it is not strong because the numbers, you know, it is just so very simple leverage. >> what would have happened? if -- >> you don't know. >> how bad would it have been? they deserve to have a run on them is the counter argument. >> you don't know how bad it would have been. i think it would have been very, very bad. now, there are certain industries when you talk about banks, you're talking about the entire financial system. could have collapsed. when you talk about loaning money to, you know, make solar panels, where it makes no sense or loaning money to make cars in finland, or loaning money or not even loaning money, giving money to china, hundreds of millions of dollas a year to china when they're, in fact, so rich and making -- they're making trillions.

we are losing trillions. that's a whole different thing. as far as the banks are concerned, you're talking about the financial system of this country, piers. i'll tell you what. i was there and i watched big, powerful bankers, arrogant guys, guys that were hot stuff, guys that thought they'd go in to a restaurant, they were the kings. and i watched them and they were like weak, poor, pathetic men. they really thought it was over. so, and they're smart. so, when you say, did they do the right thing? and i know it's not popular. in some circles. i think you probably had to do it. >> the argument from someone would be, look, we were in the situation we were in. it was important we didn't go under. yes, we got bailed out and paid it back. the taxpayer doesn't suffer. not an argument that resonates with the occupy wall street. what do you say that to? >> they didn't really -- when you think of it, they got cheap

money and they paid it back. but they're not loaning it out now and don't forget there was an argument that you save the banks and take over the banks. in other words, yes, give money to goldman sachs but we own it. >> should the government have done that? >> that was the other argument. >> then they -- >> i argued this. >> could be ordering them to release the money. >> i ordered that. frankly, you could have -- no. you sell it as soon as things get normal but shareholders came out rather well with the bailout. now, usually when something bad happens the shareholders are wiped out. not necessarily the bondholders but the shareholders wiped out. so there was a question of period of time and thinking about it that if we're going to give bank of america, you know, billions and billions of dollars and citi but almost all of the banks, congratulations. we own the bank. we own the bank. 100%. we're going to run the bank with the same people or different people but we'll run the bank and when times get better we're going to make a lot of money and sell the bank at a tremendous profit. so, they did a very, very tny version of that.

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call 1-800-sandals. certain restrictions apply. mr. trump is the type of person that if he wants to endorse you he doesn't have to ask you. he's waiting for the field to narrow down a little bit more before he decides whether or not he wants to put his endorsement on any particular candidate. we didn't get in to that. >> donald, let's talk about politics and in particular the gop. you've become whether you wanted to or to the godfather of the gop. they're rinning up here for your advice, blessing, opinions. why is that? why are you a talisman for them and what are you making of the republican race at the moment? >> well, i think first of all they have some very good people running and i've become friendly

with some of them but i don't think they want so much me but my ideas, what i represent because i represent a large group of people, many millions of people, that feel that this country is certainly not what it used to be which is an understatement. but because they look at what's going on with china, with opec, with india, with mexico, with so many -- with everybody. the entire world is ripping off the united states. we don't make good deals anymore. it used to be years ago we'd never make a bad deal. we were smarter, tougher, better. we had all the cards. and now, we never make a good deal. >> how much of this -- i'm going to back to this later the foreign aspect of this but how much is done to america being weak? >> we are weak. we're pathetic and stems from leadership. it's very simple. >> how many leaders? how far do you go back? >> look. i was never a big fan and proud of you and the job you did and thank you celebrity apprentice and donald trump.

the truth is you have done a good job and you know me. i have never a fan of george bush. >> i remember you telling me once he put back america 50 years. >> well, he put it back a long way so i was never a fan but we have taken it to a whole new level with obama. obama could have straightened it out. now it's gotten so bad it's not just deficits. we're not respected beforement we're at a level we never have been at before. >> americans feel strangely vulnerable. they're not used to this. when you eve been the superpower for my entire lifetime and now the emerging superpowers to compete with you and successfully. >> we created those superpowers. we created our competition. so-called free trade that was really unfair trade. china makes $350 billion on us this year and laughing at us. they're building george washington bridges but much bigger. >> why has america stopped doing that kind of thing? >> well, the environmental approvals are impossible.

>> bureaucracy is crazy here, right? >> unbelievable. i mean, if you want to build a bridge today, i have had many islands to buy like near new york, near manhattan. and i say, how long would it take to get a bridge built? they say maybe 20 years and not sure we can get it. 20 years. in china, they build a bridge. you know what it's called? build a bridge. they start working. >> why can't the bureaucracy be eliminated? >> it can't be eliminated but can be made quicker, better and more efficient. it's getting much worse. the epa is really, really tough. i know the head of the epa. she used to be in new jersey and i really like her. terrific. but you know what? it's gotten so bad. i have friends they want to do things, piers. they can't think of it. >> which of all the republican candidates at the moment do you think has it in him to get america out of the? >> i have to start off saying i think any of them are better than what we have now.

we really have got a chief campaigner. you look at obama. and i don't know him. i never met him. and i think he's truly a nice guy and looks to me like a nice guy but all he does is campaign. he should be sitting behind his desk making sure that china stops with the rips. that all of these other countries, that opec -- i mean, every time, every time i see on your show or any other show that the economy's getting better, i say, watch what happens with oil prices. next day oil prices up $3 a barrel and then all of a sudden the economy comes back. oil is such a power. bigger power than interest rates in a way. >> clearly america will have a choice within a year now of which way to go with their president and they're going to need the republican party, a candidate. the interesting thing about the race is that mitt romney has barely put a foot wrong but he's kind of flat lined around the 25% mark in all the polls. can't seem to make the jump to being the outright front-runner and seeing lots of people -- >> amazing.

>> rick perry and herman cain coming along. the guy that most people think is probably the best option can't get the right kind of traction. >> well, look. i've gotten to know mitt romney very well and very impressed by him. i think he's a terrific guy and much different guy in person than what you watch on television although i have to say even watching on television he was great in the debates. so, i think he does come along. i think he's doing fine but you're right. you know, why isn't he at 60% instead of 23%. >> why is it do you think? >> nobody knows. who, why. >> is he not sexy enough? >> he's a very handsome guy. he's got the look. he's got the brains. >> is he a bit dull? >> i don't think so. i have to tell you, i have gotten to know him well and i don't think so at all but for some reason it's not resonating yet and the word yet is important. 90% of the people, believe it or not. i saw this poll this morning on your station, on your channel, 90% of the people didn't make up

their mind yet. shocking to me. they haven't really definitively made up their mine. he'll do well and do well if he ended up winning. i met with her maine cain. >> what do you think of him? verycharismatic. seems to be weak on what he thinks about stuff. >> you know what? you also get people. okay? you get people. i get you for certain things. i get somebody else. i mean, one of the problem that is we have with our leader currently is that if you look at our trade negotiators, i know the top 25 killers in -- let's say wall street. i mean, i don't like to use the term because wall street is a -- >> financial business. >> i know the wall street -- i know the killers of the world. they're better than -- we have the greatest business people in the world. nobody close. and i take one, i say, guess what. congratulations you handle china. come over here. you, handle japan. you know, everybody talks about japan. and we all feel a little bit

sorry for japan but for years they have been ripping us like crazy. and they sell our -- their cars to a point where we build their economy and the yen is very strong and doing fine. but when was the last time -- with all the toyotas and the cars that you see coming in, when was the last time do you think a chevrolet was sold in japan? okay? now, i don't know the answer to that. i can tell you not a lot of them sold in japan. so, i'd say you, you're going to take over japan. you negotiate with japan. you, this one. you. how about south korea? >> could herman cain? >> i think you get people. you can get people better than yourself to do things. >> but is he from the guy you've spoken to the kind of man to do a business background and successful and the kind of guy that can turn things around? >> you know what impressed me with herman cain? i thought he was a great guy, a great leadership style. a wonderful personality and the thing that's most disappointing -- you know, when obama got e

leblgted, i wasn't a fan but i thought he would be an amazing cheerleader for this country. i thought -- and i wanted him to be. if i said you check your tapes from three years ago, i mean, you would say, do a great job. i hope you're going to be the greatest since abraham lincoln. not a bad president, right? i hope you're going to be the best we ever had. even though i'm a republican, i hope that. the truth is he's been a very negative force. everything's negative. he gets nothing done. he doesn't get the guys -- when they played golf, i thought that was a good thing. people say, oh. i thought that was a great thing because i thought him and the boehner and the group and maybe -- a lot of good deals happen on golf courses. okay? i thought that was a great thing. unfortunately, they didn't have a second round. it never worked out and the level -- the level of hatred between the democrats and the republicans -- >> doesn't help anything, does it? >> no. >> i'm going to ask you about karl rove who attacked rick perry on tuesday, i think it

was, and said that basically anyone that still questions the birther issue with president obama is in the nutty fringe element. >> okay. >> which is i think where you come in, donald. >> i guess that sounds like me. life insurance companies

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donald, karl rove blasted

rick perry when he recently refloated this issue of the birther issue in terms of president obama. was he born here or not? karl rove said if rick perry really wants to win he has to stay clear of quote the nutty fringe element who continue to claim the president's birthplace. i guess that brings you in to the nutty fringe element category as far as he's concerned. >> it's sort of interesting. when i first started talking about, again, i sort of felt it. i had a feeling. but when i got involved and you know how well i did in terms of the polls. even when i got out. i was leading in the polls. i was watching your friends on nbc or actually let's see. it was "meet the press" and david gregory and had a poll and i was in number one place and then announcing to do a big season of "celebrity apprentice" again and i did very well, especially for a nonpolitician but i speak my mind and i will tell you that i always told people, you know, i'm a very smart guy.

i got good marks. i was all this. i went to the best college. the wharton school of finance. to me the best business school. they made the birthers as they call them in a derogatory term and made the birthers sound like they didn't know what was happening. the fact is there are a lot of people that happened to agree with -- with, like, as an example, why wasn't this birth certificate given when hillary and when mccain and when everybody was asking? ultimately, i'm very proud of what i did because i got him to give something. >> you accept what he produced is valid? >> i don't necessarily. >> do you believe he probably was born in america? >> i say he might have been. >> but what does your gut tell you? you are a smart guy. >> my gut tells me a couple of things. number one, you know, it took a listening time to produce the certificate and when it came out

as you know, you check out the internet many people say it is not real. okay? it is a forgery. that's what they say. i don't know if it was. >> the internet is nonsense. >> okay, fine. but you know, they go over it and lots of different things and lots of different reasons. and the other thing is nobody's been able to see, you know, the day of his birth, they had twins born. they had one born. nobody has been able to find any records that he was born in that hospital. >> do you think politically for rick perry -- >> i think it's a positive for him. >> is it a sensible thing for him to do? >> i think it's good in the republican primary. i don't know if it's good in the general election. i respect karl rove but i disagree with him because i think probably especially, you know, if you look what's happened to rick. now, rick was an another one. we had dinner. good guy. >> what do you make of him? in the debates he's pretty -- >> i don't know what happened because when you're with him he's great. he was really -- i mean, we had a really good time. >> is he articulate? >> he is different.

>> is he fun? all the things he doesn't seem to be. >> he called me after the debates. i said, what happened to you? he called me a few days ago and very forceful and strong and something on something he was asking me and i said, why can't you act like that on the debates? you know? the camera goes on. why can't you act like that? he said it is just not my thing. that's okay. i understand that. i know people who are fantastic people and can't do television. if they had to sit down with you sbr an interview, they wouldn't sleep down for three months. >> i think he is a charismatic character. >> are you interviewing him? >> can you put in a good word? he'll do what you tell him to. >> i was surprised. but i actually think that the birther for him is sort of a positive. now, i think he's pulling away because there's a group of people that think it's something he shouldn't discuss. i don't care. personally, i don't care. i'm doing -- it's a -- i'm a businessman. what i say, i guess, a lot of people are listening to. in fact, many millions of people

are listening to and that's why it's interesting they don't want my money in my office. they want my endorsement. they want the endorsement. i represent millions of people. i will tell you -- just to finish. >> yeah. >> i don't discuss birther. i never bring it up. the real issue now is jobs, the economy, stopping the world from ripping us, getting back to greatness for this country which we're going in the wrong direction. but i think it's an issue that if somebody brings it up it is an issue that's worth talking about. there are a lot of reasons to think that he wasn't in this country. absolutely. i say that as an intelligent person. >> he would say he's put it to rest and the fact rick perry is backtracking i guess is sensing it's no longer as the motive -- >> it's a very volatile issue. i mean, when somebody brings it up, i think probably perry got a tremendous earful over the last few days because he did bring it up. he used my name which i don't think he should have done. we had dinner.

a private dinner. trump said he is not sure -- et cetera, et cetera about that whole situation and probably he shouldn't have done but, you know. >> you said to me a while ago with the speculation of you to run or not, you said i'm going to wait and see what happens here before you said you weren't going to because you said if i sense there's not a person to beat obama. >> that's true. i say it right now. >> i would say it's still an arguable point where whether any of these candidates has got the kind of support in their party let alone the wider electorate to beat barack obama. isn't that the environment you were thinking about and is it possible given where we are that you might still run? >> i'm looking. i'm looking very seriously. i would love to endorse somebody and i love what i'm doing and love to endorse somebody that i think would, number one, win, number two, be really great and a lot depends on whether that happens and whether or not the economy continues to be bad and i think it will because we have people incompetent running the government.

>> i could see you with your business background being a compelling choice for people. i'm surprised you are not. very seriously considering it. knowing you as a competitive man because you'd only run i think if you thought you could win. >> that's true. >> a strong republican candidate would have a very good chance. >> i don't need to be ross perot. getting 19% of the vote would be tough at all. the truth is they hate both parties. you have an independent group of people that, frankly, don't like the republicans an they don't like the democrats and i think that there would be an opportunity but i also think in my case, i'm a very conservative person. although, you know, not as conservative perhaps as some but i'm pretty conservative. i think i'd probably hurt the republicans. and unless i thought i could absolutely win, i don't care if i hurt the republicans if i thought i could win because you have to get obama out of office. you have to end obama care. you have to get this country

back on the footing again and you know, if we don't do it, four more years like this, i don't know if the country can ever come back. >> hold that thought. talk more about the economy and about jobs in particular. and also, this big tax debate going on. >> okay. the other office devices? they don't get me. they're all like, "hey, brother, doesn't it bother you that no one notices you?" and i'm like, "doesn't it bother you you're not reliable?" and they say, "shut up!" and i'm like, "you shut up." in business, it's all about reliability. 'cause these guys aren't just hitting "print." they're hitting "dream." so that's what i do. i print dreams, baby. [whispering] big dreams.

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donald, let's talk economy and taxation because one of the

big debates raging now -- you have her maine cain with the 9-9-9 plan and rick perry with the 20-0 plan and everyone trying to work through what everyone agrees is a ridiculously overcomplicated tax system. >> true. >> now here's the rub. warren buffett says as has president obama, look, we did a lot better when taxation was higher, actually. if you look at the '80s and '90s. it is an inarguable fact that high taxation on wealthy people in particular doesn't inhibit their investment. you're one of the wealthiest men in america. is that true? >> well, i think it's a very bad time to be raising taxes. that i can tell you. now, every once in a while i look at exxonmobil making billions and billions of dollars a quarter, billions. more money than the united states makes. and we're subsidizing them. ridiculous. okay? whether you like it, whether you don't like it, it doesn't make any sense. the way i look at like the exxons and the oil companies,

they've been in cahoots with our enemy which is opec. think eve been in cahoots. their the ones that distribute the oil. opec takes it out of the ground and they distribute it. for us to be subsidizing and exxon and other companies like exxonmobil is absolutely insane and ridiculous. now, as far as the plans are concerned, before we can start raising taxes this country has to get going again. i mean, i just see every -- you look at 9.1 but don't forget that's a phony number. that's a number -- >> a million more that have given up. >> you give up and then not considered unemployed. they're not going to get a job and they take them off the unemployment number? >> you're a big employer. how many do you employ roughly? >> thousands, tens of thousands of people. >> right. how does america get people back to work? what is the best economic plan in terms of general thought process? i mean, you don't want to raise taxes. what is the simple way to stimulate growth and jobs? >> well, i have two primary

ways. the first way by far is must stop the jobs from leaving this country. we must start manufacturing our goods. even if barren trump has one or two toy airplanes instead of 20. >> take apple on that. apple by the time steve jobs died and he was a complete genius. everyone accepts that. one of the great business men of this country. >> true. >> everyone agrees and by the end more people working for apple in china than in america. >> that's true. >> which for an american iconic company was perverse to me. >> i think steve was never hit and that's because of death with the fact that so many people and so much of his product comes out of china. and it can come out -- i saw a factory two weeks ago. i won't go in to which and what. so incredible. the technology was so -- right here. the technology is so incredible. we could be doing this stuff ourselves. they manipulate their currency.

it's very hard for these companies -- for our companies to compete. but china manipulates like nobody has ever manipulated before in the history of this world and it makes it almost -- >> you have made for you and your companies made in china. >> i do have stuff made. i'm not happy about it. when you build a building -- i'll give you an example. >> come on, look. you have to do what you're saying. you have to pull the work out of china. lead the way. what would you say? >> i'll tell you this. number one, take a building. i get bids on buildings. i get -- i build lots of buildings. and i get bids on curtain walls. glass and aluminum and this. many of the bids come from china. now, are they lower? yes. and the reason they're lower is because they manipulate their currencies. they make it very mard for companies in this country to compete. so what i would do, because you're asking me a question. how would you turn it? the first thing i'd do is take the abusers like china, south

korea what they're doing -- if you order a television, you can't do it unless you get it through south korea or some other country. they're not made here anymore. i would take certain countries and tax them. in the case of china, the tax believe it or not -- this is how bad it is. 41%. that's the tax. but because i'm such a nice person i would only make it 25%. >> you're always kicking them. >> most amazing thing. i sold a house to a chi these person. an apartment for $33 million to a chinese company. i have the biggest bank in the world, a chinese bank one floor above where we are right now. one floor actually one floor below where we are right now. we are right now -- they might be listening to the conversation. >> the one thing that is going well for america still is hollywood. still making great movies and the business is good and made a great new movie "tower heist." >> that's true. it is a great movie. >> it was filmed in this building. >> that's right. >> involves a capitalist billionaire. >> it wasn't me.

it was a wall street guy. >> let's find out who it was after the break. >> okay. [ bell tolls ]

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donald, the trump international tower, we are here, brings back memories for me of "celebrity apprentice." >> the end result was great. right? >> they made this movie "tower heist" and sounds like a good old-fashioned caper and very poetic and timely in the sense that it involves a capitalist billionaire who rips people off and then gets his come up pans. it's your tower. something you want to tell me? >> it's very interesting. it was supposed to be about me and i said i don't want that about me. so i actually loaned them the building and actually they did some at trump international and trump tower and i love eddie murphy and i think he's terrific. i think he really is great, too, because i saw the movie last night at the premier. i also -- ben stiller is great. the whole group is great. they have alan alda and brett ratner is the director. it was a wall street guy. the building showed beautifully. >> your old friend rosie

o'donnell has a new talk show going on the oprah winfrey network. have you sent flowers? >> no but i hope she does well and i hope she does well. she's had a long string of failures an i hope she does well because of oprah. i love oprah. >> what do you think of oprah? >> i think oprah is great. i love her. she is a friend of mine. >> as a business woman. >> i was on her show the last week and it was great. she had my family on. it was a beautiful thing. i think she is an incredible woman, a beautiful woman, and i want her to do well with her network so i hope rosie do well. >> when you look at your own story, oprah winfrey's story, these people, steve jobs, for example. could people like you develop these empires in the way that you did then now? is the climate able to encourage creative entrepreneurial people to do this?

is that part of the problem? >> i think we have a country that has tremendous untapped potential. you asked me before what would you do? first i'd stop the outside world from ripping us. the next thing i'd do is let us go in and under this earth. and harmlessly take out our energy, so we don't have to spend trillions of dollars to other countries where they're doing their roads and their airports and their bridges. let us get a tremendous number of jobs right here. we become energy self-sufficient quickly. but we have to be able to get people permits. we want it safe, we want it clean. we've got to be able to use coal again. we ship coal over the china. they burn coal, we don't. i mean, we still do, but it's getting less and less and harder and harder. we're the saudi arabia of coal. we ship coal to other countries. >> the american dream has taken a bit of a battering. >> a big battering. >> the idea that you can come here and achieve great things if you work hard has hit the skids a bit. what should the new american dream, the realistic one, be

now? >> well, again, i think the country has unbelievable potential, almost greater than before, if we allow it to happen. but we have to get rid of these regulations that are just absolutely destroying us. they are destroying us. think of what i just said. we take coal and sell it to china, and they burn coal. now, there is clean coal and all of that. the solar thing is not working out. i know all about solar. i know about wind, i know about solar. and you know what, they're all fine, but they're not -- i did a solar project. you know what the payback was? 30 years. get my money back in 30 years. well, in 30 years, the panels are going to be disintegrated in 15 years. what does that mean? it's tough stuff. but we have so much energy right under our earth, right under this country, that we can be totally self-sufficient quickly between natural gas -- >> i also heard that america is one of the top exporters of corn to china. and it seems to me with a

population now of, what, 7 billion, and tipped to rise to 12 billion in our lifetime, people have to eat. and america has some of the greatest agricultural land anywhere in the world. to me, some of these are no-brainers. grow more food. export that to these countries. >> and we're so good at it. but we have to be allowed to compete, we have to be allowed to do it and we're not. we're just not. we're stymied. very interesting. i'm in china, they're building a big city, they build new cities all the time, and they're filling in the ocean. now, it's the ocean. but what they do is, it's a little strip. it's like a mile by a mile, so i said, this is amazing, because i live here. i said, how long did it take you to get your permits? they look at me like, this guy can't believe he asked such a stupid question. they said, well, this was very quick, like, immediate. they're going to build a city and employ thousands of people, house thousands. i mean, it's crazy. in this country, if we ever wanted to take a little tiny speck, a little speck out of the

ocean, out of the hudson river, out of this, out of that, it's called the electric chair. you get the electric chair. it's crazy. so we have to go back to our roots or we'll never be great again. and it has to happen quickly. because if it doesn't happen quickly, big problems. >> take a final break and come back. very quickly, we talked about your family, you have grandchildren coming out all over the place. >> i have a lot of grandchildren. >> don't look old enough. [ sniffs ] i have a cold. [ sniffs ] i took dayquil but my nose is still runny. [ male announcer ] truth is, dayquil doesn't treat that. really? [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus fights your worst cold symptoms, plus it relieves your runny nose. [ deep breath] awesome. [ male announcer ] yes, it is. that's the cold truth!

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donald, you've got grandchildren coming out of every one of your kids at the moment. donald jr.'s had his third kid, ivanka's had her first. how are you enjoying this new outburst of young trumps? >> i've never been a big fan of the name "grandfather," but that's what i am. i'm a grandfather. >> but you're aging well, donald. >> i hope so. but we're having a lot of fun. the "celebrity apprentice" continues to be a big hit, as you know, and i'm very proud -- >> the new inmates are in the tower. >> they're right here, right now. we're shooting it right now, as we speak. we're literally shooting -- >> are they all fresh faced, excited, because i can give them a few little days of reckoning,

if you like. >> you could give them the ultimate tips, you played the job better than just about everybody, and i'm very proud of what you've done. you win, go on to this show, that show, and i love larry king, but you're doing a fantastic job. larry told me so also. >> that's very gracious. i appreciate it. what does family mean to you? >> it's all about fun, you can eat so much and want to make money and have fun, but i do it for fun more than anything else. i love putting people to work and taking care of people, whether it's their health care or whether it's their education for their children. but ultimately, what it's about is family. and if you have great family, great relationships, great marriages, or even friendships in some form, it's more important than all of the stuff we've been talking about. >> you've got all the money you could ever wish for, well, you could probably wish for me, if i know you, being competitive. you've achieved so much, but when you wake up in the morning

now, what really drives you? is there a remaining great ambition you have? >> i think the thing that drives me is i love what i'm doing. i always tell people. i give many speeches on success. they ask me to speak on success. in front of very, very large crowd. and i always talk about, you have to love it. if you don't love it, it's never going to work. you have to have other things, you have to have this, lots of different things have to be going on. but you have to love what you do. and if you don't love it, piers. if you didn't love what you were doing, you would not do it well. >> i couldn't agree more. i tell my three sons, find a job you love and it's not a job. it's something else. it's a pleasure. you might have a bad day, but it's still great. >> it's not work. i have friends, they go to work. i don't go to work. to me work is when there's no work and i'm sitting around, i can't find anything to do, i'm supposed to be on vacation, which i don't take too often. the nice part about my business, i have so many great clubs all over the world, i can go there and consider it like a vacation. but the truth is, i guess it's work. but i don't want consider it work. >> how would you like to be remembered?