florida is at 13%. no other candidate is above 7%. and joining us now, republican presidential candidate donald trump. donald, good to have you back on the show. how are you doing? >> good morning. i am doing fine. >> you love polls. we just threw a lot of poll numbers. >> the iowa one shows it's close. what's your closing argument in the last six days for the people of iowa? why should they vote for you? why do you want to be relationship. >> i've had a great relationship with the people of iowa. i am doing really well with evangelicals. i met with a large group of ministers and pastors yesterday and i am getting tremendous support. >> why is that, donald? because you're not a dyed in the wool evangelical? >> i'm a religious person. i have been going to sunday school for a long time like you did, joe. you know, i am a religious person. and frankly, you know, i am a believer. and they understand that.

you know, some of the polls came out. it was interesting. cnn said i would be the best leader, the best with isis, best on the border and best on a lot of other things. the evangelicals want that too. they want a combination of things but they want that very badly. i am not surprised that i'm doing so well with evangelicals. i know nationwide i'm way up with evangelicals. so that's very good. >> why are ted cruz's numbers slipping? is it because of your charge that he is from canada and may not be able to be president if he is elected? >> he does have a problem there. no question about it. nobody knows if he can even run. he has to solve that problem. get a declaratory judgment from the courts. he could be running and end up thrown out of the race in the middle of it. you know the democrats will sue. the first day, if he got the nomination lawsuit day one which will take years to resolve. it will be a big problem. >> i was going to ask you, donald, if you really believed that. then you followed up with what

is the truth. the second he got the nomination the democrats would go to court. >> ted cruz is not slipping in every poll. the latest one out of iowa, there are just a few points between you two. >> i assume it's close in iowa. that's the one place where it's close. it could very well be close. i think we're going to do great in iowa. you never know. iowa is the one place that's close. every other state i'm leading by a lot. i just left new hampshire last night. it's unbelievable the lead up there. i hit 40 or 42 points up there. i think the only place where we could be close is iowa. i saw polls yesterday where we have a very big lead. but i think ted is a nasty guy. people don't like him, at all. he has all of these republican senators, he doesn't have support of one of them. he gets a whacko like glenn beck who is always -- every time i see him, he is crying, like so emotional. what a mess! he gets a whack job like glenn

beck to support him, which is, i think, a negative, not a positive. i think ted has some problems. he doesn't tell the truth. >> hey, dornnald, willie, speakg of ted cruz he has new ads aimed directly at you. let's take a listen. >> i mean, hey, i lived in new york city in manhattan all my life, okay. so my views are a little bit different than if i lived in iowa. >> they are different. like on abortion. >> would president trump ban partial birth abortion? >> i am pro choice in every respect. >> what does trump think about iowa? >> how stupid are the people of iowa. >> donald trump. new york values. not ours. >> donald, what's your reaction to that ad, particularly the first part? >> i'll give you an example. first of all, i am pro-life. going into a second thing about how stupid are the people of iowa. then i said, how stupid are the people of the united states. and i was talking about because

everybody in this country was believing i'm not going to mention his name but it was a certain candidate -- >> it was ben carson's tales of hammers to his mother's head. >> i said united states. he didn't put "united states." because ted cruz lies. he is a liar. that's why nobody likes him. that's why the senate people won't endorse him. he stands on the middle of the senate floor and can't make a deal with anybody. he's a jerk. standing all by himself. there is something to be said about having the ability to get other people to do things. you can't be a lone wolf. that's sort of what we have right now as a president. we have a president that can't get anything done so he just keeps signing executive orders all over the place. >> did you just make a parallel between ted cruz and president obama? >> they're the same. i think ted is more strident than obama. nobody gets along with ted. some people get along with obama. nobody likes ted.

i talk to senators who frankly want to come out and endorse me. it's amazing what's happened over the last two weeks. i told this to joe, mika. every the last two weeks, so many people are calling saying, we want to get involved with you. we want to endorse you. we have a powerful endorsement coming down today. >> who is that? >> what? >> who is it going to be? >> you'll find out a little bit later. we have a powerful endorsement coming down today but so many people want to endorse us because they say ted cruz is whacky. something missing there. i don't know. there is something wrong. you know, it's wonderful to be a rebel, but you've got to get some people on your side a little bit. here is a guy with all of the republican senators sitting out there. he deals with them every day when he's there. he deals with them every day. and he doesn't have one senator supporting him, not one republican senator supporting him. that's pretty sad. >> donald, when did your feelings about ted cruz change? for a large part of this campaign he was the one guy you

said he is a friend of mine as you went after the other ones. >> he was a friend of mine and i kept saying when is he going to come at me because i know people. i became rich understanding people. i said when is he going to come at me. when i say friend of mine, everything i said, it was okay. i could say anything and he said, oh, it's okay, it's okay. very few of the others were doing that. although many of them were very, very respectful and nice to me. i like a lot of the guys i'm running with. i'll make a much better president but these a minor details. with ted cruz i'll tell you, very interesting, i kept saying when is he going to come. then he came at the debate when he talked about new york values and he talked about this and that, and he really came at me very strong in the debate. i said to him in the debate at one point, ah, here we go. okay, good, because i said when are you going to come at me, ted and he final did. according to everybody i won the last debate which is always very nice. >> mike barnicle. >> donald, one of your friends, maybe a former friend right now,

i don't know, michael bloomberg, mayor of new york, former mayor of new york, a man just as wealthy as you thinking of running for the president of the united states. talk about him. give us your relationship with him and what you think his chances would be if he jumped in. >> he used to be a friend of mine. i haven't spoken to him in a long time. i did a good job for him because he had a project in the bronx that was a disaster called ferry point. it was under construction for years and years. it was sucking up money from the city. they were in there for like $300 million. it was under construction for 25 years or more. they don't even know when it began. he asked me to take it over. i went through the process and i tack it ov took it over and got it done in less than a year and did a great job on it. i really helped him. in fact, i made a promise to him. i said i'll get it done before the end of your administration. it was the last year of his administration. we actually had a ground-breaking in october and he left in january. i did a good job.

now, i don't think he is a friend of mine anymore based on what i am hearing when i hear he wants to run because trump is running. i don't know. and i will tell you -- i'm not talking about john and, ma. other than john and mark, i get treated so badly by bloomberg, the things they say are unbelievable. the worst of about anybody. they treat me so knowingly badly that i would assume he's going to run. i mean, i hope he runs. look, i like michael. i have always liked michael. i don't think we have any relationship -- the relationship i think is probably gone, which is just fine with me, but i hope he runs because i love the competition. and i think it would be a very different dialogue for the debates. i really think it would be very interesting if he runs. i hope -- i hope that michael runs. he won't win, but i hope he runs. >> and we have, speaking of john heilemann, we have john with us, he has a question for you. >> hi, john.

>> hey, donald. >> do you notice i took you out of that group at mark? you know. >> very nice of you. i appreciate that. >> he gave me an "a" in the last debate, so i had to take him out. >> i appreciate that. i will stand up for my colleagues at bloomberg. we always treat you fairly. tough but fair is the way bloomberg politics treats you in every instance. >> you and mark are fine. >> i'll stand up for my colleagues until the end of time. >> until of the dance. we have to delay. john heilemann, ask the question, go. >> let me ask you this question, mr. trump. on substance, not on character and personality, but in your head-to-head contest with senator cruz, what are two or three areas where you disagree on substance with ted cruz that are important for voters in iowa and elsewhere to understand? >> i think one of the things is the wall and building the wall. now, he has just come about talking about it, but i want to

build a great wall that will keep a lot of problems out. and believe me, you just have to ask israel. walls do work. there is no question about it. on amnesty, you know, he was very, very weak on illegal immigration. now all of a sudden he has become much stronger. this whole thing started with that. it all started with that. i think i will be much better with the military. i think i will be much better with health care and obamacare because i'm going to repeal it and replace it. i think there are other issues. then of course we agree on certain issues. but implementation is important too. i don't think he'll implement. he is a politician. all talk, no action. and if you look at his record, i don't think he will be an implementer. i don't think he'll get anything through congress because everybody hates him. i mean, you know, the senators, you think you are grid lock now? if he gets elected you'll have grid lock times ten. >> i have two questions for you, donald. we had former defense secretary bob gates on the other day. he talked about how running a business is not like running the

presidency. and i just heard you say, former friend ted cruz, former friend michael bloomberg. it seems like you have a lot of former friends. are you going to have friends in congress? are you going to be able to make deals? >> what you don't know and what joe does know, i have been in politics all my life. i have been dealing with politicians all my life. you can rough up politicians and they'll come back to you, you know, when they want something. they're always wanting something. it's called cajoling. you have to get people in the room and get them to sign things. i hate what obama does with gun legislation. he doesn't talk to anybody. he goes out and signs executive orders. in theory you're supposed to the old fashioned way, get everybody into a room and get something people agree on. you don't just do what he's doing. i get along with politicians. i know how to get politicians. that's what i've done. so much of my business has been political where i had to get approvals from massive

developments liken o t on the w side of manhattan. so many of my jobs and so many of my deals have been -- not only in this country, all over the world, i deal with leaders all over the world. so i think i'll be very good with politicians. i deal with politicians for a living. >> i want to underline this point. donald, you got into the construction business, what, in '73? >> about '77, yes. >> who was the mayor in '77? >> beam. >> who was the next mayor you dealt with? >> denkins. >> long time. i had a piece of lindsey. long time. >> then you dealt with giuliani and then you dealt with bloomberg. >> koch. >> i dealt with koch on the skating rink and many others. >> then you dealt with bill de

blasio. >> right. >> so you have everybody from lindsey. just underlining this point. we were like donald doesn't know politics, blah, blah, blah. i'm not carrying your water here. i'm surprised this hasn't been reported. you have become a billionaire many times over in one of the toughest cities to deal with politicians, the corruption, the mob, every law -- every regulation of every stripe. taxes. people don't like working in the city. you've worked with everybody from lindsey to beam to koch, dinkins, giuliani and bill de blasio and figured out how to get rich in every administration. >> very true. >> i'm not being nice. it's the truth. >> i got along great with david dinkins. he is a nice man. i got my big job approved with him. on the west side. everyone said you'll never get that approved. you'll never be able to do it.

tens of thousands of people protesting when i proposed the job because i was going to block everybody's views. it was a massive job. everybody said you'll never get it approved. i got the land inexpensively because everybody said i couldn't get it zoned. i got it zoned for much more than anyone thought possible. >> my point is he didn't get it done in omaha. he go tt it done here. this is the toughest place. i am surprised here we are six months into the campaign and nobody has written this story. >> donald, instinctively, and you are a candidate of instinct, what is your instinct about who right now on the democratic side of the aisle, who would you be able to deal with to cut any kind of a deal? what's your instinct on that? >> i think i'm going to be able to get along with pelosi. i have always had a great relation ship with nancy pelosi.

reid will be gone. i've always had a great relationship with him. he'll use my name as the ultimate in terms of billionaires that you don't want. i always had a great relationship with harry reid. if i weren't running for office i would be able to deal with her or anybody. i think i could get along very well with nancy pelosi and just about everybody. hey, look, i think i'll get along well with chuck schumer. i was close to schumer in many ways. it's important to get along. it's wonderful to say you're a maverick and you're going to stand up and close up the country, but you have to get somebody to go along with you. you have a lot of people. we have a system. the founders created the system that actually is a very good system. it does work, but it can't work if you can get nobody to go along with you. that's the problem that you have with ted cruz. he is a guy that nobody likes and nobody trusts, and he is a nasty guy. he says things that are very nasty. i have to be nastier than him.

it's one of those things. >> do you have a tv? are you watching us right now? >> i am watching you. only because of you. >> wow! >> okay, so -- wow. look at this video. i think i know what you were thinking. i was narrating to some of your friends on the phone. when sarah palin was making her stump speech for you and she kept talking and kept talking and kept talking, what were you thinking about right now? >> well, i was thrilled with her. look, she made a speech. it was a little bit longer. but you know, she was endorsing me, so i would never want to go off stage. i would be very -- i think it would be terrible to do. it would be very bad for me to do that. i think it would be very disrespectful. sarah called me. she had always supported cruz. she called me and she said your campaign is unbelievable. you're going to win. i love what you're saying, i love the movement and i'd love to endorse you. i said, wow, that's great.

one of the reasons i loved it is that i've always loved sarah. really. also, it threw an axe into the machinery for cruz because he expected that endorsement 100% and he was planning on big. she has had a great impact. you look at my poll numbers. i think i've done great in the debates. according to every online poll i've won every debate. but who knows. i've done well in the debates and run a good campaign, but sarah coming in is a very, very -- i love the fact that sarah came in. i had to stand there because i know you and joe mentioned why wouldn't you have? she was endorsing me? what am i going to do, take the endorsement and lk off the stage? >> no you can't. i know what you were thinking. >> i am a respectful person when i like somebody and i like sarah a lot.