MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. — The businessman leading the Republican presidential field was peddling one thing to South Carolina voters Tuesday evening: An alleged innate ability to predict foreign policy trends and events.
Donald Trump has spent the past few weeks on the trail touting, among other things, his idea of bombing Iraqi oil fields and then taking and keeping the oil for ourselves.
"To the victor goes the spoils," he often claims, referencing the "old days." But Tuesday night he told a crowd here in the Palmetto state what he thinks is trait most necessary for White House success:
"It's about vision, folks."
The GOP front-runner reiterated past claims about his supposed vision Tuesday by talking about his alleged foresight regarding Osama bin Laden — and predicting "terrorism" in general.
"The other thing I predicted is terrorism," he told the crowd before elaborating on a longer story of a friend who told him the same. "A friend of mind called me and said 'Forget that, you're the first guy that really predicted terrorism.'"
The real-estate developer from Queens said he predicted "terrorism" — which he also said was documented in his 2000 book "The America We Deserve" — "cause I can feel it."
Never mind that "terrorism," both radical-Islamic and otherwise, had already existed well before then — including the bombing of New York City's World Trade Center in 1993 by al-Qaeda-linked fundamentalists.
The GOP front-runner also circled back to his ebullient position on waterboarding, telling crowds that he would implement the practice, assuring them that it works — despite a Senate report last year saying the torturous technique is actually ineffective.
"Waterboarding is just fine and it works, too, don't kid yourself," Trump said, before adding "we wouldn't have gotten Osama bin Laden without waterboarding" — which is also not necessarily true.
Trump also attacked the state of America's infrastructure and reasoned that until it's fixed, we can't let others into our country.
"We're gonna be so vigilant, we're gonna be so sharp, and we're not letting others in because, you know, we've gotta fix our country. Our country's broken."
There to help him in his quest to "make America great again": members of the Trump family. After weeks of touting her arrival on the trail, wife Melania Trump took the stage and spoke briefly to the crowd. Flanked by Trump's daughter Ivanka, her husband, Jared, as well as daughter Tiffany Trump, son Baron, and Melania's parents, the former super model took the microphone.
"Good evening. Isn't he the best?" she asked the crowd. "He will be the best president ever. We love you."
The Trump family wasn't the only zany surprise of the night. After spotting a Trump impersonator in the crowd, the candidate called out to security. "You gotta get him up here!"
The man, clad in a business suit with a blonde Trump wig atop his head, approached the stage and after a few moments with secret service, and was allowed to join the candidate.
"This is what I call a real supporter," Trump crowed as they shook hands.
After asking if the man, whose real name is Terri Silliman, was married and if his wife was happy with her husband, Trump exclaimed "she fantasizes that he's really the real Donald Trump."