tough" mr. donald trump on the phone. happy new year. >> happy new year. good morning. >> how are you? >> i'm very good, thank you. >> there's a report out that activists in the state of texas have filed for a third party run for you, perhaps, to run for president trying to create the make america great again party. what do you know about this? is that your first foray into the official 2012 run for president? >> well, i just heard about it. in fact, i heard about it on your show. and frankly, i think it's a great name, make america great. that's a beautiful name. that's what it's all about, making america great. i don't know anything about it. it's certainly there are millions of people that would like to see me do something. not because of me. but because i want to protect this nation. we're being eaten alive by other nations and by, frankly, people that are not smart that are representing us. >> one of the people that wants

you to run is your friend roger stone, we had him on "fox & friends" yesterday and he said you have all of your ducks in a row and you could make an independent run. let's listen to what he said yesterday -- this weekend. >> he's made it clear, the forms are there for all to see. buy the book. he's worth $7 billion. he has $350 million cash on hand so he has the personal resources to launch a very late independent bid and affect this race. >> he knows a lot about your finances. and so donald, we're just curious, what has changed in your mind since may when you said you didn't want to get into the presidential race because you didn't want to leave the lucrative apprentice franchise. >> i've been saying from the beginning if the republicans pick the wrong candidate, someone that is going to lose that is possible if you look at what's going on. look at what's happening in iowa, it's crazy. if the economy continues to be bad, our leadership continues to be bad which that one i can predict will definitely happen.

our leadership is terrible in this country. i would certainly consider it. i switched to an independent. if i didn't do it by the first of january, i wouldn't be able to do it. i did make that switch. i didn't want to make that switch. that's the way the laws read. i did make the switch and i do have my ducks in line if i want to do it, but i'd love to see the republicans pick somebody that was going to win and take over this country and frankly, to use the expression, make america great again. >> you know, donald, welcome to the new year. i do know that you follow this thing and you're extremely aggressive with what's going on in the politics. you say what's going on in iowa. what's going on in iowa that has your eyebrows raised. >> well, i think when somebody like ron paul gets such a large percentage of the vote potential, i look at the polls and i think it's absolutely madness to even think about it. i just -- i just see that candidates go up and down, it's

like yo-yos, they go up and down, they're gone and forever forgotten and then they emerge. what's going on is very strange. i don't think i've seen anything like it and i've been following politics for a long time. >> in my mind, ron paul is one of the people that would force you to get in. you do not think he can get elected. is rick santorum the other? >> i don't want to say now. i like rick santorum, i spoke to him a couple of times. i like him and he's a really nice guy. he's done very well. you have to give him credit. he was 1% for so long and he's shooting up. you have to give him credit in terms of, you know, one of the things that i write about success is never give up. certainly he never gave up and he's doing very well. >> he is. of course, a lot of people this time of year make predictions for the coming year and since you have made -- we just heard roger stone say you've got a bunch of dough in the bank, what's your prediction economically for the coming year for people watching? >> well, i think the economy is basically going to keep trudging along the way it is.

i think you're going to have very high unemployment. i think that there's going to be no catastrophic events although europe could hurt us. but, you know, you could also europe is a competitor. you know, people forget they did the euro in order to hurt the united states. the european nations got together and they created the euro. why did they do that? to better bargain against the united states so, you know, that's one of those things. it's not as sinister as what china is doing to us and not as sinister as to what opec is doing to us. the euro was done not to the benefit of the united states and now it's coming home to them and it's not a good situation. but i think that the economy will be pretty much as it is because people are waiting to see what happens in november and if the right person gets in, i think you're going to see a tremendous thing happen in this country. we have tremendous, tremendous potential if we had proper leadership which we don't. >> i was really concerned about for -- as an american is that the president's new strategy of

disengaging. he's not going to deal with congress for an entire year? >> well, he's really, you know, when you talk about somebody trying to get elected and it's probably a good thing for him to get elected but a very good thing for the nation. he's absolutely created class warfare. i see it all the time. i see it even in people i'm meeting. you have groups of people fighting each other and that's what he wants and that's what he's good at and frankly, in terms of a strategy to get elected, i think it's wonderful. in terms of what's good for this country, it's horrible and he should be ashamed of it. >> apparently what he's trying to do is he's trying to invoke what harry truman did with the do nothing congress. look, these guys up on capitol hill. he doesn't mention that half of the houses are held by democrats, they're not doing anything so i'm going to go directly to the american people like harry truman. wait a minute, with harry truman, the buck stops there with responsibility. yet it sounds like the president is punting. >> a real leader would get the republicans and the democrats

together and get this country going. that's a really leader. we don't have a real leader. we have somebody who how he ever got in that position is mind boggling. >> happy new year. great year to you and keep us post the on what you decide to do with the run and you'll join us again every monday. >> and donald, there's a special tribute to your