Florida Sen. Marco Rubio drew the short straw Saturday at the South Carolina Freedom Summit without knowing it.

While he was speaking to a capacity crowd in Greenville, most of the press corps was clamoring for a glimpse at Donald Trump.

The real estate titan had just stumbled into the day's loudest and longest ovation by pledging never to let lobbyists get in the way of America's trade program under a President Trump.

'I don't give a sh*t about lobbyists!' he exclaimed.

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'I have the biggest crowds, I get the biggest standing ovations,' Trump said Saturday in Greenville, SC, 'and then I read these sleaze-bag reporters. And they say, "Donald Trump had a smattering of applause".' A smattering?

CREDENTIALS? Campaign staffers distributed postcards on Saturday showing a younger Trump with Ronald Reagan, the American political right's grandest hero

Moments earlier he had declared that President Barack Obama's nuclear negotiators are 'babies,' that accused military deserter Bowe Bergdahl is a 'piece of garbage,' and that 'sleaze-bag reporters' haven't given him a fair shake on the campaign trail.

By the time Trump was in the press room at the Peace Center, a gleaming downtown venue, Rubio was on stage – with journalists deserting him for a Trump gaggle.

The namesake of Trump Tower, Trump Hotels and Trump Collection neckties has stood out as a volatile yet entertaining mind, encroaching on the turf of more practiced politicians.

It's a role he seems to relish as much as he once enjoyed being a first-time reality television host, when 'The Apprentice' debuted in 2004.

SURPRISE: Donald Trump it pushing the boundaries of the Republican party's top presidential tier, according to right-wing movers and shakers

DOING IOWA IN STYLE? Trump's private Sikorsky helicopter could ferry him and his aides aroudn battleground states in style

He said in an interview Saturday that he likes being underestimated, 'although it doesn't happen much anymore.'

The impact of Trump's enormous 10-figure wealth hasn't been lost on America's political chattering class, which is anxiously waiting to see what he'll do with it.

Rep. Steve King, an Iowa conservative flamethrower, told Daily Mail Online on Friday that Trump 'could spend a billion dollars, and lose, and still be a billionaire.'

King insisted that the plainspoken tycoon will 'surprise everybody' and declare his presidential candidacy in the coming weeks.

'I'll just tell you: Trump's in,' King said. 'I know he's in. And I know he's going to be the most unconventional candidate we've had since, I don't know when.'

Trump told Daily Mail Online, though, that he hasn't told anyone in Iowa which way he's leaning.

TRUMP UNPLUGGED: THE SOUTH CAROLINA FREEDOM SUMMIT SPEECH ON CHINA: 'We're supposed to have free trade. It's a lot of crap. ... I would tax China, big-league. And I hope they don't behave.' ON BOEING: 'How 'bout Boeing, where they take all their technology? I love Boeing, and you love Boeing. Boeing is great. I happen to own a Boeing.' ON IRAN NUCLEAR TALKS: 'This deal with Iran is a disaster. I wrote a book called "The Art of the Deal," which I think everyone in this room has read. Except for the people who are negotiating for us. They're babies.' State Department deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf ON THE OBAMA STATE DEPARTMENT'S DEPUTY SPOKESWOMAN: 'Marie Harf is very nice. I love her glasses. Those big, beautiful glasses.' ON GENDER EQUALITY IN THE FAR EAST: 'What you do is, you go in and you say, "Fellas!" Now, in all fairness to the ladies, they're all fellas on the other side. They haven't figured out that the ladies are smarter than the men. They haven't. In about 150 years they'll figure that out.' ON CLIMATE CHANGE: 'Obama talks about global warming as if it's the biggest problem we have in the whole world! Tell Tom Brady, who had 12 feet of snow in front of his house in Boston, about global warming. He can't get out! Then they'll say, "Oh, but that's local." ... They had global warming. That didn't work. It got too cold. It's true. They then had climate change. That wasn't going great. But now they came up with a beauty: extreme weather. Did you ever notice? That's the new word.' WHAT HE WOULD TELL FORD ABOUT ITS NEW $2.5 BILLION PLANT IN MEXICO: '"I'm going to charge you 35 per cent for every car, or truck, or part made in that factory. And you're going to pay it." ... Here's what's going to happen: The lobbyists are going to come and see me. But I don't give a sh*t about lobbyists. I don't care. So the lobbyists will come and see – me!' Robert Bergdahl, father of the accused Army deserter Bowe Bergdahl ON BERGDAHL'S FATHER: 'When I saw his father standing with Obama, I said "Whoa! Whoa whoa whoa! I love the guys at Duck Dynasty. They stay at my luxury hotels. But this did not look like Duck Dynasty, guys".' ON SUPER PACS: 'I don't need PACs. I use my own money.' ON POLITICAL JOURNALISTS: 'I have the biggest crowds, I get the biggest standing ovations, and then I read these sleaze-bag reporters. And they say, "Donald Trump had a smattering of applause." A smattering – and they'll say about some guy that's a loser politician that's up and nobody's even watching him, "He gave a brilliant speech!" They're very dishonest.' ON AMERICA'S SOUTHERN BORDER: 'Mexico will not be taking advantage of us. They will not be having open borders. And the greatest builder is me. And I would build the greatest wall you have ever seen. The greatest. And just to finish, you know who's going to pay for the wall? Mexico. With all the money that they have taken from us.' Advertisement

CONSERVATIVES: Trump (left) has become close with David Bossie (right), the president of Citizens United

THE CAMPAIGN BUS: Trump bought his private Boeing 757 in February, 2011 for about $100 million from Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, outfitting it with 24-karat gold plated seat-belt buckles

Few of the state's airport runways can accommodate Trump's private Boeing 757, but King predicted he will embrace a 'big plane, little plane' approach.

'He's got a little plane,' King said. 'And a helicopter. That helicopter will be in Iowa. Heck, he could visit all 99 counties in about 3 days.'

Trump owns a top-of-the-line Sikorsky S-76, and hired aircraft interior designer Eric Roth to trick it out.

Citizens United president David Bossie, the host of Saturday's summit, said in an interview that Trump is among a handful of declared and prospective presidential candidates who most closely resonate with his group's members.

'I like Donald Trump. I do. I like him,' Bossie said. 'I think he's somebody who the American people appreciate because of his straight-forward-speak.'

'He's not of Washington. He says it like he sees it. You may not agree with him, but he doesn't make it up.'

IT'S HUGE! 'I don't need PACs,' says Trump, 'I use my own money'

Bossie also named Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and retired tech executive Carly Fiorina to his presidential A-team.

Trump told Daily Mail Online that he likes Walker, and that Walker likes him – although he couldn't put his finger on why.

'He came up to my office and actually gave me a plaque' a few weeks ago, Trump said.

Ask what it was for, he raised his eyebrows and stared into the distance.

'He just walked up and gave me a beautiful plaque for my wall,' Trump said.

'I don't know. I helped him. But Wisconsin has a lot of problems.'