NEW YORK, NY — Speaking in front of Trump Tower on Monday, real estate mogul and reality television star Donald Trump said that The Avengers are only superheroes because the government recruited and trained them, and they shouldn’t be celebrated just because they’ve saved the world from numerous terrestrial, extraterrestrial and extra-dimensional catastrophes.

“These quote-unquote ‘superheroes’ are just another group of non-hard-working, non-job-creating moochers taking handouts from the bloated, over-regulated government,” he said. “I’ve met Tony Stark, he’s a nice guy, but he’s no hero. Hulk? Put a shirt on! A bunch of liberal-media-darlings, put together by ‘Comrade’ Nick Fury to take the focus off the real heroes: millionaires creating American jobs by building golf courses in other countries.”

“This Captain America guy,” he continued. “I don’t know about you, but when I see somebody wearing an American flag, I think, ‘What’s he getting at? Isn’t he trying a little hard?’”

He adjusted his American flag lapel pin and added: “And his buddy, The Falcon? I just don’t trust him. Can’t say why. That’s not racist; it’s just the truth, and I challenge you to prove otherwise.”

Trump’s comments follow a series of campaign gaffes that the Repulican Party is trying to distance themselves from: his contention that Mexicans are violent rapists; his insensitive comments about Senator John McCain; and his proposal to rename the lower East Side “Trumplandia East.”

Despite the huge swaths of people calling his actions “unpresidential,” “dead wrong,” and “demonstrably, medically stupid,” Trump still has many ardent supporters. These Trumpiacs love The Donald for “telling it like it is” and refusing to bow to the demands political correctness or even marginal human decency.

“He doesn’t sound like a politician,” said one attendee at the press conference, wearing a green-and-yellow jumpsuit and holding a The Donald is the Real The Vision, in Terms of His Ideas for the Future of America sign. “He doesn’t tell people what they want to hear. He doesn’t say things that are popular. He doesn’t have real plans for the country. He doesn’t have any experience, and the more he appears in public the less qualified he seems. That’s why he keeps rising in the polls! He’s just what America needs! Hail Hydra!”

He added: “I mean, Hail Donald!”

When asked if he’d apologize for his comments about The Avengers, Trump doubled down: “If the Avengers are real heroes, they’ll do what’s right for America and support me, Donald Trump, the only candidate who has a real plan for making this country great again.”

“Or,” he continued, “at the very least, then can appear on my new show, The Super Apprentice, which I’ll probably be announcing pretty soon after the first Republican debate.”