REPORTER: Rand Paul spent three days here in New Hampshire and he spent those days criticizing you.



DONALD TRUMP: Well, that's because --



REPORTER: What did you do to tick him off?



TRUMP: Yes. No, Rand Paul -- you have to understand -- is a disaster in the polls. He's a disaster on military and defense. He is getting decimated by everybody. And other than giving him a lot of money for an eye center at his request -- he asked me, could I have money? I said, absolutely. Because I thought it was worthwhile. But I gave him a lot of money for an eye center, which is very hypocritical when you think of it. But other than giving him a tremendous amount of money for his eye center, which I'm happy about, frankly, because I'm sure they do good work, I hope they do good work, he is doing so badly that he figures he has to attack Trump because I'm leading by a lot everywhere.



And I don't mind. I think he's -- he is never going to make it. Never going to make it. Can't make it. Got the wrong message. I mean, this is not a time to be weak on defense. Okay? And I'm the opposite. I want to make our military so strong, so powerful, so great that nobody is going to mess with us. And I want to take care of our vets who are treated like third-class citizens. You know, two weeks ago on Wednesday, our vets, as you know -- you probably reported on it, because you have a big problem here with vets that are not taken care of properly. Our vets had the longest wait in the history of the V.A., waiting for doctors in rooms. They wait four, five, six days. And in one case, they waited five days and the doctor said, sorry, I'm going on vacation now.



So our politicians all talk, no action. They're all the same. Our politicians have let the vets down. Rand Paul has let the vets down. He has let the vets down. You know, I don't blame him. He is doing so poorly in the polls so he attacks the person -- you know, hey, look, I've been attack now by Perry of Texas. And he went peeing like a rocket ship except in the wrong direction. I was attacked by Lindsey Graham. And he had two points. Now he has zero. Now, Rand Paul has very few points. But I think he's going down, too. I will say one further thing about Rand Paul then let's not waste a lot of time. But Rand Paul is using the people of Kentucky.



Either run for Senate and do a good job or run for president. You don't run for president and by the way, if I don't make it, I will become your senator reluctantly. If I were somebody -- a good, strong Republican from Kentucky, I would run against him in a heartbeat. And you would win. Because the people of Kentucky are being used by Rand Paul. Now, think of it. They're saying is, oh, if he doesn't make it, we will take him. That's not the way it works. The people of Kentucky should get a senator that wants to represent them, not a senator where it's a backup plan. So, if I was in Kentucky, I would run against him. Believe me, I would win.