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6 Terrifying Quotes From GOP Candidates’ Announcement Speeches

Who let these people run?

The Nation

June 17, 2015

Donald Trump announcing his campaign for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination.(Reuters/Brendan McDermid)

“Today, Donald Trump became the second major Republican candidate to announce for president in two days,” Democratic National Committee press secretary Holly Shulman said in a statement on June 16. “He adds some much-needed seriousness that has previously been lacking from the GOP field, and we look forward to hearing more about his ideas for the nation.”

1. “Our country needs a truly great leader, and we need a truly great leader now. We need a leader that wrote The Art of the Deal.   —Donald Trump

2. “It seems like liberals have so much compassion for the poor that they keep creating more of them.”   —George Pataki

3. “If you’re ready to join a grassroots army across this nation…I’m going to ask you to break a rule here today and to take out your cellphones, and to text the word ‘constitution’ to the number 33733. You can also text ‘imagine.’ We’re versatile.”   —Ted Cruz

4. “In this country of ours, the most improbable things can happen as well. Take that from a guy who met his first president on the day he was born, and his second on the day he was brought home from the hospital.”     —Jeb Bush

5. “But when I hear the current president say he wants Christians to get off their high horse so we can make nice with radical jihadists, I wonder if he could watch a western from the ’50s and be able to figure out who the good guys and bad guys really are!”    —Mike Huckabee

6. “Work is not punishment; work is the reward.”     —Rand Paul

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