Trump: Americans are 'tired of being the patsies'

The frontrunner Republican contender made the remarks while speaking at the National Federation of Republican Assemblies’ 2015 conference in Nashville, Tennessee, on Saturday.
 
“People in this country are smart,” he told the crowd. “There is a big, big, growing-by-leaps-and-bounds silent majority out there. [The 2016 race] is going to be an election based on competence.”
 
 The New York billionaire said his popularity is rising because he represents the Tea Party supporters ignored by Democrats and betrayed by Republicans.
 
 “I love the Tea Party,” Trump said. “You people have not been treated fairly. These are people who work hard and love their country, and then get beat up by the media. It’s disgusting.”
 
 “At least I have a microphone and can fight back,” he added.
 
Trump remains the frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination, despite making inflammatory comments about women and Mexican immigrants, calling them drug dealers and “rapists.”
 
According to the latest Quinnipiac polls released on Thursday, Trump is dominating the other GOP candidates with 28 percent voter support.
 
Pollsters say they have never seen anything like it. The real state mogul’s dominance of the Republican race is forcing political experts to change their minds and question whether everything they know about winning the presidential election is wrong.
 
As many as 17 Republicans are seeking their party’s nomination for president but only Trump, Scott Walker, Jeb Bush, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio are considered serious contenders.
 
Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton is competing against only three Democrats and one independent senator, Bernie Sanders, for the Democratic Party's nomination. Only Sanders is considered at all competitive in the early primaries.