MSNBC/screenshot
Tamron Hall interviews Donald Trump.
"First time in my 30 years on television. You're talking about a P-word and it's not 'policy,'" Hall told Trump in New Hampshire, which is holding its primary Tuesday.
"We were having a lot of fun last night," Trump replied.
"I was repeating something that somebody said from the audience," he offered. "And it was cute. I mean, the whole place gave a standing ovation. They were a lot of fun. We didn't want to be too politically correct - not the worst thing."
At a Monday-night rally in Manchester, New Hampshire, Trump told his supporters he was surprised Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) was not more supportive of waterboarding. An audience member apparently shouted out the vulgar insult, which Trump repeated from the stage while jokingly "reprimanding" his supporter for saying such a "terrible" thing.
Hall asked Trump what he sees "as presidential," given that some of President Barack Obama's critics took offense when he was photographed with his feet up on his Oval Office desk.
"Many would say: What will Donald Trump do to the presidency if he's willing to, on stage, say something like that - and other comments that I could laundry-list here?" she told Trump.
Trump said he didn't see any problem with Obama trying to be comfortable in the White House. He also suggested that he was in the middle of a competitive primary and he had to be an "extremely high-energy" candidate in order to stand out from the crowded GOP field.
He said:
When you get to be president - or just before you get to be president - the attitude would change very much. I mean, I was good student at the best school and all of that. My uncle was a professor at MIT for many years. I know exactly what I have to do.
But right now we're in a very combative stage. And we also want to have a little fun. You know the word "politically correct," I mean, everybody wants to be so totally politically correct. And honestly it's a problem for our country. I mean, we're doing things that we shouldn't be doing.
Hall continued pressing Trump on the topic.
"What do you mean when you say 'politically correct'? What does that mean - not saying that word in a public place?" she asked.
"That word was really sort of a repeat of a word that somebody else was saying," he replied. "But I think that the political correctness in our country right now is too much."
Later in the interview, Hall returned to the topic of profanity. She pointed out that Trump would bring his Bible to rallies in Iowa in order to court the evangelical voting bloc there:
Who is the real Donald Trump? Is he the guy saying the P-word where he knows he can get away with it at this raucous rally? Or is he the guy thumpin' the Bible because he needs that group? And then will he be the guy later in a general election who becomes the New York liberal that Ted Cruz says you are really hiding under your suit?
"I'll tell you who the real Donald Trump is," the candidate replied. "I am the one that is going to make America great again. That's what it is."