Donald Trump Responds to Curbelo's Conspiracy Theory by Sounding Like Bernie Sanders

Donald Trump is none too popular with Hispanics voters right now thanks to his comments about Mexican immigrants. So much so that Cuban-American Republican Rep. Carlos Curbelo is now widely theorizing in interviews with Spanish-language media that Trump may actually be a secret Democratic plant working to tarnish the reputation of the Republican party. 

"I think there's a small possibility that this gentleman is a phantom candidate," Curbelo told a Miami radio station. "Mr. Trump has a close friendship with Bill and Hillary Clinton. They were at his last wedding. He has contributed to the Clintons' foundation. He has contributed to Mrs. Clinton's Senate campaigns. All of this is very suspicious." 

Trump called into Fox and Friends this morning, and the hosts asked him to respond to Curbelo's theory. 

Trump responded by saying something you're not likely to hear again on Fox News: that big corporate donors are a big problem in our political system. 

The part in question starts at around the 5:45 mark in the video below. 
"She's my worst night..." Trump said, referring to Hillary, before rephrasing his remarks. "From Hillary's standpoint the one person she doesn't want running against her is Donald Trump."

Trump then explained that as a businessman he's contributed to everybody. (However, since 2012, those donations have clearly tipped widely in favor of Republicans.)

"When I need Hillary, she was there. If I say go to my wedding, they go to my wedding," Trump continued.

The hosts giggle, but Trump then launched into a rant that left the hosts stone-faced. It sounded more like something you'd hear out of Bernie Sanders than a Republican. 

"That's part of the problem with our system, because they're going to do for me and all their donors things that aren't necessarily good for the country but they're good for their donors." 

Trump then needled in on Jeb Bush, lest the Fox News watchers thought this was just a problem among Democrats. 

"As an example, Jeb Bush will never produce a job in his life. Forget it. You're kidding yourself if you think he will. Can you imagine him negotiating with China? I can't." 

"So listen to this. He raised $100 million dollars. Everybody that's given him money expects something. There's not one person that gave him money that isn't expecting something. And a lot of those things may not be good for the country. They're only good for the donor, for the lobbyist, for the special interest. So when I hear he raised $100 million, because I think differently than other people, when I hear he raised $100 million that says to me that lots of things are gonna be done for lots of people, and that's very bad. That's not a good thing for the country." 

The hosts don't indulge Trump in his attack on big-money politics as usual, and instead get Trump to play "the name game." 

Trump's point isn't exactly a retaliatory secret. Everyone know this to be true to some extent.

This is actually one of the central planks of Socialist-turned-Democrat Bernie Sanders' quest for the Democratic nomination (and the dude's entire political career). 

"The billionaire class now owns the economy, and they are working day and night to make certain that they own the United States government," Sanders has said. 

It's just not something you hear very often in the mainstream media. Especially on Fox News. Especially by a man running for the Republican nomination for president. 

Trump so far is paying for his own campaign, so he's more free than others to spout this, and it may score him populist points. 

Of course, that doesn't mean what Donald Trump thinks is good for the country is necessarily what would be good for the country, and even a broken clock is right twice a day. 

And, hey, maybe Trump taking a page out of Sander's anti-big-money-donors playbook doesn't necessarily disprove Curbelo's assertion that he's a Democratic plant.