After first jumping up into the top tier of the polls in the Republican race for the White House, now Donald Trump can say he may well be the GOP frontrunner, as he used a talk radio interview on Friday to happily mark how he's rocketed ahead of his Republican rivals.
"Did you see the Fox poll that came out last night?" Trump asked talk show host Herman Cain, referring to the second national poll in recent days that shows Trump ahead of the GOP pack.
"We're number one now, big - in a couple of them," Trump said with what sounded like a big smile on his face.
In his interview with Cain, Trump acknowledged that he was taken aback by the attacks against him in the early days of his campaign.
"I expected attacks, but I didn't think it would be this vicious," Trump said, drawing laughter from Cain, who also sparred with the news media during his own 2012 run for President.
"The funny thing is, it shows how weak these people are," Trump added, jabbing at the media, accusing reporters of twisting his remarks on illegal immigration.
Cain asked Trump to weigh in on a series of issues; Trump gave a 35,000 foot review of what he supports, tax simplification, less government spending, a bigger defense budget and job creation.
Trump said if nothing is done about the growing national debt, the U.S. would turn into "Greece on steroids."
Asked about U.S. relations with Russia, Trump showed off his self-confident nature.
"I think I would get along great with Putin to be honest with you," Trump said of the Russian leader. "He hates Obama."
As for his fellow Republican candidates for President, Trump name-checked only one of them, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who has been the target of a number of barbs from the businessman-turned-candidate.
"Jeb Bush will not be a good negotiator for trade pacts, that I can tell you," Trump said to Cain.
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