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Not Bush? Not Romney? Who does Donald Trump like for president in 2016?

At a Republican event Saturday in Iowa, the business mogul and reality TV star Donald Trump revealed who he thinks best belongs in the White House.

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Jim Young/Reuters
At the Freedom Summit in Des Moines, Iowa, Jan. 24, businessman Donald Trump reveals his latest intention to run for president.

The Donald is gunning for the top – again.

At a high-profile Republican event held Saturday in Des Moines, Iowa, the business mogul announced that he might once more make a bid for chief of state, this time in 2016.

"I am seriously thinking of running for president," Mr. Trump said as he took the stage at the Iowa Freedom Summit. "We have a presidential election coming up. We have some good people – nobody like Trump, of course."

To an audience of about 1,200, Trump dismissed Mitt Romney and Jeb Bush as potential candidates. Both men have expressed interest in exploring White House campaigns and are considered frontrunners for the GOP.

“It can’t be Mitt, because he ran and failed,” Trump said to an applauding crowd. “He choked.”

And as for Mr. Bush? Trump denounced the former Florida governor for his support for the Common Core education standards and his moderate stance on illegal immigration. Trump also criticized Bush’s brother, former president George W. Bush, for being the man who “gave us Obama,” according to the LA Times.

“The last thing we need is another Bush,” he said.

What may be most telling is that this audience seemed to agree with Trump, especially of his assessment of Jeb Bush and Mitt Romney. 

Nor did Trump stop at criticizing the competition; he slammed Republicans in Congress as well, saying, “I'm very disappointed by our Republican politicians, because they let the president get away with absolute murder.”

Trump, a multimillion-dollar magnate known for his real estate investments and his role in the reality television show “The Apprentice,” has toyed with running for president six times since 1988. Why would 2016 be any different?

He told ABC News that this time he is “in a great position from every standpoint. My children are in executive positions. And from every standpoint I'm in a great position.” Trump adds that that if elected, he would build a US-Mexico border fence and would not cut Social Security.

In an interview with the Des Moines Register, Trump also said that had he taken his 2012 bid seriously, he could have easily beaten President Obama.

“I was leading in every poll... I regret that I didn't stay in," he told the Register. "I would've won the race against Obama. He would've been easy.”

Other speakers at the summit included Republican hopefuls such as former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, former Alaska governor. Sarah Palin, and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who received a warm welcome.

Neither Bush nor Mr. Romney were in attendance.

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