The feud between Rosie O'Donnell and Donald Trump keeps raging on. Now the Trump kids are weighing.
Ivanka and Donald Trump, Jr., told Joe Scarborough their father simply speaks his mind and that O'Donnell's argument doesn't make sense to them. The young Trumps also talked about the new season of "The Apprentice," and said growing up Trump doesn't mean they were spoiled.
You can read a transcript of their conversation below.
SCARBOROUGH: It seems to me that, when you talk about this feud between Rosie and your father, the reason they love your father is because he'll say whatever is on his mind, even if it‘s insulting to Rosie O‘Donnell. Talk about that.
DONALD TRUMP, JR., DONALD TRUMP'S SON: Well, that's exactly what it is. He doesn't care. I mean, I guess the biggest misconception about the whole thing is that she got up there and told a bunch of lies about him on TV, for really no reason, because she disagreed with a decision he made about, you know, Tara Conner and Miss USA.
You know, she can disagree, but to then go and say he's fat, he's chubby, he's got bad hair, he's gone bankrupt, none of those things, you know, are true, especially the bankruptcy part, which is, you know, something personal to him, because of the work ethic.
You know, he's going to go after someone. He has the ability to attack them, probably even a much better venue than she has, because she's got "The View." And other than that, no one really cares.
You know, he has the ability to get on that show, to get on every other show there is in the world, and talk about her and criticize her. If you're a good friend to him, he's going to be the best friend you'll ever have back, perhaps almost too good a friend back, for no real reason.
If you're going to cross him, though, you've got to be able to, you know, reap the whirlwind, because he's going to go after you. And he doesn't pull any punches.
IVANKA TRUMP, DONALD TRUMP'S DAUGHTER: And I don't fully understand the whole concept behind her argument. The whole foundation was built on the fact that she had a problem with my father giving this girl a second chance. I think her whole stint on "The View" is, quite frankly, a second chance for Rosie. So she of all people, I would think, would almost be appreciative of that decision.
SCARBOROUGH: I think what makes him such a success is, in a world where politicians don‘t shoot straight, where people on the news seem to hedge, your father tells people exactly what he believes, and that's what people love about him so much, isn't it?
TRUMP, JR.: Yes, I mean, he's really a no-holds-barred kind of person. He's that way with the people on "The Apprentice." He's that way with us, working for him. You know, with him, what you see is what you get, and I think that's what makes him endearing to people.
He's not one of these political figures that really has to cage all their comments so as not to offend one person in the middle of Guam, and I'll get criticized for saying that, because someone in Guam is going to take offense to that. He doesn't care.
He says what he wants. You saw it with Rosie, as we talked about it a little while ago. You know, he'll go after someone. If they attack him, he now has the ability to strike back, also.
So these, you know, people that have their shows, they have a venue to kind of talk down to people, but no one else has the ability to strike back. He has that ability, and he'll go after them.
I mean, we've said it. You know, he's the best friend you could possibly imagine, and he's the worst enemy you'd ever want to have. So he can be—there is no middle ground with him. He says what he feels, and people love that about him.
IVANKA TRUMP: He actually says exactly what other people wish they had the courage to say, which I think is another reason people really enjoy watching him, because they're thinking it, but may not have had the courage to actually verbalize it.
SCARBOROUGH: Talk about this season. And, Ivanka, we'll start with you. Talk about the season. What's going to be different when my family tunes into "The Apprentice" and watches the first episode this year?
IVANKA TRUMP: Well, there are sort of a lot of twists and turns this year in the formatting, the involvement of Don and myself, the increased involvement of Don and ourselves, but mainly also being out in California.
It's a lot of fun; it's a whole different environment; it affords us the ability to do very interesting tasks that involve, you know, major Hollywood studios, film, et cetera, et cetera. So there are a lot of twists and turns that they‘re going to have to tune into, your children, that is, this season.
But I've had, personally, a lot of fun working on it. I really think it's the best season we've had thus far.
SCARBOROUGH: Even before talking to you today, I looked at both of you and said, "You know, these people seem confident. They don't seem like arrogant punks. They seem to be respectful of other people."
What did your father do growing up to—while you were in his shadow, to give you that sort of confidence, to go out there in front of the American people, and say, "I don‘t care what you think about me. I'm going on this show with my father, and I‘m going to do the best job I can do?"
DONALD TRUMP, JR.: I think what it really was is that, you know, we were spoiled the right way. People always say, "Well, you know, how do you have that kind of demeanor? How do you treat others the way you do? You don't have this arrogance that you see so much in, I guess, you know, children of celebrities."
And I guess it was, we were always raised with a really strong work ethic. Anything we ever wanted, we had to earn, as opposed to be spoon fed. From day one, if we wanted something, if Nintendo was the hot thing that year, you know, if we wanted it, we weren't just given it and said, "OK, here, clean your room and we'll get it."
I mean, we were given goals, and we had to accomplish those things over months. Usually by the time we'd got to where we needed to be and accomplished that goal, whatever we wanted was no longer even in vogue any more. So it wasn't just, you know, clean your room and, here, you can have whatever you want. It was, really, you know, set a goal, achieve it over time, and you'll get what you want.
And so, you know, we learned that we could get whatever we wanted in life by doing that and really having that work ethic.
IVANKA TRUMP: We've always had access to the most beautiful homes, the best education, planes, et cetera, et cetera, but we've always known that it is not ours and can never be ours unless we work for it. So, fine, we can ride on our father's plane when we're with our father, but if we're by ourselves, he's not going to just give us his plane.
So it's an interesting thing to have experienced such sort of levels of luxury but know that it's not really your own. So it's actually very motivating.
DONALD TRUMP, JR.: It's a great motivator, because we want it.
IVANKA TRUMP: We know what we want, but we know how much work it will take to get there.