| 1 | Donald Trump's increasingly emboldened campaign on Thursday shot back at criticism that he isn't a conservative, as it notched the coverage of another magazine cover story. |
| 2 | "I am a conservative person. I am by nature a conservative person," the outspoken billionaire said on MSNBC's "Morning Joe." |
| 3 | "I never looked at putting a label on myself, I wasn't in politics." |
| 4 | "But if you look at my general attitudes in life I would certainly have the more conservative label put on me," he added. |
| 5 | The comments came in response to remarks from GOP rival Jeb Bush made a day earlier, alleging that Trump wasn't a true Republican. |
| 6 | "He was a Democrat longer than he was a Republican," Bush said at a campaign event Wednesday night in New Hampshire. |
| 7 | "He's given more money to Democrats than he has to Republicans." |
| 8 | The two frontrunners have engaged in a war of words in recent weeks as they duke it out for prime positioning in polls in the race for the Republican presidential nomination. |
| 9 | Trump, however, has had the upper hand of late, consistently registering in first place in a slew of national polls and making the cover story of two national magazines - including one released Thursday. |
| 10 | Time magazine put a stern-looking Trump on the cover of its Aug. 31 issue with the words "Deal with it." |
| 11 | The cover story - the second this week, after The Hollywood Reporter - reiterates Trump's well-documented controversial opinions on immigration, Hillary Clinton and his rivals for the nomination, including a new target in Chris Christie. |
| 12 | "If I was the governor of New Jersey, the George Washington Bridge would not have been shut, if you talk about temperament," Trump said. |
| 13 | In his interview with The Hollywood Reporter, published online Wednesday, Trump touched on his views on Bruce Jenner, Bill Cosby and even Michael Bloomberg, saying the former New York mayor was sorely missed. |