Word of caution to Trump if you truly are thinking about running as a Republican, the words “very nice” should never, ever, ever, ever, ever be used to describe Harry Reid.

(The Hill) — Real estate mogul Donald Trump expressed some measure of affection for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), while seeking to explain contributions to the top Senate Democrat.

Trump, who’s mulling a run for the Republican presidential nomination next year, said his contributions to Reid, as well as other Democrats over the years, are attributable to his business practices and not to politics.

“Harry Reid was always very nice, and he was always very nice to me,” Trump said in an interview with the Des Moines Register published Thursday. “He asked me for a contribution, a couple of friends of mine that are out there, very good friends of mine that are big developers out there asked me to contribute, and again, I was in the world of business, and I made a contribution to him.”

Trump’s made a play for the Republican nomination by offering no-holds-barred criticism of Obama and the Democratic president’s policies. And to a degree, it’s succeeded; polls show Trump at or near the top of the pack of the Republican primary field.

But conservatives have their suspicions. The fiscally conservative Club for Growth has gone on the attack this week against Trump, calling him a “liberal” and dredging up Trump’s past support of the bailouts for GM and Chrysler and also his occasional use of eminent domain to advance his real estate business.