{"id":75265,"date":"2019-02-25T11:04:05","date_gmt":"2019-02-25T19:04:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/69.46.6.243\/?p=75265"},"modified":"2019-02-25T11:04:05","modified_gmt":"2019-02-25T19:04:05","slug":"president-trump-at-2019-governors-ball","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/?p=75265","title":{"rendered":"President Trump at 2019 Governors\u2019 Ball"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Washington, DC&#8230;Thank you very much, everybody.  This is an honor.  Fifty-nine governors.  Think of that.  But we actually have \u2014 we added a few from the islands, so we broke it down to 49.  But we love to exaggerate just a little bit.  (Laughter.)  This has been a \u2014 really, a great couple of days.  We\u2019ve had a lot of fun together.  And it\u2019s been, you know, very special.  We\u2019ve gotten to know each other.  We\u2019ve gotten to like each other, in almost all cases.  Let\u2019s see \u2014 one or two cases.  Every case, I would say.  (Laughter.)  Every single case.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/28bX34pBkTs\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>I just want to thank Vice President Mike Pence and our Second Lady, Karen.  (Applause.)  Thank you very much.  Thank you, Mike, very much.  And I especially want to thank our really great Cabinet for being here.  We have most members of the Cabinet, and our great new Attorney General.  And, Bill Barr and Mrs. Barr, thank you very much.  (Applause.)  Thank you.<\/p>\n<p>I could say this: Our country is doing very, very well.  We are doing record business.  We\u2019re doing record employment.  Right now, we have the most people working in our country than ever in the history of our country.  Close to 160 million people.  (Applause.)  And that\u2019s a big \u2014 that\u2019s a big thing.<\/p>\n<p>And I\u2019ll give you a little advance information.  I see Steve Mnuchin is here, and Ambassador Lighthizer.  We just left a big meeting with China, and we just put out a statement, and we\u2019re doing very well with China.  It was a long weekend.  They decided to stay for two and a half more days.  They\u2019ll probably be leaving late tonight; they\u2019re going back.  And if all works well, we\u2019re going to have some very big news over the next week or two.<\/p>\n<p>And it\u2019s really been terrific, I tell you.  That whole relationship has been outstanding.  We put ourselves into a position of strength for the first time in about 35 years, or probably a lot more than that.<\/p>\n<p>But China has been terrific.  We want to make a deal that\u2019s great for both countries.  And that\u2019s really what we\u2019re going to be doing.  And I think it\u2019s going to \u2014 as governors \u2014 most of you, or many of you are governors, and doing an incredible job.  And so many have come up and said, \u201cHow are you doing with China?\u201d  Which is a very unusual question for people to come and ask \u2014 almost every one.  \u201cSir, how are you doing with China?\u201d  Because it affects your state so much.  China is everywhere.  And I think you\u2019ll be very \u2014 really amazed with what you see.  Maybe.  Let\u2019s see what happens.  We still have a little ways to go.  Would you say that\u2019s correct, Mr. Ambassador?  We have a little bit.<\/p>\n<p>But I want to thank you, Bob.  You\u2019ve been working 24 hours around the clock.  And I will say this publicly: When I was able to be lucky enough to win the presidency, I called Bob Lighthizer because, for years, people have known he\u2019s the greatest trader that we have on this type of trade.  We have many different types of trade.  And I really understand now why.  Thank you very much.  Fantastic job.  (Applause.)  And Steve.  Thank you.<\/p>\n<p>And also, I was going to leave very early tomorrow, but now I\u2019m going to do it a little bit later.  I had an option to do it at six in the morning or eleven.  (Laughter.)  And I chose 11.  This way we can spend a little bit of time with you tomorrow morning, because you\u2019re having a breakfast.  And I\u2019ll come to the breakfast.  But literally, I said, \u201cWhat kind of an option is that?  I can leave at six in the morning or eleven?\u201d  They said, \u201cYou can leave at six or anywhere between eleven and twelve.\u201d  I said, \u201cI\u2019ll take eleven to twelve.\u201d  (Laughter.)  But you\u2019re having a breakfast tomorrow, so I\u2019ll be with you at the breakfast.<\/p>\n<p>But we\u2019ll be leaving for Hanoi, Vietnam, and we\u2019ll be meeting with Kim Jong Un.  It\u2019s a very interesting thing to say, but I\u2019ve developed a very, very good relationship.  We\u2019ll see what that means.  But he\u2019s never had a relationship with anybody from this country, and hasn\u2019t had lots of relationships anywhere.  And I always say \u2014 you know, the media sometimes will say, \u201cWell, what have they given up?\u201d  We\u2019ve given up nothing.  The sanctions are on.  Everything is on.  But we have a special feeling, and I think it\u2019s going to lead to something very good, and maybe not.  I think ultimately it will, but maybe not.<\/p>\n<p>And I\u2019m not pushing for speed, but we\u2019re not removing the sanctions.  And we\u2019re going to have, I think, a very interesting two and a half days in Vietnam.  And we have a chance for the total denuclearization of an area of the world that was very dangerous.<\/p>\n<p>When I first came in, or, really, more particularly, at the end of the last administration, there were rockets going up, there were missiles going up.  There were bombs going off.  There were massive cannons being tested.  If you ever saw the picture of the beach, I\u2019ve never seen anything like it, where you had, literally, thousands of cannons on the beach, shooting out into the waters.  And there was nuclear testing.  In fact, they thought it was earthquakes.  They said they were massive earthquakes, and then they realized it was North Korea.  They said, \u201cWow, I think it\u2019s maybe not an earthquake.\u201d  Now there\u2019s no testing, there\u2019s no rockets.  There\u2019s no nuclear testing.  And we get along well.  Very well.<\/p>\n<p>So it\u2019ll be very interesting to see.  And as I tell Chairman Kim, he has a chance to have a country that is so vibrant, economically.  Maybe one of the most in the world.  He\u2019s got a location that\u2019s unbelievable.  As a real-estate person, I\u2019ve always done very well with location.  But he\u2019s right between China, Russia, and then on the other side, South Korea.  So they can\u2019t touch each other unless they go through North Korea.<\/p>\n<p>And I say, \u201cYou have one of the greatest locations.\u201d  They have incredible people.  Hardworking people.  Smart, energetic.  And I think it can be, really, one of the great \u2014 one of the great financial and economic countries anywhere in the world.  So I tell him that.  I said, \u201cBut you can\u2019t do that if you\u2019re going to keep nuclear.  If you do nuclear, that can\u2019t ever happen.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And we see eye to eye, I believe.  But you\u2019ll be seeing it more and more over the next couple of days, one way or the other.  What\u2019s going to happen?  I can\u2019t tell you.  I think eventually it would, but I can\u2019t tell you.  And I\u2019m not in a rush.  I don\u2019t want to rush anybody.  I just don\u2019t want testing.  As long as there\u2019s no testing, we\u2019re happy.<\/p>\n<p>And so we\u2019ve done really something, I think, very special with respect to North Korea.  And it\u2019s a long flight, and I\u2019ll be back at the end of the week.  But we have two very interesting days planned, and I think it\u2019s a very important \u2014 it\u2019s a very important thing.<\/p>\n<p>Prime Minister Abe of Japan said he can\u2019t believe what\u2019s happened in such a short period of time, because rockets were being fired over Japan \u2014 rockets and missiles.  Both.  And now that hasn\u2019t happened in a long time \u2014 16 months, 17 months.  No more testing.  No more rockets.  No more checking to see whether or not this stuff works.<\/p>\n<p>So you\u2019ll be seeing it, and I think it\u2019s going to be very interesting for people to see.  But there\u2019s a chance to do something very, very special.  It\u2019s very exciting.  And likewise, if we can do the great economic deal, it would be the largest trade deal ever made, by far, if you look at it \u2014 our deal with China.  And we truly are very close.<\/p>\n<p>So those are a couple of very interesting things.<\/p>\n<p>But our country is doing incredibly well, economically.  We\u2019ve picked up, in terms of value \u2014 worth \u2014 $18 trillion.  Now, China \u2014 and I don\u2019t want this \u2014 but China has lost about $24 trillion.  So they were catching us, catching us, catching us.  And now we\u2019ve zoomed out.  And I can say this: As long as I\u2019m President, they\u2019re not going to catch us, and they\u2019re going to do well.  But I want them to do well, but they\u2019re not going to catch us.<\/p>\n<p>So I just want to give a toast to the incredible people in this room and to our unbelievable country.  We have a very, very special country.  I want to thank our First Lady for having done \u2014 this is a such a beautiful job.  So, Melania, I just want to thank you very much.  (Applause.)  I want to thank you.<\/p>\n<p>And I would like to ask Governor Bullock to come up please, from a very special place that I like very much, for the obvious reason.  And perhaps you could give a toast.  Please.  Thank you, Governor.  Thank you very much.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Washington, DC&#8230;Thank you very much, everybody. This is an honor. Fifty-nine governors. Think of that. But we actually have \u2014 we added a few from the islands, so we broke it down to 49. But we love to exaggerate just a little bit. (Laughter.) This has been a \u2014 really, a great couple of days. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13330,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_cbd_carousel_blocks":"[]","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,5,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-75265","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-government","category-news","last_archivepost"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/whitehouselogo200.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75265","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=75265"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75265\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13330"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=75265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=75265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=75265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}