{"id":75643,"date":"2019-03-04T09:30:34","date_gmt":"2019-03-04T17:30:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/69.46.6.243\/?p=75643"},"modified":"2019-03-04T09:30:34","modified_gmt":"2019-03-04T17:30:34","slug":"president-trump-at-the-2019-conservative-political-action-conference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/?p=75643","title":{"rendered":"President Trump at the 2019 Conservative Political Action Conference"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>National Harbor, MD&#8230;Oh, thank you very much. Thank you very much. And thank you very much also to a man named Matt Schlapp. What a job he\u2019s done. (Applause.) And to CPAC \u2014 I actually started quite a while ago at CPAC, and came here \u2014 probably made my first real political speech. And I enjoyed it so much that I came back for a second one, then a third. Then I said, what the hell, let\u2019s run for President. Right? (Applause.) But it\u2019s wonderful to be back with so many great patriots, old friends, and brave young conservatives. What a future you have. (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/xeAxdxAxdmU\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Our movement and our future in our country is unlimited. What we\u2019ve done together has never been done in the history maybe of beyond of country, maybe in the history of the world. They came from the mountains and the valleys and the cities. They came from all over. And what we did in 2016 \u2014 the Election, we call it, with a capital \u201cE\u201d \u2014 it\u2019s never been done before. And we\u2019re going to do it, I think, again in 2020, and the numbers are going to be even bigger. (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>AUDIENCE: USA! USA! USA!<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT: And we all had to endure, as I was running. So you had 17 Republicans, plus me. (Laughter.) And I was probably more of a conservative than a Republican. People just didn\u2019t quite understand that. They didn\u2019t understand it.<\/p>\n<p>I think now, with what we\u2019ve done with the judiciary and so many other things, I think they get it very well. And it\u2019s driving the other side crazy. (Applause.) But we all had to endure, remember? How many times did you hear, for months and months, \u201cThere is no way to 270\u201d? You know what that means, right? \u201cThere is no way to 270.\u201d They couldn\u2019t get me there. We might as well have just given up. But there wasn\u2019t any way to 270.<\/p>\n<p>In fact, I actually went up to Maine to get one, and I did win the one. But we didn\u2019t need the one. (Applause.) We didn\u2019t need it. We won Maine. We won our half of Maine, remember? You have Nebraska. We won both in Nebraska. We won the half we had to win in Maine. So we got the one, but we didn\u2019t need the one, because we didn\u2019t get 270; we got 306 to 223. (Applause.) 223-306.<\/p>\n<p>A state called Wisconsin, a state called \u2014 (applause) \u2014 Michigan, where \u2014 by the way, where Fiat Chrysler just announced a $4.5 billion incredible \u2014 (applause) \u2014 expansion and new plant, doubling their workforce. Many, many car companies have moved back to Michigan and are continuing to do so. (Applause.) Big numbers. Nobody every thought they\u2019d see that happen.<\/p>\n<p>So I think we\u2019re going to do even better in 2020. I think we\u2019re going to do numbers that people haven\u2019t seen for a long time. (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>The men and women here today are on the frontlines of protecting America\u2019s interests, defending America\u2019s value, and reclaiming our nation\u2019s priceless heritage. It\u2019s true. (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>With your help, we are reversing decades of blunders and betrayals. These are serious, serious betrayals to our nation and to everything we stand for. It\u2019s been done by the failed ruling class that enriched foreign countries at our expense. It wasn\u2019t \u201cAmerica first.\u201d In many cases, it was \u201cAmerica last.\u201d Those days are over. Long over. (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>America is winning again. (Applause.) America is respected again. (Applause.) And the world knows it. When I meet with prime ministers, when I meet with presidents \u2014 and I get along with them \u2014 because they know that what\u2019s taken place over many years \u2014 not just the Obama administration; long before that \u2014 they can\u2019t believe, themselves, that they got away with it. They can\u2019t believe it. An impossible thing. And they like me. (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>And the reason they like me \u2014 they tell me; they say, \u201cMr. President\u2026\u201d I said \u2014 as an example, President Xi of China, I have great respect. We have a great relationship. I say, \u201cHow is it possible that you got away with this for so long?\u201d (Laughter.) And he said, \u201cBecause nobody ever asked us to change.\u201d It\u2019s true.<\/p>\n<p>When they charge 40 percent tariffs on our cars going into China, and we charge them nothing coming into our country; when they raise their tariff from 10 percent to 25 percent and then to 40 percent \u2014 and they said to me, \u201cWe expected that somebody would call and say you can\u2019t do that.\u201d (Laughter.) \u201cNobody called, so we just left it.\u201d And I don\u2019t blame them. We should\u2019ve been doing the same thing to them. But we didn\u2019t. (Applause.) True. Right? Hard to believe. It\u2019s hard to believe.<\/p>\n<p>But now things are different. Now we\u2019re negotiating with China. They wouldn\u2019t negotiate with previous administrations. But I found some very old laws from when our country was rich \u2014 really rich. The old tariff laws \u2014 we had to dust them off; you could hardly see, they were so dusty.<\/p>\n<p>But, fortunately, they weren\u2019t terminated. We started getting politically correct, even back then. But I said, when we were doing the great things, what happened to those laws? And I checked, and I found 301 and 382. I found one, 1938, where we can do what we have to do.<\/p>\n<p>But, you know, they had a debate in \u2014 it was really a tough time in our country because we had so much money we didn\u2019t know what the hell to do with it. Tough, tough, tough. It was called the Great Tariff Debate. Mark Levin will look this up. (Laughter.)<\/p>\n<p>And the problem is, with Mark, if I make a little mistake, he\u2019ll let us know on Sunday night. (Laughter.) I got to be very careful when I talk about this.<\/p>\n<p>But it was the Great Tariff Debate of 1888. And the debate was: We didn\u2019t know what to do with all of the money we were making. We were so rich. And McKinley, prior to being President, he was very strong on protecting our assets, protecting our country. And he made statements that, \u201cOthers cannot come into our country and steal our wealth and steal our jobs, and build their country and not defend our country. We can\u2019t do that. We can\u2019t ever allow that to happen.\u201d (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>And, you know \u2014 I don\u2019t know, maybe you know. You know I\u2019m totally off-script, right?<\/p>\n<p>AUDIENCE MEMBER: (Inaudible.)<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, darling. (Laughter.) You know I\u2019m totally off script right now. And this is how I got elected, by being off script. (Applause.) True. And if we don\u2019t go off script, our country is in big trouble, folks. Because we have to get it back. And when I look at what\u2019s happening on the other side, I encourage it. I say, \u201cNo, no\u2026\u201d \u2014 I think the New Green Deal, or whatever the hell they call it \u2014<\/p>\n<p>AUDIENCE: Booo \u2014<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT: The Green New Deal, right? Green New Deal \u2014 I encourage it. I think it\u2019s really something that they should promote. (Laughter.) They should work hard on. It\u2019s something our country needs desperately. They have to go out and get it. But I\u2019ll take the other side of that argument only because I\u2019m mandated to. I\u2019m mandated. But they should stay with that argument. Never change. (Laughter.) Never change. (Applause.) No planes. No energy. (Laughter.) When the wind stops blowing, that\u2019s the end of your electric. (Laughter.) Let\u2019s hurry up. \u201cDarling\u201d \u2014 \u201cDarling, is the wind blowing today? I\u2019d like to watch television, darling.\u201d (Laughter and applause.) No, but it\u2019s true.<\/p>\n<p>So the Great Tariff Debate of 1888 \u2014 and then we had so much money we could do whatever we wanted. We built forces up that were incredible. Then, in 1913, they ended tariffs, okay? They ended tariffs. Somebody got stupid and they ended tariffs. They said, \u201cOh, it\u2019s okay for other nations to come in.\u201d I won\u2019t use a certain words because it\u2019s not politically \u2014 but everybody knows the word I\u2019d love to use. Should I use it? I won\u2019t do it. (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>Our great First Lady always said, \u201cDon\u2019t use certain words, please.\u201d I said, \u201cBut the audience wanted me to do it.\u201d She said, \u201cDon\u2019t do it.\u201d And the problem is, if I do do that, they won\u2019t put the little preamble that we just went through. They\u2019ll just use the word, and they\u2019ll said, \u201cIsn\u2019t that terrible.\u201d So I won\u2019t use it. (Laughter.) I\u2019ve learned. Because with the fake news \u2014<\/p>\n<p>AUDIENCE: Booo \u2014<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT: \u2014 if you tell a joke, if you\u2019re sarcastic, if you\u2019re having fun with the audience, if you\u2019re on live television with millions of people and 25,000 people in an arena, and if you say something like, \u201cRussia, please, if you can, get us Hillary Clinton\u2019s emails. Please, Russia, please.\u201d (Applause.) \u201cPlease get us the emails. Please!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>AUDIENCE: Trump! Trump! Trump!<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT: So everybody is having a good time. I\u2019m laughing, we\u2019re all having fun. And then that fake CNN and others say, \u201cHe asked Russia to go get the emails. Horrible.\u201d (Laughter.) I mean, I thought \u2014 like, two weeks ago, I\u2019m watching and they\u2019re talking about one of the points. \u201cHe asked Russia for the emails.\u201d These people are sick. (Laughter.) And I\u2019m telling you, they know the game. They know the game, and they play it dirty \u2014 dirtier than anybody has ever played the game. Dirtier than it\u2019s ever been played.<\/p>\n<p>But the thing that we\u2019ve done is very special. Because, on trade, and because of tariffs \u2014 and I know there are people in the Republican Party and people \u2014 really, even conservatives \u2014 good conservatives \u2014 they don\u2019t like tariffs. I\u2019m not liking or not liking. The minimum, the greatest negotiating tool in the history of our country.<\/p>\n<p>Do you think China would be sending their top representatives over? Right now, China is paying 25 percent tariff on $50 billion worth of technology goods. I was then going to charge them 25 percent on $200 billion. Not like $200 million \u2014 that\u2019s a lot. This is 200 with a \u201cB\u201d \u2014 billion. Two-hundred billion. So \u2014 but I was nice, because we\u2019re having a very strong negotiation, which if it weren\u2019t for tariffs \u2014 and I tell this to President Xi; this is nothing to hide. I would never be talking like this because, in theory, it could hurt your negotiating position. But in my case, it can\u2019t, because it\u2019s true.<\/p>\n<p>I was nice, and I left it at 10 percent on $200 billion. And here\u2019s the beauty: We\u2019ve lost so much money with China \u2014 $500 billion a year. And on trade, it\u2019s such a disaster; it\u2019s $507 billion a year. China \u2014 just one country. We lose with everybody, almost. But China is one country. $507 billion, for many years.<\/p>\n<p>So the beauty is this: I have $250 billion more to put tariffs on. The numbers are staggering. Billions of dollars, right now, are pouring into our Treasury. And for those of you that haven\u2019t done the research, if you look, of the 25 percent, our country \u2014 as it\u2019s turned out, because it\u2019s now been on there for a long while. Our \u2014 and I\u2019m in no rush because I\u2019m fine with it. I\u2019m fine with it. Of the 25 points, we\u2019ve paid for 4 points, and China has paid for 21 points. Okay? Twenty-one. That\u2019s what the numbers are. It\u2019s very simple. You know, everyone said, \u201cOh, it\u2019s a tax on our\u2026\u201d It\u2019s not really.<\/p>\n<p>And what China and other countries do sometimes is they will subsidize it. So the tax really is incredible. But what it is, beyond everything else, I can negotiate.<\/p>\n<p>But then you have senators and a few congressman, but not Mark Meadows. Where is the great Mark Meadows? He\u2019s here someplace. (Applause.) Man, has he been good. Mark and Jim Jordan, and \u2014 (applause) \u2014 I want to name every one of those couple of hundred people. Because we do have a lot. I want to name every damn one of them. They have been incredible. They\u2019ve been fighting. And I just see Mark in the audience. They\u2019ve been fighting \u2014 with Deb, much more important. His wife is incredible. What an asset. He would be nowhere without her. (Laughter and applause.) Right?<\/p>\n<p>But they fight so hard on this witch hunt, this phony deal that they put together; this phony thing that now looks like it\u2019s dying. So they don\u2019t have anything with Russia. There\u2019s no collusion. So now they go and morph into, \u201cLet\u2019s inspect every deal he\u2019s ever done. We\u2019re going to go into his finances. We\u2019re going to check his deals. We\u2019re going to check\u2026\u201d These people are sick. (Laughter.) They\u2019re sick. (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>I saw little Shifty Schiff yesterday. No, it\u2019s the first time. He went into a meeting and he said, \u201cWe\u2019re going to look into his finances.\u201d I said, \u201cWhere did that come from?\u201d He always talked about Russia \u2014 collusion with Russia. The collusion delusion. (Laughter and applause.)<\/p>\n<p>So now we\u2019re waiting for a report, and we\u2019ll find out whether or not, and who we\u2019re dealing with. We\u2019re waiting for a report by people that weren\u2019t elected. We had \u2014 think of this: We had the greatest election \u2014 in all fairness, I used to hear Andrew Jackson. This was now greater than the election of Andrew Jackson. People say that. No, people say it. (Applause.) I\u2019m not saying it. Right? This was the equivalent or greater.<\/p>\n<p>You know, they used to go to Ronald Reagan, when I first started. \u201cThis is Ronald Reagan.\u201d Then we started really doing well, and they were coming from everywhere to vote. Those red hats \u2014 and white ones. The key is in the color. The key is what it says. \u201cMake America Great Again,\u201d is what it says. (Applause.) Right? Right?<\/p>\n<p>But we had the greatest of all time. Now we have people that lost. And unfortunately, you put the wrong people in a couple of positions, and they leave people for a long time that shouldn\u2019t be there. And, all of a sudden, they\u2019re trying to take you out with bullshit. Okay? (Laughter.) With bullshit. (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>Now, Robert Mueller never received a vote, and neither did the person that appointed him. And as you know, the Attorney General says, \u201cI\u2019m going to recuse myself.\u201d (Laughter.) \u201cI\u2019m going to recuse.\u201d And I said, why the hell didn\u2019t he tell me that before I put him in? How do you recuse yourself? But the person that appointed Robert Mueller never received a vote. Robert Mueller put 13 of the angriest Democrats in the history of our country on the commission. (Laughter.) Now, how do you do that? These are angry, angry people. You take a look at them. One of them was involved with the Hillary Clinton Foundation, running it. Another one has perhaps the worst reputation of any human being I\u2019ve ever seen. (Laughter.) All killers. In fact, it would\u2019ve been actually better for them if they put half and half, and Mueller can do whatever he wants anyway, which he\u2019ll probably do.<\/p>\n<p>But we have conflicts. I had a nasty business transaction with Robert Mueller a number of years ago. I said, why isn\u2019t that mentioned? He wanted the job as FBI Director. I mean, these are things that are out there; they know it. Why isn\u2019t that \u2014 and I didn\u2019t give it to him. Why isn\u2019t that mentioned? Jim Comey \u2014 Lyin\u2019 James Comey \u2014<\/p>\n<p>AUDIENCE: Booo \u2014<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT: \u2014 is his best friend. James Comey is his best friend. And those are a few of the conflicts. Other than that, it\u2019s wonderful. (Laughter.)<\/p>\n<p>So \u2014 so everybody is waiting. I thought of it this morning, Mark. And I heard you made an incredible speech and statement today. Mark Levin. I heard it was incredible. (Applause.) And I was on the way. But I\u2019ll see it later. I guarantee I\u2019ll be watching it later. I have one of the great inventions in history. It\u2019s called TiVo. (Laughter.) I think it\u2019s actually better than television, because television is practically useless without TiVo, right? (Laughter.) But I\u2019ll be watching it later, Mark.<\/p>\n<p>But people that got no votes. But I heard this morning, \u201cPresident Trump is waiting for the Mueller report.\u201d I said, wait a minute, let me get this straight. (Laughter.) So the Attorney General recuses himself, and I don\u2019t fire him. No obstruction. That\u2019s the other thing: If you use your right, if you use your power, if you use Article 2, it\u2019s called obstruction. But only for Trump. For nobody else. (Laughter.)<\/p>\n<p>So the Attorney General is weak and ineffective, and he doesn\u2019t do what he should\u2019ve done. Somebody that never got a vote writes a powerful letter \u2014 horrible \u2014 about Comey. Every single Democrat said Comey should be fired, or worse, if possible. (Laughter.) Every Republican said \u2014 everybody \u2014 in fact, when I fired Comey, I said, \u201cYou know\u2026\u201d \u2014 First Lady \u2014 I said, \u201cMelania, I\u2019m doing something today. I\u2019m doing it because it really has to be done.\u201d He\u2019s bad. He\u2019s a bad, bad \u2014 he\u2019s a bad, bad guy. That\u2019s been proven now with all of the emails and the texts.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m doing something that has to be done. But you know the good news? It\u2019s going to be bipartisan. It\u2019s going to be so popular, it\u2019s going to be bipartisan.\u201d (Laughter.) Every Democrat hates him. Every Republican hates him. He did a horrible job at the FBI. Speak to the real agents, the real people. Because the people in the FBI are incredible people \u2014 not the sleaze on top. (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>And I said to the First Lady \u2014 I said, \u201cBut you know the good news? The good news is that this is going to be so bipartisan. Everyone is going to love it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>So we fire Comey. And Schumer \u2014 who called for his resignation many times \u2014 Podesta, I believe that day \u2014 because he still hasn\u2019t gotten over getting his ass kicked, okay? (Applause.) I believe that day called for his resignation. That day. Podesta, the great genius of campaigns. (Laughter.) He called for the Comey resignation. Others \u2014 almost every, I would say. Mark, would you say virtually every Democrat, virtually every \u2014 I can\u2019t think of anybody that said he\u2019s doing a good job.<\/p>\n<p>So I said to Melania, \u201cMelania, the good news, this will be a popular thing.\u201d (Laughter.) And I fire a bad cop. I fire a dirty cop. And all of a sudden, the Democrats say, \u201cHow dare he fire him. How dare he do this.\u201d And that\u2019s where we are, folks. That\u2019s where we are. We\u2019re in this swamp of Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n<p>But you know what? We\u2019re winning, and they\u2019re not. We\u2019re winning. (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>So, just to finish \u2014 and I\u2019ll tell you, Matt Schlapp is loving this. (Laughter.) He\u2019s saying, \u201cThis is a lot more than we paid for.\u201d You know, normally you read a few pages and you say, \u201cBye, folks.\u201d But you know what I like about this? Number one, I\u2019m in love, and you\u2019re in love. We\u2019re all in love together. We\u2019ve done something that nobody has ever done. (Applause.) Right? It\u2019s easy. No, it\u2019s easy.<\/p>\n<p>You know, a great friend of mine from New York, he\u2019s a stone-cold killer. He\u2019s a brutal man. He\u2019s actually not even a good friend of mine because he\u2019d turn on me in two seconds if it was (inaudible). (Laughter.) But he\u2019s a very rich guy. And he said, \u201cWhat are you going to speak about today? Like, what are you going to speak?\u201d I said, \u201cI don\u2019t know. I don\u2019t know.\u201d (Laughter.) He said, \u201cI just heard that you have the biggest crowd in the history of CPAC. They\u2019re all over. By the way, not only in this giant room. They\u2019re in many hotel rooms all over the place. You\u2019re just better at real estate than they are.\u201d (Laughter and applause.) True.<\/p>\n<p>But this guy \u2014 you all know his name \u2014 very rich guy. And he has a problem with a thing called public speaking. If he has to speak to more than like five people, he chokes. (Laughter.) He can\u2019t breathe. You know, juh-juh. \u201cAre you okay?\u201d He kills people for a living \u2014 meaning mentally and financially \u2014 but if there\u2019s like an audience of nine, it\u2019s like \u201caugh.\u201d (Laughter.) So he said to me, \u201cHow the hell do you do that?\u201d And I said, \u201cIt\u2019s easy.\u201d And the reason it\u2019s easy \u2014 I really mean this \u2014 there\u2019s so much love in this room, it\u2019s easy to talk. You can talk your heart out. You really could. There\u2019s love in this room. (Applause.) You can talk your heart out. It\u2019s easy. (Applause.) It\u2019s easy. It\u2019s easy.<\/p>\n<p>And we\u2019ve had that from the day I came down with your First Lady on the escalator in Trump Tower. It\u2019s been easy. (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>And you know what? We never had an empty seat. We went out and helped Ted Cruz. We went out and helped so many people. And I\u2019ll tell you what: If we didn\u2019t do those 32 rallies \u2014 and it wasn\u2019t easy. When you\u2019re doing rallies with 25-, 30,000 people \u2014 in Texas, we had 109,000 people sign up. We used the Houston Rockets arena; it holds 22,000. Tens of thousands were outside. We were sending notices, \u201cPlease don\u2019t come.\u201d That\u2019s a little different. Usually, people are begging. \u201cWell, yeah, like can somebody come?\u201d (Laughter.) We never had an empty seat. Of course, the Washington Post \u2014 a guy named David Weigel \u2014 he wrote an article, some arena \u2014<\/p>\n<p>AUDIENCE: Booo \u2014<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT: No, listen to this. He wrote an article. He got there four hours early. He took pictures of an empty arena. He then put out a note \u2014 something to the effect, \u201cNot very good crowd size, Mr. President.\u201d And I never saw it because I don\u2019t follow the guy. But thousands of people that were in that arena that was packed with 25,000 people outside that couldn\u2019t get in \u2014 he got there four or five hours early because he doesn\u2019t fly private. You know. (Laughter.) And maybe it\u2019s because of the carbon footprint. You think maybe that\u2019s it? (Laughter.) Maybe. Must be the carbon footprint. He just doesn\u2019t want private.<\/p>\n<p>But he got there hours early. And, you know, the place hadn\u2019t started taking in people. They weren\u2019t going to take them in. So there were virtually nobody. And, you know, whatever it was \u2014 18,000 \u2014 when you have nobody, it\u2019s a little scary-looking. So he took pictures. And you know who really got even? Our people. Because they were incensed. We had people sitting on the stairwells. We had people sitting in every seat. I don\u2019t think we\u2019ve had an empty seat since we announced. And from the day we came down the escalator, I really don\u2019t believe we\u2019ve had an empty seat at any arena, at any stadium. It\u2019s been an incredible thing. And that\u2019s why I say this has never, ever happened before, and now we have to verify it in 2020 with an even bigger victory. (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>AUDIENCE: Four more years! Four more years! Four more years!<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT: And, by the way, just to finish that story, the great Sarah Huckabee and Mercedes, who is incredible, sitting right here \u2014 (applause) \u2014 Mercedes, thank you. They always say \u2014 you know, they\u2019re good people, right? Much better than I am. They always say, \u201cDon\u2019t bring it up. Don\u2019t fight. Don\u2019t fight. Everyone understands.\u201d I said, \u201cThey don\u2019t understand.\u201d If I don\u2019t explain it, how are they going to understand?<\/p>\n<p>So remember the arena one, right? And then it was shown. And the Washington Post had to do \u2014 and this particular writer \u2014 had to do a \u2014 I thought he was going to get fired. I mean, if that were a conservative, he would\u2019ve been fired on the spot. He would\u2019ve been humiliated for what he did. Because it was fake news. Nobody was in the arena. There were thousands outside but they hadn\u2019t opened the gates yet.<\/p>\n<p>They did the same thing at our big inauguration speech. You take a look at those crowds. And I watched one of the evening shows that are ridiculous, how horrible they are, how mean \u2014 how horrible. And I watched it by mistake. (Laughter.) And they showed \u2014 they showed from the White House all the way down. They showed from the Cap- \u2014 they showed \u2014 there were people. Nobody has ever seen it. The Capitol down to the Washington Monument \u2014 people. But I saw pictures that there were no people. (Laughter.) Those pictures were taken hours before. Right? And they always mention crowd size. \u201cHe talks about crowd size.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>So I\u2019m constantly bugging Mercedes. Whenever we have a slow moment, I say, \u201cMercedes\u201d \u2014 and Sarah \u2014 \u201cshow them the pictures. Show them. And compare them with what they put on television. Those pictures were taken hours before.\u201d And remember this also \u2014 not that Obama would ever do this: But we had fencing all the way down to the Washington Monument. And it was raining and it was wet, and the grass was wet. And women and men \u2014 and I consider them totally equal, so I\u2019m not going to say it\u2019s harder. (Laughter.) In fact, it\u2019s probably, with the men I know, it\u2019s actually easier for the women to make the walk, right?<\/p>\n<p>AUDIENCE: No!<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT: But they had to walk all the way down. They had to walk with high heels, in many cases. They had to walk all the way down to the Washington Monument and then back. And I looked, and I made a speech, and I said, before I got on \u2014 I said to the people that were sitting next to me, \u201cI\u2019ve never seen anything like this. Look at that crowd.\u201d And it was wide. Wide.<\/p>\n<p>We had a crowd \u2014 I\u2019ve never seen anything like it. And I have to live \u2014 I have to live with \u201ccrowd size.\u201d It\u2019s all a phony deal. But I saw a picture just the other night of practically no people. It was taken hours before our great day. That was a great day for us. That was a great, great day. People came from all over. (Applause.) People came from all over.<\/p>\n<p>So, Sarah said, and Mercedes said, \u201cSir, it doesn\u2019t matter. Nobody cares.\u201d I said, \u201cBut I care.\u201d (Laughter.) And people care. People care.<\/p>\n<p>So what I\u2019m going to do is I\u2019ll give it to the great one. I\u2019ll give it to Mark Levin. And I\u2019ll give him the picture. Then I\u2019ll show you where they showed, just the other day, an empty field \u2014 like nobody on it. And you\u2019ll see the sun. You know, you can see it\u2019s very dark, because the sun is like starting to rise, right? (Laughter.) And you can have some fun. You\u2019re going to get big ratings on your show, I\u2019ll tell you that. Sunday night, everybody. Sunday night. (Applause.) Huh? Ten o\u2019clock, right? Sunday night at 10 o\u2019clock.<\/p>\n<p>AUDIENCE MEMBER: (Inaudible.)<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT: (Laughs.) Thank you. I knew that, actually. But thank you.<\/p>\n<p>All right, now let\u2019s get back to what I\u2019m here for. (Laughter.) And don\u2019t fall asleep. Don\u2019t fall asleep, right? Don\u2019t fall asleep. You know, somebody said, \u201cOh, the speech you made, sir, the State of the Union speech was incredible.\u201d (Applause.) They said it was incredible. They said that was so great.<\/p>\n<p>And I said \u2014 I said \u2014 I did; I got great reviews, even from some of the really bad ones out there. (Laughter.) Of course, by the following morning, they had to change because the head people called up, \u201cWhat are you doing?\u201d (Laughter.) A lot of it is not the people on television, you know. A lot of it is their bosses \u2014 which someday we\u2019re going to have to figure out why, Meadows, why that is. Because, you know, if you\u2019re building a great country, you have the best employment and unemployment numbers we\u2019ve ever had. More people are working today in the United States than ever before in the history of our country. (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>And you say, why are they upset by that? Why? Why are they upset by that?<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019ve slashed 30,000 pages of job-killing regulations from the Federal Register. That\u2019s an all-time record in the history of the United States, even by Presidents there for eight years, and in one case more. We passed the largest package of tax cuts and reforms in American history. (Applause.) And we got rid of the individual mandate, which was a big deal. (Applause.) Which should lead to the ending of the disaster known as Obamacare. (Applause.) It should.<\/p>\n<p>The great state of Texas has a case, and it was literally based on the individual mandate. Now that it\u2019s gone, I don\u2019t know how they rule against it. Now we\u2019ll have to find out. But that\u2019ll soon be up in the Supreme Court of the United States, I hope. And we\u2019re going to see what happens. And then we\u2019re going to get together with the Democrats and come up with really great healthcare, okay? Really great healthcare. (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>And of the other things we did in our tax package is ANWR. Perhaps the largest field in the world \u2014 oil and gas. (Applause.) I got it approved. And I didn\u2019t want to get it approved for a certain reason, because I thought somebody treated me very badly. Very badly. Don\u2019t get that vote very often. And I said, you know, I don\u2019t want to get it.<\/p>\n<p>Then I get a call from a friend of mine, and he\u2019s in the oil business. He\u2019s not asking for anything. He said \u2014 but he really is a knowledgeable guy when it comes to oil and gas. He said to me, \u201cHey\u201d \u2014 and they all call me \u201cMr. President.\u201d I have friends that, for 35 years, \u201cHey, Don, how you doing? Hey, Donny. I love you, Donny.\u201d For 35 years. Now they call, \u201cMr. President, sir.\u201d (Laughter.) \u201cHow are you?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I have a friend \u2014 a very rich guy \u2014 Richard LeFrak, in New York. A builder. A good builder. He calls me all my life, \u201cHey, Don, how you doing?\u201d I\u2019ve known this guy so long \u2014 from kindergarten. (Laughter.) It\u2019s true. \u201cHi, Don, how you doing? How\u2019s everything?\u201d And now I get a call the other day, \u201cMr. President, how are you, sir? How are you?\u201d I said, \u201cRichard, lighten up. Lighten up.\u201d (Laughter.) \u201cCall me \u2018Donald\u2019.\u201d (Applause.) \u201cRichard, call me \u2018Donald\u2019.\u201d You\u2019ve known me for \u2014 I don\u2019t want to say, because I don\u2019t want my wife to hear the number.\u201d (Laughter.) But \u2014 it\u2019s true. Actually, that\u2019s true. That\u2019s actually true.<\/p>\n<p>Richard came up; he said, \u201cI\u2019ve known your husband for 65 years.\u201d I said, \u201cDon\u2019t say that.\u201d (Laughter.) I say, \u201cSay 25, 30. Don\u2019t say 65 years.\u201d But I said, \u201cRichard \u2014 Richard, call me \u2018Donald\u2019, like you always do. Call me \u2018Don\u2019.\u201d \u201cOkay.\u201d \u201cOkay, Don. Okay.\u201d He gets his breath. \u201cUh-huh.\u201d Two minutes later \u2014 \u201cMr. President\u2026\u201d (Laughter.) That\u2019s called respect for the office, right? Maybe that\u2019s a good thing, right? (Applause.) Many \u2014 many of my friends.<\/p>\n<p>And that wasn\u2019t in the script either, Mark. (Laughter.)<\/p>\n<p>But we\u2019re renegotiating, right now, horrible trade deals that we\u2019re cracking down \u2014 and we are really doing a number \u2014 cracking down on countries that cheat, and standing up for the American worker for the first time in many, many decades. (Applause.) Many decades.<\/p>\n<p>Our workers have been treated horribly. A country announces they\u2019re closing their plant in Michigan or Pennsylvania or Ohio \u2014 they\u2019re closing. They\u2019re closing a plant; they\u2019re going to move to Mexico. They\u2019re going to move to China. They\u2019re going to move someplace else. They fire all their workers. And then they sell their cars, no tax; just make them in Mexico, sell them back to here. No tax, no nothing. Those days are all gone, folks. They\u2019re all gone. (Applause.) They\u2019re all gone.<\/p>\n<p>And in the new deal with Mexico and Canada, called the USMCA, it\u2019s very, very hard \u2014 prohibitively hard \u2014 for a company to fire its 4,000 workers and move to Mexico or some other location. It\u2019s now a very costly \u2014 they can do it, I guess, if they want. But it\u2019s costly. It\u2019s painful. It used to be almost \u2014 I said \u2014 I used to \u2014 I\u2019ve been talking about this for a long time. I used to say it\u2019s almost like we\u2019re giving them an incentive to leave our country. Again, I\u2019m for America first. That wasn\u2019t for America first. (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>And we have great companies that are now moving back to our country. They\u2019re coming back in. (Applause.) They\u2019re coming back in. And, by the way, you know I\u2019m building the wall. We\u2019re finishing the wall. We got a lot of money. (Applause.) It\u2019s in the thing.<\/p>\n<p>AUDIENCE: Build that wall! Build that wall! Build that wall!<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT: But \u2014 and there will be some people in the room that don\u2019t like this. We\u2019re down to 3.7 percent unemployment \u2014 the lowest number in a long time. But think of this: I got all these companies moving in. They need workers. We have to bring people into our country to work these great plants that are opening up all over the place. This was not necessarily what I was saying during the campaign because I never knew we would be as successful as we\u2019ve been. Companies are roaring back into our country, and now we want people to come in. We need workers to come in, but they\u2019ve got to come in legally, and they\u2019ve got to come in through merit, merit, merit. (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>AUDIENCE: USA! USA! USA!<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT: They\u2019ve got to come in through merit. They have to be people that can help us. They have to be people that can<\/p>\n<p>love our country, not hate our country. We have people in Congress \u2014 right now, we have people in Congress that hate our country.<\/p>\n<p>AUDIENCE: Booo \u2014<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT: And you know that. And we can name every one of them if they want. They hate our country. It\u2019s sad. It\u2019s very sad. When I see some of the things being made, the statements being made, it\u2019s very, very sad. Very, very \u2014 and find out, how did they do in their country? Just ask them, how did they do? Did they do well? Were they succeeding? Just ask that question. Somebody would say, \u201cOh, that\u2019s terrible that he brings that up.\u201d But that\u2019s okay, I don\u2019t mind. I\u2019ll bring it up. (Laughter.) How did they do in their country? Not so good. Not so good.<\/p>\n<p>But we need workers. We have to bring in workers. One other thing \u2014 because we have a lot of people here that are important people in terms of votes. We have some senators. We have some congressmen. When a senator tells us that he\u2019s a free trader, so am I. I\u2019m a fair trader. I\u2019m a free trader. But when a senator said we can\u2019t do tariffs, where we make a fortune, or at a minimum, we\u2019re able to use this tremendous power that I found \u2014 tremendous \u2014 old stuff. Nobody even knew it existed. I\u2019m able to use it, at a minimum, to negotiate great and fair trade deals. They wouldn\u2019t even be talking to us because it\u2019s so one-sided.<\/p>\n<p>Last year, we lost eight hundred \u2014 this for many years \u2014 almost $800 billion on trade. It\u2019s not sustainable. You can\u2019t do that. And now we\u2019re making great trade deals. But when some of the senators \u2014 good people; I think they\u2019re good people. I just don\u2019t understand the thinking. So I say, India is a very high-tariff nation. They charge us a lot. When we send a motorcycle to India, it\u2019s 100 percent tariff. They charge 100 percent. When India sends a motorcycle to us, we brilliantly charge them nothing.<\/p>\n<p>So I want a reciprocal tax, or at least I want to charge a tax. (Applause.) It\u2019s called a mirror tax, but it\u2019s a reciprocal tax.<\/p>\n<p>Now, here\u2019s what I don\u2019t understand: I\u2019ve had a lot of people \u2014 Lindsey Graham. I said, Lindsey \u2014 it\u2019s not his thing necessarily. It\u2019s not the thing that he\u2019s most adept at. But he\u2019s adept and he\u2019s smart. I said, \u201cLindsey, if they charge us a hundred, I\u2019d like a reci-\u2026\u201d If they charge us, we charge them. He goes, \u201cThat makes sense to me.\u201d (Laughter.) And then he gets on to judiciary and things that, frankly, he likes and finds very interesting. But he\u2019s a smart guy, and he said \u2014 I\u2019ll never forget. It took me about a minute, which is a long time. I did a bad description. It\u2019s so easy. They charge 100; we charge nothing. Now we have reciprocal, so it\u2019s 100.<\/p>\n<p>But what happens now, for those that really think about tariffs and don\u2019t like tariffs for whatever reason might be \u2014 and that\u2019s okay. What\u2019s going to happen is, in many cases, instead of 100 and 100, you\u2019re going to have zero and zero, so you won\u2019t have any tariff. Okay? (Applause.) It\u2019s going to happen. That\u2019s going to happen.<\/p>\n<p>But you have to \u2014 you have to start working on some of the senators that say \u201cI can\u2019t approve this deal.\u201d I say, \u201cYou know what? I want to just charge India\u201d \u2014 as an example, I\u2019m using it. But India is a very high-tariff nation. I mean, nobody \u2014 nobody knows it because nobody knows what they\u2019re doing in Washington. (Laughter.) But India is a very, very high-tariff nation, and they charge tremendous \u2014 tremendous numbers.<\/p>\n<p>So they charge 100. So I say, \u201cI\u2019m not going to charge 100, but I\u2019m going to charge 25 percent.\u201d And I hear this turmoil in the Senate because we\u2019re charging 25. So I call a couple of the guys up. I say, \u201cFellas, listen, they\u2019re charging us 100 for the exact same product. I want to charge them 25.\u201d And I feel so foolish charging 25 because it should be 100. \u201cBut I\u2019m doing 25 only because of you. I want to get your support.\u201d \u201cSir, that\u2019s not free trade.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Where do these people come from? (Laughter.) Where do they come from? Where? Where do they come from? I need your help. I need your help \u2014 the voters\u2019 help. Where do they come from?<\/p>\n<p>So it can only be one of two or three things. Number one, I know they\u2019re very smart people. I know they are. And I even like some of them. (Laughter.) But they\u2019re smart. So we take that out of the equation. So even \u2014 and I know they don\u2019t have evil intentions. And the other thing could be, I guess, maybe \u2014 you know, these companies are all owned by people, and these people are very generous. Campaign contributions \u2014 they\u2019re very, very generous people. Can that be possible? I don\u2019t think so. I hope not. Because we\u2019re talking about our country. We can\u2019t allow a country to charge 100 percent and we get nothing for the same exact product.<\/p>\n<p>For one thing, they don\u2019t respect us. They think we\u2019re \u201cstupido.\u201d They don\u2019t respect us. (Laughter.) But let me tell you something: The world respects our country again. (Applause.) They respect us. (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>And America is now booming like never before. Other countries are doing very poorly. Other countries are doing very poorly, and that makes it even harder for us to be successful.<\/p>\n<p>Plus, we have a gentleman that likes raising interest rates in the Fed. We have a gentleman that loves quantitative tightening in the Fed. We have a gentleman that likes a very strong dollar in the Fed. So with all of those things \u2014 and we want a strong dollar, but let\u2019s be reasonable. You understand that. With all of that, we\u2019re doing great.<\/p>\n<p>Can you imagine if we left interest rates where they were? There\u2019s no inflation, essentially. There\u2019s no inflation. (Applause.) Can you imagine if we left interest rates where they were? If we didn\u2019t do quantitative tightening, taking money out of the market? If we didn\u2019t do quantitative \u2014 and this would lead to a little bit lower dollar. A little bit. I want a strong dollar, but I want a dollar that\u2019s going to be great for our country, not a dollar that\u2019s so strong that it is prohibitive for us to be dealing with other nations and taking their business. (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>Since the election, we\u2019ve created a number that if I would have said during the campaign, the fake news just back there would have said this is crazy. 5.3 million new jobs, including over, now, 600,000 beautiful, brand-new manufacturing jobs that were never going to come back to our country. (Applause.) These are jobs that were never coming back to our country. Remember? Not to talk badly about the other administration, but if that theory went forward with Crooked Hillary winning the election, instead of being up almost 50 percent with the stock market, you would have been down 50 percent. It was heading down. It was going to be a disaster.<\/p>\n<p>We have nearly 5 million Americans that have been lifted off of food stamps. Nobody ever thought that was possible. (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>The unemployment rate has reached the lowest in over 51 years. And African American \u2014 and you\u2019ve heard me say this many times \u2014 Hispanic American, Asian American unemployment rates are at their all-time historic lows. (Applause.) And African American income has reached an all-time high.<\/p>\n<p>So when I\u2019m on the debate stage with one of these maniacs \u2014 (laughter) \u2014 I mean, trains to Hawaii. \u201cHow do you get to Europe?\u201d \u201cWe haven\u2019t figured that one out yet. We don\u2019t use airplanes anymore.\u201d (Laughter.)<\/p>\n<p>You saw what I\u2019m doing in California, right? They have a fast train. The fast train goes from San Francisco to Los Angeles. It\u2019s over budget by hundreds of billions of dollars, so they have a great idea \u2014 the new governor; nice guy. Yeah, he\u2019s a nice guy. When I\u2019m with him face to face, nice. When he speaks about me, not so nice. But face to face, he loves me. (Laughter.) He called me up. He said, \u201cYou\u2019re a great President. You\u2019re doing a great job.\u201d He actually did, two weeks ago, three weeks. So he\u2019ll probably deny it, but check the phone records at the White House. Everybody else does. (Laughter.) Check them. Check them. (Applause.) Check them.<\/p>\n<p>Called me up three or four weeks ago. I think they need some forest money, because honestly, the management of the forests is very bad and that\u2019s one of the problems they have. I said, \u201cYou got to get those forests.\u201d We can\u2019t keep spending billions and billions and losing hundreds of lives, more importantly. Got to clean it up. It\u2019s called management. When a tree falls, you can\u2019t let the environmentalist say you can\u2019t take that tree out. It becomes like a matchstick, that tree. It hits a flame, it goes up. The leaves \u2014 every once in a while, you have to remove the leaves because they are so \u2014 a guy smoking a cigarette, he throws it away, he doesn\u2019t mean it. The thing catches on fire and we lose 400,000 acres and people are killed. You got to have management.<\/p>\n<p>But he called me up the other day, recently \u2014 let\u2019s say four weeks ago or so. He said, \u201cI just want to tell you you\u2019re a great President and you\u2019re one of the smartest people I\u2019ve ever met.\u201d That\u2019s what he said. Now, that\u2019s what he said. Will he admit it? No, I doubt it. (Laughter.) But that\u2019s what he said. \u201cAnd you\u2019re doing a great job.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And then he did start talking about, in all fairness, additional money for the fire, which is \u2014 (laughter) \u2014 it\u2019s okay. That\u2019s okay. We have great talks. I mean, I like him. Gavin Newsom. I like him. Nice guy. But they say things \u2014 you know, politicians, they say things to your face, and then you see two days later they\u2019re giving a news conference \u2014 just like, where did that guy come from? Where did he come from?<\/p>\n<p>But everyone in this great country, right now, because of our great new economy, is doing well \u2014 except, of course, for the Never Trumpers. But they are on mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. (Laughter and applause.) Mouth to mouth. Mouth to mouth. They\u2019re hanging in. A couple of them. I mean, these guys have gotten me wrong. Not only Never Trumpers. You have Never Trumpers; you have certain hardline.<\/p>\n<p>They\u2019re basically dishonest people \u2014 because, look, let\u2019s face it: Whether you like me or not \u2014 if my name is Smith instead of Trump, and if you told him I put in over 100 federal judges \u2014 it\u2019ll soon be 145 federal judges and 2 Supreme Court judges. (Applause.) And 17 appellate division judges.<\/p>\n<p>That we\u2019ve got the best economy maybe in our history. That we\u2019ve got the best employment numbers and unemployment numbers in our history. That we\u2019ve cut more regulations in two years than any President has ever done, whether it\u2019s for eight or beyond. (Applause.) That we\u2019ve taken care of our military with \u2014 (applause) \u2014 $1.7 billion. Think of that. Think of what we did. Think of what we did with our military. Think of the numbers that we have for our military. We have numbers \u2014 nobody has ever heard of these numbers before. And you know, part of the problem that we have \u2014 because I\u2019m a cost cutter.<\/p>\n<p>But \u2014 and you are all cost cutters. But we have to take care of our military. We have to. (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>Seven hundred billions dollars we spent. And that was the first year. And then the second year, $716 billion. Now, I have no choice. I\u2019d like to spend much less. Obama was spending much less but our military was being depleted. He was fighting in endless wars; they\u2019d never end.<\/p>\n<p>And, by the way, as of probably today or tomorrow, we will actually have 100 percent of the caliphate in Syria. One hundred percent. (Applause.) One hundred percent. And we\u2019ll leave a small group of guys and gals. But we want to bring our people back home. We want to bring our people back home. It\u2019s time. Been in these wars. We were going to be in Syria for four months. We ended up five years. This fighting \u2014 they just like to fight.<\/p>\n<p>We want to fix our country. We want to fix our bridges, our highways, our roads, our schools. We want to fix our country up. It\u2019s time. (Applause.) It\u2019s time.<\/p>\n<p>But I was told by a general, who I had to fire \u2014 I said, \u201cGeneral, how long before we get 100 percent of the caliphate?\u201d He said, \u201cSir, two years.\u201d I said, \u201cI can\u2019t take it two years.\u201d And then I flew to Iraq; first time I left the White House \u2014 because I stayed in the White House for months and months because I wanted the Democrats to get back from their vacations from Hawaii and these other places. (Laughter.) And I figured it would look good if I stayed in the White House so that you people all love me and vote for me, okay? I figured it would look good. (Laughter and applause.) I figured it would look good.<\/p>\n<p>So I stayed in the White House. And I\u2019ll tell you what: I was there \u2014 I told my wife, \u201cGo to Florida. Enjoy your Christmas.\u201d I stayed for Thanksgiving. I said \u2014 I mean, I was in the White House for a long time. Months. Months. I had cabin fever in the White House. (Laughter.) But if you\u2019ve got to have cabin fever, that\u2019s the place to do it, okay? (Laughter.) But I was there, I don\u2019t know, for a number of months, through Christmas. I spent my New Year\u2019s all by myself. (Laughter.)<\/p>\n<p>AUDIENCE: Aww \u2014<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT: Don\u2019t cry. All \u2014 it was me and about 500 men and women outside with machine guns. (Laughter.) I never saw so many beautiful-looking machine guns. I\u2019d look at that equipment and I\u2019d say, \u201cMan\u2026\u201d They sit in the trees. They sit on the lawn. I told people, \u201cI\u2019m in this mess\u201d \u2014 you know, people don\u2019t know how big the White House. First of all, it\u2019s one of the most beautiful places in the world. It\u2019s really \u2014 I made a lot of money with luxury. (Applause.) This building is \u2014 1799 \u2014 which, of course, when President Xi comes, I say \u201c1799,\u201d like it\u2019s old. To him, that\u2019s like a brand-new house in China. (Laughter.) In China, they go back \u2014 they go back 8,000 years. So that\u2019s \u2014 that\u2019s like a new \u2014 that\u2019s like a new residence.<\/p>\n<p>But I sat in the White House for months and months, except I took a day off. I flew to a lovely place called Iraq, and I flew at night and I got there at night. And I said to myself, this is interesting, because they say, \u201cSir, all of the lights in the plane, sir, are going off.\u201d I say, \u201cWhy?\u201d (Laughter.) \u201cBecause we\u2019re getting ready to land.\u201d We\u2019re an hour out. I said, \u201cWhat about the shades?\u201d \u201cWell, we want it better than that. May be like (inaudible). So we turned the lights off, put the shades down. This is a big seven forty \u2014 Air Force One.<\/p>\n<p>And we\u2019re landing, and I go up and I look. And I\u2019ve landed; I like to sit with pilots. I respect people that know what they\u2019re doing, and these are the best in the world. I really do. (Applause.) These are the best in the world.<\/p>\n<p>And the pilot says, \u201cSir, we\u2019re landing in approximately one and a half minutes.\u201d I say, \u201cBut there\u2019s no runway.\u201d \u201cNo, sir, the runway is right up there, sir.\u201d I say, \u201cI don\u2019t see it.\u201d I have pretty good vision. (Laughter.) At least for my age I have good vision. (Laughter.) I guess for my age I have great vision. But I don\u2019t have vision like a 35-year-old captain.<\/p>\n<p>He said, \u201cNo, it\u2019s right up there.\u201d I said, \u201cI\u2019m sorry, Captain, how about this: Should we lift off and try it again? Captain, there\u2019s no runway.\u201d Anyway \u2014 he sits right up there and we land. There\u2019s practically not lights. These are little pin spots. And I said, think of this: We spent $7 trillion in the Middle East and we can\u2019t land with the lights on \u2014 (laughter) \u2014 20 years later. How bad is it? No, seriously, how bad is it? (Applause.) How bad is it? Seven trillion dollars and we have to fly in with no lights.<\/p>\n<p>But I met some incredible people. I met some incredible people \u2014 generals. One of them came from Syria \u2014 the operation in Syria. And I was upset with my generals because they weren\u2019t getting it finished. I want the job done. I want to bring our people back home. (Applause.) It\u2019s not fair. And this is why I flew.<\/p>\n<p>So I met generals I didn\u2019t know. General one, general two, general three. I mean, these generals \u2014 there\u2019s no person in Hollywood that could play the role. These guys are like perfect people. I said, \u201cWhat\u2019s your name? \u201cSir, my name is Raisin.\u201d What the hell kind of a name? (Laughter.) I said, \u201cRaisin, like the fruit?\u201d He goes, \u201cYes, sir, Raisin.\u201d \u201cWhat\u2019s your last name?\u201d \u201cCaine. Raisin Caine.\u201d (Laughter.) I said, \u201cYou got to be kidding me.\u201d (Applause.) It\u2019s true. Raisin Caine.<\/p>\n<p>I just made him a big star. (Laughter.) Just like I did with Mattis when I said, \u201cWe\u2019re going to give you a new nickname, because \u2018Chaos\u2019 is not a good nickname.\u201d So we changed his name. Called him \u201cMad Dog.\u201d But it wasn\u2019t working too well. Mad Dog wasn\u2019t working too well.<\/p>\n<p>So what happened is I flew to Iraq. I wanted to meet the people on the site, because I learn more sometimes from soldiers, what\u2019s going on, than I do from generals. I do. I hate to say it. And I tell that to the generals all the time. (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>But I didn\u2019t have to go there. I didn\u2019t have to go there. Because I meet \u2014 and I land in this airport, the most incredible thing. We must have spent $3 billion building it. It\u2019s one of the reasons I don\u2019t want to leave Iraq so fast. I said, \u201cWell, how do we leave this thing?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>So I have Raisin Caine and three other generals, colonels, sergeants. And I said, \u201cBring the cameras. I\u2019m going to make a movie. This is the most incredible thing.\u201d (Laughter.) And I said to the generals, \u201cListen, we got to get out. I want to know why is it going to take two years to knock off 2 or 3 or 4 percent, which is what we had left.\u201d \u201cIt won\u2019t, sir.\u201d And I said, \u201cTell me why it won\u2019t.\u201d \u201cIt won\u2019t, sir. If we attack them in a different manner, we can do it much faster.\u201d \u201cOkay, General Raisin Caine, how fast can\u201d \u2014 \u201cSir, we can have it totally finished in one week.\u201d I said, \u201cOne week? I was told two years.\u201d (Laughter.) One week? \u201cThat\u2019s right, sir. We\u2019re only hitting them from a temporary base in Syria. But if you gave us permission, we could hit them from the back, from the side, from all over \u2014 from the base that you\u2019re right on, right now, sir. They won\u2019t know what the hell hit them.\u201d (Applause.) \u201cThey won\u2019t know what the hell hit them, sir.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And I said, \u201cWhy didn\u2019t my other generals tell me that? Why didn\u2019t they tell me that?\u201d I said, \u201cDid you tell them that?\u201d \u201cNot our place to say it, sir. They come in from Washington, sir. We have to take orders. You\u2019re the first one to ask us our opinion.\u201d (Applause.) It\u2019s true. It\u2019s true. True. True.<\/p>\n<p>So I went back and I said, \u201cI\u2019m going to get back to you soon, Raisin. I think you\u2019re great.\u201d (Laughter.) \u201cI like you, Raisin Caine.\u201d But I did say \u2014 I said, \u201cWell, hey, listen, we\u2019re in Iraq. Isn\u2019t that very far away from\u2026\u201d \u201cI was here in a very short time, sir. I flew right in.\u201d Of course, he\u2019s taking a plane that goes 2,000 miles an hour, you know.<\/p>\n<p>But incredible. What you learn from being on the site \u2014 my father was a builder. He always used to say, \u201cNobody ever got rich by sitting behind their desk.\u201d (Applause.) It\u2019s true. It\u2019s true. He\u2019d say, \u201cYou got to be on this site. You got to be with the contractors. You got to see if they\u2019re ripping you off. You\u2019ve got to collect every nail that\u2019s dropped, every piece of wood. You can sell it. You got to be on the site. You got to see while they\u2019re building, while they\u2019re under construction, is that wall straight or if it\u2019s crooked. And you have to fix it before they build it, not after they build it, when you rip everything down.\u201d (Applause.) True.<\/p>\n<p>You don\u2019t get rich by sitting behind a desk. So I didn\u2019t want to do that.<\/p>\n<p>And I\u2019m in the White House and I was lonely. I said, \u201cLet\u2019s go to Iraq.\u201d (Laughter.) And I had a hell of a meeting in Iraq.<\/p>\n<p>And I\u2019ll tell you, those generals \u2014 not just Raisin Caine, General Caine. Those generals were great. They were great. They knew their stuff. They were gung-ho.<\/p>\n<p>And it is true \u2014 I mean, you talk central casting. These guys \u2014 you couldn\u2019t \u2014 I mean, it\u2019s incredible. They had a master sergeant. I could take him right now, bring him to Hollywood, make a military movie, and he\u2019s the star of the movie. That happened once before, you know. That did happen once before. Remember? They brought a man in \u2014 a sergeant, a drill sergeant \u2014 to teach some actor how to be a drill sergeant. The drill sergeant was so incredible that he ended up starring in the movie, and he should have gotten the Academy Award, by the way, but he didn\u2019t. That\u2019s because Hollywood discriminates against our people. (Applause.) You know the movie I\u2019m talking about, right? What was that movie? You know the movie.<\/p>\n<p>But while we\u2019re making great strides, and our country is doing as well \u2014 and maybe, in many ways, better than it\u2019s ever done before \u2014 Democrat lawmakers are now embracing socialism. They want to replace individual rights with total government domination.<\/p>\n<p>AUDIENCE: Booo \u2014<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT: Just this week, more than 100 Democrats in Congress signed up for a socialist takeover of American healthcare. Their radical government-run plan \u2014 if you call it that \u2014 would lead to colossal tax increases \u2014 increases like you\u2019ve never seen before \u2014 and take away private coverage from over 180 million Americans.<\/p>\n<p>AUDIENCE: No!<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT: And we have some great private coverage, and we\u2019ve initiated some incredible plans, like the new cooperative plan, where you get better insurance than Obamacare for a fraction of the cost.<\/p>\n<p>But perhaps nothing is more extreme than the Democrats\u2019 plan to completely takeover American energy and completely destroy America\u2019s economy through their new $100 trillion Green New Deal.<\/p>\n<p>AUDIENCE: Booo \u2014<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT: Under the Green New Deal \u2014 which somebody described as a high school term paper written by a poor student \u2014 (laughter and applause) \u2014 it\u2019s true. It\u2019s true. Who would believe it? It so \u2014 it\u2019s so bad. But I don\u2019t \u2014 I\u2019ll be honest with you, folks. I said \u2014 you know, it\u2019s Saturday morning, and I said, \u201cMatt, should we do a little more, like, spend time?\u201d He said, \u201cYeah, would you do that?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>By the way, everybody okay? (Applause.) I haven\u2019t seen anybody leaving. I haven\u2019t seen anybody. I know one thing: If Mark Levin gets up and leaves, I\u2019ll finish very quickly, because then I know. (Laughter.) But I haven\u2019t seen anyone leaving. Nobody has left. I watch those doors. Because a lot of times \u2014 a lot of times \u2014 well, one time, the press said people left. Yeah, you know where they went? To the bathroom. And then they came back. (Laughter.) Two people. (Applause.) They showed two empty seats in a stadium of 19,000. They showed two empty seats. The people left right in front of me, and I said, \u201cOh, man, maybe this isn\u2019t a good job I\u2019m doing.\u201d Then they came back. They went to the bathroom. (Laughter.)<\/p>\n<p>And a certain fake news deal showed a picture on the front page of these two empty seats. They said Trump had empty seats. We never have empty seats.<\/p>\n<p>The Green New Deal would completely abolish the American oil, natural gas, coal, and nuclear power industries, of which we\u2019re now the leader in the world. We\u2019re the biggest now in the world because of moves that I\u2019ve made. (Applause.) Happened over the last two years, by the way.<\/p>\n<p>And we\u2019re trying to speed up pipelines in Texas, which would have taken 15 years. We think we\u2019re almost very close to getting them approved. When that happens, we\u2019ll go probably another 30 to 40 percent. We need pipeline approval. We\u2019re going to have it very quickly. It would have taken \u2014 it was going to be a 14- to 15-year process. We should have it done. We\u2019ll pick up 30 to 40 percent more. (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>Their plan would remove every gas-powered car from American roads. Oh, that\u2019s not so bad. They want you to have one car instead of two, and it should be electric, okay? So tell people, no more cars. No more cars.<\/p>\n<p>I think the auto industry is not going to do too well under this plan. What do you think, Meadows? How is this? Will the auto industry be good? I don\u2019t think so. It\u2019s not looking good. I think maybe \u2014 maybe you\u2019re going to see some bad stock prices if that passes. It would end air travel. But you\u2019ll get on a train, don\u2019t worry about it. You just have to cross off about 95 percent of the world.<\/p>\n<p>And it would force the destruction or renovation of virtually every existing structure in the United States. New York City would have to rip down buildings and rebuild them again. I don\u2019t think so. This is the craziest plan, and yet I see senators that are there for 20 years \u2014 white hair. See, I don\u2019t have white hair. (Laughter and applause.) I don\u2019t have white hair.<\/p>\n<p>No, I see these white-haired, longtime senators standing behind this young woman, and she\u2019s ranting and raving like a lunatic. (Laughter.) And these senators \u2014 these senators: \u201cYes, I agree with this. Yes, I agree.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The crazy female senator from the state of Ohio, the state of Hawaii. Right? She\u2019s like \u2014 she\u2019s like a crazed person. What she said about men is so bad. What she said about men is so bad. But she\u2019s standing in the hallway. And she didn\u2019t know too much about the plan because she\u2019s \u2014 you know, she can\u2019t understand that plan. (Laughter.) Which probably makes her smart, actually.<\/p>\n<p>Now, this is the senator from Hawaii, and they\u2019re saying to her, \u201cWhat do you think? Well, I don\u2019t know how people are going to get to Hawaii, but I\u2019m in favor of the plan.\u201d (Laughter and applause.) I don\u2019t get it. I don\u2019t get it. I don\u2019t get it.<\/p>\n<p>So she\u2019s in favor of the plan, but you won\u2019t be able to get to \u2014 well, we can take boats, I guess. We\u2019ll go back to boats.<\/p>\n<p>This is the new Democrat platform for the \u2014 and I don\u2019t want to talk them out of it. I don\u2019t. I don\u2019t. I swear I don\u2019t. This is a killer.<\/p>\n<p>I got to get off this subject. I want them to embrace this plan. I want them to go and sell this plan. I just want to be the Republican that runs against them for that. (Applause.) I\u2019m going to regret this speech. This speech should have been delivered one year from now, not now, damn it. (Laughter.) Because they\u2019re going to grab out together, and they\u2019re going to say, \u201cYou know, this guy is really laying for us.\u201d I should\u2019ve saved the Pocahontas thing for another year. (Laughter.) Because I\u2019ve destroyed her political career, and now I won\u2019t get a chance to run against her, and I would\u2019ve loved it. (Laughter.)<\/p>\n<p>We got to \u2014 you know, I don\u2019t want to knock out all of the good stuff and end up with somebody that\u2019s actually got talent. That would be terrible. (Laughter and applause.)<\/p>\n<p>So I do like the Green New Deal. (Laughter.) I respect it greatly. It should be part of the dialogue of the next election. (Laughter and applause.) And I think it has tremendous promise and tremendous potential for the future of our country.<\/p>\n<p>Socialism is not about the environment. It\u2019s not about justice. It\u2019s not about virtue. Socialism is about only one thing. It\u2019s called \u201cpower for the ruling class.\u201d That\u2019s what it is. (Applause.) Look at what\u2019s happening in Venezuela and so many other places.<\/p>\n<p>All of us are here today because we know that the future does not belong to those who believe in socialism. (Applause.) And I heard, yesterday, a great speech from our Vice President Mike Pence, talking about this very subject \u2014 (applause) \u2014 and talking about it beautifully. (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>The future belongs to those who believe in freedom. I have said it before and I\u2019ll say it again: America will never be a socialist country \u2014 ever. (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>AUDIENCE: USA! USA! USA!<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT: Young Americans \u2014 I love young Americans. Speaking of young Americans \u2014 Candace, stand up. (Applause.) Candace is getting married. (Applause.) Stand up. You\u2019ve been incredible. Thank you. Your whole group has been great. You\u2019re getting married. Seems like a nice guy to me. (Laughter.) Congratulations. You\u2019ve been so great. Thank you very much, Candace. Thanks. (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>And, Charlie, what a job you\u2019re doing. Where\u2019s Charlie? Where\u2019s Charlie? Where is Charlie Kirk? Because he has done an incredible job. Thank you very much, Charlie. (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>But young Americans like you are leading the revival of American liberty, sovereignty, and self-determination in the face of left-wing intolerance. The anger \u2014 the unbelievable anger \u2014 I see it every day. Fortunately, for you, it\u2019s mostly pointed at me. (Laughter.) You have the courage to speak the truth, to do what is right, and to fight for what you believe, and keep doing it. (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>We reject oppressive speech codes, censorship, political correctness, and every other attempt by the hard left to stop people from challenging ridiculous and dangerous ideas. These ideas are dangerous. (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>Instead, we believe in free speech, including online and including on campus. And, by the way, there\u2019s a young gentleman with us today. (Applause.) There\u2019s a young gentleman. I turned on my television the other day, and I saw somebody that was violently punched in the face. Violently punched. And I said that\u2019s disgusting. By a bully I\u2019d like to do a lot of things.<\/p>\n<p>But, of course, we would never do that. Because if I ever said violence, they would say, \u201cDonald Trump attacked.\u201d No, no, no. Just for the media: I\u2019m sure he\u2019s a lovely young man; just had a little temper tantrum. (Laughter.) I\u2019ve been there before with those people. I don\u2019t want to do it again.<\/p>\n<p>So, the man\u2019s name is Hayden Williams. (Applause.) Where\u2019s Hayden? Where is he? Where is he? Hayden, come up here. (Applause.) Come up here.<\/p>\n<p>WILLIAMS: Thank you. Thank you. So, at the Leadership Institute, we\u2019re committed to making campuses great again. And I thank you so much for bringing me up here to let me speak.<br \/>\nIt\u2019s great \u2014 it\u2019s great that I\u2019m being recognized, and \u2014 but there\u2019s so many conservative students across the country who are facing discrimination, harassment, and worse, if they dare to speak up on campus. So I\u2019m glad that we could \u2014 we could, you know, bring this to the forefront.<\/p>\n<p>And I\u2019d just like to say, you know, if these socialist progressives had their way, they would put our Constitution through the paper shredder in a heartbeat. So, you know, it\u2019s as important now than ever the work at Leadership Institute and Campus Reform \u2014 you know, exposing these liberal abuses to the public \u2014 (applause) \u2014 it\u2019s as important now as ever.<\/p>\n<p>And these students \u2014 these students do it because they have a love of our nation and freedom, and frankly, a love for you, Mr. President.<\/p>\n<p>So if you keep defending us, we\u2019ll keep defending you. (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT: Thank you.<\/p>\n<p>WILLIAMS: Thank you. (Applause.)<br \/>\nTHE PRESIDENT: Stay here for a second. So, here\u2019s the one thing.<\/p>\n<p>I was going to call him, but I don\u2019t have to now. I see him here. But here\u2019s the one thing: I learned a number of things. First of all, he can take a punch. If Muhammad Ali could take a punch, he can take a punch. (Laughter.) Because you weren\u2019t going to go down no matter how \u2014 that was a hell of a hard punch. He was a strong guy. But you know what? You\u2019ve got yourself a great lawyer. I know your lawyer. She is a great lawyer. Just tell her to do me a favor: Sue him. But he\u2019s probably got nothing, but sue him forever. But sue the college, the university. (Applause.) And maybe sue the state.<\/p>\n<p>Ladies and gentlemen, he took a hard punch in the face for all of us. Remember that. He took a punch for all of us. And we can never allow that to happen.<\/p>\n<p>And here is, in closing with Hayden \u2014 here\u2019s the good news: He is going to be a very wealthy young man. That\u2019s okay. (Laughter and applause.) Go get \u2019em, Hayden.<\/p>\n<p>Today I\u2019m proud to announce that I will be very soon signing an executive order requiring colleges and universities to support free speech \u2014 (applause) \u2014 if they want federal research dollars.<\/p>\n<p>AUDIENCE: USA! USA! USA!<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT: If they want our dollars, and we give it to them by the billions, they\u2019ve got to allow people like Hayden and many other great young people, and old people, to speak. (Applause.) Free speech.<\/p>\n<p>And if they don\u2019t, it will be very costly. That\u2019ll be signed very soon. Every day, we\u2019re restoring common sense and the timeless values that unite us all. We believe in the Constitution and the rule of law. We believe in the First Amendment right. And we believe in religious liberty. (Applause.) And we believe strongly in the Second Amendment and the right to keep and bear arms \u2014 (applause) \u2014 which is under siege, folks. They have a lot of plans. It\u2019s under siege. Be careful. But I\u2019ll protect you, I promise you that. I\u2019ll protect you. (Applause.) Because it all has to come through my office. And we hopefully are going to be here for six more years, so you\u2019re in good shape. (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>We believe in the American Dream, not in the socialist nightmare. And we believe in the words of our national motto: In God We Trust. (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>Every day, my presidency will defend American families. We will defend America\u2019s workers \u2014 our great, great cherished workers \u2014 that now we\u2019re taking care of. They\u2019re not losing their jobs. We\u2019re creating those jobs. We\u2019re not letting those companies destroy their lives anymore.<\/p>\n<p>We will defend the American way of life, and we will always defend America\u2019s borders. Because without borders, as I\u2019ve said many times before, we don\u2019t have a country. (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>The lawless chaos on our southern border provides a lucrative cash flow to some of the most dangerous criminal organizations on the planet. Deadly cartels constantly \u2014 daily, hourly \u2014 violate our borders to flood our cities with drugs that kill thousands and thousands of our citizens violently. What are these people talking about when they talk about the border? \u201cKeep it open.\u201d Keep what open? Have you been there? Have you seen? I just got back. I\u2019ve been there many times. I see what\u2019s happening. I don\u2019t like it.<\/p>\n<p>But I have to tell you, our Border Patrol, our ICE agents, our law enforcement, the job they do \u2014 (applause) \u2014 and they don\u2019t have the backup of a wall, in many cases \u2014 the job they do is incredible.<\/p>\n<p>These ruthless cartels terrorize innocent communities on both sides of the border and spread instability throughout our hemisphere. When I was there two weeks ago, 26 people were killed very close to where I was, on the Rio Grande. Sounds nice, right? The Rio Grande. Rough. Rough stuff. Twenty-six people were killed, and they were buried right near where I was standing. And the paper doesn\u2019t write about it. The news doesn\u2019t write about it.<\/p>\n<p>In the last two years alone, ICE officers made 266,000 arrests. Think of what that means. Think of that \u2014 arrests. I\u2019m not talking about people coming in. I\u2019m talking they went out and arrested 266,000 people who have criminal records and, in some cases, for murder. Who the hell wants to do that? Thank God they\u2019re doing it because I don\u2019t want to do it. It\u2019s dangerous. (Applause.) It\u2019s hard. But they love our country, and they\u2019re tough people, but they love our country.<\/p>\n<p>Including those charged or convicted of approximately 100,000 assaults, 30,000 sex crimes, 25,000 burglaries, 4,000 kidnappings, and 4,000 violent murders. These are people that ICE is going in and getting, and either putting in jail or ideally bringing them back to other countries and letting them put in jail, because we don\u2019t want them. We don\u2019t want to have to pay for them for 50 years. You want them to pay a price, but we don\u2019t want to have to pay for them for 50 years.<\/p>\n<p>And all the nonsense you hear about \u201cthe people that come in illegally are far better than the people we have\u201d \u2014 it\u2019s not true, folks. Okay? It\u2019s false. It\u2019s false propaganda. (Applause.) Right?<\/p>\n<p>One recent study from FAIR \u2014 F-A-I-R \u2014 found that illegal aliens are incarcerated at three times the rate of legal residents. Those are the numbers. And if you look at prison population in federal prisons, these federal prisons are \u2014 the number is staggering. The number of illegals \u2014 far, far, far greater than any proportion of our population. But you don\u2019t hear that; you hear like these people are the greatest people in the world.<\/p>\n<p>Just ask the Angel Moms how good are there. Those great Angel Moms who were treated so badly \u2014 so badly. (Applause.) Incredible people.<\/p>\n<p>But the simple reality is that every crime committed by an illegal immigrant is a crime that should never have happened in the first place. (Applause.) The border crisis is also a heartbreaking humanitarian tragedy. Vicious coyotes, smugglers, and human traffickers prey upon innocent women and children. One in three women is sexually assaulted on the dangerous journey north.<\/p>\n<p>When I ran for president, my first speech, I mentioned the word \u201crape.\u201d The press went after me; I couldn\u2019t believe it. I said, \u201cWill it be like this always?\u201d The answer was yes. It even got worse. From day one, I mention the word \u201crape.\u201d If you look at that speech, that was so innocent compared to what\u2019s really happening. That was a very innocent speech compared to the real facts.<\/p>\n<p>Illegal immigration is not compassionate. It\u2019s inhumane, unjust, and cruel. (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>The media fights me on this, but I say it: Mothers who love their daughters, when their daughters are getting ready to make that 2,000-mile trek up through Mexico \u2014 and frankly, I wish Mexico would stop them at their northern border, at our \u2014 (applause) \u2014 I wish Mexico would stop them. Because you know, they have a border. They call it their southern border. It\u2019s 2,000 miles down from our southern border. I wish Mexico would stop them.<\/p>\n<p>But they have their own difficulties. Frankly, I understand that. We\u2019re working along well with them. And they are doing a lot of things to help us with asylum and other elements of what we\u2019re doing.<\/p>\n<p>But mothers, who love their daughters, give them massive amounts of birth control pills because they know their daughters are going to be raped on the way up to our southern border. Think of that. True story, told to me by the Border Patrol. So true and so sad. Think of how evil that is. Think of how bad it is.<\/p>\n<p>Those caravans \u2014 you look at those caravans, and some are phenomenal people. But in those caravans you have stone-cold killers. You had the interview done by some innocent person who I think is actually back there now. \u201cAnd what is it that you want asylum for? Why are you coming to America?\u201d \u201cUh, murder.\u201d She goes, \u201cWhat?\u201d \u201cMurder.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I mean, what\u2019s going on is incredible. And when those caravans are formed, do you think those countries that we used to give a lot of money to \u2014 I\u2019ve cut it way back. I\u2019ve cut it way back. (Applause.) Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador. Do you think they\u2019re giving us, as we say, their best and their finest? \u201cOh, let\u2019s send our best people up to America. Let\u2019s have our best people go in the caravan so we can give America our greatest people.\u201d No, no, no, no. They give us some very bad people. People with big, long crime records. People with tremendous violence in their past. Murderers, killers, drug dealers, human traffickers. They want to keep their good people because they\u2019re smart. It\u2019s so sad to see how stupid we\u2019ve been.<\/p>\n<p>Border Patrol recently reported apprehending 7,000 unlawful migrants in a single week on just one part of the Texas border, a couple of weeks ago. Our immigration system is stretched far beyond the breaking point.<\/p>\n<p>To confront this national security crisis, last month I declared a national emergency. A national emergency. (Applause.) And when I see these people \u2014 and they\u2019re good people \u2014 some senators, mostly \u2014 I tell you, the House has been fantastic.<\/p>\n<p>The House \u2014 you know, backing we\u2019ve had from the House has really been \u2014 I\u2019m talking about in the last short period of time. There\u2019s a lot of spirit in the House, and I think in the Senate too, but we\u2019re going to have to see because we have a vote coming up.<\/p>\n<p>And a lot of people talk about precedent. Precedent. That if we do this, the Democrats will use national emergency powers for something that we don\u2019t want. They\u2019re going to do that anyway, folks. The best way to stop that is to make sure that I win the election. That\u2019s the best way to stop that. (Applause.) They\u2019re going to do it anyway. They\u2019ll do it anyway.<\/p>\n<p>I watch \u2014 good people, they\u2019re friends of mine, \u201cWe\u2019re very concerned with setting precedent.\u201d That\u2019s \u201cprecedent\u201d not \u201cpresident.\u201d (Laughter.) Precedent. \u201cWe\u2019re very concerned about setting precedent.\u201d I\u2019m very concerned with having murderers and drug traffickers, and drugs and drug cartels, pouring into our country. That\u2019s what I\u2019m concerned about. (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>And the Democrats, they\u2019re going to do whatever they do if they get into power, and it won\u2019t have a damn thing to do with whether or not we approve our national emergency. Because let me tell you \u2014 they don\u2019t like it when I say it \u2014 but we are being invaded. We\u2019re being invaded by drugs, by people, by criminals. And we have to stop it. And we want people to come in, as I said before, but they have to come in legally and with merit. (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>Previous presidents have used their national emergency power to promote democratic elections in Belarus, to ensure political stability in Burundi, and to defend the sovereignty of Lebanon. And you know what? That\u2019s okay. In Lebanon \u2014 it\u2019s good. Fine. Use it. But we need it right here in our country. We have to use it for our country.<\/p>\n<p>Many emergency declarations have been used to protect people in faraway nations and distant lands. Now we are protecting, finally, our people. You. Our people. (Applause.) And we are proudly standing with the heroes of ICE and Border Patrol and law enforcement. (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>Illegal immigration is also deeply unfair to American workers and taxpayers, including millions and millions of hardworking legal immigrants. If you care about helping immigrants and care about their success, if you care about reducing poverty and raising living standards, then you must support a safe, strong, and very, very secure border.<\/p>\n<p>We need an immigration policy that helps all Americans thrive, flourish, prosper. We need an immigration policy that\u2019s going to be great for our corporations and our great companies. We need an immigration policy where people coming into our country can love our country and love our fellow citizens. (Applause.) And this includes shutting down sanctuary cities. (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>And we want to end catch-and-release. We catch them, we realize they\u2019re a criminal, and we have to release them. Think of this: They come onto our land, they put one foot on our land. We now have to take them through a massive court trial. Who does this? Other countries say, \u201cGet the hell out of here.\u201d We have to take them through court.<\/p>\n<p>So we catch them. We talk to them. If they\u2019re criminals, or if they\u2019re not, we release them. We say, \u201cCome back for a hearing in front of a judge.\u201d You know how many judges you need to do this? We have 900,000 people backlogged. That\u2019s the good news. The bad news? Nobody shows up. Three percent of the people come back for a trial. It\u2019s insane.<\/p>\n<p>Not my fault I inherited this mess, but we\u2019re fixing it. (Applause.) We have to end chain migration, and we have to cancel the visa lottery. Every American, no matter where they\u2019re born, will benefit from the creation of a lawful immigration system. It is such \u2014 you talk about an emergency. Our immigration system is so broken, folks. It\u2019s so broken. It\u2019s so sad to see. It\u2019s incompetent. It\u2019s laughed at all over the world.<\/p>\n<p>We have people pouring in from not just the southern border in Mexico. From China. They have a baby on our land. The baby becomes a citizen. \u201cWelcome to the United States\u201d for hopefully 90 years. Okay? And then the parents come in with the baby because the baby is a citizen. This is like crazy. They used to call it \u201canchor babies\u201d but they don\u2019t use that term anymore because it doesn\u2019t sound nice.<\/p>\n<p>Our laws are so crazy. But one by one, we\u2019re finding ways. You know, they call them loopholes. A lot of our laws \u2014 loopholes. Well, I\u2019m finding loopholes to get around the loophole. Okay? (Laughter and applause.) Because our Congress can\u2019t act. They can\u2019t act. They just can\u2019t act.<\/p>\n<p>The Democrats in Congress don\u2019t want to touch any of it. Visa lottery \u2014 that\u2019s where they put in the names; they put it in a lottery, and you pick, \u201cOh, here\u2019s a wonderful person. Wonderful.\u201d You know, he killed four people. \u201cHere\u2019s \u2014 here\u2019s another wonderful.\u201d (Laughter.)<\/p>\n<p>And then they get in and we say, \u201cGee, that person just came into our country. He just robbed a store and killed somebody.\u201d How is that possible? Because they send us the people they don\u2019t want. (Applause.) The biggest form of subsidy we give to other nations. Immigration systems that prioritize the admission of those who can support themselves financially and contribute. We want people that can help themselves, that can support themselves. We have people coming in. We support them from the day they come in until the day they die. We can\u2019t do that as a country. We can\u2019t afford to do that as a country. (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>Sadly, on immigration and so many other issues, Democrat lawmakers have totally abandoned the American mainstream. But that\u2019s going to be good for us in 2020. They\u2019re embracing open borders, socialism, and extreme late-term abortion.<\/p>\n<p>AUDIENCE: Booo \u2014<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT: Weeks ago, lawmakers in New York cheered as they passed legislation to allow babies to be ripped from the womb of their mother right up to the very moment of death. Then, in an act and a statement, the likes of which I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve ever heard, in Virginia, the governor \u2014 a Democrat \u2014 stated that he would allow babies to be born, to be born outside. He would wrap them. He would take care of them. And then he\u2019ll talk to the mother and the father as to what to be done. And if they didn\u2019t want the child, who is now outside of the womb \u2014 long outside of the womb \u2014 they will execute the baby after birth.<\/p>\n<p>AUDIENCE: Booo \u2014<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT: They will execute the baby after birth. And that\u2019s one many people have never even heard of or thought about.<\/p>\n<p>This is a radical agenda by the Democrats. And when you put something up, as was just put up before the Senate, everybody on the Democrat side votes for it.<\/p>\n<p>By the way, I have to say one thing: They\u2019re lousy politicians and they have lousy policy. They have policy I could never sell if I wanted to. But \u2014 but \u2014 big but \u2014 they always stick together. And the Republicans don\u2019t remember that. (Applause.) Remember that. They always stick together. They vote in blocs. They have 47.<\/p>\n<p>We had a tremendous victory. We were given no credit. I can\u2019t go and campaign for all of the people in the House. Too many. And guys like Meadows wins by so many points he doesn\u2019t need any help. He doesn\u2019t need it. I say, \u201cMark, do you need any help?\u201d \u201cNo, I\u2019m okay.\u201d (Laughter.) He\u2019ll win by 30, 35. They\u2019re okay. These guys \u2014 you know a funny thing? The ones that love Trump, the ones that are really the Trumpers \u2014 like Meadows, Jordan, Gates, so many of them. I don\u2019t want to \u2014 I could just name so many. They\u2019re the ones that win with that. I mean, it\u2019s like they don\u2019t even have an election.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s the ones that sort of \u2014 they\u2019re a little shy about embracing what we\u2019re all about, they get clobbered. They get clobbered. Take a look. Those are the ones that get clobbered. But the good news is they\u2019re all starting to find that out.<\/p>\n<p>Just this week, Senate Democrats opposed legislation to prevent the killing of newborn infant children who survive abortions. Virtually every Democrat voted against protecting these precious babies. Every one. They vote in groups.<\/p>\n<p>And we did have that great victory. We won for 51. And two that we didn\u2019t like got out. They said they retired. They didn\u2019t retire. They were retired. (Applause.) They said, \u201cThese two senators have decided to retire.\u201d No, no, no. They retired because they had like very little support. Like how about 5 percent? Any percent.<\/p>\n<p>No, we did great. We had 53 we picked up in the Senate. They were going to win the Senate, remember? And I\u2019ll tell you, folks, I worked hard. I did 32 big, fat rallies. (Applause.) And those rallies brought us to a tremendous Senate victory so that we can continue onward with our judges and our approvals.<\/p>\n<p>And the fake news back there, they love to say \u201cDonald Trump suffered a big defeat.\u201d First of all, we won the Senate, which, frankly, judges \u2014 you know, I hate to say it: In all due respect for us, the Senate, far more important. I really worked hard.<\/p>\n<p>But think of it. We won the Senate and we had this, like, tremendous victory. We get no credit at all. Wait until you see what happens. They say, \u201cDonald Trump suffered a humiliating defeat.\u201d I said, \u201cI wasn\u2019t running.\u201d (Laughter.) And one of the commentators \u2014 and I appreciate it \u2014 one of the shows where they were saying how I suffered a defeat, this commentator said, \u201cExcuse me, he didn\u2019t run.\u201d You know, not all our candidates were exactly great. Let\u2019s face it. You know, you can only do so much.<\/p>\n<p>But wait until you see what\u2019s happening when I do run. And what they don\u2019t say is \u2014 governor of Ohio, great guy. Mike. Mike. Mike was down six. He won by seven with one day. Right? (Applause.) He was down by six. One day into the election, I went out, I campaigned, worked hard, made a speech. Jim Jordan was there. Everybody was there. It was a fantastic crowd like this. Like this. And all the people in the other ballrooms that are waiting for us.<\/p>\n<p>And he ended up winning. He was down by six; he won by seven. One day. (Applause.) Then we have Georgia \u2014 the governor of Georgia. Great guy. Where\u2019s Georgia? Great guy. He was losing in the primary by 10. I got a call from David Perdue and Sonny Perdue \u2014 two great guys. \u201cCould you endorse him?\u201d I said, \u201cLet me check.\u201d And I checked him. He was a Trumper before Trump was a Trumper. (Laughter.) And I said, \u201cI love this guy.\u201d He\u2019s down by 10. He won by 40. (Applause.) Can you believe that? I endorsed him, Mark. He won by 40. Then he had a tough race against the new star of the Democrat Party \u2014 not Democratic. It\u2019s Democrat. We have to do that.<\/p>\n<p>You know, it sounds prettier when we use \u201cDemocratic.\u201d I even like \u2014 I hate to say in the speech, the \u201cDemocrat Party\u201d because it doesn\u2019t sound good. But that\u2019s all the more reason I use it, because it doesn\u2019t. (Laughter.) They should change it because it sounds much better. Rhetorically, it\u2019s much better. Much better.<\/p>\n<p>But then, he had an election against their star who followed me after the State of the Union Address. I didn\u2019t think she was great. But she\u2019s their star. And who showed up? Oprah Winfrey, Michelle Obama, and President Obama.<\/p>\n<p>AUDIENCE: Booo \u2014<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT: And they campaigned for her, and they worked so hard. And all our man had was Trump. (Laughter.) And we kicked their ass. (Applause.) True.<\/p>\n<p>We had a rally at the airport, where 55,000 people showed up to the airport. It was one hangar. They had three other hangars that were full. They went so far back. The problem was they gave the press, like these guys \u2014 they gave the press too good a location because the people behind them couldn\u2019t see properly. I was so angry. But we had 55,000 people show up. I said, \u201cYou\u2019re going to win the election.\u201d He won the election. He won it fairly easily, against their star. And now David Perdue is going to win for senator in 2020. (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>And then \u2014 and then we had Florida, and many others. (Applause.) And we have a candidate, Ron DeSantis \u2014 (applause) \u2014 a friend. A friend of many of us in this room. But nobody knew he was running. He was running against, in the primary, somebody that was easily going to win. He was scheduled to be the next governor of Florida.<\/p>\n<p>But Ron has been great to me on the witch hunt. He\u2019s been a defender of me against these phony charges of Russia. Russia, Russia, Russia, Russia. My wife said, \u201cYou never spoke to anybody from Russia, darling.\u201d I said, \u201cThat\u2019s right.\u201d (Laughter.) But Ron DeSantis \u2014 I like people that defend me. You know, when people defend me, I defend them. (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>So he came. That\u2019s why I like Mark. That\u2019s why I like Mark Levin. And I\u2019m not sure a lot of people like him. He\u2019s tough as hell. But I like him. I love him.<\/p>\n<p>But then we have Florida. So, Ron DeSantis is at three. Three. He calls up, \u201cSir, can I have your endorsement?\u201d I said, \u201cRon, you\u2019re at three. Your opponent is, I guess, agriculture commissioner \u2014 has 22 million in the bank. His poll numbers are very good. He\u2019s up in the 20s or 30s.\u201d I said, \u201cRon, don\u2019t make me do this, Ron.\u201d (Laughter.) \u201cSir, I can win.\u201d \u201cAll right, Ron. Here we go.\u201d Because I know if he loses \u2014 which almost never happens when I endorse somebody. Almost never. Only one time, and that was because it was done in the middle of the day of the election. Nobody knew I did it. They got home, they said, \u201cI didn\u2019t know Trump endorsed him.\u201d But we rarely, rarely lose.<\/p>\n<p>But I said, \u201cRon, don\u2019t do it.\u201d I said, \u201cAll right, I\u2019ll do it.\u201d He went from 3 to 60. To 60. (Applause.) And then he ran against a guy who had unbelievable support. He had every celebrity go into Florida. He had money all over the place. And Ron was in there pitching, and I was in there pitching with him. And we now have a great governor in the state of Florida. (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>And I could mention many others \u2014 other governors, many other states. But I\u2019m not going to bore you with it. And I think \u2014 I really think that it\u2019s incredible what we did in the midterms. I think it\u2019s incredible.<\/p>\n<p>Governor of Florida. Governor of Ohio. Remember, \u201cYou can\u2019t win unless you win the state of Ohio.\u201d We got the governor of Ohio, and he\u2019s great. Mike. We love you, Mike. (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>As we defend American values at home, we are also defending. American security abroad. We have secured all sorts of funding, all sorts of record everything. And we will never forget our military. We will never forget our veterans. We are taking care of our veterans like they\u2019ve never been taken care of before. (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>We just got them Choice, so now they can go see a doctor. (Applause.) Now they can go and see a doctor instead of waiting on line for weeks and weeks and weeks.<\/p>\n<p>And we got them Accountability. You couldn\u2019t fire anybody in the VA. You had sadists. You had people that took advantage of our veterans. They\u2019ve hit them. They were sadists. They were sick people. You couldn\u2019t fire them. You had thieves that were stealing \u2014 openly stealing. You couldn\u2019t fire them.<\/p>\n<p>I got a bill passed: VA Accountability. Now you look at the guy, you say, \u201cGet the hell out of here. You\u2019re fired. Get out.\u201d (Applause.) Nobody thought we could get it. For 40 years they tried to get it. For 40 years they tried to get it; they couldn\u2019t get it. And VA Choice, they thought \u2014 for many, many decades they\u2019d been trying to get VA Choice. You couldn\u2019t get it.<\/p>\n<p>Now, instead of waiting on line for two days, nine days, three weeks \u2014 people were dying. People that weren\u2019t very sick would be dead by the time they saw a doctor, six weeks later. Now these great veterans, if there\u2019s a big wait, they go outside, they go to a local doctor. We pay the bills. They get better. Everybody is happy. And we actually save a lot of money, if you can believe it. (Applause.) And I got that approved after 44 years of being unable to get it approved \u2014 for our veterans. We love our veterans. (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>And just in finishing up, as you know, I just returned from Vietnam, where I had very productive meetings with Chairman Kim Jong Un. Very productive. We get along. (Applause.) We\u2019ve developed a good relationship \u2014 very good \u2014 and made great historic progress. And I do get a kick out of all these people in previous administrations: \u201cDonald Trump should not, under any circumstances, be doing this or that.\u201d You know, they\u2019re telling me how to negotiate. These guys died.<\/p>\n<p>One administration gave billions of dollars to him and got nothing. And we haven\u2019t given him anything yet. I look forward to maybe doing something at some point. But I know one thing: I\u2019m going to get other countries to give. Maybe not us, but I\u2019m going to get other countries to give, and if it all works out. (Applause.) If it all works out.<\/p>\n<p>But I had to walk. Because every once in a while, you have to walk, because the deal wasn\u2019t a deal that was acceptable to me. I don\u2019t like these deals that politicians make. They make a deal just for the sake of doing it. I don\u2019t want to do that. I want to make a deal that either works, or let\u2019s not make it. (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>But the one thing we have, though, is we have no testing, no missiles going up, no rockets going up. No nuclear testing. We got our great people back. We get our great, great people. And that includes our beautiful, beautiful Otto \u2014 Otto Warmbier \u2014 whose parents I\u2019ve gotten to know, who\u2019s incredible.<\/p>\n<p>And I\u2019m in such a horrible position, because in one way I have to negotiate. In the other way, I love Mr. and Mrs. Warmbier, and I love Otto. And it\u2019s a very, very delicate balance. He was a special young man. And to see what happened was so bad. It was so bad.<\/p>\n<p>And a lot of what I do with respect to North Korea, and any success that we hopefully have \u2014 and we\u2019ve had a lot. We\u2019re given no credit. They don\u2019t remember that, in the last days of the Obama administration, rockets were flying all over the place, nuclear testing was going on. Mountains were being \u2014 these are big mountains. They were being shoved over three, four inches. People thought it was massive earthquakes, then they found out, no, that was nuclear weapons \u2014 nuclear testing. So much. We\u2019re getting the remains back of a lot of our soldiers from many, many years ago. (Applause.) Mike Pence was in Hawaii. It was one of the most beautiful ceremonies.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019ve made a lot of progress, and we\u2019ll continue to make progress. And I really think what we\u2019re doing there is very important. But we actually had to walk, but I think we had a very good meeting. In fact, when I came home, they put out a statement that, actually, they were willing to do much less on the sanction front. But you see, that\u2019s not what happened there.<\/p>\n<p>So already, I think we\u2019re negotiating. And I\u2019ll tell you this: North Korea has an incredible, brilliant economic future, if they make a deal. But they don\u2019t have any economic future if they have nuclear weapons. It\u2019s really a bad thing for them. So we\u2019ll see how it all goes. But I think it\u2019s going well. I think we learned a lot over the last couple of days.<\/p>\n<p>And again, the relationship seems to be very, very strong. And that\u2019s an important thing, especially when we\u2019re dealing with this kind of a situation. (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>For years, you watched as your leaders apologized for America. You saw that. Would you like to apologize? No. I\u2019m not apologizing. (Applause.) Now you have a President who is standing up for America.<\/p>\n<p>After decades of building up foreign nations, we are finally building up our nation, and we are doing it with American hands, American grit, and with beautiful, beautiful American steel. (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>We are fighting to ensure that every young American inherits the same blessings and the same boundless opportunity that our ancestors fought to secure with all of their heart, might, and soul.<\/p>\n<p>Now more than ever, we need the proud men and women of CPAC. And I want to thank everybody here, because it is incredible. Your organization is incredible. Matt and Mercedes, incredible. (Applause.) You\u2019re energized, you\u2019re mobilized, and you\u2019re engaged. We need your voice. We need your patriotism. We need your commitment.<\/p>\n<p>We need your incredible spirit on the Fourth of July. We are having, in Washington, D.C., a great tribute to America. I hope you can all come. Fourth of July \u2014 keep it open. We want to bring millions of people into the city, and we want people to come who love our country. Those are the people we want. The Fourth of July. (Applause.) A salute to America.<\/p>\n<p>Now is the time to embrace the promise of our history. Now is the time to defend our American legacy. And now is the time to seize our glorious destiny.<\/p>\n<p>And, by the way, I\u2019m watching those doors. Not one person has left, and I\u2019ve been up here a long time. (Laughter.) I said, \u201cMatt, is that okay?\u201d He said, \u201cI love it. Don\u2019t leave.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But not one person. So if you hear tomorrow, when they read \u201cpeople left\u201d \u2014 nobody left early. There hasn\u2019t been one person that\u2019s left. But when you read it, you just say \u201cfake news.\u201d (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>This magnificent nation will always be the home of those who cherish life, who love liberty, and who defend the sacred rights given to us by Almighty God. (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>Together, we are one people, one family, and one nation, forever united behind one great American flag. (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>Thank you to everybody in this room and to all of the other rooms, all over the campus and all over the country. We\u2019re hooked in all over the country. Thank you very much.<\/p>\n<p>I want to thank CPAC. What a job they\u2019ve done. What a job Matt Schlapp and his family have done in such a short period of time, in bringing this to a level like it\u2019s never been before.<\/p>\n<p>God bless you. God bless the United States of America. Thank you very much. (Applause.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>National Harbor, MD&#8230;Oh, thank you very much. Thank you very much. And thank you very much also to a man named Matt Schlapp. What a job he\u2019s done. (Applause.) And to CPAC \u2014 I actually started quite a while ago at CPAC, and came here \u2014 probably made my first real political speech. And I [&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-75643","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\/75643","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=75643"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75643\/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=75643"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=75643"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=75643"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}