{"id":89306,"date":"2019-10-21T20:41:00","date_gmt":"2019-10-22T03:41:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/69.46.6.243\/?p=89306"},"modified":"2019-10-21T20:41:00","modified_gmt":"2019-10-22T03:41:00","slug":"president-trump-holds-wide-ranging-cabinet-meeting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/?p=89306","title":{"rendered":"President Trump Holds Wide Ranging Cabinet Meeting"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Washington, DC&#8230;Okay.  Thank you very much.  We have a Cabinet meeting.  We\u2019ll have a few questions after grace.  And, if you would, Ben, please do the honors.  SECRETARY CARSON:  Our kind Father in Heaven, we\u2019re so thankful for the many blessings that you have bestowed upon us in this country.  And we\u2019re thankful for the people of courage who have been here before us, who have fought hard for the rights of our country.  And we thank you for President Donald Trump, who also exhibits great courage in face of constant criticism.  And we ask that you would give him strength to endure and the wisdom lead, and to recognize you as the sovereigns of the universe with the solution to everything.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/lLpltkmBM1M\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>And the people around the President \u2014 the Vice President, the Cabinet, the advisors \u2014 give us all an understanding heart and a compassionate heart.  Those are the things that will keep America great.  And help us all to recognize as a nation that separation of church and state means that the church does not dominate the state, and it means the state does not dominate the church.  It doesn\u2019t mean that they cannot work together to promote godly principles of loving your fellow man, of caring about your neighbor, of developing your God-given talents to the utmost so that you become valuable to the people around you, and having values and principles that govern your life.<\/p>\n<p>And if we do those things, then we will always be successful.  And we thank you for hearing our prayer, in your Holy name.  Amen.<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  All right, thank you, Ben.  That was a great job.  Appreciate it.<\/p>\n<p>The economy is doing fantastically well.  It\u2019s getting very close to another record.  We\u2019ve had many records since we won office.  We\u2019re getting very close to another record.  I don\u2019t know if anybody saw it: The household median income for eight years of President Bush, it rose $400.  For eight years of President Obama, it rose $975.  And for two and half years of President Trump \u2014 they have it down as two and a half years \u2014 it rose $5,000, not including $2,000 for taxes.  So it rose, let\u2019s say, $7,000.  So in two and a half years, we\u2019re up $7,000, compared to $1,000, compared to $400.  And that\u2019s for eight years and eight years.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s a number that just came out, but that\u2019s a number that I don\u2019t know how there could be any dispute or any \u2014 I\u2019ve never heard a number like that, meaning the economy is doing fantastically well.<\/p>\n<p>We need \u2014 for our farmers, our manufacturers, for, frankly, unions and non-unions, we need USMCA to be voted on.  If it\u2019s voted on, it\u2019ll pass.  It\u2019s up to Nancy Pelosi to put it up.  If she puts it up, it\u2019s going to pass.  It\u2019s going to be very bipartisan.  It\u2019s something that\u2019s very much needed.  It\u2019ll be hundreds of thousands of jobs.<\/p>\n<p>Mexico and Canada have approved it; it\u2019s done.  They\u2019re waiting for our approval.  And we can\u2019t seem to get the votes.  I call them the Do-Nothing Democrats; I mean that.  They\u2019ve done nothing.  But this is something they can do very easily.  We\u2019ll give them bipartisan approvals and credits \u2014 all the credits they want \u2014 but they have to be able to do it.<\/p>\n<p>So the economy is doing fantastically well.  We want to vote on USMCA.  We have other trade deals that we\u2019ve done.  We\u2019ve done South Korea, which is a fantastic deal for us; it turned out even better than we thought.  South Korea was a terrible deal.  The person in charge of that particular deal, Hillary Clinton \u2014 you\u2019ve heard of her; she\u2019s the one that\u2019s accusing everybody of being a Russian agent.  Anybody that is opposed to her is a Russian agent.  So that\u2019s a scam that was pretty much put down.<\/p>\n<p>Tulsi \u2014 I don\u2019t know Tulsi, but she\u2019s not a Russian agent.  I don\u2019t know Jill Stein.  I know she likes environment.  I don\u2019t think she likes Russians.  If she does like them, I know she\u2019s not a asset.  She called her an \u201casset\u201d of Russia.  These people are sick.  There\u2019s something wrong with them.<\/p>\n<p>But I think that Tulsi Gabbard probably got helped quite a bit by this stir.  I think we were helped because it shows, for two and half years, we end up winning.  I had to go through two and a half years.  If she would have done this earlier, people would have realized what a scam it is.  Everybody is a Russian or a Russian agent or a Russian asset.<\/p>\n<p>The economy, again, is at a level that it\u2019s never been.  We are doing \u2014 whether it\u2019s household income, whether it\u2019s almost any chart \u2014 and I think maybe the best of all is unemployment.  Unemployment has reached historic lows.  African American, Asian American, Hispanic American reached numbers that nobody ever thought would be possible.  Had the lowest ever in history.<\/p>\n<p>So, if you\u2019re black, if you\u2019re Hispanic, if you\u2019re Asian \u2014 anybody \u2014 African American, Hispanic American, Asian: the lowest in history.  For women, the lowest in 71 years.  The best.  When I say \u201clowest,\u201d I\u2019m talking about the best.  Both the best unemployment numbers and the best employment numbers \u2014 either way you want to cut it.  You can say them both because it\u2019s best in both.<\/p>\n<p>As far as employment is concerned, we have the most people working today than ever before in the history of our country.  We\u2019ve never had \u2014 there\u2019s close to 160 million people.  So it\u2019s \u2014 some incredible things are happening.<\/p>\n<p>Syria: We will be giving a much fuller report.  Mike Pompeo, Secretary of Defense Esper, and the different people that are very much involved.  Mike Pence, Vice President.<\/p>\n<p>We are having very good news coming out.  The ceasefire is holding.  The Kurds are moving out to safer areas beyond the \u201csafe zone,\u201d as we call it.  Having the safe zone is not a bad thing; it\u2019s a good thing.  And plenty of Turks have been killed because of conflict on their border.  So, you know, you have to look at it both ways.  But the ceasefire is absolutely holding.  There\u2019s been skirmishes, but very little, relatively speaking.  Of course, if you watch the fake news, it\u2019s like pretty \u2014 pretty wild.  It\u2019s really holding.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve watched these pundits that have been working on this thing for 20 years.  They\u2019ve been working on the Middle East for 20 years; they don\u2019t know what they\u2019re doing and they\u2019re telling me what to do.  They\u2019re saying, \u201cWhat did Trump get out of it?  What did he get out of it?\u201d  I\u2019ll tell you what I get out of it: We won\u2019t be fighting, and we\u2019ll bring our soldiers back home.  They were supposed to be there for 30 days, and they\u2019ve been there now for 10 years, in Syria.  Ten years.  They were supposed to go in, do a quick hit on ISIS, and come out.<\/p>\n<p>Now, as far as ISIS is concerned, when I took over \u2014 November, 2016 \u2014 ISIS was all over the place.  I\u2019m the one \u2014 meaning it was me and this administration, working with others, including the Kurds \u2014 that captured all of these people that we\u2019re talking about right now.<\/p>\n<p>Because President Obama \u2014 it was a mess.  And I was told and you were told, and everybody told it would be years before you ever did what I did in about a month and a half after I started.  I went over to Iraq, I met with our generals, and we figured out a plan, and it was done within a month and a half.  I\u2019m the one that did the capturing.  I\u2019m the one that knows more about it than you people or the \u2014 or the fake pundits.<\/p>\n<p>But I sort of have to smile to myself.  I was telling a couple of people \u2014 I\u2019m watching these people that I\u2019ve been watching for 20 years.  I\u2019ve been watching the same faces; they\u2019re just a little bit older and a little bit grayer.  I\u2019ve been watching them for 20 years, saying about the Middle East.  And they\u2019ve been wrong on everything they\u2019ve ever said.<\/p>\n<p>And now, all of a sudden, people are starting to say, \u201cYou know, what Trump is doing is great.\u201d  And we have tremendous \u2014 a tremendous power.  Because since the election of 2016, November \u2014 since that beautiful day, our country has picked up in value trillions and trillions of dollars of worth.  Trillions and trillions of dollars.  Numbers that nobody would believe.  Numbers, if I would have said it on the campaign trail, I would\u2019ve been \u2014 I would\u2019ve been excoriated by the fake media.  Excoriated.<\/p>\n<p>The numbers are far greater than anything that even I predicted.  You hear that with the household median income.  Four hundred dollars for eight years.  Nine hundred and seventy-five dollars for eight years.  Seven thousand dollars for two and half years \u2014 up.  Nobody has ever seen numbers.<\/p>\n<p>Larry Kudlow is going to speak in a minute, and he\u2019s going to tell you that\u2019s one of the greatest strengths of our country.<\/p>\n<p>And, by the way, other areas and countries are doing poorly.  Europe is doing very poorly.  Asia is doing very poorly.  China is doing very poorly \u2014 worst year they\u2019ve had in 57 years.  I wonder why.  I wonder why.  I\u2019m sure you can\u2019t figure it out.<\/p>\n<p>And we\u2019re doing great.  We\u2019re taking in billions and billions of dollars in tariffs from China, and they\u2019re eating the tariffs because they devalued their currency.  And they\u2019re pouring money into their economy because they don\u2019t want to lose the jobs, but they are losing the jobs.  They\u2019ve having a terrible year.  Worst in 57 years, they say.<\/p>\n<p>And if they say that, it means it\u2019s worse.  And they announced that they have the worst numbers they\u2019ve had in 20 years.  They announced six.  I don\u2019t think it\u2019s six; I think it\u2019s probably minus-something.  It could very well be minus.  It could very well be in negative territory.<\/p>\n<p>But we\u2019re doing great.  And, by the way, the deal with China is coming along very well.  They want to make a deal because they sort of have to make a deal, I think.  They have to make a deal because their supply chain is going down the tubes.  Their supply chain is broken like you\u2019ve never seen anything broken before.  It\u2019s broken.<\/p>\n<p>So, our soldiers \u2014 on Syria, they\u2019re moving out, very nicely.  ISIS is being held by the Kurds.  And I have an absolute commitment from Turkey that they\u2019re watching them, just in case.  So we have a double: We have the Kurds are watching them.<\/p>\n<p>As you know, most of the ISIS fighters that we captured \u2014 \u201cwe.\u201d  We.  Not Obama.  We.  We captured them.  Me.  Our country captured them, working with others, including the Kurds.  And we helped them, don\u2019t forget.  We helped the Kurds.  Everyone said the Kurds helped us; that\u2019s true.  But we helped the Kurds.  They\u2019re no angels, but we helped the Kurds.<\/p>\n<p>And we never gave the Kurds a commitment that we\u2019d stay for the next 400 years and protect them.  They\u2019ve been fighting with the Turks for 300 years, that people know of.  And nobody ever committed, \u201cGee, if you do this, we\u2019re going to do that, and we\u2019re going to stay with you forever.\u201d  Nobody ever said that.<\/p>\n<p>But when I watch these pundits that always are trying to take a shot, I say \u2014 they say, \u201cWhat are we getting out of it?\u201d  You know what we\u2019re getting out of it?  We\u2019re bringing our soldiers back home.  That\u2019s a big thing.  And it\u2019s going to probably work.  But if it doesn\u2019t work, you\u2019re going to have people fighting like they\u2019ve been fighting for 300 years.  It\u2019s very simple.  It\u2019s really very, very simple.<\/p>\n<p>But we\u2019re going to bring our soldiers back home.  So far, there hasn\u2019t been one drop of blood shed during this whole period by an American soldier.  Nobody was killed.  Nobody cut their finger.  There\u2019s been nothing.  And they\u2019re leaving rather, I think, not expeditiously \u2014 rather intelligently.  Just leaving.  Leaving certain areas.  Leaving.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019ve secured the oil.  If you remember, I didn\u2019t want to go into Iraq.  I was a civilian, so I had no power over it.  But I always was speaking against going into Iraq.  It was not a great decision.  But I always said, \u201cIf you\u2019re going in, keep the oil.\u201d  Same thing here: Keep the oil.  We want to keep the oil.<\/p>\n<p>And we\u2019ll work something out with the Kurds so that they have some money, they have some cash flow.  Maybe we\u2019ll get one of our big oil companies to go in and do it properly.  But they\u2019ll have some cash flow, which they basically don\u2019t have right now.  Everybody is fighting.  It\u2019s not a big oil area, but everybody is fighting for whatever there is.  So we have a lot of good things going over there, and they\u2019re going very well.<\/p>\n<p>As far as the continuation of the witch hunt, we beat the Russian deal.  We beat the Mueller deal.  Now I find out, as I said before, that they\u2019re trying to make other people into Russian agents, Russian assets.  It has no credibility.<\/p>\n<p>Now they have what should be extremely easy to beat, because I have a perfect phone call.  I made a perfect call \u2014 not a good call; a perfect call.  In fact, a friend of mine, who\u2019s a great lawyer, said, \u201cDid you know this would be the subject of all of this scrutiny?  Because the way you expressed yourself, this is like a perfect call.  You must\u2019ve known this was going to happen.\u201d  No, I didn\u2019t.  That\u2019s just the way I talk to the President of Ukraine \u2014 who, by the way, said there was no pressure, there was no blackmail, there was no anything.<\/p>\n<p>And Congressman Hurd \u2014 I have to tell you, yesterday, he was great.  He was great, what he said.  I gained a lot of respect for him very quickly, because he said, \u201cYou know, with all of this going on, I haven\u2019t heard one Ukrainian saying there was pressure.  I haven\u2019t heard one Ukrainian \u2014 not one \u2014 say that there was pressure of any kind.\u201d  There haven\u2019t even been reports of it to our people.  Nobody has even said it.  And the reason you haven\u2019t heard it \u2014 because there is no pressure.<\/p>\n<p>The conversation I had was perfect.  And what happened is I released the conversation, and that threw Shifty Schiff off.  Crooked \u2014 he was a corrupt politician.  Schiff is a corrupt politician.  That threw him off because he made up a lie.  He made up what I said in my conversation.  And he went before the United States Congress, and he said a made-up story; it was fabricated.  He totally fabricated it.  They said he\u2019s \u2014 he\u2019s a screenwriter.  Well, this was screenwritten.  It was a fabricated story.<\/p>\n<p>So he made up a lie, and I released \u2014 they never thought that I\u2019d do this \u2014 I released a transcription, done by stenographers, of the exact conversation I had.  And now, the game was up.<\/p>\n<p>And the other thing is, the whistleblower and the other whistleblower and the informer \u2014 all these people \u2014 they\u2019d seemed to have disappeared.  You know why they disappeared?  Because they talked about another conversation \u2014 a conversation that I never had.  They made up a conversation.<\/p>\n<p>Now, if you look at the whistleblower report and you look at the actual transcribed conversation \u2014 the actual conversation that I had \u2014 and you couple that with the President saying that that was a perfectly fine conversation \u2014 I don\u2019t even know \u2014 he didn\u2019t even know what they\u2019re doing.  He didn\u2019t even know about the money not being paid.  Okay?  I think that came out somewhere, that the money \u2014 he didn\u2019t know that.  Then you also have his foreign minister saying, \u201cNo, it was a very good conversation.\u201d  There was no anything asked for.  There was no pressure whatsoever.<\/p>\n<p>So this is a phony investigation.  I watched a couple of people on television today talking about it.  They were talking about what a phony deal it is, what a phony investigation it is.  And Republicans have to get tougher and fight.  We have some that are great fighters, but they have to get tougher and fight because the Democrats are trying to hurt the Republican Party for the election, which is coming up, where we\u2019re doing very well.  We had a record crowd \u2014 the history of the arena \u2014 it\u2019s the biggest crowd they\u2019ve ever had.  And we had 20,000 people outside, at least.  We\u2019re doing great on the election.<\/p>\n<p>You saw what happened in North Carolina.  We picked up two seats that people didn\u2019t think we were going to pick up.  That was two weeks ago.  Last week, a Governor that people thought was okay went down, and now he\u2019s got a big election.  He was under 50 percent; nobody thought that was going to happen.  We\u2019re doing very well.<\/p>\n<p>But a lot of these stories that are made up, between a guy like Shifty Schiff \u2014 who\u2019s a phony guy, a corrupt politician \u2014 the media buys it.  Because, unfortunately, the media is corrupt also.  Much of the media \u2014 so much of it, such a big percentage of it.  It\u2019s such a shame.  Some great reporters and great journalists, but some really bad people.  So, that\u2019s the story.<\/p>\n<p>The economy is good.  We\u2019re doing well with getting out, finally, after 10 years.  Again, 30 days to 10 years.  And we\u2019re getting out.  Nobody \u2014 none of our people are injured.  It\u2019s very smooth thus far.  And I think that you\u2019re going to see something that\u2019s going to be good.<\/p>\n<p>Remember this: If Turkey misbehaves \u2014 I don\u2019t think they will \u2014 but we have a power that nobody thought we had, to the extent.  It\u2019s called sanctions.  It\u2019s called tariffs.  We\u2019ll tariff the hell out of their product coming here.  They send tremendous amounts of steel to the United States and other things.  We will tariff them and we will sanction them.  But I don\u2019t want to use that as a threat because Mike Pence and our Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, they went out and they negotiated a very good five-day ceasefire.  I\u2019m sure if we needed a little extension, that would be happening.  But our power is \u2014 our power of economics, it\u2019s very powerful.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019ve rebuilt the military since November of 2016.  Our military was totally depleted from being in stupid situations like this for so many years.  Our military was depleted to a level that we had very little ammunition.  I was actually told we had no ammunition.  Now we have more ammunition than we\u2019ve ever had.  Our military is stronger \u2014 stronger than it\u2019s ever been.  Probably stronger than ever.  And in a few short months, as the equipment pours in from the money we spent \u2014 two and a half trillion dollars \u2014 it will be at a level that it\u2019s never even come close to.  It\u2019s a big difference.  All made in the USA.  All made in the USA.<\/p>\n<p>So, we\u2019re doing very well.  And if anybody has any questions?  Please.<\/p>\n<p>Q    Mr. President, will you maintain a limited number of troops in Syria?<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  Excuse me?<\/p>\n<p>Q    Will you maintain a limited number of troops in Syria?<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  Well, we don\u2019t think it\u2019s going to be necessary.  I don\u2019t want to leave troops there.  It\u2019s very dangerous there.  You know, we had 28 troops, as it turned out.  People said 50; it was 28.  And you had an army on both sides of those troops.  Those troops would\u2019ve been wiped out.  I don\u2019t think it\u2019s necessary other than that we secured the oil in a little different section, but we did secure the oil.<\/p>\n<p>And the other reason \u2014 region where we\u2019ve been asked by Israel and Jordan to leave a small number of troops is a totally different section of Syria, near Jordan and close to Israel.  And that\u2019s a totally different section.  That\u2019s a totally different mindset.  So we have a small group there, and we\u2019ve secured the oil.  Other than that, there\u2019s no reason for it, in our opinion.<\/p>\n<p>And, again, the Kurds are going to be watching.  We\u2019re working with the Kurds.  We have a good relationship with the Kurds.  But we never agreed to, you know, protect the Kurds.  We fought with them for three and a half to four years.  We never agreed to protect the Kurds for the rest of their lives.<\/p>\n<p>Remember this: When Iraq was fighting the Kurds, everybody thought we were going to fight with the Kurds.  I said, \u201cWell, it\u2019s a little strange that we\u2019re fighting with the Kurds when we just spent $4 trillion on Iraq and now we\u2019re going to be fighting Iraq.\u201d  So what I did is I said, \u201cWe\u2019re not going to take a position.  Let them fight themselves.\u201d  I thought the Kurds would do very well.  Everyone said, \u201cOh, the Kurds will do very well.\u201d  Well, Iraq moved in and the Kurds left.  They didn\u2019t fight because they didn\u2019t have us to fight with.<\/p>\n<p>A lot of people are good when they fight with us.  You know, when you have $10 billion worth of airplanes shooting 10 miles in front of your line, it\u2019s much easier to fight.  But with that, they were a good help.  But we were a great help to them too.  They were fighting ISIS.  You know, they hated ISIS, so they were fighting ISIS.  But we never agreed.  Where\u2019s an agreement that said we have to stay in the Middle East for the rest of humanity, for the rest of civilization, to protect the Kurds?  They never said that.<\/p>\n<p>And we have protected them.  We\u2019ve taken very good care of them.  And I hope they\u2019re going to watch over ISIS, because that\u2019s \u2014 again, most of it is not in the safe zone, as we call it.  Some places are called \u201cdemilitarized zone.\u201d  In the old days, we\u2019d call areas like this a \u201cdemilitarized zone.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And our relationship with the Kurds is good, and they\u2019re going to be safe.  And I will say this: If shooting didn\u2019t start for a couple of days, I don\u2019t think the Kurds would have moved.  I don\u2019t think, frankly, you would\u2019ve been able to make a very easy deal with Turkey.<\/p>\n<p>I think when it started for a few days, it was so nasty that when we went to Turkey and when we went to the Kurds, they agreed to do things that they never would have done before the shooting started.<\/p>\n<p>If they didn\u2019t go through two and a half days of hell, I don\u2019t think they would\u2019ve done it.  I think you couldn\u2019t have made a deal.  And people have been trying to make this deal for years.  But we\u2019re close to making it.  We\u2019ll see what happens.  Again, they\u2019ve been fighting for 300 years, that we know of.  Three hundred years.  So why should we put our soldiers in the midst of two large groups, hundreds of thousands, potentially, of people that are fighting?  I don\u2019t think so.  I don\u2019t think so.<\/p>\n<p>Yes, Steve?<\/p>\n<p>Q    You said that Republicans need to get tougher and fight.  What are you talking about, Mr. President?<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  Well, I think the Democrats fight dirty.  I think the Democrats are lousy politicians with lousy policy.  They want open borders.  They don\u2019t care about crime.  They want sanctuary cities.  They don\u2019t care about drugs.  They don\u2019t care about almost anything.  They don\u2019t care about USMCA.  How about that?<\/p>\n<p>I think they\u2019re lousy politicians.  But two things they have: They\u2019re vicious and they stick together.  They don\u2019t have Mitt Romney in their midst.  They don\u2019t have people like that.  They stick together.  You never see them break off.  You never see somebody go out and \u2014 that\u2019s why I respected so much what I watched with Will Hurd today, because he was one of the few that didn\u2019t seem to be there and yet he made a statement, and he said, \u201cWell, I haven\u2019t seen any complaints whatsoever from the Ukrainians.\u201d  I mean, the Ukrainians didn\u2019t complain, and they didn\u2019t tell any of our ambassadors.<\/p>\n<p>This thing is all about a letter that was perfect.  You never hear the letter anymore.  It was all about whistleblowers.  You never hear \u2014 what happened to the whistleblowers?  They\u2019re gone, because they\u2019ve been discredited.  What happened to the informant?  And where\u2019s the IG?  Why didn\u2019t the IG read the letter, read the transcript \u2014 he could have gotten it, I guess, I assume.  I would have declassified it for him, if I had to do that.  Why didn\u2019t he read this and then see that the whistleblower\u2019s account was totally different than the letter?  Then he would\u2019ve said, \u201cOh, there\u2019s no problem here.\u201d  The whistleblower gave a false account.<\/p>\n<p>Now you have to say, \u201cWell, do we have to protect somebody that gave a false account?\u201d  You know, these whistleblowers, they have them like they\u2019re angels.  Okay?  So do we have to protect somebody that gave a totally false account of my conversation?  I don\u2019t know.  You tell me.  Do we have to protect the informant?  Now, I happen to think there probably wasn\u2019t an informant.  You know, the informant went to the whistleblower, the whistleblower had second- and third-hand information.  You remember that.  It was a big problem.<\/p>\n<p>But the information was wrong.  So was there actually an informant?  Maybe the informant was Schiff.  It could be Shifty Schiff.  In my opinion, it\u2019s possibly Schiff.  Why didn\u2019t Schiff say that he and his staff, or his staff, or a whole group \u2014 why didn\u2019t he say that he met with the whistleblower?  He knew all about the whistleblower.  Why didn\u2019t he say?<\/p>\n<p>He\u2019s a crooked politician.  Very bad for our country.  This whole thing is very bad for our country.  In the midst of that, I\u2019m trying to get out of wars.  But we may have to get into wars too.  Okay?  We may have to get into wars.  We\u2019re better prepared than we\u2019ve ever been.  If Iran does something, they\u2019ll be hit like they\u2019ve never been hit before.  I mean, we have things that we\u2019re looking at.<\/p>\n<p>But can you imagine I have to fight off these \u2014 these lowlives at the same time I\u2019m negotiating these very important things that should\u2019ve been done during Obama and Bush and even before that.  All right?  So that\u2019s where we are right now.<\/p>\n<p>Actually  very fair question.<\/p>\n<p>Go ahead.<\/p>\n<p>Q    Mr. President, will the troops from Syria come home, or will you send them to other military bases?<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  Well, they\u2019re going to be sent initially to different parts, get prepared, and then ultimately we\u2019re bringing them home.  Yeah.  We\u2019re bringing our troops back home.  I got elected on bringing our soldiers back home.  Now, it\u2019s not very popular within the Beltway, because, you know, Lockheed doesn\u2019t like it, and these great military companies don\u2019t like it.  It\u2019s not very popular.<\/p>\n<p>Outside the Beltway \u2014 my largest cheer in Dallas \u2014 I had 25,000 people \u2014 close \u2014 in that arena.  A record crowd.  I had so many people outside of the arena.  Thousands.  My largest cheer that night was two things: We\u2019re building the wall; that\u2019s number one.  And number two, and probably tied for number one, was we\u2019re bringing our soldiers back home.  That was our largest cheer in Dallas.  Great place.  Great state \u2014 Texas.  Tough state.  They\u2019re tough.<\/p>\n<p>When I said, \u201cWe\u2019re bringing our soldiers back home,\u201d the place went crazy.  But within the Beltway, you know, people don\u2019t like it.  It\u2019s much tougher for me.  It\u2019d be much easier for me to let our soldiers be there, let them continue to die.  I go out to Dover and I have to \u2014 I meet parents.  It\u2019s not a pleasant thing; it\u2019s the most unpleasant thing I do.  Most unpleasant thing I do.  When I see that big cargo plane open, and I see those coffins get rolled off, or when I go over to Walter Reed Hospital \u2014 where the doctors are incredible, by the way \u2014 saving people that could\u2019ve never been saved even five years ago.  You know that.  But those people are horribly wounded.  Horribly, horribly wounded.  Wounded warriors.  It\u2019s the toughest thing I do.<\/p>\n<p>The toughest thing is sending letters.  I send many letters home to parents, and I speak to parents.  But I send many letters home to parents; their son or daughter has been killed over in the Middle East.  For what?  For what?  There are times to fight and there are times not to fight.  There are times to be smart.<\/p>\n<p>We have tremendous economic power, and we\u2019re using our economic power \u2014 much more powerful, in certain ways, than playing with \u2014 with guns.  And much better for our country, and much better for everybody, and actually much better for humanity.  Okay?<\/p>\n<p>Thank you all very much.  I appreciate it.  Thank you.  Thank you very much.<\/p>\n<p>Q    Mr. President, on your decision to not hold the G7 \u2014 the G7 not at Doral?  Are you planning to do it at Camp David now?<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  Doral \u2014 Doral was a very simple situation: I own a property in Florida.  I was going to do it at no cost, or give it free, if I got a ruling, because there\u2019s a question as to whether or not you\u2019re allowed to give it because it\u2019s like a contribution to a country.  I\u2019d have to get a ruling.  But I would have given it for nothing.  It\u2019s a lot of \u2014 a lot of money I would have given away, like I give away my salary.  I give away my salary.  It\u2019s, I guess, close to $450,000.  I give it away.  Nobody ever said he gives away his salary.  Now it comes up because of this.  But I give away my presidential salary.<\/p>\n<p>They say that no other President has done it.  I\u2019m surprised, to be honest with you.  They actually say that George Washington may have been the only other President that did.  But see whether or not Obama gave up his salary.  See whether or not all of the other of your favorites give up their salary.  The answer is no.<\/p>\n<p>They say it\u2019s the only one.  They think George Washington did, but they say no other.  So I give up \u2014 it\u2019s a lot of money, $450,000, close to.  And I give that up.<\/p>\n<p>So I have a place that\u2019s in the best location.  I\u2019m very good at real estate.  Very, very good.  Much better than you even understand.  When you see my financials, which I\u2019ll give at the right time, you\u2019ll say, \u201cMan, he was much better than we even thought.\u201d  This guy knows, right here \u2014 Mnuchin \u2014 because he was in the private sector.  He knows \u2014 he knows very much what I have.  He would tell you.  Someday, maybe, he\u2019ll tell you.<\/p>\n<p>But I\u2019m very good at real estate.  There\u2019s Miami \u2014 this facility.  Everybody would have had their own building.  Everybody in the G7 would have had their own building.  It was so good.  Florida loved it.  They love economic development.  It\u2019s \u2014 it\u2019s not because \u2014 it\u2019s a beautiful place, it\u2019s new, it\u2019s been totally rebuilt.  It\u2019s new.  Everything is new.  It\u2019s got massive meeting rooms.  Unlimited for security because it\u2019s on, you know, hundreds of acres.  Best location.  Right next to the airport, Miami International \u2014 one of the biggest airports in the world.  Some people say it\u2019s the biggest.  But one of the biggest airports in the world.  It\u2019s only minutes away.  It would\u2019ve been great.<\/p>\n<p>But the Democrats went crazy, even though I would\u2019ve done it free, saved the country a lot of money.  Then they say, \u201cOh, but you\u2019ll get promotion.\u201d  Who cares?  You don\u2019t think I get enough promotion?  I get more promotion than any human being that\u2019s ever lived, I think, I get.  I think I would have that \u2014 I think I can say that fairly safely.  I think I get more promotion than any human being that\u2019s ever lived \u2014 some good, some bad.  The people that like me give me only good.  The people that don\u2019t like me give me only bad.  But that\u2019s the way life is.  I don\u2019t need promotion.  I don\u2019t need promotion.  Okay?<\/p>\n<p>But I was willing to do this for free.  And they would\u2019ve had \u2014 it would\u2019ve been the greatest G7 ever.  And I would\u2019ve said to my family \u2014 because they run my business now; I don\u2019t run my business.  I actually put all the stuff in trusts.  They run my \u2014 and I didn\u2019t have to do that.  I was under no obligation to do it.<\/p>\n<p>You know, I don\u2019t know if you know it: George Washington \u2014 he ran his business simultaneously while he was President.  Many other Presidents \u2014 there weren\u2019t too many really rich Presidents, but there were a few \u2014 they ran their business.  Hey, Obama made a deal for a book.  Is that running a business?  I\u2019m sure he didn\u2019t even discuss it while he was President.  Oh, yeah.  He has a deal with Netflix.  When did they start talking about that?  That\u2019s only, you know, a couple of examples.<\/p>\n<p>But other Presidents, if you look \u2014 other Presidents were wealthy.  Not huge wealth.  George Washington was actually considered a very, very rich man at the time.  But they ran their businesses.  George Washington, they say, had two desks: He had a presidential desk and a business desk.  I don\u2019t think you people, with this phony emoluments clause \u2014<\/p>\n<p>And, by the way, I would say that it\u2019s cost me anywhere from $2 [billion] to $5 billion to be President \u2014 and that\u2019s okay \u2014 between what I lose and what I could have made.  I would have made a fortune if I just ran my business.  I was doing it really well.  I have a great business.  I have the best properties.<\/p>\n<p>But between what I lose \u2014 and, in all fairness, some properties \u2014 Doral is an example.  Doral was setting records when I bought it, because I owned it for a period of time.  Setting records.  It was going to \u2014 there was nothing like it.  It was making a fortune.<\/p>\n<p>And then what happened?  I announced I\u2019m going to run for office.  Right?  And all of a sudden \u2014 and I say, \u201cWe got to build a wall, we got to have borders, we got to have this, we got to have that.\u201d  All of a sudden, people \u2014 some people didn\u2019t like it.  They thought the rhetoric was too tough.  And it went from doing great to doing fine.  It does very nicely now.  It\u2019s actually back, I understand, very strongly.<\/p>\n<p>But Doral was setting records.  And I knew this would happen.  Most of the stuff that I have \u2014 because now, instead of having 100 percent of the market that loves you and they love your brand and it\u2019s luxury and it\u2019s great, now you have 50 percent of the market.  That\u2019s called politics.  I fully understood that.<\/p>\n<p>So it\u2019s cost me between $2 billion and $5 billion.  And if I had it to do again, I\u2019d do it in an instant.  Because who cares?  If you can afford it, what difference does it make?  If I had this to do again \u2014 because I\u2019m making a big difference for the country.<\/p>\n<p>The country is stronger now than it\u2019s been in many years \u2014 maybe ever.  Out military is rebuilt.  Our economy is hitting records.  As I said, best unemployment numbers, best employment numbers.  We\u2019re strong.  We\u2019re bringing our soldiers back home from the endless wars.  We\u2019re doing great.<\/p>\n<p>So whether I lost $2 billion, $5 billion, more or less, it doesn\u2019t make any difference to me.  I don\u2019t care.  If you\u2019re rich, it doesn\u2019t matter.  I\u2019m doing this for the country.  I\u2019m doing it for the people that show up.  I haven\u2019t had an empty seat at a rally.  I will say, \u201cWhere\u2019s the rally?\u201d  \u201cIt\u2019s in a certain place.\u201d  \u201cOkay.  Just get the biggest arena.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I go to these massive basketball arenas, like in Dallas, where the Mavericks play, and fill it up and set a record.  I\u2019ve set a record in almost every place I\u2019ve been because we just need a little small stage.  We don\u2019t need basketball courts, ice hockey courts.  And I take less than musicians, because they have bands.  I don\u2019t have band.  I set the world record for somebody without a guitar.  Okay?  I don\u2019t have bands.  All right?<\/p>\n<p>So that\u2019s the story.  And, you know, those people are the poll.  And I had great polls.  I have my best polls now.  I think it\u2019s because people think that it\u2019s terrible what they\u2019re doing.  Pelosi, Shifty Schiff, Schumer \u2014 these people are trying to destroy the country.  It\u2019s a very bad thing, what they\u2019re doing.<\/p>\n<p>The President of the United States should be allowed to run the country, not have to focus on this kind of crap, while at the same time doing a great job with Syria and Turkey and all of the other things that we\u2019re doing.<\/p>\n<p>Korea \u2014 okay, maybe someday \u2014 but I\u2019ll tell you what: If somebody else became President, with that same mindset that they had, you\u2019d, right now, be in a big war with North Korea.  You don\u2019t hear too much about it.  It could happen.  Could happen.  I don\u2019t know.  I always say, \u201cWho knows?\u201d  It\u2019s deals.  Who knows?<\/p>\n<p>But, in the meantime, North Korea is \u2014 I like Kim; he likes me.  We get along.  I respect him; he respects him.  You could end up in a war.  President Obama told me that.  He said, \u201cThe biggest problem \u2014 I don\u2019t know how to solve it.\u201d  He told me doesn\u2019t know how to solve it.  I said, \u201cDid you ever call him?\u201d  \u201cNo.\u201d  Actually, he tried 11 times.  But the man on the other side \u2014 the gentleman on the side did not take his call.  Okay?  Lack of respect.  But he takes my call.<\/p>\n<p>Thank you very much, everybody.  Thank you.<\/p>\n<p>Q    Sir, the G7 \u2014 so what\u2019s the plan for the G7 now, if it\u2019s not at Doral?  What\u2019s the plan for the G7 now?<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  We\u2019ll look at other locations.  I don\u2019t think it\u2019ll be as exciting.  I don\u2019t think it\u2019ll be as good.  It\u2019ll cost the country a fortune because it\u2019s very expensive.<\/p>\n<p>I know France had a budget of many, many millions of dollars.  They just did it.  They did a great job, by the way.  But France had a budget of many, many millions of dollars.  It\u2019s going to cost, you know, a fortune for the country.  I was willing to do it for free, but people didn\u2019t like that.  They thought I may get some promotional value.  I need promotional value so badly, right?  I don\u2019t need promotion.<\/p>\n<p>Go ahead.  What did you say?  What else?  Steve?  No?<\/p>\n<p>Q    Sir, could I ask you about Iran?  Sir.  Sir, on Iran \u2014<\/p>\n<p>Q    Sir, is it a forgone conclusion that the House will impeach you?<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  On Iran, what?  Say it?  What?  What do you mention the word \u201cimpeach\u201d?<\/p>\n<p>Q    Sir, do you believe \u2014 do you believe it\u2019s a forgone \u2014 do believe that it\u2019s a forgone conclusion that the House will impeach?<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  Well, I think they want to.  Any Democrat wants to because they\u2019re not going to beat me in the election.  So, of course, they want to impeach me.  Why wouldn\u2019t they want to impeach me?  It\u2019s so \u2014 it\u2019s so illegitimate.  It cannot be the way the Founders \u2014 our great Founders \u2014 meant this to be.<\/p>\n<p>But I see this guy, Congressman Al Green, saying, \u201cWe have to impeach him, otherwise he\u2019s going to win the election.\u201d  What\u2019s that all about?  But that\u2019s exactly what they\u2019re saying.  \u201cWe have to impeach because otherwise he\u2019s going to win.\u201d  I\u2019m going to win the election.<\/p>\n<p>Look, I have the strongest economy ever.  \u201cIt\u2019s the economy, stupid.\u201d  Right?  I have the strongest economy in the history of our country.  Okay?  And we\u2019re setting records.  Over 100 times \u2014 I think it\u2019s like 118 \u2014 but over 100 times, we\u2019ve had the highest stock market in history, since November 8th.  Over 100 times.<\/p>\n<p>And, by the way, the day I got elected \u2014 the following day \u2014 from there until January 20th, the market went through the roof.  You know why it went through the roof?  Because they got rid of Obama and they got rid of Clinton.  And if anybody else \u2014 if any of these people that I\u2019ve been watching on this stage got elected, your 401(k)s would be down the tubes.  They\u2019d go down not 20 percent or 30 percent; they\u2019d go down 70, 90, 80 [percent], and destroy this country.  You\u2019d destroy the country.<\/p>\n<p>So, I think they want to impeach me because it\u2019s the only way they\u2019re going to win.  They\u2019ve got nothing.  All they have is a phone call that was perfect.  All they have is a whistleblower who has disappeared.  Where is he?  He\u2019s gone.  Then they have a second whistleblower.  \u201cThe second whistleblower has got \u2014 oh, it\u2019s going to\u2026\u201d  Where is he?  He disappeared.  Then they have an informant.  \u201cOh, the informant is\u2026\u201d  Where is he?<\/p>\n<p>They\u2019re interviewing \u2014 they\u2019re interviewing ambassadors who I\u2019d never heard of.  I don\u2019t know who these people are.  I never heard of them.  And I have great respect for some of them.  One of them said, just recently \u2014 a very, very highly respected man \u2014 I\u2019m not going to get into their names, but a highly \u2014 said, \u201cNo, no.  We were very, very bothered by Joe Biden and his son back during the Obama administration.\u201d  He said, \u201cWe were very\u2026\u201d  He\u2019s supposed to be their witness.<\/p>\n<p>Don\u2019t forget, many of these people were put there during Obama, during Clinton, during the Never Trump or Bush era.  You know, you had a Never Trump or Bush.  You have heard of those?  Those people might be worse than the Democrats \u2014 the Never Trumpers.  The good news is they\u2019re dying off fast.  They\u2019re on artificial respiration, I think.<\/p>\n<p>But, no, impeachment \u2014 they want to impeach and they want to do it as quick as possible.  And that\u2019s pretty much the story.  Okay?<\/p>\n<p>Q    What about Republican support?  Do you \u2014 are you working behind the scenes to shore up support in the Senate?<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  I think I have great Republican support.<\/p>\n<p>Q    Do you run the risk of alienating any of the Republicans in your Party?<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  No, I don\u2019t think so at all.  No, they \u2014 because, you know what?<\/p>\n<p>Q    Some of them are very angry about the Syria decision.<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  Look \u2014 no, you don\u2019t \u2014 I have to do what I have to do.  I\u2019ll tell you what: I want to bring our soldiers back home.  If people want to leave them there, I\u2019ll take that every day.  All I know \u2014 you were at Dallas \u2014 all I know is the place went crazy when I said, \u201cWe\u2019re bringing our soldiers back home.\u201d  Within this little area \u2014 this is a very unique area \u2014 they may feel that.  But I have to do what I got elected on, and I have to do what I think is right.<\/p>\n<p>Now, if I got elected on something and I think I was wrong, I\u2019d second guess myself.  I\u2019d change.  But they want our soldiers back home.  And I think we can do as well, or better, frankly.  Let them \u2014 they\u2019ve got to \u2014 they\u2019ve got to keep going at each other.  It\u2019s artificial to have these soldiers walking up and down between two big countries.<\/p>\n<p>And, by the way, I\u2019m just informed: Larry Kudlow is going to say a few remarks, if you want.  Would you like to stay for Larry\u2019s remarks?<\/p>\n<p>Q    Sure.  Sure.  Yes, sir.<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  Because he is a great, great remark-maker.  (Laughter.)  Larry \u2014 after that whole thing, Larry, get up and go get it.  I\u2019m sure it\u2019ll be great.  Let them know how we\u2019re doing, Larry.  If we\u2019re doing poorly, let them know.  But I don\u2019t think that\u2019s going to happen.<\/p>\n<p>MR. KUDLOW:  Thanks, sir.  I appreciate it very much.  Here\u2019s a point I want to make right at the start.  You\u2019ve put out some great numbers on some of the recent releases.  You know, first and foremost, this is a middle class boom.  I can\u2019t emphasize that enough.  This is a middle class boom, even though perhaps some people won\u2019t give us credit for it.<\/p>\n<p>You\u2019ve been rebuilding the economy, re-incentivizing the economy, lower taxes, lower regulations, opening up the energy sector, tough trade reforms for level playing fields.  So after two and a half years, average real family income: $65,000.  In fact, it\u2019s really closer to $66,000.  So $6,000 gains.  About 8 percent.  It\u2019s better than anything our predecessors have done, be they Democrat or Republican.  I\u2019m not being partisan here whatsoever.<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  Maybe ever, Larry.  Right?  Maybe ever \u2014 in history.<\/p>\n<p>MR. KUDLOW:  I\u2019d have to go \u2014 I\u2019d have to go back and \u2014<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  Go check it.  I don\u2019t think it\u2019s ever been done.<\/p>\n<p>MR. KUDLOW:  But it\u2019s a long ways, you\u2019re right.  Sixty-five thousand \u2014 almost sixty-six thousand \u2014 that is the middle of middle.  So, I think that\u2019s very important.  And the increase of roughly 8 percent has never been done before.<\/p>\n<p>And, actually, if you look at the composition of wage increases, sir, the biggest gains have come in the middle quintile, the fourth, and the fifth.  The lowest 10 percent have had the biggest increases \u2014 not the highest wages, mind you \u2014 but the biggest gains, which is what really matters to individual people.  So I think that\u2019s absolutely a key point.  The policies have spurred a middle-class boom.<\/p>\n<p>Now, 3.5 percent unemployment \u2014 the lowest in 51 years. 1.4 percent inflation.  We\u2019ve had a 50 percent increase, on balance, for the stock market.  Household net worth \u2014 household net worth of $12 trillion dollars.  So, we\u2019re about $103 trillion \u2014 $103 trillion dollars for American household net worth.  Disposable income is now growing at 3 percent.<\/p>\n<p>The reason these key points \u2014 inflation, stocks, income, wages \u2014 there\u2019s a model.  There\u2019s a couple of these models.  They\u2019re very interesting.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m going to talk about the Moody\u2019s model.  It\u2019s been run by a friend of mine; he\u2019s an old friend of mine, Mark Zandi. Does not have much sympathetic views towards our administration \u2014 or me, for that matter.  But, nonetheless \u2014 nonetheless, he\u2019s a good guy, personally.  I don\u2019t take this stuff personally.<\/p>\n<p>But their model is now showing, because of stocks, inflation, what he calls the \u201cpocketbook model\u201d \u2014 which is the average family income you talked about before \u2014 $66,000 \u2014 his electoral range is 289 to 351.  289 to 351.  I believe you need 270 to win.  And the most important one is the \u201cpocketbook\u201d \u2014 the \u201cpocketbook model\u201d gives you 351 thousand.  My former boss, Ronald Reagan, used to call it \u201ctake-home pay.\u201d  We\u2019re seeing it once again.  We\u2019re seeing it once again.<\/p>\n<p>Is this stuff going to happen?  Well, their view is \u2014 and Oxford economics said the same thing \u2014 if we continue along this path, those are \u2014<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  Are they predicting who is going to win the election, Larry?  Is that what you\u2019re saying?<\/p>\n<p>MR. KUDLOW:  Those are the kinds of numbers that suggest a very substantial victory.  A very substantial victory.  Let me go on again.  I\u2019ll be brief on the wrap-up here.<\/p>\n<p>America is working.  As you said, 6 million jobs, 500,000-some-odd manufacturing job increases since you took office.<\/p>\n<p>Let me make this point.  I\u2019ve been working hard on this, trying to convince my former colleagues in the media.  September payrolls \u2014 we\u2019re still work- \u2014 September payrolls, including the revisions, up 181,000.  Okay?  7.1 million job openings.  7.1 million job openings.  5.8 million unemployed.  We have more job openings than we have unemployed.  This is the 18th straight month.  That is a very rare economic stat.<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  Almost never happens.<\/p>\n<p>MR. KUDLOW:  But let me go under the hood, just for a second.  Besides the payroll numbers, there\u2019s another survey from which unemployment comes from.  Right?  That 3.5 percent unemployment rate comes from something called the \u201chousehold survey,\u201d which tends to ask individual family members, small businesses, entrepreneurs, and starters.  Okay?  Household survey in the last four months is exploding.  And it is averaging close to 400,000 per month.  In other words, payrolls came in at 180, and the household survey is averaging close to 400,000.<\/p>\n<p>A lot of business and financial economists believe the household survey is your leading indicator.  It tells me, sir, we could be in for another takeoff on the jobs story.<\/p>\n<p>Wages \u2014 non-supervisory production wages up 3.5 percent.<\/p>\n<p>One more leading indicator: the housing market \u2014 which has been soft for over a year, we\u2019re now seeing single family starts and sales, and pending sales have now shown several months of steady increases.  That\u2019s a good leading indicator that the economy is going to be speeding up, not slowing down.<\/p>\n<p>All of this in the face of a couple of years of very tight monetary policy and the fact that the rest of world is not growing \u2014 basically, Europe has been in recession.  The rest of world has been in a virtual recession because of our incentive-minded policies.  Because of our emphasis on trade and energy and deregulation, we are growing twice as fast as the rest of the world.  And the numbers are telling me we may be ready for another pickup.  We may be poised for another pickup after a quarter or two of softness.<\/p>\n<p>So, I think we\u2019re in pretty good shape, sir.  These are facts.  My colleagues \u2014 or my former media colleagues may or may not agree, but I\u2019m happy to go through the facts, which is what I\u2019m really interested in here.  And, of course, it\u2019s not breaking news that I\u2019m a low-tax rate, supply-sider from the Reagan-Laffer years.  (Laughter.)<\/p>\n<p>But I do want to bring in my friend and colleague, Russ Vought of OMB, because part of this is the regulatory story \u2014<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  Okay.  It\u2019s true.<\/p>\n<p>MR. KUDLOW:  \u2014 the deregulatory story, which is helping jobs.<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  We\u2019ve cut regulations more than any administration in history, and that\u2019s in two and a half years.  So, in two and a half years, we\u2019ve cut more regulation than any administration in the history of our country.  And they\u2019ve been \u2014 for eight years and, in one case, for more than that.  So that\u2019s been pretty good.<\/p>\n<p>Thank you very much, Larry.  That was very good.<\/p>\n<p>MR. KUDLOW:  I\u2019m going to give it over to Russ.  Thank you, sir.<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  And Russ Vought \u2014<\/p>\n<p>MR. KUDLOW:  Thank you, sir.  Appreciate it.<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  Russ, if you could talk about regulation.<\/p>\n<p>ACTING SECRETARY VOUGHT:  Yeah, we\u2019re going like gangbusters, Mr. President, as a result of your commitment to the deregulatory initiative.  Some numbers for our \u2014 the group here: nine to one.  You set a commitment of two for \u2014 two deregulatory initiatives for every one.  We\u2019re now at nine, at the close of our third year.  That is $50 billion in cost savings, up from $33 billion.  And that\u2019s just for those who are regulatory parties.<\/p>\n<p>So if we \u2014 if you look at the economy-wide cost savings, it\u2019s $220 billion of savings for regulations \u2014 deregulatory initiatives in the pipeline.  And that\u2019s in just the first round.  Right now, we\u2019re going through a process to figure out what\u2019s next.<\/p>\n<p>We want to be finishing the big deregulatory initiatives this year that you ran on.  We\u2019re going to go forward this year with some exciting things to make sure infrastructure and permitting happens on a much quicker basis.<\/p>\n<p>The Vice President is going to be leading a task force with governors to really multiply the efforts that they\u2019re doing on the state level \u2014 things like occupational licensing \u2014 to make sure that a hairdresser in Montana doesn\u2019t have to \u2014 when she moves, doesn\u2019t have to go through a thousand hours of training when she moves to Idaho.  That\u2019s the kind of thing that we want to multiply between the states and the federal government to be able to really expand on the work that you\u2019ve been doing.<\/p>\n<p>So we\u2019re excited about that.  And we can\u2019t think of deregulatory initiatives without thinking about the work that Andrew Wheeler is doing at EPA.  So I would love if you want to talk to \u2014 about your initiatives as well.<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  Okay, good.  I think I\u2019ll maybe start with you, Andrew, if you could.  Please.<\/p>\n<p>ADMINISTRATOR WHEELER:  Thank you, Mr. President.  I\u2019m here to update you on the implementation of your executive order regarding the Waters of the U.S.  As you know, under the Clean Water Act, EPA regulates the discharge of pollutants into the nation\u2019s navigable waters \u2014 also known as \u201cWaters of the U.S.,\u201d or \u201cWOTUS.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In 2015, the Obama administration illegally expanded WOTUS to include things such as dry channels that only flows when it rains, isolated ponds, ditches.  That\u2019s meant \u2014 that meant that the vast majority of the nation\u2019s waters would have fallen under the federal control.  The Iowa Farm Bureau estimated that 97 percent of the state of Iowa would have fallen under federal control.  A North Dakota agricultural commissioner estimated that over 90 percent of North Dakota would have been under federal control.<\/p>\n<p>The Obama EPA claimed that the rule was in the interest of water quality, but it was really about power \u2014 power in the hands of the federal government.  The rule upset the federal-state partnership, and expanding WOTUS would have meant more landowners would have had to obtain costly federal permits for activities on private property.<\/p>\n<p>The permit process can cost anywhere from $30,000 to $300,000 for a water permit, and it takes one to two years or more.  So the 2015 rule was mired in litigation.  Thirty-one states opposed it.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. President, you knew that the Obama WOTUS power grab was trouble from the get-go.  And when you took office, you immediately asked us to fix the problem.  EPA and the Department of Army are implementing your WOTUS executive order, and it\u2019s due \u2014 two-step process.<\/p>\n<p>Last month, Army Corps head R.D. James and I signed the final step-one rule repealing the 2015 rule.  So the 2015 rule is no longer on the books.  We\u2019ve reverted back to previous water definitions prior to 2015.<\/p>\n<p>We are working on finalizing step two: our new proposed WOTUS definition that we\u2019ve proposed last December.  The proposal will clearly define what is a federal wetland, as well as what is not, which is just as important.  And it will limit where federal regulations apply.<\/p>\n<p>Our overreaching goal is that a property owner should be able to stand on his or her property and be able to tell for themselves whether or not they have a federal waterway without having to hire outside consultants to do that for them.<\/p>\n<p>We received over 600,000 comments on our proposal and we intend to finalize our proposal this winter.<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you very much.  And I know you\u2019re working on the small refineries \u2014 getting that straightened away so that it\u2019s going to be terrific for the small refineries.  They\u2019ve been hurt for a long time, and we gave them waivers for this year.  And that will \u2014 that\u2019s helped them a lot.  But I want you to work on that.  Make sure the small refineries are happy.<\/p>\n<p>And for the farmers, ethanol now has been fully approved.  We spoke with Joni Ernst.  We spoke with \u2014 and, very importantly \u2014 and we spoke with Chuck Grassley.  And the ethanol \u2014 the whole situation with ethanol that has been going on for so long, for so many years \u2014 we have that now where it\u2019s finished, approved, done, and we\u2019re getting things ready to sign.<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps, Sonny, you could just talk about ethanol for our farmers for a couple of minutes, please.<\/p>\n<p>SECRETARY PERDUE:  You\u2019ve done a couple of things, Mr. President.  You\u2019ve \u2014 you, first of all, committed to and fulfilled your promise of making the E15 year-round.  That\u2019s what\u2019s really needed to build infrastructure.  That\u2019s a 50 percent increase in domestic usage there, which will happen.  Good for the economy, good for the air, and good for the ag farmers in that way.<\/p>\n<p>You\u2019ve also balanced up the smaller refinery waivers with the farmers and RFS.  And once they fully understand what you\u2019ve done here, they\u2019ll be fine, and \u2014 as they see it implemented.<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  Yeah, they seem to be very happy.  They deserve to be happy.  They\u2019ve gone through a lot.  They were targeted by China, as you know.  And we took some of the money out of the tariffs \u2014 $16 billion and $12 billion for the two last years \u2014 and we gave it back to the farmer.  They don\u2019t even want it; they just want a level playing field.  But they were targeted unfairly by China.<\/p>\n<p>And now China is buying tremendous amounts of product \u2014 agricultural product.  They\u2019ve started \u2014 maybe Bob Lighthizer could give us just a little update.  I noticed that, today, China sent out a statement that the deal is coming along very well, that they expect to have a deal.<\/p>\n<p>Do you want to talk about China for a couple of seconds?<\/p>\n<p>AMBASSADOR LIGHTHIZER:  Yeah, sure, Mr. President.  We had \u2014 we had had deputy-level meetings this morning.  Secretary Mnuchin and I were going to be talking to our counterparts on Friday, and we think we\u2019re making great progress.  Our \u2014 as you say, our target is to have a phase-one deal done by the time you go to Chile.  And while there are still some issues we have to resolve, we\u2019re working towards that goal.<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  Well, one little example is the farmers.  So they were told and I was told, if we could get $20 billion a year in purchase \u2014 the biggest they\u2019ve ever done is $16 [billion], is what I\u2019ve heard and what they\u2019ve said.  If we could get $20 billion a year from China \u2014 that China purchases $20 billion a year of agricultural product \u2014 that would be a great thing.  So my people had $20 billion done.  And I said, \u201cI want more.\u201d  They said, \u201cThe farmers can\u2019t handle it.\u201d  I said, \u201cTell them to buy larger tractors.  It\u2019s very simple.\u201d  (Laughter.)  \u201cThey\u2019ll buy more land and they\u2019ll buy larger tractors.  But I want more.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And I said, \u201cWe want $60 billion to $70 billion.\u201d  And we agreed to $40 [billion] to $50 billion.  So they wanted $20 billion, and I got $40 [billion] to $50 billion.  And they\u2019ve already started buying.  And that\u2019s just the way it goes.  So I want to thank China for that.<\/p>\n<p>And they have started the buying.  So while we\u2019re papering the deal \u2014 and that\u2019s going well \u2014 we hope to sign it probably in Chile, when we have a summit in Chile, or wherever that may be.<br \/>\nBut we\u2019ll be able to, we think, sign a completed document with China on phase one.  Then we start working on phase two.  And actually, things in phase two are easier than phase one, but it\u2019s so big.  Like, as an example, on the agricultural products, it\u2019s so big that we thought doing phases would be good.  But actually, the things in the second phase are, in many ways, a lot easier than the things in the first phase.  So we\u2019ll see how that goes.<\/p>\n<p>SECRETARY PERDUE:  Mr. President, I\u2019m not sure who told you the farmers couldn\u2019t handle it, but it wasn\u2019t me.<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  I think they could.  (Laughter.)  I want the farmers to come tell me, \u201cSir, we can\u2019t produce that much.\u201d  The farmers don\u2019t know that language, right?<\/p>\n<p>SECRETARY PERDUE:  Right.<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  But we took it from $20 [billion] to potentially $50 billion.  It will be bought \u2014 more \u2014 more agriculture will be bought \u2014 product \u2014 will be bought than any time in our history, by far.  That\u2019s on top of the Japan deal that we just made, where Japan is buying a tremendous amount of ag and other things from our country and our farmers.<\/p>\n<p>Our farmers have been great.  They never wavered.  They said, \u201cThe President is doing the right thing.  We\u2019re sticking with the President.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I tell you, I didn\u2019t see anybody \u2014 they looked \u2014 some of the networks, they looked.  They looked all over for somebody that can speak negatively about the President.  And those farmers, Sonny, they stopped.  They said, \u201cNope, he\u2019s doing the right thing.  It may be hurting us, but he\u2019s doing the right thing.\u201d  And I think, in many ways, the farmer maybe is going to be the biggest beneficiary of what we\u2019re doing \u2014 certainly one of them.  I think our country is going to be the biggest beneficiary.<\/p>\n<p>Secretary, could I ask you to talk a little bit about drug pricing?  Because we\u2019ve cut it down a lot.<\/p>\n<p>SECRETARY AZAR:  Mm-hmm.<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  And we had the first year ever where prices actually went down.  And if we had Democrat support, we could get them way down, but we don\u2019t have a lot of Democrat support.  If you could talk about it, please.<\/p>\n<p>SECRETARY AZAR:  Sure.  So we\u2019ve had the third year in a row under President Trump\u2019s leadership, of historic levels of approving generic drugs.  Those are the affordable alternatives to brand drugs.  We\u2019re approaching 3,000 generic drugs approved under your tenure.  That led to \u2014 just in the first 18 months of your term \u2014 $26 billion of savings for people from those more affordable alternatives.<\/p>\n<p>And as a result, we have seen now, for the first time in 51 years, the largest decrease in prescription drug pricing under the Labor Department\u2019s inflation index \u2014 the largest decrease in 51 years.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019re working with Congress, of course, trying to craft a bipartisan package there.  I think we\u2019re in agreement on about 80 percent of the items.  We\u2019re probably the most flexible party in the negotiations between the Democrats and the Republicans, and try to deliver real savings for the American people.<\/p>\n<p>But we\u2019re not stopping.  We\u2019re continuing to work on your scheme to bring drugs in from Canada \u2014 to import drugs \u2014 and how we can make sure we\u2019re getting the same kind of deals for the American senior that other developed countries are getting.  As you called it, \u201cmost favored nation status.\u201d  So we\u2019re driving ahead.<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  So I\u2019ve read for years that other countries have much lower drug prices than we do.  So I said to a couple of our governors \u2014 including Ron DeSantis of Florida, who\u2019s very much into it: \u201cGo to Canada, where the prices are 50 percent.  Buy it from Canada.  We\u2019ll give you the approval.\u201d  And we\u2019re working on those final approvals now.<\/p>\n<p>So Canada buys \u2014 because of arcane rules and because of protecting the middleman and protecting drug companies, frankly, other countries have prices that are much, much lower.  You know, more than 50 percent, in some cases.  Canada\u2019s pricing is much lower.<\/p>\n<p>So I told Ron DeSantis, I told other governors, \u201cGo to Canada.  Go to other countries.  Buy them.\u201d  Same product.  Same exact manufacturer.  Many times, they\u2019re manufactured in the same plant, and a pill will cost you 50 percent or less than it does in the United States.  That just shows you how bad people have run our country.<\/p>\n<p>And we\u2019re going to get tremendous price cuts on drugs.  And we\u2019re in the process.  And I\u2019d like you to speed that up, Alex, if you could.  Really speed it up.<\/p>\n<p>SECRETARY AZAR:  Okay.<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  Because Canada is loving to sell it.  I mean, we\u2019re buying the exact same product for 50 percent.  That means people are going to get a 50 percent reduction in drug prices.  So \u2014 and in some cases, substantially more.  It\u2019s hard to believe how this country was taken advantage of by, frankly, everybody in every different way.  Okay?<\/p>\n<p>So, thank you.  And I\u2019d like to ask Gene Scalia to maybe speak.  Gene is a highly respected gentleman and one of the best lawyers in the country.  Focused on labor law.  And he\u2019s now a Department of Labor Secretary.  And it\u2019s great to have you at our first meeting.  And thank you.  Your first meeting.  I\u2019m very proud of you.  You got through.  He got a \u2014 he passed with a massive majority of a votes.  (Laughter.)  What was the number?<\/p>\n<p>SECRETARY SCALIA:  53-44.<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  That\u2019s considered a massive, massive \u2014 that\u2019s probably the largest number, if you can believe it.  (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>SECRETARY SCALIA:  Thank you, Mr. President.  It\u2019s a great honor to join you, the Vice President, and the Cabinet in the important work you\u2019re doing for the American people, including on the economic front.  You and Larry Kudlow mentioned some of those numbers, which really are virtually unprecedented.  As you said, in some cases, unprecedented unemployment numbers \u2014 since we\u2019ve been tracking \u2014 for African Americans or Hispanic Americans; the lowest unemployment rate for women in generations.<\/p>\n<p>And as Larry said, for those at the lower end of the economic scale, they particularly are enjoying these benefits.  Americans who don\u2019t have a high school degree have the lowest employment rate we\u2019ve ever seen.  And this has been, in part, because of your efforts to bring about deregulation to free employers to grow, offer more jobs.<\/p>\n<p>I wanted to mention two that we\u2019re doing at the Labor Department, and they\u2019re both as a result of executive orders that you issued, Mr. President.<\/p>\n<p>The first has to do with what we call association health plans.  And this is for small employers who employ tens of millions of American workers.  They\u2019re critical to our economy, but they find it hard to provide reasonably priced healthcare to their workers.<\/p>\n<p>So what we did was we reduced some regulatory hurdles that stood in the way of small employers coming together, forming an association, working with the local chamber of commerce, for example, to provide healthcare through that association.  That association can give the economies of scale of a larger company.  It has leverage of a larger company.  It has other ways that it can tailor the benefits available to these employees at the small \u2014 at the small employers.<\/p>\n<p>The CBO has estimated that about 4 million Americans would benefit from these programs and that they\u2019ll have premium reductions of as much as $2,000 as a result of these plans.<\/p>\n<p>I should say, some disgruntled state attorneys general \u2014 this has happened before, Mr. President \u2014 they\u2019ve sued over one of your regulatory initiatives.  But I\u2019m also pleased to say that my favorite Attorney General \u2014 yours; my former boss \u2014 Bill Barr, his lawyers at the Justice Department are defending this litigation right now.<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  And we should win.  (Laughter.)<\/p>\n<p>SECRETARY SCALIA:  And we\u2019ve got a related plan, what we call association retirement plans.  And this, again, was a result of an executive order you issued, Mr. President.  Same concept: Let smaller employers come together, achieve economies of scale, exercise leverage in negotiating to offer 401(k) plans.<\/p>\n<p>There are about 40 million Americans who don\u2019t have a retirement plan, who don\u2019t have a 401(k) plan.  This will make it easier for them to get those plans.<\/p>\n<p>So, Mr. President, those are two examples of steps that are helping the economy, they\u2019re deregulating, but as I\u2019ve described, they\u2019re helping workers get healthcare, get retirement coverage.<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  That\u2019s a big thing on the 401(k), Gene, too.  That\u2019s very important.  Thank you.<\/p>\n<p>Kellyanne, you were going to say about buy-back?<\/p>\n<p>MS. CONWAY:  Yes.  Thank you very much, Mr. President.  Because of the focus that you and the First Lady and the entire Cabinet and this administration have placed on combatting the drug supply\/drug demand crisis in our nation, we are happy to report the first decline in 30 years of overdose deaths due to drugs \u2014 a decline of 5.1 percent overall \u2014 falling off of its peak in some of our states, up to 24 percent.  A 24 percent reduction in overdose deaths in Ohio and 23 percent in Pennsylvania.  We\u2019ve got about 19 percent in Iowa, 17 percent in Kentucky, 11 percent in New Hampshire, and 9 percent in the hardest-hit state of West Virginia.<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  Those are really incredible numbers, folks.  I mean, you\u2019re not going to report them, so we\u2019re just wasting our time.<\/p>\n<p>MS. CONWAY:  Perhaps they will.  But it may \u2014<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  Those \u2014 those are great numbers.<\/p>\n<p>MS. CONWAY:  But this battleship is turning in the right direction, albeit slowly.<\/p>\n<p>But, Mr. President, the most significant bipartisan accomplishment, in my view, of your presidency was HR.6.  We\u2019re on the year anniversary of HR.6.  Every single Democrat voted for HR.6, including the ones running for President.  It is the largest investment of billions of dollars in prevention education, treatment, and recovery, and surveillance, and interdiction in our nation\u2019s history on any one drug crisis.<\/p>\n<p>Part of the education and equipping America is called \u201cTake Back Day.\u201d  The Drug Enforcement Agency, the DEA, runs two Take Back Days each year.  The next one is this Saturday.<\/p>\n<p>Since the Trump administration got into office, we\u2019ve collected 4.6 million pounds of unused prescription drugs.  Let me repeat that: It\u2019s not four \u2014 just 4.6 million drugs; that would be something.  4.6 million pounds.  That\u2019s the weight of 18 Boeing 757 aircrafts just collected.  So it is a drug supply and a drug demand crisis.<\/p>\n<p>We have partnered with over 5,000 law enforcement agencies.  And due to private sector partnerships with CVS, Rite Aid, Google, Walgreens, Walmart, and the rest, we have 8,300 total sites nationwide now that Google will map out for us.  So if you just type into the computer, \u201cTake back my drugs,\u201d \u201creturn prescription opioids,\u201d they will show you locations in your area and tell you how to drive or walk there.  And it\u2019s a safe way of returning your drugs.  I think it\u2019s a more convenient and more compassionate way for people to return unused, unneeded, expired pills.  That happens on Saturday.<\/p>\n<p>The Cabinet has been so consistently and so deeply involved.  And I want to thank each and every one of them for this effort, and Mr. President, as well as the First Lady and you.<\/p>\n<p>Also, I\u2019m happy to report that CVS has fulfilled its commitment to double the number of Take Back sites.  And in our effort to make every day Take Back Day, people don\u2019t need to wait any longer for every six months.  Walgreens, CVS, they\u2019ve got sort of safe delay \u2014 safe site, safe safes, where you\u2019re delaying the distribution of pharmaceuticals to make sure it\u2019s going to the person it\u2019s intended to go.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m happy to report the NFL, two weeks ago, sent out a message to all of its NFL clubs, equipping them to show our Trump administration public service announcements on Opioid Take Back Day, along with graphics.  And the NFL Network is involved.<\/p>\n<p>And finally, Major League Baseball, last week, agreed to show DEA\u2019s Take Back Day public service announcement this Friday during the World Series.<\/p>\n<p>Thank you, Mr. President.<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you very much, Kellyanne.  Take Back Day is a big deal.  And they\u2019ve been talking about it for a long time.  Nobody has ever done it.  But it is big.<\/p>\n<p>And Alex wanted to mention just one additional thing.  Go ahead.<\/p>\n<p>SECRETARY AZAR:  Yeah.  Just on the deregulation agenda, deregulation is a \u2014 it\u2019s a key part of that great healthcare that you promised the American people, this vision of a personalized, affordable patient-centric system that puts you, the patient, in the center and in control, and treats you like a human being, not like a number.  Because if you\u2019re focusing on the bureaucracy, that\u2019s not focusing on the patient.<\/p>\n<p>So we\u2019ve delivered $12.5 billion of regulatory savings.  That\u2019s over half of the entire government.  I\u2019ll give you an example.  We have freed up 40 million hours of doctor and nurse time to not be doing paperwork.  Forty million hours have been freed up that they can spend with patients instead.  But there\u2019s been incredible change, and we\u2019re going to able to just keep delivering that level of deregulation each year.<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  And something that some people think could be as big or bigger than healthcare is transparency.  We\u2019re doing transparency.  And did you want to give just a one-minute update on that transparency in pricing and transparency on the quality of your doctor?<\/p>\n<p>SECRETARY AZAR:  Sure.  Yeah.  So, this is something \u2014 the President has often said that transparency \u2014 his initiatives on transparency could be bigger than any kind of healthcare \u2014 individual healthcare plan that you might have.  What he means by that is, what we have proposed is making all of a hospital\u2019s rates \u2014 what they have negotiated with the individual insurer \u2014 transparent and available so that you, the patient, would know, before you go to the hospital, what something is going to cost you on your actual insurance plan.<\/p>\n<p>And then we\u2019ll do that with insurance regulations so that your insurance company will send you, before you go to the doctor\u2019s office, an advanced Explanation of Benefits that tells you the list price, the negotiated price, and what you\u2019ll pay out of pocket.  We\u2019re going to make this information available to you, as individuals.  This is going to empower you.  This will shake up the entire healthcare system to put the patient at the center so that you have the right to create a real consumer experience in healthcare, unlike what we\u2019ve had for the last 50 years.<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  And just to end, as our \u2014 as our trade deals start kicking in \u2014 these trade deals are incredible.  Whether it\u2019s North Korea, South Korea \u2014 North Korea is going to be \u2014 probably, something is going to be happening with North Korea too.  There\u2019s some very interesting information on North Korea.  A lot of things are going on.  And that\u2019s going to be a major rebuild at a certain point.<\/p>\n<p>And South Korea is getting much more involved with us than we ever thought in terms of the economy and in terms of the trade deal.  A lot of money is being spent over there, and they\u2019re going to be doing it through us.  They\u2019ve been doing tremendous purchases.  We had a tremendous deficit with them.  And we\u2019re slowly eating away at these deficits.  We had deficits with everybody.<\/p>\n<p>But as the trade deals start kicking in with China, especially phase one with the farmers and with the banks \u2014 the banking system, financial services \u2014 as they start kicking in, you\u2019re going to see a tremendous difference in the economy.  The economy is already, by far, number one.<\/p>\n<p>So, if I weren\u2019t elected, by right now, China would be the largest economy in the world.  It was expected.  It was said by many people that China would, right now \u2014 they were expecting around the second year of this term.  Not only aren\u2019t they the biggest economy in the world, but they are way, way, way far away.  We are much bigger than the China economy.  And we\u2019re getting bigger, and they\u2019re not.<\/p>\n<p>Now, they have 1.4 billion people.  I guess you\u2019d call that an advantage.  But we have an economy like no other.  I think we have the strongest economy we\u2019ve ever had.  And I think if you add the economy, the military, and all the other things that we\u2019ve done, there\u2019s nothing like it.  But when trade deals start kicking in \u2014 and, as I said, the South Korea deal did kick in, and things are happening with that that are very positive.  But as they kick in, you\u2019re going to see tremendous numbers, tremendous changes.  Because the trade deals we had were so pathetic.  They were so bad.  I used to sit back and say to Lighthizer, \u201cHow did somebody actually negotiate these deals?  How did they even negotiate them?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This was done at a level that \u2014 it\u2019s not even understandable why people were allowed to do it, how they were allowed, how they got passed.  But we\u2019re making great deals.  And when they kick in, the economy, as good as it\u2019s been doing \u2014 and I think, Larry, I can say, that as good as it\u2019s been doing, it\u2019s going to be even better than that.<\/p>\n<p>So, our country is doing fantastically well, perhaps better than ever before.  Thank you all very much.  Thank you very much.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Washington, DC&#8230;Okay. Thank you very much. We have a Cabinet meeting. We\u2019ll have a few questions after grace. And, if you would, Ben, please do the honors. SECRETARY CARSON: Our kind Father in Heaven, we\u2019re so thankful for the many blessings that you have bestowed upon us in this country. And we\u2019re thankful for the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":89308,"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-89306","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\/2019\/10\/Fullscreen-capture-10212019-83911-PM.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89306","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=89306"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89306\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/89308"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=89306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=89306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=89306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}