Transcript: President Trump Hosts PM Viktor Orban of Hungary At White House

Read the full transcript of President Trump hosting a bilateral lunch with Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary, on Friday, November 7, 2025.

President Trump’s Opening Remarks

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, thank you very much. It’s an honor to have a friend of mine here, Viktor Orban, the Prime Minister of Hungary. And he’s done a fantastic job. He’s a very powerful man within his country, but he’s also beloved. They love Viktor, and people that know him do. He’s run a really great country, and he’s got no crime. He’s got no problems, like some countries do, but probably has a couple of things that I don’t know about, maybe that I don’t want to know about. But he’s a very special person. I’ve known him for a long time.

We’re going to be talking trade. We’re going to be talking a little bit of Russia-Ukraine. We’ll be talking about energy and energy prices. We have energy down to a pretty low point right now in the United States. We’re drilling — drill, baby, drill, we call it. But energy costs are very low. Our general costs are very low.

And I just saw that Walmart came out with a statement last night — they’ve done it for many years — that Thanksgiving this year will cost 25 percent less than Thanksgiving last year under Sleepy Joe Biden. So that’s a big difference. That’s a big difference — 25 percent less Thanksgiving. And I think that’s a very good chart. They include everything — everything that you need for Thanksgiving. So it’s 25 percent less this year than it was last year. And that’s true. That’s emblematic of the rest of prices.

Energy prices are way down from what they were last year. Inflation is almost nonexistent. We have inflation down to a very low number.

Whereas Biden, as you know, is the worst inflation in the history of our country. So we’re doing very well.

Government Shutdown and Democratic Opposition

PRESIDENT TRUMP: We have a shutdown, as you probably know, because the Democrats have gone — they’re crazy. They’re crazy. But they don’t care if they hurt the country. But we’ve approved it 14 times. We’ve approved an opening up 14 times, and they keep rejecting it. And I guess maybe they will again. Let’s see what happens.

They want to have a lot of bad things happen — bad things for our country. We’re not going to give $1.5 trillion to people that came into our country illegally. We’re not going to do it to people who came from prisons. They came from mental institutions. They’re drug dealers. They want to give them medical care — $1.5 trillion. And we’re not going to do other things that they’re requesting also.

So I just want to welcome this really good person. I know him very well. He’s a good person. And he’s a great leader, and he’s loved in his country. And, Viktor, would you like to say a few words?

Prime Minister Orban’s Remarks

PRIME MINISTER ORBAN: Thank you very much, President. Thank you. First of all, may I say that thank you very much for the invitation. It’s good to see you, President, back to the White House. And good to be back after six years, in a way, again, to see you here. As we have met last time.

The reason why we are here is to open a new chapter between the bilateral relation of the United States and Hungary basically because during the Democrat administration, everything was ruined. So after your leaving, President, everything was basically broke, ruined, canceled, a lot of harm done by the previous administration.

In the last 10 months, President, what you have done — we are very much grateful for that — you restored the old level of the relationship. You improved the bilateral relation. You repaired what was done badly by the previous administration. So now we are in quite a good position to open up a new chapter, let’s say a golden age between the United States and Hungary.

And we have plenty of suggestions for today — economic cooperation, military cooperation, and political cooperation. And the main issue, probably, President, you know we are neighboring Ukraine. Which is in war. It’s a most important issue for us, and we would like to discuss with you how we can contribute to help you in your peace efforts.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: And you’ve taken a lot of Ukrainians that needed your help, and you’ve taken a lot of them in your country, and everybody appreciates that.

PRIME MINISTER ORBAN: Thank you very much. We do our best. Thank you very much.

Questions from the Press

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Any questions, please? Go ahead.

REPORTER: Thank you. Thank you, Mr. President. Mr. Orban has requested an exemption as it relates to oil that is coming from Russia. Is that something that you are prepared to do? And may I ask Mr. Orban a question in regards to that very issue?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Sure.

We’re looking at it because it’s very difficult for him to get the oil and gas from other areas. As you know, they don’t have the advantage of having sea. It’s a great country. It’s a big country. But they don’t have sea. They don’t have the ports. And so they have a difficult problem. There’s another country that has that same problem, by the way.

But when you look at what’s happened with Europe, many of those countries, they don’t have those problems. And they buy a lot of oil and gas from Russia. And as they know, I’m very disturbed by that because we’re helping them, and they’re going and buying oil and gas from Russia. So that question could be really asked maybe more accurately if you talked about many European countries, not Hungary, necessarily, because Hungary is in a different position. But many European countries are buying oil and gas from Russia. And they have been for years. And I say, what’s that all about? Right? Thank you.

Yeah, go ahead.

PRIME MINISTER ORBAN: Thank you, Mr. President. That will be one of the issues for today. To explain clearly what would be the consequences for the Hungarian people and for the Hungarian economy not to get oil and gas from Russia because we are supplied by pipelines. Pipeline is not an ideological or political issue. It’s a physical reality because we don’t have a port, exactly as the President explained to you. So we will negotiate on that point. It’s vital for us, anyway.

REPORTER: Mr. Orban, there are two pipelines, as I understand it. There’s a pipeline from Ukraine and there’s a pipeline from Croatia. And my understanding is that the pipeline from Croatia can provide all of Hungary’s energy needs. As a result, why would you need an exemption if that’s the case?

PRIME MINISTER ORBAN: So when we discuss that issue, you should separate the gas and the oil. On the gas issue, which is very important for us, 90% of the Hungarian households are based on a heating system, based on gas. So we have only one pipeline delivering gas to Hungary, which is the main pipeline, the Turkish one. What we got from Croatia is a very small-volume supplementary gas pipeline.

Okay, that’s gas. Oil is another issue. So oil is coming from the Družba pipeline, which is the main supply, and that is a Croatian one, which is the secondary and supplementary pipeline. We would like to convince the Croatian government to enlarge it and make it possible to deliver more. Under the circumstances, it cannot be the main pipeline. It’s just supplementary. But later on, with some big investments, it could serve better the interest of Hungary. Thank you.

TRUMP: Yes, please, go ahead.

Conservative Leadership in Europe

REPORTER: Thank you. Many people view this meeting, not just as an encounter with a country, but as the rebirth of the country, of the new conservative world alliance. Would you have any interpretation on how you see the future of Europe in the life of leaders like Viktor Orban, stand up to Brussels, bureaucracy, and the globalist agenda?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Are you from Hungary?

REPORTER: Yes.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: I figured. The fact is that he’s a great leader, and he’s respected all over. Not necessarily liked by some of the leaders, but, you know, those leaders have proven to be wrong. If you look at his stance on immigration and other things, you know, if you look at Europe, they’ve made tremendous mistakes on immigration. It’s really hurting them very badly. He has not made a mistake on immigration.

So, he’s respected by everybody. He’s liked by some. And I can tell you, I like and respect. I’m a double. I like and respect him. And that’s the way Hungary is being led. They’re being led properly. And that’s why he’s going to be very successful in his upcoming election.

REPORTER: Mr. President, do you have any further comments on Viktor Orban?

Hungary’s Christian Democratic Identity

PRIME MINISTER ORBAN: Yeah, I have a comment on that. Your language is important, because the Anglo-Saxon terminology is different from the European one. So, to use categories can create some misunderstanding. So, I would like to be clear as much as we can.

We are the only government in Europe which considers itself as a modern Christian government. All the other governments in Europe are basically liberal leftist governments. So, we try to do something from 2010 which is different from what the others are doing, even at the philosophical level and at the level of practice as well, as the President described it, like migration.

So, we are kind of a special island of difference in a liberal ocean in Europe. And we consider ourselves as a modern Christian government. That’s the proper category to describe what we are doing.

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REPORTER: To both of you. To both of you.

To both of you. We’re talking, but we’ll report on that later.

Meetings with Putin

PRESIDENT TRUMP: We were talking about that with Victor. He understands Putin and knows him very well. And I feel that, I mean, I’m going to let you say what you think, but I think that Victor feels we’re going to get that war ended in the not-too-distant future. Victor, do you want to talk about that?

PRIME MINISTER ORBAN: I’m strongly convinced. So, the question is whether we Westerners are unified or not. The problem is that the President has huge peace efforts, which are just splendid and very positive for the European continent and all the peoples of Europe. But at the same time, we are not unified because Brussels and the Europeans have a different approach to the war.

So, the only pro-peace government is the United States government and the small Hungary in Europe, anyway. All the other governments prefer to continue the war because many of them think that Ukraine can win on the front line, which is a misunderstanding of the situation. So, it’s a complicated issue. We will discuss it. It requests not just two minutes to respond to your question, but rather than our lecture. Sorry, not to continue more.

REPORTER: So, you would say that Ukraine cannot win that war?

PRIME MINISTER ORBAN: You know, a miracle can happen.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Yeah, that’s right. Go ahead. Yeah, go ahead.

Message to the EU About Hungary

REPORTER: Thank you, Mr. President. What is your message to the EU about Hungary? And the EU wants to impose their war policies on Hungary. What is your message?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, I think they should respect Hungary and respect this leader very, very strongly because he’s been right on immigration. Look what’s happened to Europe with the immigration. They have people flooding Europe all over the place, and it’s hurting it. The crime rates are way up. A lot of bad things are happening. His crime rates are very low. They’re the same as they always were, which is very little crime because he’s kept it the way it should be.

Europe, I mean, I don’t want to go into individual countries. They’re all friends of mine, everyone. As you know, in NATO, they voted to go from 2 percent to 5 percent. And, you know, nobody thought that was possible. And we had just about almost, other than Spain, a unanimous vote.

No, I think that they respect him a lot. They don’t agree with him, but actually, inwardly, I think they probably do agree. He was right on immigration. They were wrong. They are flooding Europe with people from all over the world, and Europe is becoming a different place. And I tell the leaders all the time, you better stop or you’re not going to have Europe anymore. It’s a very dangerous thing they’re doing.

Hungary’s Immigration Policy and EU Sanctions

PRIME MINISTER ORBAN: Wait, may I have a reflection on that? So, on migration issue, just for clarification, in Hungary, the number of illegal migration is like that, zero, zero, because we have a crystal clear system. If somebody would like to come to Hungary, first, he should ask for that. If he gives the permission, they can step in. Nobody can step on the territory of Hungary without having a permission from the Hungarian authorities. This is the regulation, simple, well working.

What is the consequence of that? We are under sanctions, financial sanctions of European Union, because we don’t let the illegal migrations to come to Hungary and to the European Union as well. So, we have to pay, just to inform you, we have to pay, every day, one million euro as a punishment to the Brussels budget, because they stop the migrants. This is the absurd world we are living now in Europe.

REPORTER: Mr. President, Mr. President, Mr. President.

TRUMP: Go ahead, please. Yes, go ahead.

REPORTER: Thank you so much, thank you. I’d like to ask whether, what do you think, what do you believe? After this meeting, can you have, maybe, or the European Union will have another opinion about, you know, just because of this penalty, another opinion about Hungary, because of the immigration and because of this kind of politics, which is not that strictly of the European Union direct. What do you believe? And where are you from?

REPORTER: I’m from Hungary.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Okay. I do have that conversation with them, and I respect and like them. You know, they’re all friends of mine. I think pretty much every single leader in Europe is a friend of mine. We get along really well. They’ve done everything I’ve asked them to do with NATO, et cetera. The only thing they continue to do is buy oil from Russia. That’s not too good. But I told them they should respect this man. They can also learn from Viktor.

Viktor has had a very hard stance on, more than anything else, immigration or even illegal immigration. He literally has accepted no one over the years. Think of how much greater these countries would be if they didn’t have the tremendous crime that has come in with the immigration. People just flowing into Europe. They’ve got to stop it. And not only stop it, they have to reverse it. They have to get them out.

We’ve done that here. We have zero people coming in now. The borders are closed. We take people, but we take them legally. But we’ve done it very strongly, and we’re moving hundreds of thousands, millions of people out. We had, of the 20 million people, 25 million, nobody knows even what the number is. They never knew. Biden had no idea. He wasn’t, he had no idea. I don’t believe he had any idea what was happening because he wasn’t about open borders. But we had open borders, and we had millions of people come in, and they were coming in from jails. They were coming in from mental institutions. They were coming in as drug dealers.

We had 11,888 murderers. Half of them committed more than one murder. We’re getting them all out. We’re getting them out. He doesn’t have that problem. But Europe does have that problem. Other parts of Europe have that problem. So I tell them all the time. I stick up for Viktor Orban. A lot of people do because in many cases, they’re jealous. They wish they did what he did. They would have no problems if they did what he did. And I have a bigger heart than anybody. But they’ve destroyed some of those countries. Some of those countries had no crime 10 years ago, and now they have quite a bit of crime. And I would say that I don’t know anything about your crime levels, but I would imagine they’re very low. Huh? Not too high, right?

PRIME MINISTER ORBAN: No, no, it’s very low. I’m not here to ask President Trump to manage my conflict or our conflict with the European Union. This is our matter. So we will do it. What we need is a golden age to open a golden age of the United States-Hungary relationship. That’s the biggest help we can get from the United States. And maybe Europe too. So inside the European Union, we will manage all of our affairs. To be the most possible humble guy, yeah? But I am the longest serving Prime Minister of Europe. I survived all the Prime Ministers who attacked us. And I’m sure we will survive the next years as well. So we will manage our conflicts successfully.

REPORTER: One question for you, Mr. President. One question for the Prime Minister. Speaking of Europe, last month, you said that you would not withdraw U.S. troops from Europe. Yet, two weeks later, the Pentagon announced, decided to withdraw significant number of troops from Romania. So have you changed your mind, or the Pentagon ignored your assurance?

On U.S. Troops in Romania

PRESIDENT TRUMP: No, they don’t ignore anything that I say. What they do do is that we make changes. We move. It’s the same number, total number, but we move people around. I happen to like the Romanian people. I think they’re great people. And, Pete, you may want to suggest something right there, please?

SECRETARY HEGSETH: Absolutely. No, nothing was uncoordinated with the White House. It’s all part of the view that we have of Europe. And there will remain troops in Romania, but there’s some change in how we rotate and how many we rotate. But the relationship with Romania is very good, right?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Very good. And we’ve coordinated all this with Secretary-General Rutte, with, throughout Yukon, throughout our allies. Everyone was notified in advance. The relationship with Romania is very good. The relationship with Europe is very good. I disagree with what Europe is doing, having to do with immigration, but I agree with them on many other subjects.

On Historic Trade Deal With Europe

We just signed the biggest trade deal ever made with Europe, $950 billion. We were able to do it because of tariffs. It was a deal that was good, very good, but we had a very unfair deal. We were treated very badly before I came into office. But we just signed it. It’s the single biggest trade deal ever signed. So we have a very good relationship with Europe. Yeah.

REPORTER: What is the main dispute with the Russians which prevent the Budapest summit with Putin from taking place?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: The basic dispute is they just don’t want to stop yet. And I think they will. I think that’s, it’s taken a big toll on Russia.

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Big toll on both countries, obviously, but it’s taken a big toll. They’re losing 7,000 soldiers a week. That’s a big toll. And up between the two of them. Divided, you know, with Russia losing more soldiers, actually, but they’re both losing a lot of people. And that’s the primary thing that with me, it’s not economic. It’s not money. In fact, we don’t spend any money. We send it to NATO. They pay us for our missiles and for our military and everything else. We don’t. It’s not a question of money. It was with Biden. He spent $350 billion. He got nothing for it.

The war would have never happened if I were president. The war would have never happened. I think you would agree with that. This war would never have happened if I were president. It’s stupid that it happened. But it did happen. I inherited the war, and I think we’re going to get it ended. Not too distant future.

PRIME MINISTER ORBAN: I’m speaking 2022. The Europeans would not take that hard line, what they have today on the war. Remember that big countries of Europe rejected to be involved more than just sending some humanitarian issues. So the pressure coming from the United States to be more pro-war in Europe. So that’s the fact of the history, anyway. So we have to restore something which was ruined and created from here. And that’s the reason why I understand absolutely the devotion of the president now to do everything to stop the war. Because that would be not that deep without the previous pressure, previous government pressure from here.

So the reason why I’m here to be as much as helpful I can to contribute to the peace efforts of the president. Because that was an enormous mistake, what we have done. I mean, the Western world several years ago, and we have to stop it.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: And this time I responded. And, you know, look, that war should have been a one-week war. I don’t know why it’s taken. This is four years. Should have been one week. Should have been over with. But it would have never started. Should have never started. And I would have solved the problem without giving up anything. Ukraine would have remained as is. So there were tremendous mistakes long before I got there. I inherited that mess, and we’re getting it solved, along with the eight wars that we’ve already ended.

Relations with EU Leaders

REPORTER: Mr. Orbán, what is your reason for cultivating better relations with the EU leader or not?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: I agree with him on immigration much more than I agree with them. But I agree with, you know, a lot of the things in Europe he also agrees with. But he had a difference, I would say, primarily on immigration more than anything else. And I happen to think he was right, because their whole fabric has changed. I mean, you go to some of the countries, they’re unrecognizable now because of what they’ve done. And Hungary is very recognizable.

Yes, ma’am.

Potential Budapest Meeting

REPORTER: Mr. President, will there be a peaceful meeting in Budapest this year? What do you think?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: You mean a meeting with President Putin?

REPORTER: Yes.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: You mean in Hungary?

REPORTER: Well, I’d like to keep it in Hungary, in Budapest.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: That meeting, it turned out I didn’t want to do that meeting because I didn’t think anything was going to be happening of significance. But if we have it, I’d like to do it in Budapest. Yeah, it’d be good.

Support for Prime Minister Orban

REPORTER: Mr. President, you said many times to support Viktor Orban. Why is it important to win the next election, for example, for the United States, Hungary, and also Europe? Why is it important?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, I don’t know his opponent. I don’t know if he has an opponent yet. At some point, he will, I guess. You know, we always have opponents, right? Not much of an opponent. But I’ll be supportive of him. He’s done a fantastic job. We’ve had a great relationship.

The United States, look, we had a country that had no leader. It had an auto pen, illegal auto pen, totally illegal. And that’s coming out stronger and stronger. But we had no leader in the United States. I mean, Hungary, as an example, had no relationship with the United States, even though we do, you know, billions of dollars in trade with Hungary. Hungary is a big country. Economically, we do, you know, billions of dollars in trade with Hungary. Why would they give that up? And they gave up so much. They gave up everything.

This country was poorly run. I think if I didn’t win the election, we might not have a country, if you want to know the truth, not a recognizable country.

But our relationship was immediately good as soon as I won the election, because Victor is one of the people that’s highly respected. And we had a great relationship with Hungary. We do again. That was an easy one.

REPORTER: Do you and Prime Minister Orbán agree on ways to put pressure on President Putin to come to the negotiating table to end the war?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: I think we agree that the war is going to end. Sometimes people have to fight it out a little bit longer. But I think we agree that the war is going to end in the not too distant future. You want to talk about that later?

PRIME MINISTER ORBÁN: I have some ideas and I will present it to the president.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, I haven’t heard that. You’re telling me. Who are you with? Who are you with? Fake news. NBC. You’re fake news. NBC has gone down the tubes along with most of the rest of us.

They feel better about our country right now, other than the shutdown, obviously, which is caused by the Democrats, could be ended by the Democrats in two minutes. They feel much better. We have more jobs. We just set a record on jobs.

You do know that we have more investment in our country than any country in history. We’re over 18 trillion dollars as of this moment. And we’re going to be maybe a 20 or 21 trillion by the time I finish up my first year. And there’s been no country, China, no country in the world that’s done anywhere even close to that number.

Your friend Biden, as an example, in four years was less than a trillion will be a 21 trillion in one year. So there’s no country that was even close to that. And our country was a laughingstock all over the world. We have more jobs. We have more potential than any other country. And frankly, with the hottest country right now, Victor said to me before, with the hottest country anywhere in the world, think of it. We’ll have 20, 21 trillion dollars invested. We have auto plants pouring back in. We have a pouring back in. We’re leading China in a by a lot. We’re leading everybody in every category. There’s no category that we’re in second place.

Thanksgiving Costs and Affordability

PRESIDENT TRUMP: So I just heard this yesterday that Walmart said that the Thanksgiving was 25 more expensive, 25 percent more expensive under Biden. That’s a big to me. That’s a big number because Walmart’s respected. I mean, Walmart is Walmart. And, you know, they’re giving you prices. So that would mean that the whole series of pricing and cost, you know, the groceries and everything else.

It was a con job. It was a con job. Affordability, they call it, was a con job by the Democrats. The Democrats are good at a few things, cheating on elections and conning people with facts that are true. It was 25 percent. Walmart just announced it two days ago. 25 percent cheaper this year will be cheaper to have Thanksgiving than it was a year ago under sleepy Joe Biden.

REPORTER: He is a con job, as you put it. You said affordability is a con job. And you didn’t want it. You said last night you didn’t want to talk about affordability.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: I talk about it. When did I not want to talk about I talk about it all the time. We are much better than Biden and all of them. Now, just so you understand.

Inflation and Energy Costs

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Do you remember that the Biden administration had the highest inflation in 48 years? But most people say ever recorded. Do you remember that? Right. Do you remember it? Did they have the highest inflation in 48 years? Did they just answer me the question? You know, the answer. The answer is yes. They had the worst inflation in 48 years.

We have almost no inflation. We’re down now to 2 percent and we’ll be at maybe 1 percent. You want to always stay above 1 percent. Actually, you want a little tiny bit of inflation. We’re the perfect number. They were at the highest level in recorded history. Okay. And when you talk about affordability, that one fact.

Now, let’s talk about the second biggest subject after inflation. Energy. We’re going to be a two dollar gasoline. We’re going to be approximately two dollars versus we’re a little bit above two dollars right now for gasoline. Now, under Biden, it was four and a half. It even hit five. But it was four dollars, three and a half dollars. We’re going to be a two dollars a gallon. So gasoline is much less. Energy costs are less.

When you have energy and when you have gasoline less, everything else follows. It’s such a big category. So when you have lower energy prices, which I think you admit we do substantially, that means everything else. So we are the victors on affordability. But if I watch that election, which I was not much involved in, I didn’t support Virginia. The candidate didn’t do a lot of support for the other candidates. They asked me about Cuomo and I said, well, it’s a question. Do you want a thug or do you want a communist? I mean, that was my response. So I wasn’t involved in that stuff too much.

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But I will say this. If you look at affordability, which they campaigned on, they lied because they talked about all prices are up. No, no. Prices are down under the Trump administration and they’re down substantially. Energy prices are down by 30, 35, 40 percent. Gasoline is way down. And the other big thing is we started. Inflation is way down. The big the biggest thing is inflation. The second biggest thing is energy. Energy is way down. And what’s also down? Gasoline. Also, the biggest thing is inflation and it’s way down.

We took over a mess. The highest inflation in recorded history. Some people would say 48 years. I’ll take either one of them. But I believe it’s the highest inflation in recorded history. That alone makes it impossible for them to have done a good job.

Affordability and the Cost of Eggs

Affordability was one other thing. When I came into office, Victor, two days into office, they were screaming at me about the cost of eggs. I was there for two days. Eggs had quadrupled. And I said, Listen, I just got here. Let me check it out. And they were right. Eggs had gone up by 34 times within a period of a few months. We had eggs down to a normal cost. We did a great job on groceries and affordability. The only problem is the fake news. You people don’t want to report it.

And in fact, I’d like to ask Caroline was Caroline. I’d like to ask Caroline a question. Where is she? Did she? Oh, she deserted us. She deserted me. A great Caroline superstar deserted me. Anyway, she’s right outside. She was going to talk about because the fake news yesterday they talked about that. They said, “Oh, I don’t want to talk about affordability.” The reason I don’t want to talk about affordability is because everybody knows that it’s far less expensive under Trump than it was under sleepy Joe Biden. And the price is a way down.

Caroline, could you discuss that? That question that was asked and how it was asked in such a fake, disgusting manner by the fake news?

CAROLINE: Yeah. And I just thought I was very unfortunate. I refuse to address what you just said, which is that you inherited the worst inflation crisis in modern American history. You are fixing it in 10 short months. Your entire administration has been tasked with this effort from Treasury Department, Agriculture Department to the National Economic Council right here in the White House. They are slashing regulations. He signed the largest no tax tax cut in six months in six months in record time. So affordability is what the American people elected this president to do. And he is doing it. And you guys refused to cover it. And you refused to cover that the previous administration created the worst affordability crisis in American history. And I’ve been watching the TV all day saying that he doesn’t want to talk about affordability. That’s what he’s working on every day.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: That’s what I’m talking about right now. But you know why they refuse to cover it? Because they’re fake news. That’s what I got. Sure. Caroline, the prime minister would like you to work for him in Hungary.

PRIME MINISTER ORBAN: Please. You know what? It’s a very good decision. You just please.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Please don’t leave us, Caroline.

PRIME MINISTER ORBAN: Yeah, please.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: That’s too bad. They’re making a big mistake.

PRIME MINISTER ORBAN: That’s right.

The Filibuster Discussion

PRESIDENT TRUMP: No, but they’re coming my way. You’re right. Wait, wait a minute. Wait a minute. The way to do it for the Republicans is to terminate the filibuster. They call it the nuclear option. This is the second form of nuclear. Very good. Very good. This is a good form. This is not a bad form. I would have been in favor of that a long time ago. But you know, the Democrats are going to do that. And most of you will admit the Democrats are going to do that. So why aren’t we doing it?

Trump on Ending the Filibuster

And I think only a foolish person would be against that, especially when you realize that these are crazed people. These people are absolutely crazed. Trump derangement syndrome, whatever it may be. And I am totally in favor of terminating the filibuster. And we would be back to work within 10 minutes after that vote took place. And lots of other good things would happen. And it doesn’t make any sense that a Republican would not want to do that.

REPORTER: They’re not going to do that. It seems like you’d have to make a deal with Democrats to end the shutdown.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Here’s some of the things that we’d pass if we terminated the filibuster. Voter ID. No mail in voting. No cash bail. No men and women’s sports. No welfare for illegals. You could go on and on. This is two pages of things would do if you did that without it. I don’t know that you pass anything because you can’t deal with them. They’re really irrational. They really are.

But I was happy, happy to see that a tremendous liability to this country, a woman that made herself rich in this country, Nancy Pelosi, has quit and she’ll be out of here pretty soon. And I consider that to be a great asset for America. Getting her out. Yeah. I don’t know. We’ll see what they have. I mean, you will see. But they’re very destructive for the country. NBC fake news. I’m not taking you. Good.

Why Republicans Should Act First

Well, you know, normally I would say, well, a little bit. But the reason that I’m not is because if they ever took over power, they’ll do it. Look, Joe Manchin and Sinema are two people that are no longer in politics because of this issue. They were opposed to what the Democrats wanted to do. They wanted to terminate the filibuster. They were opposed to it. They’re no longer in politics.

Again, the Democrats will do this. So if the Democrats are going to do it, I’m saying Republicans should do it before they get a chance. It’s very simple. And if we do it, we will never lose the midterms and we will never lose the general election because we will have produced so many different things for our people, for the people, for the country, that it would be impossible to lose an election.

Trump on Artificial Intelligence

No, I love AI. I think it’s going to be very helpful. So many things are happening with it. And in addition to which we’re leading China, we’re leading the world in AI. We’re building massive electric plants that the companies themselves are building for their plant. I’ve given them the right because we need so much electricity for that. Just the word is electricity, believe it or not, double the electricity that we currently have in the country for just the AI plants.

And I’ve allowed those companies to rebuild and build electric plants along with their facility. We’re getting approvals done in less than a month, sometimes in two weeks for massive, beautiful, massive buildings. And no, I’m totally in favor of it. I think it’s really going to be the wave of the future. And we’re leading the world. We’re leading everybody by a lot.

Opening the Country

I don’t know. It’s up to the Democrats. We voted. The Republicans have voted 14 times to open up the country. And the Democrats have voted 14 times to hurt the country. Really, they should approve it. But they might not. That’s why I like the, that’s why I like the fact that we terminate the filibuster. If we terminate the filibuster, the country will be open within 10 minutes after that termination, because we’ll take a second vote, which is the opening of the country. And the Republicans will vote to open the country.

That’s one of the reasons, not the major reason, by the way. I think it’s less important than the other things that we get. But if we terminate the filibuster, the second vote that we will take will be to open up the country. It’ll take 10 minutes and the country will be open.

REPORTER: Well, it didn’t work, obviously. You’re right. That was the purpose of the filibuster bipartisanship. But that didn’t work.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, no, if the filibuster is terminated, we will have the most productive three years in the history of our country. If the filibuster is not terminated, then we will be in a slog with the Democrats. And very little for either party will be done. So it’s a good thing. Thank you. Thank you very much.