Transcript: Trump Remarks in The Forum Club of the Palm Beaches Dinner

It’s really been amazing.

Stock Market Hits All-Time Highs

And then I said, well, now we can take a little pause. We ended up doing the — I mean, you all know. You’re people that probably see the stock market more than almost anybody in the world. There’s no group in the world that’s more stock-market-oriented than the people in front of me. Many of you are responsible for some of those successful stocks. But the stock market hit today an all-time high again. It hit one yesterday. It hit one the day before.

During what they call a military operation — you know, they don’t like the word war. And they call it a military operation because that way you don’t have a war, you don’t have legal problems. But you ever hear a situation where we’re knocking the hell out of somebody and we have a Congress? Please, you’ve only got three days left.

We spent 19 years in Vietnam. We spent 12 years in Iraq. We spent seven years in another place, two years in another one, seven years in another one. We had another one for 14 years, and we’re in there for six weeks. What’s taking so long?

Now, we could leave right now. Right now, if we left right now, it would take them 20 years, 25 years to rebuild the place. But we’re not doing it because we have to do it totally right. We don’t want to have somebody coming back in five years and you have an incompetent president, which we just went through four years of a very terrible situation, very incompetent.

Economic Wins and Record-Breaking Markets

But this should have been done long before I got to office, so we had to do it. The crazy thing is I had all my financial people — Scott, you know, Howard, you know, all of the different people. And we’re celebrating the success because we have the highest stock market. We broke $50,000 on the Dow. Nobody thought it was possible. They said maybe at the end of the fourth year, but probably in six years, five years, but not during this term. It’s too much. We did it at the end of the first year. Then we broke 7,000 on the S&P. We did that at the end of this year, long ahead of schedule.

America’s Oil Production Dominance

And then I said, you know, we have the most successful — by the way, more oil is being drilled right now than at any time in the history of our country. We’re doing double — Think of this. We’re doing double Saudi Arabia and Russia combined. Double Saudi Arabia and Russia combined. Nobody knows that. And you see all of those big, gorgeous ships coming up from all over the world because the Strait is closed by us, and they’re coming to Texas now and Louisiana to load up. Big ones. Two million barrels of oil. The big ones. Those are the big ones. And they’re all heading up. And you see the line. They call it the Congo Line. I don’t know what that’s supposed to represent. But you see those graphs.

The Creation of Space Force

It’s made from Space Force. You know, we were responsible for Space Force. We needed Space Force. We were being killed in space by China, by Russia. In my first term, I created Space Force. First time in 79 years that we did a new division, a new grouping, because you had the Marines — the Army, Navy, the Marines. We had the Coast Guard. We have all of the different branches of government, the Air Force. And they thought the Air Force and the Space Force would stay together, but the Air Force wants the Air Force. They’re not going to give.

And space is so important now. And we did Space Force. And all of those things, many of those things that you’re saying is because of Space Force. And now, Space Force is — we were losing badly in space to Russia and China, militarily. Now we’re way in the lead. Way in the lead. We have the greatest space capacity of any country in the world. We’re very proud of that. We need it. We need it for protection because it’s a nasty world out there. We need it for protection. So we’re very proud of Space Force.

The Naval Blockade at the Strait of Hormuz

But they — among other things, they give you beautiful satellite pictures of what’s happening in the world. And when you look at the Strait of Hormuz and you see all of those ships, all of those people and ships that — they want to get out or they want to get in. They’re all over the place. They’re like little ants, right? They look like a little ant hill. And hundreds and hundreds of ships. And we have a Navy that is unbelievable. We put up — it’s a blockade. It’s a blockade.

And you saw the other day where a massive tanker — this was bigger than 2 million barrels — a massive tanker was trying to run it. And the young captain of the ship from Annapolis — these guys are like central casting. You could put — you could put them in — I’d say something about Tom Cruise. I was going to say, better looking than Tom Cruise and taller, but I’m not going to do that because he’s a friend of mine. I can’t do that. But they’re like central cast — you could move them to Hollywood right now. They’d be movie stars.

But you saw him saying, “We have guns trained on your ship. Turn your ship around.” Turn — and this is loudspeakers that go over the ocean, and they hear them from two miles away. “Turn your ship around. Turn your ship around.”

Confronting Iran at Sea

And all of a sudden, you go, yes, yes, we are going back to Iran. We are going back. They turn it around. It takes 10 miles to turn this sucker. You know, it’s not like turning around a bicycle. It’s like — it’s big stuff.

And then we had the other one you saw from four days ago, where they were going to ram the — we call it an iron wall. It’s essentially an iron wall. We have such great military and great Navy. And they were going straight through. And they said, “Turn your ship around.” And there was no response. “Turn your ship around. Evacuate your engine room immediately.” And you see all these guys running out of there. Now, they’re five miles away. And one shot into the engine room. Blew off the engine room. The ship stopped. They used tugboats. And then we landed on top of it. On top of everything else. We then land on top of it, and we took over the ship. We took over the cargo, took over the oil. It’s a very profitable business. Who would have thought we were doing that? We’re like pirates. We’re sort of like pirates. But we’re not playing games.

Iran: The Bully of the Middle East

Because, you know, for 47 years, Iran has been pushing everybody around. They’re the bully of the Middle East. They’ve been scaring everybody — Israel and Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait. All of them. They’re all — it was the bully of the Middle East. I understand it. Bush made a mistake. He took out Iraq.

But, you know, Iraq — and, by the way, I congratulate the new President of Iraq. I endorsed him. I’m now in the business of endorsing political leaders from foreign countries — countries that nobody has ever seen before. And we have a pretty infallible record. We’ve won a lot of them. But I endorsed the man because we didn’t like the man that was the President of Iraq. And we endorsed somebody that not a lot of people have heard of. And he won in a landslide. I just spoke to him yesterday.

But the relationships we have — we have relationships that are very, very strong, very powerful relationships. And I think the Middle East is going to be taken care of.

Regime Change in Iran

We had a lot of conversations with the leaders — I call them the new leaders. I call them the new regime. You know, they kept saying, the radical left, “Where has the regime changed?” Well, if this isn’t regime change, there’s no such thing. Because Khomeini in the first tier was gone. The second tier is gone. Half of the third tier is gone. Which is a problem. That’s a problem. Because we are trying to figure out the right one to talk to. We talk to one, and then another one calls up. “Let’s make a deal.” But I think we’re in a very — well, I mean, I know we’re in a very strong position.

Iran’s Remaining Military Capacity

There’s the expression that we’ve all heard, or many of us have heard, if you like the fights, if this were a fight, they’d stop it. But again, their military — they have some missiles left. They have some missile-making capacity left. We’ve knocked about 85 percent of their manufacturing capacity for new missiles out. We’ve knocked about 82 percent. But that means they have missiles left. We knocked out most of their drone-making factories, but they have some drone capacity left. And drones are pretty effective.

But we’ve also developed — in the meantime, you know, if you remember, the German U-boats were a horror. Nobody could stop them. And then, all of a sudden, they come up with sonar, and it went from nobody could stop them, that it was the worst place in the world to be, is in a U-boat. The drone — anti-drone capacity that we have now is fantastic. They have new weapons, lasers. You’re going to see the lasers. They go into a laser, they just burn like a — they just boom.

War, Water, and the World’s Greatest Military

And we have that, and we have very special machine guns with large-scale bullets, operated by a computer. And as they come in, it just knocks them out like — it’s amazing. But with all of that being said, there’s still danger. There’s always danger with war. With war, you never know what happens.

Look at Russia. It was supposed to be a one-day war, and it’s four years, right? And you see that, and it’s really a terrible war. A lot of people died. Last month, they had 25,000 soldiers, mostly soldiers, killed. It’s like a bloodbath over there. And I think we’ll get that. We’ve settled eight wars, and that should be the ninth. We’re going to get it done, but it’s a rough one. It’s a rough one.

Recognizing Distinguished Guests

But we’re joined tonight by a lot of my friends and very distinguished people that are great people. The Palm Beach Mayor, Danielle Moore. Where’s Danielle? Where are you, Danielle? Hi, Danielle. How are you? Great person.

We’re working on a little — a couple of things — for good water. Let’s say a nice water product, right? Like desalination. I said, Danielle, why can’t we be like a submarine? We have the best desalination. We have the best submarines in the world. We can go for years underwater, all nuclear submarines — the nuclear ones. And one of the things we have is great water on the submarines — desalination.

So I’m saying, how does that sound for Palm Beach? So we’re looking at it. We’re going to play with it and see, boy, would that be nice from the standpoint of unbelievably clean, pure water. It would be great. So we’re working with Danielle and we’re working with the Council. And I think something is going to come up, whether it’s filtering or desalination. Desalination is a little bit better and a little bit more expensive, like a lot. But, you know, anything used by the Navy is the most expensive.

America’s Nuclear Submarines

But think of it, they can go forever in a submarine. A nuclear submarine can go — at just about top speed — for 35 years without refueling. Can you believe it? Going at a very fast — we have the greatest submarines anywhere in the world. Nobody close. We’re 15 years ahead of any other — we have the greatest military in the world.

I rebuilt it. I rebuilt the military in my first term, and I didn’t know I’d be using it this much my second term. But we have — certain things have to be done. It was sad when, in Afghanistan, some of it was left behind by people — that should have never happened. Getting out. We wanted to get out. We were going to get out easily. We would have won. We would have won and then gotten out. We would have gotten out with great pride. But we left some of the military. But it was really just a small — you know, it sounds like a lot, and it is a lot, but it was 2 percent of what we built up. We built a great military.

But our submarines can go by nuclear power. Think of that. They can go for many years without stopping. They have water capacity. You know, unlimited water capacity. They can — the one thing they don’t have, you know what it is? Food. They have to come up every 90 days for food. The only thing we can’t figure out is food. I mean, a little, simple thing like that. But it’s really amazing, some of the things that we’re able to do with the military, with a lot of other things, too.

Palm Beach Town Council President Ted Cooney. Thank you, Ted. Thank you, Ted. Good job. Good. Good. Palm Beach County Administrator Joe Abruzzo, who is a phenomenal — you are — you got a diamond there. Hey. It’s — you have — I know a lot of town administrators, and you don’t want to — this guy is a diamond. Thank you very much. You’re doing a fantastic job.

Acknowledging Friends and Supporters

Thank you, Joe. A friend of mine, even though he’s a Democrat — sort of a Democrat. I don’t know if he’s a Democrat, but he’s — he goes — I’ll tell you one thing. He’s a great sheriff, and he’s a popular guy. Sheriff Rick Bradshaw.

So, I shouldn’t tell you this. I told this to Rick. And, you know, I know how tough he is and all, so I figured this might happen. But I voted for Rick. He’s a Democrat. This could be the end of my presidential career. I voted for him. And one of the reasons I voted for him was he’s great. The other was that I was afraid he’d check my vote. And you know what? I think he did, because there was a story in one of the papers that — I don’t know, I did some filing, and they actually checked my vote, and I voted for Rick. So, that’s pretty good, right?

All right. I’m in trouble with the Republican Party, but they’ll understand. I’ll figure that one out. They’ll — great job. Great job, Rick. Really.

Candidate for mayor of West Palm Beach, Christina Lambert. Christina, wherever you are. Good luck. Good luck. And former Florida CFO, Jeff Atwater. Jeff, thank you.

We have a friend of mine for a long time, Pepe Van Hool. He’s the sugar — he is a monopoly on the sugar market. I don’t know if that’s good or bad. I don’t know if that’s good or bad, Pepe. I think it’s good. It sounds good to me. He has a monopoly on sugar throughout the world. He’s also one of the largest property owners — maybe the largest in all of Florida. And Pepe Jr., who is just like the father — looks like him, sounds like him. He might even be more vicious, if that’s possible. But they’re both here. Pepe Van Hool. Where are you, Pepe? And Pepe Jr. Good. They are great people.

And he’s been a supporter of mine from the beginning. Right — almost before I ran, he said, you know, if you run for President, you’re going to win. Before I even announced, it was sort of crazy. He’s been there from the beginning. Thank you very much. We appreciate the friendship. Great guy.

On Sugar, Coca-Cola, and the Gulf of America

I actually did tell Coca-Cola, why aren’t you using real sugar? And they said, well, we have the, you know, the aspartame, whatever it is. I said, no.

In other countries — you know, believe it or not, Mexico, who does not like me after the change of the name to the Gulf of America — the President called me up. This is six months ago. You know, we have 92 percent of the waterfront. They have 8 percent. And I always wondered, why is it the Gulf of Mexico? For a long time, even looking as a kid, I said, well, the Gulf of Mexico — it’s such a powerful name. It’s such a powerful thing, the Gulf of Mexico. But it should be the Gulf of America.

I mean, I’ll say it only within the confines of this room because I know there’s a lot of fake news back there. I — within the confines of this room — Mayor, you’re not going to tell anybody, please? I was thinking about seriously calling it the Gulf of Trump, but I — — I really was. I really was. But I was told by some very wise people, please, don’t do it. That’s one I don’t think would have worked. What do you think? I don’t — that wouldn’t have worked too well.

But, you know, it’s such an honor to — you look at that incredible, powerful, beautiful, really rich area of water. This is probably very little like it anywhere in the world. When you look at all the rigs out there, all the wealth that’s underneath that water, and now it’s the Gulf of America. And the President of Mexico called me. He’s not too fond of me anymore. But when she heard about it, it was heard — it was put in some paper.

The Gulf of Mexico Rename Leak

Somebody leaked it someplace, always. You always have leaks when you’re in my world. Leaks are a part of life. And it was leaked that I was going to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.

And she’s a beautiful woman, a very nice — you know, I never like to talk about beauty because it’s usually the end of a political career. If you say somebody is a beautiful woman, they say, what a terrible, terrible thing. Everybody hates it except the woman that you’re talking about. They love it. So I won’t say she’s a beautiful woman, but she’s a fine woman. And she is.

And she’s got this incredible, beautiful voice, elegant voice. She was a ballet dancer. She’s got this beautiful voice. And she goes, “President, President, no. No, no, President. Tell me. Tell me. You’re only kidding. You’re not going to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico.” “Yes, I am. I’m sorry.” “No, no, no, please.” Anyway, so they don’t love me too much in Mexico right now.

Consequential People and the Ballroom

That’s why guys like me are in a lot of danger. You know, consequential people get in a lot of danger. You know what I’m talking about. Saturday night, it was good for one thing. People are loving my ballroom now. That’s the only thing. They love my ballroom. They love my ballroom. That’s a good — it’s going to be the best in the world, although I like the one at Mar-a-Lago very much, too, Mayor.

Acknowledgments

And we have County Commissioner Maria Marino. Thank you. Commissioner, thank you. Good job. And former Congressman Dan Mica. Where is Dan Mica? Thank you, Dan. Good job.

An architect who’s really talented. He’s done a lot of work for them. He’s got a flair — a beautiful Hispanic flair, in particular. And he comes from, originally, a place called Cuba, which we will be taking over almost immediately. No, Cuba’s — Cuba’s got problems. We’ll finish one first. I like to finish a job.

On the way back from — what we’ll do — on the way back from Iran, we’ll have one of our big — maybe the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier, the biggest in the world. We’ll have that come in. Stop about 100 yards offshore, and they’ll say, “Thank you very much. We give up.”

But this man really is great. Rick Gonzalez. He’s a great architect. Where is he? He’s doing a little couple of projects for us now. He’s doing some beautiful little projects that we have going with my son, Eric, who’s fantastic. He’s done a great job.

And former Ambassador Robin Bernstein is here. She went out and learned Spanish. Right? Dominican Republic. She went out and learned the language, and she learned it well. Congratulations. Now, a lot of people aren’t smart enough to do that, Robin. Most people don’t bother doing it. I wouldn’t do it, to be honest with you.

Palm Beach County: A Very Special Place

But Palm Beach County is a very special place, and Palm Beach is a very special place. And it should be no surprise that, across my first and second terms, residents of this community have served our country with exceptional devotion and skill.

I oftentimes — I mean, I’ll meet people — I didn’t know them, but I’ll meet people at the club, or I’ll meet people in Palm Beach or West Palm Beach. I love West Palm Beach. It’s — one of the really great stories is West Palm Beach. Palm Beach has been incredible. It’s never been run better, and we appreciate it. West Palm Beach is really hot. It’s coming along so fast and so good. It’s all over — you know, one of the hottest.

And I’m so honored with what’s happened with Joe and with Meg. Where’s Meg? Are you — stand up, please. Meg is — she’s fantastic. But I do want to thank you, and I want to thank everybody that voted. And we had such — we had a bipartisan vote, if you can believe it. I’m not used to that, you know, when you have Democrats voting.

Honoring Florida and the Palm Beaches

But with a name change on the Southern Boulevard and the airport. And I can only tell you, we will work to deserve that name. And we love you guys, and we’re working with you in Washington and a lot of different things. And I think it’s been a great partnership. Florida generally, but this area, I feel so strongly about it. We have to help and make it even better. All over the world, they love it and they talk about it, and we have to make it and keep it first class and the best.

So — but I want to thank you very much. I know how hard you worked on that. She’s a really great person, and I don’t know what her future is, but I think it’s really good politically. I think she’s fantastic. And she loves animals, right? She loves her and her husband. They love animals, and that’s good. That usually is very good for votes.

On Dogs and the White House

I was never as much — you know, they all wanted me to buy a dog when I went to the White House. They said, “Sir, you’ll be the first President in 68 years or something that doesn’t have a dog.” I said, “It’s not going to work for me.” No, they like pictures of, like, Biden walking his dog, all that. But his dog was a vicious dog, kept biting our Secret Service people. No, we had 28 bite problems. Twenty-eight. This was a violent dog. That’s not a dog I’d want.

But for 60 years, I guess, even longer, every President’s had a dog because they do it for votes. Some of them do it because they love the dog. Probably most of them do it for votes. And I thought it would look quite fake, like the fake news. It was quite fake. Can you imagine? Donald Trump has purchased a lovely, lovely little poodle. And he walks him religiously every day on the White House grounds as he’s inspecting the ballroom that’s going up.

They walk deep down into a foundation that’s going down to China. That’s a lot. That’s a deep — there’s a lot of stuff going on in that foundation, let me tell you. A friend of mine said, “Boy, that’s the deepest foundation I’ve ever seen for a ballroom.” I said, “Yeah, a lot of things happening there.”

Recognizing Friends and Former Officials

But we have several friends of mine that were great with us — with us, past and present. We have Secretary of Commerce, former, Wilbur Ross, is here. Thank you, Wilbur. Thank you, Wilbur. We have former Ambassador Woody Johnson, who’s a great guy and a great — you were a great ambassador. We appreciate it, Woody. Great guy.

And the owner of the Jets and current director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency. A man who has taken the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — but Fannie Mae, it’s over a trillion dollars in value. When I gave it to him, it was not doing well. And he’s turned it around. And it’s worth — over it. We’re thinking about taking it public, taking a little chunk out of it. I don’t know what the hell we’re going to do. It’s peanuts compared to the values of — you know, you buy 15 missiles. You take — you take it public. It buys 15 missiles. But, Bill Pulte, where are you, Bill? Bill.

On Fannie Mae and Schmuck Insurance

No, it’s true. My first term, I was offered $100 million for that, and I turned it down because the guys that were offering me were very sharp. Two of them are sitting in the room, by the way. They’re not happy. But I turned it down because I didn’t want to — did you ever hear of schmuck insurance? Right? I didn’t want to be a schmuck. I didn’t want to have them flip it for $500 million in two weeks, which is always a possibility. It’s always a little scary, especially in the world of politics.

The Story of Mar-a-Lago

I was with a bank — a very good bank, a very hot bank — who was going to the head of one of the biggest banks in the world, and he was also in charge of real estate for the bank. And they had a corner building on 57th and Fifth Avenue in New York, and he wanted to sell it. And he made a deal — a quick deal. Very — nobody even knew about it. It was quick. And he sold it for $25 million. And the person that bought it flipped it the following week for $97 million. And that was the end of his job. That was the end of his rise to the chairman of the bank.

So I don’t want to be in that category. But we kept it. I put Bill Pulte in charge, and I think it’s worth over a trillion dollars now, right? So we kept it, and we didn’t sell it. And that’s good. That’s good.

But not only have we lovingly restored the — they call it the crown jewel of Palm Beach, Mar-a-Lago — but we turned it into what everybody acknowledges. It’s the hottest club anywhere in the world. I mean, I hate to say it about my club, but it is truly — everybody that’s been there — it’s the hottest club anywhere in the world.

And very importantly, it creates hundreds of jobs and brings thousands of travelers here each year. And then we have all the weddings and all the conventions and the events that we have there are spectacular. And they say it’s raised more money as a ballroom. It’s raised more money than any other ballroom anywhere in the world for charity. We raise tremendous money for charity. It’s — every other night, you’ll see it. They raise it for incredible things.

Marjorie Merriweather Post and the Vision Behind Mar-a-Lago

And just as Marjorie Merriweather Post, who — with her husband, E.F. Hutton — that was a power couple. E.F. Hutton, remember? “E.F. Hutton talks. Everyone listens,” right? He was the number-one guy. He’s like some of the guys in this room was a long time ago. This was in the early 1920s, roaring 20s.

But Marjorie Merriweather Post was married to E.F. Hutton. She was the richest woman in the world. And they wanted to build something incredible, and they envisioned everything. And they bought the lot in South Florida. She bought it because that’s where the Great Reef — if you look at, you know, the maps, you have a great stone. It’s really — it’s a source of unbelievably powerful stone. It’s a stone jetty, and it ends right there. She bought it there because there wouldn’t be any settlement. When you built the house on that settlement, it ends right in the backyard, actually. And it’s really pretty amazing.

She envisioned something really great. And she built Mar-a-Lago along with E.F. Hutton. And at the time — and then you had the Depression, but she wasn’t affected by the Depression. And she actually built other sections onto it because she wanted to give people jobs. She did a fantastic job. And she always wanted that to be the Southern White House.

And, in fact, when she died, she left it to the White House Historical Society. And the late, great Jimmy Carter decided that Mar-a-Lago was too expensive for the United States. So, fortunately for me, he gave it back to the Historical Society, and I bought it. And we spent a lot of money and made it great.

I lived there for a while. Then I said, “This is a very big house to live in.” And, you know, we had kids. And you have the kids running around the house. You can’t find your kids ever. Where are they? Where are they? Which floor are they on? But it’s a special place. And it’s become a great, great club.

And we’ve had foreign — all the foreign leaders, most of them. We had President Xi of China here a few years ago. And I’m going to be there in two weeks, by the way. That’ll be interesting. But it’ll be something.

World Leaders at Mar-a-Lago

Because, you know, he’s amazing. He’s an amazing guy. And the trip is going to be a very important trip that I’m making. And we had the late Prime Minister Abe of Japan. He was a fantastic man. He was a great friend of mine. He was assassinated in Japan with probably the only gun in Japan. They don’t have guns in Japan at all. This crazy person made a gun and assassinated our friend, my friend. He was great. And we’ve had a lot of the other top leaders of the world at Mar-a-Lago. So good for Palm Beach.

The President in Your Community

You know, it’s interesting. They have a lot of — a lot of Secret Service, as you can imagine. Probably gets even more. But we have a lot. But — and I have friends that are very rich, very powerful. And they don’t complain. They sort of love it. Because the President is in your community. Not me. The President is in — the President of the United States is in your community. And they’re so proud of it. I mean, people that are very — people that are in this room that are very, very substantial — as big as it gets on Wall Street. And they have houses that are beautiful, and they have to go around. They have to go to one bridge or another bridge.

They get thrown around like piñatas by the Secret Service. Get the hell out of here. These are people that never get spoken to. You know, the Secret Service — these guys, they don’t have a lot of expression. They do a very good job. And the head of one of the biggest banks, the biggest bank, comes in, Sir, move out. What? Move out, right now. Come on, let’s go. He said, “Nobody’s ever spoken to me.” And yet, they don’t mind. It’s crazy. They don’t mind. They’re honored to have the President, you know, whether it’s me or anybody. They’re honored to have the President in their community. So it’s — it’s great.

Palm Beach: The Safest Community

And it also gives you a lot of additional security. You get a lot of freak — you get a lot of freak security. Mayor, I have to tell you, you probably have the safest community in the history of the world, if you want to know the truth. Nobody is coming into Palm Beach to do any robberies, okay? In addition to a really great police group that you have, they work very closely, and the firemen and policemen. And we have the ball over — the policemen and firemen’s ball. And I think it’s become the hottest ball over with John Scarpa and all the people — Tim, all of the people that do it. I think it’s the hottest ball. But it’s an honor to work with the police.

Election Night 2024 Victory

I also based my campaign here on election night. In 2024, we had a great victory party just across the street in the convention center. And that was quite an evening. We were waiting for the decision, and it came early. It was around 9:02. And they said, “Donald Trump will be the next President of the United States of America.” It was very cool, actually, I thought. And it was right across the street. It was right across the street.

And we had some crowd. Joe, you could use a little bit larger convention center. Whatever you can do. Get that thing — get that thing — I know you are. If you’re working on it, it gets done. And so it was from Mar-a-Lago. We were there. And then we came over here, and we had a tremendous crowd. And we celebrated a tremendous thing.

America Respected Once Again

And our country now is just amazing. We were laughed at and mocked. For four years, we were mocked. We were laughed at as being a stupid country. And now we’re thought of with great respect — with great respect, like we haven’t been thought of for many, many decades. I want to thank the entire Palm Beach community for the extraordinary support that you’ve shown me and my family over the years.

Airport Upgrades and Palm Beach Plans

PRESIDENT TRUMP: And I especially want to express my profound gratitude to the recent renamings. I want to just tell you that we have a lot of things in store. I know that a lot of tremendous elements are going to be added to the airport, making it bigger and better. And it’s really going to be — I don’t think there’ll be anything as good as your airport will be anywhere in the country, anywhere in the world.

So, that’s the way I feel, and that’s very important. In Washington, they say, “Sir, which airport would you like most to fix up?” I said, “How about Palm Beach?” You know? So, you’ll be all very happy.

Doral Tournament and Iran Negotiations

And, you know, right now I own Doral, and right now we have a tournament. I’m so busy. And we have the big Cadillac Championship going on, all the great players, the PGA Tour. And they’re there. And yesterday, somebody came up, said, “Sir, the tournament is great.” I said, “What tournament are you talking about?” I’m so busy with the Iranians calling, trying to make a good deal. We’re not going to let that happen. But they’ve got to make a bad deal. But if they make a deal at all, because frankly, maybe we’re better off not making a deal at all. Do you want to know the truth? Because we can’t let this thing go on, you know, going on too long.

World Expo 2035 and Florida’s Global Ambitions

But under the leadership of Secretary of State Marco Rubio, first thing from Florida. What? We’re working hard to bring the 2035 World Expo to Miami, to Florida, and we’ll support the jobs. It’ll be bringing hundreds of millions of dollars. And it looks like we’ve got a real good shot.

The Olympics, the World Cup, and a Stolen Second Term

You know, I brought the Olympics here in my first term. I was the one — I got the Olympics and I got the World Cup, both of them. And then the election was rigged. You see that now? How about the Southern Poverty Law — whatever the hell they call it — where they supported the Ku Klux Klan and all sorts of other things, only to fight the Ku Klux Klan politically? We are fighting the Ku Klux Klan. They’re the ones that are supporting it, giving it hundreds of — and many others, some even worse if that’s possible. And now we found out — oh, we got a whole lot of stuff coming.

But I got the Olympics and I got the World Cup. And they’re coming in now. And, you know, it’s interesting how things work out because I missed my second term the traditional way. Right. It was very sad. I had to make a decision what to do.

And I said, you know, when I got the Olympics, I said, “Boy, it’s really sad because I got it. Nobody else. I got it.” And I was dealing with those guys politically. And they said, “Sir, we’re going to choose the United States of America.” I said, “Wow, that’s great.” It was the Olympics and the World Cup. Gianni Infantino, who’s the head of it, he’s a friend of mine. I said, “Gianni, you got to give us the World Cup.” And he gave it to us. The problem was, it wasn’t in the next four years. It was in six years and seven years. So I wouldn’t be president. I said, “You know, I got the Olympics. I got the World Cup and I won’t be president.”

And then, all of a sudden, I realized I am going to be president during the Olympics and the World Cup. That’s amazing.

The Great Big Beautiful Bill and America’s 250th Year

And, you know, it’s very interesting, though. I tried taking the third because we also have the 250th year. This is a great term when you think of it. With all the things we’ve done, and on top of that, we did the great big, beautiful bill with no tax on tips, no tax on Social Security, no tax on overtime, all sorts of things. It turned out to be very popular — people are now understanding it.

America’s 250th Anniversary Celebrations

But when I got these, I said, 250 years, OK, I got the Olympics, I got the World Cup. Maybe I can also claim the 250 year thing that I got that, too. So I tried. I said, I also got 250 years. And they said, so you didn’t get 200 with 250. OK, well, I gave up. So I gave up on that one.

But we’re having an unbelievable celebration. And, in fact, on June 14th, not so far away, the UFC is going to have — I think it’s most exciting. I’ve been involved in a lot of events. I’ve given a lot of tickets. I’ve sold a lot of tickets to things. I don’t think I’ve ever had anything. This is going to be wild.

We have a 5,000 seat arena being built right opposite the front door of the White House for the 250th. And that’s going to be June 14th, which is my birthday, which is absolutely, you know, flag day, flag day. But it’s — and that’s a coincidence. It is not. I didn’t do that. It just worked out that way. It is actually true. I swear I did not do it. It worked out that way. But it’s June 14th. At least it’s easier to remember.

And they’re building — it’s going to be a Sunday night and it’s going to be on CBS. And then they’re having — that’ll be a 5,000 seat like arena. That’s going to be sort of a one that they put up — UFC Dana White, the great Dana White. He’s fantastic. And then they’re having anywhere from 75 to 100,000 people in the park.

The right across from the White House is a beautiful circular park — ellipse. And that’s going to be having thousands and thousands of people. And they have eight massive screens being built. And people are going to be able — there’s no charge to anybody. Everything’s free. And it’s going to be something really fantastic. The biggest problem I have is the 5,000 seat. I have everybody that wants tickets. But it’s going to — it’s one of the hottest things.

IndyCar Race in Washington D.C.

And then we have the IndyCar. As you know, they’re doing a race, Roger Penske. And he said, you know, I’ve come to Washington 142 times over the years trying to get an IndyCar race in Washington around the Capitol. He said, and I’ve never been able to do it. And then I came. I gave it one last chance. And I saw my friend Donald Trump, President. And in a half an hour, I had the whole deal done. We made a deal. They’re going to be a little bit like the airport. And literally, we have — it’s going to be great. A half an hour. He got the deal. Then he’s so happy.

Roger’s incredible. You know, he’s won 20 Indianapolis 500s. I gave him the Presidential Medal of Freedom. I said, you know, it’s amazing. These countries, Germany, Japan, they spend billions of dollars on cars trying to win the Indianapolis 500. And you know, they rarely do it. I don’t know if they’ve ever done it. But they rarely do it. They spend all this money. Roger Penske’s won it 20 times. So needless to say, he’s quite good in the automotive division. I mean, the guy is amazing. He’s won 20 Indianapolis 500s, not even believable.

So I gave him the award when he won his 18th. I said, “Roger, I’m going to give you the Presidential Medal of Freedom. What you’ve done is amazing.” And since then, he’s won two more. I don’t know what it is. It’s crazy. But he’s a fantastic guy. So we’re going to have the Indy, which are the like the racing cars, the Formula One type car. And that’s going to be something that everybody’s looking for.

Florida Infrastructure and Health Care Investments

We’re providing $42 million of improvements in Florida railway safety. You know that. And $210 million to the state for rural health care.

Federal Funding and the Florida Everglades

And we delivered more than $2 billion in federal funding for the Army Corps of Engineers to dramatically speed up the restoration of the Florida Everglades and Lake Okeechobee, which is now being done. Right? We’re doing that. A lot of it’s been done. I got it done in my first term, but we’re adding to it Okeechobee and, you know, all the things that benefit you.

A Win for Florida’s Fishermen

And today, we delivered a huge win for our great fishermen and anglers in the state. We have any fishers? I don’t think this is a fishing room, you know. I gave this statement a little while ago in the villages, and the place went crazy. I don’t think this — any fishermen here? Come on. It’s not bad. Well, then you’ll like this. That’s better than I thought.

But all state permits for the 2026 Red Snapper recreational season, as you know, was brutal with the federal government. You couldn’t do anything. They let you catch a half a fish. If you caught two fish, they want to put you in jail, give you the electric chair. If you’re lucky, you’ll go to jail for the rest of your life instead of the chair. It was brutal.

And so, for years, our great fishermen have been punished in Florida and some other states with very short federal fishing seasons — like, how about two hours? Go fishing — you go fishing for two hours, and then you have to pull it in and get the hell out of town, or they’ll arrest you. But they gave you record — record short season, and I’m giving you unlimited seasons — and federal seasons, despite record fish populations. It’s hard not to have a record fish population when nobody has been allowed to fish, essentially.

And the states are begging to get these permits, and what we’re doing is we’re doing it. And the very incompetent Biden administration tried to shut down the oceans to our fishermen. And that — you know, look, the ocean is a big place. It’s a big place. But we love and respect our fishermen and all of those people that love that sport and love it.

So I’m very happy to announce that we are giving — we just spoke with NOAA. That’s your big group that does all of the work on regulation. And we’re delivering to you all of the permits that you need for long-term fishing and lots of fishing. And enjoy the red snapper, or whatever the hell you catch, because you’re allowed to catch it now without going to jail for the rest of your life, okay?

The Most Successful First Year in History

And with the support of many people in this room — a lot of them — we had the most successful first year of any administration in history, they say. Even the radical-left Democrats are saying that. We took the most dangerous, unsafe, violent, and open border in the world — anywhere in the world, there’s no border like this — and created the most secure border in U.S. history, with zero illegal aliens entering our country in the last 11 months. Think of it.

We went from 25 million people coming in to zero. And the people that make up that list are the Democrats. Nobody even tries to come in because the border is so tight right now that you just don’t even try. It’s amazing.

And, you know, we had an open border that was allowing a terrible, terrible situation. We were allowing — going to jail, people in jail, people in mental institutions, drug dealers, murderers. Eleven thousand, eight hundred and eighty-eight murderers coming into our country. Many of those people murdered more than one person. Many murdered seven people, and they’re releasing them into our country. It’s terrible.

Murder Rate at Its Lowest in 125 Years

The murder rate in the United States is now the lowest it’s been in 125 years. Can you believe that? That’s sort of terrible to say, in a way, because it’s — yeah, who wants to talk about murder? But we had a murder epidemic, and it’s now the lowest since before my father was born. A hundred and twenty-five years.

Crime in Washington, D.C.: A Turnaround Story

Nineteen hundred. And that’s an amazing thing. And the crime rate in the capital, Washington, D.C., which was a disaster. When I came in, it was one of the more dangerous cities in the country. It’s now the lowest — one of the lowest. One of the — it’s considered now one of the safest cities in the country, which it should be.

We moved in the National Guard. We took out over 5,000 hardened career criminals. Many of them came in during the open border of Joe Biden. And they made it just a horrible place. It was never that safe, believe it or not. It was — people were getting killed. But they were losing three people a week, on average. Murdered three people. A hundred and fifty people a year. Kids would come in to see the Washington Monument or the Lincoln Memorial, and they’d go home in a casket. They’d call their parents and say, “I’m sorry, your son’s been killed.”

And we moved some very strong people into the area. And in a period of a month, it was much better. Two months, it was better yet. And now it’s considered a very safe city. Restaurants are — which were closing all over town. They were even dangerous. If you got there, they’d rob the interior of the restaurant. They’d go and raise your hands, give you money. It was terrible.

And it’s a very interesting statistic, Mayor. So, 90 percent of the crime is committed by 2 percent of the people. And that’s really good, you know, because that means you can solve the problem. If it was 25 percent of the people, that’s a tough thing. Two percent of the people commit 92 percent, actually, of the crime. It’s incredible. It’s great because you get — you get rid of them and you don’t have. And we took out over 5,000 hardened career criminals, numerous murderers, and they’re gone. They’re back in their countries or they’re in jails.

Historic Reduction in Drug Prices

We’ve secured the largest reduction in drug prices in American history. Under my Most Favored Nation agreements, we’re delivering your record-setting discounts with price differences of 400, 500, and even 600 percent lower. And what that is, is Most Favored Nation — we were the highest-priced drug nation anywhere — prescription drugs anywhere in the world — by far the highest.

A drug that would sell for, like, the fat drug. You know, my friend became a very famous — he’s begging me not to announce his name. But I use him as an example. He’s very smart, very fat. And he was in London and he bought — he called it the fat — I said, “I get one of those fat shots.” And I said, “It’s not working.” He’s become very famous because he’s really the one that got me into this. It was like crazy.

He said, “In London, I buy it for $87. In New York, it’s $1,300.” The same exact — and he’s very smart, very rich, actually. Highly neurotic. He’s a neurotic guy. Highly neurotic. Most neurotic people — they’re either really wealthy or they fail badly. You know, it’s — you want controlled neurosis. His is not controlled, but he’s smart.

He went — he checked out the company. He said it’s the exact same drug from the exact same factory, made in the same plant. Everything was — except the price. One was $87 in London and one was $1,300 in New York. He said, “What’s going on?”

And, actually, it had a little bit of an impact. And I went to the drug companies. I went all over. They’ve been looking at this for years. But there was no way you get the drug companies to do it. I got them to do it. I did a lot of bad things to them. But I got the — I got them. But they didn’t care because they said there’s no way to get the countries to do it. You had to have the country. Because, in London, a pill that was selling for $10 would sell for $100 in the U.S.

Negotiating Drug Prices with World Leaders

PRESIDENT TRUMP: In Berlin, $5 compared to $87, $90, $95. A tremendous — sometimes 10 times, maybe more than that. So they said, you’ll never get the country, sir. But we’re with you. They didn’t know this was going to happen. I said, I’ll get the countries 100 percent.

So I called up — you might have seen this. I mean, I’ve said it a couple of times. I called up the countries, and I got France. That’s Emmanuel Macron. Beautiful accent. I said, “Emmanuel, you’re going to have to lower your drug prices in the United States because you’re making it impossible for us. I mean, your prices are low and our prices are high, and you’re going to have to —” “No, no, no, Donald. I will not do that.”

You see, because the world is bigger than the United States, it’s really not as bad for them as it sounds. If they double their price, we can lower our price to them because of the size. You know, it’s a world situation. The whole world was ripping us off. We were paying 10 times more, five times more. Crazy.

And so I said, “No, Emmanuel, you will do it 100 percent.” “No, no, I will not do it.” So if he had a pill that’s all for $10 and he had to sell it for $20, that’s — you know, that’s a big increase, right? But I said, “It’s not fair, Emmanuel, because we’re not fair. You will do it, Emmanuel. You will do it.” He said, “No, no, I won’t.”

I said, “Here’s what I’m going to do, Emmanuel. If you don’t do it, I’m going to put a 200 percent tariff on your wines and champagnes that you sell into the United States, and it’s effective on Monday morning.” “Donald, like I said, I will do it. I’d be glad to.”

So I did that with all the countries, and every country agreed. Every — I’ll tell you, who can’t believe it, the drug companies. They said, “What you did is impossible to do.” But I do it. I do a lot of things that are impossible to do. Like becoming President three times. Like winning three races. Like winning three races.

From the Highest Drug Prices to the Lowest

Anyway, so we have the lowest prices anywhere in the world. We went from the highest — it’s a really big thing. And, frankly, that should win us the midterm. But, you know, the press hates to cover it, but people now know. So you can get drug prices — we go from the highest-priced drugs in the world to the lowest. It’s an amazing thing.

And we have a — to go buy it, it’s TrumpRx.gov, and that’s been named by Bobby Kennedy and Dr. Oz. They’re fantastic. They’re doing a great job. I did that. I had nothing to do with that one, Joe. I had nothing to do with that one. And I had not much to do with the airport. That was Meg and you and everybody else, I tell you. That was — it’s not nice when you call up and say, “Hey, would you name an airport after me?” You know, they approached me with the road first and the airport, and it’s just a great honor.

But the TrumpRx.gov is setting every record in the book. And they’re buying things for a fraction of the price.

Medicare Coverage for Weight-Loss Drugs and Insulin Price Cuts

And today, I’m thrilled to announce that, starting on July 1st, we’ll provide Medicare patients with coverage for weight-loss drugs like Ozempic, Zepbound, Wegovy. It will be available for — listen to this — $50 a month.

And we’re cutting, as you know, and as you, I hope, know, we cut the insulin price down to $25 a month, which was — it was, in many cases, it was a thousand. And I don’t know if it affects the people here, but, you know, it was thousands of dollars, and now it’s down to $25. We got it down. I did that, really, in my first term. It was terrible because I did it in the third year of my first term. I got it down to $25.

From Insulin Prices to the Oval Office

PRESIDENT TRUMP: And then they told me, “Sir, it will take — statutorily, it’ll take two years.” One of those deals, it’ll take two years before it can go to that price. I said, I’d better win the election. If somebody else wins the election, they’re going to take credit for the insulin. And lo and behold, we had some problems with the election. A disgraceful thing. And I saw Biden up there. “We have a $25 insulin.” I said, I did that. Can you believe it? I was seething. I was not a happy person. In fact, I said, I think we’re going to have to run to set the record straight.

But we got it down to $25. It was amazing. Everyone knows we did it. We actually have been given good credit. It’s nice to be given good credit when you do things that are good. And I guess sometimes I’ll say, they don’t give me enough credit, and then I’ll be in the Oval Office — this beautiful, most powerful, most incredible office in the world. People walk in and they say, “Wow.” The biggest people in the world. Even the Queen, the other day, she walked in with King Charles, Camilla. She said, “Wow, this is the Oval Office.” I said, when the Queen of England says that, that’s very cool.

But people do — the biggest business people, the biggest politicians. And, you know, it’s just — it’s an amazing place. But we keep it well. We fix it. One of the nice parts about being in real estate, I give it the Mar-a-Lago treatment. We fix Mar-a-Lago. We make it better than it’s ever been. It’s better than it was when — the day it was built. So, we have a lot of fun.

By the way, the King and Queen were fantastic. They were here. What great representatives they are for their country. Really high quality. When he got up and made the speech with that beautiful accent, I said, well, that’s the one thing I’ll never have, is that accent. I’d like to have that accent. But no, it was very elegant. He’s a very elegant person. Very good person.

Record Investment and Historic Tax Cuts

So, in four years, the last administration took in much less than $1 trillion. And in 11 months — so, you got four years, less than $1 trillion — and in 11 months, we took in, as an investment where countries and people, rich people, are investing — in 11 months, we took in over $18 trillion, which is a record. Which is a record.

And we passed the largest tax cuts in American history. And, you know, you have your one-year deduction that people never thought would be possible. Instead of over a 38-year period, you’re taking it in one year. And nobody believed a thing like that was possible. I did that, actually, for a shorter period of time in the first administration.

I think we had the greatest economy in history in my first administration. And in the second, I think we’re blowing it away. But we had to make a detour. I’m sorry. We had to make a detour to Iran. Everything will snap back.

Energy Prices and Florida’s Economic Gains

We were down to less than $2 for gasoline in Iowa. I was in Iowa two months ago, just before the little skirmish took place — is taking place. And prices — the price for gasoline was $1.85 a gallon. And we were — a lot of places were $2, some below $2. And I believe it’ll snap back very, very quickly, as soon as — there’s so much oil. These ships are loaded up with oil. They can’t get out of the strait. We’ll — I think we’re going to have it solved. I think everyone in this room is going to be very happy and very impressed.

Our tax cuts supported an estimated 408,000 full-time Florida jobs. You know that. And we delivered no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, no tax on Social Security for our seniors, which I think is the last one.

Tax Relief for Seniors, Farmers, and Working Americans

I wasn’t sure if that was the biggest one, but I can tell you, in Florida, it’s the biggest one. No tax on Social Security for our seniors. We virtually eliminated the estate tax, or death tax, for people with small business and farms.

So many farmers, where they leave their farm — you know, they’re land-rich and cash-poor. They have a farm that’s of value. They leave it to their children, their great children, who they love so much. If they don’t love their children, they say, don’t bother. It’s nothing much. But if you do — if you want to leave your farm or your small business to your children, we have no estate tax. You know, we have — they call it a death tax. That’s what it is. And just, you know, pretty — pretty amazing thing.

And the case of farms, you know, it’s a way of life. And the parents would be on the farm. The kids would grow there. They love it. They wouldn’t do anything else. They would rather do that than anything else. And they used to get hit with a tax — a big tax that they couldn’t pay. So they’d go out and borrow money from the local bank or whatever, and they weren’t able to pay. And they would lose their farm. And in many cases, they would commit suicide. Literally, they’d commit suicide.

We don’t have any death tax or inheritance tax anymore for the small farms and small businesses. So when you leave your business to your kid, you don’t have that.

And we made interest on car loans fully tax-deductible so that if you borrow money — if you buy an American car only, you have to buy an American-made car. But you can borrow money from the bank. Your interest is deductible for income tax purposes. And that’s a big deal that we’ve never seen. You know, middle-income people have never been big on deductions. Rich people have gotten used to deductions, but those other people haven’t.

Jobs, the Stock Market, and 401(k) Gains

We added 186,000 private-sector jobs in March. Jobless claims just hit the lowest level since 1969. And more Americans are working today, as I said, than ever before. And since the election, 89 times we’ve hit new highs. And we’re adding $9 trillion. We’ve added — in just 11 months, we’ve added over $9 trillion in value to the stock markets.

And people with 401(k)s have really — I mean, it’s saved marriages, actually. One policeman told me, “My wife thought very little of me. She felt I wasn’t a man because I was a bad investor. With my 401(k), I had nothing I could do about it. It was under the Biden administration. And now she thinks that I’m Warren Buffett. She said, ‘My husband is the most incredible investor I’ve ever seen,’ and all I do is just look at the numbers every month.” So, it’s amazing. The 401(k)s are incredible. They’re incredible.

Inflation Coming Down Across the Board

Core inflation has dropped to a five-year low, with the exception of oil prices, which is just — you know, it’s a — I think most of the people in this room understand that. As soon as it’s over, it’s going to drop like a rock. I think it goes below where it was because there’s so much oil. It’s not like — it would be a problem if there wasn’t a lot — there’s so much oil out there.

But core inflation has dropped. Grocery prices are down. Used car prices are down. Rent is down. The only thing that is up is the gasoline, and that’s coming down.

Why Action Against Iran Was Necessary

But, you know, with all of this — and I say it again — we had to do this little excursion. Because if we didn’t, if they had a nuclear weapon, this world would be in — it would be a horror. It would be a world that would live in fear. And it should have been done for 47 years by other Presidents and other countries, frankly, but it wasn’t. They were all afraid of Iran. It’s a very strong — was a very strong country.

We’ve blown the hell out of them, if you want to know the truth. But we’ve leashed American energy with that simple policy of drill, baby drill. And I’ll tell you, we’re producing more oil and gas now than we ever have any — at any time. And we’re investing over $1.5 trillion next year in the military. And we have the strongest, the greatest military by far anywhere in the world. Stronger than any other country by far.

And thanks to our warriors and their allies, the Israeli Defense Forces today, the Iranian regime has none of those things that we talked about — Navy, Air Force, anti-aircraft capacity, no radar. And again, dozens of their leaders are no longer with us. They’re elsewhere. Most importantly, though, thanks to our blockade — the blockade has been unbelievable. They’re unable to export any energy, and they’re crumbling as an economy.

But I just want to say that we have now a great country that’s respected again. We’re a country that is winning like it’s never won before. And we’re going to keep it going. And I just want to thank all of the people from this area of the world. It’s a great area of the world with great leaders and people. And it’s people that I have a lot of respect for. But it’s an area of the world that everyone is talking about. And it’s an honor to be a member of this group of people.

Very distinguished. Such distinguished people. I mean, I’m seeing so many people. The people that you read about, the people that you look up to, and they happen to be here. Speaking in front of you with Harvey, my lawyer — a lawyer. If he ever loses a case, I’ll fire him so fast. But he’s my lawyer. And he said, “Would you do it?” I said, “Absolutely.” And I know it’s turned out to be great because outside, they have thousands of people trying to get in. So that’s a good feeling.

But I just want to thank very much all of the people of West Palm Beach and Palm Beach, all of the people that we’ve dealt with. You are really fantastic. Thank you. Thank you very much.

HARVEY: Mr. President, if you would stay with us a few more moments, we appreciate your time. We have a few questions for you.

Why Florida? Why Palm Beach County?

First obvious question. Palm Beach is your home. Your children and your grandchildren all live in southeast Florida. Key members of your administration are from our community. Your future presidential library will be in Miami. An airport here will be named in your honor. And you often govern from here. You own properties everywhere in the world. You could live everywhere in the world. Why do you choose our community? Why Florida? Why Palm Beach County?

TRUMP: Well, before I do that, so, Elton John told me, “When you hit it big, you leave.” We hit it big. Everybody’s standing over. Now Harvey says, “Can we ask you a couple of questions?” He said, “When you hit that last song big, don’t go out for an encore. Or if you go out for an encore, make sure you leave when it’s hot.” And here we are. We had a standing ovation. Everyone going. They loved it. And Harvey has to ask me a stupid question like that.

HARVEY: They gave me the question. But you’ll answer.

TRUMP: Okay, here’s my answer. You know why? Because I like the area. Okay, next question. I like short answers.

The 250th Anniversary of the Nation

HARVEY: 250th anniversary of our nation, which you spoke about. Is there a particular moment in the founding of our nation that has always resonated with you?

TRUMP: Well, I think when you look at the wars, the revolution itself, you take a look at what took place. It’s that 1776 is amazing. You know, it’s interesting. We gave our military a bonus, and it was $1,775.

And I looked at the number, and I had to sign off on it. I said, wait a minute. $1,775. If we add one more dollar, Harvey, it’s 1776. And I had to get approval. Can you believe it? Actually, $1 is actually a lot. But it’s not that much. And so we made it 1776. It’s just special. I mean, the whole place. It’s a special country.

Reflections on America’s Founding and the Civil War

But when you look at some of the movies and documentaries about the founding of our country and all of the great people, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, Lincoln later, but Thomas Jefferson, all of the original founders, and some of the ones that are least known are actually the most important and the most interesting, actually.

But when you look at all, then you have the Civil War. The Civil War was brutal. It was brutal. I always said, why couldn’t that have been settled, and maybe it could have been. But it was a brutal war. It was supposed to last one day. And because Robert E. Lee was an amazing general, you know, I deal with generals a lot. And I ask, who was the best general? A lot of them say Robert E. Lee because he took something that was supposed to end in one day and it went four years.

And with the exception of Gettysburg, that was not good. That was not a good one. That was not a good day for him. But that didn’t happen. It would have actually won. They were going for New York and they heard they were going up a hill, Harvey, just going up a hill. Robert E. Lee heard that. Stonewall Jackson was killed, his great general, and so he didn’t have him. He had another general and they were going up and he sent five messengers on five horses hoping that one would get through because they were all being shot.

It was a bloodbath. And it was never fight uphill, me boys. Never fight uphill. We fought uphill and they just got wiped out. But that whole, to me, the Robert E. Lee era with Ulysses S. Grant, Abraham Lincoln, I mean, to me, that is such an amazing, you can learn so much from it. But it was such an amazing time, such a horrible time, beautiful in certain ways, but such a horrible, horrible time.

America’s Golden Age

We have a fascinating country, whether you’re talking about 1776 or a little bit later on, or I think right now, I think right now, in many ways, we are, I believe we’re in the golden age of America. You know, I’m glad he actually asked me this question because I just used a term that I didn’t use when I was leaving. I didn’t say we are in the golden age, Harvey, of America and we’re living it. I think it’s a very exciting time right now.

HARVEY: I’m glad you liked one of my questions, sir. As someone who came from the business world, you’re now in the political world. What is the biggest difference between being a leader of a company versus being a leader of a country, if any?

Business Leaders vs. Politicians: Who Is Tougher?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: I can’t get myself into big trouble. Well, a lot of people ask it in a little different form. They say, who’s tougher, politicians or businessmen? Because I dealt with both at the highest level and I always said, oh, businessmen are much tougher. They’re much, not even close. But then I spent a little time in Washington and now I say it’s not even close.

These politicians are ruthless, vicious. They are liars, unlike our people from our great town council. But these are vicious people. I mean, what I see, Shifty Schiff, all these crazy people that we have to deal with all day. Think of it. Call me. How’s he doing now? The people that we deal with in Washington, they are very tough. And even the leaders of other countries, you know, look, now we’re dealing with Iran.

On the Integrity of Prosecutors

So when they used to ask me that question for the first make, I’d say for the first month, I would say, oh, businessmen, after about a month and a half after getting impeached twice for nothing, I said, you know, politicians are far worse. Far worse. Yeah, right. So it’s a big, it’s a big difference.

I will say this. It is nothing more beautiful than a really good politician who’s honorable. There’s nothing more beautiful than an honorable prosecutor. You know, you have some of these prosecutors, they’re dirty cops and you have others that are very fair. And I think the world of the prosecutors is a very important world. You want fair. You have to have fair prosecutors. And some of them aren’t fair.

I mean, I was a part of it and I was able to beat a system that was brutal. A lot of people didn’t think it was doable. And we did. But having really, because it’s a very important position, the prosecutors are very powerful and they can destroy people unfairly and they can, you know, they can also do a good job. But having fair, smart and fair prosecutors is a very important part of the world in which we live. I think that makes sense. But I feel very strongly about that. Yeah.

The Most Bizarre Thing About Being President

HARVEY: Last question. Well, it’s a two part question. What is the most bizarre thing that you’ve encountered as president? And what still surprises you about the job, even in your second term?

TRUMP: If I told him what was the most bizarre thing, I’d have to probably resign in about three minutes as I walked off the stage. You think I’m getting there? I’m not. But the one thing I saw, I won’t respond to that question, but I would. You would be very interested, but I just think this, it’s a great honor to be doing what I’m doing.

And you know, you have everybody watching, everybody looking, everybody second guessing. Some are very fair and very good. You learn from them and you take what they suggest or what they’re complaining about in some cases, if they’re fair and others, no matter what you do. You know, it’s like you can have a baseball team and win 21 to nothing and they’ll say you should have won 25 to nothing, right?

The Best First Year of Any President

Because we’ve done really a job. We’re being credited of having the best first term, first year of a term of any president. I think it is. I mean, when you look at all the regulation cuts, all of the tax cuts, all of the law and order things. I mean, the border is an example. We settled eight wars and nobody settled eight wars.

In fact, the woman that won, a very nice woman, Maria, she won the Nobel Peace Prize. And she said, what? Nobody should win that but Donald Trump. She said, Donald Trump should win it more than any other person that wanted. And she actually gave me her Nobel Prize. She’s a terrific person.

But I just say this, it’s a great honor to do it. I think it’s bigger than I thought, you know, when I was thinking about running early on in 2015, 2014, before I ran. I had no idea it would be this big. I had no idea we could make this kind of an impact, but we’ve really made an impact in a little bit more than a year. We’ve turned this country around. I thought it would take longer than that, but we’ve turned it around.

The King of Saudi Arabia: “I Thought America Was Dead”

And again, with the hottest country, the king of Saudi Arabia said that. I was over there a year ago. And I said to him, we were there for after four or five months. It was obvious what was happening. But he looked at me and he said, “President, I must tell you, I thought America was dead. We weren’t going to invest. Nobody was going to invest. You had a country that was dead.”

Transcript

And now you have the hottest country anywhere in the world that we do with the hottest country anywhere in the world. And we want to keep it that way. Thank you very much, everybody. Thank you.

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