Donald Trump (00:34):
What a nice sound that is, isn't it? What a nice… Please sit down. Hi, Scott. So, I always said that if I ever became president, I would play that all the time, no matter where I went in the building, but I've never really gotten to do it. I wanted it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It's so beautiful.
(00:55)
And pardon me for being late. We had a great meeting with NATO, the secretary general, and we're going to do something a little different for this country. We're going to supply weapons to NATO at a large amount, they're going to deliver the weapons, and they're going to pay for 100% of the weapons. So, a little different, a little different. Hi, John. So, that's a big thing. And we thought we had four deals, Howard, right? With Putin. Somehow they end and we get off the phone. " Oh, that was a very nice conversation." And then he sends missiles into buildings someplace. I said, "What was that all about?" So anyway, so we're going to be doing that with NATO, and it's fully approved, fully done, and we'll send them a lot of weapons of all kinds, and they're going to deliver those weapons immediately to the site of the war, different sites of the war, and they're going to pay for 100% of them. This all was made possible by going from 2 to 5% a month ago when I went there, thank you. Yeah.
(02:07)
And those countries, those European countries, and I said, "Look, we have an ocean. It's not fair that we did…" Because under the Biden administration we paid about three-and-half times more than they did. We were in for $350 billion, got nothing for it. We were in for $350 and they were in for $100. Which really meant one thing, because you have great business leaders here, it meant very simply that they were better negotiators than our president was. So, this is a very important thing, and hopefully that will come to an end. At the end of 50 days if we don't have a deal, then we're going to have to do… We have no choice but to do secondary tariffs. You call it secondary tariffs, which are pretty tough, which we don't want to have to do, but let's see what happens.
(02:54)
But we thought we had a deal. Numerous times I'd get home, I'd say, "First Lady, I had the most wonderful talk with Vladimir. I think we're finished." And then I'll turn on the television. Or she'll say to me one time, "Wow, that's strange, because they just bombed a nursing home." I said, "What?" So, we don't like that.
(03:18)
But I want to thank you all for being here, and welcome to the first-ever White House summit of faith and business leaders. You're really some of the greatest business leaders in the country. When I looked at some of the names, I said, "Whoa, that's big stuff we have here today." In fact, before I was president, I would've been very intimidated, but now I'm president, so I don't have to be. But today, we celebrate the core values that built this country in freedom, hard work, risk-taking, and above all, trust in Almighty God. You're very much into God in this room and it's very nice. You're business leaders who believe strongly. We have some business leaders that don't believe strongly, and somehow you and I don't like them as much.
(04:03)
But I want to thank Pastor Paula White, she's been my friend for a long time. And John for convening this incredible group. Her husband's one of the most talented musicians in the world. Stand up, John, stand up. [inaudible 00:04:24]. I stole a couple of his songs for the rallies and he never sued me, so I was very happy. But we all come from the same place, right? So, it was great and we appreciate it, John.
(04:38)
Thanks as well to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who's doing a fantastic job. He goes on television and he calms the market. I go on television, I rile the market. And I say, "We better send him in there, Howard, right?" And the market's become so calm and nice. So, you're doing a good job, Scott, thank you very much. You make any deals today? We got a lot of them, boy, I tell you we have. But the best deal is just sending out the paper. They keep saying, "Well, he hasn't made the deal." Oh, we made a number of deals. "But why isn't he doing deals?" Because the paper is better than any deal we can make.
(05:17)
Do you understand? Do people in this… Kevin, they asked you that question this morning. You were great this morning. But they said, "Well, when is he going to start making deals?" The next time we could say just, "No, every time he sends out a document that you have to pay 35%, or 25%, or 50%, or in one case 100%, those deals, you can't beat those deals." But we're still willing to talk. And they all, literally every country, wants to make a deal. We're in a good position. You would call it a position of strength. I don't talk that way because I'm a politician now, unfortunately.
(05:53)
And I don't want to talk about strength though, I just want to say we have to be treated fairly because we were treated… We were ripped off on trade and the military for… We protected other nations, nobody paid us, nobody did anything for us, nobody helped us. And that's much different. NATO is a much different situation now. When I got in, I believe we were paying for 100% of NATO, and now they're paying… They went from 2%, but they were paying 1%, to 5% that they're paying. That's a big difference. It's about a trillion, $1 trillion difference. And they're wealthy, for the most part, wealthy countries. And some of them very, they're among the most powerful, among the wealthiest countries in the world. So, they're going to start paying and they want to pay. And we had a great meeting about one month ago that set the stage for what happened here, but it's very important. So, I want to thank Scott for being here.
(06:48)
I want to thank Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. You are doing a good job, Howard. Am I right when I say I really don't want deals, I just want the paper to get sent, right? It's true, I get… I don't know if this is on… Yeah, it's always on television.
(07:06)
SBA administrator and a great person, Cabinet member, a friend of mine for a long time, Kelly Loeffler. Kelly, you're doing great. She's small business, right? She only does small business, but when you add it all up, it's the biggest bank in the world by a factor of about 10, right? She's doing a great job.
(07:27)
And director of the White House Faith Office, Jenny Korn, who's also amazing. Thanks, Jenny.
(07:36)
From the earliest days of our republic, the steady compass of faith has guided the strong hands of American workers, builders, and entrepreneurs like really no other. Our country was founded by pilgrims and believers, and every generation since, Americans of faith have built our communities and forged new industries and enriched our country by millions and millions of people and ways. John D. Rockefeller, J. C. Penney, Charles Goodyear, Truett Cathy, and frankly, we have people I could name right in this room sitting here, that their names are every bit as big as that, they were inspired by their love of God. And now the proud tradition continues with all of you. And this group reminds us is a nation that prays is a nation that prospers. And you see that.
(08:26)
I think one of the reasons we went so bad is they really wanted to take God and religion out of your lives. And there was nobody to look up to. There was just nobody. We were freewheeling. And we can't freewheel. Now we have to bring religion back into the country, and we're starting to do that, I think, at a very high level, Paula, a very, very high level. You see churches are starting to fill up again.
(08:55)
Under the Trump administration, America is prospering and America is winning like never before. Our country is back. So, I was in Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE, and then a month ago we were in Europe with all of the NATO countries, European countries, and plus Canada. And almost everyone said almost the exact same words. They said, "One year ago, your country was dead." Terrible term, but that's what it is. "Your country was dead. We thought it was finished. And now you've got the hottest country anywhere in the world." It's true, it's the hottest country.
(09:37)
Did you see they found $25 billion of essentially profits last night? They said, "Where did it come from?" Came from management, but it came from tariffs. And it came from good business skill. And I've always made money. Now I'm making it for you people. I've had good days and bad days, but in good days and bad days, I always found a way to make money. And we have to do that for our country. And we did 188 billion in, Scott just now, 188 billion in tariffs. 188. And we haven't even started yet. That's only for cars and steel. We actually have barely started. The economy is roaring, business confidence is soaring, incomes are up, prices are down, and inflation is dead. It's dead.
(10:27)
We have a bad Fed chairman, really bad. If he would lower the rates, if he would lower the rates. And I tried being nice to the guy, it doesn't help. He's like a knucklehead. He's a knucklehead. Stupid guy. He really is. Each point, think of this, each point costs us $360 billion. Billion. One point, $360 billion. Two points, you got $600, $700 billion. And we're way high. We're 450 or 425? 450? And how do you go borrow money at 1% when the Fed has you at 450? And you know it's not that easy. I get angry at them. "Why are we paying so much?" "Because he's got you up at this number."
(11:20)
And we should always be the lowest. Now that we're doing great, we have no inflation. Think of it. Our stock market hit record highs. Everything's hitting a record high. We're really running good with no inflation. And we should be at 1%. We should be less than 1%. I think Switzerland is the lowest at like one-half of a percent. We should be lower because without us, there's no world. I don't want to sound overly aggressive, but without us, you have no world. And we put our country on solid footing.
(11:55)
We had a man as president who was the worst, the worst administration, worst president in the history of our country. We've had some bad ones, but he's the worst ever. What he did at our border can never be forgotten. 25 million people allowed to pour into our country, all unchecked, unvetted, murderers, gang leaders, gangsters, people that want in our country under any means, terrorists. We have many terrorists in our country, and we're watching them close. Tom Homan, by the way, is doing a phenomenal job. Kristi Noem is doing a phenomenal job.
(12:36)
Last week it was reported nobody, not one, even I don't know if I believe that number, but the numbers are done by liberals, so they said… Did you know that they said we had nobody, zero, cross our border? It's the first time that ever happened. Zero. Did you hear that? It's crazy.
(12:53)
But we had people from mental institutions, insane asylums, even. That's a mental institution on steroids, essentially. But we had people coming into our country. We can't have them, and we have to get them out. But we can never forgive this administration this past… And I'm okay with administrations. I mean, I can go through a Democrat administration, say, "Hey, look, they worked hard, they tried hard." But the things that they did to this country, we can never, ever forget it. From the rigged elections, to the border, to the transgender for everybody, from men playing in women's sport. Do you ever take a look at some of these records? There was a long-distance race, a marathon, where they had a great female runner, a number of them, but they had one in particular. And they had just an average male runner who had transitioned. He won the race at the end of the day by five hours and 14 minutes. They waited for five hours.
Donald Trump (14:02):
The weightlifting records are better though. The weightlifting records are better, the way they took a record that hasn't been broken for 18 years. 18 years. And they'd add a quarter of an ounce on each side of the barbell and just that little tiny piece of stuff. She'd go up and she couldn't get it up. Then this guy comes along, "Have you lifted before?" "Yes, at a low level." He was a low-level lifter as a man. But transitioned and he goes up to that thing, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing. Could have done it all day long. Broke the record by 119 pounds.
(14:44)
The whole thing is crazy. The swimming records are pretty good too. You've got to see that. I tell this story, you had this great group of young ladies and they grew up with each other because they swam at the top level. And they were swimming and the one girl was seriously injured. She looked left and she saw the same girl she grew up with, Kelly in California, same girls, that young age, they rise to the top. She looked at her right, she saw the same girls, but there was this giant standing right next to her. And you probably heard this, he had transitioned. And she'd never seen her before. And when the race was started, he blew by her so fast that she suffered massive windburn. They had to take her… And he got out of the race and he went and had a little lunch and then he came back and watched the rest of the young ladies finish up.
(15:49)
The whole thing is crazy. And it's so demeaning to women. It's so demeaning to women. But it is what it is. But what they did to this country, and we ended all of that, as you probably know, we ended the woke, the woke stuff is no longer in favor. But we're doing fantastically. Wages for blue collar workers have surged by the most in over 60 years. Gas prices have reached the lowest level in five decades. Actually we're see some really good numbers with drill, baby, drill. I've got to make sure that people can afford to produce the gas. But the gas has gotten to the lowest level in decades. And you're seeing $1.99, $1.98. And I saw $1.95 at certain states. Not California, because every time it goes down, they add taxes onto it. You're at $6, $7, they just add taxes. All they do is they keep adding taxes. Terrible governor, he doesn't know what he's doing.
(16:53)
He may be a candidate, but if you go by success, you can't have him be a candidate. And on Friday it was announced that the United States Treasury ran a budget surplus. Is that true, Scott? In June for the first time in many, many decades. I didn't know that. That's a good one too. I'm going to have to put that in my repertoire, Scott. But the biggest victory of all came 10 days ago when I signed the One Big Beautiful Bill into law. And just as I promised, we did something that was amazing. Everybody was against it, I wanted it. I know Scott and Howard liked the idea of it too. But it was very risky because they'd never done anything like it in terms of, it's the biggest bill of its kind ever passed by far.
(17:52)
And they were going to cut it into two, three, or even as many as seven bills. And I said, "The problem is that in the One Big Bill, everybody gets something. When you cut it into sevens, there are four or five of them or three of them," right, Kevin? "That you get nothing. All they're going to do is fight it. You'll never get them passed." And so we went with it. I was on a show called Deface the Nation. Have you heard of it? They're so bad. These people, they're so average. But I was on the show, Deface the Nation. Ladies and gentlemen, President Donald J. Trump on Deface the Nation. But they're all so bad. But we were on the show and she said to me a question, she said, "What would you call this bill? Would you want to have it called One Big Beautiful or would you rather see…" I said, "What I want is one great big beautiful bill." And Speaker Mike Johnson, John Thune, they were watching and they said, "What a great name for the bill."
(19:01)
We actually ended up calling it that. We took the great out, I actually I liked it even better. One great big beautiful. But they said, "A little bit of a low-key." But we got it passed. But we got it a passed because there's something for everybody. And there are things that people don't like, but you need them for the country. You have to do some things that are great for the country, but they wouldn't necessarily get the votes. And we got the votes. Think of it, not one Democrat vote. All the goodies that we got, not one Democrat voted in either the Senate or the House. And we're talking about tax cuts and business. I mean so many different things that are so good, not one Democrat vote went with us, not one. So we had to get almost every… In the House we got 218 to two. Think of that, 218 to two. Nobody could do that. It's never been done.
(19:54)
And we have Rand Paul Jr., who's a guy from… We call him Rand Paul Jr. because he always votes no, a guy named Massie. Always votes no. We had another guy who I helped very strongly, helped him with a very personal situation, got him through it. And he voted no and I said, "Thank you very much, I appreciate it." And then we went to the Senate and you had of course Rand Paul who always votes no, they call him Just Say No. And I got him elected, I had to go to Kentucky twice to do rallies to get him elected twice. But they forget, a lot of politicians forget. And then we had a couple of others, Susan Collins, she's another one. Just Say No. Brutal. And we had some people, Tillis I guess was a no. He was a no. And they said, "He was brave. He said no to the president." But he resigned the following morning.
(20:53)
So anyway, that was terrible, I thought. But we couldn't lose more than three and we had three that said no. And so we won that 50 to three. So it was pretty close. And the senator came over to me and said, "I can't believe you won the House." Great guy this guy, the senator, Eric Schmitt, he's doing a great job. He said, "I can't believe you won the House." I said, "Actually, remember 218 to two." We needed three so we could have lost three, but we actually only lost two. I said, "No, actually the Senate was tougher than the House of the two." That question is asked to me, "Who was tougher?" I'd say the Senate was tougher actually, amazingly. It shouldn't have been. We had a slightly bigger margin in the Senate proportionately, but it was brutal.
(21:45)
They said, "Sir, we have 12 hard nos." You know a hard no is not recoverable. This was at 2:30 in the morning. Mike Johnson called up, "It could be 20, but it's at least 12. So could you call them, sir?" And I said, "What time?" I said, "2:30 in the morning?" And we have to win. We can never give up. The people in this room, you never gave up, Mike's supporter from day one and her husband with a bad damn back. How's his back? Is he okay? Every time I see him, he's got a bad back. But he's got a lot of cash. He's got a lot of cash.
(22:24)
But no, they're great people. Thank you very much. I do appreciate it. You were there right at the beginning. Always was there. So we have a situation where we call up these people at 2:30 in the morning. And I got along with them all great, I liked them, but they're tough, they're congressmen. When you're a congressman for 20 years or you're a senator for years, you're smart and you're a survivor because you go through all sorts of hell. But I called up a congressman and I said, "Hi Jim, how are you doing?" He said, " Fine, sir." And I said, "The family's good, yeah?"
(23:04)
And he said, "Sir, you have my vote." I never said what I was calling about. I said, "I do? Thank you very much. But how do you know what I'm calling you about?" He said, "Sir, I've been your friend for two and a half years, you've never called me during normal hours. So I assume that if you're calling me at 2:30 in the morning, you're not calling me to ask me, how's the family doing?" I said, "Yeah, that's true." Pretty good. So I called up everyone, I think everyone with the exception of one I had to speak a little bit. But I call up, "Sir, you have my vote." "Thank you." "Sir, you have my vote." Think of that.
(23:44)
And we got 12 votes in a matter of… I called back 20 minutes later, I said, "You've got all the votes." That's spirit. That's spirit. They wanted to maybe hear, they want to have a little love. The sad part is that some of the best people are the people that don't get any publicity because they go with something because it's good. So a guy like some of the people I'm talking about, but some of the people where you didn't even have to call, they vote yes 100%. You don't have to waste any time with them. You don't have to beg them, "Come on, you can do it. Come on, let's have lunch. Let's have dinner." And then you have other guys that want you to suffer. I mean, some of these people that I just mentioned, whose names I just mentioned, you've got to go through hell.
(24:27)
And the ones that are really good and they love the country and they're doing right, I mean, what's the alternative? The alternative here, you're getting the biggest tax cut in history and with the Democrats, you're going to have the biggest tax increase in history. Now, we could go into 100 other details that are equally as crazy. So I said, "So what's the difference? So you're going to say no and you're going to have the biggest tax cut in history this way and you're going to have the biggest tax increase the other way, and you'll probably end up in a depression." Because if you ever did that, it would be a shock to the whole world. That's what happened in 1929. I said, "So are you going to vote for the other side?" "Well, sir, I'll do what's really appropriate." They're losers. But really they're grandstanders, you have grandstanders and you have them in every business.
(25:15)
And the Democrat has far fewer. They have grandstanders, but the one thing about them, they have bad policy, they're evil people in many ways, but they stick together. You don't have it where, I don't want to use too many names, but you don't have a Mitt Romney in the midst who makes you suffer. You don't have some of the people that I mentioned who make it so hard. They make it so hard. And the alternative is one of two things. You can either get all these things and make the economy strong or you're going to literally have perhaps a depression where you people, so rich, so beautiful, so nice to look at, will be totally busted and let's see how long your wife stays with you. You're beautiful. She'll stay with you for about three weeks and she'll say, "Darling, I can't take it anymore. I can't take it anymore, darling, I'm leaving you."
(26:09)
I said to one guy, he's a very, very unattractive man, but he's smart and he's rich and I said, "You better hope we get this thing passed because your wife will be gone within about two minutes." He said, "You're right." So we had a tremendous success. And it gives you the biggest tax cut in American history, the largest spending cut in American history, and the largest border security investment of all time. And again, we're doing great on the border. I almost say, why do we need it? We have such good numbers. But you need it, ultimately you're going to need it. I built hundreds of miles of border wall, without that, you could have never had the results that we had. But to lift up the American family, we increased the child tax credit and made school permanent. We made it all permanent, the school choice, and we expanded school choice.
(27:02)
And for every newborn child, we created what's called the Trump Accounts. And this was Michael Dell. I don't know if Michael Dell's here. But Michael Dell, well, you tell him I mentioned his name because it's true. He would call me for three, four years. I didn't know Michael, I just know he is a great success story and a great guy. That's all he talked about was the account where you put $1,000 as a baby is born, $1,000 into an account and you let it be invested by, I guess you pick out some good money determinate or fund or index. And I guess at a certain age, like when they're 30, it goes earlier than that, but when they're 30, they're supposed to have $75,000. That would have a huge impact on their lives. And it could even be more than that. So that passed. And it's funny, that was one of the easiest things we had to get passed. Can you believe it? I thought so many people loved it. They actually called it the Trump
Donald Trump (28:00):
… accounts, and I didn't fight for that name, right? I didn't fight for that. I said, "That's a very great honor." But Michael Dell was amazing and he said he's going to invest billions of dollars doing it for children. He's going to put a lot of his money into it. But even more importantly than the economic success with restoring the spirit of our country, America is once again an Optimistic nation.
(28:21)
We were so down, it was depressing. We were so down. That's why I ran again. I got cheated. They rigged the election. But I said, if I didn't think I won, I would've never run. Because that's like a poll, right? You'd lose, you lose. It's worse than a poll. But I saw the lack of spirit in this country for four years. It was a dark, horrible place. And for people of religion who were arresting, your pastors, they were arresting, if you went to church and you had a service outside and the reason outside because you had the Covid and you could go outside. Arrest everybody for even having the service.
(29:03)
I'll tell you, religion took a big hit because of the way they treated all of us. And we now have a confident nation, an optimistic nation, and we have one nation under God. And we'll always keep that term. And we're bringing back very importantly, and not just Evangelicals or Protestants. So all religions, we're bringing them back into our country. As President I've ended the radical left war on faith and we're once again protecting religious freedom like never before in our country, we're protecting it like never before.
(29:42)
We're getting rid of the Johnson Amendment that didn't let the pastors and ministers and everybody speak about politics. Now you're able to speak about politics, Paula, you can speak about. You can say, "I don't like that guy." And they don't take away your tax-exempt status. They take away tax-exempt… and I'll tell you, remember when that started. It was at the meeting room before I ran 2015, a year before the election. And I was with 50 faith leaders. They were great, very well-known people, mostly Protestant. But you had Rabbis, you had an Imam, two a Imams.
(30:19)
And we were talking and I said, "I'd love to have your endorsement." And they looked at me like, "What?" "I'd love to have your endorsement. We have such respect for you and you control a really very powerful…" And they looked at me, they didn't say anything. Do you remember that? And I said, "Hmm, what's wrong with these people?" I didn't know about the Johnson Amendment. Don't forget, I never did this stuff before. It wasn't like I've ran, I was on the other side. I was on the same side as you, you write contributions to people that you like, but I never ran so I didn't know about the Johnson Amendment.
(30:55)
And I called Paula and Jenny aside. I said, "Could I ask you when I said I'd want your support, your political support and endorsement, they looked at me very weird. What's going on?" "Well, sir, there's a thing called the Johnson Amendment. And if they even speak about anything having to do with politics, they will immediately take away their tax-exempt status." And if they lose the tax-exempt status in your world, that means you might as well close up your church. I said, "You got to be kidding." So I can't really… And I told them, we had another meeting a couple of months later, and I said, "You people in theory are the most powerful people. You're more powerful than man or woman because we have more than… Let's assume men and women are 50/50, but you have 80% between all the different religions."
(31:50)
I said, "You have more power than anybody, but you're not allowed to use your power." I said, "We're going to get rid of that because people want to hear what you have to say more than anybody else." Pretty much. And we did get rid of it and we launched something that's great. And now you see people, if they like somebody, they're able to talk about that somebody for office, right, Jenny? We're able to talk about a certain politician that has your values and likes your religion. It's okay. And we got rid of… That was Lyndon Johnson, a very powerful guy.
(32:21)
And he had a problem with a pastor, I think in Houston. And the pastor was not a fan of his. And he put the clamps on the guy. He really did, amazing actually. And we opened it up. I looked at him and we're up 68 stories in the air at Trump Tower and at this beautiful conference room, I looked down, I see people walking up and down the street. He said, that means that that person walking up and down the street, any one of them have more power than you do because you're not allowed to even talk about it. You were even afraid to talk about it.
(32:52)
But they're not afraid any longer. And I think they appreciate it. As President, I've ended the radical left war on faith and we're once again protecting religious freedom instead of destroying it. And God is once again welcomed back into our public square. It's very important.
(33:15)
And I stopped the Biden Administration's persecutions of Christians and pro-life activists. They would put people in jail if they even uttered the word. And well, look at me. I mean, look what happened to me. I was under investigation more than the late great Alphonse Capone. Think of it. Al Capone would kill people for dinner if he left the room and he didn't like them. He'd have them shot, killed, buried under a building someplace as part of the foundation of a building. They're all over the place.
(33:47)
And I said, "I had more time under investigation than the legendary Alphonse Capone or probably anybody else," but I had a lot of good people with me. And most importantly, I had the base with me at a level that it actually became stronger. The one thing I did that was very helpful, I was indicted five times. Think of that indicted. That wasn't a word that was in… my father's looking down, my mother's looking down that, "My son's not supposed to be indicted, I think." I got indicted five times, impeached two times, all bull shit right? All terrible stuff.
(34:24)
And I got impeached for making a perfect phone call. "Good luck. Congratulations." I had a guy come up to me, a secretary of energy from before. "Sir, could you call up," of all people, "President Zelenskyy?" And I called him. I actually held off. He must've come 10 times. "Please, sir." Because they wanted to do business or something. Oil and gas. Who the hell knows what they wanted? You can imagine what they wanted, but they wanted, "Would you call up President Zelenskyy?" And I did.
(34:57)
When I finally got him, I said, "Congratulations on your win." He had just won. This is early in the process. Should have never been, that war should have never taken place. By the way, if the election weren't rigged, that war would never be happening right now. Millions of people being killed, that war would never be happening. But "Would you call up…?" So I say, "Hello, President, how are we doing? Everything good? Good. Congratulations on your big victory. Wonderful job. Great, great, great." Hang up. That's it.
(35:23)
I get indicted for making a phone call. I told that secretary who wasn't the smartest bulb. He wasn't Rick Perry, you don't want him on your debate team. Let me put it that way, "Rick. You're not going to be on my debate team Rick." But he's the one that asked me to do it, Rick Perry. And I said, "Thanks Rick. That was a wonderful suggestion. I just got indicted over your stupid call." This is what we have to put up with, right? This is what we have to do. We have to put up with things.
(35:50)
But it's been an amazing period of time and we've straightened out so many bad things in this country. I created a Presidential Commission on Religious Liberty and established a Department of Justice Task Force to eradicate anti-Christian bias because you have a very big anti-Christian bias that you don't think about and you don't hear about it. I established the White House Faith Office to defend and represent people of all faiths. It's located in the White House. You've never had an office, you've never had that.
(36:28)
And Jenny and Paul are there all the time, but we have it in the White House. So people can call up and complain or they can call up "You're doing a great job," whatever. But we have it actually in the White House, nobody's ever done that. We've restored the fundamental principle that God created two genders, male and female. That was a tough one. That was a tough one.
(36:52)
And we're defending parents' rights where the parents' rights have been taken away from them at schools. You look at some of these school boards, it's like they're brutal dictatorships and we brought it all back. The parents have the control now. And last Monday we effectively eliminated the infamous, as I said, Johnson Amendment such a big deal and various other amendments and things that really took away your free speech. That's what they've done. They've taken away free speech.
(37:18)
I also want to recognize the incredible contribution of our great First Lady, Melania. And she says, "Hello." And Melania did the Be Best initiative in supporting children in our foster care system. She visits a lot of children a lot. Yesterday we went to the game, a soccer game. I don't know if you saw it in the Meadowlands. It was incredible. And she's always thinking about the children that have a hard time, in helping America's young people reach their fullest potential. And it's remarkable to think that it was only one year ago this week that my time on earth nearly ended. And if you look at that, God was with me. Because that's something… In theory, I should not be with you today.
(38:08)
Well, I believe that, and I do. I believe it that my life was saved by God to really make America great again. I really believe that. I think I have a son, he's a great shooter, like a championship shooter, Don. And Eric is a great shooter, both of them. But they said that at that distance with that gun, "You didn't have a chance." And we turned the head at the right time, didn't we? We turned ahead at the right time. So I know some people say I was lucky and some people say something else. I say something else, I think God helped us. So I always believed in giving back to this nation, a nation that we love so much. And I know that everyone lives by that same sacred principle. The people in this room do, I can tell you. I really, I hate when I see complainers people that complain and they don't do anything about it. In many cases, the media, not all of the media, I must add something because we won in a landslide. Think of it. We won every swing state. We won by millions of votes. We won the popular vote, we won, there's a district vote that's very interesting. It's where the whole map is… it looks red, red for Republican, by the way.
(39:43)
But the whole map came out, I think it was 2,750 to 505. Think of that. That's broken into little districts, little areas. We had an unbelievable election. And so I don't know, somebody said, "How do you win without the press?" But we have a hidden press and the real hidden press and the hidden vote is the people and the word of mouth. Word of mouth is more important than the press. And they see what we do and they see how we do it. I want to thank all of you and your great communities and it's a blessing to our country that you're hear and a blessing to our country that you become so successful and so great and people look up to you, you have no idea.
(40:26)
You don't know. We take things for granted. You don't know. The people in this room are amazing. I even, looking at that list, I really said, "That's something great." And you're all believers. I think Paula, you wouldn't have invited people that were… not a lot of… Is there an atheist in the room? Any atheists? I don't think so.
(40:48)
I wouldn't want to raise my hand if I were, I'd be in big trouble. Now you invited all people that are outstanding in faith and success and it's a very noble group, but it's because of the patriotism and goodwill of citizens like you that America remains strong and faithful and free. And together we're going to continue the fight for Judeo-Christian values of our Founding Fathers. We'll grow our economy, we'll defend our sovereignty. We'll protect our children.
(41:19)
When you look at the job we did, I was just thinking because President Putin said it to me and other leaders said it to me when they looked at those B2s, go in and think of it, they flew for 37 hours straight. We had 52 tankers, tankers, the gasoline tankers, and they rode along with them at different aspects and they refueled. And not a screw was broken, not a mark was on those planes. Every engine was perfect. When they landed they were just as good as when they took off. Think of that 37 hours and about 40 minutes through a very rough territory. And those machines
Donald Trump (42:00):
… has worked incredibly well and literally not a problem. And when I honored the flyers, we did it last week, I also honored the mechanics, the people that took care of those machines. And I said, "It's equally important." And you compare that same country, you compare that with what happened with Jimmy Carter, it was a sad situation. The helicopters were coming down and they were crashing and the men were all over the place trying to get the hell out of there. It turned out to be a hostage situation and horrible thing. And it was one of the things that cost him the election, certainly. But when you think of that, and you see this was… In terms of perfection, they think it was a perfect military… We sent the planes to Guam. Everybody thought we were flying to Guam and they said, "Oh, they're going to Guam. Well Guam's out of the way." At the same time, we had some others go in a different direction. I watched horrible, horrible CNN. You know, have to watch sometimes your opposition and they are opposition. And I saw that they had basically the plans of when we're going in, when we would be entering Iranian oil airspace. And I said, "You know that's weird." And I called the General Razin' Caine. He's fantastic. I said, "General…" And Pete Hegseth. I said, "I'm watching newscasts where they're saying What time you're taking off tomorrow and what time we're going to be entering the very dangerous airspace, the worst airspace anywhere there is, anywhere in the world." I said, "What do you think?" "Sir, we'll be fine. If we blow them away, we'll be fine."
(43:44)
Because you know they want those B-2s with seven and they were surrounded by a lot of great planes. F-22s, the most beautiful plane ever built, the fighter jet. F-35s. Had a lot of different planes going with them. I said, "But wouldn't a surprise be better?" "Yeah, it would be better." I said, "Well then let me cancel it and let's make it at a different time."
(44:07)
So the day before, I canceled it. I canceled it and I said, "I'm canceling it. We'll do it sometime within the next two, maybe three weeks, but I'm canceling it." And then I had a meeting and I said, "I have an idea." Because it got slightly big coverage to put it mildly. So everyone knew it was being canceled. I said, "Let's leave it the exact same time we were supposed to leave." The following day and we took off and that's when the planes went out to Guam and this and that and we took off.
(44:36)
And that was the only time, and they said it. That was the only time they knew we wouldn't be coming in was the exact same time that I came. I said, "Let's do something." And they flew in and they were stealth, incredible planes. They were stealth and every bomb hit their mark. Every single bomb hit their mark. It was unbelievable how they did it. And then they said, skedaddle. Skedaddle means get the hell out of there. They had to get out of that airspace. But it was an amazing thing and I think it was so great for our country in so many different ways. You see so many incompetent people, like the way we left Afghanistan with Milley and all these incompetent, stupid people. And Biden, I mean it was him, leave everything behind. We'll leave jets behind. I said to Milley, I said, "So you mean to tell me…" Because I was going to leave. We would've left earlier than them, but we were going to leave with dignity and strength. I said to Milley, "You mean you want to leave a jet fighter behind?" "Sir, it's cheaper if we do that." I said, "Wait a minute. Give me a tank of gas and I'll fly it to Pakistan or I'll fly it to someplace or I'll fly it back home. Why is it cheaper?" "Oh, it's just cheaper."
(45:43)
That's when I realized the guy was grossly incompetent. Okay? He's telling me it's cheaper to leave a plane than it is… The planes cost $150 million apiece. "Let's leave it, sir. It's just great." And they did. I was taking everything, but they left it behind. But when you look at what happened and compare that to what we have now, we have a real great machine. I rebuilt the military in my first term and we left some of it to Afghanistan and the Taliban. And they have their parades. I hate those parades. Every year they have a parade wheeling down our equipment on some very unattractive street. That's their Fifth Avenue. They show our equipment going down. It's getting older and older, but I hate to see it.
(46:33)
But we're going to be working together to protect our children and with the grace of God and the blessing of Providence, we will lead our country to heights that it's never seen before. I think we're going to be more successful in many ways, but I think we're going to be more successful than we've ever been. And I do think this. If we didn't catch it, if we would've lost this election, our country was finished. I think it was. We were run by incompetent people. We were run by an auto pen that nobody knows who used it. I think it's one of the biggest scandals in the history of our country. We were run by an auto pen. Nobody has any idea who used it, including Biden. He doesn't know. Saw that interview yesterday. H knew nothing.
(47:11)
So it's very terrible. We're against an evil group of people and they're very smart, very smart. He's not, but they are. They took over the Oval Office. They actually took over the Oval Office. We can never let a thing like that happen again. So Paul, I want to thank you very much and I want to thank Jenny. And most importantly, I want to thank the people in this room. You really are incredible people, an inspiration to our country. And I know you don't know that. You don't think it because you're too busy working, but you are. You're a great inspiration to young people that want to be just like you when they grow up. And thank you very much for being here and it's a great honor.
(47:51)
And Paul, I think you're going to say a prayer. I'll stay with you while you say your prayer. Okay? Thank you very much everybody. Thank you. Thank you very much.
Speaker 1 (48:10):
Thank you so much, Mr. President. You guys may be seated for just a moment and he is our greatest champion of faith of any president that the United States of America has ever had. We are deeply grateful for that. We are very honored that you are all here with us at the White House where faith is not sidelined but has a seat at the table. And as we gather today as leaders of industry, of vision, of faith, I believe that today is going to be very enlightened.
(48:43)
And I'm so overwhelmed. We're getting ready to worship and pray and to just think that prayer, worship and doing good works is welcome back into the White House. President Trump as a historic and a bold move established the White House faith office to recognize some simple truths that America is strongest when faith is engaged and not silenced. When believers are activated and they are not isolated. This administration understands that people of faith who are entrusted with wealth and influence as you are, are essential to building a stronger, freer and a more compassionate nation. You're more than just CEOs and business leaders and entrepreneurs. You're stewards on divine assignment, builders of legacy and vessels of impact. You've been called by God to his kingdom for such a time as this and together we are witnessing something absolutely remarkable. More has been accomplished by this administration in the past five months than in the last several decades.
(49:51)
And that is due to the leadership of President Trump, his administration and the great team he has assembled. America's spiritual and moral foundations have been restored, and it's only the beginning. Today's not just a luncheon. It is a moment of divine alignment, a commissioning and we believe that God is raising up business leaders who don't separate faith from enterprise, but who see their platforms and their pulpits as their businesses and instruments for eternal impact.
(50:28)
Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we come before you with great reverence and expectation. Your word declares in Isaiah 43:19, "Behold, I am doing a new thing. Now it springs forth. Do you not perceive it?" Lord, we do perceive it. We see the stirring of your hands, reviving hearts, reforming systems, raising up leaders at this very hour. We thank you for our great president, President Trump for his life, his courage, his clarity and unwavering defense of faith and freedom. May your wisdom guide him and your protection always surround him according to your word that does not return void.
(51:08)
In Psalm 89:21 that you say, "My hand will sustain him and surely my arm will strengthen him." We bless every person in this room. Those you've entrusted this wealth, strategy and vision to according to 1 Timothy 6 that you tell us, "Do not put our hope in riches, but be rich and good works, generous and ready to share." So they are your Josephs in Egypt, the wise stewards and famine. They are your Daniels in Babylon, the uncompromising voice and your Lydia and Philippi, the ones who expanded the kingdom. Let this be more than a meeting. Let it be of movement where we come together and converge to bless communities, care for others and reach nations empowered by your purpose and your grace.
(51:54)
Unite us with the common cause to use our time and talent for thy kingdom come, thy will be done in the earth as it is in heaven. In the mighty matchless name of Jesus we pray these things and come in agreement. Bless this food and bless everyone and everybody said amen.
(52:12)
And by the way, it is Secretary Howard Lutnick's birthday. So all wish him a very happy birthday. We are so grateful for your time President. And my husband John's going to worship. At any time that you have to go, we know that you have spent more than enough time and you are running the country exceptionally for us, and we are all so grateful. So he will stay as long as possible. But will you let President know how much we love and appreciate him?
(52:42)
Thank you. I'm going to ask you to remain standing and just feel free to worship. We'll shorten it just a little bit and get all the great secretaries and everyone up. Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (53:30):
You guys sing along with me. Praise the lord, come on. Oh lord my God, when I in awesome wonder consider all the world thy hands have made I see the stars, I hear the roaring thunder thy power throughout the universe displayed. Everybody sing.