Source: Gu Laoban's Nest
Speaker Johnson, Vice President Vance, the First Lady of the United States, and members of the United States Congress, thank you very much. To my fellow citizens, America is back.
Six weeks ago, I stood under the dome of this Capitol and proclaimed the dawn of America's Golden Age. From that moment on, we took swift and relentless action to usher in the greatest and most successful era in our nation's history. We accomplished in 43 days what most governments would have trouble accomplishing in four or eight years - and this is just the beginning. Thank you.
I return to this chamber tonight to report to you: America's momentum is back. Our spirit is back. Our pride is back. Our confidence is back. The American dream is thriving - bigger and better than ever before. The American dream is unstoppable, and our country is on the brink of a renaissance the world has never seen, and perhaps will never see again. There has never been anything like it.
The November 5th presidential election was a popular mandate not seen in decades. We won all seven swing states and garnered 312 electoral college votes.
We won the popular vote by a wide margin, winning 2,700 counties nationwide compared to 525 for our opponent, turning the electoral map almost entirely red for the Republicans. Now, for the first time in modern history, more Americans believe our country is heading in the right direction than in the wrong direction. In fact, it’s an astonishing record: a 27-point change, the largest ever.
Similarly, the Small Business Optimism Index had its largest single-month increase ever, jumping 41 points.
In the past six weeks, I have signed nearly 100 executive orders and taken a record 400 executive actions to restore common sense, safety, optimism, and wealth to our wonderful country. The people elected me to do this job, and I am working to get it done.
In fact, many people are saying that the first month of our presidency - and it's our presidency - has been the most successful in the history of our country. A lot of people are saying that.
Even more impressive, you know who came in second? George Washington. What do you think? What do you think? I don't really know that ranking, but we'll take it. Within hours of being sworn in, I declared a national emergency on our southern border. I deployed the United States military and Border Patrol to defend our country from intrusion. What a job they did. As a result, last month saw the lowest number of illegal border crossings ever recorded.
They heard me and chose not to come. It's much easier that way. By contrast, under Joe Biden, the worst president in American history, hundreds of thousands of people are crossing our border illegally every month, and nearly all of them, including murderers, drug dealers, gang members, and people from mental institutions, are being released into our country. Who would want to do that?
This is my fifth time speaking to Congress, and once again, I look at the Democrats in front of me and I realize that nothing I can say will make them happy, will make them stand up, smile, or applaud. I can't. I could find a cure for the most devastating disease, a disease that could wipe out an entire country, or announce the greatest economic answer in history, or drive crime to the lowest level ever, and these people sitting here will not applaud, will not stand up, and certainly will not cheer for these astronomical achievements. They won't do it anyway. I've spoken here five times. It's so sad. It's not how it should be.
So, Democrats sitting before me, right here tonight, why don't you join us in celebrating America's many incredible victories? For the good of our country, let's work together to make America great again.
Every day, my administration is working to deliver the change America needs and the future America deserves, and we are doing it. This is a time for big dreams and bold action. Immediately upon taking office, I imposed a freeze on all federal hiring, a freeze on all new federal regulations, and a freeze on all foreign aid.
I ended the ridiculous "Green New Scam". I withdrew from the unfair Paris Climate Agreement, which cost us trillions of dollars while other countries didn't pay. I withdrew from the corrupt World Health Organization. I also withdrew from the anti-American UN Human Rights Council. We ended all of Biden's environmental restrictions that made our country less safe and completely unaffordable. Importantly, we ended the last administration's crazy electric vehicle mandate, saving our auto workers and companies from economic disaster.
To free our economy, I directed that for every new regulation enacted, 10 old regulations must be eliminated - just as I did in my very successful first term.
In my first term, we set an unprecedented record of ending unnecessary rules and regulations. We ordered all federal workers back to their offices. They either had to show up in person or be fired. We ended weaponized government, which, for example, allowed a sitting president to viciously prosecute his political opponents, like me. The result? Not good. Not good.
I have stopped all government censorship and brought back free speech in America. It's back. Two days ago, I signed an order making English the official language of the United States. I renamed the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America. Likewise, I renamed the mountain Mount McKinley for our great President William McKinley. Beautiful Alaska, we love Alaska. We love Alaska.
We ended the tyranny of so-called diversity, equity, and inclusion policies throughout the federal government. Indeed, in the private sector and in our military as well. Our country will no longer be "woke." We believe that whether you are a doctor, an accountant, a lawyer, or an air traffic controller, you should be hired and promoted based on skills and abilities, not based on race or gender. This is very important. You should be hired based on talent. The Supreme Court, in a brave and very powerful decision, allowed us to do that. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you.
We have removed the poison of critical race theory from our public schools, and I signed an order making it official U.S. government policy that there are only two genders: male and female. I also signed an executive order banning men from competing in women's sports.
Three years ago, Payton McNabb was an all-star high school athlete, one of the best, preparing for a college athletic career. But while she was playing in a women's volleyball game, a man invaded the game and slammed the ball into Payton's face, causing a traumatic brain injury, partially paralyzing her right side, and ending her athletic career. It was a hit she had never seen before. She had never seen anything like it. Payton was in the audience tonight, and Payton, from now on, schools will either kick men off women's teams or lose all federal funding.
If you really want to look at the data, look at what's happening in women's boxing, weightlifting, track and field, swimming, or cycling, where a man recently finished a long-distance race 5 hours and 14 minutes ahead of a woman, setting a new record by five hours -- breaking the record by five hours. It's demeaning to women and it's very bad for our country. We will not tolerate it any longer.
What I've described is just a small part of the common-sense revolution that is now sweeping the world -- because of us. Common sense has become the common theme, and we will never go back, never -- never let this happen.
One of my highest priorities is to save our economy and provide swift and immediate relief to working families. As you all know, we inherited an economic disaster and an inflation nightmare from the previous administration.
Their policies drove up energy prices, drove up food costs, and put necessities out of reach for millions of Americans. They had never experienced anything like it. We had the worst inflation in 48 years. Maybe even the worst in the history of our country, they weren't sure. As President, I work every day to reverse that damage and make America affordable again.
Biden specifically let egg prices get out of control. Egg prices are out of control. We're working to get it back down. Secretary, do a good job on this -- you inherited a mess from the previous administration. Do a good job. Our primary focus in fighting inflation is to quickly reduce energy costs. The previous administration cut the number of new oil and gas leases by 95 percent, brought pipeline construction to a virtual standstill, and shut down over 100 power plants—many of which we are now reopening.
To be honest, we have never seen anything like it. That is why, on my first day in office, I declared a National Energy Emergency. As you have heard me say many times, we have more “liquid gold” beneath our feet than any country on Earth, by far, and now I am fully empowering the most talented team ever assembled to get it. It’s called “drill it, baby, drill it.”
My administration is also building a giant natural gas pipeline in Alaska, one of the largest in the world, with Japan, South Korea, and other countries wanting to be our partners, investing trillions of dollars each. There has never been a project like it. It will be truly spectacular. Everything is ready. Permits have been granted.
Later this week, I will also take historic action to dramatically expand domestic production of critical minerals and rare earths in the United States.
To further combat inflation, we will not only reduce energy costs, but we will also end the blatant waste of taxpayer dollars. To that end, I’ve created the brand new Department of Government Effectiveness (DOGE). Maybe you’ve heard of it. Maybe. It’s led by Elon Musk, who’s in the audience tonight.
Thank you, Elon. He works really hard. He doesn’t need this. He doesn’t need this. Thank you so much, we appreciate it. Everybody here — even people over here appreciate it, I’m sure. They just don’t want to admit it. Look at some of the shocking waste we’ve uncovered.
$22 billion in HHS to give free homes and cars to undocumented immigrants. $45 million for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion scholarships in Burma. $40 million to improve social and economic inclusion for sedentary immigrants. Nobody knows what that is. $8 million to promote LGBTQI+ in Lesotho, an African country that nobody’s heard of.
$60 million to empower indigenous and Afro-Caribbean people in Central America — $60 million. $8 million to make rats sex-changed — this is real. $32 million for a left-wing propaganda operation in Moldova. $10 million for male circumcision in Mozambique. $20 million for an Arabic version of Sesame Street in the Middle East. That’s a project. $20 million for a project.
$1.9 billion for the recently formed Residential Decarbonization Commission, which was taken over at the last minute by — we know she was involved — a woman named Stacey Abrams. Have you heard of her?
$3.5 million for luxury consulting contracts for fish monitoring. $1.5 million for voter confidence in Liberia; $14 million for social cohesion in Mali; $59 million for hotel rooms for illegal immigrants in New York City. He’s a real estate developer. He’s doing great work. $250,000 to increase vegetarianism for local climate action innovation in Zambia. $42 million for social and behavioral change in Uganda.
$14 million to improve public procurement in Serbia. $47 million to improve learning outcomes in Asia. Asia is doing great work on learning. You know what we’re doing — we could use this ourselves. and $101 million for the Department of Education's diversity, equity, and inclusion contract -- the most ever paid, there's nothing like it.
All of these scams -- and there are worse -- have been committed under the Trump administration, but I don't think it's appropriate to discuss them. They're terrible. And many more have been discovered and exposed and quickly shut down by a team of very smart, mostly young people, led by Elon, for whom we are grateful. We uncovered hundreds of billions of dollars in fraud.
We recovered that money, reduced our debt to fight inflation and other things -- recovered a lot of money. We caught up in time. This is just the beginning.
The Government Accountability Office, the federal government office, estimates that our country is over $500 billion in fraud every year. We're working to stop it. We will. We've also uncovered shocking incompetence and possible fraud in the Social Security program for seniors, which our seniors and our loved ones depend on.
Believe it or not, a government database lists 4.7 million members between the ages of 100 and 109 on Social Security. It lists 3.6 million people between the ages of 110 and 119. I don't know any of them. I know some who are pretty old, but not that old. 3.47 million people between the ages of 120 and 129. 3.9 million people between the ages of 130 and 139. 3.5 million people between the ages of 140 and 149. Many of those are receiving money, and we're searching right now.
In fact, good luck, Pam. Good luck. You'll find them. But a lot of the money is being paid to these people, because the money has been paid and nobody's doing it -- and that really hurts Social Security, it hurts our country. 1.3 million people between the ages of 150 and 159, and over 130,000 of them are over 160, according to the Social Security database. I think our country is healthier than I thought, Bobby.
Finally, there are 1,039 people between the ages of 220 and 229. One person is between 240 and 249 years old -- one person is listed as 360. Over 100 years old -- over 100 years older than our country. But we're going to find out where that money went, and it's not going to be pretty. By cutting all the fraud, waste and theft we can find, we're going to beat inflation, lower mortgage rates, lower car payments and food prices, protect our seniors and put more money in the pockets of American families.
Today, interest rates are down beautifully, down dramatically -- it's time. In the near future, I want to do something that hasn't been done in 24 years: balance the federal budget. We're going to balance it. With that goal in mind, we've detailed our plan for what we call the Golden Card, and it's going to go on sale soon. For $5 million, we're going to allow the most successful job creators from around the world to buy a path to American citizenship.
It's like a green card, but better and more sophisticated. These people will have to pay taxes in our country. They won't have to pay taxes where they came from. They make money, you wouldn't want to do that. But they have to pay taxes and create jobs. They'll also fund tuition for college students so we can keep them in our country instead of forcing them to leave. For example, the first-place students at top schools are forced to leave and are not allowed to stay to create massive jobs and huge success for companies.
So, while we expel the criminals, killers, traffickers, and child predators who, under the Democrats, the Biden administration’s open border policies — open borders, crazy policies, you’ve allowed to destroy our country, we will now bring in smart, hard-working, job creators. They will pay a lot of money, and we will use that money to reduce our debt.
Americans have given us a mandate for bold and profound change. For nearly 100 years, the federal bureaucracy has grown until it has suppressed our freedoms, ballooned our deficits, and stunted America’s potential in every way possible. This nation founded by pioneers and risk-takers is now drowning under millions of pages of regulations and debt: approvals that should have taken 10 days to get, instead take 10, 15, even 20 years to get, and then are denied.
Meanwhile, we have hundreds of thousands of federal workers not reporting to work. My administration will take power back from this unaccountable bureaucracy, and we will restore true democracy to America.
Any federal bureaucrat who resists this change will be fired immediately. Because we are draining the swamp. It's very simple. The days of unelected bureaucrats ruling are over.
The next phase of our plan to deliver the greatest economy in history is for Congress to pass tax cuts for everyone. They're there. They're waiting for your vote. I'm sure the people to my right, and I don't mean the Republican right, but to my right -- right here -- I'm sure you will vote for these tax cuts, or I don't believe the people will ever vote for you again. So I'm doing you a big favor by telling you this. But I know this group will vote for tax cuts.
Thank you. This is a very, very important part of our plan. We had great success in our first term, and a very important part of our plan is that we seek permanent across-the-board reductions in income taxes. To provide emergency relief to Americans who have been particularly hard hit by inflation, I'm calling for no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, and no tax on Social Security benefits for our great seniors.
I also want to make interest payments on auto loans tax deductible -- but only if the car is made in America. By the way, we are going to see growth in the auto industry that has never been seen before. Plants are opening all over the place. Deals are being made -- unprecedented. It's a combination of an election victory and tariffs. Isn't that a beautiful word?
Together with our other policies, our auto industry is going to absolutely boom. It's going to boom. Talking to the top leaders of the Big Three auto companies today, they are all very excited. In fact, there have been a number of auto companies that have announced that they will build large auto plants in the United States, and Honda just announced a new plant in Indiana, one of the largest in the world. This is happening on the heels of our great victory on November 5, a date that promises to be one of the most important dates in the history of our country.
Also, as part of our tax cut plan, we want to reduce taxes on domestic production and all manufacturing. And just like we've done before, we're going to provide a 100% write-off of the expense. It's going to be retroactive to January 20, 2025. That was one of the main reasons why our first term tax cuts were so successful, and that allowed us to have the most successful economy in the history of our country in our first term. We had a great first term.
However, if you don't make products in the United States, under the Trump Administration, you will pay tariffs, and in some cases, they are quite high. Other countries have been using tariffs on us for decades, and now it's our turn to start using tariffs on those countries. On average, the European Union, China, Brazil, India, Mexico, and Canada - have you heard of them? And countless other countries charge us much higher tariffs than we charge them.
It's very unfair. India charges us over 100% on auto tariffs. China charges us an average tariff on our products that is twice what we charge them. South Korea charges us an average tariff that is four times higher than ours. Think about that. Four times higher. And we give South Korea so much help in the military and in so many other ways. But that's what happens. It happens between friends and enemies.
The system is not fair to the United States, it never has been, so on April 2 - I would have liked to have done it on April 1, but I didn't want to be accused of April Fools' Day - no - it's just one day, and it's costing us a lot of money. But we're going to do it in April. I'm a very superstitious person. On April 2, reciprocal tariffs went into effect, and whatever tariffs they put on us, we put whatever tariffs on other countries. That's reciprocity, back and forth.
Whatever taxes they put on us, we put on them. If they use non-monetary tariffs to exclude us from their markets, then we will use non-monetary barriers to exclude them from our markets. There's a lot of that, too. They won't even allow us to enter their markets. We're going to take in trillions of dollars in revenue and create unprecedented jobs. I did it with China, I did it with other countries, and there's nothing the Biden administration can do about it because the money is too much for them to do anything about. We've been ripped off by almost every country on the face of the earth for decades, and we're not going to let that happen again.
There's been a lot of talk about Mexico and Canada over the last three months. But we have a huge trade deficit with both countries. But more importantly, they're allowing fentanyl into our country in unprecedented quantities, killing hundreds of thousands of our citizens, many of them very young, beautiful people, destroying families. No one has ever seen anything like it. They're literally receiving hundreds of billions of dollars in subsidies. We pay hundreds of billions of dollars in subsidies to Canada and Mexico. America is not going to do that anymore. We are not going to do that anymore.
Thanks to the America First policy that we are implementing, we have $1.7 trillion in new investment in the United States in the last few weeks. The combination of the election and our economic policies, SoftBank, the smartest guy in the world, announced a $200 billion investment. OpenAI and Oracle, Larry Ellison announced a $500 billion investment, which they would not have done if Kamala had won.
Apple announced a $500 billion investment. Tim Cook called me. He said: I can't keep up with the spending rate. I believe it will be much higher than this. They are going to build factories here instead of in China. Just yesterday, the largest and most powerful Taiwanese semiconductor company in the world announced a $165 billion investment to build the most powerful chips on the planet in the United States.
We don't give them any money. Your CHIPS Act is a horrible thing. We give hundreds of billions of dollars, but it means nothing. They take our money and they don't spend it. What all this means to them - we don't give them money - what's important to them is that they don't want to pay the tariffs, so they come and build, and there are a lot of other companies coming as well.
We don't have to give them money; we just want to protect our businesses and our people, and if they build in the United States, they don't have to pay the tariffs. It feels amazing. You should repeal the CHIPS Act, whatever is left, Mr. Speaker, and you should use it to reduce the debt. Or any other cause you want.
Our new trade policy will also be a huge benefit to American farmers - I love farmers - now they will be selling products in our home market, the United States, because no one will be able to compete with you. Because those goods that come from other countries and companies are really at a very, very disadvantaged position in many ways.
They are uninspected, they can be very dirty and disgusting when they come in, and they are pouring in and hurting our American farmers. Starting April 2, tariffs will be imposed on agricultural products coming into the United States, and our farmers may need a period of adjustment. We've been through this before when we made a deal with China. $50 billion in purchases, I said please be patient, and they did. They did. Might have to ask them to be patient again. It would be better. That's great. The problem is Biden didn't execute it. He didn't execute it.
$50 billion in purchases, we did great, but Biden didn't execute it, and it hurt our farmers. But now our farmers are going to have a boom. So to our farmers, enjoy it. I love you guys, too. I love you guys, too.
I also put a 25% tariff on foreign aluminum, copper, lumber, and steel, because if we didn't have, for example, steel, and a lot of other things, we wouldn't have a military, and frankly, we wouldn't -- we wouldn't have a country for long. Here today is a proud American steelworker. An outstanding man. Jeff Denard of Decatur, Alabama, has worked at the same steel mill for 27 years, a job that allowed him to serve as captain of his local volunteer fire department.
With his beautiful wife, Nicole, he has raised seven children and provided a loving home for more than 40 foster children over the years. Well done. Thank you. Thank you, Jeff.
Stories like Jeff's remind us that tariffs do more than protect American jobs. They are about protecting the soul of our country. Tariffs are about making America wealthy again, making America great again, and that's happening and it's happening very soon. There's going to be a little bit of a disruption, but we're OK with that. It's not going to be a lot of an impact. No, you're not going to be impacted.
Look where Biden has taken us. Very low, the lowest we've ever been. Jeff, I want to thank you very much, and I also want to recognize another person who is committed to foster care, community, and who works very hard for this. Very caring person, our outstanding First Lady of the United States.
Melania's work has produced incredible results, helping to develop the future leaders of our country as they enter the workforce. Our First Lady is accompanied by two impressive young women, very impressive, Hayley Ferguson, who has benefited from the First Lady's "Nurturing the Future" initiative and is about to complete her education and become a teacher. And Elliston Berry, who was a victim of an illegal deepfake image created by her peers. With Elliston's help, the Senate just passed the Take Down Act.
This is very important, thank you very much, John. John Thune, thank you. Stand up, John. Thank you, John. Thank you all so much. Thank you. And thank you John Thune and the Senate. Well done. It will be a crime to post these kinds of images online, and that's a terrible thing. I look forward to signing this bill into law once it passes the House. Thank you. If you don't mind, I'll use this bill for myself, too, because no one has been treated worse online than I have, no one. That's great. Thank you so much, Senate, thank you.
But if we really care about protecting America's children, there is no more important step than securing America's borders. Over the past four years, 21 million people have poured into the United States - many of them murderers, human traffickers, gang members, and other criminals from the streets of dangerous cities around the world. They are now firmly embedded in our country because of Joe Biden's crazy and very dangerous open border policies. But we are deporting them, and fast.
I want to thank Tom Homan and Christie, I want to thank you, and Paul at the Border Patrol. I want to thank you. What an amazing job they all do - all of them, Border Patrol, ICE, law enforcement in general is incredible, and we have to take care of our law enforcement. We have to.
Last year, a brilliant 22 year old nursing student, Laken Riley, top of her class, admired by all, was jogging on the University of Georgia campus. That morning, Laken was savagely attacked, beaten, brutalized, and horribly murdered.
Lycan was taken from us by a brutal illegal alien gang member who was arrested for illegally crossing Biden's open southern border and then released into the United States, a callous policy of that failed administration. It was indeed a failed administration. He was thereafter arrested and released in a Democrat-run sanctuary city, a disaster, and then ended the life of this beautiful young angel.
With us tonight is Laken's beloved mother, Alison, and her sister, Lauren. Last year, I told Laken's grieving parents that we would make sure their daughter's death would not be in vain. That's why the first law I signed as the 47th President required the detention of all dangerous criminal aliens who threaten public safety. It was a very strong bill. It was called the Laken-Riley Act. So, Allison and Lauren, America will never forget our beautiful Laken Hope Riley. Thank you so much.
Since taking office, my administration has launched the most comprehensive border and immigration crackdown in American history, and we have rapidly achieved the lowest number of illegal border crossings ever recorded. Thank you. The media and our friends in the Democratic Party have been saying we need new legislation, we must have legislation to secure our borders. But it turns out all we really need is a new President.
Thank you. Joe Biden is not just opening our borders, he is flying illegal aliens over the border to overwhelm our schools, hospitals, and communities across our country. Entire towns like Aurora, Colorado and Springfield, Ohio are buckling under the weight of immigrant occupation and corruption like never before. Beautiful towns are being destroyed.
Now as I promised in my inaugural address, we are achieving the Great Liberation of America. But there is still much work to do. With us tonight is a woman I know, Alexis Nuengaray of Houston, a remarkable woman. Last year, Alexis' 12-year-old daughter, her precious Jocelyn, walked to a nearby convenience store. She was abducted, tied up, violated for two hours under a bridge, and horribly murdered. Arrested and charged for this heinous crime are two illegal alien monsters from Venezuela who were released into the United States through the ridiculous open border policies of the previous administration.
The death of this beautiful 12-year-old girl and the pain of her mother and family has deeply touched our entire nation. Alexis, I promised that we would always remember your daughter, you were an amazing daughter, and earlier this evening I signed an order fulfilling that promise to you. One thing I learned about Jocelyn was that she loved animals very much, and she loved nature.
Across from where Jocelyn lived in Houston, on Galveston Bay, you will find a spectacular National Wildlife Refuge, a pristine, tranquil 34,000-acre sanctuary for all of God’s creatures, on the edge of the Gulf of America. Alexis, just now I officially named the Refuge in honor of your beautiful daughter, Jocelyn. So, Mr. Vice President, can I get that order if you would like?
Thank you very much. The three brutal men charged with the murders of Jocelyn and Lycan are all members of a Venezuelan prison gang, said to be the toughest gang in the world, known as the Aragua Train Gang. Two weeks ago, I officially designated this gang, along with MS-13 and the bloodthirsty Mexican drug cartels, as a foreign terrorist organization.
They are now officially in the same category as ISIS, and that is not a good thing for them. The Biden administration has welcomed countless of these terrorists into the United States. But now every single one of them will be rounded up and forcibly deported from our country, or if they are too dangerous, will be jailed and tried in this country because we don’t want them back. With us tonight is a warrior on the front lines of this battle. A Border Patrol Agent, Roberto Ortiz. An amazing man.
In January, Roberto and another agent were patrolling an area near the Rio Grande River known as "Cartel Island" - doesn't sound good to me. When heavily armed gunmen began shooting at them, Roberto saw his partner completely exposed to great danger and he leapt into action, returning fire and buying his colleague a few seconds to seek safety - just barely.
I have some records of that incident and it's not good. Agent Ortiz, we salute you for the line of fire you endured and the courage you displayed. We salute you and we will always salute you, thank you so much, Roberto.
Thank you, Roberto. I actually got to know him during my many trips to the border. He was a great gentleman. The territory south of our border is now completely controlled by criminal cartels that murder, rape, torture, and exercise total control. They have total control over a country and are a grave threat to our national security.
The cartels are waging war on the United States, and it's time for the United States to wage war on the cartels, and that's what we're doing.
Five days ago, Mexican authorities, because of the tariffs we put on them, think about this, turned over to us 29 of the biggest cartel leaders in their country. This has never happened before. They want to make us happy. The first time. But we need Mexico and Canada to do more than what they've already done, they have to stop the influx of fentanyl and drugs into the United States.
They will stop it. I've sent Congress a detailed funding request that shows how we will eliminate these threats, protect our homeland, and complete the largest deportation operation in American history, surpassing even the current record holder, President Dwight D. Eisenhower, a moderate man, but a very strong believer in the importance of the border. The American people want Congress to send me this funding without delay so that I can sign it into law. So Mr. Speaker, John Thune, both of you, I want you to do this. Mr. Speaker, thank you. Mr. Leader, thank you. Thank you very much. Get it sent to me. I'll sign it faster than you will believe.
As we take back our sovereignty, we must also bring law and order back to our cities and towns. In recent years, our justice system has been turned upside down by radical left lunatics. Many jurisdictions have effectively stopped enforcing the law against dangerous, recidivist criminals, while weaponizing law enforcement against political opponents, like me. My administration has moved swiftly and decisively to restore fair, equal, and impartial justice under the constitutional rule of law, starting with the FBI and the Department of Justice. Pam, good luck. Cash, wherever you are, good luck. Good luck. Pam Bundy, good luck. It's so important. You're going to do great. Cash, thank you. Thank you, Cash.
They've already started a very strong operation. They're going to do an outstanding job. You're going to be very proud of them. We're also once again giving police officers the support, protection, and respect they deserve. They deserve it. They have such a difficult, dangerous job, but we're going to make it less dangerous. The problem is that bad guys don't respect the law, but when they start to respect it, they'll respect it pretty quickly. That includes our great fire departments across the country as well; our firefighters are incredible people and we'll never forget them. On top of that, they voted for me in record numbers, so I had no choice.
One year ago this month, 31-year-old New York police officer Jonathan Diller, an incredible wonderful person and excellent officer, was shot and killed during a traffic stop on Long Island. I attended his funeral. The thug who was charged with his murder had 21 prior convictions, and those were rough arrests. He was a real bad guy. The thug who sat next to him had 14 prior convictions and was known as "The Killer." He was "The Killer." He killed other people; supposedly many people. I attended Officer Diller's funeral, and it was actually very inspiring when I saw his wife and 1-year-old son, Ryan. His widow's name is Stephanie, and she's here tonight. Stephanie, thank you so much. Stephanie, thank you.
Stephanie, we will make sure Ryan knows his father is a true hero, the finest cop in New York, and we will swiftly remove these cold-blooded killers and repeat offenders from our streets. It has to be stopped. They have 28 arrests on their records and they are being let off the hook, and they are pushing people into subway trains. They are hitting people in the head and the back of the head with baseball bats. We have to get them out. I have already signed an executive order to impose the mandatory death penalty for the murder of a police officer, and tonight I am asking Congress to make that policy permanent law.
I am also asking for a new crime bill that will crack down on repeat offenders while also strengthening protections for America's police officers so they can do their jobs without fear of their lives being completely destroyed. They don't want to be killed. We will not let them be killed. With us in the audience tonight is a young man who truly loves our police. His name is DJ Daniel, he is 13 years old, and he has always dreamed of becoming a police officer. But in 2018, DJ was diagnosed with brain cancer. Doctors gave him a maximum of 5 months to live. That was over 6 years ago.
Since then, DJ and his father have worked hard to achieve his dream, and DJ has been sworn in as an Honorary Law Enforcement Officer many times. The police loved him. The police department loved him. Tonight, DJ, we are going to give you the greatest honor. I ask our new Secret Service Director, Sean Curran, to officially designate you as an Agent of the United States Secret Service.
Crowd: DJ! DJ! DJ!
Mr. Trump: Thank you, DJ. DJ's doctors think his cancer may have come from chemicals he was exposed to when he was young. Childhood cancer rates have increased more than 40 percent since 1975. Reversing this trend is one of the top priorities of our new Presidential Commission to Make America Healthy Again, chaired by our new Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy II. With the name Kennedy, you would think everyone here would cheer. How quickly they forget!
Our goal is to remove toxins from our environment, remove poisons from our food supply, and keep our children healthy and strong. For example, not long ago, you couldn't even believe the numbers, one in 10,000 children had autism. One in 10,000. And now it's one in 36. There's a problem. One in 36. Think about that. So we're going to find out why, and there's no one better to figure this out than Bobby and all the people who work with you. You have the best people to figure out what's going on. All right, Bobby, good luck. It's a very important job. Thank you. Thank you.
My administration is also working to protect our children from toxic ideologies in our schools. A few years ago, Yanuary Littlejohn and her husband discovered that their daughter's school had secretly gender-transitioned their 13-year-old girl, and that teachers and administrators had conspired to deceive Yanuary and her husband while encouraging her daughter to use a new name and pronouns. Pronouns that were actually "they/them." None of this was told to Yanuary, who is here tonight and is now a courageous advocate against this form of child abuse. Yanuary, thank you.
Thank you very much. Thank you. Stories like this are why I signed an executive order shortly after taking office banning public schools from indoctrinating our children with transgender ideology.
I also signed an order cutting off all taxpayer funding to institutions that are involved in gender-changing our youth. Now I want Congress to pass a bill that permanently bans and criminalizes the gender change of children, forever ending the lie that any child is trapped in the wrong body. It's a big lie. Our message to every child in America is that you are perfect just as God created you.
Because we are purging "wokeness" from our schools and our military, it's been purged, it's been purged from our society, and we don't want it. "Wokeness" is trouble, "wokeness" is bad, it's gone. It's gone. We feel better about it, don't we? Don't we feel better?
Our military members are not going to be activists and ideologues, they're going to be warriors and warriors, and they're going to fight for our country, Pete, congratulations. Secretary of Defense. Congratulations.
I know he's not a big fan of the "woke" movement, I can tell you that. I know him well. I'm happy to report that in January, the United States Army had its best recruiting month in 15 years. All of the armed services had their best recruiting results ever. What a difference.
You know just a few months ago, the results were exactly the opposite. We couldn't recruit anywhere, we couldn't recruit. Now we have the best results ever -- almost the best results we've ever had. What a transformation. It's just beautiful to see. People love our country again, it's simple. They love our country, and they love serving in our military again. So it's a great thing, thank you very much. Well done. Thank you.
With us tonight is a young man, Jason Hartley, who knows the weight of responsibility. Jason's father, grandfather, and great-grandfather all wore a uniform. Jason tragically lost his father, who was also a deputy sheriff in Los Angeles County, when he was just a boy. Now he wants to continue the family tradition of service. Jason is a high school senior, a six-sport intercollegiate athlete, a really good athlete, they say, a standout student with a 4.46 — that's a good — GPA. His biggest dream is to get into the United States Military Academy at West Point.
Jason, that's a really big deal, to get in. That's a hard place to get into. But I'm happy to let you know that your application has been accepted. You'll be joining the cadets very soon. Thank you. You'll be on the long gray march, Jason.
As Commander in Chief, my focus is on building the strongest military of the future. As a first step, I'm asking Congress to fund a state-of-the-art Gold Dome missile defense shield to protect our homeland — all made in America.
Ronald Reagan wanted to do this a long time ago, but the technology wasn't there, not even close. But now we have the technology. It's actually incredible. Other places — they have it, Israel has it. Other places have it. America should have it, too, right, Tim, right? They should have it, too. So I want to thank you. But it's very, very important -- this is a very dangerous world -- and we should have it.
We want to be protected, and we will protect our citizens, like never before. To boost our defense industrial base, we will also revitalize American shipbuilding, both commercial and military. To do that, I'm announcing tonight that we're going to create a new Office of Shipbuilding in the White House to give this industry special tax incentives to bring it back to the United States, where it belongs. We used to build a lot of ships with it. We don't build them in large numbers anymore, but we will be building them soon. It's going to have a huge impact.
To further enhance our national security, my administration is going to take back the Panama Canal, and we've already begun to do that. Just today, a major American company announced that they are buying two ports around the Panama Canal and a lot of other things related to the Panama Canal and several other canals. The Panama Canal was built by Americans for Americans, not for others. But others can use it.
But it was built at the expense of American blood, sweat and treasure. 38,000 workers died building the Panama Canal. They died of malaria, they died of snake bites and mosquitoes. It was not a great place to work. They paid them very high wages to go there knowing there was a 25 percent chance they would die. It was also the most expensive project ever built in the history of our country if you go by modern costs. The Carter administration gave it away for $1. But that deal has been badly violated. We didn't give it to China; we gave it to Panama, and now we're taking it back.
Marco Rubio is in charge of this. Good luck to you, Marco. Now we know who to blame if anything goes wrong. No, Marco has done a great job and he's going to do a great job. Think about it. He got 100 votes. You know, he actually got 99 votes to approve it, but the 100th vote was this gentleman, I'm very sure of it, so let's assume he got 100 votes. I'm either very, very happy about this or very concerned about it. But he's proven -- I mean he's a great gentleman, he's respected by everybody, and thank you for voting for Marco. He's going to do a great job. Thank you. Thank you. He's doing a great job. An outstanding job.
I also have a message tonight to the incredible people of Greenland. We strongly support your right to determine your own future. We welcome you to join the United States if you choose. We need Greenland for national security and even international security. We're working with all the parties involved to try to get it. But we really need it for international world security. I think we're going to get it -- one way or another, we're going to get it. We're going to keep you safe. We're going to make you wealthy. Together, we're going to take Greenland to heights you never thought possible. It's a very small population but very large land mass that is very important for military security.
America once again stands strong against the forces of radical Islamic terrorism. Three and a half years ago, ISIS terrorists killed 13 American service members and countless others in the Abigait bombing during their disastrous and incompetent withdrawal from Afghanistan. It wasn't that they withdrew, it was the way they withdrew. Perhaps the most embarrassing moment in our nation's history.
Tonight, I'm pleased to announce that we have just arrested the top terrorist responsible for that atrocity, and he is on his way here now to face the swift sword of American justice. I want to especially thank the government of Pakistan for helping to arrest this monster. This is a very important day for those 13 families, most of whom I actually know, whose children were murdered on that tragic day in Afghanistan, and 42 more who were seriously injured. What a horrible day. Such incompetence on display -- when Putin saw what happened, I guess he said, "Wow, maybe this is my chance." How bad it was. This should never have happened. Extremely incompetent people.
I spoke to many parents and loved ones who are in our thoughts tonight. Just spoke to them on the phone. We had an important call. Every single one of them called, all of them on the line, and they just cried with joy. They were very happy. You can be as happy as you can be in this situation. Their children -- brothers, sisters, sons, daughters -- were killed for no reason at all.
In the Middle East, we are bringing back our hostages from Gaza. In my first term, we achieved one of the most groundbreaking peace agreements in generations: the Abraham Accords. Now we will build on that foundation to create a more peaceful, more prosperous future for the entire region. There's a lot going on in the Middle East. People have been talking about this a lot lately, with everything that's going on with Ukraine and Russia. There's a lot going on in the Middle East. That's actually a tough region.
I'm also working tirelessly to end the brutal conflict in Ukraine. Millions of Ukrainians and Russians have been needlessly killed or injured in this horrible and brutal conflict, with no end in sight. The United States has sent hundreds of billions of dollars to support Ukraine's defense, with no security guarantees, no nothing.
Do you want it to continue for another five years? Do you? You would say that. Pocahontas said yes. Two thousand people are being killed every week - more than that. They're young Russians, they're young Ukrainians. They're not Americans, but I want this to stop. Meanwhile, Europe is sadly spending far more money buying Russian oil and gas than they are defending Ukraine.
Think about this. They're spending more money buying Russian oil and gas than they are on defense. We've spent maybe $350 billion, taking it like candy from a baby. That's what's happening. And they're spending $100 billion. What a disparity. We have an ocean separating us, and they don't. But we're getting along with them very well, and a lot of good things are happening. Biden has authorized many, many billions more than Europe has spent on this fight. It's hard to believe that they won't stop it at some point. Come on, make us equals. You have to be equals with us. It's not happening. Earlier today, I received an important letter from Ukrainian President Zelensky. It says, "Ukraine is ready to come to the negotiating table as soon as possible to bring lasting peace closer."
"No one wants peace more than the Ukrainians," he said. "My team and I stand ready to work under the strong leadership of President Trump to get a lasting peace. ... We do value everything the United States has done to help Ukraine maintain its sovereignty and independence. ... Regarding the mineral and security agreements, Ukraine stands ready to sign."
That's very convenient for you. I thank him for sending this letter. I just received it a short time ago. At the same time we had serious discussions with Russia. And then I received strong signals that they were ready for peace. Isn't that beautiful? Isn't that beautiful?
Isn't that beautiful?
It's time to stop this madness. It's time to stop the killing. It's time to end this senseless war. If you want to end the war, you have to talk to both sides. About four years ago, at a time of escalating tensions, a history teacher named Mark Fogel was detained in Russia and sentenced to 14 years in a labor camp. It was a difficult thing. The previous administration did little to help him. They knew he was innocent, but they didn't know where to start. But last summer, I promised his 95-year-old mother, Malfina, that we would bring her children home safely. 22 days after taking office, I did it, and they are here tonight.
To Mark and his wonderful mother, we are so glad to have you safe and healthy with us. As fate would have it, Mark Fogel was born in the small rural town of Butler, Pennsylvania, where his mother had lived for 78 years. I happened to be there for the rally last July 13th. It was not a pleasant experience. It was there that I met his beautiful mother before I walked on stage, and I told her that I would never forget what she said about her son, and I never did, did I? Never. Less than 10 minutes later, at the same rally, gunfire rang out as a sick, twisted assassin fired eight bullets from his sniper position into a crowd of thousands. My life was saved, by an inch.
But some were not so lucky. Cory Camperatore was a firefighter, a veteran, a Christian, a husband, a devoted father, and most importantly, a protector. When the gunshot pierced the air - and it was a horrible sound - Cory knew immediately what it was and what to do. He threw himself on top of his wife and daughter, blocking the bullet with his body. Cory was hit very badly. You know what happened next - he sacrificed his life to save theirs.
Two other very fine people were also seriously injured, but fortunately, with the help of two wonderful country doctors - we thought they were gone, and then they were saved. So those doctors had tremendous talent. With us tonight is Corey's wife, Helen, who was his high school sweetheart, and their two beloved daughters, Allison and Kelly. Thank you.
To Helen, Allison, and Kelly: Corey is looking down on his three beautiful ladies right now, rooting for you. He loved you. He was rooting for you. Corey was taken from us too soon, but his fate was to leave us with a shining example of the selfless devotion of a true American patriot. It was love like Corey's that built our country, and it's love like Corey's that will make our country greater than ever before.
I believe there was a very good reason my life was spared that day at Butler. I was saved by God to make America great again - I believe that. I really do. Thank you. Thank you very much.
From the patriots of Lexington and Concord to the heroes of Gettysburg and Normandy, from the warriors who crossed the Delaware to the pioneers who climbed the Rocky Mountains, from the legends who soared at Kitty Hawk to the astronauts who touched the moon, Americans have always been the ones who defied the odds, rose above the dangers, made the most extraordinary sacrifices, and risked everything to defend our children, our country, and our freedom.
As we have seen in this chamber tonight, that same strength, faith, love, and spirit is alive and thriving in the hearts of the American people. Despite the best efforts of those who would censor us, silence us, undermine us, and destroy us, Americans today are a proud, free, sovereign, and independent nation. It will always be free, and we will fight to the death for it. We will never let anything happen to our beloved country. For we are a nation of doers, dreamers, warriors, and survivors. Our ancestors crossed the great oceans and stepped into unknown wildernesses, carving out their destinies from the rocks and soil of a dangerous frontier.
They pursued our destiny across a boundless continent. They built railroads, laid highways, and adorned the world with American wonders like the Empire State Building, the great Hoover Dam, and the towering Golden Gate Bridge. They lit the world with electricity, broke free from the constraints of gravity, and started the engine of American industry, giving us countless modern wonders shaped by iron, glass, and steel.
We stand on the shoulders of these pioneers who built the modern era. These workers fused the skylines into our cities, these warriors shed their blood on the battlefields, and gave everything for our rights and liberties.
Now is our time to carry on the just cause of American freedom. Now is our turn to take America's destiny into our own hands and begin the most exciting days in our nation's history. This will be our greatest era; over the next four years, with God's help, we will lead this nation higher and higher, and we will create the freest, most advanced, most dynamic, and most powerful civilization on Earth.
We will create the highest quality of life and build the safest, wealthiest, healthiest, and most vibrant communities the world has ever seen. We will conquer the vast frontiers of science, we will lead humanity into space, and plant the American flag on Mars and beyond. In all of this, we will rediscover the unstoppable power of the American spirit, and we will rekindle the boundless promise of the American dream. Every day we will stand up and fight, fight, fight for the country our citizens believe in and the country our people deserve.
Crowd: Fight! Fight! Fight!
Mr. Trump: My fellow Americans, get ready for an incredible future, for America's Golden Age has just begun. It will be like nothing before, and perhaps never again. There has never been anything like it. Thank you, God bless you, and God bless America.
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