“We do not believe any group of men adequate enough or wise enough to operate without scrutiny or without criticism. We know that the only way to avoid error is to detect it, that the only way to detect it is to be free to inquire. We know that in secrecy error undetected will flourish and subvert.” –J. Robert Oppenheimer
Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. Romans 8:26
This Superlative Sanctuary Sunday Open Thread, with full respect to those who worship God on the Sabbath, is a place to reaffirm our worship of our Creator, our Father, our King Eternal.
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In other words . . .
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My apologies, if due. I’ve reduced the size of the intro because of the size of the topic.
The Storm is upon us. Please remember to Pray for our President.
Prayer
The Problem with Prayer
For many, there appears to be a problem with prayer. “It’s a one-way conversation.” “It doesn’t seem to work.” “God takes too long to answer.” “God does what He wants anyway.”
Crushed between the mortar and pestle of life, it’s easy to think there’s a serious problem with prayer: God. When God doesn’t answer according to our will, we can get frustrated. We can feel like our prayers are just floating around the galaxy, too insignificant to catch the Creator’s attention. In the midst of this disappointment, we’re often too slow to accept that the problem with prayer is not God, but us. The Problem of Misunderstanding Prayer I used to think that life would be a lot easier if God answered a few more strategic prayers — just a couple key petitions to remind us that He’s listening. I was convinced that a profound healing here and there would add spice to the life of the church.
Then God healed Karen.
Our Sunday school class gathered for desperate prayer the night before the surgery to remove a tumor from Karen’s brain. The surgery would probably render her unable to speak for a long time. Leading the prayer, I asked God to comfort her husband, daughter, and family at this time of crisis, to help the surgeons, to speed her recovery, and — if He willed — to miraculously heal her.
Of course, that last part was just for show. Although I believed God could heal Karen, I was certain He would use less glorious means. As we drove home, I even told my wife, “Karen will probably never be the same again.”
The next morning the tumor had disappeared.
I assumed Karen’s response would be just as profound as God’s answer to prayer. After all, when a person experiences the awesome intervention of the Almighty God, we should expect an explosive revival, right?
Less than a year later, Karen left the church and divorced her husband.
I had always thought answers to prayer would strengthen faith and ignite thanksgiving. Disappointed in Karen’s response, I was reminded that even the Israelites grumbled and rebelled in the midst of powerful answers to their requests (Numbers 11:1-4).
You see, the problem with prayer is not God, but us. The Problem of Abusing Prayer When I was a new Christian, I mistakenly followed the “prosperity gospel,” the “name it-claim it” theology that overwhelmed Christian television and bookstores — and continues to overwhelm today. “Don’t make negative confessions,” I was told. “If you’re sick, confess that you’re healed!”
On one occasion, I mentioned to a self-proclaimed “prophetess” that I was going bald. Instantly, she placed her hand on my head and shouted, “No you’re not — in the name of Jesus!” That “prophetess” treated prayer like a credit card she could whip out at any time to make major purchases.
We may not be as extreme as that woman, but we can all fall into the trap of abusing prayer. While we may tack on a halfhearted “Thy will be done,” deep down we think, “No! My will be done!” Yes, Christ said, “Ask, and it will be given to you” (Matthew 7:7), but his brother James reminds us, “You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives” (James 4:3).
Once again, the problem with prayer is not God, but us.
Correcting the Problem with Prayer After a dozen years in Bible college, seminary, and Ph.D. studies, I’d hoped to finally have a handle on prayer. I don’t. In fact, the more I pray, the less I understand its profound mysteries. However, I’ve come to several conclusions that might help correct our perceived problems with prayer.
First, we need to understand that the purpose of prayer is not for God to please us, but for God to change us. If a father constantly gives in to a little child’s whiny demands, we’d take him for a lousy parent. Why, then, do some think God’s a stubborn God when He doesn’t give us everything we want? We need to trust that God is wise and powerful enough to answer rightly — and right on time. 1 John 5:14 says, “This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.” That is, God won’t jump at every loose-lipped confession. Prayer offered up in true faith submits to His will — our sanctification (1 Thessalonians 4:3). God’s will is to change us, not please us.
Second, we need to accept that the power of prayer is perceived in even the smallest response. I’m convinced that humans don’t fully comprehend how little we deserve God’s love and grace. Consider that what we regard as “crumbs” of answered prayer may really be bountiful feasts once we realize that God owes us nothing (Genesis 32:9-10; Luke 7:6-9). When we adjust our attitude about our own unworthiness to receive God’s favor, we’ll never regard “small” answers to prayer as insignificant.
Finally, we need to acknowledge that the process of prayer is not as important as the attitude of prayer. When God chose in His sovereignty to heal Karen, He did so even though none of us expected it. Our feeble prayer was a simple act of faith — turning our worries over to God’s care (Philippians 4:6; 1 Peter 5:6-7). Christians can get hung up on method, worried that they haven’t said the right words, haven’t prayed hard or often enough, or haven’t believed deeply enough. That’s hocus-pocus, not prayer (Matthew 6:5-8). If you’re concerned about not praying with the right words or for the right things, memorize Romans 8:26 — God’s Spirit even helped Paul pray!
Of course these reminders are easy to read, but they’re not easy to live. To our finite human minds, we’ll always perceive “problems” with prayer. Are you struggling with your prayer life, not seeing results, wondering if God is listening? It might be time for an attitude change. It might be time to finally accept that the problem with prayer is not God, but us.
Adapted from Michael J. Svigel, “The Problem with Prayer,” Insights (October 2005): 1-2.
I realized that the deepest spiritual lessons are not learned by His letting us have our way in the end, but by His making us wait, bearing with us in love and patience until we are able to honestly pray what He taught His disciples to pray: Thy will be done.
I will confess that I’ve been toying with this post for quite a while. And then over the weekend, when Jennifer Lopez and Shakira put on their symbolic temple dance….
The post became inevitable.
Over the years, while subjected to the vast intellectual and cultural wasteland known as cable television, every now and then a thought would cross my mind…this is like watching one of the seven deadly sins in action. I will say that the concept was most apparent with a reality show about 600 Pound Lives that a member of the household insists on watching, but the more I think about it….
The cultural marxists in control of entertainment these days seem to be exploiting, and glorifying the seven deadly sins, and what’s worse, people who have never heard of them are lapping up the passive messaging as if this is supposed to be the norm for civilization.
It is not. In fact, these are the very vices that need to be suppressed on an individual level in order to live with other people in any set of circumstances.
Just for review, the seven deadly sins are:
Pride
Envy
Lust
Anger
Gluttony
Greed
Sloth
Each of these dispositions, interestingly enough, works to tear against the fabric of social order in its own way. And each has a counteracting virtue that is supposed to correct or at least counter balance the worst of the disposition’s destructive tendencies. And in today’s world, those virtues (humility, thankfulness, chastity, patience, temperance, generosity, and diligence) can be in very short supply.
But still…the people not aware of what they are seeing and consuming in any and all media vehicles are being swayed to accept that which will eventually cause a society to fall.
It has happened. Multiple times in the history of the world on every continent and among every society. Eventually, the weight of no social order becomes chaos and the society falls.
So, that begs the question, why are we bombarded with “experts” who like to hear themselves talk, trying to impress the world with who and what they know that goes beyond self-promotion and into the realm of conceit.
There is also programming of all sorts that has a “keeping up with the Joneses” theme. These programs can be about just about anything, but home improvement, self improvement, and more can give way to wanting what someone else has.
Why is it now acceptable for women to wear what reveals so much skin that nothing is left to the imagination. And why do fairy tales now include bedroom scenes almost compulsively. Frankly, there are no more secrets, Victoria. And networks where modesty is written into the story lines are slammed as being culturally marxist for refusing to sink to the low of using straight up sex to sell.
Why is anger nurtured when it leads to darkness, or in George Lucas lore, the dark side. (At least in the world of George Lucas anger, hatred and the dark side were features of the bad guys, and the good guys defeated it.) This leads to the need for revenge, which is natural, but the channels to achieve it can be harnessed to something that is not violent or destructive to property.
And when it comes to gluttony, I have to ask: What is appealing about eating so many hot dogs, the person doing the mouth stuffing can’t hold it down. And since when are people entertained by humans who eat so much they are bed ridden? Watching a woman go through the drive thru at McDonald’s on a mobility scooter is more sad than it is entertaining, and yet it is out in the open as what is more modest fare than half of what the Disney Channel offers.
Accumulation of wealth has always been a part of life, but how much money and stuff that we just sit on do we all really need? And then to objectify hoarding, and storage lockers that the owners can’t be bothered to empty is just strange. Half of that stuff ends up in landfills.
Sloth in this context is more about spiritual laziness, and just exactly how much of what is consumed as entertainment has any kind of spiritual aspect to it unless the subject is being ridiculed? And what is it with the characters written into a lot of scripts for the last three decades being slackers? Even in communes those who don’t work get kicked out.
For those who no longer consume this programming, it’s a bit out of sight, out of mind. But for those of us who are subjected to it….
It made the halftime show at the Superbowl less than shocking, let’s just say that.
Still, the question remains, why the exultation of the seven deadly sins from the overlords of entertainment? What are they trying to get the American people to become?
Here at the Q Tree, we know the answer. Unfortunately, those being programmed don’t.
This Comfy Q Tree Saturday Open Thread is VERY OPEN – a place for everybody to post whatever they feel they would like to tell the White Hats, and the rest of the MAGA/KMAG/KAG world (with KMAG being a bit of both).
Free Speech is practiced here at the Q Tree. But please keep it civil.
Discussion of Q is not only allowed but encouraged. Imagine that! We can talk about Q here and not get banned.
Please also consider the Important Guidelines, outlined here. Let’s not give the odious Internet Censors a reason to shut down this precious haven that Wolf has created for us.
With the Storm upon us…please remember to Pray for our President.
Wheatie’s Rules:
No food fights.
No running with scissors.
If you bring snacks, bring enough for everyone.
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For your listening enjoyment, I offer this mix of compositions from Fearless Motivation, of tracks titled ‘Day Of Domination’ and ‘The Next Level’:
Visual Descriptions for our dear Zoe, and for anyone else who may find them helpful: Header Image: Is an enormous Tree in a forest clearing, with rays of light illuminating the base and the path leading up to it. There are large lighted windows in the massive trunk and a spiral rampway that winds around the exterior. A large gazebo sits on the forest floor beside the base of the Tree. The path to the Tree goes over an arched bridge across a nearby stream. Second Image: Is an interior room with a high ceiling and a large stone fireplace. There is an open sided sleigh couch with throw pillows and a fuzzy throw. There are stuffed chairs nearby and a coffee table. A staircase made of logs and large branches is on one side of the room. Third Image: Is a view of President Trump’s profile. The wind is in his hair and he has a solemn, determined look on his face.
The Dems are in complete disarray, we have no confidence in the Iowa results. Allegedly we have Pete at 564 and Bernie at 562, but Bernie won the “popular vote” by over 2,000. Note that Bernie won the popular vote over Hillary in 2016 as well, and Hillary didn’t complain about popular vote back then. Hmmmmm.
Dem Congressmen and pundits are calling for Tom Perez to resign because, “The Dem Party is in chaos”. James Carville is about to lose his mind. And Karl Rove told us 79 districts had MORE total votes in the 3rd round than the 1st round, which is impossible……. unless someone cheated.
Bottom line, Trump won Iowa. We also have a MAGA/KAG Rally on Monday night with a New Hampshire Primary on Tuesday.
Let’s hope the chaos in the Dem Party lasts the rest of the year.
No one would help him clean up the town, so the Sheriff did it alone.
Razorbak respectfully disagrees: The Sheriff Has his posse of which, we are all a part 🙂
Very true. We are fighting for Trump because he is fighting for us.
But in the beginning, no one was on Trump’s side, except for the forgotten men and women in the shattered remnants of patriotic America.
The reason why was simple, and Trump told us himself:
“The establishment has trillions of dollars at stake in this election.”
Trillions of dollars at stake.
He knew that’s why no one would help him, at least not at first. He had to break down the Washington power structures before he could begin to reform and effect change.
And he was going to have to do it essentially single-handedly.
Yes. Single-handedly. Even with a Republican congress, Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell were political enemies at the outset, not allies. Ryan would show himself to be part of the resistance and only able to work with Trump when the situation forced his hand.
McConnell would be another story. Needless to say it would take much work to resolve the fundamental relational differences between Trump the MAGA outsider and McConnell leader of the CoC party.
The loss of the House in 2018 did little to improve the situation: The House was still not cooperating with the President. The biggest difference now was that the House was focused on cashing out their Insurance Policy. Only the movie changed, from “RINO Theater” to “Impeachment Theater”.
With their insurance benefits expended and expired, this is a good time to take a look back at what was one of Trump’s most important, most critical policy speeches, re-evaluate it against what we’ve learned, and overlay the new constructs that have become apparent. Predictable patterns to QTree readers will emerge in hindsight; regardless the remarkable foresight of Candidate Trump is astonishing. He predicted an ugly fight he would have to face, and what was at stake, but more importantly he laid down the gauntlet in plain and no uncertain terms for all to see. Even his enemies.
He has taken on the worst of the Washington establishment, and he has won.
Decisively.
There is still more winning to do and many more battles yet to fight, but Donald Trump is clearly the victor today, the champion of the American people.
So without further ado, Trump’s Most Important Speech from October 13, 2016:
Wow. What a group. What a group. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you, folks. Thank you, folks. It’s great to be right here in Florida, which we love.
In 26 days, we are going to win this great, great state and we are going to win the White House.
Our movement is about replacing a failed and corrupt — now, when I say “corrupt,” I’m talking about totally corrupt — political establishment, with a new government controlled by you, the American people.
There is nothing the political establishment will not do — no lie that they won’t tell, to hold their prestige and power at your expense. And that’s what’s been happening.
The Washington establishment and the financial and media corporations that fund it exist for only one reason: to protect and enrich itself.
The establishment has trillions of dollars at stake in this election. As an example, just one single trade deal they’d like to pass involves trillions of dollars, controlled by many countries, corporations and lobbyists.
For those who control the levers of power in Washington, and for the global special interests, they partner with these people that don’t have your good in mind. Our campaign represents a true existential threat like they haven’t seen before.
This is not simply another four-year election. This is a crossroads in the history of our civilization that will determine whether or not we the people reclaim control over our government.
The political establishment that is trying to stop us is the same group responsible for our disastrous trade deals, massive illegal immigration and economic and foreign policies that have bled our country dry.
The political establishment has brought about the destruction of our factories, and our jobs, as they flee to Mexico, China and other countries all around the world. Our just-announced job numbers are anemic. Our gross domestic product, or GDP, is barely above 1 percent. And going down. Workers in the United States are making less than they were almost 20 years ago, and yet they are working harder.
But so am I working harder, that I can tell you.
It’s a global power structure that is responsible for the economic decisions that have robbed our working class, stripped our country of its wealth and put that money into the pockets of a handful of large corporations and political entities.
Just look at what this corrupt establishment has done to our cities like Detroit; Flint, Michigan; and rural towns in Pennsylvania, Ohio, North Carolina and all across our country. Take a look at what’s going on. They stripped away these town bare. And raided the wealth for themselves and taken our jobs away out of our country never to return unless I’m elected president.
The Clinton machine is at the center of this power structure. We’ve seen this first hand in the WikiLeaks documents, in which Hillary Clinton meets in secret with international banks to plot the destruction of U.S. sovereignty in order to enrich these global financial powers, her special interest friends and her donors.
So true.
Honestly, she should be locked up. Should be locked up.
And likewise the e-mails show that the Clinton machine is so closely and irrevocably tied to the media organizations that she, that she — listen to this — is given the questions and answers in advance of her debate performance with Bernie Sanders.
Hillary Clinton is also given approval and veto power over quotes written about her in the New York Times.
They definitely do not do that to me, that I can tell you.
And the e-mails show the reporters collaborate and conspire directly with the Clinton campaign on helping her win the election all over.
With their control over our government at stake, with trillions of dollars on the line, the Clinton machine is determined to achieve the destruction of our campaign, not gonna to happen.
Which has now become a great, great movement, the likes of which our country has never seen before, never ever.
They’ve never seen a movement like this in our country before. Yesterday in Florida, massive crowds, people lined up outside of big arenas, not able to get in. Never happened before. It’s one of the phenomenas — it’s one of the great political phenomenas. The most powerful weapon deployed by the Clintons is the corporate media, the press.
Let’s be clear on one thing, the corporate media in our country is no longer involved in journalism. They’re a political special interest no different than any lobbyist or other financial entity with a total political agenda, and the agenda is not for you, it’s for themselves.
For them it’s a war, and for them nothing at all is out of bounds. This is a struggle for the survival of our nation, believe me. And this will be our last chance to save it on Nov. 8, remember that.
This election will determine whether we are a free nation or whether we have only the illusion of democracy, but are in fact controlled by a small handful of global special interests rigging the system, and our system is rigged. This is reality, you know it, they know it, I know it, and pretty much the whole world knows it. The establishment and their media enablers will control over this nation through means that are very well known. Anyone who challenges their control is deemed a sexist, a racist, a xenophobe, and morally deformed.
They will attack you, they will slander you, they will seek to destroy your career and your family, they will seek to destroy everything about you, including your reputation. They will lie, lie, lie, and then again they will do worse than that, they will do whatever is necessary. The Clintons are criminals, remember that. They’re criminals.
This is well documented, and the establishment that protects them has engaged in a massive cover-up of widespread criminal activity at the State Department and the Clinton Foundation in order to keep the Clintons in power.
Never in history have we seen such a cover-up as this, one that includes the total destruction of 33,000 e-mails, 13 iPhones – some by hammer – laptops, missing boxes of evidence, and many, many other things.
People who are capable of such crimes against our nation are capable of anything. And so now we address the slander and libels that was just last night thrown at me by the Clinton machine and the New York Times and other media outlets, as part of a concerted, coordinated and vicious attack.
It’s not coincidence that these attacks come at the exact same moment, and all together at the same time as WikiLeaks releases documents exposing the massive international corruption of the Clinton machine, including 2,000 more e-mails just this morning.
These vicious claims about me of inappropriate conduct with women are totally and absolutely false.
And the Clintons know it, and they know it very well. These claims are all fabricated. They’re pure fiction and they’re outright lies. These events never, ever happened and the people said them meekly fully understand. You take a look at these people, you study these people, and you’ll understand also.
The claims are preposterous, ludicrous, and defy truth, common sense and logic. We already have substantial evidence to dispute these lies, and it will be made public in an appropriate way and at an appropriate time very soon.
These lies come from outlets whose past stories and past claims have already been discredited. The media outlets did not even attempt to confirm the most basic facts because even a simple investigation would have shown that these were nothing more than false smears.
Six months ago, the failing New York Times wrote a massive story attacking me, and the central witness they used said the story was false; that she was quoted inaccurately. She said that I was a great guy. She had great courage, I’ll be honest with you. She was an amazing person. And never made those remarks — that I was a great guy, and never made the remarks.
And when I read the story, I was sort of surprised — how could she say that? And she didn’t say it.
We demanded a retraction but, they refused to print it, just like they refused to pin the comments from another source who praised me in her book, or the words of another wonderful woman who said really nice things about me. They put other statements that she didn’t say, they misrepresented. The story was a fraud and a big embarrassment to The New York Times and it was a big front page story. Front page, center, color picture, a disgrace. They were very embarrassed; it will be part of the lawsuit we are preparing against them.
Now, today the same two discredited writers, who should’ve been fired from The New York Times for what they did, tell another totally fabricated and false story, that supposedly took place on an airplane more than 30 years ago. Another ridiculous tale, no witnesses, no nothing.
Then, there was a writer from People Magazine, who wrote a story on Melania and myself on our first anniversary. The story was beautiful. It was beautiful. It was lovely. But last night we hear that after 12 years — this took place 12 years ago, this story — a new claim that I made inappropriate advances during the interview to this writer.
And I asked very simple question, why wasn’t it part of the story that appeared 20 or 12 years ago? Why wasn’t it a part of the story? Why didn’t they make it part of the story? I was one of the biggest stars on television with The Apprentice and I would’ve been one of the biggest stories of the year. Think of it, she’s doing this story on Melania, who was pregnant at the time. And Donald Trump, our one year anniversary, and she said I made inappropriate advances, and by the way, the area was a public area, people all over the place.
Take a look, you take a look. Look at her, look at her words. You tell me, what you think. I don’t think so. I don’t think so.
But, it is amazing, doing a story — a love story — on how great we are together — and by the way, we’re stronger today than we ever were before, which is good, but it’s a love story. It’s a love story on our one year. And if I did that, she would’ve added that it would’ve been the headline. And who would’ve done that if you’re doing this and you’re one of the top shows on television.
These people are horrible people. They’re horrible, horrible liars. And interestingly, it happens to appear 26 days before our very important election, isn’t that amazing?
This invented account has already been debunked by eyewitnesses who were there. They were there. The very witness identified by the author has said the story is totally false.
By the way, this is a room that everybody can see in. It’s got glass walls. It’s at Mar-A-Lago. It’s got glass walls. Can you believe this? Why wasn’t it in the story, biggest story of the year?
This weekend, The New York Times published a full-page hit piece with another claim from an individual who has been totally discredited based on the many, many, many e-mails and letters she has sent to our office over the years, looking for work, Donald is great, wanting go to my rallies. But The New York Times — and this was full op-ed piece — refused to use the evidence that we presented, refused to use it. If they used it, if they would have looked, they would have said, there’s no story here.
Others in the media, which almost surprises me because they’re dishonest also, were presented with the story by this woman numerous times, and they got very excited. But, after seeing the evidence that we immediately give them, all of them refused to write the story. There was no story.
The Times, though, didn’t want to see it. They just wrote the story. And this was a full page opposite the editorials. This is part of a concerted effort, led by The New York Times and others. Now The New York Times is fighting desperately for its relevance and its financial survival. And it probably won’t even be around in a few years, based on its financial outlook, which wouldn’t be a bad thing, if you want to know the truth.
But, as it winds down its years and is becoming more and more problematic, it’s gotten more and more vicious, more and more vile. And even the other mainstream media is talking about the single greatest pile-on in history, and all between now and Nov. 8. And you have to see the stories they’ve written, it’s one after another, after another, and facts mean nothing, third-rate journalism. The great editors of the past from The New York Times and others, ladies and gentlemen, are spinning in their grave.
I will not allow the Clinton machine to turn our campaign into a discussion of their slanders and lies, but, will remain focused on the issues facing the American people.
Thank you, thank you. But, let me state this as clearly as I can, these attacks are orchestrated by the Clintons and their media allies. The only thing Hillary Clinton has going for herself is the press, without the press, she is absolutely zero.
And you saw that the other night in the debate, where some people said she made virtually a fool of herself. This is not presidential material, believe me. What they say is false and slanderous in virtually every respect. We are now less than a month from the most election of our lifetime. Indeed one of the most important elections in the history of our country. And the polls are showing us in a dead heat. Don’t believe what you say.
The new, highly respected Rasmussen poll just came out this morning. Just released. Shows up nationally 2 points ahead, Trump. Beautiful.
Just came out. So now the Clinton machine has put forward a small handful of people out of tens of thousands of people over the years that I’ve met, that I’ve worked with, that I’ve employed, in order to make wild and false allegations that fail to meet even the most basic test of common sense. Not even common sense.
Again, this is nothing more than an attempt to destroy our movement and for the Clintons to keep their corrupt control over our government. When I declared my candidacy, I knew what bad shape our country was in. And believe me, all you have to do is look at world events. All you have to do is look at the $1.7 billion that we sent to Iran in cash – in cash.
All you have to do is see the way ISIS was created in the vacuum left by Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama out of Iraq. All you have to do, all you have to do, is look at the 800 people that were very, very not good for our nation. They were going to be deported. Lo and behold, instead of being deported, they were made citizens of the United States just recently.
And lo and behold, sadly, the 800 people is wrong. It turned out to be close to 1,800 people. Our president is incompetent. All he wants to do is campaign, and the last thing he wants to happen is to have Donald Trump terminate Obamacare and do all of the other things that are destroying …
He’s led a very divided nation and it’s only gotten worse. And the last thing our country needs is four more years of Barack Obama, believe me. I’ve seen firsthand the corruption and the sickness that has taken over our politics. You’ve seen it and I’ve seen it and we’re all watching together.
They knew they would throw every lie they could at me and my family and my loved ones. They knew they would stop at nothing to try to stop me. But I never knew as bad as it would be. I never knew it would be this vile, that it would be this bad, that it would be this vicious.
Nevertheless, I take all of these slings and arrows gladly for you.
I take them for our movement so that we can have our country back.
Our great civilization, here in America and across the civilized world has come upon a moment of reckoning. We’ve seen it in the United Kingdom, where they voted to liberate themselves from global government and global trade deal, and global immigration deals that have destroyed their sovereignty and have destroyed many of those nations. But, the central base of world political power is right here in America, and it is our corrupt political establishment that is the greatest power behind the efforts at radical globalization and the disenfranchisement of working people. Their financial resources are virtually unlimited, their political resources are unlimited, their media resources are unmatched, and most importantly, the depths of their immorality is absolutely unlimited.
They will allow radical Islamic terrorists to enter our country by the thousands.
They will allow the great Trojan horse — and I don’t want people looking back in a hundred years and 200 years and have that story be told about us because we were led by inept, incompetent and corrupt people like Barack Obama and like Hillary Clinton. We don’t want to be part of that history.
And by the way, President Obama should stop campaigning and start working on creating jobs, start working on getting our GDP up, start working on strengthening our borders.
The corrupt political establishment is a machine, it has no soul. I knew these false attacks would come. I knew this day would arrive; it’s only a question of when. And I knew the American people would rise above it and vote for the future they deserve.
The only thing that can stop this corrupt machine is you. The only force strong enough to save our country is us. The only people brave enough to vote out this corrupt establishment is you, the American people.
We are going to have a policy: America first.
They control incredibly, the Department of Justice.
And they even secretly meet with the Attorney General of the United States. In the back of her airplane, while on the runway — remember he was there — he was going to play golf. Oh, oh gee, there’s the Attorney General. Let me go say hello — plane’s on the runway. Let me go say hello to the Attorney General. He never got to play golf, I understand. And it was Arizona, a place I love, but the weather was about a hundred and some odd degrees — he’s not gonna play. He was never there to play golf, folks, don’t be foolish.
They met for 39 minutes and most likely it was to discuss her reappointment, in a Clinton administration, as the Attorney General, just prior to making a decision over whether or not to prosecute Hillary Clinton, okay? That’s what happened. That’s called real life and that’s pretty sad.
They met for 39 minutes. Remember he said, we talked golf and we talked about our grandchildren. Three minutes for the grandchildren, two minutes for the golf, then they sat there and they twiddled their thumbs. Now I believe they talked about her remaining in her position under a crooked Hillary Clinton administration. That’s what I believe. That’s what I believe folks. That’s what I believe and I think that’s what most people in this room believe.
Likewise, they’ve essentially corrupted the Director of the FBI to the point at which stories are already saying that the great — and they are truly great — men and women who work for the FBI are embarrassed and ashamed of what he’s done to one of our truly great institutions, the FBI itself.
Hillary Clinton is guilty of all the things that Director Comey stated at his press conference and Congressional hearings and far more. He stated many things, but it’s far more and he knows that. And yet, after reading all of these items, where she’s so guilty, he let her off the hook. While other lives, including General Petraeus and many others, have been destroyed for doing far, far less. This is a conspiracy against you, the American people, and we cannot let this happen or continue.
This is our moment of reckoning as a society and as a civilization itself. I didn’t need to do this, folks, believe me — believe me. I built a great company and I had a wonderful life. I could have enjoyed the fruits and benefits of years of successful business deals and businesses for myself and my family. Instead of going through this absolute horror show of lies, deceptions, malicious attacks — who would have thought? I’m doing it because this country has given me so much, and I feel so strongly that it’s my turn to give back to the country that I love.
Many of my friends and many political experts warned me that this campaign would be a journey to hell – said that. But they’re wrong. It will be a journey to heaven, because we will help so many people that are so desperately in need of help.
In my former life, I was an insider as much as anybody else. And I knew what it’s like, and I still know what it’s like to be an insider. It’s not bad. It’s not bad. Now I’m being punished for leaving the special club and revealing to you the terrible things that are going on having to do with our country. Because I used to be part of the club, I’m the only one that can fix it.
I’m doing this for the people and for the movement, and we will take back this country for you and we will make America great again.
The corrupt establishment knows that we are a great threat to their criminal enterprise. They know that if we win, their power is gone, and it’s returned to you, the people, will be. The dark clouds hanging over our government can be lifted and replaced with a bright future. But it all depends on whether we let the corrupt media decide our future or whether we let the American people decide our future.
If this Clinton campaign of destruction is allowed to work, then no other highly success — and this is so true, I mean I’ve seen this so many times, and I’ve heard this all of my life, I’ve heard it all of my life. If we let this happen, then no other highly-successful person, which is what our country needs — it needs a certain thinking. When you look at our trade deals that are so bad, when you look, as an example, on trade, we’re going to lose almost $800 billion this year, trade deficit, almost $800 billion. Our debt has doubled in seven and a half years to almost $20 trillion, under Obama.
No other successful person, after watching this, and no other very successful person will ever again, ever — and who can blame them? Even me, I’d say, you’re right — will ever again run for office. I’ve heard it for years, if you’re very successful, you can’t run for high office, especially for President. I said, I don’t care, I don’t care. I’ve done so many deals, I’ve done so well. It’s a certain mindset that we need in our country, at least for a period of time. We have to straighten our country out.
I will not lie to you. These false attacks are absolutely hurtful. To be lied about, to be slandered, to be smeared so publicly, and before your family that you love, is very painful. What is going on is egregious beyond any words. People that know the story, people that see the story, people that know the facts, they can’t even believe it. It’s reprehensible beyond description, it’s totally corrupt.
But, I also know that it’s not about me. It’s about all of you and it’s about our country. I know that. I fully understand that. That’s why I got involved. It’s about all of us together as a country. It’s a movement the likes of which we have never in history in this country seen before, never in history. Even the pundits, even the media — that truly dislikes Donald Trump for their own reasons — will admit this is a movement the likes of which people have never seen before.
And it’s a movement about the veterans who need medical care, the mothers who’ve lost their beloved children to terrorism and to crime. It’s about the inner cities and the border towns who desperately need our help. It’s about the millions of jobless people in America. It’s about the American workers who can’t get jobs because our jobs have left for Mexico and so many other countries.
This election is about the people being crushed by Obamacare. And it’s about defeating ISIS and appointing a Supreme Court and a Supreme Court Justice — it could be four or five — who will defend and protect our Constitution.
This election is also about, so importantly to me, African-American and Hispanic-American people whose communities have been plunged into crime, poverty and failing schools by the policies of crooked Hillary Clinton. Believe me, she’s crooked.
They’ve robbed these citizens of their future and, if we win, I will give them their hope, their jobs, their education. I will give them their security back. The inner cities, education is almost worthless, it’s horrible. We’re going to have Common Core ended. We’re going to bring education local.
But, you look at the inner cities and you see bad education, no jobs, no safety. You walk to the grocery store with your child and you get shot. You walk outside to look and see what’s happening and you get shot. In Chicago, 3,000 people have been shot since Jan. 1. We’re not going to let that happen. Our inner cities are almost at an all-time low, run by the Democrats for sometimes more than a hundred years, chain unbroken.
So they have no jobs. They have horrible education. They have no safety or security and I say to the African-American community, what the hell do you have to lose? I will fix it. I will fix it. I will make it good. I’ll bring back our jobs. We’ll have good education. We’ll have great safety in the inner city.
And we will help the Hispanic-American people, who have been treated so badly and so unfairly in our nation, we will help them.
I will deliver like you’ve never seen before. I deliver. Whether people like Donald Trump or not, they all say he delivers.
Vote for Donald Trump. You’re going to see something and you’ll be so happy. You’ll be so thrilled. This election is about every man, woman and child in our country who deserves to live in safety, prosperity and peace, so true. We will rise above the lies, the smears, the ludicrous slanders from ludicrous and very, very dishonest reporters.
We will vote for the country we want. We will vote for the future we want. We will vote for the politics we want and we will vote to put this corrupt government cartel out of business and out of business immediately.
We will vote for the special interests and say lots of luck, but you’re being voted out of power. They’ve betrayed our workers, they’ve betrayed our borders and, most of all, they’ve betrayed our freedoms. We will save our sovereign rights as a nation. We will end the politics of profit. We will end the rule of special interests. We will end the raiding of our jobs by other countries. We will end the total disenfranchisement of the American voter and the American worker. Our Independence Day is at hand, and it arrives finally on Nov. 8.
Join me in taking back our country and creating a bright, glorious, and prosperous new future for our people. We will make America great again, and it will happen quickly.
God bless you. God bless you. Thank you. Thank you.
We’ve talked about it for a long time. It all comes back to Ukraine! And the Greg Rubini thread dovetails perfectly. In Maidan, over 40 policemen were also killed. A government doesn’t kill their own police. Take a look at the whole thread as it all fits together.
5. There were SNIPERS at windows of tall buildings surrounding the square. Strategically placed.
The snipers from the buildings shot both at protestors, both at the police officers.
The 1.8 BILLION (remember that number) was sent from USA to Ukraine to stabilize THEIR banking system back in 2014. Funds were deposited into PrivatBank, major stockholder was Kolomoisky, also hidden major owner of Burisma.
Guess what? Money disappeared. Chief Prosecutor for Ukraine, Shokin, was investigating missing money when the money trail led to Hunter Biden. During investigation, Shokin wrote letter to George Kent (one of the witnesses in Shampeachment) inquiring about the missing 1.8 billion. George Kent wrote back (we’ve seen the letter from Kent), we’re not worried about it all – all funds, every dollar, accounted for. Made no sense, right?
Theory is that Kolomoisky was using the money to wage a private war with Russia. A war that was NOT approved by Congress. Obama Admin using Ukraine as a proxy in war with Russia. Kolomoisky, through money laundering, using IMF money, was heading up the war. At one point, for instance, Kolomoisky had a single battalion with over 2K men, and thousands more in reserve. CUZ THERE WAS NO UKRAINE military and Ukraine had no money.
Note: Kolomoisky was made GOVERNOR, by Poroshenko (the State Dept favorite guy) of the “state/province” of the region bordering Russia. Previously —- Kolomoisky was on a US Travel ban, because he was a bad guy….. accused of murder, beheadings, killing rivals with a chainsaw, hiring thugs to intimidate biz rivals with baseball bats, iron bars, etc. Magically, his travel ban was lifted when Hunter Biden took a job on the Board of Directors.
Recall: Maidan uprising happened November of 2013-Feb of 2014. This ALL happened because Ukraine was being pushed to join NATO/EU, and Russia was threatening to turn off supply of LNG in the middle of winter. USA tried to take advantage of situation and place Ukraine in NATO basket, putting weapons right on the Russian border. The USA/NATO/EU under Obama offers Ukraine a sweet deal. Leader of Ukraine, Yanukovych rejected the deal, as Russia offered to rework Ukraine loans.
THAT pi$$ed off the State Dept. Recall Victoria Nuland’s conversation “F$ck the EU”. And thus began the Maidan uprising….. with enormous suspicion about WHO started it (Suspicion falls to a man named Eric Ciaramella, as he was attached to Biden, spoke Russian/Ukrainian fluently, but he CAME FROM CIA, via Brennan).
Victoria Nuland made 5 trips to Ukraine between November ’13-February ’14. We have video of her passing out cookies to the protesters, encouraging them to overthrow their government. We have video of McCain and Senator Chris Murphy encouraging protesters —- from the Oliver Stone Documentary, Ukraine on Fire: The True Story, listed in our QTREE Ukraine Master Time Line (it’s available on Amazon).
https://vimeo.com/252426896
Eventually, Yanukovych was overthrown and retreats to Russia. State Dept gets their guy in, Poroshenko. REMEMBER, Yanukovych was the Party of Regions guy which Manafort helped get elected. (Good reason to target Manafort, eh?) Hunter Biden joins board of Burisma in April of 2014 Travel ban lifted for Kolomoisky (how did that happen?) September of 2014, the 1.8 BILLION of IMF money is deposited into PrivatBank and disappeared. IMF money = US Taxpayer money (mostly)
PrivatBank was NATIONALIZED in December of 2016 (right after Trump’s election) Coincidence? IMF wouldn’t lend money to Ukraine because of “oligarchic structure” in Ukraine, but once bank was nationalized, IMF was more comfortable. Biden’s last trip to Ukraine was about January 10th, 2017….. why? Around January 17th-19th, ONE DAY before Trump’s inauguration, Mykola Zlochevsky, front man for Burisma, was cleared in Ukraine and makes a $250K donation to the USA Atlantic Council. In May of 2017, Atlantic Council holds their “Energy Conference” in Monaco, where Mykola had been exiled while waiting to be cleared. Burisma sponsored the Energy Conference (nice vacation in Monaco for the “inter-agency consensus”). Hunter Biden was there, and so was Rick Perry.
For years, all during “Muh Russia”, John Kerry and other Obama officials travel the world talking to diplomats, indicating Trump will be impeached and out of office……. soon…….. Flash forward to 2019.
July 24th, 2019: Mueller testifies to Congress, illustrating the complete failure of the Mueller Report and the scam of “Muh Russia”.
The NEXT DAY – Trump has phone call with Zelinsky on July 25th, mentions Crowdstrike, “think you’re surrounding yourself with some of same people”, Hunter Biden, etc…. puts a pause on the funds. Seems like they are unrelated, but what if they are all related?
(surrounding yourself with same people) Zelinsky was a comedian before running for office. His television show was popular, ………on a network owned by…….Kolomoisky. (Hunter Biden/Crowdstrike) We learn from the Arkansas court on the case of Biden’s baby momma, they reached a settlement at the last minute for child support. YETTTTT the arrangement can change if they find evidence of additional income. Court doc filed by momma’s investigators, page 6, states…… PrivatBank and Burisma involved in funding CROWDSTRIKE, Atlantic Council (in Ukraine), “rogue operations by USDOS”, FVEYEs……. did I mention Crowdstrike?
OMB email, from the actual guy who was responsible for releasing the funds, says USA is waiting on an “obligatory action”. What could that be? Was it that Trump wanted a CNN interview? Announcement of an investigation? Or something more serious…….?
May of 2019, IMF says they are ready to resume loans to Ukraine once Zelinsky government gets settled. Coincides with May 23 meeting in White House and Trump meeting with Senators just returning from Ukraine.
July 25th, 2019, Zelinsky/Trump phone call. SAME DAY, the IMF has a presser, announces readiness to proceed with billions in loans, will be in Ukraine to talk to them on Sept 10th.
We KNOW the IMF was on the ground in Kiev on Sept 10th, 2019 We KNOW Zelinsky met with Kolomoisky on the evening of September 10th, 2019. Special Forces RAIDED PrivatBank on September 11th……. of 2019. Seized all records. (We have it all) Head of OMB, the guy who actually released the funds, Email to himself includes a CNBC article about the raid of PrivatBank on Sept 11th (Here’s a Reuter’s article: https://in.reuters.com/article/ukraine-privatbank/police-raid-offices-and-seize-documents-of-ukraines-privatbank-idINL5N26244O USA release of funds on Sept 11th IMF released funds as well.
Whole thing, whole impeachment thing, MAYBE “Muh Russia” as well, was about hiding a failed proxy war with Russa, involving an illegal war, waged by Obama ADMIN, with no approval from Congress.
It all makes sense now. Remember when Biden threatened the gov’t of Ukraine to fire prosecutor? And Ukraine said, “You can’t do that”, and Biden said, “Call the President, go ahead” Well, it wouldn’t make sense for Obama to hold a billion dollars because of a need to save a corrupt Hunter Biden……. it had to be something bigger.
Shokin was investigating, following the money, the original 23 million was transferred from Ukraine to Cyprus, to Latvia, to the UK. The UK bank immediately froze the money. Shokin was digging…… when he received a letter from Latvia Anti-Corruption Money Laundering Agency…… about concerns of Hunter Biden being involved. Shokin kept digging.
Shokin traced money back to Cyprus, to 43 Shell Companies owned by Kolomoisky, which had “Loans” (the most effective way to launder money), in the amount of…….
…… take a guess….. I’ll wait……. 1.8 Billion dollars…… Coincidence?
THAT’s why Biden had to stop the investigation, THAT’s why the Obama Admin was desperate to fire Shokin, THAT’s why the Dept of State covered for Hunter Biden. It wasn’t just about Hunter Biden.
The money trail let straight back to the Obama Administration….. fighting an illegal war in Ukraine, responsible for 15K dead Ukrainians, far worse than Iran/Contra. We have an excessive amount of evidence leading up to this point. Without an official investigation, it will remain covered-up and the details will be hidden from the American people.
Welcome to the Friday OPEN THREAD at the QTree! What a week in Trump time. It’s the weekend and time to crack open a beer and put some steaks on the grill! We’re going to remember this week……for a long time………. Thank you for the Thursday hand-off TrumpIsMine. Thank you to Wolfie for keeping us all organized, up and running. What would we do without FLEP’s News Roundup to keep up? Thank you, Flep. Hat tip and a hearty thank you to all contributors and the lurkers!
President and First Lady walk into the Blue Room after the Presser on Acquittal. ShaMMMpeachment FAILED!
We don’t believe in political correctness at QTree. Free Speech is practiced here. ENJOY IT. Use it or lose it. Important Guidelines are outlined here in the January 1st open thread, with an addendum on 20191110. In other words, please keep it SOMEWHAT civil. We have a new board – actually a new SITE – called The U Tree – where people can take each other to the woodshed without fear of censorship or moderation. NOT HERE. This board will remain a REFUGE for those who need civility, either some or all of the time.
Make no mistake, we’ve been SMOKIN’ hot at QTREE this week. No peaceful classical music today, we need some rock and roll.
What a week we’ve had. How does President Trump do it all? We started with the ShaMMMpeachment for several days, but our team was terrific in DC, across social media, and banging the boards here. The Iowa Caucus was a disaster for the Dems and the Repubs turned out in force. We went into a President Trump SOTU which made us laugh, cry, and cheer, with a Nancy implosion at the end. The President was ACQUITTED on Wednesday. It’s been such a LONG TIME in coming….. and it’s over with. Time to turn up the volume on the media and political opposition.
Thursday we had a National Prayer Breakfast which made headline news AND a White House Presser on Acquittal which solidified our team. President was kind and gracious to give attribution where due, and deliberate when assessing blame. The President and the Repubs are enjoying their highest polling numbers in years and the Dems are falling apart. And Thursday night, we learned our Military and Commander in Chief have removed the Leader of Al-Qaida in Yemen. Poooooffff, he’s gone! The President is growing stronger and our team is growing bigger. Competent leadership gives us all Peace of Mind.
We learned more about the Coronovirus this week. Wolfie put the CV Thread on the sidebar and a special thank you to all who contribute and update. “Golden Week” in China has been extended for another week = no factory workers and about 80% of the country’s export production has shut down. The Hyundai Factory in South Korea has CLOSED due to lack of parts, and North American auto manufacturers estimate they have a few weeks of parts inventory remaining before drastic measures begin.
Tonight, the Dems have a debate, and I’m watching this one. We’re going to do a thread. The circular firing squad has already formed and it’s time to perform or drop out. Should be fireworks!
We also have a MAGA Rally in New Hampshire coming up! Let’s make sure we rest up this weekend in Wheatie’s Treehouse and hang out with BakoCarl on Sunday. We’re expected on the field in full uniform by Monday morning!
SPEAK THE FIVE WORDS BOLDLY TO OUR PRESIDENT!, “I AM PRAYING FOR YOU!“ He needs our prayers and help more than ever before! ….. and unlike others, we mean it!!
And remember….. it is time to drain the swamp in DC and LOCALLY. Please make a commitment in the new year to attend a LOCAL board meeting for your town or municipality or school board. Get involved and make your presence known. Put your local officials phone numbers in your cell phone and call them once a week (or more often).
“Our movement is about replacing a failed and corrupt political establishment with a new government controlled by you, the American People.” Candidate Donald J Trump
Remember Wheatie’s Rules:
No food fights.
No running with scissors.
If you bring snacks, bring enough for everyone.
Remember, the President likes Ice Cream!
Across Conservative social media, we’re detecting a change in the game plan going forward. Can you feel the shift? We sense a new offensive coming from the White House. The Storm is here. We ready. We’ll meet at the ole saw mill… We’re moving ahead towards prosperity. Don’t look back.The sun is shining and the clouds are breaking…… there’s no more time to criticize….. I see myself in a brand new way. Oh, the sun is shining and I’m on that road. Don’t look back. A new day is breakin’. It’s been so long since we felt this way!
Since most of us were BANNED for strange reasons from another website and found comradery here, found a song for us all. “We’re just another BANNED…..” out of America?
See you all on Saturday morning at Wheatie’s Treehouse!
Today at High Noon, the President will give a speech on his Acquittal from the Impeachment Process. Judging from his temperament at the SOTU, and especially this morning at the Prayer Breakfast, this speech may be one for the ages.
Hat Tip to Dora, she found the Nancy Pelosi presser given conspicuously an hour before the President’s speech takes place. It’s a presser like no other. Pelosi is visibly rattled and seething in anger. DO NOT LOOK AWAY. Nancy has cracked.
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT TRUMP TO THE NATION
East Room
————————————————————
** 12:21 P.M. EST
THE PRESIDENT: Well, thank you very much. (Applause.) Thank you. Thank you. Wow. (Applause.) Well, thank you very much, everybody. Wow. We’ve all been through a lot together, and we probably deserve that hand for all of us, because it’s been a very unfair situation.
I invited some of our very good friends. And we have limited room, but everybody wanted to come. We kept it down to a minimum. And believe it or not, this is a minimum.
But a tremendous thing was done over the last number of months, but really, if you go back to it, over the last number of years. We had the witch hunt. It started from the day we came down the elevator, myself and our future First Lady, who’s with us right now. Thank you, Melania. (Applause.)
And it never really stopped. We’ve been going through this now for over three years. It was evil. It was corrupt. It was dirty cops. It was leakers and liars. And this should never, ever happen to another President ever. I don’t know that other Presidents would have been able to take it. Some people said, no, they wouldn’t have. But I can tell you, at a minimum, you have to focus on this because it can get away very quickly. No matter who you have with you, it can get away very quickly. It was a disgrace.
Had I not fired James Comey — who was a disaster, by the way — it’s possible I wouldn’t even be standing here right now. We caught him in the act. Dirty cops. Bad people. If this happened to President Obama, a lot of people would have been in jail for a long time already. Many, many years.
I want to start by thanking some of — and I call them friends, because, you know, you develop friendships and relationships when you’re in battle and war, much more so than, “Gee, let’s have a normal situation.”
With all that we’ve gone through, we’ve done, I think, more than any President and administration, and really, I say, for the most part, Republican congressmen, congresswomen, and Republican senators. We’ve done more than any administration in the first few years, if you look at all of the things we’ve done.
I watched this morning as they tried to take credit for the stock market from — (laughter) — from — think of that. Let me tell you, if we didn’t win, the stock market would have crashed. And the market was going up a lot before the election because it was looking we had a good chance to win, and then it went up tremendously from the time we won the election until the time we took office, which was November 8th to January 20th. And that’s our credit. That’s all our credit. And leading up to that point was our credit because there was hope.
And one of the reasons the stock market has gone up so much in the last few days is people think we’re doing so well. They liked the State of the Union speech. (Applause.) It really is — it’s a true honor to give it.
Making the State of the Union speech, I was with some people that have been around; they’ve been all over the world. And one of them, a highly sophisticated person, said, “You know, no matter where you go in the world, it doesn’t make any difference — there is nothing like what I witnessed tonight.” The beauty, the majesty of the Chamber. The power of the United States, the power of the people in this room.
Really, an amazing — I don’t think there is anything like that anywhere in the world. You can go to any other country, you can go to any other location, any other place. It’s the beauty of everything. It’s what it represents and how it represents our country.
I want to start by introducing some of the people that are here. I know some are going to be left out. But they work so hard. And this is really not a news conference. It’s not a speech. It’s not anything. It’s just we’re sort of — it’s a celebration, because we have something that just worked out. I mean, it worked out. We went through hell, unfairly. Did nothing wrong. Did nothing wrong. I’ve done things wrong in my life, I will admit. (Laughter.) Not purposely, but I’ve done things wrong. But this is what the end result is. (Applause.)
(The President holds up the front cover of The Washington Post newspaper.)
We can take that home, Honey. Maybe we’ll frame it. (Laughter.) It’s the only good headline I’ve ever had in the Washington Post, I’ll tell you. (Laughter.) But every paper is the same. Does anybody have those papers? Does anybody have them? Because they’re really like that. So I appreciate that.
But some of the people here have been incredible warriors. They’re warriors. And there’s nothing, from a legal standpoint — this is a political thing. And every time, I’d say, “This is unfair. Let’s go to court.” They’d say, “Sir, you can’t go to court. This is politics.” And we were treated unbelievably unfairly.
And you have to understand, we first went through Russia, Russia, Russia. It was all bullshit. (Laughter.) We then went through the Mueller report. And they should have come back one day later. They didn’t. They came back two years later, after lives were ruined, after people went bankrupt, after people lost all their money.
People came to Washington to help other people. “Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed,” I say. They came — one or two or three people in particular, but many people.
We had a rough campaign. It was nasty. It was one of the nastiest, they say. They say Andrew Jackson was always the nastiest campaign. They actually said we topped it. (Laughter.) It was a nasty — it was a nasty — both in the primaries and in the — in the election.
But, you see, we thought, after the election, it would stop. But it didn’t stop; it just started. And tremendous corruption. Tremendous corruption.
So we had a campaign. Little did we know we were running against some very, very bad and evil people with fake dossiers, with all of these horrible, dirty cops that took these dossiers and did bad things. They knew all about it. The FISA courts should be ashamed of themselves.
It’s a very tough thing. And then we ended up winning on Russia, Russia, Russia. It should have taken the one day, as I said, and it took years.
Then Bob Mueller testified. That didn’t work out so well for the other side. (Laughter.) But they should have said, that first week — because it came out. Is that right, Jim Jordan? They knew in the first two days actually. Devin, is that right? Two days. They knew that we were totally innocent.
But they kept it going, Mark. They kept it going forever because they wanted to inflict political pain on somebody that had just won an election that, to — a lot of people were surprised. I mean, we had polls that said we were going to win. We had Los Angeles Times and a few — a few papers, actually, said it was — we were going to win but it was going to be close.
And we did win. It was one of the greatest wins of all time. And they said, “Okay, he won.” And, you know, I wrote this down because that was where a thing called the “insurance policy” — to me, when I saw the insurance policy — and that was done long before the election. That was done when they thought that Hillary Clinton was going to win.
And, by the way, Hillary Clinton and the DNC paid for millions — millions of dollars — the fake dossier. And now Christopher Steele admits that it’s a fake because he got sued by rich people. I should have sued him too. But when you’re President, people don’t like suing.
I want to thank my legal team, by the way — not for that advice, but for other advice. (Applause.) Pat, Jay. Pat. You guys stand up, please. (Applause.) Great job. (Applause.)
Right at the beginning, they said, “Sir, you have nothing to worry about. All of the facts are on your side.” I said, “You don’t understand. That doesn’t matter. That doesn’t matter.” And that was really true.
They made up facts. A corrupt politician named Adam Schiff made up my statement to the Ukrainian president. He brought it out of thin air. Just made it up. They say he’s a screenwriter — a failed screenwriter. He tried to go into — unfortunately, he went into politics after that. (Laughter.) Remember he said the statement, which is a mob statement: “Don’t call me. I’ll call you.” I didn’t say that.
Fortunately, for all of us here today and for our country, we had transcripts. We had transcribers — professional transcribers. Then they said, “Oh, well, maybe the transcription is not correct.” But Lieutenant Colonel Vindman and his twin brother — right? — we had some people that — really amazing.
But we did everything. We said, “What’s wrong with it?” “Well, they didn’t add this word or that one.” It didn’t matter. I said, “Add it. They’re probably wrong, but add it.”
So now everyone agrees that they were perfectly accurate. When you read those transcripts, Tim Scott — I don’t know if Tim is here, but he said, “Sir…” He was the first one to call me. “Sir, I read the transcript. You did nothing wrong.” And, Mitch, he stayed there, right from the beginning. He never changed.
And, Mitch McConnell, I want to tell you: You did a fantastic job. (Applause.) Somebody said, “You know, Mitch is quiet.” I said, “He’s not quiet. He’s not quiet.” These are the — he doesn’t want people to know him. And they said, “Is Mitch smart?” I said, “Well, let’s put it this way: For many, many years, a lot of very smart — bad, in many cases, sometimes good — but people have been trying to take his place. And to the best of my knowledge, I’ve never even heard the subject come up, because they’ve been wiped out so fast. (Laughter.) This guy is great, and I appreciate it, Mitch. (Applause.)
And he’s also given us 191 now. (Applause.) A hundred and ninety-one federal judges. Two Supreme Court judges, right? It’s up to 191. (Applause.) True.
Great guy. Great guy. He’s a tough guy to read. I’m good at reading people. A tough guy to read. I’d call him. My wife would say, “How did you do with Mitch?” “Uhh, I don’t know.” (Laughter.) That’s what makes him good — when you can read somebody. Fantastic job.
And he understood, rightfully, that this was crooked politics. This was crooked politics. How about all these people, they’re running for office. They’re saying the worst things about me, like eight senators on the Democrat side. Most of them got wiped out. You know, they got their 1 percent or less. Most of them got less. They decided to go home. “Let’s go back to California.” Let’s go back to wherever they came from. “Let’s go back to New York.”
How about that one? Our New York senator, Gillibrand. “Let’s go back to New York,” after they get nothing. And then they take an oath that they will be fair, that they will be reason- — and all of the different things. And they had to sign. They’re not fair.
But here’s the beauty: So we have four left. They’re saying the most horrendous things about me. It’s okay, it’s politics. And then they’re supposed to vote — on me. They’re trying to replace me, and then they’re supposed to be voting. So I think it’s — I mean, I think it’s incredible.
But — so, Mitch, I want to thank you very much. Incredible. And you have some of your folks here, and they’re incredible people — and they’ve been, right from the beginning.
And, again, you’re out of session. Unfortunately, I didn’t — you know, I only told these folks, “Let’s do this today.” We did a prayer breakfast this morning, and I thought that was really good. In fact, that was so good it might wipe this out. But by the end — by the time we finished this, we’ll wipe that one out — those statements. (Laughter.)
I had — I had Nancy Pelosi sitting four seats away, and I’m saying things that a lot of people wouldn’t have said — (laughter) — but I meant every — (laughter) — I meant every word of it.
But we have some of the folks that are going to be leaving right after this, and they work hard — and they did work hard. Bill Cassidy, Senator. Stand up, Bill. What a guy. (Applause.) Great man. When I need to know about health insurance and preexisting conditions and individual mandates, I call Bill or I call Barrasso. We get those two guys; they know more than anybody.
A man who just became a senator — he’s a little bit like me; we have a couple of them. A very successful guy in business, and he said, “What the hell, I’ll run for the Senate” — from Indiana. And he ran. And I saw him on television, destroying his opponent in a debate. I said, “You know, this guy could win.” And I got behind him. And, Mike Braun, you have done some great job. Thank you very much. (Applause.) Tough. Tough. Thank you.
A man who got James Comey to choke, and he was just talking in his regular voice. He is the roughest man. He’s actually an unbelievable — and I appreciate the letter you sent me today. I just got it. But he’s got this voice that scares people. (Laughter.) You know, people from Iowa can be very tough. We’re doing very well in Iowa.
But I’ll tell you, Chuck Grassley — he’s looking at Comey: “Well, you tell me, what did you say?” (Laughter.) Now, he wasn’t being rough. That was just the way he talked. (Laughter.) And that was when Comey — I think that was when Comey announced that he was leaking, lying, and everything else, right? He choked because he never heard anybody talk like that. (Laughter.)
You know, you should have gone — I wish you got angry. You could have gotten the whole ballgame. He would have said, “I give up.” (Laughter.) Chuck Grassley is an incredible guy. (Applause.)
And a man who — you know, he was running against a tough, smart campaign and we learned how good she was, right? She was a great campaigner. In fact, by the end of the campaign, she was actually — I thought she was more for me than you were, Josh. I was worried. (Laughter.) I saw her ad; she was saying the greatest things about me. And you know who I’m talking about.
And I went to a great place — Missouri — and I said, “Who do you have to beat her?” And they said, “Well, we have four people.” I said, “Let me see them. I’m got to interview…” — can you imagine? I’m interviewing people for the United States Senate. This is what I do. Where have I gone? But I love it. I love it because we’re getting great people.
The first one I met was Josh Hawley. After about 10 minutes, I said to the people, “Don’t show me anybody else. This is the guy.” He was the attorney general. Did a phenomenal job in the state. Highly respected. And — Claire McCaskill.
So, the theory was you couldn’t beat her. Great campaigner. Remember the last campaign, she was going to be taken out. She was always going to be taken out, then she wins and people say, “How did that happen?” Didn’t happen with him.
But she got so friendly toward me. In fact, one of the ads I still have. I’m putting it in the archives as one of the best ads I’ve ever made. (Laughter.) And she tried to convince people that we were best friends. But Josh ended up winning by five or six points.
You were unbelievable. You were tough. And you are something. And one of the greatest supporters on the impeachment hoax was Josh Hawley. He was incensed actually; I watched it. He was incensed at what they were doing and what they were saying.
And those were the ones — you know, I had some that said, “Oh, I wish you didn’t make the call.” And that’s okay, if they need that. It’s incorrect. It’s totally incorrect. And then you have some that used religion as a crutch. They never used it before. An article written today: “Never heard him use it before.” But today, you know, it’s one of those things. But, you know, it’s a failed presidential candidate, so things can happen when you fail so badly running for President.
But, Josh Hawley, I want to thank you. You were right from the beginning. Man, did I make a good choice. (Applause.) Thank you, Josh. Tremendous future. A man who is brilliant and who actually was deceived, to an extent, comes from a great state, Utah, where my poll numbers have gone through the roof. And one of the senators’ poll numbers, and not this one, went down big. You saw that. You saw that, Mike?
But Mike Lee is a brilliant guy. He’s difficult. (Laughter.) Whenever I sign bills — you know, we do sign a lot of legislation that’s — it’s big and it’s powerful, but it’s sort of everybody has to approve it. And I see 99 to 1 — (laughter) — 99 to 1. I say, “Don’t tell me who’s the one.” (Laughter.) “Is it Mike?” “Yes.” (Laughter.) And he always has a good reason for it too, by the way. But he is — he’s incredible. And right at the beginning, he knew we were right, Mike, and I appreciate it very much. You’re just fantastic. And say hello to the people of Utah and tell them, “I’m sorry about Mitt Romney. I’m sorry.” (Laughter and applause.) Okay?
We can say that Mike Lee is, by far, the most popular senator from the state. But you’ve done a fantastic job, Mike, in many ways. In many ways.
A young woman who I didn’t know at all, but she’s been so supportive — and I’ve had great support from other people in that state. And she’s been so supportive, and she’s been downright nasty and mean about the unfairness to the President. And Kelly Loeffler, I appreciate very much. Thank you. (Applause.) Great.
She saw it very early on, and we have — I don’t know if we have other senators here, but we got a hell of a lot of congressmen. And I’ll go over them quickly, but they have — they have also been — you know, it helped when we won 197 to nothing. That’s got to be a first, Kevin. Right? Is that, like, a first?
The Republicans have this image. See, I say Democrats are lousy politicians because they have lousy policy: open borders, sanctuary cities. They have horrible policy. Who the hell can win? Oh, their new policy is: Raise taxes. They want to raise taxes. You know, all my life, I wasn’t in politics, but I’d say, if you’re a politician, you want to say, “We’re going to lower taxes.” They want to raise taxes.
So they have open borders, sanctuary cities. “Raise everybody’s taxes. Get rid of everybody’s healthcare.” A hundred and eighty million people in the United States. And they’re really happy. “And we’re going to give you a healthcare that’s going to cost more money than the country could make in 30 years if it really does well.” That’s one year.
So I’ve always said they’re lousy politicians, but they do two things: They are vicious and mean. Vicious. These people are vicious. Adam Schiff is a vicious, horrible person. Nancy Pelosi is a horrible person. And she wanted to impeach a long time ago. When she said, “I pray for the President. I pray for the…” — she doesn’t pray. She may pray, but she prays for the opposite. (Laughter.) But I doubt she prays at all.
And these are vicious people, but they do two things: They stick together, historically. I’m not talking now. They stick together like glue. That’s how they impeached, because they had whatever the number is — 220 people. So if they don’t lose anybody, they’ll be able to impeach anybody. You could be George Washington. You could have just won the war, and they say, “Let’s get him out of office.” And they stuck together, and they’re vicious as hell. And they’ll probably come back for more, but maybe not because the Republican Party’s poll numbers, Mitch, have now gone up more than any time, I think, since 2004, 2005, and you know what happened then.
But in normal times — decades, you would call it; that was a little unusual time; it was for a very short period — the Republicans [sic] Party — Party’s poll numbers and Donald Trump’s poll numbers are the highest I’ve ever had them. So maybe they were. It’s no way to get your poll numbers up. It’s not worth it — because from my family’s standpoint, it’s been very unfair for my family. It’s been very unfair to the country.
Think of it. A phone call. A very good phone call. I know bad phone calls. This is a phone call with many people. I think Mike Pompeo was probably on the call. Where is Mike? Mike Pompeo was on the call. Many people were on the call. I know there were many people. They even have “apprenti,” bringing up an old favorite word of mine. “The Apprentice.” They have “apprenti.” They have people on these calls. And I know there are many.
When I speak to the head of a nation — and they have many people on. I mean, also on — do you think they just — in the case of Ukraine, he’s a new president, seems like a very nice person, by the way. His whole thing was corruption. He’s going to stop corruption. We even have a treaty — 2001, 1999. It’s a treaty — signed treaty — that we will work together to root out corruption in Ukraine.
I probably have a legal obligation, Mr. Attorney, to report corruption. But they don’t think it’s corrupt when a son that made no money, that got thrown out of the military, that had no money at all, is working for $3 million up front, $83,000 a month. And that’s only Ukraine. Then goes to China, picks up $1.5 billion. Then goes to Romania, I hear, and many other countries.
They think that’s okay? Because if it is — is Ivanka in the audience? Is Ivanka here? Boy, my kids could make a fortune. (Laughter.) They could make a fortune. It’s corrupt. But it’s not even that; it’s just general corruption.
And the other thing, as mentioned in the call and something that I’ve told Mike Pence, our great Vice President — I would tell him all the time, and I told him when he went on the trip, because he was over there. He never mentioned anything about this when you had your meeting. It’s a terrible thing.
But I told Mike. I said, “Mike, we’re giving them money, and, you know, you’re always torn about that because we have our country to build, we have our cities to build and our roads to fix. But we’re giving them money. Tell me, why isn’t Germany paying money? Why isn’t France? Why isn’t United Kingdom paying money? Why aren’t they paying money? Why are we paying them money?” Is that a correct statement, Mike?
I say, “Find out what the hell is going on.” And I told that to all of my people, OMB. I said — I asked that question: “How much is Germany paying? Why isn’t Germany paying?” Why is the United States always the sucker? Because we’re a bunch of suckers. But that’s turning around fast. But it makes it harder when stuff like this happens, because you want to focus, and you want to focus perfectly.
Think what we could have done if the same energy was put into infrastructure, prescription drug prices. Think of what we could have done. And I’m now talking both sides. Think of what we could have done if we had the same genius — because it’s genius.
I will say, it’s genius on the other side — maybe even more so because they took nothing and brought me to a final vote of impeachment. That’s a very ugly word to me. It’s a very dark word. Very ugly. They took nothing. They took a phone call that was a totally appropriate call. I call it a “perfect call” because it was. And they brought me to the final stages of impeachment.
But now we have that gorgeous word — I never thought a word would sound so good. It’s called “total acquittal.” (Applause.) Total acquittal.
So — so I want to, if I could, real fast, just introduce a few of the people. I have to start with — I have to start with Kevin. Man, did you do a job. Lucky you’re there. Lucky you’re there because it wouldn’t have worked out. If you don’t have the right people — I’ll tell you, Kevin McCarthy has done an incredible job. (Applause.) Really. Stand up.
And he loves this job, and he loves this country. I’ll tell you what: Mitch and Kevin, they love what they do. Now, Mitch wouldn’t even tell you he liked it. (Laughter.) I’d say, “Mitch, do you like it?” “I don’t know.” (Laughter.) He’s the greatest poker player, right?
Kevin will say, “I love it.” Right? And I will say that you’re going to be Speaker of the House because of this impeachment hoax. (Applause.) I really believe it. I really believe it. And I’m going to work hard on it. I’m going to try and get out to those Trump — those Trump areas that we won by a lot.
And, you know, in ’18, we didn’t win. We just won two seats in North Carolina — two wonderful seats in North Carolina that were not supposed to be won. But I went and I made speeches, and we had rallies, and we did a great job and we won. We took two seats. Nobody writes about that. If we lost them, it would have been the biggest story of the year.
But we’re going to go, we’re going to do a job, and we’re going to win a lot of seats. We’re going to win a lot of seats. People are very angry that Nancy Pelosi and all of these guys — I mean, Nadler — I know him much of my life; he’s fought me in New York for 25 years. I always beat him. And I had to beat him another time. And I’ll probably have to beat him again. Because if they find that I happen to walk across the street, and maybe go against the light or something, “Let’s impeach him.” (Laughter.)
So we’ll probably have to do it again because these people have gone stone-cold crazy. But I’ve beaten them all my life, and I’ll beat them again if I have to. (Applause.) But what they’re doing is very unfair. Very unfair.
So Kevin McCarthy has been great. So, a few names, right? And there’ll be a few you forget. If you want, you can raise and I’ll say, “Great. Love to have you. Wonderful.” (Laughter.) But we’re going to do the best we can. And I have my Cabinet, but my Cabinet is different — I appoint them. Okay? I didn’t see all of them helping so much. (Laughter.) You know, they were running their various bureaucracies, right? (Laughter.) No, my Cabinet is great, and they’re all here.
But today is the day to celebrate these great warriors, right? These are great warriors. They really fought hard for us. And —
So I’ll start: Kelly Armstrong, North Dakota. Kelly, thank you. Great job. (Applause.) Great job.
Jim Banks of Indiana. Jim, thank you. Great job. (Applause.)
Andy Biggs. Where is Andy? Boy, oh, boy, Andy. He got — (applause) — there’s a guy. He’s tough. I hear we’re doing well in Arizona, huh? It’s going good, yeah? I think so. I think I saw a poll that was very good for me. I think we have to make sure Martha is going to do — I think Martha is going to do good. But we have some states that are going to be not easy, but Arizona has been great.
And we’re stopping illegal aliens from coming in. We’re putting up walls. New Mexico, too, a state that’s never been in play for Republicans, is totally in play. Right? Nevada is really looking good. We’re doing well. We’re doing well. We’re going to have a great — there’s more spirit. I will say this: There’s more spirit now for the Republican Party, by far, than the Democrats.
You know, Mike Pence just got back from a place — a beautiful place that Chuck Grassley knows well: Iowa. And he was talking about these fiasco — the Democrats, they can’t count some simple votes, and yet they want to take over your healthcare system. Think of that. (Laughter.) No, think of it.
But we also had an election out there, and we got 98 percent of the vote. We have two people running, you know, and I guess they consider them non-people, but they are running. I mean, one was a governor. One was a congressman. They’re running. We got 98 percent of the vote.
And everybody from the media was saying, “Who are those crowds over there?” You know, they expect it to be one of these competitive — where everybody is running because they want to win, they want to win. And it was Trump. Right, Mark Meadows? It was Trump. This was a Trump crowd.
And a lot of — actually, a lot of my guys went there. They went to Iowa. And a lot of friends went there, and we had tremendous — they say the spirit — the spirit for the Republican Party right now is stronger, I think, than it’s ever been in the history of our country. I think it’s stronger than it’s ever been. (Applause.)
And that includes Honest Abe Lincoln. You know, a lot of people forget Abe Lincoln. I wish he were here. I’d give him one hell of an introduction. Right? (Laughter.) But he was — he was a Republican. Abe Lincoln. Honest Abe.
Bradley Byrne, Alabama. What a great place. (Applause.) Thank you, Bradley.
A man who has been an unbelievable friend of mine and spokesman, and somebody that — that I really like. And I know, Kelly, you’re going to end up liking him a lot. Something is going to happen that’s going to be very good. I don’t know. I haven’t figured it out yet. But Doug Collins — where is he? Where is Doug? (Applause.) You have been so great. Thank you very much, Doug. Thank you very much. Thank you. Really amazing job.
A young man who is — born with a great gene, because I know his father and how great a politician he was. But he’s from Florida. Sometimes controversial, but actually, he’s not controversial. He’s solid as a rock and he’s a friend of mine. Matt Gaetz. Matt? (Applause.) Thank you, Matt. Thank you. Great job.
All right, this guy. So he’s the NCAA — meaning, a couple of years ago, when he was in college — wrestling champion. NCAA. That’s the big deal. That means, in all of college, you’re the champ, you’re the best. His record was ridiculous. Nobody would — nobody could beat him. And I see it. You know, every time, I see it. When I first got to know him — Jim Jordan — when I first got to know Jim, I said, “Huh, he never wears a jacket. What the hell is going on?” (Laughter.) He’s obviously very proud of his body. (Laughter and applause.)
And they say where he works out — you know, where the congressmen, senators, they work out — they say, when Jim works out — even though he’s not as young as he was, but he works out — the machine starts burning. You know, it’s just a different form of a workout than us. Right, Sonny? And — there he is. Look at that guy.
But one day I’m looking, and he looks tough. And I’m looking, and I’m looking at those ears. And I say, “Those ears have something going on there.” I said, “Did you ever wrestle?” “Yeah, I did.” But he doesn’t talk. But I checked. This guy was a world — this guy was a champion, top, top wrestler. And when I had the top — I had all of the teams.
And, by the way, your Super Bowl champions are coming, I think next week or soon. Very soon. And every one of them want to be here. (Applause.) And the coach loves us. The coach is great. Andy Reid. And every one of them want to be here. We have — people love it.
But we had all of the NCAA championship teams here. They had the golf, the basketball. They had every team here. And one of the teams was wrestling. The wrestling team. Was that Penn State? And Penn State won the title. They have a great team.
And I walked up with Jim, and it’s like I didn’t exist. (Laughter.) Those wrestlers, they grabbed him. They love Jim Jordan, and we love you too because you are some warrior. (Applause.) True. True.
A woman who became a star — we have a couple of women that became stars. You two. And I always liked the name of her — you know, I liked the name, “Lesko.” I liked it. That’s how I picked it. I liked the name. I saw that face. I saw that everything. They gave me cards. She had like seven opponents, right?
And you have no idea how much the public appreciates how smart, how sharp you are. This I can’t tell. I can’t tell. They just said, “You know, she’s really good. She’s really talented.” And I said, “Let’s go.” We worked with her. She won her race. Tough race. It’s no longer tough. Because what she does out there is incredible. Arizona loves her.
But you were so incredible, representing — I don’t say “me” — representing our country and getting it out of this impeachment hoax. What you did was incredible.
So, Debbie, please stand up. Debbie Lesko. (Applause.)
A man who I — I became very friendly with — I don’t know why. Do you ever have where — I’ll ask the media: If certain people call, you take their calls. Other people call — if they don’t have information, they won’t take anybody’s call. But other people call, and you don’t.
This is a guy — he just — he’s just a very special guy. His wife I actually like better than him, to be honest. (Laughter.) Because he doesn’t know that I know that he didn’t actually support me right from the beginning, but she did. (Laughter.)
And on my worst day — right? — on my worst day, my worst — I won’t tell you why it was my worst, but it was not one of those good days — she got on a bus, got many other buses and women all over North Carolina, and they toured North Carolina. Well, Mark was back sort of semi-supporting another candidate, which he ended up leaving very quickly. I don’t think you had a choice, because of your wife, but thank her.
And Mark Meadows, he’s an extraordinary guy. I mean, the only problem is, I guess, he’s announcing — he’d only win by 40 points, but he’s announcing that he’ll be not running this time. Do you have somebody good to run? Somebody going to win your district by at least 20 points, please? Okay? But he’s a tremendously talented man, not just as a politician. As a human being, he’s incredible.
And during these horrible times — I mean, the way he worked and Jim and all of you guys — the way they worked so — it was like their life was at stake. So many.
Ron DeSantis is another one. He worked so hard. Then he called me. He said, “Sir, I’d like to run for governor.” I said, “Governor? I don’t want you to run. I like you staying.” “No, I want to run for governor.” And I said, “Well, if you have to.” “I’d like your support.” I said, “How can I support you? You’re at three.” He was at three. He had no money. Somebody was at 38 and they had $22 million cash, right? I said, “Look, if it’s important, I’ll do it,” because they — he’s been another great warrior. And he’s — by the way, he ran. I endorsed him. His numbers went through the roof.
The man who we beat, who was expected to win easily, called me after the race. He said, “You endorsed him, and it was like a nuclear bomb went off. There was nothing I could do.” He never even spent his money. He saved it.
But Ron DeSantis is another one, and now he’s the governor of Florida. And, by the way, he’s a great governor. He’s a very popular governor. His numbers are in the 70s. And he’s done a great job.
But, Mark, I want to thank you very much. Fantastic job. Thank you very much. Mark Meadows. (Applause.)
And Mike Johnson of Louisiana. Where’s Mike? Central casting. What a job. You can represent me anytime. (Applause.) You can represent me anytime. Thank you. What a job you’ve done. Thank you, Mike.
And a man nobody has ever heard of, except the other side. He’s the other side’s worst nightmare. This guy goes down into dungeons and basements; he’ll find a document, no matter what. He’s the most legitimate human being. He’s the hardest worker. He’s unbelievable. He took tremendous abuse. I mean, abuse.
The — the media and, you know, the other side, and the bad ones, the leakers, the liars, the dirty cops — they wanted to destroy him. They tried. They got close, but he wouldn’t let it happen. And, honestly, in a certain way, he was the first one. Wouldn’t you say, Jim and Mark and everybody? This was the first guy. He came out of nowhere. He’s saying, “These people are corrupt.” He’s still saying it. And he was unbelievable. Devin Nunes. He was unbelievable. Unbelievable. (Applause.) That’s so true, Devin.
He’d come in and say — I didn’t even know hi;, I just heard there were like — there was this congressman who kept going into a basement — into files. (Laughter.) He knew something was wrong. You felt it, right? And now we know a lot more than we knew then, right? You never thought it was as bad as it is. And hopefully we’re going to take care of things, because we can never, ever allow this to happen again. (Applause.)
Scott Perry of Pennsylvania. Scott, thank you. (Applause.) Thank you, Scott. Really great. And you’re doing very well over there, by the way. Just saw your numbers. A man who is a — I mean, central casting. If I’m going to pick Perry Mason, I’m going to do a remake of Perry Mason — other than Bill Barr, I’d pick this guy. But I have to say, I’ll pick Barr. I pick Barr first, right? (Laughter.) John Ratcliffe, right? But I have to tell you, if we’re doing a remake of Perry Mason, the man I get — there’s nobody in Hollywood like this — John Ratcliffe, right? (Applause.) Stand up, John.
So — such a great lawyer. Incredible guy. Incredible talent. But just a great lawyer and we appreciate it. He gets on that screen, and everyone says, “I agree.” The other side folds up so fast. We’ll probably be using a lot of you in the next year. But you have been fantastic, John. We appreciate it. Thank you very much.
A man who’s braver than me and braver than all of us in this room. He got — he got whacked. He got whacked. My Steve, right? I went to the hospital with our great First Lady that night. Right, honey? And we saw a man that was not going to make it. He was not going to make it. He was — the doctor — and I told him his wife — I said, “She loves you.” “Why do you say that?” Because she was devastated.
A lot of wives wouldn’t give a damn. (Laughter.) A lot of — a lot of wives — a lot of wives would have said, “Oh, yeah.” I said, “How’s he doing?” “Oh…” She couldn’t even talk. She was inconsolable. Most wives would say, “Not good. Listen, I’m going home now.” (Laughter.) But the doctor came in — the wife is like — she was a total mess. She was really devastated. And he really — it looked like he had a 20, 25 percent chance. I think you set a record for blood loss.
And, Steve Scalise, I — actually, honestly, I think you’re better looking now. You’re more handsome now. (Laughter.) You — you weren’t that good looking. You look good now. (Laughter.) He looks better now. Can you believe it? I don’t know what the hell that is. (Applause.) It’s true. Better now. (Applause.) What a guy.
And he was practicing — he was practicing for the baseball game against, I guess, the Democrats, right? And this whack-job started shooting. Hurt Roger — I don’t know if Roger is here. But hurt a number of people — hit them. But really hit Steve. He — Steve was at second base. He was the second baseman. And he went down and it was terrible. I mean, I saw the whole thing and it was terrible.
Fortunately, you had two brave policemen with you. Because of your high position in Congress, you had two policemen and they were amazing — the man and a woman. And they came and they didn’t have rifles. They were against a, supposedly, pretty good sharpshooter with rifles — good equipment. And all they had was a gun. And they started coming in from the outfield, shooting. And they’re so far away that a handgun is not preferred. This guy has the rifle and he’s hitting people. And he was going to move up and there was no out. I mean, if he would have been able to move up, there was no way to get out. The entrance was a single entranceway on the other side, where he was.
So everyone went into the dugout — ran into the dugout, but Steve was really hit badly in the stomach, and — with a bullet that rips you apart. It was supposed to do that. It rips — it rips you apart.
And these two people came charging forward. Boom. Boom. Boom. And one of them — you know who — one of them — him? — got the shooter. Hit him. And then got him. Killed him from the long distance. It was amazing. If you didn’t have those two people — you can imagine, right? You could imagine what would happen.
So Melania and I went to the hospital that night. And he was in such bad shape, and he’s been working ever since, so hard. But six months ago, they had a baseball game at the Nationals Park. And I’m watching and it’s — it’s on television. And it’s just, you know, a game. People — you want to win it, right? And Steve’s at second base. The poor guy can’t even walk.
Do you remember Bobby Richardson for the New York Yankees? He was known for range, Louie. Range. He had the greatest range. If a ball is hit to shortstop — Bobby Richardson is the second player, the second baseman — Bobby Richardson would field the ball. If it’s hit to first base, he’ll throw it to the first baseman. He had unbelievable range. This was not Steve Scalise. (Laughter.) Steve had no range. (Laughter.) One foot and he has to fall down, right? Because, you know, he was trying to get better. I don’t know who the hell put you on the field. (Laughter.)
And this is a true story. So the game starts and the first pitch — Steve is standing at second base and the guy is really in bad shape. And I said, “This is terrible.” A shot — groundball shot is hit to second and Steve. I say — I didn’t have time to think too much, but I said, “This is not good. That ball is going toward him.”
And this guy stopped that ball, caught the call. He’s now laying down. He throws the ball to first base. He gets him out. I said, “It’s the most incredible thing.” I’ve never seen — athletically — (applause) — I’ve never seen anything like it, right?
And he gets him out and they then took him out of the game, which was a very wise thing because you could never do that again in a million years. (Laughter.) But you weren’t going to let that ball go through. I don’t care if it was hit by the greatest of all time, right? That ball was not going through you, because you are a warrior. Steve is — he is fantastic. You are fantastic. You and Liz and Kevin.
What a great — what a group. I mean, what a group. I got lucky. I got lucky because you need the right people. If I had the wrong people there, he — maybe a different story. Maybe we’d be celebrating something else. But I really want to thank you, Steve Scalise.
And, Elise, you — I just read this story; she’s the most incredible — what’s going on with you, Elise. So I even said — you know, I was up campaigning for her, helping her. But I thought, “She looks good. She looks like good talent.” But did I not realize, when she opens that mouth, you were killing them, Elise. (Laughter.) You were killing them. (Applause.)
Elise — and there’s a big story in the New York Post — I love the New York Post because they treat me well. There aren’t too many of you that do. But today, you’re treating me well. I even had a great headline — New York Times, Washington Post. I had all of these great headlines. Maybe we should just end it right there. (Laughter.)
But you had the greatest story, yesterday in the Post, that people from all over the country are contributing to her campaign. They were so enthralled with the way you handled yourself, what you said, the way you said it. And I’ll always be your friend. I think it was — it’s really an amazing story. What a great future you have. What a great future. Thank you. (Applause.) The First Lady agrees, by the way. The First Lady agrees.
And Michael Turner, you can represent me anytime. Where’s Michael? Where is he? (Applause.) Or you can represent me. How good were you? There’s another — there’s another Perry Mason type, I think. Right? What do you think, John? But, Michael, you were fantastic and we appreciate it.
Brad Wenstrup. Where’s Brad? Brad. (Applause.) Great, great job. This is a big day for lawyers. You notice only the lawyers stayed? All the lawyers stayed behind.
Lee Zeldin. How good are you? How good are you? (Applause.) Man.
And, Louie, your name is not down. They didn’t give me your name. Do you know — if I didn’t announce Louie — (laughter) — whoever the hell made this list, I got to get rid of because I — if I wouldn’t have announced Louie, it might have been the end of the presidency. (Laughter.) Louie, you have been so great. So tough and so smart. I got it just — (laughs) — I got it. But Louie has been amazing. He’s a tough guy. He’s a smart guy. He’s streetwise like crazy. We love Texas, and we’re with you all the way, Louie. We’re with you all the way. Thank you very much. (Applause.)
So that’s the story. We have a great group of warriors, and there are others left, and, I guess, probably, I’m sure I didn’t mention a few, and I apologize if that’s the case. How’s CPAC doing? Good? Huh? My man, stand up please, will you? He’s the one who said, “You should run.” (Applause.) Right?
Matt said — it’s like five years ago, six years ago. And I made a speech, and then they do some kind of a straw poll: “Who made the best speech?” And he said, “I made the best speech.” With all this professional — I hate to say this: With all these professional politicians, they voted, by far, the best speech was Trump. He calls me, he says, “You should run for politics.” I say, “What do I know about politics?”
But you know what? We learned quickly, and our country has never done better than it’s doing right now. (Applause.) So it’s been good. (Applause.) But thank you, Matt. Great. Say hello.
So that’s the story. We’ve been treated very unfairly. Fortunately, we have great men and women that came to our defense. If we didn’t, this would have been a horrific incident for our country. When you have Lisa and Peter, the lovers, the FBI lovers: “I want to believe the path you threw out for” Deputy Director Andrew McCabe. That’s the office. “There’s no way he gets elected” — meaning me. “There’s no way he gets elected.”
This is Peter, to Lisa. He’s probably trying to impress her, for obvious reasons. (Laughter.) “There’s no way he gets elected. But I’m afraid we can’t take the risk.” Now, think of this. In other words, if I get elected, they can’t — “they”; two low-lifes — they can’t take the risk. They can’t take the risk. Think of it.
And that’s where it came up, the greatest word of all: “insurance policy.” So he says, “But I’m afraid we can’t take the risk. She may lose.” It’s like an insurance policy. In the unlikely event you die before you’re 40 — in other words, if I won, they were going to do exactly what they did to us. They were going to try and overthrow the government of the United States — a duly elected president.
And if I didn’t fire James Comey, we would have never found this stuff. Because when I fired that sleazebag, all hell broke out. They were ratting on each other. They were running for the hills. Let’s see what happens. Let’s see what happens. It’s in the hands of some very talented people. We’re going to have to see what happens.
But I can tell you, in my opinion, these are the crookedest, most dishonest, dirtiest people I’ve ever seen. They said — this is Strzok: “God, Hillary should win 100 million to one.” This is about me. This is an agent from the FBI. Look how they let her off. Thirty-three thousand emails deleted. Nothing happens to her. Nothing happens. It’s unbelievable.
But think of that — “God, Hillary should win” — when these guys are investigating Hillary. Then they go to work for Mueller — the two of them — and when Muller found out that everybody knew that they were 100 percent this way, he let them go. But they deleted all of their emails and text messages.
So when we got the phone, they were all deleted. Could you imagine the treasure trove? They illegally deleted. So they left. They left Bob Mueller. He had the look, but he didn’t have a lot of other things. Always had the look. Mr. G-Man.
And I love the FBI and the FBI loves me — 99 percent. It was the top scum. And the FBI people don’t like the top scum.
So think of that: 100 million to one. And he’s investigating me. And then, “God, Trump is a loathsome human being, isn’t he?” These are the people looking at me. I’m really not a bad person. And Page said, “Yes, he’s awful.” How would you like to have that? This is just — this is the good stuff. There’s stuff a hundred times worse than that. These are all dirty people.
And now, I just heard that they’re suing the United States of America because they were interfered with. We’re not going to let it happen. Just not going to let it happen. We cannot let this happen to our country. We can’t. (Applause.)
So, I’m going to leave now. And I don’t know if any of you have anything to say. You could say it. But this is sort of a day of celebration, because we went through hell.
And I’m sure that Pelosi and Cryin’ Chuck — I’ve known this guy all the — the only time I ever saw him cry was when it was appropriate. Known him for a long time. Cryin’ Chuck. But I’m sure they’ll try and cook up other things. They’ll go through the state of New York. They’ll go through other places. They’ll do whatever they can. Because instead of wanting to heal our country and fix our country, all they want to do — in my opinion, it’s almost like they want to destroy our country. We can’t let it happen.
Jim Jordan, did you want to say something? Go ahead. Huh? Mark?
REPRESENTATIVE MEADOWS: No, I just — I wanted to just say that this reflection today, it is a small reflection of the kind of support you have all across the country. We’ve got your back. (Applause.)
THE PRESIDENT: Well, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. (Applause.)
This was a highly partisan situation. Pelosi said — I copied it down exactly. Before the impeachment — she wanted to impeach from day one, by the way. Don’t let it fool you. You know, she said, “No, the impeachment is a very serious thing.” I said, “She wants to impeach. Watch.”
Impeachment is so divisive to the country that unless there’s something so compelling and so overwhelming and bipartisan — bipartisan. It was 197 to nothing. And other than one failed presidential candidate — and I call that “half a vote” because he actually voted for us on the other one. But we had one failed presidential candidate. That’s the only half a vote we lost. So, we had almost 53 to nothing. We had 197 to nothing. And the only one that voted against was a guy that can’t stand the fact that he ran one of the worst campaigns in the history of the presidency.
But she said, “There’s something so compelling — it has to be so compelling and so overwhelming and bipartisan. I don’t think we should go down that path, because it divides the country” — she was right about that — “and it’s just not worth it.” That was Nancy Pelosi a year ago. Right?
And I think it’s a shame. I think it’s a shame. But as I said, if we can put this genius to work on roads and highways and bridges and all of the things we can do — prescription drugs. You know, we had — Secretary Azar is here and I want to thank him for this, but we had — first time in 51 years, where drug prices actually came down last year. First time in 51 years. But what we can do, working with both parties in Congress, is — would be unbelievable. It would be unbelievable — all we can do.
And I know Chuck Grassley is working very hard on it and Mitch is working very hard on it. But what we can do is — is incredible. What we can do, just generally. We’ve done so much without it. We’ve rebuilt our military. We’ve cut regulations at a level that nobody thought possible. We’ll always protect our Second Amendment; we all know that.
But I just want to tell you that it’s an honor to be with you all. I want to apologize to my family for having them have to go through a phony, rotten deal by some very evil and sick people. And Ivanka is here, and my — my sons and my whole family, and that includes Barron. (Applause.) That includes Barron, who is up there as a young boy.
Stand up, honey. (Applause.) Ivanka, thank you, honey. Come. Come. (Applause.) (The President hugs Ivanka Trump.)
Come here, baby. (Applause.) (The President hugs the First Lady.)
So I just want to thank my family for sticking through it. This was not part of the deal. I was going to run for President, and if I won, I was going do a great job. I didn’t know that I was going to run, and then when I got in, I was going to have to run again and again and again. Every week, I had to run again. That wasn’t the deal, but they stuck with me.
And I’m so glad I did it because we are making progress and doing things for our great people that everybody said couldn’t be done. Our country is thriving. Our country is just respected again. And it’s an honor to be with the people in this room.
Thank you very much, everybody. (Applause.) Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. (Applause.) ————————————————————
This is just to let you know that Gab Chat and Private Messaging are BACK and in BETA TEST – but the beta product is REALLY GOOD (although it does NOT work on Firefox yet – BECAUSE FIREFOX).
REPEAT – GAB CHAT AND PRIVATE MESSAGING DOES NOT WORK ON FIREFOX YET! PLEASE USE ANOTHER BROWSER FOR NOW!
Let’s take a closer (if slightly stretched) look at that…..
Gab needs more people on it for testing, so GIT YOU AZZEZ ON IT, PEEPS!
Here is a sample of what it looks like right now, for me.
IMPORTANT!!! Note my “handle” @WOLFM00N in the upper left-hand corner. THAT is important. THAT is where you will find notifications and invitations – by clicking on it.
Along the left, and down a bit, you will find private rooms, private messages, and public rooms.
All of these are fundamentally the same, but there are slight differences which define them.
Private rooms are named rooms, to which the owner/starter invites others
Private messages are basically un-named, invited rooms – conversations, usually between 2 individuals, but there can be more than 2 in the room.
Public rooms are like private rooms, only the URL for the room can be shared, and people don’t have to be invited – they can just walk in. Both of the images above, are of public rooms.
Gab Chat is still a work in progress, as you can see from this Gab post by Andrew Torba, the founder and CEO of Gab.
This means that they are integrating Gab Chat into Gab, so that it’s easy to go from one to the other. This way, you’ll be able to click a button in Gab to PM/DM somebody.
SO – how do you GET ON GAB CHAT?
Here is a YouTube video that may help:
FIRST make sure that you can get on Gab – back on your old account. You will need your Gab user name and password. If you have forgotten them, your user name might be HERE:
You will be asked to log into your Gab account. That means that you need to know your username and password, exactly as we prepared.
Next, however, is the tricky part.
You will generate ENCRYPTION KEYS (actually, Gab will do it for you), and those keys will be protected by a password, which can be anything meeting the minimum requirements. It can be identical to your Gab password, or something different. Whatever that password is, you MUST remember it – particularly if you try to access your chat messages from a new device. Do whatever you have to do to NOT lose that password.
Here is what Gab says will happen if you lose your chat key password:
Please do not lose or forget this password. Gab cannot restore your Security Keys. The password you enter now will be used to encrypt your private key. If you lose or forget this password, you will no longer be able to decrypt messages send to you while you were using these keys.
Gab Chat instructions
At that point, you’re ready to chat.
I suggest that you send me, @WOLFM00N (with TWO zeroes in “M00N”), a new private message, and then I will invite you into the The Q Tree Members group. If you’re an author, you’ll also get an invitation to the The Q Tree Authors group, which is like the other, only more boring and concerned with infrastructure and groundskeeping.
I don’t know if there is a size limit to our group. I’m hoping there is not.
I will add more instructions and details here as needed, as we get some experience signing up.
So far, Deplorable Patriot (@FlyoverDeplorablePatriot a.k.a. Bohemian Flair Crochet) has successfully chatted with me and joined the groups. WE NEED MOAR!
We need to be grateful and a little humble. Still a LOT of work to do!
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT TRUMP AT THE 68TH NATIONAL PRAYER BREAKFAST
Washington Hilton Washington, D.C. ————————————————————
**
9:11 A.M. EST
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. Well, thank you very much. I’m working very hard for you, I will tell you. (Laughter.) And sometimes you don’t make it easy, and I certainly don’t make it easy on you. (Laughter.) And I will continue that tradition, if I might, this morning. And, Arthur, I don’t know if I agree with you. (Laughter.) But I don’t know if Arthur is going to like what I’m going to say. (Laughter.) But I love listening to you. It’s really great. Thank you very much.
And thank you, congressmen, for the great job you’ve been doing and the relationship and the help. You’re a warrior. Thank you very much. And, Kevin, you’re a warrior. Thank you. The job you’ve done is incredible. It wasn’t supposed to be that way. A lot of extra work. Unnecessary work.
It’s wonderful to be with the thousands of religious believers for the 68th annual National Prayer Breakfast. I’ve been here from the first one, where I had the privilege of being asked. I’ve been with you for a long time before then. And we’ve made tremendous progress. Tremendous progress. You know what we’ve done. I don’t think anybody has done more than all of us together during these last three years. And it’s been my honor.
But this morning, we come together as one nation, blessed to live in freedom and grateful to worship in peace. As everybody knows, my family, our great country, and your President, have been put through a terrible ordeal by some very dishonest and corrupt people. They have done everything possible to destroy us, and by so doing, very badly hurt our nation. They know what they are doing is wrong, but they put themselves far ahead of our great country.
Weeks ago, and again yesterday, courageous Republican politicians and leaders had the wisdom, the fortitude, and strength to do what everyone knows was right. I don’t like people who use their faith as justification for doing what they know is wrong. Nor do I like people who say, “I pray for you,” when they know that that’s not so.
So many people have been hurt, and we can’t let that go on. And I’ll be discussing that a little bit later at the White House.
We’re joined today by two people whose faith inspires us all: our amazing, wonderful friend, Vice President Mike Pence — (applause) — and his wonderful wife, Karen. (Applause.) Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you to all of our great political leaders out there — so many that I’ve been working with so hard over the last three years. And we’ve accomplished so much. And to members of my Cabinet in attendance — Secretary Mike Pompeo, Mark Esper, David Bernhardt — (applause) — Gene Scalia, Alex Azar, Ben Carson, Dan Brouillette, Betsy DeVos, Robert Wilke, and Administrator Jovita Carranza.
Joining us — (applause) — for this cherished tradition are a lot of friends in the audience. And many, really, have become friends. They are political leaders. They’ve become great friends. That’s all I get to meet anymore. (Laughter.) That and the enemies and the allies. And we have them all. We have allies. We have enemies. Sometimes the allies are enemies, but we just don’t know it. (Laughter.) But we’re changing all that. But thank you all, and thank you all for being here.
I also want to welcome foreign dignitaries from more than 140 countries. That’s something. (Applause.) That’s something. Everyone here today is united by a shared conviction. We know that our nation is stronger, our future is brighter, and our joy is greater when we turn to God and ask him to shed his grace on our lives.
On Tuesday, I addressed Congress on the state of the Union and the great American comeback. That’s what it is. (Applause.) Our country has never done better than it is doing right now. Our economy is the strongest it has ever been. And for those of you that are interested in stocks, it looks like the stock market will be way up again today.
According to the latest Gallup poll that just came out a little while ago, a few minutes ago, American satisfaction is at the highest level ever recorded. Can you imagine? And that’s from Gallup — no friend of mine. (Applause.) Ninety percent of Americans say they are satisfied with their personal lives. How about that? Isn’t that something? Just came out today. (Applause.) They must have known I was going to be here. (Laughter.)
In everything we do, we are creating a culture that protects freedom, and that includes religious freedom. (Applause.)
As I said on Tuesday in the House Chamber, “In America, we don’t punish prayer. We don’t tear down crosses. We don’t ban symbols of faith. We don’t muzzle preachers.” We don’t muzzle pastors. “In America, we celebrate faith, we cherish religion, we lift our voices in prayer, and we raise our sights to the Glory of God.” (Applause.)
So much of the greatness we have achieved, the mysteries we’ve unlocked, and the wonders we’ve built, the challenges we’ve met, and the incredible heights that we’ve reached has come from the faith of our families and the prayers of our people.
Before America declared independence, patriots in all 13 colonies came together in days of fasting and prayer. In the bitter cold of Valley Forge, Washington and his men had no food, no supplies, and very little chance of victory. It reminded me a little bit of 2016. We had very little chance of victory. (Laughter.) Except for the people in this room and some others believed we were going to win. I believed we were going to win. But what they did have was have an unwavering belief that God was with them. I believe that too. God is with the people in this room.
Before a single skyscraper rose up in New York City, thousands of poor American families donated all they could to build the magnificent St. Patrick’s Cathedral. (Applause.) When Buzz Aldrin landed on the Moon, he said, “Houston, I would like to request a few moments of silence.” Then, he read from the Bible. (Applause.)
At every stage, our nation’s long march for civil rights was inspired, sustained, and uplifted by faith, prayer, and devotion of religious believers.
To protect faith communities, I have taken historic action to defend religious liberty, including the constitutional right to pray in public schools. (Applause.)
We can also talk about the Johnson Amendment. We can talk about Mexico City Policy. We’ve done a lot. But I also recently took executive action to stop taxpayer dollars from going to colleges and universities that spread the poison of anti-Semitism and bad things about Christianity. (Applause.)
We are upholding the sanctity of life — sanctity of life. (Applause.) And we are doing that like nobody has ever done it before from this position. You better get out and vote on November 3rd — (laughter) — because you have a lot of people out there that aren’t liking what we’re doing.
And we’re pursuing medical breakthroughs to save premature babies because every child is a sacred gift from God. (Applause.)
Together, we are building the world’s most prosperous and inclusive society. We are lifting up citizens of every race, color, religion, and creed. We are bringing hope to forgotten communities. And more Americans are working today — 160 million. A little bit short. Just a little bit. One hundred and sixty million. We’ve never been even close — than ever before. Think of it: More Americans are working today — almost 160 million — than ever before. Our unemployment numbers are the best in the history of our country. (Applause.)
A more specific number and numbers that you hear me say, if you listen: African American, Asian American, Hispanic American — the best unemployment numbers in the history of our country. Women — best in 71 years. Sorry. We’ll have you there soon. Soon, it will be “historic.” I have to apologize to the women; it’s only 71 years.
But the best unemployment numbers, we have — we’re doing things that nobody thought possible. We’re setting records that nobody thought achievable.
And to give former prisoners a second chance at life, which so many people in this room have worked on for so long — (applause) — we passed criminal justice reform into law, and I signed it nine months ago.
And it’s proving more and more that America is indeed a nation that believes in redemption. What’s happened with prisoners is a miracle. Prisoners would come out and nobody would give them a job. And oftentimes, most of the time — almost all of the time — they’d go back into prison. They’d get caught doing something bad. They had no money. They had no hope. They had no job. Now they’re coming out into a booming economy. And employers are hiring them, and to a certain extent, maybe because they’re having a hard time getting people.
First time in our country’s history, actually, we’re running out of people. We have plants moving in by the thousands. We have car companies coming from Japan and from Germany, from lots of other places, and we need people. And employers are hiring prisoners, and they would have never done it, except for what we’ve done with criminal justice reform. But even before that, because the economy has become so powerful.
And these prisoners have done an incredible job. The employers are saying, “Why didn’t I do this 20 years ago?”
So it’s an incredible thing what’s happening to people that are given a second chance, and sometimes a third chance, in all fairness. And it’s something that everybody in this room should be very proud about, because you’ve always felt that way long before it was fashionable. So I want to thank you for that. (Applause.)
As we revive our economy, we are also renewing our national spirit. Today we proudly proclaim that faith is alive and well and thriving in America. And we’re going to keep it that way. Nobody will have it changed. (Applause.) It won’t happen. As long as I’m here, it will never, ever happen. (Applause.)
Something which wasn’t done nearly enough — I could almost say wasn’t done at all — we are standing up for persecuted Christians and religious minorities all around the world — (applause) — like nobody has ever done.
Last year, at the United Nations, I was honored to be the first President to host a meeting of religious freedom. It was based all on religious freedom. That was the first meeting of its kind ever held at the United Nations. There I called upon all nations to combat the terrible injustice of religious persecution. And people listened.
And countries that we give billions of dollars to, they listened because they had to listen. (Laughter.) It’s amazing how that works, isn’t it? (Laughter.) That nobody ever played that game before. (Laughter.)
Weeks ago, a 21-year-old woman, who goes by the name of Mary, was seized and imprisoned in Iran because she converted to Christianity and shared the Gospel with others.
In Venezuela, the dictator Maduro has arrested church leaders. At the State of the Union, I was honored to host the true and legitimate President of Venezuela, Juan Guaidó. (Applause.) Good man. I told him that all Americans stand with the Venezuelan people in their righteous struggle for freedom.
Yesterday, our administration launched the International Religious Freedom Alliance, the first-ever alliance devoted to promoting religious liberty. It was something. Really something. (Applause.)
More than 25 countries have already joined our campaign. I want to thank Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, along with Ambassador Sam Brownback, who are both here this morning, for leading this historic initiative. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mike. (Applause.) Thank you.
All of us here today reaffirm these timeless truths: Faith keeps us free. Prayer makes us strong. And God alone is the author of life and the giver of grace. (Applause.)
With us this morning is a pastor who embodies the miracle of faith and the power of prayer: Reverend Gerald Toussaint from Louisiana. Reverend Toussaint is an Army veteran, a truck driver, and a pastor. He leads the same church that his father led, Mount Pleasant Baptist Church, which has been a pillar of the community for more than 140 years.
Last year, Mount Pleasant was one of three African American churches in Louisiana that was destroyed in a fire set by a wicked, hate-filled arsonist.
Yet, in the wake of such shocking evil, America witnessed the unshakable unity, devotion, and spirit of Reverend Toussaint and his entire highly spirited, beautiful congregation. Families quickly came together in prayer. Soon, people from all across Louisiana came to help any way they could. Americans in all 50 states and 20 different countries heard about it and they donated more than $2 million to help rebuild Mount Pleasant — (applause) — and the other two churches that were (inaudible).
On Easter Sunday, just days after he lost his church, Reverend Toussaint preached about what it all meant. What does it mean? “The Easter season,” he said, “is a fitting metaphor for recent events. It was dark the day that Jesus was crucified. It was dark [at] night when they burned our church. What has happened since is like a resurrection.” Old things are gone, but it’s going to be a brand-new start, and it’s going to be better than ever, Reverend. (Applause.) Better than ever. Fantastic.
And today, just 10 months later, the ground is cleared. Careful plans have been made, and they’re beautiful plans. And construction is about to begin on the new and very, very magnificent Mount Pleasant Church. Congratulations. (Applause.)
You know, the Reverend says that we’re rebuilding because that’s what Jesus does. He rebuilds, he lives, and he breathes. It’s what he does. He wants it to be rebuilt. It was torn apart, but it’s being rebuilt again, and I’ll bet you it will indeed be bigger, better, and nicer than before. What do you think, Reverend? Yes? And it’s going to have your mark on it. It did have and now it will have even great. And your father is looking down on you right now and he’s very, very proud of the job that you’ve done. Thank you very much. (Applause.) Very much inspire us, Reverend. Thank you.
Well, I want to just thank everybody. This has been very special. Tell your congregation that — and all of your people — that we have 350 million people in our country. They’re proud Americans. And they respect what we’re doing, even those that you don’t think so much like us, respect us, want to be with us. They’re respecting our fight, and we are in a fight.
Religion in this country and religion all over the world — certain religions in particular — are under siege. We won’t let that happen. We are going to protect our religions. We are going to protect Christianity. We are going to protect our great ministers and pastors and rabbis and all of the people that we so cherish and that we so respect.
America is eternally in the debt of our nation’s African American churches all throughout this country. That’s why it’s so fitting and so — it’s one of the reasons we chose this particular church in Louisiana. For generations, they bravely fought for justice and lifted up the conscience of our nation. And we’re grateful beyond any measure.
But I can say that going beyond that, we’re grateful to the people in this room for the love they show to religion. Not one religion, but many religions. They are brave. They are brilliant. They are fighters. They like people. And sometimes they hate people. I’m sorry. I apologize. I’m trying to learn. (Laughter.) It’s not easy. It’s not easy. (Applause.) When they impeach you for nothing, then you’re supposed to like them? It’s not easy, folks. (Laughter.) I do my best.
But I’ll tell you what we are doing: We’re restoring hope and spreading faith. We’re helping citizens of every background take part in the great rebuilding of our nation. We’re declaring that America will always shine as a land of liberty and light unto all nations of the world. We want every nation to look up to us like they are right now. We were not a respected nation just a few years ago. We had lost our way. Our country is respected again by everybody. (Applause.)
This morning, let us ask Father in Heaven to guide our steps, protect our children, and bless our families. And with all of our heart, let us forever embrace the eternal truth that every child is made equal by the hand of Almighty God.
Thank you. God Bless you. And God bless America. Thank you all very much. Thank you. Thank you. (Applause.)
