NOT MY pres drump/trump expects the same "loyalty" russia's putin, n. korea's kim, the prc's xi, turkey's erdogan demand, just to name a few brutal dictators the drumpf/trump-pence administration admire. Democracy allows, encourages and protects differences of opinion and loyal opposition. drump/trump-pence need to know democracy doesn't require people to "genuflect" in their presence, to accept their lies, deception and manipulation as truth. To accuse the opposition of treason because they are the opposition is dangerous and another example of the drumpf/trump-pence administration's desires and attempts to establish a more authoritarian regime. I did not watch or listen to NOT MY pres drumpf's/trump's sotu speech, I oppose the neo nazi fascist policies of the drumpf/trump-pence administration and and I am a loyal American.
Trump blasts 'treasonous' Democrats for not applauding at his State of the Union address
President Trump suggested Monday that Democrats who refused to applaud during his State of the Union address last week were traitors, turning a Cincinnati speech on tax reform
into a campaign rally that promised to punish Democrats in congressional elections in November.
"They would rather see Trump do badly, OK, than our country do well," Trump said in an official visit to a suburban Cincinnati factory. "It got to the point that I didn’t really want to look too much on that side. It was bad energy."
Trump said the Democratic response to his speech was "like death" and "un-American."
"Somebody said 'treasonous.' I mean, yeah, I guess. Why not?" he said. "Can we call that treason? Why not. They certainly didn’t seem to love our country very much."
Democrats denounced the remark as an affront to free speech and accused Trump of "emulating autocrats."
"When Vladimir Putin does his yearly news conference, he generally demands applause and supplication from those in attendance, but it's beyond bizarre for an American president to demand the same from free-thinking citizens in a democratic republic," said Ohio Democratic Party Chairman David Pepper.
Trump's trip to Cincinnati Monday was billed by the White House as an official event, despite the presence Rep. Jim Renacci, a Republican who represents the other corner of the state but who is running for the Senate in Ohio.
“This isn’t a political event," White House deputy press secretary Raj Shah told reporters aboard Air Force One. "The president’s there to talk about the tax-cut bill that Congressman Renacci and many other Republicans in the House and Senate voted for.”
But an hour later, Trump took the stage at Sheffer Corp., a hydraulics company in the Cincinnati suburb of Blue Ash, and went on an extended soliloquy on his Democratic opponents, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and her Senate counterpart, Chuck Schumer.
"Nancy Pelosi, what she's doing to this country, and she's moved so far left, and Schumer has gone so far left," Trump said. "Oh, I look forward to running against them."
Pelosi shot back on Twitter, calling it alarming that Trump equated loyalty to him with loyalty to the country. "That is not how democracy works," she said.
Every American should be alarmed by how @realDonaldTrump is working to make loyalty to him synonymous with loyalty to our country. That is not how democracy works.
Trump even attempted to get out the vote for Republican candidates, a strategy usually reserved for the final days of a campaign. He said supporters of the party in power too often get complacent in the next election.
"They take it for granted, they sit back, and they get clobbered, because the other people have more energy," he said. "We're not going to let that happen to us."
While the president has broad leeway to use his bully pulpit to talk about politics, federal laws require his party to reimburse the government for the cost of political travel. But in identifying the event as an official one, the White House signaled that the taxpayer would pick up the tab.
Trump's political comments overshadowed what was supposed to be a policy speech intended to highlight his administration's economic accomplishments. Like hundreds of other companies, Sheffer Corp. gave employees bonuses of $1,000 after the passage of the tax cut bill.
Cincinnati Enquirer: Fact check: President Donald Trump speech in Greater Cincinnati
Trump suggested that his leadership was the difference in turning around the economy.
"You know, you can work hard, but if you don't have the right leader setting the right tone, in all fairness — I am not even saying, I am non-braggadocious," he said. "But if I don't set a tone, like, 'You're not going to keep taking our jobs,' you're not going to keep doing what you're doing."
But Trump dropped a line from his usual stump speech about the stock market as the Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted nearly 1,200 points for its largest single-day point drop in history. Instead, he pointed to measures in the broader economy.
"Your taxes are going way down," Trump said. "And, right now, for the first time in a long time — and you've seen it — factories are coming back. Everything is coming back. They all want to be where the action is. America is once again open for business."
Cincinnati is a favorite Trump destination. He has visited the city twice as president after frequent campaign stops in 2016. Its suburbs are a reliably Republican source of votes in the battleground state.
Trump hit on issues important to the Buckeye state, including trade, taxes, immigration and opioid abuse. And he featured the leaders and employees of four local companies — including Fifth Third Bank and soap maker Jergens — that have passed on the benefits of tax reform to their employees.
Returning to campaign mode, Trump mocked Democrats for their opposition to the tax-cut bill — and especially Pelosi's remark that the middle class would get "crumbs."
"Well, she's a rich woman who lives in a big, beautiful house in California who wants to give all of your money away, and she talked about 'crumbs,' " he said, comparing it with rival Hillary Clinton's "basket of deplorables" remark that Trump supporters ultimately embraced.
"She's our secret weapon," he said of Pelosi.
Throughout his speech, Trump repeatedly called out Renacci, who's campaigning in the GOP primary for the U.S. Senate seat now held by Sherrod Brown.
"Senator Brown voted against us and fought us like crazy, OK? Just remember that — he voted against you. Just, when you go in there, he voted against you. Not good. Not good," he said.
Trump called Renacci "a friend of mine from Day 1" and promised to return to Ohio to campaign for him.
"We'll be back," he said. "Jim, get in there and fight. We need you. We need you."
FACT CHECK: Trump's State Of The Union Address
January 30, 20188:25 PM ET
Last updated: 7:50 PM ET 62 Annotations
(APPLAUSE)
Mr. Speaker, the president's cabinet.
(APPLAUSE)
The president of the United States of America.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP
Thank you. Thank you.
(APPLAUSE)
RYAN
Members of Congress, I have the high privilege and the distinct honor of presenting to you the president of the United States.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP
Mr. Speaker, Mr. Vice President, members of Congress, the First Lady of the United States, and my fellow Americans. Less than one year has passed since I first stood at this podium, in this majestic chamber, to speak on behalf of the American people and to address their concerns, their hopes and their dreams.
That night, our new administration had already taken very swift action. A new tide of optimism was already sweeping across our land. Each day since, we have gone forward with a clear vision and a righteous mission, to make America great again for all Americans.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP
Over the last year, we have made incredible progress and achieved extraordinary success. We have faced challenges we expected and others we could never have imagined. We have shared in the heights of victory and the pains of hardship. We have endured floods and fires and storms. But through it all, we have seen the beauty of America's soul and the steel in America's spine.
This is a construction Trump has grown fond of using. In a campaign trail economic speech, he talked about putting “American metal into the spine of this nation.” And in a June 2017 speech on infrastructure, he talked about putting “new American steel into the spine of our country.”
Each test has forged new American heroes to remind us who we are and show us what we can be. We saw the volunteers of the Cajun Navy racing to the rescue with their fishing boats to save people in the aftermath of a totally devastating hurricane.
We saw strangers shielding strangers from a hail of gunfire on the Las Vegas strip.
We heard tales of Americans, like Coast Guard Petty Officer Ashlee Leppert, who is here tonight in the gallery, with Melania.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP
Ashlee was aboard one of the first helicopters on the scene in Houston during the Hurricane Harvey. Through 18 hours of wind and rain, Ashlee braved live power lines and deep water to help save more than 40 lives. Ashlee, we all thank you. Thank you very much.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP
We heard about Americans like firefighter David Dahlberg. He’s here with us also. David faced down walls of flame to rescue almost 60 children trapped at a California summer camp, threatened by those devastating wildfires. To everyone still recovering in Texas, Florida, Louisiana, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, everywhere, we are with you, we love you, and we always will pull through together, always.
More than four months after Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico, about 30 percent of the U.S. territory’s residents are still without electricity and 3.5 percent lack running water. FEMA says it will spend $13.7 billion in Puerto Rico this fiscal year. The agency says it is shifting from the emergency response phase of its work to a longer-term recovery phase. This week, FEMA announced it would stop distributing food and water to cities as it has been doing but will continue providing aid to nonprofit groups. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., has urged FEMA to reverse that decision. Update on Jan. 31 at 5 p.m. ET: FEMA changed course on Wednesday and is no longer halting the distribution of food and water.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP
Thank you to David and the brave people of California. Thank you very much, David. Great job.
Some trials over the past year touched this chamber very personally. With us tonight is one of the toughest people ever to serve in this house, a guy who took a bullet, almost died, and was back to work three and a half months later. The legend from Louisiana, Congressman Steve Scalise.
(APPLAUSE)
I think they like you, Steve.
We are incredibly grateful for the heroic efforts of the capitol police officers, the Alexandria police, and the doctors, nurses, and paramedics who saved his life and the lives of many others some in this room — in the aftermath -
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP
In the aftermath of that terrible shooting, we came together, not as Republicans or Democrats, but as representatives of the people. But it is not enough to come together only in times of tragedy.
Tonight, I call upon on all of us to set aside our differences, to seek out common ground, and to summon the unity we need to deliver for the people. This is really the key. These are the people we were elected to serve.
Despite the president’s call for unity, he has done little to bring the country or the parties together. The country is as divided as it ever has been in modern times. Polling shows about 40 percent of the country strongly disapproves of the president, and a solid percentage strongly approves of the president. Trump’s approval rating overall is the lowest of any modern president at the same time in their presidency. It is low and yet remarkably stable, because of a hard-core base, described by a rival Republican primary campaign manager at a post-election panel at Harvard as made of “titanium.” And Trump has done little to reach out beyond that base, in policy or rhetoric. In fact, by a 2-to-1 margin (61 to 32 percent), Americans say Trump has divided the country since his election, according to a recent NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP
Over the last year, the world has seen what we always knew - that no people on Earth are so fearless or daring or determined as Americans. If there is a mountain, we climb it. If there is a frontier, we cross it. If there is a challenge, we tame it. If there is an opportunity, we seize it. So let's begin tonight by recognizing that the state of our union is strong, because our people are strong.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP
And together we are building a safe, strong and proud America. Since the election, we have created 2.4 million new jobs, including —
Trump likes to say that since his election, U.S. employers have added nearly 2.4 million jobs. That’s true, although that total includes job gains in November and December 2016 and January 2017 when Barack Obama was still president. (The Labor Department conducts its job count around the 12th of every month.) If you take the previous 14-month period — November 2015 through December 2016 — job gains were higher, totaling 2.7 million. The slowdown in job growth on Trump’s watch is not surprising, since the economy is nearing full employment.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP
— including 200,000 new jobs in manufacturing alone. Tremendous number.
U.S. factories did add nearly 200,000 jobs in 2017 — the strongest showing for the manufacturing sector since 2014. Manufacturers have been helped by the abundance of cheap natural gas, as well as a global economic recovery that boosts demand in export markets around the world. Although the U.S. lost manufacturing jobs in 2016, factories added workers every year from 2010 to 2015.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP
After years and years of wage stagnation, we are finally seeing rising wages.
Ordinary wage earners have yet to see big pay raises, despite the steadily improving job market. Wages did grow by an average of 2.5 percent last year, just barely ahead of inflation. Gary Cohn, who directs the president’s National Economic Council, acknowledged there’s a lot of room for improvement. “For the last three, four, five years, we’ve had no wage growth in the United States,” Cohn told reporters last week. “We need to see wage growth in this country, something we haven’t seen in almost a decade.”
Companies like Walmart and Bank of America have pledged to give some of their savings from the newly passed GOP tax cut to employees in the form of bonuses or higher wages. So far, though, only a fraction of the corporate tax cuts are being passed on to workers.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP
Unemployment claims have hit a 45-year low.
Jobless claims indeed did hit a 45-year-low, as the Labor Department reported on Jan. 18. (The next week, they ticked up slightly, but this is a noisy dataset that bounces around from week to week.) However, the healthy labor market is not attributable solely to Trump; it steadily improved through Obama’s presidency. Moreover, presidents generally don’t have much control over how well the economy performs.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP
And something I’m very proud of, African-American unemployment stands at the lowest rate ever recorded. And Hispanic-American unemployment has also reached the lowest levels in history.
As we wrote in a recent fact check, black unemployment indeed hit a record low in December 2017. And Hispanic unemployment is near a record low. These unemployment rates have always been well above the unemployment rates for whites and Asian-Americans, and all of those unemployment rates largely rise and fall together.
Though Trump likes to tout these numbers, no president has that much control over the job market. In addition, the declines in these unemployment rates continue a long downward trend that started well before Trump became president.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP
Small business confidence is at an all-time high. The stock market has smashed one record after another, gaining eight trillion dollars and more in value in just this short period of time.
It’s indisputable that the stock market has been a happy place since Trump’s inauguration. The Dow Jones industrial average soared 25 percent last year and has kept rising in 2018. And the gains have been something of a surprise. Some experts had predicted that Trump’s unpredictable style would be bad for the market. How much Trump can claim credit for the bull market is a matter of dispute, however. Many of the most respected market analysts say the impending tax cuts and deregulations probably have helped somewhat. More important, they say, is the strong global economy. For the first time in years, every major region is growing, and corporate profits and stock prices have been rising all over.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP
The great news for Americans - 401k, retirement, pension and college savings accounts have gone through the roof. And just as I promised the American people from this podium 11 months ago, we enacted the biggest tax cuts and reforms in American history.
The recently passed tax plan allows 529 tax-advantaged savings plans, formerly savings accounts for college, to be used for private school tuition as well. Families who take advantage of college savings plans are much wealthier than the average.
Trump often claims that the tax bill passed in December includes the “biggest tax cuts and reforms in American history.” Independent analysts, however, point out that’s not true. The Washington Post, Reuters and NPR are among the news organizations to report that the tax overhaul package was narrower than the tax bill that became law in 1986 under President Ronald Reagan.
NPR’s Jim Zarroli adds: Both in inflation-adjusted dollars and as a percentage of GDP, the recent cuts trail the Economic Recovery Act of 1981 passed during the first Reagan administration. They also trail cuts passed during the Truman, Johnson and Obama administrations, according to The Washington Post. While the Trump cuts sharply reduced taxes for businesses and (temporarily) for most individuals, the benefits are partly offset by the elimination or reduction of some deductions.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP
Our massive tax cuts provide tremendous relief for the middle class and small business, to lower tax rates for hard-working Americans. We nearly doubled the standard deduction for everyone.
According to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, 65 percent of the savings from the tax cut this year will go to taxpayers in the top 20 percent of the income ladder; 20 percent of the savings will go to the top 1 percent. By 2027, when many of the personal tax cuts are set to have expired, 83 percent of the savings will go to the top 1 percent of earners. (The bottom 60 percent will see a tax increase.)
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP
Now, the first $24,000 earned by a married couple is completely tax-free.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP
We also doubled the child tax credit.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP
A typical family of four making $75,000 will see their tax bill reduced by $2,000, slashing their tax bill in half.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP
In April, this will be the last time you will ever file under the old and very broken system. And millions of Americans will have more take-home pay, starting next month. A lot more.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP
We eliminated an especially cruel tax that fell mostly on Americans making less than $50,000 a year, forcing them to pay tremendous penalties, simply because they couldn’t afford government-ordered health plans. We repealed the core of the disastrous Obamacare - the individual mandate is now gone. Thank heavens.
The penalty that most people had to pay for failing to have insurance was about $695. According to PolitiFact, about 80 percent of those who paid the tax made $50,000 or less. The tax bill passed in December repealed the tax penalty that people were required to pay if they did not have health insurance coverage. Technically, the law still requires people to have coverage, but with no penalty available, most people consider the individual mandate to be dead.
GOP efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act were repeatedly thwarted in the Senate last year, even though Republicans used a parliamentary move that would have allowed them to pass a bill with a simple majority. The Trump administration has tried to undermine the ACA in a variety of ways: shortening the enrollment period, discontinuing advertising to promote signing up, temporarily halting cost-sharing subsidies to insurance companies, and effectively ending the “individual mandate” that requires most Americans to obtain health insurance. Despite those efforts, the Kaiser Family Foundation found individual insurance markets stabilizing in most of the country. And despite the truncated enrollment period, nearly 9 million people signed up for Obamacare coverage in 2018.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP
We slashed the business tax rate from 35%, all the way down to 21%, so American companies can compete and win against anyone else, anywhere in the world.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP
These changes alone are estimated to increase average family income by more than $4,000, a lot of money.
The Trump administration’s repeated claim that families would get a $4,000 “raise” has been controversial among economists, and there’s good reason to think families won’t get that big of a raise, as NPR wrote in October. One economist the administration cited in coming up with this $4,000 figure said the White House “misinterpreted“ his results, for example. And multiple tax experts, including at the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center — which has been critical of the tax plan — as well as the right-leaning American Enterprise Institute, have said this figure is likely too high.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP
Small businesses have also received a massive tax cut and can now deduct 20% of their business income. Here tonight are Steve Staub and Sandy Keplinger of Staub Manufacturing, a small, beautiful business in Ohio. They’ve just finished the best year in their 20-year history.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP
Because of tax reform, they are handing out raises, hiring an additional 14 people, and expanding into the building next door. Good feeling.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP
One of Staub's employees, Corey Adams, is also with us tonight. Corey is an all-American worker. He supported himself through high school, lost his job during the 2008 recession, and was later hired by Staub, where he trained to become a welder. Like many hard-working Americans, Corey plans to invest his tax cut raise into his new home, and his two daughters' education. Corey, please stand.
(APPLAUSE)
And he’s a great welder. I was told that by the man that owns that company that does that so well. So, congratulations, Corey.
Since we passed tax cuts, roughly 3 million workers have already gotten tax cut bonuses. Many of them, thousands and thousands of dollars per worker and it’s getting more every month, every week.
A number of companies, including Apple and Home Depot, have indeed said they are giving their employees one-time bonuses because of the tax cuts. It’s hard to know how many of these companies might have handed out bonuses anyway, though; the job market is tight right now and companies have other incentives to want to hold on to employees. Democrats say the bonuses pale in comparison with the gains the tax bill gave wealthy Americans. They also say that the bill could end up hurting lower-income Americans by leading to cuts in government programs they depend on.
Apple has just announced it plans to invest a total of $350 billion in America, and hire another 20,000 workers.
Meanwhile, in a March 2017 announcement, Apple says it has created and supported 4.8 million jobs in China. That’s about 2.5 times the number of jobs the company says it has created and supported in the United States. The company announced last March on its Chinese website that it is going to build two new R&D centers, in Shanghai and Suzhou. This is going to be a significant investment as Apple plans to spend 3.5 billion yuan (about $500 million). The company already announced research centers in Beijing and Shenzhen, so there will be four centers in China in total. Last summer, Apple announced that it would be partnering with Guizhou-Cloud Big Data, a state-owned company with Communist Party connections, to build Apple’s first data-storage center in China. Beginning Feb. 28, the iCloud content of Apple ID users registered in China will be sent to and managed by Guizhou-Cloud Big Data.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP
And just a little while ago, Exxon Mobil announced a $50 billion investment in the United States, just a little while ago.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP
This, in fact, is our new American moment. There has never been a better time to start living the American dream.
So, to every citizen watching at home tonight, no matter where you have been or where you have come from, this is your time. If you work hard, if you believe in yourself, if you believe in America, then you can dream anything, you can be anything. And together, we can achieve absolutely anything.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP
Tonight, I want to talk about what kind of future we are going to have and what kind of a nation we are going to be. All of us, together, as one team, one people, and one American family, can do anything. We all share the same home, the same heart, the same destiny, and the same great American flag.
The American flag has long been a favorite theme of Trump’s speeches and an image he uses to suggest national unity. During his general election campaign in 2016, Trump began giving prepared remarks in which he would often include a line describing the nation as “one people, under one God, saluting one American flag.” That went over well with much of his base, including religious conservatives, but prompted concerns from some advocates for separation of church and state.
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TRUMP
Together, we are rediscovering the American way. In America, we know that faith and family, not government and bureaucracy, are the center of American life.
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TRUMP
The motto is in God we trust.
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TRUMP
And we celebrate our police, our military and our amazing veterans as heroes who deserve our total and unwavering support.
This is a callback to one of Trump’s major campaign themes. His support for law enforcement, in particular, earned him the backing of groups such as the Fraternal Order of Police, which chafed under the Obama administration’s push for police overhaul, especially after the 2014 protests in Ferguson, Mo. Since Inauguration Day, the federal government has pulled back on police reform. There have been no new “consent decrees” — the primary tool used by the Obama-era Justice Department to force changes in local police departments — and the DOJ has signaled a new willingness to push for higher sentences in federal prosecutions, crack down on marijuana, and cooperate with local police who use “civil asset forfeiture” to seize the cash or vehicles of people merely suspected of breaking the law.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP
Here tonight is Preston Sharp, a 12-year-old boy from Redding, California, who noticed veterans' graves were not marked with flags on Veterans Day. He decided all by himself to change that and started a movement that has now placed 40,000 flags at the graves of our great heroes. Preston, a job well done.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP
Young patriots like Preston teach all of us about our civic duty as Americans. And I met Preston a little while ago and he is something very special, that I can tell you. Great future. Thank you very much for all you’ve done, Preston. Thank you very much.
(APPLAUSE)
Preston's reverence for those who have served our nation reminds us of why we salute our flag, why we put our hands on our hearts for the Pledge of Allegiance and why we proudly stand for the national anthem.
Standing for the anthem and saluting the flag have become one of the contentious issues of Trump’s first year in office. It came to a full boil in September of last year, when, in a stump speech, the president had harsh words for NFL players who began protesting during the anthem to call attention to social injustice and inequality. This triggered a war of sorts between the president and some of the most famous athletes in this country. Polls showed, however, that a majority of Americans sided with the president, especially older Americans. The rhetoric has quieted as the NFL and some of its players have forged a partnership to jointly try to deal with the issues about which players have been protesting. But with the Super Bowl coming up on Sunday, the flag/anthem issue could heat up again, with some Americans tuning out the big game and at least one politician, South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster, taking the symbolic torch from Trump and issuing a proclamation declaring Sunday “Stand for the Flag Super Bowl Sunday.”
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP
Americans love their country and they deserve a government that shows them the same love and loyalty in return.
For the last year, we have sought to restore the bonds of trust between our citizens and their government. Working with the Senate, we are appointing judges who will interpret the Constitution as written, including a great new Supreme Court justice, and more circuit court judges, than any new administration in the history of our country.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP
We are totally defending our second amendment and have taken historic actions to protect religious liberty.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP
And we are serving our brave of veterans, including giving our veterans choice in their health care decisions.
Veterans Choice is a controversial program that allows vets to see private health care providers, who get reimbursed by the Department of Veterans Affairs. Supporters want the VA to expand this sort of voucher program. Critics charge that this is an attempt to privatize the agency.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP
Last year, Congress also passed, and I signed, the landmark VA Accountability Act.
The VA Accountability Act has allowed the VA secretary to get rid of bad employees, but the VA still has about 35,000 vacancies, notably in mental health care. Four senior leadership positions also remain unfilled at the VA.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP
Since its passage, my administration has already removed more than 1,500 VA. employees who failed to give our veterans the care they deserve. And we are hiring talented people who love our vets as much as we do.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP
And I will not stop until our veterans are properly taken care of, which has been my promise to them from the very beginning of this great journey.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP
All Americans deserve accountability and respect. And that’s what we are giving to our wonderful heroes, our veterans. Thank you.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP
So tonight I call on Congress to empower every cabinet secretary with the authority to reward good workers and to remove federal employees who undermine the public trust, or fail the American people.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP
In our drive to make Washington accountable, we have eliminated more regulations in our first year than any administration in the history of our country.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP
We have ended the war on American energy. And we have ended the war on beautiful, clean coal.
It’s difficult to make the case that there’s been a “war on American energy.” Domestic oil production boomed and natural gas production increased steadily during Obama’s term. Trump has celebrated the fact that a few coal mines have opened since he took office, but only a small segment of the industry associated with making steel is growing — overall the industry is still declining. Coal has fallen on hard times primarily because it is having trouble competing against cheaper natural gas and renewable energy for generating electricity. As we’ve reported, power generators are switching from coal to gas because they can make more money. Finally, there have been efforts to make coal burn cleaner and reduce its contribution to climate change — it’s not clear whether that is what the president means by “clean coal.” In any case those efforts have faltered, mostly for economic and technical reasons, despite large government subsidies that also undermine the argument that there’s been a “war on clean coal.”
U.S. energy production is booming. Domestic oil producers are expected to pump a record 10.4 million barrels per day this year, surpassing Saudi Arabia's output. The Trump administration has encouraged that growth by opening more land and offshore waters to drilling, including the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. But the energy surge was already underway when Trump took office, largely driven by technological developments such as hydraulic fracturing (fracking).
"The global energy market has been turned upside down by what's happening in the United States in terms of shale gas and shale oil," said energy historian Daniel Yergin of IHS Markit. That's having positive ripple effects far beyond the oil patch. "Inexpensive natural gas has led to well north of $100 billion of new investment in U.S. manufacturing and has made the U.S. a destination for manufacturing investment, which was hardly the case a decade ago," said Yergin, author of The Prize and The Quest. Cheap natural gas is a competitive threat for coal, however. In 2016, gas eclipsed coal as the No. 1 fuel for America’s electric power plants.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP
We are now very proudly an exporter of energy to the world.
The final numbers are not in yet, but it is likely that 2017 is the year the U.S. became a net exporter of natural gas, according to the Energy Information Administration. That process was well underway, however, before Trump took office. The booming production is due primarily to technologies like fracking and horizontal drilling. More broadly, the country has long exported various forms of energy, including coal and gasoline. There were restrictions on crude oil exports, but they were lifted in 2015 when Obama was in the White House.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP
In Detroit, I halted government mandates that crippled America's great, beautiful auto workers, so that we can get motor city revving its engines again. And that’s what’s happening.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP
Many car companies are now building and expanding plans in the United States, something we haven't seen for decades. Chrysler is moving a major plant from Mexico to Michigan. Toyota and Mazda are opening up a plant in Alabama, a big one. And we haven’t seen this in a long time. It’s all coming back.
U.S. car companies are expanding in China much faster. GM sells more cars in China than it does in the United States. In 2014, General Motors Corp. (GM.N) planed to invest $12 billion in China from 2014 to 2017 and build more plants. GM planned to ramp up manufacturing capacity there by 65 percent by 2020, executives said.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP
Very soon, auto plants and other plants will be opening up all over our country. This is all news Americans are totally unaccustomed to hearing.
For many years, companies and jobs were only leaving us. But now, they are roaring back, they’re coming back, they want to be where the action is. They want to be in the United States of America. That is where they want to be.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP
Exciting progress is happening every single day. To speed access to breakthrough cures and affordable generic drugs, last year, the FDA approved more new and generic drugs and medical devices than ever before in our country's history.
The FDA approved 56 new drugs last year and 1,027 generics, a record in both categories. FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb says the agency is on track to approve even more drugs this year.
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TRUMP
We also believe that patients with terminal conditions, terminal illness, should have access to experimental treatment immediately that could potentially save their lives.
People who are terminally ill should not have to go from country to country to seek a cure. I want to give them a chance right here at home. It’s time for Congress to give these wonderful, incredible Americans the right to try.
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TRUMP
One of my greatest priorities is to reduce the price of prescription drugs.
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TRUMP
In many other countries, these drugs cost far less than what we pay in the United States. And it’s very, very unfair. That is why I’ve directed my administration to make fixing the injustice of high drug prices one of my top priorities for the year.
Trump said during his campaign that he wants Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices to help bring prices down. The White House repeated that early last year. Since then, he has backed off that statement. Alex Azar, Trump’s new health and human services secretary, agrees that drug prices are a problem but has said he does not believe the government should negotiate prices directly.
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TRUMP
And prices will come down substantially. Watch.
America has also finally turned the page on decades of unfair trade deals that sacrificed our prosperity and shipped away our companies, our jobs and our wealth.
Our nation has lost its wealth but we are getting it back so fast. The era of economic surrender is totally over. From now on, we expect trading relationships to be fair. And very importantly, reciprocal.
While Trump campaigned against America’s rising trade deficit, it has only widened on his watch. In the first 11 months of 2017, the trade deficit was about 12 percent larger than the year before.
Earlier this month, the president ordered new tariffs on imported washing machines and solar panels. The administration has also ordered tariffs on softwood lumber from Canada. For the most part, though, the administration has so far pulled its punches on protectionist measures, though additional tariffs or quotas could be coming to limit imports of steel and aluminum.
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TRUMP
We will work to fix bad trade deals and negotiate new ones. And they’ll be good ones. But they’ll be fair. And we will protect American workers and American intellectual property, through strong enforcement of our trade rules.
On his first day in office, Trump withdrew the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade pact that would have unified the U.S. with other economies in the Asia-Pacific region to counterbalance China’s economic might. James McGregor of the global affairs consultancy APCO wrote in February that by killing TPP, the U.S. left its allies in Asia with little choice “but to sign on to the Chinese value proposition of providing money, infrastructure, and market access in return for settling in under China’s economic and security umbrella.” After Trump’s visit to Beijing in November, NPR reported that U.S. business leaders in China felt the president had made little progress on trade, despite announcing a range of business deals.
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TRUMP
As we rebuild our industries, it is also time to rebuild our crumbling infrastructure.
The president is not off base when talking about the crumbling state of the nation’s infrastructure, according to experts. The American Society of Civil Engineers gives the condition of the nation’s highways, waterways, railways, schools, rails, tunnels, airports and water and sewer systems an overall grade of D-plus. The civil engineers estimate that the nation’s infrastructure is in need of an investment of $2 trillion more than is already budgeted over the next 10 years. Bridges are in especially bad shape. The American Road and Transportation Builders Association released a report on Tuesday indicating that more than 54,000 were rated as structurally deficient.
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TRUMP
America is a nation of builders. We built the Empire State Building in just one year. Isn't it a disgrace that it can now take ten years just to get a minor permit approved for the building of a simple road?
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TRUMP
I am asking both parties to come together to give us safe, fast, reliable and modern infrastructure that our economy needs and our people deserve.
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TRUMP
Tonight, I’m calling on Congress to produce a bill that generates at least $1.5 trillion for the new infrastructure investment that our country so desperately needs. Every federal dollar should be leveraged by partnering with state and local governments, and, where appropriate, tapping into private sector investment, to permanently fix the infrastructure deficit. And we can do it.
The administration’s infrastructure plan had been expected to be around $1 trillion. Tuesday night the president raised the stakes by calling for a plan “that generates at least $1.5 trillion for infrastructure.” That word “generates” is important, because this would not mean the U.S. government spending $1 trillion. As NPR reported in December, the president’s plan is expected to call for $200 billion in federal spending on infrastructure. “The bulk of the $200 billion would go toward leveraging state and local money and private investment,” NPR’s David Schaper reported. “Those state and local funds and private financing would, in theory, then make up the rest of that $1 trillion that the president talks about.” Some states and cities might have to raise their taxes to help pay for infrastructure (and many have already raised their gasoline and other taxes to pay for roads, bridges and transit). Public-private partnerships would also be a key part of this plan, which would lead to a greater reliance on user fees, like tolls, to fund infrastructure improvements.
NPR’s David Schaper contributed to this annotation.
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TRUMP
Any bill must also streamline the permitting and approval process, getting it down to no more than two years, and perhaps, even one. Together, we can reclaim our great building heritage.
Interestingly, the Government Accountability Office released a study on Tuesday showing that actions taken under previous administrations are already accelerating the delivery of highway and transit projects. The study analyzes the impact of 30 “project delivery provisions” in transportation bills passed in 2005, 2012 and 2015 and finds they are working to speed up the delivery of highway and transit projects.
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TRUMP
We will build gleaming new roads, bridges, highways, railways and waterways all across our land. And we will do it with American heart, American hands and American grit.
When the administration proposed cutting $6 billion from the Housing and Urban Development budget last year, HUD Secretary Ben Carson told housing advocates that money would be provided in the new infrastructure bill for the development of more affordable housing. However, housing is not mentioned in the list of likely projects.
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TRUMP
We want every American to know the dignity of a hard day's work. We want every child to be safe in their home at night. And we want every citizen to be proud of this land that we all love so much. We can lift our citizens from welfare to work, from dependence to independence, and from poverty to prosperity.
The president and many congressional Republicans want to impose work requirements on those receiving government aid such as Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, more commonly known as food stamps. They say that similar requirements helped welfare recipients move into the workforce in the 1990s. Critics say those requirements could block some needy families from getting help and that many recipients already work but do not earn enough to make ends meet.
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TRUMP
As tax cuts create new jobs, let's invest in workforce development and let's invest in job training, which we need so badly.
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TRUMP
Let's open great vocational schools, so our future workers can learn a craft and realize their full potential.
The Senate is currently holding committee hearings on the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act. And expansion of vocational education, including employer partnerships and shorter paths to a degree, has been a topic of testimony. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos recently spoke to the U.S. Conference of Mayors about the range of innovations she would like to see, such as “industry-recognized certificates, two-year degrees, stackable credits, credentials and licensures, advanced degrees, badges, four-year degrees, microdegrees” and “apprenticeships.”
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TRUMP
And let's support working families by supporting paid family leave.
The first Trump budget included a plan that would grant six weeks of paid parental leave. The administration didn’t present a detailed plan — states would have “broad latitude to design and finance the program[s],” it said. However, some states might balk at the idea — the plan would be centered on state unemployment insurance systems, and states that don’t have a certain amount of money in their unemployment trust funds “are expected to increase their State UI taxes to build up their trust fund balances,” the budget said.
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TRUMP
As America regains its strength, opportunity must be extended to all citizens. That is why this year we will embark on reforming our prisons, to help former inmates who have served their time get a second chance at life.
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TRUMP
Struggling communities, especially immigrant communities, will also be helped by immigration policies that focus on the best interests of American workers and American families.
For decades, open borders have allowed drugs and gangs to pour into our most vulnerable communities. They have allowed millions of low-wage workers to compete for jobs and wages against the poorest Americans.
Illegal crossings of the U.S. border with Mexico fell to their lowest level since 1971 last year, a decline of 25 percent from the year before. Anecdotal evidence suggests some would-be crossers were discouraged by Trump’s get-tough rhetoric as well as stepped-up enforcement. The drop in illegal crossings was particularly sharp in the early months of the Trump administration. Illegal crossings have been creeping back up since May, however.
It’s worth pointing out that even before Trump took office, border crossings had fallen substantially from their peak. In 2016, only about a quarter as many people crossed illegally as had done so in 2000. The Trump administration has also stepped up deportations from parts of the country far from the border. In the administration’s first eight months, “interior” deportations jumped 34 percent from the previous year. While the administration says it is primarily focused on deporting criminals, tens of thousands of people have been removed who have no criminal record.
Most tragically, they have caused the loss of many innocent lives. Here tonight are two fathers and two mothers, Evelyn Rodriguez, Freddy Cuevas, Elizabeth Alvarado, and Robert Mickens. Their two teenage daughters, Kayla Cuevas and Nisa Mickens, were close friends on Long Island.
But in September, 2016, on the eve of Nisa's 16th birthday, such a happy time it should have been, neither of them came home. These two precious girls were brutally murdered while walking together in their hometown.
Six members of the savage MS-13 gang have been charged with Kayla and Nisa's murders. Many of these gang members took advantage of glaring loopholes in our laws to enter the country as illegal, unaccompanied, alien minors. And wound up in Kayla and Nisa's high school.
Evelyn, Elizabeth, Freddy and Robert, tonight everyone in this chamber is praying for you. Everyone in America is grieving for you. Please stand. Thank you very much.
The Trump administration talks often about a link between “unaccompanied alien children” from Central America, who have arrived at the Southern border by the hundreds of thousands, and the deadly street gang known as MS-13. But critics say the administration misrepresents the connection. As we have reported, those children frequently say they are fleeing from violent gangs in their home countries, only to encounter the gangs again in the United States. Advocates say those children are far more likely to be the gang’s victims than its members.
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TRUMP
I want you to know that 320 million hearts are right now breaking for you. We love you. Thank you.
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TRUMP
While we cannot imagine the depths of that kind of sorrow, we can make sure that other families never have to endure this kind of pain.
Tonight I am calling on Congress to finally close the deadly loopholes that have allowed MS-13 and other criminal gangs to break into our country. We have proposed new legislation that will fix our immigration laws and support our ICE and border patrol agents. These are great people, these are great, great people that work so hard in the midst of such danger, so that this can never happen again.
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TRUMP
The United States is a compassionate nation. We are proud that we do more than any other country, anywhere in the world, to help the needy, the struggling, and the underprivileged, all over the world.
But as president of the United States, my highest loyalty, my greatest compassion, my constant concern, is for America's children, America's struggling workers and America's forgotten communities.
I want our youth to grow up to achieve great things. I want our poor to have their chance to rise. So tonight, I am extending an open hand to work with members of both parties, Democrats and Republicans, to protect our citizens of every background, color, religion and creed.
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TRUMP
My duty, and the sacred duty of every elected official in this chamber, is to defend Americans, to protect their safety, their families, their communities, and their right to the American dream. Because Americans are dreamers, too.
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TRUMP
Here tonight is one leader in the effort to defend our country, Homeland Security Investigation Special Agent, Celestino Martinez. He goes by “DJ” and “CJ”. He said, call me either one. So we’ll call you CJ.
Served fifteen years in the air force before becoming an ICE agent, and spending the last fifteen years fighting gang violence and getting dangerous criminals off of our streets. Tough job.
At one point, MS-13 leaders ordered CJ’s murder and they wanted it to happen quickly. But he did not cave to threats or to fear. Last May, he commanded an operation to track down gang members in Long Island. His team has arrested nearly 400, including more than 220 MS-13 gang members.
And I have to tell you, what the border patrol and ICE have done, we have sent thousands and thousands and thousands of MS-13 horrible people out of this country or into our prisons. So I just want to congratulate you, CJ. You are a brave guy. Thank you very much.
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TRUMP
And I asked CJ, what’s the secret? He just said, we’re just tougher than they are. And I like that answer.
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TRUMP
Now, let's get Congress to send you and all of the people in this great chamber — have to do it, we have no choice. CJ, we are going to send you reinforcements and we’re going to send them to you quickly. It’s what you need.
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TRUMP
Over the next few weeks, the House and Senate will be voting on an immigration reform package. In recent months, my administration has met extensively with both Democrats and Republicans to craft a bipartisan approach to immigration reform. Based on these discussions, we presented Congress with a detailed proposal that should be supported by both parties as a fair compromise. One where nobody gets everything they want, but where our country gets the critical reforms it needs and must have.
In September, Trump announced plans to phase out Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, the Obama-era program that granted temporary protection from deportation to immigrants who were brought to the country illegally as children. Trump gave Congress six months to develop a permanent fix. Last week, the White House proposed its own solution: a 10- to 12-year path to citizenship for up to 1.8 million DACA recipients and similarly situated immigrants, in exchange for $25 billion for Trump’s border wall and other security measures, an end to the visa lottery and strict limits on family-based visas. Under the White House plan, U.S. citizens would still be allowed to petition for visas for spouses and minor children but not for parents, siblings or adult children. Green card holders would also be barred from sponsoring adult children. The Migration Policy Institute estimates that would reduce the number of family visas by as much as 40 percent, or more than 300,000 visas per year.
Congress has not yet produced immigration legislation, and neither the House nor the Senate has announced specific plans for advancing such an agreement.
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TRUMP
Here are the four pillars of our plan: The first pillar of our framework generously offers a path to citizenship for 1.8 million illegal immigrants who were brought here by their parents at a young age. That covers almost three times more people than the previous administration covered.
President Trump is referring the Obama-era program known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, unveiled in 2012. It granted work permits to undocumented immigrants brought to this country as children and it did not include a path to citizenship.
DACA recipients are a subset of the group of young people known as “DREAMers.”
As a presidential candidate, Trump promised to end DACA. But once he took office, the administration said it would preserve the program. However, late last year, Trump announced an expiration date for DACA, giving Congress until March 5, 2018, to codify it. Now he is proposing to keep it open as part of a larger immigration overhaul.
There are about 1.8 million people who are potentially eligible for Trump’s proposed path to citizenship. By March 2016, under Obama, only about 800,000 had applied for DACA. Most, but not all, applied for a two-year renewal. Citing numbers from the Department of Homeland Security, the Washington Post reported in September 2017 that about 690,00 immigrants are currently enrolled.
Several hundred thousand young immigrants never applied, while many others did apply but did not meet the requirements to become eligible.
To offer “a path to citizenship to 1.8 million illegal immigrants” as Trump suggested, (or “almost three times as many people as the previous administration”) his program would have to approve of virtually every undocumented person between the ages of 15-31.
Groups favoring immigration restrictions have called a path to citizenship “amnesty.”
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TRUMP
Under our plan, those who meet education and work requirements, and show good moral character, will be able to become a full citizens of the United States over a 12-year period.
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TRUMP
The second pillar fully secures the border.
Federal agents who work on the border advocate a combination of a physical barrier, more agents and technology such as ground sensors, cameras, lights, unmanned drones, tethered spy blimps, infrared detection and remote unmanned surveillance systems. Of the three, personnel — not a border wall — is the most critical, said David Aguilar, the former acting commissioner of customs and border protection under Obama and the former national chief of the United States Border Patrol under President George W. Bush.
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TRUMP
That means building a great wall on the southern border and it means hiring more heroes like CJ to keep our communities safe.
The Government Accountability Office reported in November that the Border Patrol is losing agents from attrition faster than it can replace them and that hiring border officers is a “key challenge” to maintaining adequate border security. The president has pledged to hire 5,000 new agents. In May 2017, the patrol had 1,900 fewer agents than authorized.
There are currently about 653 miles of fencing or wall covering about one-third of the U.S.-Mexico border. The Government Accountability Office estimated in 2009 that the border fence cost the government $3 million to $4 million a mile. In a recent White House proposal, the cost of the wall had soared to $21.6 million a mile.
Customs and Border Protection has not yet selected a new design for the border wall. In San Diego, there are eight prototypes of concrete and steel soaring to 30 feet high — as tall as a three-story building. This would be one of the tallest border barriers in the world. Two-thirds of the 1,954-mile border is private land in Texas, where a majority of congressmen, border mayors and property owners oppose a wall. January polls from Quinnipiac, Pew, ABC News/Washington Post, CNN and CBS all found that around 6 in 10 Americans oppose building or expanding a wall.
TRUMP
Crucially, our plan closes the terrible loopholes exploited by criminals and terrorists to enter our country. And it finally ends the horrible and dangerous practice of catch and release.
“Catch and release” is a phrase used by border agents and their supporters to describe the practice of apprehending people who cross the border illegally, then releasing them while their immigration cases are pending. It often refers to mothers traveling with children or unaccompanied children, most of whom request asylum. Minors traveling alone are released to the custody of U.S. Health and Human Services and allowed to live with a sponsor while their asylum cases work through the courts, which can take years. Trump has vowed to streamline this system and promptly deport immigrants who are found to be ineligible for asylum.
In 2017, 75,802 family units and 41,435 unaccompanied children were apprehended at the border. While those figures represent a sharp decline over 2016, both categories had begun to increase again in late 2017.
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TRUMP
The third pillar ends the visa lottery, a program that randomly hands out green cards without any regard for skill, merit or the safety of American people.
Despite the president’s claims, the diversity visa lottery program is not random. And the winners undergo security vetting like other visa applicants.
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TRUMP
It’s time to begin moving toward a merit based immigration system. One that admits people who are skilled, who want to work, who will contribute to our society and who will love and respect our country.
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TRUMP
The fourth and final pillar protects the nuclear family by ending chain migration.
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TRUMP
Under the current, broken system, a single immigrant can bring in virtually unlimited numbers of distant relatives. Under our plan, we focus on the immediate family by limiting sponsorships to spouses and minor children.
The Trump administration’s plan would be a major shift in U.S. immigration policy. What the president and other critics call “chain migration,” supporters would call “family reunification.” And it’s been a central principle of U.S. immigration policy since the 1960s. It’s true that an immigrant can sponsor extended family members for visas — but only after he or she becomes a U.S. citizen. (Green card holders can only sponsor immediate family members.) And since there’s a cap on the total number of visas the U.S. gives out every year, the process can take years, if not decades.
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TRUMP
This vital reform is necessary not just for our economy, but for our security and for the future of America.
In recent weeks, two terrorist attacks in New York were made possible by the visa lottery and chain migration. In the age of terrorism, these programs present risks we can just no longer afford. It is time to reform.
The link between these visa programs and the recent terrorist attacks in New York is debatable. It’s true that Sayfullo Saipov, the New Jersey resident accused of killing eight people when he drove a rented truck down a crowded bike path in Manhattan, got his green card through the diversity visa lottery. But prosecutors allege he was radicalized in the U.S., long after leaving Uzbekistan.
Similarly, the Bangladeshi immigrant accused of detonating a homemade pipe bomb in a subway corridor near the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Manhattan came to the country on a visa for extended family members. But again, prosecutors allege that Akayed Ullah was radicalized long after his family settled in Brooklyn.
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- these outdated immigration rules and finally bring our immigration system into the 21st century.
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TRUMP
These four pillars represent a down-the-middle compromise and one that will create a safe, modern and lawful immigration system.
For over 30 years, Washington has tried and failed to solve this problem. This Congress can be the one that finally makes it happen. Most importantly, these four pillars will produce legislation that fulfills my ironclad pledge to sign a bill that puts America first.
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TRUMP
So let's come together, set politics aside and finally get the job done.
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TRUMP
These reforms will also support our response to the terrible crisis of opioid and drug addiction. Never before has it been like it is now. It is terrible. We have to do something about it.
In 2016, we lost 64,000 Americans to drug overdoses. 174 deaths per day. Seven per hour.
We must get much tougher on drug dealers and pushers if we are going to succeed in stopping this scourge.
Under Attorney General Jeff Sessions, the Justice Department has already taken a tougher stance on drug offenses, instructing prosecutors to seek the harshest possible charges. He has also indicated he will take a tough line against medical and recreational marijuana use.
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TRUMP
My administration is committed to fighting the drug epidemic and helping get treatment for those in need. For those who have been so terribly hurt. The struggle will be long and it will be difficult, but as Americans always do, in the end, we will succeed. We will prevail.
Trump declared the opioid crisis a public health emergency in October, but since then, he has taken little other action. The administration has not yet submitted a funding request for opioids to Congress. The president also still hasn’t named a head of the Office of National Drug Control Policy.
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TRUMP
As we have seen tonight, the most difficult challenges bring out the best in America. We see a vivid expression of this truth in the story of the Holets family of New Mexico. Ryan Holets is 27-years-old, an officer with the Albuquerque police department. He is here tonight with his wife, Rebecca.
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TRUMP
Thank you, Ryan. Last year, Ryan was on duty when he saw a pregnant, homeless woman preparing to inject heroin. When Ryan told her she was going to harm her unborn child, she began to weep. She told him she didn't know where to turn, but badly wanted a safe home for her baby.
In that moment, Ryan said he felt God speak to him. You will do it, because you can. He heard those words. He took out a picture of his wife and their four kids. Then he went home to tell his wife Rebecca. In an instant, she agreed to adopt. The Holets named their new daughter Hope. Ryan and Rebecca, you embody the goodness of our nation. Thank you.
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TRUMP
Thank you, Ryan and Rebecca.
As we rebuild America's strength and confidence at home, we are also restoring our strength and standing abroad. Around the world, we face rogue regimes, terrorist groups, and rivals like China and Russia that challenge our interests, our economy and our values.
Trump has vowed to boost respect for the United States in countries around the world. “We don’t want other leaders and other countries laughing at us anymore,” the president said last June, when he announced plans to withdraw from the Paris climate accord. “And they won’t be.” Other countries might not be laughing. But according to a new Gallup Poll, global respect for American leadership has fallen to an all-time low. Just 30 percent of those surveyed around the world approve of U.S. leadership, down from 48 percent in 2016. Support for the U.S. fell by double digits in nearly half the 134 countries surveyed, including a 40-point drop in Canada and a 28-point decline in Mexico. There are some exceptions: Approval of U.S. leadership increased in Israel, Macedonia, Liberia and Belarus. Pollsters also found relatively high approval of American leadership in Africa, although Gallup noted the survey was conducted before Trump’s crude and disparaging comments about Africa earlier this month.
China's military budget for 2017 will increase by 7 percent, to 1.044 trillion yuan ($151.43 billion), about one-quarter of the proposed U.S. defense spending for the year, according to Fu Ying, spokeswoman for China’s Parliament.
In confronting these horrible dangers, we know that weakness is the surest path to conflict and unmatched power is the surest means to our true and great defense. For this reason, I am asking Congress to end the dangerous defense sequester and fully fund our great military.
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TRUMP
As part of our defense, we must modernize and rebuild our nuclear arsenal. Hopefully never having to use it, but making it so strong and so powerful that it will deter any acts of aggression by any other nation or anyone else.
The Trump administration is seeking to upgrade and modernize existing nuclear weapons, an effort that began under the Obama administration. A formal document, called the Nuclear Posture Review, is expected within days.
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TRUMP
Perhaps some day in the future, there will be a magical moment when the countries of the world will get together to eliminate their nuclear weapons. Unfortunately, we are not there yet, sadly.
Last year, I also pledged that we would work with our allies to extinguish ISIS from the face of the Earth. One year later, I am proud to report that the coalition to defeat ISIS has liberated very close to 100% of the territory just recently held by these killers in Iraq and in Syria and in other locations as well.
American forces and their allies have retaken more than 98 percent of the territory once controlled by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, including the cities of Mosul, Iraq, and Raqqa, Syria. But while ISIS can no longer lay claim to a territorial “caliphate” in the Middle East, U.S. military officials caution the group still poses a terrorist threat. Elements of ISIS have spread to Libya, Yemen, and Afghanistan — where they carried out a deadly attack this week. ISIS-inspired attacks have also been carried out in Europe and the United States.
NPR’s Larry Kaplow adds: The effort to defeat ISIS in Iraq and Syria was underway under the Obama administration, and ISIS had already lost several cities under his term. The Trump White House deployed more U.S. troops to the region and increased the pace of airstrikes — which total into the thousands. That sped up the assault and forced ISIS from the major cities of Raqqa and Mosul but increased civilian casualties and left large areas in rubble. Many civilians still can't go back, and a huge rebuilding task awaits. It's unclear how that will be done or how these areas will be governed to prevent more bloodshed.
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TRUMP
But there is much more work to be done. We will continue our fight until ISIS is defeated. Army Staff Sergeant Justin Peck is here tonight. Near Raqqa, last November, Justin and his comrade, Chief Petty Officer Kenton Stacy, were on a mission to clear buildings that ISIS had rigged with explosives so that civilians could return to that city hopefully soon and hopefully safely.
De-mining is one of the top priorities of a joint USAID and State Department team working in Raqqa alongside the U.S. military. Officials say they believe there are tens of thousands of booby traps and mines left behind in the ruins of Raqqa. That’s in addition to unexploded U.S. ordinance from a bombing campaign to drive out ISIS. NPR traveled with the Trump administration’s top aid official to Raqqa last week.
Clearing the second floor of a vital hospital, Kenton Stacy was severely wounded by an explosion. Immediately, Justin bounded into the booby-trapped and unbelievably dangerous and unsafe building and found Kenton, but in very, very bad shape.
He applied pressure to the wound and inserted a tube to reopen an airway. He then performed CPR for 20 straight minutes during the ground transport and maintained artificial respiration through two and a half hours and through emergency surgery.
Kenton Stacy would have died if it were not for Justin's selfless love for his fellow warrior. Tonight, Kenton is recovering in Texas. Raqqa is liberated and Justin is wearing his new bronze star with a “v” for valor. Staff Sergeant Peck - all of America salutes you.
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TRUMP
Terrorists who do things like place bombs in civilian hospitals are evil. When possible, we have no choice but to annihilate them. When necessary, we must be able to detain and question them. But we must be clear. Terrorists are not merely criminals, they are unlawful, enemy combatants.
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TRUMP
And when captured overseas, they should be treated like the terrorists they are. In the past, we have foolishly released hundreds and hundreds of dangerous terrorists only to meet them again on the battlefield, including the ISIS leader, al-Baghdadi, who we captured, who we had, who we released.
So today, I am keeping another promise. I just signed, prior to walking in, an order directing Secretary Mattis, who is doing a great job — thank you.
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TRUMP
To re-examine our military detention policy and to keep open the detention facilities in Guantanamo Bay.
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TRUMP
I am asking Congress to ensure that in the fight against ISIS and Al Qaeda, we continue to have all necessary power to detain terrorists wherever we chase them down, wherever we find them, and in many cases for them it will now be Guantanamo Bay.
The U.S. is holding 41 prisoners at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, the same number as when Trump entered office. No new prisoners have been sent there, and none have been released over the past year.
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TRUMP
At the same time, as of a few months ago, our warriors in Afghanistan have new rules of engagement.
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TRUMP
Along with their heroic Afghan partners, our military is no longer undermined by artificial timelines and we no longer tell our enemies our plans.
Under Trump, the U.S. military has added several thousand troops in Afghanistan (there are about 14,000 now) and stepped up a bombing campaign in recent months. But the battle with the Taliban is still widely seen as a stalemate and the group has carried out several major attacks in Kabul in recent days.
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TRUMP
Last month, I also took an action endorsed unanimously by the U.S. Senate, just months before. I recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
Currently no country has its embassy in Jerusalem because the status of the city has been considered to be something up for negotiation between Israelis and Palestinians. Palestinians there seek part of the city for a capital of their future state.
Since the administration announced it was recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and will move its embassy there (from Tel Aviv), the decision has been condemned by a majority vote of the United Nations General Assembly as well as many countries individually. Palestinian leaders have said the U.S. can no longer be an honest broker on efforts for peace and that they will not accept any U.S.-proposed peace plan.
The U.S. has cut some aid for Palestinians, and Trump has threatened to cut more unless they agree to enter negotiations.
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TRUMP
Shortly afterwards, dozens of countries voted in the United Nations General Assembly against America's sovereign right to make this decision.
In 2016, American taxpayers generously sent those same countries more than $20 billion in aid.
That is why, tonight, I am asking Congress to pass legislation to help ensure American foreign assistance dollars always serve American interests and only go to friends of America, not enemies of America.
Among those that voted for a nonbinding United Nations General Assembly resolution were key allies in the fight against terrorism, from Pakistan and Iraq to Jordan and Egypt, all of whom are major recipients of U.S. aid.
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TRUMP
As we strengthen friendships all around the world, we are also restoring clarity about our adversaries. When the people of Iran rose up against the crimes of their corrupt dictatorship, I did not stay silent. America stands with the people of Iran in their courageous struggle for freedom.
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TRUMP
I am asking Congress to address the fundamental flaws in the terrible Iran nuclear deal. My administration has also imposed tough sanctions on the communist and socialist dictatorships in Cuba and Venezuela.
While the president has called on Congress to pass laws that would re-impose some sanctions if Iran takes certain steps, he has kept the U.S. in the nuclear deal despite chances to pull out. And Congress hasn't acted.
That deal was between Iran and six world powers (including the U.S.) and put limits on Iran's nuclear program in exchange for relief from some economic sanctions.
The administration acknowledges Iran is complying. Trump says the deal should be tougher and doesn't deal with Iran's missile program or support for militant groups.
If the U.S. re-imposed nuclear sanctions, it would be breaking the deal. That could prompt Iran to accelerate its nuclear program again. Or, the other countries could keep doing business with Iran anyway.
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TRUMP
But no regime has oppressed its own citizens more totally, more brutally, than the cruel dictatorship in North Korea. North Korea's reckless pursuit of nuclear missiles could very soon threaten our homeland. We are waging a campaign of maximum pressure to prevent that from ever happening. Past experience has taught us that complacency and concessions only invite aggression and provocation. I will not repeat the mistakes of past administrations that got us into this very dangerous position. We need only look at the depraved character of the North Korean regime to understand the nature of the nuclear threat it could pose to America and to our allies.
Otto Warmbier was a hardworking student at the University of Virginia, and a great student he was. On his way to study abroad in Asia, Otto joined a tour to North Korea.
The Trump administration says its “maximum pressure campaign” is aimed at pressuring North Korea to the negotiating table. However, the White House has yet to name an ambassador to South Korea — a key position for any diplomatic solution. The leading candidate had been Victor Cha, a former George W. Bush administration official. But he is now reportedly out of favor after raising tough questions about the idea that some Trump administration officials advocate a limited military strike on North Korea to give Kim Jong Un a “bloody nose.” Cha says this carries huge risks to Americans.
At its conclusion, this wonderful young man was arrested and charged with crimes against the state. After a shameful trial, the dictatorship sentenced Otto to 15 years of hard labor before returning him to America last June, horribly injured and on the verge of death.
He passed away just days after his return. Otto's wonderful parents, Fred and Cindy Warmbier, are here with us tonight, along with Otto’s brother and sister, Austin and Greta. Please.
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TRUMP
Incredible people. You are powerful witnesses to a menace that threatens our world and your strength truly inspires us all. Thank you very much. Thank you.
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TRUMP
Tonight we pledge to honor Otto’s memory with total American resolve. Thank you.
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TRUMP
Finally, we are joined by one more witness to the ominous nature of this regime. His name is Mr. Ji Seong-ho. In 1966, Seong-ho was a starving boy in North Korea. One day he tried to steal coal from a railroad car to barter for a few scraps of food, which were very hard to get. In the process, he passed out on the train tracks, exhausted from hunger.
He woke up as a train ran over his limbs. He then endured multiple amputations without anything to dull the pain or the hurt. His brother and sister gave what little food they had to help him recover and ate dirt, themselves, permanently stunting their own growth.
Later he was tortured by North Korean authorities after returning from a brief visit to China. His tormentors wanted to know if he’d met any Christians. He had and he resolved after that to be free.
Seong-ho traveled thousands of miles on crutches all across China and southeast Asia to freedom. Most of his family followed. His father was caught trying to escape and was tortured to death.
Today, he lives in Seoul, where he rescues other defectors and broadcasts into North Korea what the regime fears most: the truth.
Today, he has a new leg, but Seong-ho, I understand you still keep those old crutches as a reminder of how far you have come. Your great sacrifice is an inspiration to us all. Please. Thank you.
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TRUMP
Seong-ho’s story is a testament to the yearning of every human soul to live in freedom. It was that same yearning for freedom that nearly 250 years ago gave birth to a special place called America.
It was a small cluster of colonies caught between a great ocean and a vast wilderness. It was home to an incredible people with a revolutionary idea that they could rule themselves. That they could chart their own destiny and that together they could light up the entire world.
That is what our country has always been about. That is what Americans have always stood for, always strived for and always done.
Atop the dome of this capital stands the statue of freedom. She stands tall and dignified among the monuments to our ancestors, who fought and lived and died to protect her. Monuments to Washington, and Jefferson, and Lincoln, and King. Memorials to the heroes of Yorktown and Saratoga. To young Americans who shed their blood on the shores of Normandy and the fields beyond, and others who went down in the waters of the pacific and the skies all over Asia. And freedom stands tall over one more monument. This one. This capitol. This living monument. This is the monument to the American people.
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TRUMP
We are a people whose heroes live not only in the past, but all around us, defending hope, pride, and defending the American way. They work in every trade, they sacrifice to raise a family. They care for our children at home. They defend our flag abroad. And they are strong moms and brave kids. They are firefighters and police officers and border agents, medics, and marines. But above all else, they are Americans. And this capital, this city, this nation, belongs entirely to them.
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TRUMP
Our task is to respect them, to listen to them, to serve them, to protect them and to always be worthy of them. Americans fill the world with ardent music. They push the bounds of science and discovery. And they forever remind us of what we should never ever forget. The people dreamed this country. The people built this country. And it’s the people who are making America great again.
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TRUMP
As long as we are proud of who we are and what we are fighting for, there is nothing we cannot achieve. As long as we have confidence in our values, faith in our citizens and trust in our God, we will never fail. Our families will thrive. Our people will prosper and our nation will forever be safe and strong, and proud, and mighty, and free. Thank you, and God bless America. Good night.
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(CROWD CHANTING USA)
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TRUMP
Thank you, everybody.
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