Right here in Arizona, Joe Biden has utterly demolished your border and cynically betrayed the people of the state because he never said he was going to do that. I told you he would. In May alone, border patrol encountered 540% more illegal migrants in the Tucson sector and 1500% more in Yuma than the same period when I was Think of that, 1500% more in one year. Now that does not mean as much as this for everyone you catch,, I think 10 come in. You are talking about millions of people are coming into our country. We expedited removals and deported criminal aliens by the thousands. We took out MS-13 gang members by the tens of thousands, we got them out. And we built nearly 500 miles of beautiful border wall. The same wall that they wanted. I went with them. I said, I do not want the anti-climb paddle on top. You know the paddle on top that you see? I said, I do not like it. I do not want it. I said, Oh, in that case, I like it. And they got to paint the wall, by the way, it sounds not so nice at a speech. How can Churchill make a great speech and say you got to paint the wall? Remember what I used to say? You have a new computer, three days later, you read it is obsolete. We achieved the most secure border in US history. Biden's open border policies have blown it all up in shreds so fast. And they have enriched the drug cartels, the child smugglers, the woman's smugglers, and the vicious MS-13 gang members. They are making more money with human trafficking now and drugs, the sale of drugs, we had fentanyl down to the lowest it is been in 15 years because it is not just people. We had it to the lowest. A small amount can kill a thousand people. A little amount can kill thousands of people. We had it to the lowest level it is been in 15 years and it was going down and now he blew the thing up. Why would not they have finished the wall? It would have taken two months. What are they doing? What are they doing? Last month alone, the remains of 43 people were tragically discovered along the Arizona border. Nearly 100 migrant children were found stranded in the sweltering, Arizona desert, having been cruelly enticed to the United States by Biden's rhetoric.


And they heard that and they all started walking up and I said, You cannot come in. And we have 28,000 Mexican soldiers that are there. I said to the president of Mexico, who I like a lot, and he actually likes me. He is from a different persuasion. And I said, Mr. President, you are going to have to stop them because we are building the wall and they are coming in. And I worked out a deal. I said, I will not put tariffs on the thousands and thousands of cars you send over on a daily basis, but you have to put 28,000 soldiers on our border free of charge. And he said, I will do that. And those soldiers knew what they were doing. I will be honest with you, there were no games. We did a great job during the construction of the wall. Once the wall was up, you did not need them, but you have to finish the level empty areas of the wall. The flood of illegal immigrants is also placing a crushing burden on communities across the state and throughout the nation, depleting your already overcrowded schools and hospitals and public services of critical resources, you know that. They are so crowded now because there're so many people, many of them cannot speak English. Even before the Biden border crisis, Arizona taxpayers were spending a staggering $2.3 billion a year to pay for the welfare education justice system, course and illegal immigration, $1,000 per Arizona household every year. In our movement, we believe that your taxpayer dollars should go to support truly needing Americans. You have to take care of American citizens. And look, we all have a heart. I see the same thing as you do, and we want to help people. But when you say, Come up, come up, come to America, our country cannot afford it. We cannot afford it. You just cannot afford it. This is in Mexico and Guatemala and Honduras and El Salvador. They are coming in from Yemen. They are coming in from all over the Middle East. They are coming in from Haiti. Large numbers are coming in from Haiti. They are coming in from all parts of Africa. numbers are coming in from Haiti. They are coming in from all parts of Africa. They are coming in from Europe, they are coming in from all over the world. And our country's not, no country is set for that. Number one, you cannot afford it.

Donald Trump Phoenix, Arizona Rally Speech Transcript July 24


Number two, on a human basis and even on a common sense basis, it is going to destroy it. They are destroying our country. They are destroying our country. Under my Administration, America was respected again and respected like never before. We withdrew from the United Nations corrupt We withdrew from the United Nations corrupt Human Rights Council. So corrupt, which seemingly existed to criticize Israel and the United States. That is all they did was criticize us. But not only is Joe Biden, reentered the shameful and ridiculous international tribunal, but just this month you saw this, the Secretary of State, Tony Blinken, sent them a pandering and very, very strange letter begging to United Nations to come and investigate America for its alleged systematic racism. So you have systemic racism. I thought there is nothing, it is a joke about it. The Biden Administration's action is an outrageous insult to the American people and to our country. The United States of America is the most just and virtuous nation in the world in the history of the world. And I will tell you, you are not going to have a country very much longer. You are not going to have a country. Always I talk about, we can do this, we can do that. They are going to knock out the filibuster, you watch. I used to tell Mitch McConnell, you know what? You better knock out the filibuster and get everything approved, because they are going to do it. They will never do that, sir. Why will not they do it? Because it is bad for America. Do you think they care about America? And the first day they announced that they are going to knock the hell out of it, you watch. The two senators are going to do a folder, and you are going to have a big problem, especially in light of all of the disasters that Biden has caused. We should not be apologizing to the world. We are apologizing for America, just like Obama apologized. They should be apologizing to America for what they have done to it. That is all it is, is also making a mockery of our country right here at home. Earlier this year, Biden signed an executive order pushing toxic, Critical Race Theory into our children's schools and into our military. And it has no place in our schools, no place in our military and no place in our country.


You remember, I ended it very rapidly with a very powerful executive order, but that executive order was immediately repealed and terminated by the radical left. A Republican Congress will defund it and ban it once and for all. They are going to ban it. In testimony before Congress, lightweight Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mark Milley, actually defended the teaching of CRT, a Marxist ideology, to our men and women in uniform. Can you believe it? They are hearing this stuff, they are saying, I cannot believe what I am hearing. The soldiers are saying it. He said he wanted to quote, understand white rage. He wants to understand white rage. What the hell is he talking about that for? Our generals should not be focused on learning left wing ideology. They should be focused on defeating America's enemies and winning our future wars. Hopefully we do not have them, but if we do, we have to win them. And I say it, and I will say it, whatever. The only reason I appointed Mark Milley in the first place is because two of the world's most overrated generals, James Mattis and John Kelly could not stand him, had no respect for him and would not recommend him under any circumstances. They even tried to send him to Europe so he would not get the job. So when they did not like him, I said, Let us give this guy a shot. Last summer, when rioters were threatening to destroy Washington, DC, Milley practically begged me not to send in the military to stop the destruction. I was thinking about it. It is a big step to do it. Insurrection Act, big step to do it, but I was getting close, but he did not want to do it. He did not want to do that. Why would we ever want to do a thing like that? After walking, and I did plenty, I signed a executive order on statues. You knock down any of us statues, you go to jail for 10 years and it all stopped. We stopped it. When they were pulling down statues and then it got crazy They start pulling down statues of Abraham Lincoln. It would have never stopped, but I signed that order. And as soon as I signed that order, not one event took place. You get 10 years for even attempting to take it down. After walking with me to the smoldering church, they tried to burn the church down the day before, the smoke was still coming out of it.


Milley issued a groveling apology because he caved to the press. He was afraid of the press. And it was really in order to take off the pressure again, is what they do to these people is they come after them through the media, through every way they can. All he had to do was say that I am proud to walk with anyone representing the President of the United States, and people would have understood that. And that was the end of him when he did that apology, that was the end of him, nothing to do with me. As the radicalization campaign in our military illustrates We are seeing almost every major institution in American life be taken over and weaponized by the extreme left, including law enforcement, the military, the corporate media. These people here just, you know, it is just I hope they are , more than anybody in this room, I hope they are listening because they are destroying our country. And especially the big tech companies, which are engaged in illegal censorship of the American people. It is a first step to restoring free speech in our country. This month, as you probably read, I filed a major class action lawsuit suit against big tech . We are suing Facebook, Twitter, and Google in Federal Court. And we will keep on fighting until we have reclaimed the sacred right of freedom of speech for every single citizen of this nation. What they do to the conservative voice, and again, they say private, but they have Section 230, which basically gives them immunity, that gives them no problems at all. We do not need lawyers. So once they do that, they have a right that nobody, Section 230, that no other company has anywhere in this country, so that no longer puts them in that category. And we can go after them and let us see what happens. But far worse than even big tech is the lame stream media, which is no longer free. That is all that you can say. You know that. And maybe I see it better because we can give them a statement that is so accurate and so proven. And then they write it the opposite. Whereas if you are a carpenter, you are an electrician, you are a worker, you are a lawyer, whatever you might do, you do not know that. You just think that what you are reading, they have the lowest rating right now, approval rating, in history, in the history of the rating business. They have their lowest rating, because people have gotten wise to them.


And I think it is something that in terms of legacy, I am very proud of what we have been able to do. I am very proud of it. Nobody had any idea the level of deception and corruptness. The media does not report the news anymore. They only report bad things about us and make it worse. They report bad things and they make it worse and good things about them and they make it much better. If there is anything bad about the other side, they never want to talk about it. They do not want to, you do not see it. They do not want to talk about it. Can you imagine if that were a Republican, if that were a conservative in some high level? As an example, the network nightly newscasts hardly ever discuss the crime rate, which is at an all time high. The disaster taking place at the border or Joe Biden's very slow vaccine rollout is very slow, very slow. They actually tried to take credit for the vaccine and that did not work out too well. They do not blame Biden for anything, including the fact that the virus is making an unexpected comeback and ravaging countries throughout the world. Only in a short time ago, it looked like it was going to be good, but nobody says it is Biden, does anybody say it is Biden's fault? And I am not even blaming him, but does anybody say it? That is why we are in the position we are in today. The radical left is determined to ruin everything in America. That is what they are doing. Woke politics takes the life and joy out of everything. Woke-ism makes you lose, ruins your mind and ruins you as a person. Earlier this week, they unexpectedly lost to Sweden, three to nothing, and Americans were happy about it. You proved that point before I even said it. Now the left is in the process of destroying our national pastime, baseball. First, we saw the embarrassing spectacle of the Commissioner of baseball, bowing to the radical left on voter fraud. You saw what they did. You saw they moved the All-Star game. Now one of the most beloved and storied franchises in baseball, all of baseball, I watched it as a kid at Yankee Stadium. The Cleveland Indians will be changing their name, a name that was filled with history and memories. Especially if you have a good team, the Cleveland Indians, it is one of the greatest names. People love it.


They are going absolutely crazy in Ohio over the name change. The Cleveland Guardians, what is that all about? The insanity of the left knows no bounds. They want to take away our history, our heritage, our culture, and everything that holds us together. By the way, remember when Bill Clinton was in Arizona, do you remember that? It was about 125 degrees out, sorry to bring that up. And he has a bad heart. And he said he was playing golf, but actually he was meeting on an airplane with the Attorney General discussing Hillary. I wonder what they were discussing. I was only there, I was only there to discuss my grandchildren and golf. He said he was out there to play golf, but it was about 121 degrees that day, which is a little hot. What is happening to our country has sadly happened to so many others. We are at the beginning of a communist system. Radicals are seizing power and destroying everything we hold dear as Americans and it is happening. They dismantle the rule of law, censor speech, take over the free press, imprison political opponents. Look at what I have been through for years. It was recently revealed that during the hand recount in Fulton County, Joe Biden had batches of ballots go for him. I got nothing. I got nothing. Even Fidel Castro only got 99%. So many of our state and local offices have been overtaken by corruption. The radical left install partisan Democrat prosecutors who are not interested in equal justice, but political justice. It is happening at a level that we have not seen this happen in many, many years. They would wield law enforcement against political opponents, inventing that never had been prosecuted before, while murderers and criminals walk free without prosecution at all, all over the streets of our cities in particular. They have turned our cities into Banana Republics where the innocent are persecuted while crime soars. Just look at what they have done in New York city. Innocent people are beaten in the streets daily. People are shot in Times Square. Rapes and murders are totally out of control. And yet what are the leftists and the attorney general and district attorney's offices working on so diligently? This is what they are working on so diligently and with such passion, it is get ENTITY. They campaign on getting ENTITY. Their campaign, we are going to get ENTITY. We are going to take down ENTITY. They do not talk about the murderers.


They do not talk about no cash bail. They do not talk about all these dangerous people walking the streets so people are afraid to come to New York. They are still coming after me because I will never stop fighting and winning for you. From the very beginning of our movement, we have been fighting against some of the most corrupt, powerful and entrenched forces imaginable. And now the Critical Race Theorists, all of them oppose our movement for a simple reason. We believe in putting America first. We believe in strong families, strong borders and strong sovereign nations. We believe in fair trade for the American worker. Look at what we did with the worst trade deal in the history of the world, NAFTA. Now we have the USMCA, and Mexico and Canada are not thrilled. That is a good sign by the way, but it is a great deal for us. And the stiff tariffs that I put on communist China, I tell you what, all they wanted to do is not have me put on tariffs. We are taking in billions and billions of dollars from China in tariffs and what was happening, our farmers with the trade deal that I made with China were doing phenomenal. They are doing now phenomenally because China is buying numbers that nobody's ever seen before, corn and soybeans, everything they are buying. Once the virus came in, I did not even talk about that trade deal. It meant nothing to me. It meant nothing to me. So sad for what is happened to our country. So said what happened to the world. We believe in low taxes, low regulations, unleashing American energy independence, and putting, we have to have independence with our energy. Think of what they are doing. Think of what they are doing. Look at what is happening at the pump. Nobody's ever seen anything like it. It is going up at a record pace, and you are going to be at $7 or $8 or $9 a gallon, and putting American jobs before the interests of foreign corporations. We believe in ending the endless foreign wars, rebuilding our military, supporting our warriors, taking care of our great veterans and bringing our troops back home, where they belong. And as you know, I started the move out of Afghanistan. I think it was impossible for him to stop it, but it was a much different deal. I told the Taliban, I spoke to the leader and I spoke. I said, let us call him Muhammad.


But just in case, for any reason you decide to do something terrible to our country or beyond what is normal, because they have been fighting for a thousand years, in your country, we are going to come back and we are going to hit you harder than any country has ever been hit. And I told him that. This was a telephone conversation, had a number of them. I said, We are going to get along great, but I just have to make that statement. We are going to hit you harder than any country. This guy has been fighting from the time he is two years old. That is what they do. That is what they do. Russia did very poorly against them. Russia is Russia now, not the Soviet Union because of Afghanistan. I said, We are going to come back and hit you harder. I started off the conversation. Not a lot of social grace, but he was being nice. But I said, We are going to come back and hit you harder than any country has ever been hit. And your village, where I know you are and where you have everybody, that is going to be the point at which the first bomb is dropped I told him that, I told him. And he said to me, and I think he actually meant it. He said to me, I understand. And I believe beyond a deal, I believe we had a real understanding. We believe in patriotic education for our children. And we strongly oppose the radical indoctrination of America's youth. We are committed to defending innocent life, protecting our constitution, and to proudly upholding the Judeo-Christian values of our nation's founding. We embrace free thought. We stand up to political correctness. We do not like political correctness. And we reject the intolerance of left wing cancel culture. We believe in law and order, and we respect and support the men and women of law enforcement, and above all we live by the words of our national motto and it will never ever change, In God We Trust. Sustained by these timeless American values and powered by the strength of these unstoppable ideas, we will press forward. We will have victory after victory. And Charlie, I want to thank you. What a joy you have done, what a job you have done. And to the devoted citizens all across our country, is so much greater than our opponents can even imagine. We have massive majorities and we are much stronger than them, much stronger than them.


On Monday I met with the congressional leadership to discuss the drought that has afflicted so many thousands of acres of our farmland and that has already touched so many Americans' lives. Tomorrow I will be flying out to Illinois and Iowa to see the effects of the drought for myself. But when I heard that you were going to be here in Washington, I decided to take this day to meet with you, you who are in so many ways the leaders of American agriculture. First, let me say our administration is committed to taking whatever actions are necessary to protect America's farmers from excessive losses during this drought. Already we have taken a number of actions. We have formed an interagency drought policy committee to coordinate Federal action. The ENTITY Corps of Engineers is working hard to keep traffic moving on the Mississippi River and elsewhere in spite of some of the lowest water levels in history. And in order to help livestock owners, Secretary Lyng has permitted grazing on set-aside lands. And now is the time to start work on legislation to help the many crop farmers who will suffer substantial losses. At my direction, Secretary Lyng has been working closely with the leadership of the House and Senate Agriculture Committees in an effort to draft timely legislation. We have sought to make this a bipartisan effort, and so far I am pleased by the cooperation that we have received. Permit me to outline the five points we are seeking in this drought legislation. First, relief should go to those who need it most. Second, many of our farmers purchased Federal crop insurance, a sound business decision. They should not be penalized relative to farmers who-did not act with such prudence. Third, this legislation should not force farmers to do unreasonable things. No program should, for example, include any incentive for a farmer to plow under his crops. Fourth, drought relief spending has to be considered in the context of our efforts to reduce the Federal deficit; and according to the November 1987 bipartisan budget agreement that we reached with Congress, to put it very simply, we mustn't bust the budget. The automatic budget sequestration cuts that overspending triggers would take back from farmers with one hand what we are providing in drought relief with the other. And finally, this humanitarian assistance should not be used as a means to other ends. Extraneous matters, such as rewriting the existing farm bill, will only deter our efforts to provide this much-needed aid. Now permit me to tell you just where our efforts stand.

Remarks to the State Presidents of the American Farm Bureau Federation


Yesterday, after long consultations with Secretary Lyng, bipartisan legislation that meets these goals was introduced in both the House and Senate. Secretary Lyng will continue to work with the House and Senate Agriculture Committees as they mark up the drought relief package to ensure that this bipartisan, bicameral cooperation continues. And yet, even as the drought continues, we would do well to look beyond it to the long-range future of American agriculture. We all know that American farmers are more than competitive in world markets-if only those world markets give our farmers the chance to compete fairly. And this is why, under Secretary Lyng and Ambassador Clayton Yeutters guidance, we are working to increase our agricultural exports by making world trade freer and much more fair. Last July we presented at the Uruguay round in Geneva a proposal that I described as-and by the way, that is one of the best parts of this job is that from time to time you get to quote yourself but I described our proposal as the most ambitious proposal for world agricultural trade ever offered. Our proposal calls for nothing less than a total phaseout by the year 2000 of all policies that distort trade in agriculture. The solution to the world agricultural problem is to get government out of the way and let farmers compete. It is true, of course, that getting rid of all export subsidies, import barriers, and the like-all the things that make it harder for our farmers to compete in world markets-is a very tall order; but we are not backing down. At the economic summit in Toronto last month, we were able to persuade the heads of state that, at the Montreal midterm review meeting, their trade ministers must reach agreement on a goal and a timetable for completing the Uruguay round. And I can tell you after nearly 8 years of working with these heads of state, setting a deadline, a time when the talking has to stop and the action has to begin, is a very powerful instrument for getting things done. I know that you support our agricultural proposal for freer and fairer world markets. And I thank you for that support, just as I give you my heartfelt thanks for your support on a host of other things, including the textile bill and the U.S.-Canada free trade agreement. And I ask you to continue to work to help the farmers who're suffering as a result of the drought.


I am deeply gratified by the generous reception you have accorded me. It makes me look back with a touch of regret to former occasions when I have stood in this place and enjoyed a greater liberty than is granted me to-day. There have been times when I stood in this spot and said what I really thought, and I can not help praying that those days of indulgence may be accorded me again. I have come here to-day, of course, somewhat restrained by a sense of responsibility which I can not escape. For I take the Associated Press very seriously. I know the enormous part that you play in the affairs not only of this country but of the world. You deal in the raw material of opinion and, if my convictions have any validity, opinion ultimately governs the world. It is, therefore, of very serious things that I think as I face this body of men. I do not think of you, however, as members of the Associated Press. I do not think of you as men of different parties or of different racial derivations or of different religious denominations. I want to talk to you as to my fellow citizens of the United States, for there are serious things which as fellow citizens we ought to consider. The times behind us, gentlemen, have been difficult enough; the times before us are likely to be more difficult still, because, whatever may be said about the present condition of the world's affairs, it is clear that they are drawing rapidly to a climax, and at the climax the test will come, not only for the nations engaged in the present colossal struggle-it will come to them, of course-but the test will come for us particularly. Do you realize that, roughly speaking, we are the only great Nation at present disengaged? I am not speaking, of course, with disparagement of the greatness of those nations in Europe which are not parties to the present war, but I am thinking of their close neighborhood to it. I am thinking how their lives much more than ours touch the very heart and stuff of the business, whereas we have rolling between us and those bitter days across the water 3, 000 miles of cool and silent ocean. Our atmosphere is not yet charged with those disturbing elements which must permeate every nation of Europe. Therefore, is it not likely that the nations of the world will some day turn to us for the cooler assessment of the elements engaged?

Address at the Associated Press Luncheon in New York City


I am not now thinking so preposterous a thought as that we should sit in judgment upon them-no nation is fit to sit in judgment upon any other nation-but that we shall some day have to assist in reconstructing the processes of peace. Our resources are untouched; we are more and more becoming by the force of circumstances the mediating Nation of the world in respect of its finance. We must make up our minds what are the best things to do and what are the best ways to do them. We must put our money, our energy, our enthusiasm, our sympathy into these things, and we must have our judgments prepared and our spirits chastened against the coming of that day. So that I am not speaking in a selfish spirit when I say that our whole duty, for the present at any rate, is summed up in this motto, America first. Let us think of America before we think of Europe, in order that America may be fit to be Europe's friend when the day of tested friendship comes. The test of friendship is not now sympathy with the one side or the other, but getting ready to help both sides when the struggle is over. The basis of neutrality, gentlemen, is not indifference; it is not self-interest. The basis of neutrality is sympathy for mankind. It is fairness, it is good will, at bottom. It is impartiality of spirit and of judgment. I wish that all of our fellow citizens could realize that. Men are even uttering slanders against the United States, as if to excite her. Men are saying that if we should go to war upon either side there would be a divided America-an abominable libel of ignorance! America is not all of it vocal just now. It is vocal in spots, but I, for one, have a complete and abiding faith in that great silent body of Americans who are not standing up and shouting and expressing their opinions just now, but are waiting to find out and support the duty of America. I am just as sure of their solidity and of their loyalty and of their unanimity, if we act justly, as I am that the history of this country has at every crisis and turning point illustrated this great lesson. We are the mediating Nation of the world. I do not mean that we undertake not to mind our own business and to mediate where other people are quarreling. I mean the word in a broader sense.


We are compounded of the nations of the world; we mediate their blood, we mediate their traditions, we mediate their sentiments, their tastes, their passions; we are ourselves compounded of those things. We are, therefore, able to understand all nations; we are able to understand them in the compound, not separately, as partisans, but unitedly as knowing and comprehending and embodying them all. It is in that sense that I mean that America is a mediating Nation. The opinion of America, the action of America, is ready to turn, and free to turn, in any direction. Did you ever reflect upon how almost every other nation has through long centuries been headed in one direction? That is not true of the United States. The United States has no racial momentum. It has no history back of it which makes it run all its energies and all its ambitions in one particular direction. And America is particularly free in this, that she has no hampering ambitions as a world power. We do not want a foot of anybody's territory. If we have been obliged by circumstances, or have considered ourselves to be obliged by circumstances, in the past, to take territory which we otherwise would not have thought of taking, I believe I am right in saying that we have considered it our duty to administer that territory, not for ourselves but for the people living in it, and to put this burden upon our consciences-not to think that this thing is ours for our use, but to regard ourselves as trustees of the great business for those to whom it does really belong, trustees ready to hand it over to the cestui que trust at any time when the business seems to make that possible and feasible. That is what I mean by saying we have no hampering ambitions. We do not want anything that does not belong to us. Is not a nation in that position free to serve other nations, and is not a nation like that ready to form some part of the assessing opinion of the world? My interest in the neutrality of the United States is not the petty desire to keep out of trouble. To judge by my experience, I have never been able to keep out of trouble. I have never looked for it, but I have always found it. I do not want to walk around trouble. If any man wants a scrap that is an interesting scrap and worth while, I am his man.


I warn him that he is not going to draw me into the scrap for his advertisement, but if he is looking for trouble that is the trouble of men in general and I can help a little, why, then, I am in for it. But I am interested in neutrality because there is something so much greater to do than fight; there is a distinction waiting for this Nation that no nation has ever yet got. That is the distinction of absolute self-control and self-mastery. Whom do you admire most among your friends? The man out of whom you can get a rise without trying? The man who will fight at the drop of the hat, whether he knows what the hat is dropped for or not? Do not you admire and do not you fear, if you have to contest with him, the self-mastered man who watches you with calm eye and comes in only when you have carried the thing so far that you must be disposed of? That is the man who, you know, has at bottom a much more fundamental and terrible courage than the irritable, fighting man. There is news and news. There is what is called news from Turtle Bay that turns out to be falsehood, at any rate in what it is said to signify, but which, if you could get the Nation to believe it true, might disturb our equilibrium and our self-possession. We ought not to deal in stuff of that kind. We ought not to permit that sort of thing to use up the electrical energy of the wires, because its energy is malign, its energy is not of the truth, its energy is of mischief. It is possible to sift truth. I have known some things to go out on the wires as true when there was only one man or one group of men who could have told the originators of that report whether it was true or not, and they were not asked whether it was true or not for fear it might not be true. That sort of report ought not to go out over the wires. There is generally, if not always, somebody who knows whether the thing is so or not, and in these days, above all over days, we ought to take particular pains to resort to the one small group of men, or to the one man if there be but one, who knows whether those things are true or not.


The world ought to know the truth; the world ought not at this period of unstable equilibrium to be disturbed by rumor, ought not to be disturbed by imaginative combinations of circumstances, or, rather, by circumstances stated in combination which do not belong in combination. You gentlemen, and gentlemen engaged like you, are holding the balances in your hand. This unstable equilibrium rests upon scales that are in your hands. For the food of opinion, as I began by saying, is the news of the day. I have known many a man to go off at a tangent on information that was not reliable. Indeed, that describes the majority of men. The world is held stable by the man who waits for the next day to find out whether the report was true or not. We can not afford, therefore, to let the rumors of irresponsible persons and origins get into the atmosphere of the United States. We are trustees for what I venture to say is the greatest heritage that any nation ever had, the love of justice and righteousness and human liberty. For, fundamentally, those are the things to which America is addicted and to which she is devoted. There are groups of selfish men in the United States, there are coteries, where sinister things are purposed, but the great heart of the American people is just as sound and true as it ever was. And it is a single heart; it is the heart of America. It is not a heart made up of sections selected out of other countries. What I try to remind myself of every day when I am almost overcome by perplexities, what I try to remember, is what the people at home are thinking about. I try to put myself in the place of the man who does not know all the things that I know and ask myself what he would like the policy of this country to be. Not the talkative man, not the partisan man, not the man who remembers first that he is a Republican or a Democrat, or that his parents were German or English, but the man who remembers first that the whole destiny of modern affairs centers largely upon his being an American first of all. If I permitted myself to be a partisan in this present struggle, I would be unworthy to represent you. If I permitted myself to forget the people who are not partisans, I would be unworthy to be your spokesman. I am not sure that I am worthy to represent you, but I do claim this degree of worthiness-that before everything else I love America.


Let me start by thanking Michael for his work and for that kind introduction. And I want to also thank Dawn Sweeny and everyone at the National Restaurant Association for having me here. It is a pleasure for me to be with you all. So today I am going to talk about food, which is something that all of you here today know a little bit about. Together, you represent 40 percent of the nearly one million restaurants in the United States, from the biggest chains to the smallest diners. You know what Americans like to eat and what they do not . You have seen how the ingredients we put in our bodies affect the way we feel and the way we feel about ourselves. And you also understand the unique role that food, and restaurants especially, play in our own lives and in the life of our nation. Restaurants have always been places to celebrate a special occasion or mark an important milestone, to bond with new friends and grow closer as a family. They provide a service to our communities unlike any other. And even as tastes and customs have changed over time, restaurants remain an incredibly dynamic part of our American story. And today, one out of every two dollars spent on food in this country goes towards meals outside the home -- and that is double what it was just 50 years ago. And one-third of all meals today are eaten in restaurants. So it is clear that eating out has become part of our American way of life. And while restaurants are still places where we go to mark a special occasion -- to celebrate a good report card, an anniversary, a job well done -- restaurants are not just for those who can afford to splurge anymore. Instead, they have grown to fit every lifestyle and every budget. And our eating habits have evolved over time as well -- both in restaurants and at home -- but not always in ways that are good for our health. And that is another reason I wanted to talk to you today -- about an issue that is near and dear to my heart not just as First Lady, but as a mother -- and that is the epidemic of childhood obesity in America today. how one in three children in this country is overweight or obese. And you know the consequences for their health -- from hypertension and diabetes to heart disease and even cancer. the billions of dollars we spend every year treating obesity-related conditions -- costs that you pay in the form of rising health insurance premiums.

Michelle Obama Remarks by the First Lady in Address to the National Restaurant Association Meeting


So it is clear that we are facing a problem that is really big. And it is also clear that this problem has a whole range of different causes. Our kids are spending less time outside and more time on the couch in front of the TV, video games, the Internet. At school, gym classes, recess, they have been eliminated or shortened. Portion sizes in this country have ballooned. In some areas, families are having a tougher time getting regular access to fresh produce. And kids these days are consuming more calories and eating more fat and sugar than ever before. We want to solve the problem of childhood obesity in a generation, so that kids born today can reach adulthood at a healthy weight. And Let us Move! is about attacking this problem from all different angles. It is about giving parents the information and the resources they need to make healthy decisions for their families. It is about giving grocery stores -- helping them to locate in underserved areas, so that every community has access to fresh and nutritious food. It is about getting healthier food into our schools. It is about helping our kids become more active, not just in school but at home. Even if we give parents all the information they need and we improve school meals and build brand new supermarkets on every corner, none of that matters if when families step into a restaurant, they cannot make a healthy choice. And the truth is that while restaurants are offering more options and families take advantage of them more often, they are not always the healthiest choices. Research has shown that kids consume more saturated fat and less fiber and calcium when they eat out. And the meals they eat at restaurants have twice as many calories as the ones they eat at home. Now, as parents we know that many of our kids are not as healthy and active as they should be. And we desperately want to do things differently. But when stores and restaurants do not offer healthy options, or when parents do not have the information to make the best choices for their families, that is easier said than done. And as America's restaurant owners, you are responsible for one-third of the calories our kids get on a daily basis. The choices you make determine what is listed on the menus, what is advertised on billboards, and what is served on our plates. And your decisions about how a dish is prepared, what goes into it and where is it placed on the menu, that can have a real impact on the way people eat.


And that is why we need your help. And we need your help now, because when you see research showing that obese toddlers already display some warning signs for heart disease, it is clear that we just do not have the time to waste. And that is why I have been so pleased to hear about what some of you are doing already both in working with us and on your own. Here at the NRA, you have developed the Food and Healthy Living Initiative to give restaurants a strong foundation for making healthy changes. You have launched a website, Healthydiningfinder.com, to help consumers identify healthy menu options in their area. You are keeping your members up to date with the latest information and statistics about efforts to address childhood obesity. And you are working with other groups in the industry to meet the goal of doubling the amount of produce used in the food industry over the next 10 years. And across the country, individual restaurants and chains are also focusing on our children's health -- not just because it is the right thing to do, but because it also makes sense for their bottom line. Right now, many restaurants are making a point to offer fresh produce and healthy choices aimed at kids and adults. Others are serving more low-fat dishes, whole grain breads, fruit on the side. Some are even offering kid-size portions of the meals they serve on the main menu. And chefs across the country are partnering with local schools to help them make healthy choices. Together we have to do more. And we need your help to lead this effort. Now, what I do know is that in the restaurant industry creativity is your lifeblood. It is what sets you apart from the competition, and it keeps customers coming back for more. And today I am asking you to use that creativity to rethink the food you offer, especially dishes aimed at young people, and to help us make the healthier choice the easier choice. First, it is important to reduce the number of empty calories that our families are consuming, calories that have no nutritional benefit whatsoever. And believe me, I know this is easier said than done. After all, we as humans, we are programmed to crave sugary, fatty, salty foods. And as people who work to meet those needs, I know it is tempting to respond by creating products that are sweeter, richer and saltier than ever before. See, feeding those cravings does just respond to people's natural desires, it actually helps shape them.


The more of these foods people eat, the more they are accustomed to that taste, and after a while, those unhealthy foods become a permanent part of their eating habits. It can work the other way around just as easily. Just as we can shape our children's preferences for high-calorie, low-nutrient foods, with a little persistence and creativity we can also turn them on to higher quality, healthier foods. It starts with offering healthier options designed specifically for kids. And today, no matter what kind of restaurant you visit -- whether it is Italian, French, Mexican, American -- most kids' menus look pretty much the same. And trust me, we have seen a lot of them. One local survey found that 90 percent of those menus includes mac and cheese -- our children's favorite; 80 percent includes chicken fingers; 60 includes burgers or cheeseburgers. Some options weigh in at over 1,000 calories, and that is close to the recommended amount that a child should have for the entire day. And I think -- and I know you all think -- that our kids deserve better than that. That is why I want to challenge every restaurant to offer healthy menu options and then provide them up front so that parents do not have to hunt around and read the small print to find an appropriately sized portion that does not contain levels -- high levels of fat, salt and sugar. These choices have to be easy to make and they have to give parents the confidence to know that they can go into any restaurant in this country and choose a genuinely healthy meal for their kids. It is not easy to come up with choices that are both healthy and palatable for kids. And it may mean putting in some real effort and creativity to make this happen. But what it does not mean is providing just one token healthy option on the menu, or taking out one problematic ingredient and replacing it with another. And it is not about finding creative ways to market unhealthy food products as healthy. Instead, it is about producing products that actually are healthy; products that can help our children get into the habits that will last them a lifetime. This philosophy also needs to apply to the rest of the food that you offer, because just as we eat out as a family, we also should be able to eat well as a family.


And as a mother of two soon-to-be teenagers, I know that many kids, especially tweens and teens, eat off the same menu that their parents do. I am not asking any of you to make drastic changes to every single one of your recipes or to totally change the way you do business. But what I am asking is that you consider reformulating your menu in pragmatic and incremental ways to create healthier versions of the foods that we all love. That could mean substituting wheat pasta for white pasta in your regular recipes, or taking out an existing -- taking an existing dish and cutting the amount of butter or cream -- not enough to sacrifice flavor -- we all like flavor -- but just enough to make a meaningful difference in the amount of calories and fat. It could mean serving 1 percent or skim milk. Or you could make healthy sides like apple slices or carrots the default choice in a menu and make fries something customers have to request -- which would hurt me deeply. And no matter what you do, it is also important, truly important, to keep portion sizes in check, because we all know that the size of a meal is just as important as the ingredients it is made of. But your role in helping address childhood obesity is not limited to what you put on your menus and how you label them for parents. It is also about how you market those products to our kids. Our kids do not learn about the latest fast-food creations on their own. They hear about them on TV, advertisements, in the Internet, video games, and many other places. As a mom, I know it is my responsibility, and no one else's, to raise my kids. But we have to ask ourselves, what does it mean when so many parents are finding their best efforts undermined by an avalanche of advertisements aimed at our kids. A study last year found that only a small percentage of advertising aimed at kids promoted healthy foods, while most promoted foods with a low nutritional value. It is not enough just to limit ads for foods that are not healthy. It is also going to be critical to increase marketing for foods that are healthy. And if there is anyone who can sell healthy food to our kids, it is all of you, because you know what gets their attention. You know what makes a lasting impression. You certainly know what gets them to drive their poor parents crazy because they just have to have something.


So I am here today to ask you to use that knowledge and that power to our kids' advantage. I am asking you to actively promote healthy foods and healthy habits to our kids. Again, I know many of you have said that you would offer and promote healthy options in a heartbeat if they were as popular as the healthy -- unhealthy options, because that is how business works, and I understand that. But I have yet to meet a single parent who does not understand the threat of childhood obesity. I have yet to meet a single parent who is not eager to buy healthier products. They just need more information. They need easier access to those products. And I have heard from more companies over the year that the market is starting to move in a healthier direction. Folks are beginning to ask for more fruits and vegetables and for smaller portions. So when it comes right down to it, this is also about protecting your bottom lines and meeting the demands of your customers -- customers who I know you want to keep coming back again and again. That is why we are committed to helping increase that demand and making it easier for you to do what is right. And we have started by requiring chain restaurants to provide calorie counts on their menus and menu boards. And I am grateful for the support we have received from the NRA to get this done. And I want to encourage restaurants that are not providing calorie counts to join us in this effort. And because so many of the calories our kids consume come from school, we are also working to get more nutritious food into our lunchrooms and our vending machines. And, again, the NRA has been playing an important role in these efforts as well. As part of Let us Move, we are setting a goal of doubling the number of schools that participate in the Healthier US Schools Challenge by next year. And we are working with schools and food suppliers to offer more fruits and vegetables and to cut down on that fat, sugar and salt. And, finally, we are working with mayors and other local officials to make our cities and towns healthier and to highlight restaurants that agree to serve smaller portions and promote more nutritious options. So I hope that all of you will join with us in these efforts. Together, we can help make sure that every family that walks into a restaurant can make an easy, healthy choice. We can make a commitment to promote vegetables and fruits and whole grains on every part of every menu.


ENTITY gave a speech on July 3 at a Fourth of July firework event at Mt. Rushmore in South Dakota. Governor Noem, Secretary Bernhardt, we very much appreciate it. As we begin this 4th of July weekend, the First Lady and I would wish each and every one of you a very, very happy Independence Day. Let us show our appreciation to the South Dakota ENTITY and Air National Guard and the Air Force for inspiring us with that magnificent display of American air power, and of course our gratitude as always to the legendary and very talented Blue Angels. Let us also send you our deepest thanks to our wonderful veterans, law enforcement, first responders, and the doctors, nurses, and scientists working tirelessly to kill the virus. I want to thank them very, very much. We are grateful as well to your state's congressional delegation. We appreciate it. There could be no better place to celebrate America's independence than beneath this magnificent, incredible majestic mountain and monument to the greatest Americans who have ever lived. Today we pay tribute to the exceptional lives and extraordinary legacies of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Teddy Roosevelt. I am here as your president to proclaim before the country and before the world, this monument will never be desecrated, these heroes will never be defamed, their legacy will never ever be destroyed, their achievements will never be forgotten, and Mount Rushmore will stand forever as an eternal tribute to our forefathers and to our freedom. We gather tonight to herald the most important day in the history of nations, July 4th, 1776. At those words, every American heart should swell with pride, every American family should cheer with delight, and every American patriot should be filled with joy because each of you lives in the most magnificent country in the history of the world and it will soon be greater than ever before. Our founders launched not only a revolution in government, but a revolution in the pursuit of justice, equality, liberty, and prosperity. No nation has done more to advance the human condition than the United States of America and no people have done more to promote human progress than the citizens of our great nation. It was all made possible by the courage of 56 patriots who gathered in Philadelphia 244 years ago and signed the Declaration of Independence. They enshrined a divine truth that changed the world forever when they said, All men are created equal. These immortal words set in motion the unstoppable march of freedom.

Donald Trump Mount Rushmore Speech Transcript at 4th of July Event


Our founders boldly declared that we are all endowed with the same divine rights, given us by our Creator in Heaven, and that which God has given us, we will allow no one ever to take away ever. 1776 represented the culmination of thousands of years of Western civilization and the triumph of not only spirit, but of wisdom, philosophy, and reason. And yet, as we meet here tonight, there is a growing danger that threatens every blessing our ancestors fought so hard for, struggled, they bled to secure. Our nation is witnessing a merciless campaign to wipe out our history, defame our heroes, erase our values, and indoctrinate our children. Angry mobs are trying to tear down statues of our founders, deface our most sacred memorials, and unleash a wave of violent crime in our cities. Many of these people have no idea why they are doing this, but some know what they are doing. They think the American people are weak and soft and submissive, but no, the American people are strong and proud and they will not allow our country and all of its values, history, and culture to be taken from them. One of their political weapons is cancel culture, driving people from their jobs, shaming dissenters, and demanding total submission from anyone who disagrees. This is the very definition of totalitarianism, and it is completely alien to our culture and to our values and it has absolutely no place in the United States of America. This attack on our liberty, our magnificent liberty must be stopped and it will be stopped very quickly. We will expose this dangerous movement, protect our nation's children from this radical assault, and preserve our beloved American way of life. In our schools, our newsrooms, even our corporate boardrooms, there is a new far-left fascism that demands absolute allegiance. If you do not speak its language, perform its rituals, recite its mantras, and follow its commandments, then you will be censored, banished, blacklisted, persecuted, and punished. It is not going to happen to us. This left-wing cultural revolution is designed to overthrow the American Revolution. In so doing they would destroy the very civilization that rescued billions from poverty, disease, violence, and hunger, and that lifted humanity to new heights of achievement, discovery, and progress. To make this possible, they are determined to tear down every statue, symbol, and memory of our national heritage.


That is why I am deploying federal law enforcement to protect our monuments, arrest the rioters, and prosecutors offenders to the fullest extent of the law. I am pleased to report that yesterday, federal agents arrested the suspected ringleader of the attack on the statue of the great Andrew Jackson in Washington, D.C., and in addition, hundreds more have been arrested. Under the executive order I signed last week pertaining to the Veterans Memorial Preservation Memorial and Recognition Act and other laws, people who damage or deface federal statues or monuments will get a minimum of 10 years in prison and obviously that includes our beautiful Mount Rushmore. Our people have a great memory. They will never forget the destruction of statues and monuments to George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, abolitionists and many others. The violent mayhem we have seen in the streets and cities that are run by liberal Democrats in every case is the predictable result of years of extreme indoctrination and bias in education, journalism, and other cultural institutions. Against every law of society and nature, our children are taught in school to hate their own country and to believe that the men and women who built it were not heroes but that were villains. The radical view of American history is a web of lies, all perspective is removed, every virtue is obscured, every motive is twisted, every fact is distorted and every flaw is magnified until the history is purged and the record is disfigured beyond all recognition. This movement is openly attacking the legacies of every person on Mount Rushmore. They defiled the memory of Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and Roosevelt. Today we will set history and history's record straight. Before these figures were immortalized in stone, they were American giants in full flesh and blood, gallant men, whose intrepid deeds unleashed the greatest leap of human advancement the world has ever known. Tonight I will tell you and most importantly the youth of our nation the true stories of these great, great men. From head to toe George Washington represented the strength, grace, and dignity of the American people. From a small volunteer force of citizen farmers, he created the Continental ENTITY out of nothing and rallied them to stand against the most powerful military on earth. Through eight long years, through the brutal winter at Valley Forge, through setback after setback on the field of battle, he led those patriots to ultimate triumph.


When the army had dwindled to a few thousand men at Christmas of 1776, when defeat seemed absolutely certain, he took what remained of his forces on a daring nighttime crossing of the Delaware River. They marched through nine miles of frigid darkness, many without boots on their feet, leaving a trail of blood in the snow. In the morning, they seized victory at Trenton after forcing the surrender of the most powerful empire on the planet at Yorktown, General Washington did not claim power but simply returned to Mount Vernon as a private citizen. When called upon again, he presided over the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia and was unanimously elected our first president. When he stepped down after two terms, his former adversary, King George called him the greatest man of the age. He remains first in our hearts to this day, for as long as Americans love this land, we will honor and cherish the father of our country, George Washington. He will never be removed, abolished, and most of all, he will never be forgotten. Thomas Jefferson, the great Thomas Jefferson, was 33 years old when he traveled north to Pennsylvania and brilliantly authored one of the greatest treasures of human history, the Declaration of Independence. He also drafted Virginia's constitution and conceived and wrote the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, a model for our cherished First Amendment. After serving as the first Secretary of State, and then Vice President, he was elected to the presidency. He ordered American warriors to crush Barbary pirates. He doubled the size of our nation with the Louisiana Purchase and he sent the famous explorers Lewis and Clark into the west on a daring expedition to the Pacific Ocean. He was an architect, an inventor, a diplomat, a scholar, the founder of one of the world's great universities and an ardent defender of liberty. Americans will forever admire the author of American freedom, Thomas Jefferson, and he too will never, ever be abandoned by us. Abraham Lincoln, the savior of our union, was a self-taught country lawyer who grew up in a log cabin on the American frontier. The first Republican president, he rose to high office from obscurity based on a force and clarity of his anti-slavery convictions. He signed the law that built the Trans-Continental Railroad.


He signed the Homestead Act given to some incredible scholars as simply defined ordinary citizens free land to settle anywhere in the American West, and he led the country through the darkest hours of American history, giving every ounce of strength that he had to ensure that government of the people, by the people and for the people did not perish from this earth. He served as commander in chief of the U.S. Armed Forces during our bloodiest war, the struggle that saved our union and extinguished the evil of slavery. Over 600,000 died in that war, more than 20, 000 were killed or wounded in a single day in Antietam. At Gettysburg 157 years ago, the Union bravely withstood an assault of nearly 15,000 men and threw back Pickett's Charge. Lincoln won the Civil War. He issued the Emancipation Proclamation. He led the passage of the 13th Amendment, abolishing slavery for all-time and ultimately his determination to preserve our nation and our union cost him his life. For as long as we live, Americans will uphold and revere the immortal memory of President Abraham Lincoln. Theodore Roosevelt exemplified the unbridled confidence of our national culture and identity. He saw the towering grandeur of America's mission in the world and he pursued it with overwhelming energy and zeal. As a Lieutenant Colonel during the Spanish-American War, he led the famous Rough Riders to defeat the enemy at San Juan Hill. He cleaned up corruption as police commissioner of New York City, then served as the Governor of New York, Vice President, and at 42 years old, became the youngest ever President of the United States. He sent our great new naval fleet around the globe to announce America's arrival as a world power. He gave us many of our national parks, including the Grand Canyon. He oversaw the construction of the awe-inspiring Panama Canal and he is the only person ever awarded both the Nobel Peace Prize and the Congressional Medal of Honor. The American people will never relinquish the bold, beautiful and untamed spirit of Theodore Roosevelt. No movement that seeks to dismantle these treasured American legacies can possibly have a love of America at its heart. No person who remains quiet at the destruction of this resplendent heritage can possibly lead us to a better future. The radical ideology attacking our country advances under the banner of social justice, but in truth, it would demolish both justice and society.


It would transform justice into an instrument of division and vengeance and it would turn our free and inclusive society into a place of a repression, domination, and exclusion. They want to silence us, but we will not be silenced. We will state the truth in full without apology. We declare that the United States of America is the most just and exceptional nation ever to exist on earth. We are proud of the fact that our country was founded on Judeo-Christian principles and we understand that these values have dramatically advanced the cause of peace and justice throughout the world. We know that the American family is the bedrock of American life. We recognize the solemn right and moral duty of every nation to secure its borders and we are building the wall. We remember that governments exist to protect the safety and happiness of their own people. A nation must care for its own citizens first. We must take care of America first. We believe in equal opportunity, equal justice, and equal treatment for citizens of every race, background, religion and creed. Every child of every color, born and unborn, is made in the holy image of God. We want free and open debate, not speech codes and cancel culture. We embrace tolerance, not prejudice. We support the courageous men and women of law enforcement. We will never abolish our police or our great Second Amendment which gives us the right to keep and bear arms. We believe that our children should be taught to love their country, honor their history, and respect our great American flag. We stand tall, we stand proud, and we only kneel to Almighty God. This is what we believe and these are the values that will guide us as we strive to build an even better and greater future. Those who seek to erase our heritage want Americans to forget our pride and our great dignity so that we can no longer understand ourselves or America's destiny. In toppling the heroes of 1776, they seek to dissolve the bonds of love and loyalty that we feel for our country and that we feel for each other. Their goal is not a better America, their goal is to end America. In its place, they want power for themselves, but just as patriots did in centuries past, the American people will stand in their way and we will win and win quickly and with great dignity. We will never let them rip America's heroes from our monuments or from our hearts.


By tearing down Washington and Jefferson, these radicals would tear down the very heritage for which men gave their lives to win the Civil War, they would erase the memory that inspired those soldiers to go to their deaths, singing these words of the Battle Hymn of the Republic, As he died to make men holy, let us die to make men free, while God is marching on. They would tear down the principles that propelled the abolition of slavery and ultimately around the world ending an evil institution that had plagued humanity for thousands and thousands of years. Our opponents would tear apart the very documents that Martin Luther King used to express his dream and the ideas that were the foundation of the righteous movement for Civil Rights. They would tear down the beliefs, culture and identity, that have made America the most vibrant and tolerant society in the history of the earth. My fellow Americans, it is time to speak up loudly and strongly and powerfully and defend the integrity of our country. It is time for our politicians to summon the bravery and determination of our American ancestors. It is time to plant our flag and to protect the greatest of this nation for citizens of every race in every city in every part of this glorious land. For the sake of our honor, for the sake of our children, for the sake of our union, we must protect and preserve our history, our heritage, and our great heroes. Here tonight before the eyes of our forefathers, Americans declare again, as we did 244 years ago, that we will not be tyrannized, we will not be demeaned, and we will not be intimidated by bad, evil people. We will proclaim the ideals of the Declaration of Independence and we will never surrender the spirit and the courage and the cause of July 4, 1776. Upon this ground, we will stand firm and unwavering. In the face of lies meant to divide us, demoralize us and diminish us, we will show that the story of America unites us and - We will show that the story of America unites us, inspires us, includes us all, and makes everyone free. We must demand that our children are taught once again to see America as did Reverend Martin Luther King when he said that the founders had signed a promissory note to every future generation. King saw that the mission of justice required us to fully embrace our founding ideals. Those ideals are so important to us, the founding ideals.


He called on his fellow citizens not to rip down their heritage, but to live up to their heritage. Above all, our children from every community must be taught that to be American is to inherit the spirit of the most adventurous and confident people ever to walk the face of the Earth. Americans are the people who pursued our Manifest Destiny across the ocean, into the uncharted wilderness, over the tallest mountains, and then into the skies, and even into the stars. We are the country of Andrew Jackson, Ulysses S. Grant, and Frederick Douglas. We are the land of Wild Bill Hickock and Buffalo Bill Cody. We are the nation that gave rise to the Wright brothers, the Tuskegee airmen, Harriet Tubman, Clara Barton, Jesse Owens, George Patton, General George Patton, the great Louis Armstrong, Alan Shepard, Elvis Presley, and Muhammad Ali, and only America could have produced them all. We are the culture that put up the Hoover Dam, laid down the highways, and sculpted the skyline of Manhattan. We are the people who dreamed the spectacular dream, it was called Las Vegas in the Nevada desert, who built up Miami from the Florida marsh, and who carved our heroes into the face of Mount Rushmore. Americans harnessed electricity, split the atom, and gave the world the telephone and the internet. We settled the Wild West, won two World Wars, landed American astronauts on the moon. And one day very soon, we will plant our flag on Mars. We gave the world the poetry of Walt Whitman, the stories of Mark Twain, the songs of Irving Berlin, the voice of Ella Fitzgerald, the style of Frank Sinatra, the comedy of Bob Hope, the power of the Saturn V rocket, the toughness of the Ford F150, and the awesome might of the American aircraft carriers. Americans must never lose sight of this miraculous story. We should never lose sight of it. Nobody has ever done it like we have done it. So today, under the authority vested in me as President of the United States, I am announcing the creation of a new monument to the giants of our past. I am signing an executive order to establish the National Guard of American heroes, a vast outdoor park that will feature the statues of the greatest Americans to ever live. From this night, and from this magnificent place, let us go forward united in our purpose and rededicated in our resolve. We will raise the next generation of American patriots. We will write the next thrilling chapter of the American adventure.


We have got some business to do today. I love you back. Before we get started I want to just acknowledge some outstanding public servants who are here. First of all, somebody who I believe is one of the finest governors in this country -- Ted Strickland is here. The lieutenant-governor and soon-to-be junior senator from the great state of Illinois -- or Ohio -- I was thinking about my own home -- Lee Fisher is here. I used to hear that line all the time about senator from Illinois -- that would be me. Outstanding mayor of Cleveland, Frank Jackson is here. The mayor of Parma, Dean DePiero. Somebody who is fighting for working families each and every day, Senator Sherrod Brown is here. It is good to be back in Ohio. You know, in the fall of 2008, one of the last rallies of my presidential campaign was right here in the Cleveland area. It was a hopeful time, just two days before the election. And we knew that if we pulled it off, we'd finally have the chance to tackle some big and difficult challenges that had been facing this country for a very long time. We also hoped for a chance to get beyond some of the old political divides -- between Democrats and Republicans, red states and blue states -- that had prevented us from making progress. Because although we are proud to be Democrats, we are prouder to be Americans ---- and we believed then and we believe now that no single party has a monopoly on wisdom. That is not to say that the election did not expose deep differences between the parties. Cut taxes, especially for millionaires and billionaires. Cut trade deals even if they did not benefit our workers. The idea was that if we just had blind faith in the market, if we let corporations play by their own rules, if we left everyone else to fend for themselves that America would grow and America would prosper. And for a time this idea gave us the illusion of prosperity. We saw financial firms and CEOs take in record profits and record bonuses. We saw a housing boom that led to new homeowners and new jobs in construction. Consumers bought more condos and bigger cars and better TVs. Nobody understands that more than the people of Ohio. Job growth between 2000 and 2008 was slower than it had been in any economic expansion since World War II -- slower than it is been over the last year.

Transcript of President Obama's speech at Cuyahoga Community College


The wages and incomes of middle-class families kept falling while the cost of everything from tuition to health care kept on going up. Folks were forced to put more debt on their credit cards and borrow against homes that many could not afford to buy in the first place. And meanwhile, a failure to pay for two wars and two tax cuts for the wealthy helped turn a record surplus into a record deficit. I ran for President because I believed that this kind of economy was unsustainable -- for the middle class and for the future of our nation. I ran because I had a different idea about how America was built. It was an idea rooted in my own family's story. You see, Michelle and I are where we are today because even though our families did not have much, they worked tirelessly -- without complaint -- so that we might have a better life. My grandfather marched off to Europe in World War II, while my grandmother worked in factories on the home front. I had a single mom who put herself through school, and would wake before dawn to make sure I got a decent education. Michelle can still remember her father heading out to his job as a city worker long after multiple sclerosis had made it impossible for him to walk without crutches. He always got to work; he just had to get up a little earlier. Yes, our families believed in the American values of self-reliance and individual responsibility, and they instilled those values in their children. But they also believed in a country that rewards responsibility; a country that rewards hard work; a country built on the promise of opportunity and upward mobility. They believed in an America that gave my grandfather the chance to go to college because of the GI Bill; an America that gave my grandparents the chance to buy a home because of the Federal Housing Authority; an America that gave their children and grandchildren the chance to fulfill our dreams thanks to college loans and college scholarships. It was an America where you did not buy things you could not afford; where we did not just think about today -- we thought about tomorrow. An America that took pride in the goods that we made, not just the things we consumed. An America where a rising tide really did lift all boats, from the company CEO to the guy on the assembly line. That is what led me to work in the shadow of a shuttered steel plant on the South Side of Chicago when I was a community organizer.


It is what led me to fight for factory workers at manufacturing plants that were closing across Illinois when I was a senator. It is what led me to run for President -- because I do not believe we can have a strong and growing economy without a strong and growing middle class. Now, much has happened since that election. The flawed policies and economic weaknesses of the previous decade culminated in a financial crisis and the worst recession of our lifetimes. And my hope was that the crisis would cause everybody, Democrats and Republicans, to pull together and tackle our problems in a practical way. Some Republican leaders figured it was smart politics to sit on the sidelines and let Democrats solve the mess. Others believed on principle that government should not meddle in the markets, even when the markets are broken. But with the nation losing nearly 800,000 jobs the month that I was sworn into office, my most urgent task was to stop a financial meltdown and prevent this recession from becoming a second depression. And, Ohio, we have done that. The private sector has created jobs for the last eight months in a row. And there are roughly 3 million Americans who are working today because of the economic plan we put into place. Millions of jobs were lost before our policies even had a chance to take effect. We lost 4 million in the six months before I took office. It was a hole so deep that even though we have added jobs again, millions of Americans remain unemployed. Hundreds of thousands of families have lost their homes. Millions more can barely pay the bills or make the mortgage. The middle class is still treading water, and those aspiring to reach the middle class are doing everything they can to keep from drowning. And meanwhile, some of the very steps that were necessary to save the economy -- like temporarily supporting the banks and the auto industry -- fed the perception that Washington is still ignoring the middle class in favor of special interests. And so people are frustrated and they are angry and they are anxious about the future. I understand that. I also understand that in a political campaign, the easiest thing for the other side to do is to ride this fear and anger all the way to Election Day. A few weeks ago, the Republican leader of the House came here to Cleveland and offered his party's answer to our economic challenges.


Now, it would be one thing if he had admitted his party's mistakes during the eight years that they were in power, if they had gone off for a while and meditated, and come back and offered a credible new approach to solving our country's problems. Cut more taxes for millionaires and cut more rules for corporations. Instead of coming together like past generations did to build a better country for our children and grandchildren, their argument is that we should let insurance companies go back to denying care for folks who are sick, or let credit card companies go back to raising rates without any reason. Instead of setting our sights higher, they are asking us to settle for a status quo of stagnant growth and eroding competitiveness and a shrinking middle class. A lot has changed since I came here in those final days of the last election, but what has not is the choice facing this country. It is still fear versus hope; the past versus the future. That is what this election is about. That is the choice you will face in November. Now, we have a different vision for the future. See, I have never believed that government has all the answers to our problems. I have never believed that government's role is to create jobs or prosperity. I believe it is the drive and the ingenuity of our entrepreneurs, our small businesses; the skill and dedication of our workers ---- that is made us the wealthiest nation on Earth. I believe it is the private sector that must be the main engine for our recovery. I believe government should leave people free to make the choices they think are best for themselves and their families, so long as those choices do not hurt others. But in the words of the first Republican President, Abraham Lincoln, I also believe that government should do for the people what they cannot do better for themselves. investments in education and clean energy, in basic research and technology and infrastructure. That means making sure corporations live up to their responsibilities to treat consumers fairly and play by the same rules as everyone else. Their responsibility is to look out for their workers, as well as their shareholders, and create jobs here at home. And that means providing a hand-up for middle-class families -- so that if they work hard and meet their responsibilities, they can afford to raise their children, and send them to college, see a doctor when they get sick, retire with dignity and respect.


That is what we Democrats believe in -- a vibrant free market, but one that works for everybody. That is our vision for a stronger economy and a growing middle class. And that is the difference between what we and Republicans in Congress are offering the American people right now. Let me give you a few specific examples of our different approaches. This week, I proposed some additional steps to grow the economy and help businesses spur hiring. One of the keys to job creation is to encourage companies to invest more in the United States. But for years, our tax code has actually given billions of dollars in tax breaks that encourage companies to create jobs and profits in other countries. I want to change that. I want to change that. Instead of tax loopholes that incentivize investment in overseas jobs, I am proposing a more generous, permanent extension of the tax credit that goes to companies for all the research and innovation they do right here in Ohio, right here in the United States of America. And I am proposing that all American businesses should be allowed to write off all the investment they do in 2011. And this will help small businesses upgrade their plants and equipment, and will encourage large corporations to get off the sidelines and start putting their profits to work in places like Cleveland and Toledo and Dayton. Now, to most of you, I will bet this just seems like common sense. For years, Republicans have fought to keep these corporate loopholes open. In fact, when Mr. Boehner was here in Cleveland he attacked us for closing a few of these loopholes -- and using the money to help states like Ohio keep hundreds of thousands of teachers and cops and firefighters on the job. Boehner dismissed these jobs we saved -- teaching our kids, patrolling our streets, rushing into burning buildings -- as government jobs -- jobs I guess he thought just were not worth saving. I think teachers and police officers and firefighters are part of what keeps America strong. And, Ohio, I think if we are going to give tax breaks to companies, they should go to companies that create jobs in America -- not that create jobs overseas. That is one difference between the Republican vision and the Democratic vision. That is what this election is all about. Let me give you another example. We want to put more Americans back to work rebuilding America -- our roads, our railways, our runways. When the housing sector collapsed and the recession hit, one in every four jobs lost were in the construction industry.


That is partly why our economic plan has invested in badly needed infrastructure projects over the last 19 months -- not just roads and bridges, but high-speed railroads and expanded broadband access. Altogether, these projects have led to thousands of good, private sector jobs, especially for those in the trades. Boehner and the Republicans in Congress said no to these projects. Though I should say it did not stop a lot of them from showing up at the ribbon-cuttings ---- trying to take credit. And engineers, economists, governors, mayors of every political stripe believe that if we want to compete in this global economy, we need to rebuild this vital infrastructure. There is no reason Europe or China should have the fastest trains or the most modern airports -- we want to put people to work building them right here in America. So this week, I have proposed a six-year infrastructure plan that would start putting Americans to work right away. But despite the fact that this has traditionally been an issue with bipartisan support, Mr. Boehner has so far said no to infrastructure. That is bad for America -- and that, too, is what this election is all about. I will give you one final example of the differences between us and the Republicans, and that is on the issue of tax cuts. Under the tax plan passed by the last administration, taxes are scheduled to go up substantially next year -- for everybody. By the way, this was by design. When they passed these tax cuts in 2001 and 2003, they did not want everybody to know what it would do to our deficit, so they pretended like they were going to end, even though now they say they do not . Now, I believe we ought to make the tax cuts for the middle class permanent. These families are the ones who saw their wages and incomes flat-line over the last decade -- you deserve a break. You deserve some help. And because folks in the middle class are more likely to spend their tax cut on basic necessities, that strengthens the economy as a whole. But the Republican leader of the House does not want to stop there. He and his party believe we should also give a permanent tax cut to the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans.


With all the other budgetary pressures we have -- with all the Republicans' talk about wanting to shrink the deficit -- they would have us borrow $700 billion over the next 10 years to give a tax cut of about $100,000 each to folks who are already millionaires. And keep in mind wealthy Americans are just about the only folks who saw their incomes rise when Republicans were in charge. And these are the folks who are less likely to spend the money -- which is why economists do not think tax breaks for the wealthy would do much to boost the economy. We should not hold middle-class tax cuts hostage any longer. We are ready, this week, if they want, to give tax cuts to every American making $250,000 or less. That is 98-97 percent of Americans. Now, for any income over this amount, the tax rates would just go back to what they were under President Clinton. This is not to punish folks who are better off -- God bless them. It is because we cannot afford the $700 billion price tag. And for those who claim that our approach would somehow be bad for growth and bad for small businesses, let me remind you that with those tax rates in place, under President Clinton, this country created 22 million jobs and raised incomes and had the largest surplus in our history. In fact, if the Republican leadership in Congress really wants to help small businesses, they will stop using legislative maneuvers to block an up or down vote on a small business jobs bill that is before the Senate right now. This is a bill that would do two things. It would cut taxes for small businesses and make loans more available for small businesses. It is fully paid for, will not add to the deficit. And it was written by Democrats and Republicans. And yet, the other party continues to block this jobs bill -- a delay that small business owners have said is actually leading them to put off hiring. Look, I recognize that most of the Republicans in Congress have said no to just about every policy I have proposed since taking office. I realize in some cases that there are genuine philosophical differences. But on issues like this one -- a tax cut for small businesses supported by the Chamber of Commerce -- the only reason they are holding this up is politics, pure and simple. If I fail, they win.


Well, they might think that this will get them to where they want to go in November, but it will not get our country going where it needs to go in the long run. It will not get us there. It will not get us there. It will not get us there. Do we return to the same failed policies that ran our economy into a ditch, or do we keep moving forward with policies that are slowly pulling us out? Do we settle for a slow decline, or do we reach for an America with a growing economy and a thriving middle class? That is the America that I see. We see a future where we invest in American innovation and American ingenuity; where we export more goods so we create more jobs here at home; where we make it easier to start a business or patent an invention; where we build a homegrown, clean energy industry -- because I do not want to see new solar panels or electric cars or advanced batteries manufactured in Europe or Asia. I want to see them made right here in the U.S. of A by American workers. We see an America where every citizen has the skills and training to compete with any worker in the world. That is why we have set a goal to once again have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world by 2020. That is why we are revitalizing community colleges like this one. That is why we are reforming our education system based on what works for our children, not what perpetuates the status quo. We see an America where a growing middle class is the beating heart of a growing economy. That is why I kept my campaign promise and gave a middle-class tax cut to 95 percent of working Americans. That is why we passed health insurance reform that stops insurance companies from jacking up your premiums at will or denying coverage because you get sick. That is why we passed financial reform that will end taxpayer-funded bailouts; reform that will stop credit card companies and mortgage lenders from taking advantage of taxpayers and consumers. That is why we are trying to make it easier for workers to save for retirement and fighting the efforts of some in the other party to privatize Social Security -- because as long as I am President, no one is going to take the retirement savings of a generation of Americans and hand it over to Wall Street.


That is why we are fighting to extend the child tax credit and make permanent our new college tax credit, because if we do, it will mean $10,000 in tuition relief for each child going to four years of college. And I do not want any parent not to be sending their kids, in good time or bad, to college because they cannot afford it. And finally, we see an America where we refuse to pass on the debt we inherited to the next generation. Now, let me spend just a minute on this issue, because we have heard a lot of moralizing on the other side about this -- government spending and debt. Along with the tax cuts for the wealthy, the other party's main economic proposal is that they will stop government spending. Now, it is right to be concerned about the long-term deficit. If we do not get a handle on it soon, it can endanger our future. And at a time when folks are tightening their belts at home, I understand why a lot of Americans feel it is time for government to show some discipline, too. But let us look at the facts. When these same Republicans -- including Mr. Boehner -- were in charge, the number of earmarks and pet projects went up, not down. These same Republicans turned a record surplus into a record deficit. When I walked in, wrapped in a nice bow was a $1.3 trillion deficit sitting right there on my doorstep. Just this year, these same Republicans voted against a bipartisan fiscal commission that they themselves had proposed. Once I decided I was for it, they were against it. And when you ask them what programs they'd actually cut they do not have an answer. Now, I will be honest -- I refuse to cut back on those investments that will grow our economy in the future -- investments in areas like education and clean energy and technology. I do not want to cut those things. And that is because economic growth is the single best way to bring down the deficit -- and we need these investments to grow. But I am absolutely committed to fiscal responsibility, which is why I have already proposed freezing all discretionary spending unrelated to national security for the next three years. And once the bipartisan fiscal commission finishes its work, I will spend the next year making the tough choices necessary to further reduce our deficit and lower our debt -- whether I get help from the other side or not.


Not everything we have done over the last two years has worked as quickly as we had hoped, and I am keenly aware that not all of our policies have been popular. But you did not elect me to do what was easy. You did not elect me to just read the polls and figure how to keep myself in office. You did not elect me to avoid big problems. You elected me to do what was right. And as long as I am President, that is exactly what I intend to do. This country is emerging from an incredibly difficult period in its history -- an era of irresponsibility that stretched from Wall Street to Washington, and had a devastating effect on a lot of people. We have started turning the corner on that era. hard work and self-reliance; responsibility for ourselves, but also responsibility for one another. It is about moving from an attitude that said What is in it for me? to one that asks, What is best for America? What is best for all our workers? What is best for all of our businesses? What is best for all of our children? Social Security and the minimum wage; the GI Bill and Medicare; civil rights and worker's rights and women's rights. But we also recognize that throughout our history, there has been a noble Republican vision as well, of what this country can be. It was the vision of Abraham Lincoln, who set up the first land grant colleges and launched the transcontinental railroad; the vision of Teddy Roosevelt, who used the power of government to break up monopolies; the vision of Dwight Eisenhower, who helped build the Interstate Highway System. And, yes, the vision of Ronald Reagan, who despite his aversion to government, was willing to help save Social Security for future generations -- working with Democrats. These were serious leaders for serious times. They were great politicians, but they did not spend all their time playing games or scoring points. They did not always prey on people's fears and anxieties. They made mistakes, but they did what they thought was in the best interests of their country and its people. And that is what the American people expect of us today -- Democrats, independents, and Republicans. That is the leadership we owe them. I know that folks are worried about the future. I know there is still a lot of hurt out here.


Well, it is wonderful to see all of you here today. Tomorrow is one of the best days of the year to be an American. It is a day to count our blessings, spend time with the ones we love, and enjoy some good food and some great company. But it is also one of the worst days of the year to be a turkey. The rare exception, of course, are the two birds who've joined me today. Some of you may know that recently I have been taking a series of executive actions that do not require congressional approval. We cannot wait to pardon these turkeys. Otherwise they'd end up next to the mashed potatoes and stuffing. I want to thank Richard Huisinga, the chairman of the National Turkey Federation, and his wonderful family for donating this year's turkey from his farm in Willmar, Minnesota. The turkey's name is Liberty--there he is--and along with his understudy named Peace, he has the distinction of being the luckiest bird on the face of the Earth. Right now he is also probably one of the most confused. Liberty was chosen from a flock of about 30 other contestants for the honor of being here today. And for the first time in history, these two turkeys were raised by four students from nearby Willmar High School. Now, I am told that in order to prepare Liberty and Peace for their big day, the students exposed them to loud noises and flashbulbs so that they'd be ready to face the White House press corps. They also received the most important part of their media training, which involves learning how to gobble without really saying anything. So Liberty is ready for his turn in the spotlight. And after he finishes a round of cable hits and a few Sunday shows, he is going to retire to a life of leisure at Mount Vernon, the same place where George Washington spent his golden years. And later today Michelle, Malia, Sasha, and I will also be taking two unnamed turkeys, who were not so lucky, to a local food bank here in DC that helps those in need. And I want to thank the folks at Jaindl's Turkey Farm in Orefield, Pennsylvania, for donating these dressed birds for the third year in a row. A great writer once called Thanksgiving the one day that is ours . . . the one day that is purely American.

Remarks at the Thanksgiving Turkey Presentation Ceremony


I am proud of you. I am proud of your dedication. It is a great country where Windy can come from a Head Start program and is now a leader in the movement to make sure Head Start fulfills the promise of the program. First, I want to thank the good folks here at Highland Park Elementary School for letting me come by and see a program which works. I do not know if the people in the State of Maryland know this-I know the Governor does-that the teachers here and the program here uses a strategy, what they call a Center for Improving Readiness for Children, Learning, and Education, C.I.R.C.L.E., which is a model program. It is a program that incorporates profound and simple reading lessons necessary to lay the foundation for future readers. So, I have really come to say a couple of things. One, I want to thank the good folks at this learning institution for your focus and dedication. I also want to say that this is possible, this program is possible, to be spread around the country. I mean, this is what we need to do. That is what we are here to talk about. I will never forget the lady in Houston, Texas, who stood up at one time and she said, Reading is the new civil right. Her point was, is that if you cannot read, it is hard to access the greatness of America. And if reading is the new civil right, a good place to start with civil rights is at the Head Start programs all across the country. And that is what we are here to talk about, how to make then work better. We want better than okay in America. We want excellence. Windy understands that, and I want to thank her for working with my Secretary for the Department of Health and Human Services, Tommy Thompson. And I appreciate my friend Rod Paige. He is the Secretary of Education. The idea is to combine both focuses, both Departments into one when it comes to Head Start. The Head Start program will stay under Tommy's purview, but we want it to become an Education Department as well. I mean, after all, you have got a million kids gathered together at one time during the day. If you have got a million kids that may be, as they call them in the education world, at-risk readers, let us get it right early then. That is what we are saying. And that is what this initiative is attempting to do.

Remarks at Highland Park Elementary School in Landover, Maryland