The ENTITY epidemic in this country will be gone within 10 years. We have already started the process. Who would've thought that? Honestly, when I ran, I did not know that. We have now the technology and what they have done with respect to ENTITY is incredible. What a terrible, terrible period of time the world went through, but we will have it ended within 10 years. We will defeat the effort to drive up the cost of houses, cars, healthcare, light bulbs. They took away our light bulb. I want an incandescent light. I want to pay less money to look better. Does that make sense? You pay much less money and you look much better and on top of that, with the new bulbs, if they break, it is considered a hazardous waste site. It is all gases inside and you are supposed to bring it back to where you bought it in a sealed container. I asked the people, the professionals, Well, what do people do when it breaks? What do they do? Nothing, they throw it away. A lot of people did not know. You got a much better light at a much reduced cost and it is much safer because when those other bulbs break, they really are dangerous. These are the little things that I have to explain. Otherwise, people will say, What the hell are you doing with light bulbs for? And we are trying to do the same thing with cars. Cars have so much junk on them now to save a tiny little fraction of gasoline. They have so much junk that they are less safe. So, what I want to do is the following. Under our rules and regulations, the cars are environmentally terrific, but they are safer and they are $3,500 less to buy, right? I mean, they make them now like paper mache. Somebody touches them and the entire car collapses. When somebody hits me, I want to be in as close to an army tank as possible. No, they are made out of paper mache. They weigh about three pounds and if you get hit by a bus, it is over. They say, What happened to that car? No, I think of it, it is safer and it is less expensive by $3,500 on average. And California wants you to do the other cars and we do not . We are going to end up in a big litigation and I am fighting for you.


Look, it is not the kind of thing most presidents would be fighting for because they say, Let them pay more. They listen to the environmentalists, and I am an environmentalist. I believe in the environment. I want the cleanest water on the planet. I want the cleanest air. I want a lot of things. You know, right now, we have the cleanest air that we have ever had in this country? But what are they going to do about China and India and Russia and other countries that are spewing stuff? What are we doing about them? We are going to keep our nation clean. But you know, the universe is so big that when you talk about China, the USA, India, you talk about these different places where a lot of bad stuff comes out, right? It is so big that it is right next to each other. It is right next to each other. Does that make sense? It is right next to each other. So, what are they going to do? We want to have the cleanest water and the cleanest air. We will defend privacy. We will defend free speech, free assembly, religious liberty, and we will always defend your second amendment and we are doing it now. And above all, we will never stop fighting for the values that bind us together as one America. We support, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. We stand with our incredible heroes of law enforcement. We believe in the dignity of work and in the sanctity of life. We believe that mothers and fathers, not Washington bureaucrats, know best how to raise their strong, beautiful families in their loving and wonderful communities. We believe that children should be taught to love our country, honor our history, and always respect our great American flag. And we will always live by the words of our national motto. Nobody will ever take it down. Nobody will ever take it down. We will never allow them to take it down. In God we trust. We stand on the shoulders of American Patriots who built this country into the greatest nation ever to exist on the face of the earth and we are going to be better than ever before and it will not even be close, and we are right there. Our ancestors crossed the oceans, settled a continent, tamed the wilderness, revolutionized industry, pioneered sciences, won two world wars, defeated fascism and communism, put a man on the moon and built the most exceptional country in the history of the world.

Donald Trump New Mexico Rally Transcript: Full Speech Transcript


I feel grateful to have the chance here to join my colleagues to mark the anniversary of January 6. And I thank the Chair of the Rules Committee, Senator Klobuchar, for her leadership in all of this. We had an insurrection here a year ago that could have very easily turned into a conflagration if it had not been for the incredible bravery of the Capitol Police and the other law enforcement that was summoned to the Capitol, too late, but nevertheless, here. The National Guard, as my colleague from Virginia was talking about, they kept this place from being burned down. They kept people from getting killed. They lost their lives on that day and in subsequent days because of the trauma that they were exposed to. They suffered racial epithets that nobody in America should have to suffer shouted in the halls of this Capitol. And there are people here, as my colleague from Wisconsin said, who are claiming that they were acting like tourists. I just heard somebody downstairs in the basement walking by and they were pointing out one of those pictures that is down there of newsboys standing in front of the Capitol when they were kids. Because this place, for the people that work here -- I am not talking about the Senate, but the people that work here that are the staff, whose grandparents worked here, whose great uncles are on the pictures downstairs. To them, this is a family. It was assaulted on behalf of people that came summoned here by the president who claimed that the election had been stolen from him, who was perpetrating a big lie about what had happened in the election. And it is tragic that a year later, we still have to come here and say, Joe Biden won the election. And he did by any fair study of what happened that day on election day. He won Arizona by 10,000 votes. He won Georgia by 11,000 votes. He won Wisconsin by 20,000 votes. He won Pennsylvania by 80,000 votes, in Michigan by 150,000 votes. In every one of those swing states, he won by more votes than Donald Trump won in his election against Hillary Clinton. This margin was bigger in those states, except Arizona, than the margin that Donald Trump had won when he won the election against Hillary Clinton. Joe Biden won this election by 7 million votes. Donald Trump actually lost the popular vote when he won the election by 3 million votes. But his election was not seriously contended by anybody.

speech Bennet Speaks on the Senate Floor on the Anniversary of the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol


And it should not have been, because he'd won the Electoral College. Just as Joe Biden had won the Electoral College. His lawyers -- Donald Trump's lawyers -- have been thrown out of more than 60 courtrooms by state and federal judges, some of them appointed by President Trump himself, saying that there was no evidence that there was fraud. They did not actually vote, they were dead, but people cast ballots on behalf of them. Four people out of 5 million and one of those cast a vote for Donald Trump. But President Trump continues to say that there were dead people voting all over the United States of America. The Associated Press did a review of all those swing states that I was mentioning earlier, and they found that if you just looked at the disputed ballots -- so these are not even fraudulent ballots, because they have not been identified as fraudulent, they are just disputed ballots -- that in all these cases, the disputed ballots came to about .15% of the margin in any one of these races. In other words, in not a single one of these swing states where there is a dispute that President Trump has brought, would it make a material difference, even if it were true, what you are alleging. And he is still doubled down on the big lie. And the result of that is, as my colleagues have said here today, there are more than 400 bills nationwide, in the name of that big lie, making it harder for the American people to vote, making it harder for them to register, making it harder for people to vote early, or to vote by mail. In Texas, they are down to one dropbox per county. In Colorado, I can practically cross my street and vote at a dropbox. This is an effort to subvert elections to cling to power. And it is based on a massive falsehood -- the big lie. I think one needs to ask oneself, even people that support President Trump, what future does the stop the steal movement imagine for our country? What future do they imagine for this democracy where every election is going to be contested? Where political violence replaces the ballot box. Where elections are decided by strongmen, not votes, turning us into Russia or China. Is that really what we want our legacy to be here in the country?


Do we want to be the first generation of Americans to decide that it is just too hard to do our duty to the people that founded this country, the people that fought from the time this country was founded until today, who died for the sake of democracy, that it is just too hard? That somehow our differences are unique, or so important that we are going to give up on our shared commitment to the democracy in favor of those disagreements? And I think we need to ask ourselves at a moment like this, what we owe the generations of Americans that have fought to make this country more democratic, more fair, and more free. What do we owe the 158 million Americans -- a record -- who showed up during a plague, this ENTITY pandemic, to cast their votes for Donald Trump and for Joe Biden -- what are they owed? And what do we owe our kids and our grandkids? I think the answer is very clear, which is a stronger democracy, an economy that works for everybody, not just the people at the very top. We have one of the highest voter turnouts in the country. I always have to say, especially when the senator from Minnesota is around, that we are number two in terms of voter turnout, Minnesota is number one, but we are coming for you. We should have vote by mail, we should have early balloting. We have all of that in Colorado, one of the highest turnout rates in the country, and no fraud. So I am going to just finish by saying that we should distrust politicians who cannot seem to win people's votes with their argument, just as we should distrust politicians who attack the free press to avoid accountability even though that free press is enshrined in our Constitution. And we should recommit to each other and the democracy. Let me tell you something, Mr. President. Last week we had another tragedy in Colorado, another disaster. Boulder, Colorado started out this year with a mass shooting in a grocery store, some of you may remember that. And basically on New Year's Eve, we had a massive fire that ripped through neighborhoods in the front range of Colorado in Boulder County. And I sat there thinking to myself as I was with my daughters watching those fires on the television set, how much we actually need each other, you know.


Illinois is going to give you the greatest majority come November that any Democratic Governor in this Nation received. I want to pay tribute to your fighting Senator, the representative of all the people, all the time, Paul Douglas. I have enjoyed traveling through Illinois this afternoon with Lieutenant Governor Samuel Shapiro, Attorney General William Clark, State Auditor Michael Howlett, your candidate for secretary of state, Paul Powell, your National committeewoman, Dorothy O'Brien, your congressional candidate, Mr. Cole Baker, your State chairman, Jim Ronan. Now, my fellow Americans, we have come to the end of a long and busy and thrilling and inspiring day. Everywhere we have gone, from the time we left early this morning until late this evening, we have seen young Democrats, middle-aged Democrats, senior Democrats, Independents, Republicans who want to vote for a President in November that will represent all the people. I think I can tell you that the ticket of Johnson and Humphrey is going to lead this Nation to a great victory come November. Four weeks from today the American people will have made their choice. I have come here tonight to set that choice before the people. This is a great day in America's heartland. America today is the richest nation and the most prosperous nation and the most powerful nation on earth, and as long as I am your ENTITY I intend to keep it that way. Illinois is today the powerhouse of America, and Governor Kerner and I intend to keep it that way. Today, for the first time in history, over 70 million Americans have jobs. Personal income after taxes has risen by $80 billion in 3 years and corporate profits after taxes have increased over $12 billion. The stock market has reached an all-time high. The value of the stocks on the New York Stock Exchange are worth $100 billion more than they were when I took office last November. And in this great surge, Illinois has been one of the leading States of the Nation. Illinois is today one of the top States in the Union, as Governor Kerner said, in exports to foreign nations--both industrial and agricultural exports. Illinois today has one of the lowest unemployment rates of any industrial State in the Union, and I will tell you who has been fighting to bring that about--your own great Senator Paul Douglas. Illinois was the only industrial State that was able to reduce its public aid under Federal programs last year.

Remarks on the Courthouse Steps in Peoria


Illinois today has more men and women learning more new skills under the Manpower Development and Training Act than any other State in the entire Union. In 1961 the unemployment rate in Illinois was 6.4 percent. In July of this year that rate had been slashed more than 33 percent. Since August of 1961, more than a dozen labor areas of Illinois have been taken off the list of areas of substantial unemployment -including your own great city of Peoria. I understand that a man who works in the Unemployment Compensation Service is afraid if things keep on going this way, he will be out of a job pretty soon. Yes, you are rebuilding Peoria. You have a positive program. You stand for something. You are not just a bunch of negative aginers. The excitement of rebirth is everywhere in this city. You can see it. You can feel it. It is in the air. You have new office buildings, you have new civic buildings, you have new highways, you have new motels. Yes, this is a proud, new city of the future in the 20th century, and you are entitled to 20th century leadership, and you are going to get it November 3d. One of your great industrial companies expects its first billion-dollar-year this year. All the signs read Help Wanted, Men at Work. And we intend to keep it that way. None of this has happened by accident. It has happened because you had the vision to rebuild your city. It happened because your State and National Governments have pursued policies that made progress possible, policies that insured economic growth. Let me give you just one example. The biggest tax cut in American history, recommended by our late beloved, martyred President John Fitzgerald Kennedy, and supported by most of the men in the House of Representatives and in the United States Senate, was enacted by the Congress. In that tax bill we reduced the tax bill of the average taxpayer by 20 percent. We created 130,000 new jobs in Illinois. We generated an increase in total Illinois income of $2 billion. We boosted State and local tax revenues by $160 million. We cut Illinois withholding tax payments by $500 million. Four years ago the mighty industrial and agricultural center of Illinois was stalled on dead center. Today, Illinois is on the move, and we intend to keep Illinois moving forward. There are those who say repeal the bills that have made America great. Let us continue, and that is the choice before the American people this November.


You have a clear, unmistakable choice between continuing those policies that have brought us to a peak of prosperity, or turning to policies that will wreck our progress. The social security system has made it possible for 19,700,000, almost 20 million Americans--one out of every 10 persons in this country--to live under that social security system and they are permitted to live their later years in dignity, with security. Now there are those in this land who believe that our social security system should be changed. Even members of their own party say a voluntary plan would wreck social security, it would bankrupt the system. This is one of the most important issues in this campaign. Americans are not going to gamble on social security. They are not going to risk destroying a program that has proved the bedrock of security for our older citizens. We are going to fight for and strengthen and defend and protect social security, and we are going to extend it when the Congress meets again! The Illinois AFL-CIO State convention meeting here in Peoria has fought for social security. He was one of the architects of the Social Security Act of 1935, and through the years he has been its staunchest friend. Do you want to go back to the 1930's when all the doors were closed, when all the signs read No help wanted ? Or do you want to move forward to the wide open vistas of the 1960's? For 30 years, under 5 different Presidents, we have followed a course to a stable, prosperous, and good society, where child labor is outlawed, where minimum wages are guaranteed, where the elderly receive social security and the young find opportunity; where labor and industry bargain freely; where our Nation is safe with a defense system stronger than those of all the other nations on earth combined. We are not about to give any of those rights up. Peace on earth, good will toward men. The road to peace is not an easy one. It is fraught with many perils. It has many side turns. But we move along it and we must move calmly. We must move with resolution, and above all, as good Americans, we must move carefully and responsibly at all times. Things get very lonely in Washington sometimes. The real voice of the great people of America sometimes sounds faint, and sometimes sounds distant. Well, we have to get away from Washington once in a while to come out and see the young Democrats and the great citizens of this land.


And I think if Woodrow Wilson were here in Peoria this afternoon, he would not think that your voices sounded faint or distant, because he would know that we are here in the heartland of America, and that you are going to lead us to victory in November. Yes, all day I have seen your smiling faces. All day I have looked into your happy countenances. All day I have seen the family life, the mothers and the children of America here in the heartland of the great State of Illinois. And those voices sound powerful to me. And when I return to the White House, and the policemen turn the keys on those locks on those big black gates, and I get to those few acres that are back of our house, it is going to be folks like you that sustain me in my labors and in my thoughts. It is going to be prayers like yours that give us inspiration and hope and leadership and make it possible for us some way, somehow, to achieve peace on earth. And I want each of you to know that you have a part to play in American history, that you have a responsibility as citizens of the most powerful nation in the world, that you have an obligation as Americans-whether you are Democrats or whether you are Republicans, or whether you are Independents-and that obligation is to go out and work and fight and give the best talents you have to make democracy live. Ten months ago, in a tragic moment, I was called upon to assume the awesome responsibilities of ENTITY of this country. And I told you that afternoon, after I took the oath of office in Air Force One, that I wanted you to give me your help and give me your hand, and give me your prayers; that all I could tell you was I would do the best I could. We had a difficult transition period because all the world was looking at us. And our own people and the other peoples of the world were watching what course America would take. You sustained me with your strength. You helped me with your prayers. America united--the businessman, the labor man, the farmer, the Congress--all put their shoulders to the wheel, and America became a united nation instead of a divided nation. America became a nation of lovers instead of a nation of haters. America became a nation of people who have faith instead of people who have doubt. You are going to do what is best for your country. You are going to do what is best for America.


It is great to be in southern Illinois. I appreciate the chance to come to Madison County. I am honored to be the first sitting ENTITY to visit the city of Collinsville. I am sorry Laura is not with me. I was hoping she and I could go look at the Catsup Bottle. I had a visit with some of the some folks from the area here, a neurosurgeon, a cardiologist, the administrator of a hospital, ob-gyn, a patient, all about the health care crisis that exists here in this part of the world. And that is what I am here to talk about. I am here to talk about how we need to fix a broken medical liability system. I want to thank all the good folks who provide health care for the folks in this part of the world, the nurses, the docs, the administrators. Thanks for taking an active interest in an important issue that faces not only this part of the world but the country. But really what I am here to do is to make say as clearly as I can, the United States Congress needs to pass real medical liability reform this year. And there is no doubt in my mind we have a strong ally in this issue in the great Speaker of the House of Representatives from the great State of Illinois, Denny Hastert. And I want to thank Congressman John Shimkus for his leadership not only on this issue but on other issues. It is good to be with his wife, Karen, again, sons, David, Joshua, and Daniel. And you brought Mom and Dad. Your mom is probably telling you what to do, just like mine is. I am also proud to be traveling today with a great Congressman from Peoria, Illinois, Ray LaHood. The State Treasurer of Illinois has joined us, Judy Baar Topinka. He is the minority leader in the house. He is leading the medical liability reform effort. And I want to thank you, Tom, for taking a strong role. Fill the potholes. Pass the highway bill. I want to thank those of you who are working on this medical liability issue here in the State of Illinois. I appreciate your efforts. It is about time you let people know what is on your mind. It is time to make sure that the issue comes to the forefront not only at the Federal level but at the local level as well. I want to thank Connie Bergmann. I met Connie.

Remarks Following a Discussion on Medical Liability Reform in Collinsville, Illinois


She came out to the airport airbase, and kind of airbase-airport combo, I guess it is. She is a volunteer for the American Red Cross. The reason I bring her up is, every stop I make in America I like to herald a citizen who is taken time out of his or her life to volunteer to make the country a better place. See, the great strength of America is not our military might, and it is certainly not the size of our wallets. The great strength of America lies in the hearts and souls of our fellow citizens, people who are willing to love a neighbor just like they'd like to be loved themselves, people who are willing to take time to volunteer to make America a better place. And I want to thank you for serving the Red Cross. And speaking about the Red Cross, the International Red Cross is doing heroic work in a part of the world that has suffered incredible, incredible death and destruction. The American people express our sympathy to the victims of the tsunami disasters. Yesterday I spoke to Secretary of State Colin Powell and Governor Jeb Bush of Florida, who I sent on a delegation with a delegation to assess the relief operations. And they reported in that the devastation is beyond comprehension. They also reported in that they will come back with an assessment about how we can more effectively help. But they also reported that our military is doing heroic work in helping to save life. They are flying rescue missions 24 hours a day. They are making a huge difference in the people's lives over there by delivering supplies directly to those in need. Our Government has not only stepped up with the use of military assets, but we have pledged $350 million in disaster assistance to help the people over there who are suffering. As you know, I tapped a couple of ex-President's number 41 and number 42, to help out. I asked them to help, and they are. My dad and President Clinton have graciously given of their time to help make sure that people know there is a need and to make sure the donations are properly channeled into programs that work. If you want to help, get on the Internet for the USA www.usafreedomcorps.gov. And on that web page, you will find different agencies which are doing the good work. What I do not want is, I do not want people to be sending money to places that are not really doing the job. We do not need to support organizations that are not effectively delivering compassion and help.


And so on this web page, you will find a way to help, if you so desire to do so. What they tell me is, the most important contribution a person can give is cash, and let the agencies on the ground be able to use that cash to best meet the needs of those who have suffered. I want to thank all the Americans who thus far have been participating in this urgent cause. You are showing the true strength of America through your good heart. This is my first trip after the New Year. And it is good to come here to Illinois. I am rested and ready to continue to serve to be your to continue to be your ENTITY and to serve the people of this country. And we have got a big agenda item a big agenda and a series of items that we will be dealing with. First of all, we are going to win the war on terror. We will not give in to these people. We have a duty in your Government to protect the American people. So the second big task at hand is to make sure we do everything we can to protect our homeland. And I will assure you I will continue to work to spread freedom and democracy and, therefore, peace in parts of the world that are desperate for freedom, democracy, and peace. We are going to work with the Congress to be wise about how we spend your money. We are going to keep your taxes low so this economy continues to grow. We are going to continue to work with our farmers and ranchers to make sure they can sell the products overseas, in markets where people need food and beef and pork. We are going to work to pass a national energy plan. We are going to work to cut our deficit in half over the next 5 years. And I look forward to working with members of both political parties to do something about our health care system. First, it is important for Americans to understand we have the best health care system in the world. And we need to keep it that way. We have got the best hospitals, both urban and rural. We have got the world's most talented and compassionate doctors and nurses. And we have got the world's and we lead the world in innovative research. We are on the cutting edge of change. We are saving lives through our research. Americans should be proud of our medical system, and we all must be grateful for those who work hard to provide compassion and care. Our health care system faces serious challenges. We all know that.


The cost of health care is rising rapidly, and that burdens our families. It hurts our small businesses. It makes it harder for the job creators to expand the job base. Too many Americans are left struggling to find affordable health care. And so I think we need to take practical steps to make sure this health care system of ours is more affordable and available, and we have got to take those steps this year. To improve health care in America, we need to expand the use of health savings accounts. It is a product that lets you save tax-free for routine medical care while keeping affordable coverage against major illness. Small businesses must be allowed to join together, to pool risk so they can buy insurance for their employees at the same discounts that big businesses are able to do. To address the cost of medical care, we need to apply 21st century information technology to the health care field. We need to have our medical records put on the IT. We need to make sure that we speed up the delivery and arrival of cheaper generic drugs to help control costs. We want to make sure our Medicare system still allows seniors to have choice in the system. We have got to make sure we expand community health centers around our country to provide care for the poor and the indigent. And we have got to make sure low-income children are enrolled in government health care programs so they receive the care they need. These are practical steps to help people be able to find health care at affordable prices and, at the same time, make sure the health care system is not run by the Federal Government but by patients and doctors. To make sure our health care system works the way we want it to work, we have got to address the root causes of rising medical costs. Part of addressing those costs can be achieved by introducing information technology. Part of addressing those costs can be achieved by introducing generic drugs faster, just like I mentioned. Some of the cost increases in our health care system are necessary and worthwhile. After all, research into new treatments requires major investments. In other words, to stay on the leading edge of medicine, it costs money. And I suspect somebody whose life has been saved by the latest technology is going to say that cost increase was necessary. And that is what the American people must understand and Members of the United States Senate and the United States House must understand. Many of the costs that we are talking about do not start in an examining room or an operating room; they start in a courtroom.


What is happening all across this country is that lawyers are filing baseless suits against hospitals and doctors. They know the medical liability system is tilted in their favor. Jury awards in medical liability cases have skyrocketed in recent years. That means every claim filed by a personal-injury lawyer brings the chance of a huge payoff or a profitable settlement out of court. That is what that means. Doctors and hospitals realize this. They know it is expensive to fight a lawsuit, even if it does not have any merit. And because the system is so unpredictable, there is a constant risk of being hit by a massive jury award. So doctors end up paying tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of dollars to settle claims out of court, even when they know they have done nothing wrong. That is what is happening in the system today. It is costly for the doctors. It is costly for small businesses. It is costly for hospitals. It is really costly for patients. When those providing insurance have to pay the bills for enormous jury verdicts or out-of-court settlements, they have to raise premiums on physicians they cover. Specialists in high-risk practices like ob-gyn or neurosurgery are particularly vulnerable to lawsuits, so their premiums rise the fastest. You are about to hear a couple of stories of folks in this area who can testify to that fact. Because junk lawsuits are so unpredictable, they drive up insurance costs for all doctors, even for those who have never been sued, even for those who have never had a claim against them. When insurance premiums rise, doctors have no choice but to pass some of the costs on to their patients. That means you are paying for junk lawsuits every time you go to see your doctor. That is the effect of all the lawsuits. It affects your wallet. If you are a patient, it means you are paying a higher cost to go see your doctor. If part of the national strategy has got to be to make sure health care is available and affordable, health care becomes less affordable because of junk lawsuits. And that is what the people of southern Illinois and the people of America must understand, that every time you read about big jury verdicts or out-of-court settlements or lawsuits being filed here or there, you are paying for it. give up medicine entirely, or to move to another place where they can afford to practice medicine. And that problem affects all doctors, from family practitioners in rural towns to surgeons in big-city hospitals.


In 2003, almost half of all American hospitals lost physicians or reduced services because of medical liability concerns. One-half of all American hospitals lost physicians. Over the past 2 years, the liability crisis has forced out about 160 physicians in Madison and St. Clair counties alone. the patients, the people who live in these good towns in this part of the world. Pregnant women have to travel longer distances for checkups. Accident victims lose critical minutes in transit to faraway emergency rooms. New residents, people you are trying to get to come and live in your communities, have a hard time finding doctors willing to accept extra patients. And that causes the quality of life in your community to deteriorate. It is a problem that we must address. America's health care professionals should be focused on fighting illnesses, not on fighting lawsuits. Junk lawsuits change the way docs do their job. Instead of trying to heal the patients, doctors try not to get sued. Makes sense, does not it? If you are worried about getting sued, you are going to do everything you can to make sure you do not get sued. That means they are writing prescriptions or ordering tests that really are not necessary, just to reduce the potential of a future lawsuit. They have specialists who stop taking emergency room calls. Doctors turn away patients with complicated, life-threatening conditions because they carry the highest risk for a lawsuit. Defensive medicine drives a wedge between the doctors and the patients, and defensive medicine is incredibly costly for our society. Altogether, defensive medicine drains some 60 to 100 billion dollars from the economy. Defensive medicine raises medical bills for patients and increases insurance costs for employers, and it takes money away that small businesses could use to invest and expand. This liability system of ours is, what I am telling you, is out of control. And you have people in this area and the doctors in this area understand what I am talking about. A recent study ranked Madison County the number one place in the country for trial lawyers to sue. And those of you traveling in from St. Clair County are not doing much better. Clair is ranked the second county in America where you are likely to get sued. In other words, if you see a team of trial lawyers spending a lot of time in the Collinsville area, you can be pretty sure they are not looking for horseradish. Let me share some of the stories of the folks I met with today. I think this will help clarify what I am trying to say to you.


Chris Heffner is with us. He is a neurosurgeon from Belleville Memorial and St. Elizabeth Hospitals. He is one of only two neurosurgeons still practicing south of Springfield, Illinois. You have got two people in the area. In just 2 years, his annual premiums have more than doubled from $131,000 a year to $265,000 a year. And at the same time, his amount of insurance coverage has been cut in half. A few years ago, Chris decided that closing his head trauma part of his practice was the only way he could afford to stay in this area. He told me he loves living here in this part of the world. He likes to raise his family here. He and his wife made a tough decision to stay here, in spite of the fact that his premiums doubled and he got half the coverage. And so the only way he could stay here and to provide a level of care that he wants everybody to have was to cut out part of his practice. He still treats dozens of patients with spinal cord injuries, but now brain trauma victims in southern Illinois have to be airlifted across the river to St. Louis. I spent years of training to do brain surgery. It is a big part of my life. I made a commitment to stay here, but I had to make adjustments to keep the ax from falling. Greg Gabliani is with us. He is from Alton, and he is a cardiologist. He was raised in Quincy, and he moved to Madison County in 2001, even though his colleagues warned him about the medical liability crisis here. In 3 years, his premiums have risen from $12,500 to $60,000 a year 3 quick years. Last year he had to stop performing certain procedures to bring his costs under control. He said, You either have to change the nature of your practice, or you have to leave. He did not want to leave, so he is having to cut back on his services. We have got a problem, folks. I met with Bob Moore. He is the CEO of Red Bud Regional Hospital. He is a father of six, I want you to know. His hospital has a long tradition of delivering babies, but this past November, he made the difficult decision to close his ob unit. The malpractice see, he had the they employ the doctors in his hospital.


They are going to cover the insurance for them, and it doubled from $150,000 to $270,000 more than doubled. They are paying $270,000 a year now. That is a lot for a little hospital in a small town. Maybe for a big hospital, it is not a lot, or for those of us who are used to dealing with the Federal budget, it is not a lot. It is a lot for a small town hospital. Red Bud used to handle 120 deliveries a year. But now a lot of the women have to drive an hour to get to an ob unit. It is affecting rural medicine. It happens to be the medical liability crisis, is affecting rural medicine. Lawsuits are affecting rural medicine. I could not put it any better, Bob. It is a societal issue that we must deal with. It is a quality of life issue. We do not want our little towns being not having any health care. We want people who live in rural America, like Crawford, Texas to be able to get to have a quality of life . Leslie Scariano is with us. She is an ob-gyn from Alton. She spent her entire career as a doctor in southern Illinois, and she has never been sued. She shut down her practice on December the 31st of this year because her premiums have skyrocketed out of control. That means she could not afford to stay in practice. quit practicing medicine, or go broke. She said, I do not want to quit practicing medicine and I am not going broke, so I am going to move to Colorado. You lost a good soul from this part of the world because the system is out of control. Leslie's premiums will be about 80 percent lower in Colorado than here in Illinois. I met with Kim Vogel, who is right with us yes, there she is. She was one of Leslie's patients. She is expecting her second child early next month like, soon. When she found out she was pregnant last year, Kim started seeing the ob-gyn that delivered her daughter, Katie. That ob-gyn moved to Tennessee. Then she started seeing Leslie. Leslie is moving to Colorado. Kim is now on her third ob-gyn, and she is worried about it. She said, I understand the doctors' position. I do not blame them. But as a patient, I see them leave and I think, what am I going to do now, and where does that leave me?


I feel like I have lost control over how my pregnancy will go. Unfortunately, this is not just a story confined to this part of the world. This is a story of pregnant moms all over America who are wondering whether or not they are going to be able to find good quality health care for their child and themselves. I have come to this part of the world because I want to assure you that, one, I understand the problem and I intend to work with Congress to do something about it. You know, when I was the Governor of Texas, I felt that we could solve medical liability issues at the State level. One is that a State would pass good medical liability reform, and all the trial lawyers would do is go to the State that has lousy medical liability law. So you are not solving the problem, you are just shifting the problem. You are making the quality of life issue go from one area the deterioration of quality of life issue go from one area to the next. That did not seem to make any sense. But the other thing I discovered is that because of medical liability problems and lawsuits and increasing premiums and the defensive practice of medicine, your Federal budget spends $28 billion a year, extra money. See, we have to pay for Medicaid and Medicare and veterans' benefits. The rising cost of health care, the number of lawsuits, the defensive practice of medicine is driving up the cost to our taxpayers. Medical liability reform is a national issue, and it requires a national solution. So I went to Congress with some proposals that I think are fair, proposals that will build confidence in the judicial system. Nobody likes to come to a part of the world that says the judicial system is out of control, and people lose confidence in it. We have got to have confidence in the fairness of our system. We want people who are harmed to be able to get have their day in court and get fair treatment in the courts of law. But we want we do not want a system that is so tilted the other way that it runs good doctors out of business and makes it hard for hospitals to deliver care. I believe a victim of a legitimate medical error should be allowed to collect full economic damages, 100 percent of the cost of their medical care and recovery plus economic losses for the rest of their life. And when appropriate, injured people should be allowed to collect reasonable noneconomic damages. And in the case of truly egregious wrongdoing, patients should be entitled to punitive damages.


But there needs to be some reason when it comes to noneconomic damages in the system, and that is why I proposed a hard cap of $250,000 on noneconomic damages. Interestingly enough, the State of California has a cap on noneconomic damages that was enacted in 1975. Patients in that State see their claims settled a third faster than in States without those limits. In other words, patients are treated more fairly where there is a cap. And since 1975, insurance premiums for California doctors have become much more affordable premiums than anywhere else in the country than in most States. Caps on noneconomic damages work. It is a good idea, and the Congress ought to adopt them. We have another problem with our legal system, and that is trial lawyers sometimes sue all the doctors involved in the patient's case even if most of the doctors have nothing to do with the patient's injuries. It is simply unfair to punish doctors who have done nothing wrong. And so to make sure doctors and hospitals are treated fairly, Congress needs to pass joint and several liability reform. I think the people are beginning to understand the importance of this issue. 160 docs leave 2 counties. People understand that no patient has ever been healed by a frivolous lawsuit; no small business has ever grown because of a frivolous lawsuit; the cause of justice is never served by frivolous lawsuit. I know you are serious about this liability issue here. I talked about it everywhere I went on the campaign nearly everywhere I went on the campaign trail, and I believe the voters made their position clear on election day about medical liability. The House passed a good medical liability reform bill last year. I want to thank the two Members of Congress for working on it. We have got a new chance to get something done for the on behalf of the American people. Both Houses will have a fresh opportunity to address this issue. I am looking forward to working with the leadership of the House to get the bill moving. It is important for the United States Senators from this State and other States to recognize the significance of the problem and get a meaningful, real medical liability bill to my desk so I can sign it in the year 2005. Junk lawsuits affect more than just the medical field. According to a recent study, frivolous litigation has helped drive the total cost of our tort system to more than $230 billion a year. That is the equivalent of $3,200 for every family of four.


The lawsuit burden falls especially hard on small businesses. And yet small businesses are the engine of job are the engines of job creation in our country. Seventy percent of all new jobs in America are created by small businesses. The tort costs in America are now far higher than in any other major industrialized nation. We live in a competitive world. This is a global economy, and so our tort system has become a needless disadvantage for American manufacturers and entrepreneurs. To protect small businesses and workers, we need to change the way we handle class-action lawsuits. Interestingly enough, this is another problem you know well in Madison County. The number of class actions filed here increased by over 5,000 percent between 1998 and 2003, even though the vast majority of defendants named in those suits are not actually from Madison County. These massive interstate class actions clog your local courts. They hurt the honest workers and communities of the businesses targeted by the class-action lawyers. The proper place for large interstate class actions to be tried is not in a local court but rather in a Federal court, which are designed . I look forward to working with both bodies and members of both parties to get good class-action reform out of the Congress this year. I will also work with Congress to reform asbestos litigation. Asbestos lawsuits in southern Illinois and elsewhere have led to the bankruptcy of dozens of companies and cost tens of thousands of jobs. Many asbestos claims are filed on behalf of people who are not sick. The volume of asbestos lawsuits is beyond the capacity of our courts to handle, and it is growing. Congress has begun considering options to improve the current system for handling asbestos lawsuits. I look forward to signing an asbestos reform in 2005. I think we are sent to Washington to solve problems, not to pass them on to future Congresses. I believe we are called to do the hard work to make our communities and quality of life a better place. And it is hard work for some in Congress to stand up to the trial lawyers. I understand that. And most of all, we want the patients and the American people treated fairly. And I appreciate you all giving me a chance to come by and talk about the vital issue of legal reform. I intend to go back to Washington here shortly, and when I see Members of the Congress as I work this issue, I am going to say, I spoke to the good folks of southern Illinois.


What a job he is done. And to CPAC I actually started quite a while ago at CPAC, and came here probably made my first real political speech. And I enjoyed it so much that I came back for a second one, then a third. Then I said, what the hell, let us run for President. But it is wonderful to be back with so many great patriots, old friends, and brave young conservatives. What a future you have. Our movement and our future in our country is unlimited. What we have done together has never been done in the history maybe of beyond of country, maybe in the history of the world. They came from the mountains and the valleys and the cities. And what we did in 2016 the Election, we call it, with a capital E it is never been done before. And we are going to do it, I think, again in 2020, and the numbers are going to be even bigger. So you had 17 Republicans, plus me. And I was probably more of a conservative than a Republican. People just did not quite understand that. They did not understand it. I think now, with what we have done with the judiciary and so many other things, I think they get it very well. And it is driving the other side crazy. How many times did you hear, for months and months, There is no way to 270? You know what that means, right? They could not get me there. In fact, I actually went up to Maine to get one, and I did win the one. But we did not need the one. We did not need it. We won Maine. We won our half of Maine, remember? You have Nebraska. We won both in Nebraska. We won the half we had to win in Maine. So we got the one, but we did not need the one, because we did not get 270; we got 306 to 223. 223-306. A state called Wisconsin, a state called Michigan, where by the way, where Fiat Chrysler just announced a $4.5 billion incredible expansion and new plant, doubling their workforce. Many, many car companies have moved back to Michigan and are continuing to do so. So I think we are going to do even better in 2020. I think we are going to do numbers that people have not seen for a long time.

Remarks by President Trump at the 2019 Conservative Political Action Conference


The men and women here today are on the frontlines of protecting America's interests, defending America's value, and reclaiming our nation's priceless heritage. With your help, we are reversing decades of blunders and betrayals. These are serious, serious betrayals to our nation and to everything we stand for. It is been done by the failed ruling class that enriched foreign countries at our expense. In many cases, it was America last. And the world knows it. When I meet with prime ministers, when I meet with presidents and I get along with them because they know that what is taken place over many years not just the Obama administration; long before that they cannot believe, themselves, that they got away with it. They cannot believe it. And they like me. And the reason they like me they tell me; they say, Mr. President I said as an example, President Xi of China, I have great respect. We have a great relationship. I say, How is it possible that you got away with this for so long? And he said, Because nobody ever asked us to change. When they charge 40 percent tariffs on our cars going into China, and we charge them nothing coming into our country; when they raise their tariff from 10 percent to 25 percent and then to 40 percent and they said to me, We expected that somebody would call and say you cannot do that. Nobody called, so we just left it. And I do not blame them. We should've been doing the same thing to them. Now we are negotiating with China. They would not negotiate with previous administrations. But I found some very old laws from when our country was rich really rich. The old tariff laws we had to dust them off; you could hardly see, they were so dusty. But I said, when we were doing the great things, what happened to those laws? And I checked, and I found 301 and 382. I found one, 1938, where we can do what we have to do. But, you know, they had a debate in it was really a tough time in our country because we had so much money we did not know what the hell to do with it. Mark Levin will look this up. And the problem is, with Mark, if I make a little mistake, he will let us know on Sunday night. I got to be very careful when I talk about this. But it was the Great Tariff Debate of 1888.


We did not know what to do with all of the money we were making. And McKinley, prior to being President, he was very strong on protecting our assets, protecting our country. And he made statements that, Others cannot come into our country and steal our wealth and steal our jobs, and build their country and not defend our country. We cannot do that. You know I am totally off script right now. And this is how I got elected, by being off script. And if we do not go off script, our country is in big trouble, folks. Because we have to get it back. And when I look at what is happening on the other side, I encourage it. The Green New Deal, right? Green New Deal I encourage it. I think it is really something that they should promote. They have to go out and get it. But I will take the other side of that argument only because I am mandated to. But they should stay with that argument. When the wind stops blowing, that is the end of your electric. I'd like to watch television, darling. So the Great Tariff Debate of 1888 and then we had so much money we could do whatever we wanted. We built forces up that were incredible. Then, in 1913, they ended tariffs, okay? They ended tariffs. Somebody got stupid and they ended tariffs. I will not use a certain words because it is not politically but everybody knows the word I'd love to use. Should I use it? I will not do it. Our great First Lady always said, Do not use certain words, please. I said, But the audience wanted me to do it. She said, Do not do it. And the problem is, if I do do that, they will not put the little preamble that we just went through. They will just use the word, and they will said, Is not that terrible. So I will not use it. if you tell a joke, if you are sarcastic, if you are having fun with the audience, if you are on live television with millions of people and 25,000 people in an arena, and if you say something like, Russia, please, if you can, get us Hillary Clinton's emails. Please, Russia, please. So everybody is having a good time. I am laughing, we are all having fun. And then that fake CNN and others say, He asked Russia to go get the emails.


I mean, I thought like, two weeks ago, I am watching and they are talking about one of the points. He asked Russia for the emails. And I am telling you, they know the game. They know the game, and they play it dirty dirtier than anybody has ever played the game. But the thing that we have done is very special. Because, on trade, and because of tariffs and I know there are people in the Republican Party and people really, even conservatives good conservatives they do not like tariffs. Do you think China would be sending their top representatives over? Right now, China is paying 25 percent tariff on $50 billion worth of technology goods. I was then going to charge them 25 percent on $200 billion. Not like $200 million that is a lot. This is 200 with a B billion. So but I was nice, because we are having a very strong negotiation, which if it were not for tariffs and I tell this to President Xi; this is nothing to hide. I would never be talking like this because, in theory, it could hurt your negotiating position. But in my case, it cannot , because it is true. I was nice, and I left it at 10 percent on $200 billion. We have lost so much money with China $500 billion a year. And on trade, it is such a disaster; it is $507 billion a year. We lose with everybody, almost. I have $250 billion more to put tariffs on. Billions of dollars, right now, are pouring into our Treasury. And for those of you that have not done the research, if you look, of the 25 percent, our country as it is turned out, because it is now been on there for a long while. Our and I am in no rush because I am fine with it. I am fine with it. Of the 25 points, we have paid for 4 points, and China has paid for 21 points. You know, everyone said, Oh, it is a tax on our It is not really. And what China and other countries do sometimes is they will subsidize it. But what it is, beyond everything else, I can negotiate. But then you have senators and a few congressman, but not Mark Meadows. Mark and Jim Jordan, and I want to name every one of those couple of hundred people. Because we do have a lot. I want to name every damn one of them. And I just see Mark in the audience.


They have been fighting with Deb, much more important. He would be nowhere without her. But they fight so hard on this witch hunt, this phony deal that they put together; this phony thing that now looks like it is dying. So they do not have anything with Russia. So now they go and morph into, Let us inspect every deal he is ever done. We are going to go into his finances. We are going to check his deals. I saw little Shifty Schiff yesterday. He went into a meeting and he said, We are going to look into his finances. I said, Where did that come from? He always talked about Russia collusion with Russia. So now we are waiting for a report, and we will find out whether or not, and who we are dealing with. We are waiting for a report by people that were not elected. We had the greatest election in all fairness, I used to hear Andrew Jackson. This was now greater than the election of Andrew Jackson. People say that. No, people say it. I am not saying it. You know, they used to go to Ronald Reagan, when I first started. The key is in the color. The key is what it says. Make America Great Again, is what it says. But we had the greatest of all time. Now we have people that lost. And unfortunately, you put the wrong people in a couple of positions, and they leave people for a long time that should not be there. And, all of a sudden, they are trying to take you out with bullshit. Now, Robert Mueller never received a vote, and neither did the person that appointed him. And as you know, the Attorney General says, I am going to recuse myself. And I said, why the hell did not he tell me that before I put him in? How do you recuse yourself? But the person that appointed Robert Mueller never received a vote. Robert Mueller put 13 of the angriest Democrats in the history of our country on the commission. Now, how do you do that? You take a look at them. One of them was involved with the Hillary Clinton Foundation, running it. Another one has perhaps the worst reputation of any human being I have ever seen. In fact, it would've been actually better for them if they put half and half, and Mueller can do whatever he wants anyway, which he will probably do. But we have conflicts.


I had a nasty business transaction with Robert Mueller a number of years ago. He wanted the job as FBI Director. I mean, these are things that are out there; they know it. Why is not that and I did not give it to him. And those are a few of the conflicts. Other than that, it is wonderful. I thought of it this morning, Mark. And I heard you made an incredible speech and statement today. And I was on the way. But I will see it later. I guarantee I will be watching it later. I have one of the great inventions in history. I think it is actually better than television, because television is practically useless without TiVo, right? But I will be watching it later, Mark. But people that got no votes. But I heard this morning, President Trump is waiting for the Mueller report. So the Attorney General recuses himself, and I do not fire him. If you use your right, if you use your power, if you use Article 2, it is called obstruction. So the Attorney General is weak and ineffective, and he does not do what he should've done. Somebody that never got a vote writes a powerful letter horrible about Comey. Every Republican said everybody in fact, when I fired Comey, I said, You know First Lady I said, Melania, I am doing something today. I am doing it because it really has to be done. That is been proven now with all of the emails and the texts. I am doing something that has to be done. But you know the good news? Every Democrat hates him. Every Republican hates him. He did a horrible job at the FBI. Because the people in the FBI are incredible people not the sleaze on top. And I said to the First Lady I said, But you know the good news? Everyone is going to love it. So we fire Comey. And Schumer who called for his resignation many times Podesta, I believe that day because he still has not gotten over getting his ass kicked, okay? I believe that day called for his resignation. He called for the Comey resignation. Others almost every, I would say. Mark, would you say virtually every Democrat, virtually every I cannot think of anybody that said he is doing a good job. So I said to Melania, Melania, the good news, this will be a popular thing. And I fire a bad cop. I fire a dirty cop.


And all of a sudden, the Democrats say, How dare he fire him. How dare he do this. We are in this swamp of Washington, D.C. So, just to finish and I will tell you, Matt Schlapp is loving this. You know, normally you read a few pages and you say, Bye, folks. But you know what I like about this? Number one, I am in love, and you are in love. We are all in love together. We have done something that nobody has ever done. You know, a great friend of mine from New York, he is a stone-cold killer. He is actually not even a good friend of mine because he'd turn on me in two seconds if it was. And he said, What are you going to speak about today? Like, what are you going to speak? He said, I just heard that you have the biggest crowd in the history of CPAC. They are in many hotel rooms all over the place. You are just better at real estate than they are. But this guy you all know his name very rich guy. And he has a problem with a thing called public speaking. If he has to speak to more than like five people, he chokes. He kills people for a living meaning mentally and financially but if there is like an audience of nine, it is like augh. So he said to me, How the hell do you do that? And the reason it is easy I really mean this there is so much love in this room, it is easy to talk. You can talk your heart out. You can talk your heart out. And we have had that from the day I came down with your First Lady on the escalator in Trump Tower. We never had an empty seat. We went out and helped Ted Cruz. We went out and helped so many people. If we did not do those 32 rallies and it was not easy. When you are doing rallies with 25-, 30,000 people in Texas, we had 109,000 people sign up. We used the Houston Rockets arena; it holds 22,000. We were sending notices, Please do not come. We never had an empty seat.  He wrote an article. He took pictures of an empty arena. He then put out a note something to the effect, Not very good crowd size, Mr. President. And I never saw it because I do not follow the guy.


But thousands of people that were in that arena that was packed with 25,000 people outside that could not get in he got there four or five hours early because he does not fly private. And maybe it is because of the carbon footprint. He just does not want private. And, you know, the place had not started taking in people. They were not going to take them in. And, you know, whatever it was 18,000 when you have nobody, it is a little scary-looking. So he took pictures. We had people sitting on the stairwells. We had people sitting in every seat. I do not think we have had an empty seat since we announced. And from the day we came down the escalator, I really do not believe we have had an empty seat at any arena, at any stadium. And that is why I say this has never, ever happened before, and now we have to verify it in 2020 with an even bigger victory. And, by the way, just to finish that story, the great Sarah Huckabee and Mercedes, who is incredible, sitting right here Mercedes, thank you. They always say, Do not bring it up. If I do not explain it, how are they going to understand? And the Washington Post had to do and this particular writer had to do a I thought he was going to get fired. I mean, if that were a conservative, he would've been fired on the spot. He would've been humiliated for what he did. Nobody was in the arena. There were thousands outside but they had not opened the gates yet. They did the same thing at our big inauguration speech. You take a look at those crowds. And I watched one of the evening shows that are ridiculous, how horrible they are, how mean how horrible. And I watched it by mistake. And they showed they showed from the White House all the way down. They showed from the Cap- they showed there were people. Nobody has ever seen it. But I saw pictures that there were no people. And they always mention crowd size. He talks about crowd size. So I am constantly bugging Mercedes. Whenever we have a slow moment, I say, Mercedes and Sarah show them the pictures. And compare them with what they put on television. But we had fencing all the way down to the Washington Monument. In fact, it is probably, with the men I know, it is actually easier for the women to make the walk, right?


They had to walk with high heels, in many cases. They had to walk all the way down to the Washington Monument and then back. And I looked, and I made a speech, and I said, before I got on I said to the people that were sitting next to me, I have never seen anything like this. We had a crowd I have never seen anything like it. And I have to live I have to live with crowd size. But I saw a picture just the other night of practically no people. It was taken hours before our great day. That was a great day for us. So what I am going to do is I will give it to the great one. I will give it to Mark Levin. And I will give him the picture. Then I will show you where they showed, just the other day, an empty field like nobody on it. And you will see the sun. And you can have some fun. You are going to get big ratings on your show, I will tell you that. I knew that, actually. All right, now let us get back to what I am here for. You know, somebody said, Oh, the speech you made, sir, the State of the Union speech was incredible. And I said I said I did; I got great reviews, even from some of the really bad ones out there. Of course, by the following morning, they had to change because the head people called up, What are you doing? A lot of it is not the people on television, you know. A lot of it is their bosses which someday we are going to have to figure out why, Meadows, why that is. Because, you know, if you are building a great country, you have the best employment and unemployment numbers we have ever had. More people are working today in the United States than ever before in the history of our country. And you say, why are they upset by that? Why are they upset by that? We have slashed 30,000 pages of job-killing regulations from the Federal Register. That is an all-time record in the history of the United States, even by Presidents there for eight years, and in one case more. We passed the largest package of tax cuts and reforms in American history. And we got rid of the individual mandate, which was a big deal. Which should lead to the ending of the disaster known as Obamacare.


The great state of Texas has a case, and it was literally based on the individual mandate. Now that it is gone, I do not know how they rule against it. But that'll soon be up in the Supreme Court of the United States, I hope. And then we are going to get together with the Democrats and come up with really great healthcare, okay? And of the other things we did in our tax package is ANWR. And I did not want to get it approved for a certain reason, because I thought somebody treated me very badly. And I said, you know, I do not want to get it. Then I get a call from a friend of mine, and he is in the oil business. He is not asking for anything. He said but he really is a knowledgeable guy when it comes to oil and gas. He said to me, Hey and they all call me Mr. President. I have friends that, for 35 years, Hey, Don, how you doing? I love you, Donny. I have a friend a very rich guy Richard LeFrak, in New York. He calls me all my life, Hey, Don, how you doing? I have known this guy so long from kindergarten. And now I get a call the other day, Mr. President, how are you, sir? You have known me for I do not want to say, because I do not want my wife to hear the number. Richard came up; he said, I have known your husband for 65 years. I said, Do not say that. I say, Say 25, 30. But I said, Richard Richard, call me 'Donald', like you always do. He gets his breath. Two minutes later Mr. President That is called respect for the office, right? And that was not in the script either, Mark. But we are renegotiating, right now, horrible trade deals that we are cracking down and we are really doing a number cracking down on countries that cheat, and standing up for the American worker for the first time in many, many decades. A country announces they are closing their plant in Michigan or Pennsylvania or Ohio they are closing. They are closing a plant; they are going to move to Mexico. They are going to move to China. They fire all their workers. And then they sell their cars, no tax; just make them in Mexico, sell them back to here.


And in the new deal with Mexico and Canada, called the USMCA, it is very, very hard prohibitively hard for a company to fire its 4,000 workers and move to Mexico or some other location. It is now a very costly they can do it, I guess, if they want. It used to be almost I said I used to I have been talking about this for a long time. I used to say it is almost like we are giving them an incentive to leave our country. Again, I am for America first. That was not for America first. And we have great companies that are now moving back to our country. And, by the way, you know I am building the wall. We are finishing the wall. We got a lot of money. It is in the thing. But and there will be some people in the room that do not like this. We are down to 3.7 percent unemployment the lowest number in a long time. I got all these companies moving in. They need workers. We have to bring people into our country to work these great plants that are opening up all over the place. This was not necessarily what I was saying during the campaign because I never knew we would be as successful as we have been. Companies are roaring back into our country, and now we want people to come in. We need workers to come in, but they have got to come in legally, and they have got to come in through merit, merit, merit. They have got to come in through merit. They have to be people that can help us. They have to be people that can love our country, not hate our country. We have people in Congress right now, we have people in Congress that hate our country. And you know that. And we can name every one of them if they want. They hate our country. When I see some of the things being made, the statements being made, it is very, very sad. Very, very and find out, how did they do in their country? Just ask them, how did they do? Somebody would say, Oh, that is terrible that he brings that up. I will bring it up. How did they do in their country? But we need workers. We have to bring in workers. One other thing because we have a lot of people here that are important people in terms of votes. We have some senators. We have some congressmen.


When a senator tells us that he is a free trader, so am I. But when a senator said we cannot do tariffs, where we make a fortune, or at a minimum, we are able to use this tremendous power that I found tremendous old stuff. I am able to use it, at a minimum, to negotiate great and fair trade deals. They would not even be talking to us because it is so one-sided. Last year, we lost eight hundred this for many years almost $800 billion on trade. You cannot do that. And now we are making great trade deals. But when some of the senators good people; I think they are good people. I just do not understand the thinking. They charge us a lot. When we send a motorcycle to India, it is 100 percent tariff. They charge 100 percent. When India sends a motorcycle to us, we brilliantly charge them nothing. So I want a reciprocal tax, or at least I want to charge a tax. I have had a lot of people Lindsey Graham. It is not the thing that he is most adept at. I said, Lindsey, if they charge us a hundred, I'd like a reci- If they charge us, we charge them. He goes, That makes sense to me. And then he gets on to judiciary and things that, frankly, he likes and finds very interesting. It took me about a minute, which is a long time. I did a bad description. They charge 100; we charge nothing. Now we have reciprocal, so it is 100. But what happens now, for those that really think about tariffs and do not like tariffs for whatever reason might be and that is okay. What is going to happen is, in many cases, instead of 100 and 100, you are going to have zero and zero, so you will not have any tariff. But you have to you have to start working on some of the senators that say I cannot approve this deal. I want to just charge India as an example, I am using it. I mean, nobody nobody knows it because nobody knows what they are doing in Washington. But India is a very, very high-tariff nation, and they charge tremendous tremendous numbers. So they charge 100. So I say, I am not going to charge 100, but I am going to charge 25 percent. And I hear this turmoil in the Senate because we are charging 25. So I call a couple of the guys up.


I say, Fellas, listen, they are charging us 100 for the exact same product. I want to charge them 25. And I feel so foolish charging 25 because it should be 100. But I am doing 25 only because of you. I want to get your support. Where do these people come from? Where do they come from? Where do they come from? I need your help. I need your help the voters' help. Where do they come from? So it can only be one of two or three things. And I even like some of them. So we take that out of the equation. So even and I know they do not have evil intentions. And the other thing could be, I guess, maybe you know, these companies are all owned by people, and these people are very generous. Because we are talking about our country. We cannot allow a country to charge 100 percent and we get nothing for the same exact product. For one thing, they do not respect us. They do not respect us. The world respects our country again. They respect us. Plus, we have a gentleman that likes raising interest rates in the Fed. We have a gentleman that loves quantitative tightening in the Fed. We have a gentleman that likes a very strong dollar in the Fed. So with all of those things and we want a strong dollar, but let us be reasonable. You understand that. With all of that, we are doing great. Can you imagine if we left interest rates where they were? Can you imagine if we left interest rates where they were? If we did not do quantitative tightening, taking money out of the market? If we did not do quantitative and this would lead to a little bit lower dollar. I want a strong dollar, but I want a dollar that is going to be great for our country, not a dollar that is so strong that it is prohibitive for us to be dealing with other nations and taking their business. Since the election, we have created a number that if I would have said during the campaign, the fake news just back there would have said this is crazy. 5.3 million new jobs, including over, now, 600,000 beautiful, brand-new manufacturing jobs that were never going to come back to our country. These are jobs that were never coming back to our country.


Not to talk badly about the other administration, but if that theory went forward with Crooked Hillary winning the election, instead of being up almost 50 percent with the stock market, you would have been down 50 percent. We have nearly 5 million Americans that have been lifted off of food stamps. The unemployment rate has reached the lowest in over 51 years. And African American and you have heard me say this many times Hispanic American, Asian American unemployment rates are at their all-time historic lows. And African American income has reached an all-time high. So when I am on the debate stage with one of these maniacs I mean, trains to Hawaii. How do you get to Europe? We have not figured that one out yet. We do not use airplanes anymore. You saw what I am doing in California, right? They have a fast train. The fast train goes from San Francisco to Los Angeles. It is over budget by hundreds of billions of dollars, so they have a great idea the new governor; nice guy. When I am with him face to face, nice. When he speaks about me, not so nice. But face to face, he loves me. He called me up. You are doing a great job. So he will probably deny it, but check the phone records at the White House. I think they need some forest money, because honestly, the management of the forests is very bad and that is one of the problems they have. I said, You got to get those forests. We cannot keep spending billions and billions and losing hundreds of lives, more importantly. When a tree falls, you cannot let the environmentalist say you cannot take that tree out. It becomes like a matchstick, that tree. It hits a flame, it goes up. The leaves every once in a while, you have to remove the leaves because they are so a guy smoking a cigarette, he throws it away, he does not mean it. The thing catches on fire and we lose 400,000 acres and people are killed. You got to have management. But he called me up the other day, recently let us say four weeks ago or so. He said, I just want to tell you you are a great President and you are one of the smartest people I have ever met. That is what he said. Now, that is what he said. Will he admit it? No, I doubt it. But that is what he said. And you are doing a great job.


And then he did start talking about, in all fairness, additional money for the fire, which is it is okay. We have great talks. I mean, I like him. I like him. But they say things you know, politicians, they say things to your face, and then you see two days later they are giving a news conference just like, where did that guy come from? Where did he come from? But everyone in this great country, right now, because of our great new economy, is doing well except, of course, for the Never Trumpers. But they are on mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. You have Never Trumpers; you have certain hardline. Whether you like me or not if my name is Smith instead of Trump, and if you told him I put in over 100 federal judges it'll soon be 145 federal judges and 2 Supreme Court judges. And 17 appellate division judges. That we have got the best economy maybe in our history. That we have got the best employment numbers and unemployment numbers in our history. That we have cut more regulations in two years than any President has ever done, whether it is for eight or beyond. That we have taken care of our military with $1.7 billion. Think of what we did. Think of what we did with our military. Think of the numbers that we have for our military. We have numbers nobody has ever heard of these numbers before. And you know, part of the problem that we have because I am a cost cutter. But we have to take care of our military. Now, I have no choice. I'd like to spend much less. Obama was spending much less but our military was being depleted. He was fighting in endless wars; they'd never end. And, by the way, as of probably today or tomorrow, we will actually have 100 percent of the caliphate in Syria. And we will leave a small group of guys and gals. But we want to bring our people back home. We want to bring our people back home. We were going to be in Syria for four months. We want to fix our country. We want to fix our bridges, our highways, our roads, our schools. We want to fix our country up. But I was told by a general, who I had to fire I said, General, how long before we get 100 percent of the caliphate? I said, I cannot take it two years.


And then I flew to Iraq; first time I left the White House because I stayed in the White House for months and months because I wanted the Democrats to get back from their vacations from Hawaii and these other places. And I figured it would look good if I stayed in the White House so that you people all love me and vote for me, okay? So I stayed in the White House. I was there I told my wife, Go to Florida. I stayed for Thanksgiving. I said I mean, I was in the White House for a long time. I had cabin fever in the White House. But if you have got to have cabin fever, that is the place to do it, okay? But I was there, I do not know, for a number of months, through Christmas. I spent my New Year's all by myself. All it was me and about 500 men and women outside with machine guns. I never saw so many beautiful-looking machine guns. I'd look at that equipment and I'd say, Man They sit in the trees. They sit on the lawn. I told people, I am in this mess you know, people do not know how big the White House. First of all, it is one of the most beautiful places in the world. It is really I made a lot of money with luxury. This building is 1799 which, of course, when President Xi comes, I say 1799, like it is old. To him, that is like a brand-new house in China. In China, they go back they go back 8,000 years. But I sat in the White House for months and months, except I took a day off. I flew to a lovely place called Iraq, and I flew at night and I got there at night. And I said to myself, this is interesting, because they say, Sir, all of the lights in the plane, sir, are going off. I said, What about the shades? Well, we want it better than that. So we turned the lights off, put the shades down. And I have landed; I like to sit with pilots. I respect people that know what they are doing, and these are the best in the world. These are the best in the world. And the pilot says, Sir, we are landing in approximately one and a half minutes. I say, I do not see it. I have pretty good vision. At least for my age I have good vision.


I guess for my age I have great vision. But I do not have vision like a 35-year-old captain. Should we lift off and try it again? We spent $7 trillion in the Middle East and we cannot land with the lights on 20 years later. Seven trillion dollars and we have to fly in with no lights. But I met some incredible people. I met some incredible people generals. One of them came from Syria the operation in Syria. And I was upset with my generals because they were not getting it finished. I want to bring our people back home. So I met generals I did not know. I mean, these generals there is no person in Hollywood that could play the role. I said, Raisin, like the fruit? I said, You got to be kidding me. Just like I did with Mattis when I said, We are going to give you a new nickname, because 'Chaos' is not a good nickname. So we changed his name. So what happened is I flew to Iraq. I wanted to meet the people on the site, because I learn more sometimes from soldiers, what is going on, than I do from generals. I hate to say it. And I tell that to the generals all the time. Because I meet and I land in this airport, the most incredible thing. We must have spent $3 billion building it. It is one of the reasons I do not want to leave Iraq so fast. I said, Well, how do we leave this thing? So I have Raisin Caine and three other generals, colonels, sergeants. And I said, Bring the cameras. I am going to make a movie. And I said to the generals, Listen, we got to get out. I want to know why is it going to take two years to knock off 2 or 3 or 4 percent, which is what we had left. And I said, Tell me why it will not . If we attack them in a different manner, we can do it much faster. Okay, General Raisin Caine, how fast can Sir, we can have it totally finished in one week. I said, One week? We are only hitting them from a temporary base in Syria. But if you gave us permission, we could hit them from the back, from the side, from all over from the base that you are right on, right now, sir. They will not know what the hell hit them. They will not know what the hell hit them, sir.


And I said, Why did not my other generals tell me that? Why did not they tell me that? I said, Did you tell them that? They come in from Washington, sir. We have to take orders. You are the first one to ask us our opinion. So I went back and I said, I am going to get back to you soon, Raisin. I like you, Raisin Caine. But I did say I said, Well, hey, listen, we are in Iraq. Is not that very far away from I was here in a very short time, sir. Of course, he is taking a plane that goes 2,000 miles an hour, you know. What you learn from being on the site my father was a builder. He always used to say, Nobody ever got rich by sitting behind their desk. He'd say, You got to be on this site. You got to be with the contractors. You got to see if they are ripping you off. You have got to collect every nail that is dropped, every piece of wood. You can sell it. You got to be on the site. You got to see while they are building, while they are under construction, is that wall straight or if it is crooked. And you have to fix it before they build it, not after they build it, when you rip everything down. You do not get rich by sitting behind a desk. So I did not want to do that. And I am in the White House and I was lonely. I said, Let us go to Iraq. And I had a hell of a meeting in Iraq. And I will tell you, those generals not just Raisin Caine, General Caine. They knew their stuff. And it is true I mean, you talk central casting. They had a master sergeant. I could take him right now, bring him to Hollywood, make a military movie, and he is the star of the movie. They brought a man in a sergeant, a drill sergeant to teach some actor how to be a drill sergeant. The drill sergeant was so incredible that he ended up starring in the movie, and he should have gotten the Academy Award, by the way, but he did not . That is because Hollywood discriminates against our people. You know the movie I am talking about, right? You know the movie.


But while we are making great strides, and our country is doing as well and maybe, in many ways, better than it is ever done before Democrat lawmakers are now embracing socialism. They want to replace individual rights with total government domination. Just this week, more than 100 Democrats in Congress signed up for a socialist takeover of American healthcare. Their radical government-run plan if you call it that would lead to colossal tax increases increases like you have never seen before and take away private coverage from over 180 million Americans. And we have some great private coverage, and we have initiated some incredible plans, like the new cooperative plan, where you get better insurance than Obamacare for a fraction of the cost. But perhaps nothing is more extreme than the Democrats' plan to completely takeover American energy and completely destroy America's economy through their new $100 trillion Green New Deal. Under the Green New Deal which somebody described as a high school term paper written by a poor student it is true. Who would believe it? But I do not I will be honest with you, folks. I said you know, it is Saturday morning, and I said, Matt, should we do a little more, like, spend time? He said, Yeah, would you do that? I have not seen anybody. If Mark Levin gets up and leaves, I will finish very quickly, because then I know. I watch those doors. Because a lot of times a lot of times well, one time, the press said people left. They showed two empty seats in a stadium of 19,000. They showed two empty seats. The people left right in front of me, and I said, Oh, man, maybe this is not a good job I am doing. They went to the bathroom. And a certain fake news deal showed a picture on the front page of these two empty seats. They said Trump had empty seats. We never have empty seats. The Green New Deal would completely abolish the American oil, natural gas, coal, and nuclear power industries, of which we are now the leader in the world. We are the biggest now in the world because of moves that I have made. And we are trying to speed up pipelines in Texas, which would have taken 15 years. We need pipeline approval. We are going to have it very quickly. We will pick up 30 to 40 percent more. Their plan would remove every gas-powered car from American roads.


They want you to have one car instead of two, and it should be electric, okay? I think the auto industry is not going to do too well under this plan. What do you think, Meadows? I think maybe maybe you are going to see some bad stock prices if that passes. It would end air travel. But you will get on a train, do not worry about it. You just have to cross off about 95 percent of the world. And it would force the destruction or renovation of virtually every existing structure in the United States. New York City would have to rip down buildings and rebuild them again. This is the craziest plan, and yet I see senators that are there for 20 years white hair. See, I do not have white hair. I do not have white hair. No, I see these white-haired, longtime senators standing behind this young woman, and she is ranting and raving like a lunatic. Yes, I agree with this. She is like she is like a crazed person. What she said about men is so bad. What she said about men is so bad. But she is standing in the hallway. And she did not know too much about the plan because she is you know, she cannot understand that plan. Now, this is the senator from Hawaii, and they are saying to her, What do you think? Well, I do not know how people are going to get to Hawaii, but I am in favor of the plan. I do not get it. I do not get it. I do not get it. So she is in favor of the plan, but you will not be able to get to well, we can take boats, I guess. We will go back to boats. This is the new Democrat platform for the and I do not want to talk them out of it. I got to get off this subject. I want them to embrace this plan. I want them to go and sell this plan. I just want to be the Republican that runs against them for that. I am going to regret this speech. This speech should have been delivered one year from now, not now, damn it. Because they are going to grab out together, and they are going to say, You know, this guy is really laying for us. I should've saved the Pocahontas thing for another year. Because I have destroyed her political career, and now I will not get a chance to run against her, and I would've loved it.


We got to you know, I do not want to knock out all of the good stuff and end up with somebody that is actually got talent. So I do like the Green New Deal. I respect it greatly. It should be part of the dialogue of the next election. And I think it has tremendous promise and tremendous potential for the future of our country. Socialism is not about the environment. It is not about justice. It is not about virtue. Socialism is about only one thing. It is called power for the ruling class. Look at what is happening in Venezuela and so many other places. All of us are here today because we know that the future does not belong to those who believe in socialism. And I heard, yesterday, a great speech from our Vice President Mike Pence, talking about this very subject and talking about it beautifully. The future belongs to those who believe in freedom. America will never be a socialist country ever. Young Americans I love young Americans. And, Charlie, what a job you are doing. Because he has done an incredible job. But young Americans like you are leading the revival of American liberty, sovereignty, and self-determination in the face of left-wing intolerance. The anger the unbelievable anger I see it every day. Fortunately, for you, it is mostly pointed at me. You have the courage to speak the truth, to do what is right, and to fight for what you believe, and keep doing it. We reject oppressive speech codes, censorship, political correctness, and every other attempt by the hard left to stop people from challenging ridiculous and dangerous ideas. Instead, we believe in free speech, including online and including on campus. I turned on my television the other day, and I saw somebody that was violently punched in the face. By a bully I'd like to do a lot of things. But, of course, we would never do that. Because if I ever said violence, they would say, Donald Trump attacked. I am sure he is a lovely young man; just had a little temper tantrum. I have been there before with those people. I do not want to do it again. So, at the Leadership Institute, we are committed to making campuses great again. And I thank you so much for bringing me up here to let me speak.


It is great it is great that I am being recognized, and but there is so many conservative students across the country who are facing discrimination, harassment, and worse, if they dare to speak up on campus. So I am glad that we could we could, you know, bring this to the forefront. And I'd just like to say, you know, if these socialist progressives had their way, they would put our Constitution through the paper shredder in a heartbeat. So, you know, it is as important now than ever the work at Leadership Institute and Campus Reform you know, exposing these liberal abuses to the public it is as important now as ever. And these students these students do it because they have a love of our nation and freedom, and frankly, a love for you, Mr. President. I was going to call him, but I do not have to now. I see him here. I learned a number of things. First of all, he can take a punch. If Muhammad Ali could take a punch, he can take a punch. Because you were not going to go down no matter how that was a hell of a hard punch. You have got yourself a great lawyer. I know your lawyer. But he is probably got nothing, but sue him forever. Ladies and gentlemen, he took a hard punch in the face for all of us. He took a punch for all of us. He is going to be a very wealthy young man. Today I am proud to announce that I will be very soon signing an executive order requiring colleges and universities to support free speech if they want federal research dollars. If they want our dollars, and we give it to them by the billions, they have got to allow people like Hayden and many other great young people, and old people, to speak. Every day, we are restoring common sense and the timeless values that unite us all. We believe in the Constitution and the rule of law. We believe in the First Amendment right. And we believe in religious liberty. And we believe strongly in the Second Amendment and the right to keep and bear arms which is under siege, folks. They have a lot of plans. It is under siege. But I will protect you, I promise you that. I will protect you. Because it all has to come through my office. And we hopefully are going to be here for six more years, so you are in good shape. We believe in the American Dream, not in the socialist nightmare. In God We Trust.


Every day, my presidency will defend American families. We will defend America's workers our great, great cherished workers that now we are taking care of. They are not losing their jobs. We are creating those jobs. We are not letting those companies destroy their lives anymore. We will defend the American way of life, and we will always defend America's borders. Because without borders, as I have said many times before, we do not have a country. The lawless chaos on our southern border provides a lucrative cash flow to some of the most dangerous criminal organizations on the planet. Deadly cartels constantly daily, hourly violate our borders to flood our cities with drugs that kill thousands and thousands of our citizens violently. What are these people talking about when they talk about the border? I do not like it. But I have to tell you, our Border Patrol, our ICE agents, our law enforcement, the job they do and they do not have the backup of a wall, in many cases the job they do is incredible. These ruthless cartels terrorize innocent communities on both sides of the border and spread instability throughout our hemisphere. When I was there two weeks ago, 26 people were killed very close to where I was, on the Rio Grande. And the paper does not write about it. The news does not write about it. In the last two years alone, ICE officers made 266,000 arrests. Think of what that means. I am talking they went out and arrested 266,000 people who have criminal records and, in some cases, for murder. Who the hell wants to do that? Thank God they are doing it because I do not want to do it. But they love our country, and they are tough people, but they love our country. These are people that ICE is going in and getting, and either putting in jail or ideally bringing them back to other countries and letting them put in jail, because we do not want them. We do not want to have to pay for them for 50 years. You want them to pay a price, but we do not want to have to pay for them for 50 years. And all the nonsense you hear about the people that come in illegally are far better than the people we have it is not true, folks. One recent study from FAIR F-A-I-R found that illegal aliens are incarcerated at three times the rate of legal residents. And if you look at prison population in federal prisons, these federal prisons are the number is staggering.


The number of illegals far, far, far greater than any proportion of our population. But you do not hear that; you hear like these people are the greatest people in the world. But the simple reality is that every crime committed by an illegal immigrant is a crime that should never have happened in the first place. Vicious coyotes, smugglers, and human traffickers prey upon innocent women and children. One in three women is sexually assaulted on the dangerous journey north. When I ran for president, my first speech, I mentioned the word rape. The press went after me; I could not believe it. I said, Will it be like this always? From day one, I mention the word rape. If you look at that speech, that was so innocent compared to what is really happening. That was a very innocent speech compared to the real facts. Mothers who love their daughters, when their daughters are getting ready to make that 2,000-mile trek up through Mexico and frankly, I wish Mexico would stop them at their northern border, at our I wish Mexico would stop them. Because you know, they have a border. They call it their southern border. It is 2,000 miles down from our southern border. I wish Mexico would stop them. But they have their own difficulties. Frankly, I understand that. We are working along well with them. And they are doing a lot of things to help us with asylum and other elements of what we are doing. But mothers, who love their daughters, give them massive amounts of birth control pills because they know their daughters are going to be raped on the way up to our southern border. Those caravans you look at those caravans, and some are phenomenal people. But in those caravans you have stone-cold killers. You had the interview done by some innocent person who I think is actually back there now. And what is it that you want asylum for? Why are you coming to America? And when those caravans are formed, do you think those countries that we used to give a lot of money to I have cut it way back. I have cut it way back. Do you think they are giving us, as we say, their best and their finest? Oh, let us send our best people up to America. Let us have our best people go in the caravan so we can give America our greatest people. They give us some very bad people. They want to keep their good people because they are smart.