# Remarks by President Trump at Make America Great Again Rally, Harrisburg, PA

Transcript of speech delivered in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, United States on April 29, 2017. Published at https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/04/29/remarks-president-trump-make-america-great-again-rally-harrisburg-pa
Farm Show Complex & Expo Center Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
7:51 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, it is truly great to be back in the wonderful, beautiful state of Pennsylvania. (Applause.) I love this state and I love the people of this state. It's special and it carried us through a big, beautiful victory on November 8th. (Applause.)
I want to recognize some of our friends that have helped us so much. Congressman Scott Perry. (Applause.) G.T. Thompson. A couple of my originals, Mike Kelly -- who I watched on television. He was great. Where's Mike Kelly? Where is Mike Kelly? He's here someplace. Where is he? Boy, were you great on television this morning. And, of course, one of our other originals, Congressman Tom Marino. Right? (Applause.) Thank you. Thank you, Mike. Thank you, Tom.
As you may know, there's another big gathering taking place tonight in Washington, D.C. Did you hear about it?
AUDIENCE: Booo --
THE PRESIDENT: A large group of Hollywood actors and Washington media are consoling each other in a hotel ballroom in our nation’s capital right now. (Applause.) They are gathered together for the White House Correspondents Dinner -- without the President. (Applause.) And I could not possibly be more thrilled than to be more than 100 miles away from Washington Swamp -- (applause) -- spending my evening with all of you, and with a much, much larger crowd and much better people. Right? (Applause.) Right?
AUDIENCE: U-S-A! U-S-A!
THE PRESIDENT: And look at the media back there. They would actually rather be here, I have to tell you.
AUDIENCE: Booo --
THE PRESIDENT: That's right.
AUDIENCE: CNN Sucks! CNN Sucks!
THE PRESIDENT: Media outlets like CNN and MSNBC are fake news. Fake news. And they're sitting and they're wishing, in Washington -- they're watching right now, they're watching. And they would love to be with us right here tonight. (Applause.)
But they're trapped at the dinner, which will be very, very boring. (Laughter.) But next year, maybe we'll make it more exciting for them in Washington, and we'll show up. But we have a good chance of showing up here again next year, too. (Applause.)
The truth is, there is no place I’d rather be than right here in Pennsylvania to celebrate our 100-day milestone to reflect on an incredible journey together, and to get ready for the great, great battles to come, and that we will win in every case, okay? We will win. (Applause.) Because make no mistake, we are just beginning in our fight to make America great again. (Applause.)
Now, before we talk about my first 100 days, which has been very exciting and very productive, let’s rate the media’s 100 days. Should we do that? Should we do it? Because, as you know, they are a disgrace. According to a Morning Consult poll, more than half of Americans say the media “is out of touch with everyday Americans.” And they've proven that. According to Media Research Center, 89 percent of the media’s coverage of our administration has been negative -- and purposefully negative --
AUDIENCE: Booo --
THE PRESIDENT: And perhaps that’s because, according to the Center for Public Integrity, 96 percent of journalists who made donations in the last election gave to our opponent. Does anybody remember who our opponent was? Huh? That was some opponent. Finally, according to a poll last year from the Associated Press, only 6 percent of Americans have a lot of confidence in America [sic]. That's very bad. That's much lower than Congress, by the way.
But I'll give you an example of something really incredible.
AUDIENCE: Booo --
THE PRESIDENT: That's right, get them out of here. Get them out.
AUDIENCE: U-S-A! U-S-A!
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. (Applause.)
Do we love our law enforcement, or what? (Applause.)
And I want to thank the fire marshals. They have a lot of people standing outside. We really maxed out. We broke the all-time record for this arena. How old is this arena? This is not -- we broke the all-time record. And I don’t have a guitar, which is pretty tough.
So just as an example of media, take the totally failing New York Times.
AUDIENCE: Booo --
THE PRESIDENT: Pretty soon they'll only be on the Internet. The paper is getting smaller and smaller. You haven't noticed? It's starting to look like a comic book. (Laughter.) But I will tell you, because I watched, and I used to be in the real estate business, they sold their beautiful New York Times building in Manhattan -- a cathedral to journalism; such a beautiful, beautiful building -- for around $130 million. And a group that bought it later sold it for approximately $500 million. And now they live in a very ugly office building in a crummy location. (Laughter.)
Next, they buy the Boston Globe newspaper, with losses, for $1.3 billion, invest millions and millions and millions of dollars to get it going. And, in the end, they sell it for zero; they give it away. And then they write nasty editorials and op-eds telling me how I should be handling world events and our country. Tell me.
AUDIENCE: Booo --
THE PRESIDENT: But that's what we have. They're incompetent, dishonest people, who, after an election, had to apologize because they covered it, us, me, but all of us -- they covered it so badly that they felt they were forced to apologize because their predictions were so bad. You remember their predictions? They lost a lot of people because of the way they covered.
So here's the story. If the media’s job is to be honest and tell the truth, then I think we would all agree the media deserves a very, very, big fat failing grade.
AUDIENCE: Booo -
THE PRESIDENT: Very dishonest people. And not all of them. You know, we call it the "fake news." Not all of them. If you notice now, they're using -- everybody is using the world fake news. Where did you hear it first, folks? (Applause.) By contrast, for the last 100 days, my administration has been delivering every single day for the great citizens of our country -- whether it’s putting our coal miners back to work, protecting America’s steel and aluminum workers -- we love that steel and aluminum -- or eliminating job-killing regulations, we are keeping one promise after another. And, frankly, the people are really happy about it. They see what's happening. (Applause.)
But to understand the historic progress that we’ve made, we must speak honestly about the situation that we and I inherited. Because believe me, the previous administration gave us a mess.
AUDIENCE: Booo --
THE PRESIDENT: For decades, our country has lived through the greatest jobs theft in the history of the world. You people know it better than anybody, in Pennsylvania. Our factories were shuttered, our steel mills closed down, and our jobs were stolen away and shipped far away to other countries, some of which you've never even heard of. Politicians sent troops to protect the borders of foreign nations, but left America’s borders wide open for all to violate.
We've spent billions and billions of dollars on one global project after another, and yet, as gangs flooded into our country, we couldn’t even provide safety for our own people.
Our government rushed to join international agreements where the United States pays the costs and bears the burdens, while other countries get the benefit and pay nothing.
AUDIENCE: Booo --
THE PRESIDENT: This includes deals like the one-sided Paris Climate Accord, where the United States pays billions of dollars while China, Russia and India have contributed and will contribute nothing.
AUDIENCE: Booo --
THE PRESIDENT: Does that remind you of the Iran deal? How about that beauty, right?
On top of all of that, it's estimated that full compliance with the agreement could ultimately shrink America's GDP by $2.5 trillion over a 10-year period. That means factories and plants closing all over our country. Here we go again. Not with me, folks. (Applause.)
Those are the facts, whether we like them or not. The dishonest media won’t print them, won't report them, because the Washington media is part of the problem: their priorities are not my priorities and they're not your priorities, believe me. (Applause.) Their agenda is not your agenda. And I'll be making a big decision on the Paris accord over the next two weeks. (Applause.) And we will see what happens.
But they're all part of a broken system that is profited from this global theft and plunder of American wealth at the expense of the American worker. We are not going to let other countries take advantage of us anymore. Because, from now on, it’s going to be America first. (Applause.)
And I have to --
AUDIENCE: U-S-A! U-S-A!
THE PRESIDENT: And I have to just interject -- because, as you know, I've been a big critic of China, and I've been talking about currency manipulation for a long time. But I have to tell you that, during the election, number one, they stopped. But more importantly, just to show you the dishonesty -- so we have currency manipulation by China, but China is helping us possibly, or probably, with the North Korean situation, okay? (Applause.) Which is a great thing.
And I met with the President of China at great length in Florida, and we had long, long talks -- hours and hours and hours. He's a good man. Now he's representing China. He's not representing us. But he's a good man. And I believe he wants to get that situation taken care of. They have tremendous power, and we'll see what happens.
But the media said, Donald Trump refuses to name China a currency manipulator. Now, this of think of this. Think of this. Now, we have to have a little flexibility. So I meet with the President of China, and I say, could you help us out with North Korea? You know, you give them 93 percent of their different materials that they need and their food. You have a lot of power. We have a great relationship. And then the media said, why didn’t he call Donald Trump, and why didn’t Donald Trump at a meeting say you're a currency manipulator?
So here's the story. "Listen, Mr. President, will you help us out with North Korea? But, by the way, you're manipulating your currency." It doesn’t work, right? (Laughter and applause.) So instead of -- you understand. So instead of saying that, let's see what happens. I honestly believe that he's trying very hard. Not an easy situation for China, believe me. Not an easy situation. But we have somebody there who's causing a lot of trouble for the world. We have China, who is really trying to help us. You've seen they've sent back vast amounts of coal coming out North Korea. So let's see what happens. And I think it's not exactly the right time to call China a currency manipulator right now. Do we agree with that? (Applause.) But they never say that. They say, why didn’t he do it.
So I promised you in my inaugural address, 100 days ago, that now arrives the hour of action. And we've, believe me, started from day out. And that is what we've delivered -- 100 days of action. In fact, those people and others are exhausted. They've never seen anything like that. They've never seen anything like this. (Applause.)
We are ending the offshoring and bringing back our beautiful, wonderful, great American jobs. (Applause.) We are eradicating the criminal gangs and cartels that have infiltrated our country. You're reading about them all the time. Some of you have big problems with them. Thank you for that sign. "Blacks for Trump." I love that guy. (Applause.) "Blacks for Trump." Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, man. That's great. That's really cool. I appreciate it.
And we're taking steps to renegotiate or cancel any agreement that fails to protect American interests. Here are just some of our great achievements from the first 100 days. And I will tell you, in addition to that, we have built such strong foundations with the leaders of foreign countries. And we're set to rock. But we have great relationships with Germany and Japan and China and so many others, the UK. Such great relationships. That's part of the process.
We've appointed and confirmed a brand new justice of the United States Supreme Court -- (applause) -- Justice Neil Gorsuch, who will uphold the Constitution and the right of Americans to govern their own affairs. And the last time a new Supreme Court justice was confirmed in the first 100 days was 136 years ago, in 1881. And I was devastated to hear that, because I thought I'd be the only to have done that. (Applause.) A long time ago.
To protect our jobs and our economic freedom, I immediately withdrew the United States from the horrible, disastrous, would have been another but worse, Trans-Pacific Partnership. (Applause.) That would have taken your jobs in Pennsylvania, that I can tell you. That was a total hoax. The TPP would have been a tremendous disaster for our country, and we are not going to surrender Pennsylvania jobs ever again. We've done that once before. It's not going to happen. (Applause.)
We’ve just launched an investigation into foreign steel dumping and aluminum dumping throughout our country. We are reviewing every single trade deal, and wherever there is cheating, we will take immediate action and there will be penalties. (Applause.) And we have with us tonight, Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross, and one of the great, great people on fair trade and good trade, Mr. Peter Navarro. (Applause.) Thank you. Thank you.
And we will renegotiate NAFTA. And if we don’t get a good deal and a fair deal for our country -- and I've been saying for a long time, we'll either renegotiate or we'll terminate. I announced the other day, we were going to terminate. Everybody said we'll terminate. Two people that I like very much -- the President of Mexico, the Prime Minister of Canada -- they called up; they said, could we negotiate? I said, yes, we can renegotiate. So we'll start a renegotiation, and hopefully it will be fair for everybody. (Applause.) And if it's not a fair deal for our country -- because you have to understand, we have been on the wrong side of the NAFTA deal with Canada and with Mexico for many, many years, many decades. We can't allow it to happen. So we're going to renegotiate. And if we can't make a fair deal for our companies and our workers, we will terminate NAFTA, okay? (Applause.)
Our directives will put brand new Pennsylvania steel into the spine of America. (Applause.) We’ve ordered billions and billions of dollars in unpaid duties to be collected at the border from countries that break the rules. And that just started. It's going to be a lot coming in. (Applause.) We just want fairness. And I’ve followed through on my promise and issued a new government directive to buy American and hire American. (Applause.)
In just these first few months, we’ve created 99,000 new construction jobs, 49,000 new manufacturing jobs, and 27,000 new mining jobs. Who are the miners here? The miners -- finally, we're taking care of our miners. (Applause.) We love our miners. And we have over 600,000 new jobs. And, by the way, the stock market, since our election -- (applause) -- is through the roof. I believe, from the point of the election, isn't it too bad that the Obama administration gets a lot of credit for those couple of months, but --
AUDIENCE: Booo --
THE PRESIDENT: It's all right. Because we're doing fine, but they get credit for that because people started going wild with the stock. But I believe we have a record, from the time we got elected -- from November 8th -- we have a record, an all-time record, for the biggest increase in the stock market. So I'm very happy about that. (Applause.)
We've removed the shackles on energy exploration imposed by the last administration, lifting the restrictions on the production of oil, shale, and natural gas. And, very importantly for Pennsylvania, we have ended the war on beautiful, clean coal, and we are putting our great coal miners back to work. (Applause.) We love our miners.
I am also very pleased to say that we have finally cleared the way for the construction of the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines. (Applause.) 48,000 new jobs. They couldn’t get their approvals. We got them their approvals in 24 hours -- one day. And I want to tell you, the heads of those two companies, they didn’t know what the hell happened. They said, how did this happen? They should go to bed and say their prayers. But that's going to be approximately 48,000 jobs.
My administration has also scrapped a job-killing regulation that was threatening our auto workers. We want more cars made in the USA. And that's going to happen. (Applause.) We’ve created a new rule which requires that for every one new regulation, two old regulations must be eliminated. (Applause.)
And we have signed massive executive orders, clearing up the environmental bureaucracy. We're going to have jobs, and you're seeing them already. We’ve also been very busy on the legislative front, which we have gotten no credit for, and yet I am signing away. I've signed 29 new bills -- a record not surpassed since the Truman administration. (Applause.) This includes 13 resolutions to eliminate intrusive federal regulations -- the most ever signed in our history.
In keeping our promise to our veterans, I’ve signed legislation to extend Veterans Choice. And David, the head of the Veterans Administration, is here with us tonight. David Shulkin. (Applause.) He's done an incredible job. And we’ve increased by 42 percent the approvals for veterans using the Choice program. (Applause.) I’ve also created an Office of Accountability at the VA. Our message to federal workers is clear: If you fail our veterans, you will be held accountable. First time. (Applause.)
To create accountability across government, I’ve issued a five-year ban on federal officials becoming lobbyists after they leave government service. Good? (Applause.) I’ve got a lot of people in my staff who are not exactly happy with that one, but that's okay. And I've issued a lifetime ban on federal officials becoming lobbyists for a foreign government. (Applause.) I've imposed these bans for a simple reason: It is time to drain the swamp. (Applause.) And that's what we're doing in Washington, D.C.
Perhaps in no area have past governments sold out to special interests and foreign lobbyists more than on the issue of immigration. Year after year, you pleaded for Washington to enforce our laws as illegal immigration surged, refugees flooded in, and lax vetting threatened your family’s safety and security.
Your pleas have finally been --
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Build the wall!
THE PRESIDENT: Oh, don't worry, we're going to have the wall. Don’t worry about it. (Applause.)
AUDIENCE: Build the wall! Build the wall!
THE PRESIDENT: You know, we've done so well at the border, a lot of people are saying, oh, wow, maybe the President doesn’t need the wall. We need the wall to stop the drugs and the human trafficking. We need the wall.
In just 100 days, we have taken historic steps to secure our border, impose needed immigration control like you've never seen before -- is that true? -- and properly screen and vet those seeking admission into our country. They are going to come in because they love our country. We're not taking them otherwise.
We are operating on a very simple principle: that our immigration system should put the needs of American workers, American families, American companies, and American citizens first. (Applause.) I appointed a great military general, John Kelly, to lead the Department of Homeland Security. (Applause.)
Since my election, we’ve already achieved an unprecedented 73 percent reduction in illegal crossings on our southern border. (Applause.) The greatest reduction in the history of our country. And we just started.
The world is getting the message: If you try to illegally enter the United States, you will be caught, detained, deported, or put in prison, and it will happen. (Applause.)
As I campaigned across the nation, I met with the grieving mothers and fathers of children who had been killed -- viciously killed, violently killed -- by illegal immigrants. And I made them a promise: We will protect American lives. Your family member will not have died in vain. (Applause.)
Last week, we opened an office to support the Victims of Immigration Crime, called VOICE, to make sure that no American victim is ever again ignored by their government. Not going to happen anymore. (Applause.) And many people are now talking, as I just said, and using this tremendous early progress on the border to say we don’t need the kind of safety that we will do need, including the wall. We need safety. We need cameras. We need all of the things that we're going to be putting in, and we need the wall. And we will build a wall as you are standing there tonight. We need the wall. (Applause.)
AUDIENCE: Build the wall! Build the wall!
THE PRESIDENT: We'll build the wall, folks. Don’t even worry about it. Go to sleep. Go home, go to sleep. Rest assured. That's the final thing -- we need it. We need it. And if the Democrats knew what the hell they were doing, they'd approve it so easy, because we want to stop crime in our country. Obviously, they don’t mind illegals coming in. They don’t mind drugs pouring in. They don’t mind, excuse me, MS-13 coming in. We're getting them all out of here.
Members of Congress who will be voting on border security have a simple choice: They can either vote to help drug cartels and criminal aliens trying to enter the United States, like, frankly, the Democrats are doing. Or they can vote to help American citizens and American families be safe. That’s the choice. Who do you want to represent you? (Applause.)
Unfortunately, Democrats in Congress have no leadership. They're rudderless. Senator Schumer is a bad leader.
AUDIENCE: Booo --
THE PRESIDENT: I've known him a long time. Senator Schumer is a bad leader, not a natural leader at all. He works hard to study leadership. When you have to study leadership, you got problems. And his policies are hurting innocent Americans and making it easier for drug dealers to enter our country. Schumer is weak on crime and wants to raise your taxes through the roof.
AUDIENCE: Booo --
THE PRESIDENT: He is a poor leader -- known him a long time -- and he's leading the Democrats to doom. It's sad to see for our country what's happening to the Democrat Party.
At the heart of my administration's efforts to restore the rule of law has been a nationwide crackdown on criminal gangs. And that means taking the fight to the sanctuary cities that shield these dangerous criminals from removal. (Applause.) The last Administration allowed thousands of gang members to cross our borders and enter into our communities.
The last, very weak administration allowed thousands and thousands of gang members to cross our borders and enter into our communities where they wreaked havoc on our citizens. As you know, the bloodthirsty cartel, known as MS-13, has infiltrated our schools, threatening innocent children. We've seen the horrible assaults and many killings all over Long Island, where I grew up. We have seen the vicious spread of transnational gangs into all 50 states, and the human suffering they bring with them. I've been with the parents; I've seen the parents. It's devastation.
A very respected general recently told me that MS-13 are the equivalent in their meanness to al Qaeda. My administration will not rest until we have dismantled these violent gangs, and we're doing it rapidly, and we're sending them the hell out of our country. We're sending them back home where they belong. (Applause.)
One by one, we're finding the illegal immigrant drug dealers, gang members, and killers, and removing them from our country. And, once they are gone, folks -- you see what we're doing -- they will not let them back in. They're not coming back. (Applause.)
In this effort to restore safety to our country, we are going to strongly support the incredible men and women of law enforcement. (Applause.) I just signed an executive order directing Attorney General Jeff Sessions to combat crimes of violence against our police, and the Department of Justice is now prioritizing the prosecution of criminals who attack officers of the law. (Applause.)
And we are also working around the clock to keep our nation safe from terrorism. (Applause.) My administration has taken historic steps to improve screening and vetting for those seeking visas to enter the United States. We have seen the attacks, from 9/11 to Boston to San Bernardino. We have seen the bloodshed overseas. You look at what's happening in other countries.
We already have enough problems to worry about in the United States, which we love so much. We don’t need to be admitting people who want to oppress, hurt or kill innocent Americans. They're not coming in. (Applause.)
So let me state this as clearly as I possibly can: We are going to keep radical Islamic terrorists the hell out of our country. (Applause.)
AUDIENCE: U-S-A! U-S-A!
THE PRESIDENT: So I have a question for you. You've been to a lot of countries, you've seen a lot of rallies. First of all, is there any place like a Trump rally? In all fairness. Right? (Applause.)
So I did this a little bit during the rally. Haven't done it in a long time. Who has heard the poem called "The Snake"? So I have it. Does anybody want to hear it again? (Applause.) You sure? Are you sure? Okay. So let's dedicate this to General Kelly, the Border Patrol, and the ICE agents for doing such an incredible job. (Applause.) This was written by Al Wilson a long time ago. And I thought of it having to do with our borders and people coming in. And we know that we're going to have; we're going to have problems. We have to very, very carefully vet. We have to be smart. We have to be vigilant.
So here it is, "The Snake." It's called "The Snake":
"On her way to work one morning, down the path along the lake, a tender-hearted woman saw a poor, half-frozen snake. His pretty colored skin had been all frosted with the dew. "Poor thing!" she cried. "I'll take you in and I'll stake care of you." The border. (Laughter.) "Take me in, oh, tender woman. Take me in for Heaven's sake. Take me in, oh, tender woman," sighed the vicious snake. "She wrapped him up all cozy in a comforter of silk, and laid him by her fireside with some honey and some milk. She hurried home from work that night, and as soon as she arrived, she found that pretty snake she'd taken in had been revived. Take me in, oh, tender woman. Take me in for Heaven's sake. Take me in, oh, tender woman, sighed that vicious snake. She clutched him to her bosom, 'You're so beautiful,' she cried. 'But if I hadn’t brought you in by now, oh, heavens you would have died.' She stroked his pretty skin again and kissed him and held him tight. But instead of saying, 'thank you,' that snake gave her a vicious bite! Take me in, oh, tender woman. Take me in for Heaven's sake. Take me in, oh, tender woman, sighed the vicious sake. 'I have saved you,' cried the woman. 'And you've bitten me, heavens why? You know your bite is poisonous, and now I'm going to die.' 'Oh, shut up, silly woman,' said the reptile with a grin. 'You knew damn well I was a snake before you took me in.'" (Applause.)
Does that explain it, folks? Does that explain it?
Keeping America safe also means rebuilding our defenses. Under the leadership of General “Mad Dog” Mattis -- (applause) -- and he is doing great; he is doing great. And, by the way, he's the man that recommended General Kelly. I said, Mad Dog, you got to give me a great general for the border. He gave me a great general, General Kelly. We have begun the process of rebuilding our military and restoring full readiness.
We are also protecting taxpayer dollars. I've already saved more than $725 million on a simple order of F-35 planes. I got involved in the negotiation. (Applause.) And there's billions of dollars to be saved on that and many other things.
We’ve also stepped up the fight against ISIS, and we will not stop until ISIS has been destroyed. (Applause.) At the same time, we’ve strengthened our friendships and alliances around the world. For instance, we were very proud to quietly work with the Egyptian government last week to ensure that an American citizen, a beautiful young woman named Aya, came home after being in an Egyptian prison for the past three years. (Applause.) She was going to be there for another 28 years. President Obama worked diligently for three years and didn’t get them out. I met with President el-Sisi and it worked out quickly, and he was great. (Applause.) He was great about it. And not only did the court system in Egypt and President el-Sisi let her out, but they let out her husband, and they let out a total of eight people that were innocent. And they're all back here right now. (Applause.) Now, they won't include that in the 100 days, but I'm very proud to have done it. And she's a happy young woman, believe me.
She's very happy.
I said, "How tough, Aya, was it in that prison?" She said, you don’t want to know. That was a tough prison.
We’re also getting NATO countries to finally step up and contribute their fair share. They’ve begun to increase their contributions by billions of dollars, but we are not going to be satisfied until everyone pays what they owe. And I've been complaining about that for a long time. And it's a lot different now, but they still a lot of money.
Over the last eight years, America’s average military and defense spending was double what all other NATO countries spent, combined. Not fair. As we work to get other countries to pay their fair share abroad, we will continue our rebuilding at home. We're rebuilding everything, including, by the way, our great military. We will have the finest military that we've ever had at any time in the history of our country. (Applause.)
Last week, my economic team outlined one of the biggest tax cuts in American history -- even bigger than that of Ronald Reagan. We are proposing major tax relief for the middle class, and lowering the business tax from 35 percent all the way down to 15 percent. (Applause.) Now, you will see companies expand, companies come back into our country, companies not leave our country anymore because taxes and regulations are so onerous. You will see what happens.
Let me also be very clear in saying that we are going to save Americans’ healthcare, and repeal and replace that disaster known as Obamacare, which is dying, dying, dying. (Applause.) Obamacare is dead anyway, folks. You know, they always like to compare -- well, what about Obama -- Obamacare is dead. It's gone. The increases were massive last year, and they're going to be bigger this year. And the insurance companies are fleeing. One of the top people in the insurance industry said, Obamacare is in a death spiral, there's nothing they can do.
So they can't compare something to it because it won't be there very long, believe me. Can't be there very long. It's not working. It's been a failure. Under Obamacare, we have seen double- and triple-digit hikes in premiums, and many Americans left with only a single insurer to choose from. And now, many of those insurers are fleeing also. You have places like the great state of Tennessee, where I left two weeks ago, where half of the state already has no insurance carrier. And many others.
So Obamacare is a catastrophe created exclusively by the Democrats in Congress. And they know it's no good. They know it's not working. And, by the way, we're going to get something great. We're going to get the premiums down. We're going to get the deductibles way down. We're going to take care of every single need you're going to want to have taken care of. But it's not going to cost that kind of money. We're going to bring it down. You're going to see it. Premiums down. We will repeal and replace Obamacare. You watch. (Applause.)
We're going to give Americans the freedom to purchase the healthcare plans they want, not the healthcare forced on them by the government. (Applause.) And I'll be so angry at Congressman Kelly and Congressman Marino and all of our congressmen in this room if we don’t get that damn thing passed quickly. (Applause.) They'll get it done. We know them. They'll get it done.
In all things, we are returning power to the people where it belongs. We're going to defend the Second Amendment -- (applause) -- and your right to keep and bear arms. We are going to bring education local, and we are going to end Common Core. (Applause.) We are going to stop federal overreach, and defend the God-given rights of every American family.
Just imagine what we could accomplish if we all started working together to rebuild this nation, the nation that we so dearly love. (Applause.) Our jobs will come back home, our dying factories will come roaring back to life. It will be a beautiful thing to watch. And this is what's going to happen in the United States of America, and it's going to happen soon. And it's actually already happening. (Applause.)
Cities small and large will see a rebirth of hope, safety and opportunity. America’s children will be taught to love their country and take pride in our great American flag. (Applause.) And other countries -- and you see that happening -- will finally treat America, and our citizens, with the respect that our country and our citizens deserve. (Applause.)
It's time for us all to remember that we are one people, with one great American destiny, and that whether we are black or brown or white, we all bleed the same red blood of patriots. (Applause.) And we all share the same glorious freedoms of our magnificent country. We are all made by the same Almighty God. (Applause.)
As long as we remember these truths, we will not fail. We will never fail. We are Americans, and the future belongs to us. The future belongs to all of you. So with hope in our souls, and patriotism in our hearts, I say these words to you tonight, on 100 days of devotion, hard work, and love for our great country: Together, we will make America strong again. We will make America wealthy again. We will make America prosper again. We will make America proud again. We will make America safe again. And we will make America great again!
Thank you. God bless you. (Applause.)
END
8:49 P.M. EDT
This work is in the public domain in the United States because it is a work of the United States federal government (see 17 U.S.C. 105).
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