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There is the apocalyptic influence in the Trumpean presidency: The world is destroyed in order to be purified and renewed in the ideal way that is projected by a Steve Bannon. And there is a sense of that when Trump says we'll make America great again, because he says it's been destroyed, he will remake it. So there is an apocalyptic suggestion, but I don't think it's at the very heart of his presidency.
You will learn more about Donald Trump by going down to the federal elections, where I filed a 104-page essentially financial statement of sorts, the forms that they have. It shows income - in fact, the income - I just looked today - the income is filed at $694 million for this past year, $694 million. If you would have told me I was going to make that 15 or 20 years ago, I would have been very surprised.
Just before I began doing this show [The Last Word ], a dear friend of mine, Karen Russell, asked me what I was going to do with the show.She meant how was I going to use this platform to do something important, something that I wouldn`t be able to do without an hour of real estate in cable news prime time.The K.I.N.D. fund is my answer to Karen Russell`s question, what are you going to do with this show?
Somebody said, well, it wouldn't have been any different. Well, it would have been. I am extremely, extremely tough on illegal immigration. I'm extremely tough on people coming into this country. I believe that if I were running things, I doubt those families would have - I doubt that those people would have been in the country. So there's a good chance that those people would not have been in our country.
I had crazy experience when I was talking to voters at the Nevada caucus the other night in Vegas. Voter after voter after voter, these are Republican primary voters, caucus goers, saying I don`t listen to Fox anymore. I can`t trust Fox anymore. I`m over them. And these were all [Donald] Trump supporters who he had successfully sort of pried their trust away from the thing they have been trusting for years.
When a company wants to move to Mexico or another company - or another country and they want to build a nice, beautiful factory and they want to sell their product through our border, no tax, and the people that all got fired, so we end up with unemployment and debt, and they end up with jobs and factories and all of the other things, not going to happen that way. And the way you stop it is by imposing a tax.
On both sides of the Atlantic, our citizens are confronted by yet another danger - one firmly within our control. This danger is invisible to some but familiar to the Poles: the steady creep of government bureaucracy that drains the vitality and wealth of the people. The West became great not because of paperwork and regulations but because people were allowed to chase their dreams and pursue their destinies.
We're going to come up with a great healthcare plan, whether it's healthcare savings accounts, we have a lot of different things. We're going to get rid of the lines between states, we're going to have great competitive bidding. But I say all the time, you can call it anything you want. People are not going to die in the middle of the street. People are not going to die on the sidewalk if I'm president, okay?
Any pipeline company you look at -TransCanada or Energy Transfer Partners - they all have a long list of these kind of spills. Some of them a few thousand gallons, some a few hundred thousand gallons. That's precisely why people at Standing Rock were so right to say, "Do not put this across our water supply. We know what will happen. We do not know the day that it will happen, but we know that it will happen."
Ford is leaving. You see that, their small car division leaving. Thousands of jobs leaving Michigan, leaving Ohio. They're all leaving. And we can't allow it to happen anymore.As far as child care is concerned and so many other things, I think Hillary Clinton and I agree on that. We probably disagree a little bit as to numbers and amounts and what we're going to do, but perhaps we'll be talking about that later.
Folks, folks, we want to end Obamacare, we want to go to a plan that's so much better and so much less expensive, right? We want to have borders and we want people to come into our country. We welcome people, but they have to come in through a legal process. So, we're going to have a wall, but it's going to have a big, beautiful door and people are going to come into America, but they're going to come in legally.
I'm using the laws of the nation to my benefit. And I should do that, it's to my benefit. Now, when, if I am running the country I will use that same ability that I have, because I have always had the ability to make a lot of money. I'll use that same ability to make our nation rich again, because it sounds like, not nice, some people said, oh that's a harsh word, "rich". We can't be great again until we are rich.
Frankly, nobody's every seen anything like what's happening today. When you have somebody getting a subpoena from the United States Congress to have your e-mails and all other information sent, and after - not before, after getting the subpoena, 33,000 e-mails are deleted and acid washed. And nobody even knows what that means, acid wash. It's a very expensive thing to do. Most people don't even know what it means.
I just wanted to begin by mentioning that the nominee for secretary of the department of labor will be Mr. Alex Acosta. He has a law degree from Harvard Law School, great student. Former clerk for Justice Samuel Alito. He has had a tremendous career. He's a member and has been a member of the National Labor Relations Board and has been through Senate confirmation three times, confirmed. I have wished him the best.
Radical Islamic terrorists are determined to strike our homeland as they did on 9/11, as they did from Boston to Orlando to San Bernardino. And all across Europe we've seen what happened in Paris and Nice. All over Europe it's happening. It's gotten to a point where it's not even being reported. In many cases, the very, very dishonest press doesn't want to report it. They have their reasons and you understand that.
When I started out in business, I spent a great deal of time researching every detail that might be pertinent to the deal I was interested in making. I still do the same today. People often comment on how quickly I operate, but the reason I can move quickly is that I've done the background work first, which no one usually sees. I prepare myself thoroughly, and then when it is time to move ahead, I am ready to sprint.
I'm a businessperson. I did really well. But I have common sense. And I said, well, I'll tell you. I haven't given lots of thought to NATO. But two things.Number one, the 28 countries of NATO, many of them aren't paying their fair share. Number two - and that bothers me, because we should be asking - we're defending them, and they should at least be paying us what they're supposed to be paying by treaty and contract.
Fox News has effectively become the establishment. Fox has - you know, during non-election years, really tended to out flank the Republican Party in many ways in its conservatism and yet sort of lists back a little towards the, let`s say right-center establishment type figures in part because Rupert Murdock, whose Ailes`s ultimate boss over at 21st Century Fox, is a bit more pragmatic and centrist than Ailes himself.
We know from drafts that the Donald Trump's administration has circulated on Capitol Hill, there are a few things they would like to change about NAFTA. They would like to, for example, have the ability to impose tariffs just because imports are surging from Canada or Mexico, not necessarily because they're being sold unfairly. They want more freedom to use our countervailing the subsidy laws against Canada and Mexico.
Our country is in serious trouble. We don't win anymore.We don't beat China in trade. We don't beat Japan, with their millions and millions of cars coming into this country, in trade. We can't beat Mexico, at the border or in trade.We can't do anything right. Our military has to be strengthened. Our vets have to be taken care of. We have to end Obamacare, and we have to make our country great again, and I will do that.
The false reporting by the media, the false, horrible, fake reporting makes it much harder to make a deal with Russia, and probably [Vladimir] Putin said, he's sitting behind his desk a and he's saying, you know, I see what's going on in the United States, I follow it closely, it's going to be impossible for President [Donald] Trump to ever get along with Russia because of all the pressure he's got with this fake story.
The governor of Minnesota [Mark Dayton], a couple of months ago he said that the Affordable Care Act is no longer affordable. He's a staunch Democrat. Very strong Democrat. He said it's no longer affordable. He made that statement. And Bill Clinton on the campaign trail - and he probably had a bad night that night when he went home - but he said, "Obamacare is crazy. It's crazy." And you know what, they were both right.
President Obama and Hillary Clinton have, and Kerry have allowed tens of thousands of people into America. The FBI is now investigating more people than ever before having to do with terror. And it's from the group of people that came in. So look, look, our country has a lot of problems. Believe me. I know what the problems are even better than you do. They're deep problems, they're serious problems. We don't need more.
This will include the various methods of internal monitoring, attack and penetration, investigation of suspected hackers or rogue employees - and you have plenty of rogue employees - and identity protection for government employees. The review team will also remain current on the constantly evolving new methods of attack and will attempt to anticipate them and develop defenses as often as possible before breaches occur.
Well the thinking is we have the highest tax rate in the world. In the entire world, we have the highest tax rate. There's gridlock in Washington because there's no leadership. So what I'm doing is a large tax cut especially for the middle class and they're gonna- we're going to have a dynamic country. We're going to have dynamic economics. And it's going to be something really special. And people are going back to work.
I feel that the justices that I am going to appoint - and I've named 20 of them - the justices that I'm going to appoint will be pro-life. They will have a conservative bent. They will be protecting the Second Amendment. They are great scholars in all cases, and they're people of tremendous respect. They will interpret the Constitution the way the founders wanted it interpreted. And I believe that's very, very important.
I can only tell you there's a lot of bad things going on. They're chopping off heads in Syria, and they're chopping off heads all over the Middle East.ISIS is doing a number, and plenty of other beyond ISIS is doing it now. And all I know is that, when they start chopping off heads, we have to be very firm, we have to be very strong, we have to be very vigilant. And I heard a statement, and I disagree with his statement.
I would say, we have had a lot of problems with radical Islamic terrorism, that's what I'd say. We have had a lot of problems where you look at San Bernardino, you look at Orlando, you look at the World Trade Center, you look at so many different things. You look at what happened to the priest over the weekend in Paris, where his throat was cut, 85-year-old, beloved Catholic priest. You look at what happened in Nice, France.
Does anybody really believe that Iraq is going to be a wonderful democracy where people are going to run down to the voting box and gently put in their ballot and the winner is happily going to step up to lead the county? C'mon. Two minutes after we leave, there's going to be a revolution, and the meanest, toughest, smartest, most vicious guy will take over. And he'll have weapons of mass destruction, which Saddam didn't have.
Things change. There has to be flexibility. Let me give you an example. President Xi, we have a, like, a really great relationship. For me to call him a currency manipulator and then say, “By the way, I'd like you to solve the North Korean problem,” doesn't work. So you have to have a certain flexibility, Number One. Number Two, from the time I took office till now, you know, it's a very exact thing. It's not like generalities.
As far as being a Republican is concerned, I come from a place, New York City, which is virtually, I mean, it is almost exclusively Democrat. And I have really started to see some of the negatives - as an example, and I have a lot of liking for this man, but the last number of months of his brother's administration were a catastrophe. And unfortunately, those few months gave us President Obama. And you can't be happy about that.
I left small businesses a little while ago and they were all complaining that Obamacare is putting them out of business. Not only the regulations, which are a disaster and the taxes, but Obamacare is putting them out of business. So you have that concept, the savings accounts, health care. What you really have are ways of getting people energized by take - you have to take down the lines between the state so you have competition.
I used to get great press. I get the worst press. I get such dishonest reporting with the media. I've never had anything like it before. It happened during the primaries, and I said, you know, when I won, I said, "Well the one thing good is now I'll get good press." And it got worse. So that was one thing that a little bit of a surprise to me. I thought the press would become better, and it actually, in my opinion, got more nasty.
Having said that, I`ve got to tell you, looking ahead, it`s like these storms coming in over the pacific that`s we feel in the press corps.Because you look at a campaign, which was a war on the media - that was at the heart of Donald Trump`s campaign, where if he banned certain outlets from coming to news conferences, every day he attacked the dishonest press, he pointed the finger, he called out reporter by name and attacked him.
Maybe the establishment has to get out too. I don't know. When you look at what's going on, Republicans have lost two big elections in a row. Big ones. And the last one with Mitt Romney should have been won easily. You know, you're going against a failed president.Barack Obama has done a horrible job; he's been a horrible president. And he was just as bad four years ago, and Mitt Romney should have won that election; and he didn't.
It's a response from Donald Trump [to the Pope]. It says, "If and when the Vatican is attacked by ISIS..." Their primary thing... You've seen what they've done all over the Middle East. Their primary goal is to get to the Vatican. That would be their ultimate trophy. They want to do what they won't to all of these magnificence artifacts and all of the beautiful museums that they've totally destroyed all over the Middle East, right?
Our inner cities are almost at an all-time low, run by the Democrats for sometimes more than a hundred years, chain unbroken. So they have no jobs. They have horrible education. They have no safety or security and I say to the African-American community, what the hell do you have to lose? I will fix it. I will fix it. I will make it good. I'll bring back our jobs. We'll have good education. We'll have great safety in the inner city.
When we have a world where you have ISIS chopping off heads, where you have frankly drowning people in steel cages, wars and horrible, horrible sights all over, so many bad things happening. We haven't seen anything like this. The carnage all over the world. Can you imagine the people that are frankly doing so well against us with ISIS. And they look at our country and see what's going on. Yes, I'm very embarrassed by it. I hate it.
The latest numbers we have for March 2017, they showed that March was the fourth warmest month that we have records on, dating back to the 1880s, and the warmest month in a non-El Niño period. That is to say, we're kind of in a permanent El Niño now. The temperature is always elevated. March saw record lows for the date in global sea ice. That's really, really scary. We are melting some of the biggest physical features on our earth.
The Center for Immigration Studies estimates that 62 percent of households headed by illegal immigrants use some form of cash or non-cash welfare programs like food stamps or housing assistance, tremendous costs, by the way, to our country, tremendous costs. This directly violates the federal public charge law designed to protect the United States Treasury. Those who abuse our welfare system will be priorities for immediate removal.
Maybe I had something to do with that. I don't know. But public don't believe press. If you were straight and really told it like it is, as Howard Cosell used to say, right? Of course, he had some questions also. But, if you were straight, I would be your biggest booster. I would be your biggest fan in the world, including bad stories about me. But if you go - as an example, you're CNN. I mean, it's story after story after story is bad.
Mitt Romney was treated very unfairly. Mitt Romney didn't want to give his tax returns, because people don't understand returns that are complicated, and complex. And he didn't give it. He fought it, fought it, fought it, all the way into September. A month before the election, he gave his tax returns. And they picked out two items that were absolutely perfect. He did nothing wrong. And his returns are very much smaller than my returns.
Whether they love me or don't love me, they think I know what I'm doing and that people aren't gonna be taking advantage of the country. So if I had my choice, I'd love to keep doing what I'm doing. The country is in serious, serious trouble, like it's never been before. And that's why I'm saying: Would I rather stay in Trump Tower? Would I rather stay and lead the life I'm leading - and you know something about my life. It's very good.
Our jobs are fleeing the country. They're going to Mexico. They're going to many other countries. You look at what China is doing to our country in terms of making our product. They're devaluing their currency, and there's nobody in our government to fight them. And we have a very good fight. And we have a winning fight. Because they're using our country as a piggy bank to rebuild China, and many other countries are doing the same thing.
The memories of those who perished in the Warsaw Uprising cry out across the decades, and few are clearer than the memories of those who died to build and defend the Jerusalem Avenue crossing. Those heroes remind us that the West was saved with the blood of patriots; that each generation must rise up and play their part in its defense - and that every foot of ground, and every last inch of civilization, is worth defending with your life.
I don't pretend to be a general or an admiral or anything else, but I just - every time I see - I see President [Barack] Obama get up, "Ladies and gentleman, we are sending 50 people to Iraq," 50.So that's bad in two ways. Number one, it's such a low number that the enemy's saying is that all?And number two, when you think 50, those people now have a target on their back. They wanna find those 50 people and they look for those 50 people.
I think that [Donald] Trump is brilliant to raise this issue. When my son, Gabriel, and his wife, Deb, was pregnant, I said, You got to come home. I want my grandson to be president of the United States. He has to be born in the United States.Now, a child of a citizen of the United States born abroad or born wheresoever is a citizen if that's - he or she so chooses. So there's no doubt but that Ted Cruz is a citizen of the United States.
Elijah Cummings said, "you'll be the greatest president in the history of, but you know what, I'll take that also, but that you could be". But he said, "will be the greatest president but I would also accept the other". In other words, if you do your job, but I accept that. Then I watched him interviewed and it was like he never even was here. It's incredible. I watched him interviewed a week later and it's like he was never in my office.
Washington flourished but the people did not share in its wealth. Politicians prospered, but the jobs left Americans want great schools for their children, safe neighborhoods for their families, but for too many of our citizens, a different reality exists. An education system flushed with cash but which leaves our young and beautiful students deprived of all knowledge. We've defended other nation's borders while refusing to defend our own.
The forgotten men and women of America will be forgotten no longer. That is the heart of this new [Trump] movement and the future of the Republican Party. People came to vote, and these people - the media - they said, where are they coming from? What's going on here? These are hardworking, great, great Americans. These are unbelievable people who have not been treated fairly. Hillary Clinton called them "deplorable". They're not deplorable.