the lines, which he is saying is, if you want to improve the status of women in the nursing profession, the best way to do it is to get men to want to do the job because the pay will and evitable he go up. [laughter] >> explore our nation's passed on american history tv, every weekend on c-span3. now, president trump speaks at the value voters summit, which has been holding their annual conference in washington dc. this is about one hour 25 minutes. >> ladies and gentlemen to introduce the president of the united states, please welcome tony perkins. tony: good evening, everyone. what an exciting evening. though hundreds of us have

gathered here tonight to honor dr. andrew brunson, and i want to go ahead and bring him out to help me now begin this very special evening. please welcome dr. andrew brunson. [applause] >> special night, special guy. when we decided to honor andrew with our cost of discipleship award, we had some conversations with the administration. we wanted the trump administration to be part of this special night, because at every level, they are committed to promoting and protecting religious freedom, both domestically and internationally. [cheers and applause] mr. perkins: we have an

ambassador at large for personal -- for international religious brownback, who is here tonight. we have secretary of state mike pompeo, who also cares deeply about religious freedom. [applause] mr. perkins: by the way, he sends his regards tonight. the nation is blessed to have a vice president that cares about religious freedom, and america is blessed to have a president that i know personally in my interaction, and is devoted to defending religious freedom. [cheers and applause] mr. perkins: i think you would be hard-pressed to identify a president that has done more to promote and protect our first amendment freedoms. a freedom that has been gagged and bound by the courts and policies of the previous administrations.

but under this administration, it is making a resurgence. religious freedom is one of many areas where this administration, this president is fulfilling his promises. there is not another administration that has fought harder for a culture of life, been a better friend to israel, and been a better friend to values voters all across america. ladies and gentlemen, please welcome my friend, our friend, the 45th president of the united states, donald j. trump. [cheers and applause] ♪

mr. perkins: many of you this weekend have said we should pray for the president. [applause] mr. perkins: and we do pray for the president. i have asked the president if i can pray for him tonight, and i will ask andrew to pray for president trump. president trump: thank you, thank you, thank you. dr. brunson: father god, i ask now for not an impartation of your holy spirit. may the spirit of jesus rest upon president trump, that he be anointed with wisdom and understanding with your counsel and might, with knowledge and fear of the lord. and accordingly, may president trump not just decide by what he sees with his eyes, he what he hears with his ears, or lien on his own

understanding, but recognize your prompting and move according to your guidance. i ask that you give the president's supernatural discernment to know who is trustworthy and who is not. bring into the light all deception and intrigue. expose and reverse the plans of those who would harm president trump and this nation. [applause] dr. brunson: in the name of jesus, i break off all voices and influences that do not come from you, father god. may your truth and peace surround and reign in the white house. you have raised up president trump to govern at a time when there is a resurgence of oppression. only you, jesus christ, can anoint him with victories in our strongholds and establishing with justice for the needy. give him strength and courage to persevere in the constant battle that surrounds him and refresh him. father god, i see that you have such a tender heart for president trump.

drawing close to you. i ask not for an impartation of -- now for an impartation of hunger for you so that he may love you with all his heart, soul, mind, and strength and delight in knowing you. and if he can whisper in your name, he will go forward shouting in your name. in the name of jesus christ, i bless you. [cheers and applause]

president trump: well, thank you very much. thank you very much. it is a great honor to be here. tony, pastor brunson, who i have gotten to know very well, that was not easy. but we got him out, got him back to his family. [applause] president trump: and i want to thank you for that beautiful prayer. it means a lot. i am deeply honored to be back with so many pastors and leaders and friends, patriots at the 2019 values voter summit. [applause] president trump: you are the warriors on the frontiers defending american freedom. we meet tonight at a crucial moment in our nation's history. our shared values are under assault like never before.

extreme left-wing radicals, both inside and outside government, are determined to shred our constitution and eradicate the beliefs we all cherish. far-left socialists are trying to tear down the traditions and customs that made america the greatest nation on earth. they reject the principles of our founding fathers, principles enshrined into the declaration of independence, which proclaims that our rights come from our creator. [applause] president trump: but despite the delusions of the radical left, all of us here today know that our rights come from god almighty, and they can never be taken away. [cheers and applause]

president trump: together, we will protect those god-given rights for our children, our children's children, and generation of -- generations of americans to come. on every front, the ultraleft is waging war on the values shared by everyone in this room. they are trying to silence and punish the speech of christians and religious believers of all faiths -- you know it better than anyone. they are trying to use the courts to rewrite the laws, undermine democracy, and forced through an agenda they cannot pass at the ballot box. they just can't seem to do it, can they? they are trying to hound you from the workplace, expel you from the public square, and weaken the american family and

indoctrinate our children they resent and disdain faithful americans just children. they resent and disdain faithful americans who hold fast to our nation's historic values, and if given the chance, they would use any instrument of government power, including the irs, to try and shut you down. they are using the irs against me. generations of americans before us did not work. a fight, they sacrificed, they do so much, but we will never ever, no matter what happens, surrender our liberty. our liberty is so important to the radical left, together we will stand up to the socialists and we will win massive victories for family, for faith, and for freedom, just like the victory we had in 2016.

[cheers and applause] president trump: with every bit of heart and soul, we will defend our country, the most just and virtuous republic in the history of the first -- and yet i say -- the earth -- and yet i say that and those words are beautiful, but it is starting to change and we are going to stop that start. [cheers and applause] president trump: the hateful spirit that consumes the modern left violates every tenant of the american tradition. the radical left tolerates no dissent and permits no opposition.

it accepts no compromise and -- look. we have all seen it, we have seen what is going on. there is no copper mice. -- there is no compromise. frankly, these people are crazy. president trump: they are crazy. shouldn't say it, because we are all the same, but they are crazy. president trump: and as we have seen in the last three years, the extreme left has absolutely no respect for the will of the american people. they are determined to stop our movement and impose their agenda by any means necessary. it makes no difference to them. first it was the russia hoax. it was a total hoax, made up. then there was the outrageous smearing of justice kavanaugh that goes on.

they want him impeached, even when the woman said i don't know that anything happened. nothing happens, they said, let's impeach him anyway. and the whole thing was phony. so phony. he's a good man. when he's gone through, i don't know if anyone's ever gone through anything like that. you know, when i chose justice kavanaugh, i said brett, congratulations, i am choosing you. many years they were talking he would be on the supreme court. he said sir, that is the greatest honor of my life, serving the white house. it's the greatest honor of my life. i said brett, this will go so fast. this will be so easy. you are perfect. [laughter] president trump: you have the perfect family, the perfect wife, the perfect education, you are the best student, you went to the best school.

they have been talking about you for 10 years. this will go quick and easy. [laughter] president trump: so much for predictions, folks. but we stuck with him, i will tell you. a lot of people did. [cheers and applause] president trump: plenty of people said cut him loose, president. cut him loose, president. you know that. you know, the people in this room -- i love you, i will not reveal your name, but the people in this room said cut him loose, president. i said, i can't do it. he has done nothing wrong. they are phony stories about him. they are made up, like they were made up by -- about me and other people. we got him through, and i have a lot of respect for the people who went up there and injured a -- and they endured a lot. that was the worst thing we have seen in this country for years.

justice kavanaugh, the worst moment in our country's history. and now, impeachment. i never thought i would see or hear that word in regard to me, impeachment. i said, it is an ugly word. it is a very ugly word. it means so much. it means horrible, horrible crimes and things. i can't even believe it. it is a witchhunt based on a single phone call of congratulations to the president of ukraine, which they fraudulently mischaracterized to sound absolutely horrible. this crooked adam schiff made a statement, long, beautiful statement, and was a fraud.

he repeated my call, but it wasn't me. he made it so bad. and i said oh, i am going to go after him. they say sir -- [cheers and applause] president trump: they say sir, he has immunity. because he said it in congress. he has immunity. i say, i don't care about community. he can't have immunity, he made up a phone call. then i did something they did not expect. i immediately called up ukraine through my representatives -- in this case, our great secretary of state, who has done a fantastic job. mike pompeo. [applause] president trump: and got approval, because i have to do this, because i don't like the idea of having these -- do you do how bad that is for us as a nation? i got approval to immediately make that call public.

i thought it was strange, you know? they thought it was a little bit strange -- why would you want to do that? you know, other countries are looking at us, like what the hell is going on in the united states? seriously? does this now mean that every leader i deal with, that we do great things -- like, look at we did yesterday -- what we did yesterday with china for our farmers. [applause] president trump: but every time i speak to a country, are they afraid this will be broadcast all over the world? this is time to make a deal, do things for the people, the good people of the world. we had a perfect call that was congenial, it was just absolutely nice. totally different than the phony thing that he revealed with this crazy whistleblower. the whistleblower said quid pro

quo eight times. a little off, no times. [laughter] [applause] president trump: but when you hear schiff -- we won't give you this money unless you do this -- it was not even discussed. it was a terrible, terrible fraudulent thing. then nancy pelosi went on television -- she was very angry when she read the actual call, because i guess it was the exact -- the stenographers took it down, and she was very angry. she was a day early when she started talking about impeachment, but that did not matter to her. let's do it anyway. for those of you who think she was reasonable for the last six months, when she said no, no, no -- she is going to do it. she is going to do it closer to the election. she is not a good person and i think she hates our country.

if she did not love our country -- if she loved our country, she would not be doing this to our country. it is a fraud. she said to george stephanopoulos -- i give him credit -- he said no, no, that was not what he said. he said in an entirely -- this was totally different. no, no, he said it. saying it, saying it, saying it, maybe someday they will believe it. if i were to there, because i was incredulous -- i couldn't believe it -- i heard it, that is not what i said. he made up a conversation and it was vicious, what he said. and then we caught him. and i said, he has to pay a big price. they said sir, he has total immunity because he was in the great chamber, talking to congressmen, talking to the american public, lying and cheating, and there is supposed

to be nothing we can do about it. but he also went outside and as usual, he talked to the press. he said a lot of what he said to the press, so we are going to take a look at it. we are going after these people. these are bad, bad -- [cheers and applause] president trump: i actually tell my lawyers, i say, sue him anyway. he's got immunity, but they can't mean immunity. i say, sue him anyway. even if we lose, the american public will understand. [applause] president trump: and sue nancy pelosi, or maybe we should just impeach them. because they are lying, and what they are doing is a terrible thing for our country. and the president of ukraine said there was nothing wrong with the call, and you heard the words -- there was no pressure. he did not even know what we

were talking about. he said no, it was a very nice call. he -- i respect him so much. i do not want to comment -- he said, it was a very nice call. there was nothing there. the people that read it after we gave the transcript said it was great. i had one very smart, brilliant lawyer from new york -- i didn't like your call with ukraine, mr. president. he used to call me donald, now he calls me mr. president. [laughter] president trump: 30 years he called me donald, now it's -- nobody called me donald anymore. i lost all my friends, they call me mr. president. [laughter] president trump: it's true, it's true. he said mr. president -- i said, call me donald -- he said mr. president, i did not like that call to the ukrainian president. i said really? what was wrong with it? it's terrible, the way you

threatened him. it was horrible. i said, i didn't threaten him. of course you did. well where did you read it? i listened to adam schiff was reading. i assumed that was a correct statement. he called me back after reading it and said, i cannot believe it. i have never seen anything like that. a lot of people saw that. a lot of people thought it was bad, thought it was bad because they heard adam schiff, and they do not hear us talking. they do not know what we are saying. he is reading it like i said it. it is a terrible thing going on in this country. but they are using that call to impeach you are president who won in 2016, perhaps the greatest election of our time. [cheers and applause] president trump: i would not you i didn'tit for

win it for me. i won it for you and others, i won it for you. they are coming -- i won it for you and others, i won it for you. they're coming after me. i am fighting for you. and they don't like you, and we have explained why. we explained why. your values are so incredible. they don't like you. nobody in this room would do what adam schiff did. nobody would ever think of it. by the way, he only did it because he never thought that i was going to release the transcript. i did not even know i was going to release it before i did it. i said release, help transparency, get it right. holding back -- i gave the transcript of the call -- but he did it and i released the transcript. they never thought in a million years, even in terms of violation with another country, but we got approval. so he is very embarrassed, but he gets up to the microphone --

remember, he used to say, i have personal proof that the president was very closely aligned with russia. russia. oh. [laughter] president trump: i am watching him and i am saying, even me, does he know something that i don't know? [laughter] president trump: he's got something with his very narrow neck -- you remember. pencil neck. you would not be impressed with him physically, but he gets up, no dummy, but he is a crooked person. smart guy, crooked as hell. this is what they are using to -- they are going to be very unsuccessful, but that is what they are using, the call to try to impeach the president of the united states, who did win one of the great elections of all time. [cheers and applause] president trump: and it could not of the come -- could not

have come at a better time, because if we would have lost that, we would have been in a lot of trouble. we would have had a very different country right now. even with china the other day, they were saying it is incredible what you have done. our economy is up millions and millions of dollars. their economy is down millions and millions of dollars. [applause] president trump: we would have been number two if our opponent had won, but now they are way behind. we got a great deal yesterday, we have yet to get it paper, but we will, because they want to make that deal, because they have never had pressure like this. i do not blame china, by the way. i blame the people who were leading our country for 25 years allowing that to happen, where $500 billion is being taken out of our country and given to china so they can rebuild their entire empire. i never blamed china, and i say that openly. i see that in every's reach.

-- say it in every speech. i do not blame china. i wish we could have done that to them. i would have loved it. now maybe we are. they are trying to destroy anybody opposed to their goal of fundamentally transforming the united states of america. but one thing about the radical democrats that is something that you have to admire, they stick together. the republicans don't, and i love the republicans. they have horrible policies, the democrats, they are for sanctuary cities, the democrats, they are against strong, powerful, beautiful -- i love our law enforcement -- [cheers and applause] president trump: they believe in open borders where anybody can come into our country, anybody.

you have to see. we have done a great job. no support, only opposition. we have 27,000 mexican soldiers on our border and the numbers have dropped, like, off the table. and i want to thank the president of mexico and mexico for doing that. [applause] president trump: but the democrats have one thing, they stick together. they are like glue and it has been that way for a long time -- not just now, but whatever it is, it has been that way for a long time, and it is the one trait that i do respect and even admire. they stick together. they don't have people coming out against the president. you know, i am at 94% approval rating, but you have people out there that don't get it. they don't get it. we love the republicans, we love what we are doing, we love our programs, and in many cases we are better politicians than

them. we have much better policies, we want strong borders, we want powerful education, we want freedom of speech, we want a strong military, we want a powerful second amendment, which they don't want. [cheers and applause] president trump: right, i would say they are not too much into the second amendment, the world of the second amendment. i would say to certainly almost anyone, your second amendment is in serious, serious trouble. socialism is obsessed with the pursuit of power because it has replaced religion within government in their eyes. it has absolutely replaced religion. when you look at some of the things they are in favor of, it is like, it is like anything -- nobody has ever seen anything like it. the new green or the green new

-- you can say it either way, by the way. doesn't matter, same thing. [laughter] president trump: somebody said, which comes first? it doesn't matter, they are both crazy. no planes, no people, no energy, no oil, no gas, no nothing. this evening, we reaffirm true foundations of american society. we believe that every american has the right to live by the dictates of their conscience and the teachings of their faith. [applause] president trump: we believe in the right to free exercise of religion. [applause]

>> four more years! four more years! four more years! four more years! four more years! president trump: years ago you could have said that and that would have been routine. today, you get standing ovations because we are under assault. very simple, we are under assault. we believe in the right to free speech. we believe in the right to life. [cheers and applause]

president trump: thank you. we know that families and churches, not government officials, know best how to create strong and loving communities. it's been that way in our country. [applause] president trump: and above all else, we know this. in america, we don't worship government, we worship god. [cheers and applause] president trump: thank you. you were there. from the first minute of my

presidency, i have taken historic action to defend religious liberty. [applause] president trump: tony knows that very well. tony really wasn't sure what i would say at the beginning. what do you think? i don't know him very well. but i think you are very happy now, tony. right? [cheers and applause] president trump: something i am very proud of, i stopped the johnson amendment from interfering with the right to speak your mind. you can say whatever you want, we are the people we want to hear from. we want to hear from you. we are protecting the conscience, rights, and, think of this, those rights of doctors and nurses and teachers and groups like the little sisters of the poor.

they are incredible people. we are preserving our country's vital tradition of faith-based adoption. as you know just a few days ago, a democrat running for president proposed revoking the tax-exempt status of many churches and religious groups. [crowd booing] president trump: and you know why, and you know who it is. he is a whacko. [laughter] president trump: i will never allow the federal government to be used to target, harass, or punish communities of faith, and i will never allow the irs to be used as a political weapon, as it has been and is currently being used. [applause] president trump: but has been used so viciously, so violently against so many people in this

room. virtually every top democrat lawmaker now supports taxpayer-funded abortion, right up to the moment of birth. but it is really now even worse than that. the governor of virginia -- do you remember? he was on a show and he talked -- people said, what did you say? what was that? he said, the baby is born, then we have a conversation with the mother as to whether or not -- what he meant -- as to whether or not we execute the baby, because now it is an execution. and that was a very big moment. and they don't do anything about it. there was an unbelievable moment for the people in this room, for the people on the radical left, they didn't understand what was wrong with what he said.

that's where we've come, but we are going now in a different direction, and don't forget -- [applause] president trump: won after what after what i call the fake news, i call it the corrupt news too, because it is stronger than fake, but fake reads a little better -- [laughter] president trump: there they are. when i go after the fake news, i had a magazine for one of the many covers, i bring them so many covers at this particular magazine, time magazine. we were talking. we were in my office, i said, give me a shot at having an interview. you might get a better story than some of these people. so i was talking about how unfairly the press treats me and you. they treat us all very, very badly. no matter what we do, doesn't matter. it will never be considered good.

if it is neutral, it is a horror, and if it is something that, i hate to say it, it is like the electric chair, ok? bring back the electric chair, they say. i was talking and going on fact after fact after fact about how corrupt the media is, and then i realize, i'm in the oval office and i said, but i'm president and you are not, so what is this all about? [cheers and applause] president trump: i am going on for 20 minutes, ranting and raving. and then i said wait a minute, here i am. here i am. the resolute desk. it is right there. [laughter] president trump: and i walked away with a big smile on my face. [applause] president trump: but because of the late-term abortion, for congress to prohibit the

late-term abortion of babies, that is a big thing and there was a lot of fighting. you would not think there would be a lot of fighting. remember the debate with crooked hillary, where i said she wants to rip the babies out of the womb in the ninth month? and everybody said wow. that was the first time they heard that statement. you are just lucky that we won, because i did not win, we won. this would be a much different country. by the way, it is like a plant. you see the plants, put that plant in, but the roots have to gain. that is why we need the next four years. the roots have to grab on. yes they do. [applause] president trump: we have done so much. there has been no administration that has done what we have done in the first two and a half years, now almost three years, with taxes, deregulation, right

to try, we have rebuild our military. [applause] president trump: we had a general come to my office, respected general, and we were having big trouble with one country. first week in office, very early, he said sir, we have no ammunition. i said, you know what? we are going to have ammunition, a lot of it, and hopefully we are never going to have to use it, but we have a lot of it. but i also said, i never wants to have another president of the united states hear those words from a general, because that put us in a bad position, right? in this administration, we believe every child, born and unborn, is made in the holy image of god. [cheers and applause]

president trump: during my first week in office, i reinstated the mexico city policy to protect the lives of the unborn. [applause] president trump: we have issued a final rule to prohibit title x taxpayer funding from subsidizing the abortion industry. [applause] president trump: we stopped federal funding of fetal tissue research. my administration has also made tremendous progress in fighting back against the left's effort to use the federal courts to impose their fringe ideology and crush the same religious liberty that we have been speaking of tonight. to defend our constitution, we have confirmed more than 160

highly qualified judges to interpret the law as written, including two incredible new supreme court justices. [applause] president trump: you know, i have always heard that federal judges, judges, and supreme court justices, i always said look, defense to me have got to be number one. you know, it is really incredible. the president comes in, you have no vacancies -- the previous president would have, boom. there should be no vacancy. whatever their ideology is. but i guess they thought that the crooked one was going to win or something. so i came in and in the first couple of days they said, by the way -- i had a couple of other

things going too, including a couple of minutes after i was sworn in, the washington post wrote a statement that said "the impeachment -- that said the impeachment starts right now. i took the oath of office and they did that story a very few minutes after i was sworn in, that the road to impeachment starts right now. i said during the first very early period, like a week, how many federal judgeships do i have? they said sir, you have 142. i said, what? [laughter] president trump: you have 142, sir. i said, you've got to be kidding. 142? you mean i have 2, 1, none? no, you have 142. and president obama was not very good at getting it done,

because, you know, people held him up and everything else, but in time, you get it done. you get it all done. he put a big rush on in the end when he saw we were doing well in the polls, coming up and up, and it was not enough time. we inherited 142 open federal judgeships, including the court of appeals. [applause] president trump: first time in history. first time in history anything like that has ever happened. then they say oh, he was a great president. he was great. great for us. [laughter] president trump: and in that way, he was. there has never been a better president than the republicans, republicans in what they consider the most important way, tony. give us 142 judgeships on the first day in office. you come back and check it out,

you will find that others left, none, usually none. one or two, but not 142. then we have extras that we got through attrition, through retirement, through death. and then we will very shortly, in the next couple of months, have 182 federal judgeships, including appeals judges, court of appeals. [cheers and applause] president trump: 182. and you know, we were getting killed with the court decisions. if you look at our first few months, i think it was 0-7, 0-8, then we won one, it was the failing new york times -- what would they do without me? the paper was dead before i came along. i remember holding one up, it was like a thing from a grocery store, those things you hand

out? it was like this. it's all right. when we leave in 10 or 14 years, they will fail. [cheers and applause] president trump: they will fail. i am kidding, by the way. they will take it seriously -- you know he wants to stay. you saw the crazy comedian -- i will not even give him a name -- he was interviewing a guest a couple of weeks ago. a very liberal guest. you know he's going to win, don't you? you know he's going to win. no, we are going to fight -- no, he is going to win, and you know he's not leaving after that, don't you? [laughter] president trump: he's going to stay. there is no way we are ever going to get him out of office. i thought he was kidding on that. he really believed it. you know what, let him believe it.

it is great. let him believe it. it's true, right? he's never leaving. in recent years, the hard left has tried to muzzle christian voices in their aggressive attack on free speech. last year, isabella chow, a member of student government at the university of california berkeley, slightly liberal out there, abstained from a campus vote that violated her christian faith. she was cruelly condemned by the student government and kicked out of nearly every single club of which she was a member at college. on the day that members of student government condemned her, they went after her like nobody would believe. she sent out this message -- the christian community is here to love and serve this campus.

and isabella is here somewhere tonight -- where is isabella? [cheers and applause] president trump: beautiful. [cheers and applause] president trump: we salute you. thank you very much, isabella. to safeguard the rights of students like isabella, my administration has taken the historic action to withhold taxpayer dollars -- we are talking about millions of dollars, by the way, from schools that infringe upon student's first amendment freedoms and other first amendment freedoms. [applause] president trump: did you notice

they have been treating us much better lately? they have been saying, we better let this person speak. we get a lot of millions of dollars every year, these schools, now all of a sudden they are letting them speak. they still don't speak properly about us. we don't like that. but it has had a big impact. we support american families, we doubled the child tax credit and removed a number of job killing regulations. [applause] president trump: we created over 6 million new jobs since the election -- nobody would have believed me. if i said that, tony, the media back there, the wonderful people in the media would have said he is exaggerating. i never would have said six, actually. i have to go by the day after the election, because when you look, the day after the election, there was euphoria and the market went up tremendously before. and obama gets credit. the market was crashing. the market would have gone down.

so i said, why did he get all of that upside? they only did the upside for two and a months or whatever it was, between november 9 and january 20. they only did the upside because we got elected. [cheers and applause] president trump: if he would have gotten elected, it would not have been a good situation. last month, unemployment reached the lowest rate in over 51 years, and you have heard me say this -- african-american, hispanic american, and asian-american unemployment rates have all set record lows and women, 71 years -- i'm sorry, you didn't break a record. but we are doing very well with the women. do you know why? women are so smart and they want safety, they want security, they want a great military and strong borders. he will not get the women's vote, 270.

after the election, they will say man, he did good with the women. he did good with the women. [cheers and applause] president trump: he did good with the women. it is like a tape recorder. he will not get the women's vote -- i said really? they don't want to have a strong military, security, safety? we are working harder than any other administration has ever worked on opioid and drugs, and our numbers are coming way down. nobody has the numbers like -- nobody has seen numbers like this. nobody has seen numbers like what we have done. we lifted 1.3 american children out of poverty. our agenda is lifting up americans of every background, race, religion, caller, and -- color and creed. last year, with the help of many faith leaders, many of you are in the room right now, i signed criminal justice reform into

law. everybody wanted that. the african-american community wanted it so badly. they could not get it. president obama could not get it done. previous presidents could not get it done. we got it done. to protect the well-being of our citizens, we are fighting violent crime. securing our border and building our wall and it is going up rapidly. rapidly. you think that was an easy one? it was a tough one. i said rolls-royce. they said that car is not built in the united states. i said we are building the rolls-royce. i said, give me your a list so when i build it, i build it right. what do i know about building walls? and they gave me every single thing and i got every single thing from the height to the vision through to the type of steel that cannot be cut easily

and the type of concrete. 5000 pound. strong concrete. to the type of rebar. to the anti-climb provision we have on top. we are building a wall and it is going up rapidly and that is tough because i built it against every single democrat who four years ago wanted it. the only reason they don't want it now is because i want it. [laughter] the only reason. only one reason. and i said -- i said this the other day -- i cannot believe it took me so long to get this up. if i had said, i do not want the wall, they would have insisted on the wall. it would have been so much easier. so much easier! oh, dana, it would have gone up so fast. but i took money from here and

there in the military because it is national security. how about these people that said it was not national security when drugs are pouring in coming human trafficking, women, mostly women and children but mostly women and it is going up really fast. and by the way, it is pretty much financed, really financed, if we get some additional financing, we will extend it a little bit but we should have by the end of next year, we should have anywhere from 400-500 miles built in the most important areas. exactly where we need it. to protect national security, we are fully rebuilding and for the most part have fully rebuilt our military. [applause] pres. trump: because, as i say and i have said tonight, my first duty as president is the defense of our nation.

as a candidate, i promise to make fundamental changes to our foreign policy after years of deadly debacles and blunder is under previous administrations. it has been pretty bad out there. we have the greatest soldiers in the world but they had equipment that was depleted, old, we had jets that did not fly. 50% of our jets did not fly. they went to the plane graveyards out in the deserts. they would pick parts because they don't make the parts anymore. we would spend a trillion dollars in the middle east. trillion spend 8 dollars in the middle east. thousands of american soldiers have lost their lives and tens of thousands more have been severely wounded. and the hardest thing i have to do as president, the single hardest thing by far is sending letters to the families of our fallen heroes. it is the worst -- they come in

with letters, 3, 4, 5 -- and sometimes, i will call the parents. hardest thing i have been do. -- i have to do. and sometimes, i go to dover and i will see the big, big incredible machines coming in, the cargo planes. and i will see them take those coffins off those planes and i will see ahrens, sisters, wives, brothers, families -- i will see families and i will meet them inside. and they will seem fine, sometimes. and i will say to the people that do it -- they greet the dead. that is what they say. they greet the dead. they greet our heroes. but i will say to the people that do that that they are so professional. that is what they do. that is what they do every day. that is what they do. so professional.

sir, you will stand here. you will then hear the drums and the horns. you will this comely you will that. i will go to dover air force base and i will see the parents and the wives and the husband's, whoever it may be. and oftentimes i will say to the colonel in charge, i will say colonel, they are doing great. and he will say, no, sir. they will not do great. i will ask what he means. he will say when that big huge cargo door -- when you see that, sir, it is rare that bad things do not happen for those families. it is rare. and i said, ok, it is my first

time. when i first came into office. and that big plane pulled up and i had just spoken with the families. but that big plane pulled up, it is beautiful in its strength and power. it pulled up, just arrived and we were all standing there with the military. i am there with some generals and cabinet members and the families are over here. and that tremendous door in the back where they roll up the tanks and unlimited amounts of equipment that you would not believe it is possible to fly with all of those things and the power of the plane. and that door came down, and there is five soldiers on each side. beautiful soldiers. and a coffin. with a flag on it.

and the same people, the same exact people that 20 minutes ago i was saying to the colonel, oh, they are doing great but he was right. and the door opened and you would hear screams and cries like you have never heard before, actually. like we have never heard -- like i have never heard before. and the colonel explained to me, sometimes you will see a mother or a wife, sometimes you will see a sister break the line, break through the military and run to the coffin and jump on top as these incredible, strong, beautiful soldiers are carrying this coffin. jump and jump on top of the coffin.

just like devastated. and they move as though nothing has happened. they just keep moving. and they take the body to where it is going. they place it in the hearse and it goes away. i have never -- you think this is easy. we have been in these wars now, one of them, 19 years. and they did not fight to win, they fought to just a there. -- to just stay there. and, in theory, we were supposed to be there for 30 days and we have been there for 10 years. and these wars, they never end. and we have to bring our great soldiers back from the never ending wars. the other day i went, friday, i went to walter reed medical center, the hospital.

first of all, those doctors are incredible what they can do but i gave out purple hearts. and i see, in this case, young men, all men, and they have been just decimated. they step on a bomb -- what is done to them is just incredible. so, i see this. and -- it is a very hard thing to do. it does not mean we will not fight. we will fight harder than anyone but sometimes, we have to know what we are fighting for. we cannot stay there forever. we have to bring our great heroes, our great soldiers home. it is time. it is time. [applause] and you know, in the case of turkey and the kurds -- i could go into a whole story because i understand it, i think, better

than most, but, the kurds were going to fight the iraqis about a year and a half ago. and i said -- wait a minute, we just got $4 trillion on iraq. i am not going to fight against the kurds. this was in a different part of syria. totally different. they said the kurds are going to fight and it will be a horrible war. well, i said -- we just spent $4 trillion fighting with iraq which by the way, was the single worst mistake this country has ever made, going into the middle east. [applause] we have been -- we are in now for 8 trillion dollars and thousands of lives and millions of lives on the other side, by the way. millions. millions and millions of lives. what i said, we are going to stand by -- we are not going to

choose sides. they will have to go at it. we will see what happens. the kurds left. they left. and it was very -- there was very little combat. and it was a great decision. we could have stayed and fought. fight the people we have been fighting for, whether right or wrong. and we left and we watched and nothing happened. and people -- most people do not even know what i am talking about because it was a year and a half ago. even at the time, and nobody got credit for that correct decision. and now i am an island of one again but it may be happening again. at 30 kilometers, 22 mile strip all along turkey. the kurds are tending to leave and that is good. let them have their borders. but i don't think our schulz -- soldiers should be there for the

next 50 years guarding a border that mean turkey and syria -- between turkey and syria when we cannot guard our own borders at home. syria only can't guard our own borders at home. [applause] pres. trump: let's see where happens. it's a long ways away. we killed isis, we defeated. we did our job. we have to go home. you know the story, i went to iraq and they said, we could do it. if it would take a year to two years. highly overrated. he said, it's going to take one years to two years. to pull out.ed it was 97%. i said, that's enough. got, you wouldn't believe the military-industrial complex came down on me.

i went to get 100%. it was going to take one year to two years in that i went over and met with theals and said, generals, and these guys are like, i'm telling you, central casting. there is nobody that looks like this in hollywood. i said a couple of them looked better than tom cruise. they are just tougher. and tolerance. -- and taller. [laughter] said, general, let me ask you the question. it will take a year, maybe two. how long will it take you? .two weeks, sir two weeks, maybe a month, but two weeks, sir." why do they say you can do it? in the, we will hit them left, we will hit them in the

right, we will hit them underground, overground, this way, that way, they would never let us fight. i said, but i will. in and they did, they hit them in the left, they hit them in the right, they hit them down the middle and three weeks after i game the go ahead, we had 100% of isis. we captured a lot. a lot were killed. the fighters, they do not do big white flag things. a lot of people said maybe they will give up. the general said, they don't give up. it's an ideology. it's a tough ideology. but we did it very quickly. we did what we should have done. came fromese fighters europe, they came from germany, they came from france, they came from many countries in europe. i said, you have to take back your fighters and they said,

them.we don't want i said, you don't understand, we will not take the fighters. we don't want them, we are not bringing them to guantanamo or our prisons in the united states. they come from france, they come from germany. in many cases they are citizens. we don't want them back. said, weem again and got a take them back so we got a let them go right at the border. but they would not do it. they would not do it. they do it. they did not want them back. we have thousands of them. had some really bad ones. you know the beatles? they are the ones with the chopped off heads. thenight that the war that shooting started, we had some incredible military people go into that prison, grab them, take them, bring them out and we had them under wraps. they were the worst of everybody and we got them now. they are ours.

[applause] [indiscernible] the people -- pres. trump: but people don't treat us right. there's a big story. not just what these people said. if i did the opposite, if i stayed and fought. we could've stayed, we would've five and we would have knocked turkey around, and they would've hated it. no matter what we do they are going to hate it. ,o matter what decision we made and if i write, and if the kurds do backup, and i hope they do, because it's very hard to beat a force without plane. or they have weapons that they don't have. we paid a lot of money to them over the years. they are fighting for their land. they have not helped us fighting for their land. but we have help them. no matter what we did, the media will say it's the wrong decision. he makes no difference.

if i said we will stay in sight, we will fight them like you it's saw, they will say, terrible, i told you he loves where. thought that i would be in world war iii the first day. we have the strongest economy in the history of our country. pretty good. [applause] just so you know, wars and economies don't go well together. you can check that out. thatte all of the blood was spilled, the lives lost, the money that was spent, the middle east, right now, i say it, i will say it, going in was the worst decision. they went with weapons of mass to structure and and their one and. there were some are obese is

less secure, lists it -- less stable and they fight. that's what they do, they fight. the generals came to me in afghanistan, sir, it will be a rough spring. why? will come outban of the mountains and start fighting. i said, why do you say? that's what they do, they come for a thousand years. they come out and fight. they are very good fighters. that's what they do. tony wants to go watch a football game. i want to go do things. they want to come out and fight. that's what they do. right, tony? they are probably tougher than tony, but that's ok. just ask russia if they are tough. but we can beat anybody. we are policing in afghanistan. we have been there 19 years. i want you to understand these things. we have to bring people back

our, we are rebuilding country. we are rebuilding our military. we have other problems. we have russia, china, other big problems. i think we will get along great with china. i think we will get along great with russia. phonyen you create a russia hoax, it makes it tough to get along with them. when they create lots of different scenarios with china, and makes it tougher to get along with china. i think we will do great, but they have to let us run our country the way it's supposed to be run. so these never ending wars have increased, not decreased, and a the store a goes to christian communities has been incredible. since united states went to war in iraq -- listen to this, i was against the war and iraq. i was a civilian but did not get a lot of liberty city.

they always like me or hated me. asa get the greatest hopeless city. that's why i am here. once i announced i was going to run, they killed me. i told my wife she is doing a great job, first lady. great job. if she were married to a liberal democrat, they'd say she may be the greatest in the history of our world. but she's married to me. day i won, it was historic. polls said we were going to win. i thought we were going to win because of the cap -- because of the crowds we were getting. just like in louisiana. just like we got in the blue area of minnesota, i think we will win minnesota.

22,000 seats. it was like madison square 1000 seats.the it was packed and we could've sold out four times. so something has happened. the great thing is, because the crest -- the press was so dishonest. i said, you know the great thing? now they are going to respect what we did, i will get great publicity like i used to get my whole life. and it got worse. worse. it's not even close. it's worse now than ever. that's ok. as i said to time magazine, we are here and you are not, right? since the united states went to 2003, theq, and christian community has decreased by 80% by 1.5 million people to write now just 250,000 christians in iraq. your hear that.

is absolutelyion committed to protecting religious minorities in the middle east and all around the world. if you are a christian in syria, which is a rough place to be, you had almost no chance during the last and ministration of coming into the united states. they say it was the hardest thing to do to come into the united states. if you were a muslim in syria it was extremely easy to come into the united states. and the christians were persecuted in syria. it is, but the way it's not that way anymore. this week i directed $50 million to support christians and other religious minorities. it on friday.d $50 million, i will make it in tony,of pastor brunson,

dana, people that have done a great job for us. $50 million to help christians in syria. not an easy situation. in total, my administration has provided more than a half $1 billion in support of religious minorities another suffering from atrocities in syria and iraq alone. pres. trump: and we pledge our support to christian community suffering everywhere. our hearts and our souls are joined with these brave believers in their religious struggle. pastor, it is great to have you back here. [applause]

i have made clear to turkey that if they do not theirheir cook -- meet commitments, and walking -- watching over the isis prisoners that we capture, we will impose a very swift, strong and severe economic sanction, like i did with respect to my negotiations brunsonast -- pastor out. i hate to say this, you would still be there. anyi hate to say this also, other president of the united states you would still be there. you know what we had to do. verye to say, you were raved the way you put up with it but it was not an easy situation. military engagement where we send young men and women to fight and die must have clear vital national interest and a realistic plan for how the conflict will end. we don't want to be a 19 year --

in 19 your wars where we service of the leasing agent for the whole country. we will continue our fight against the vile menace of radical islamic terrorism. a lot of people do not want me to use that term. president, don't use that term. i said, but it's the truth. i don't want to use that term, but it's the truth. or waver inr tire our defense of religious liberty. a few weeks ago i was honored to be the first president to host a meeting at the united nations to call upon all nations to end religious persecution. can you imagine, the first president. [laughter] -- [applause] pres. trump: the first president that did that. you would have thought that would have been done every year for 40 years. i read that and it became a big story. you believe on the first

president that said we want to put an end to religious persecution question mark it has been there a long time, but that is the way it is. appointed a year i special envoy to monitor and combat anti-semitism. invitingrat party is anti-semitism into its own ranks. at omar, look at her, have you seen what she says. butonly about our country, look at what she says about israel. are always making excuses, she did not mean it, she meant it much more so than even her words. my administration is confronting this scorch and we are standing with our close friends and partner, the state of israel.

and as you know very well i recognize the internal capital of israel and open the american embassy in jerusalem. [applause] pres. trump: thank you. we did it for the right price. building opened. it's an interesting story, some of you have heard it. ambassador,eat david freeman, one of the top lawyers in new york, made a lot of money. he wanted to be the ambassador. every president has promised it for years and years. a promise it and recognize the thetal of israel and move embassy to jerusalem. but they did not do it. once i got into office, you have no idea the pressure that was put on.

that was called a quid pro quo. the pressure was put on me by so many other countries saying, please don't do it. the last two weeks i did not take anybody's phone call. , fromcalls from king's everybody. please, don't do it. ? said, you know what i will do i will call them back in a couple of weeks. i said, tell the prime minister i will call him back in two weeks. i am busy. he said, two weeks, that's a long time. tilde the king i will call him back in a few days. so i did it and then i made all those phone calls and a lot of publicity. it was a big story, nothing happened. remember the world was going to come to an end? i kept saying, are we ok? yes. is there a protest? no.

three or four days go by and i say, this is strange. then i started making the calls. i said, king, what do you want? p,atsapp, king -- whats u king. he said, i wanted to tell you we would be very much opposed. i said, i wish i spoke to you sooner. [laughter] pres. trump: and everybody's happy. sir, would you please sign this order. i said, what is this for? ofwill start the process building the embassy. how much is it? $1 billion. it's a one-story building. how do you spend one billion? we will purchase lands.

i said, how old will we be by the time this is finished? i had the name donald signed, then i said, what is this? i said, cross it out. i said david, go check jerusalem . do we own any land? check it out.e he said we own a much better peace than the piece they want to buy. it is bigger, safer, that are location and better views. and we have a building on it. and he said, sir, i think we can renovate the building for $200,000. true story. and it is the only time in my whole life that -- usually, i say, you know make it $100,000. david, it's too cheap, it does not solid enough. i said make it $500,000 or less. and we did. and we took this building which was a very good building.

setback. all of the things you need. a big site. a beautiful sight. and i said, do me another favor. a friend of mine in new york is so proud. he uses jerusalem stone in his office. he has a wall of jerusalem stone. every time i come in, he tells me it is jerusalem stone. i said, ron, you have told me that 100 times. and he said come you have no idea how expensive it is. and he is in jerusalem and i asked if he could get jerusalem stone and he said yes, i can get it for cheap. it comes from jerusalem. i said, use jerusalem stone. and we built it for less than $500,000. we opened within four months. that is better than the roman story if you want to know. instead of a billion and a half -- don't forget, the billion was going to be 2 billion and then 3 billion. i could tell you stories. not only did we get and do what

we said i said we were going to do, but we got the building that has been open for a year and a half. and it is a beautiful, beautiful embassy. and maybe someday they will build whatever they want to build and have a good time and waste money but we have a beautiful building now that works beautifully. and it opened in just a few months. it's not just a designation. we did another thing. we recognized, after 52 years of negotiation, i recognized the israeli sovereignty over the golan heights. [applause] pres. trump: that was a big deal. there were meetings and meetings and people would fly again. i withdrew the united states from the disastrous iran nuclear deal. and iran is a much different country. they are misbehaving but they have to be very careful when they misbehave. and here in the western hemisphere we are standing against the horrors of communism and socialism. that is what we are fighting right here. and supporting the people of

cuba and nicaragua and venezuela in their noble qwest for freedom. it will all happen. and tonight, i declare once again, america will never be a socialist country. [cheering and applause] pres. trump: never. never. never. never be. our nation was not built i bureaucrats and regulators. america was built by families and pilgrims and pioneers. our destiny is not written by people that come from areas of the world that know nothing

about what we want to do. it is all written in our hearts. it is truly written in our hearts. our future will not be decided by the media, the bureaucrats on the politicians. it will be decided by all of you. that is why we have elections. that's why we have elections. and every generation, the faith of our people has -- our nation wants to overcome every challenge to our values and way of life. it has inspired us to face down the worst evils, unlock the greatest mysteries and achieve what no one thought was ever possible. now, powered by those same historic values that have always defined our nation, we will reach new heights, make new breakthroughs, and we will strengthen the bonds of love and loyalty that unite us all as

citizens, as neighbors, as patriots, as christians, as people of faith. as one people, one nation, and one united states of america. we will stand as a light of liberty, a land of courage, and a home for proud people of faith. forever and always, americans will believe in the cause of freedom, the power of prayer, and the eternal glory of god. thank you. god bless you. and god bless america. thank you, everyone. [cheering and applause] ♪

>> the commission on presidential debates has announced the dates and locations for all three 2020 presidential debates. the first is scheduled for tuesday, september 29th at the university of notre dame in indiana. lacether debates will take thursday, october 15 at the university of michigan. week later one october 22 at belmont university

in nashville, tennessee. presidentialice candidates, they will meet for their first and only debate on wednesday, october seventh at the university of utah in salt lake city. each debate is expected to start at 9:00 p.m. eastern and run 90 minutes without interruption. additional details about the moderators will come from the commission at a later time. >> campaign 2020. watch our live coverage of the presidential candidates on the campaign trail. make up your own mind. c-span's campaign 2020. your unfiltered view of politics. click c-span's washington journal live every day with news on policy issues that impact you. weing up sunday morning, will talk about efforts to impeach president trump and how it might impact campaign 2020

with the daily caller's stephanie. and the vice president of national security. be sure to watch c-span's washington journal live at 7:00 eastern sunday morning. join the discussion. on thursday, 2020 republican ofsidential candidate massachusetts spoke to dartmouth college republicans in new hampshire. this is about 45 minutes. students at dartmouth. >> we are going to go ahead and get started here. thank you you guys so much for coming. my name is charles schneider charles snyder. i am the acting chairman for the dartmoutll