VIDEO Nº: 117
TITLE:117. Speech Donald Trump - Gaffney SC - February 18 2016
DATE OF EVENT:18/02/2016
RELEASE DATE:27/10/2017
DURATION:00.51.14 Mins
MR. TRUMP’s FRACTION:Full
Nº OF WORDS:9413
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Wow! Oh, it's a lot of people! Thank you, darling! It's a lot of people!
Thank you! Thank you! …-THE CROWD CHANTS ‘TRUMP!’ REPEATEDLY. MR. TRUMP CHANTS ALONG-… “Trump! Trump! Trump!”.
Do we love electricity, by the way? All your electricity people…-THE CROWD CHEERS. We love you guys, [you] have been so great…; how about life without electricity? Not so good, right? Not so good, right? You have been so fantastic. You have…sit down, relax everybody. Come on, we'll be here for a while. I have nothing else to do. What the heck!?
We've been…we've been all over the place, I'll tell you what. South Carolina…unbelievable. Unbelievable state. I've been here many times. Before the whole…you know, this whole process. I've been here…a lot. I have a lot of friends that live here. It's one of the most beautiful parts of the world. And they’re great people. The people are fantastic. And it's a great honor to be with you. It’s so important!
You know, this is now crunch time, right? We gotta get our…country back. [Do you] see all those red hats…with the white…with the white letters? …-THE CROWD CHEERS TIMIDLY. We're gonna get our country back. But I just wanna…I wanna thank you, because it's been…incredible. We are gonna do so well…; we are, hopefully, gonna get out and vote. Every single person in this room. Unless you're gonna vote for somebody else. Then don't vote. Don't…you don't have to! If you’re gonna vote…; you know these guys that say, “it doesn't matter who you vote for! It's important to get out and vote!”. Trust me, if you're gonna vote for somebody else, don't vote! Okay? Don't vote! …-THE CROWD CHEERS. So, anyway!
Look, so we started this journey. It really is. You know, it takes a lot of guts to run for president. I'm not a politician, thank goodness. I'm not a politician. And…uh…I've had great success. We've built a great, great company. Uh…we filed with the…uh…federal elections, and these folks…look at all…look how many people we have back. It's like…what is this? Academy Award time, fellas? Look at this. There they are. Oh, I know my friend from CBS! He's so talented! And he's been treating me pretty fair, lately! Thank you! Thank you! …-THE CROWD CHEERS. He's…he's been treating me…he's been very nice! And remember, this crowd goes all the way back into the corners of the room. We can't get one more…; we're like sardines in here, okay?
So anyway…; no, CBS has been great. Actually, they came out this morning with a poll…that was phenomenal1 Right? CBS New York Times came out with a great poll. Nationwide. Uh…a nationwide poll which was great, because The Wall Street Journal came out with the biggest joke I’ve ever seen. They came out with one…; I mean, basically I was tied! But we don't like ties in this room. Do you agree? We're not big for ties. And…it…it…was…uh…not a correct poll. I don't know who got those, somebody. But let's see what happens.
But CBS just came out with a great poll. And I hear Fox is coming out with a big poll in a little while. We'll see what that is. But it's been amazing. And I can tell you, in South Carolina the polls have been amazing. They've been great. But I don't wanna tell you that. I don't wanna tell you that, because if I tell you that, maybe you'll say, “Oh, I don't have to vote!”. You have to get out! It's so important. It's so important. And…you know, the more we win by, the better it all is. The mandate. You know, it's called ‘the mandate’. The more you can win by, the better it's gonna be, and the more important it is.
And then we go to Nevada, where we…have a tremendous lead! But it’s caucus. You never know what happens with caucus. You know, it’s problems. Always problems. This caucus stuff is a little bit…nobody knows. You can have a 58 percent lead, and then you find out you're not winning…because…what happens? Who knows what happens…? [It] is a room…; people swirl around in these rooms. I'm not sure I like the whole caucus situation. I like to be able to walk in the room, vote, and leave, right? Don't you think? But…uh…the caucus States. And…Nevada, we're doing really great. And then we have the SCC, and…I think we're gonna do fantastic. A couple of states like Georgia just came in. Some numbers…they're phenomenal. And then we go Florida. And Florida is gonna be fantastic.
What do you think…? …when I'm leading Florida, where I have 48, and a sitting senator is at 11, and a governor, past governor, is…what's Bush. It's like…-THE CROWD CHEERS. He's not doing too well! …-THE CROWD CHANTS ‘TRUMP!’ REPEATEDLY. He's not doing too well in Florida, right?
 No, but…well. You know, it’s interesting in Florida. The establishment, of which I used to be a member by the way, in good standing. The establishment…; before I ran. Once I ran, I was no longer establishment. They say, “what's he doing? He's not supposed to be doing this! This isn't supposed to be happening! We like people where we can take care of them! Where we can give them campaign contributions!”. You know, I'm self-funding. I'm not taking anybody's money, so it's nice. But…-THE CROWD CHEERS AND APPLAUDS VIVIDLY-…but they all went, “what's going on with Trump!? What's he doing!? He's running! He doesn't need our money! This is bad! We wanna take care of these people! We wanna take care of our senators, and…our congresspeople! We wanna take care of them! This is terrible news! What's going on with Trump!? He was a great, great guy! He'd contribute lots of money!”.
I was a real member of the establishment! I gave 350,000 dollars before I went this way. You know, I went over the curb when I decided to run. And I decided to run because…how…stupid…are our…politicians? What they're doing…; how stupid…? We'll talk about it, but like the Iran deal…and the trade deals…and…we lose money with everybody! We lose money with everybody.
So, what happened is…they went…a little crazy. Because…every one of these guys running…gets taken care of by the special interests, right? They get taken care by their donors. They get taken care of by the lobbyists. I have a problem. I call a lobbyist. You know, there's certain lobbyists, they’re like assigned to different senators, right? And [if] you have a problem; you call up a lobbyist. And they go see the senator, and it's amazing! It's amazing! It's horrible! And…look, it's a system. And…it's…fine. But it's not gonna work that way anymore. We owe 19 trillion dollars, folks. And…we're gonna get it down. And we're gonna have budgets. And we're gonna do things properly. And we're gonna have better health care…-THE CROWD CHEERS AND APPLADUS. We're gonna have health care. We're gonna get rid of Obamacare, which is a total disaster…-THE CROWD CHEERS AND APPLAUDS VIVIDLY. No, we’re getting rid of it. We're getting rid of it.
And…uh…we're gonna do a lot of good things. Common Core is gonna be out. Common Core is dead…-THE CROWD CHEERS. We bring education back. And I talk about it all the time! Look, we're number 30. From one to 30, we’re number 30 in education, [and] we’re number one in cost, okay? Think of it.
So, we spend more money per pupil…than…any other country in the world, and when number 30. We’re at the bottom of the list, right? So, it's obviously…something's wrong. And we're bringing local education back. And…I see it! And I've seen it over the years! The parents, they get involved. The family gets involved…; the brothers…or sisters, everybody gets involved. Then you have [a] great education! Less expensive, and great education!
So, we…we're getting rid of Common Core. We're gonna protect our Second Amendment. It's under siege. Under…siege…-THE CROWD CHEERS AND APPLAUDS.
You know, I tell the story where these two radicalized…I guess I should say ‘young people’, right? Young people. To me…bad people. But the two people…they got married, and I guess she radicalized him…nobody knows, but…it…the…bad stuff happened. And they go in and they shot the 14 people in California. [They] killed 14 people. Many others [are] injured badly. And these are people that gave them like wedding…ceremonies. And baby parties. And all of this. And then they killed them.
And…bad things are happening! And we have to be vigilant. We have to be smart. We have to be strong. We have to know…who to let into our country and who not to let in. We can't be…we can't be the stupid people anymore! …-THE CROWD HEERS AND APPLAUDS VIVIDLY. We can't be…we cannot be the stupid people. We're led by people that don't know what they're doing! Or they know what they're doing and they're just bad! I don't know what's going on!
Look, we have a president…that won't use the term radical…Islamic…terrorism. He won't use it! You see what happens. Even in Paris. Take a look at Paris! As an example. So, Paris they kill 130 people. Paris has the toughest gun laws in the world, okay? The toughest in the world1 They say France generally, but Paris…has…they say…I mean, if you're a good person, forget it. If you're a bad guy, no problem. You can have all the guns you want, right? You just walk in! You have guns!
So, Paris has the toughest gun laws. They go into these various places, boom! boom! boom! boom!. They killed…a hundred and thirty…people. Many people…I don't know if you've seen this, but many, many people are gravely injured in hospitals right now. Their lives are ruined. Many will die. The number will go up, quite a bit above 130. But if we had people…and I see…you know, like…that guy, right there, with the red hat. See? He… “stand up. Stand up” …-MR. TRUMP STARTS POINTING AT DIFFERENT PEOPLE IN THE CROWD SPECIFICALLY. If he had a gun, and he's in Paris…-THE CROWD CHEERS. And…the guy with a white hat. That's the white Trump hat. “Stand up. Go ahead. Stand up! Stand up!”…-THE CROWD CHEERS AND APPLAUDS. And this woman, right here. “Stand up. Yeah, right. Stand up!”.
If, honestly…? If we had…a few people, if they…why…why…if it was…if it was in California…; if it was in Paris…; but, if there were people on the other side, and the bullets were flying also in the other direction…? You wouldn't had 130 people killed! You wouldn't had 14 people killed in California…! …-THE CROWD CHEERS AND APPLAUDS.
And the Second Amendment is under siege. Believe me. And if I'm president, it's not gonna be under siege anymore. It's gonna be ended. So just remember that…-THE CROWD CHEERS AND APPLAUDS.
You know, I tell that story all the time. And…and I…I come from New York. And New York has…pretty strong…uh…gun law, although I have the right to carry, which is a…very nice right to have. But, which is a very unusual right, and a very hard right to get. [A] concealed permit. But, I will tell you this. I will tell you this. In New York, I have arguments all the time. I say…I used, as an example, the California case. Wouldn't it be good if a couple of those people had…guns on their waist? Guns around their ankle, to protect themselves. And everybody is…isn’t it true? And everybody agrees with me…! You know, I’ll have the argument. They’re really anti-gun! And they agree. And we leave, that's it.
The next morning I'd call, “so? Have I converted you?”.
“No”. This is…it’s just incredible! The fact is, there's not even a contest: Okay? So, we protect our Second Amendment. We have to protect it.
Now, when it comes to…what I've done. On June 16th, I said, “I'm gonna run”. Before then, I didn't even know…! I was with my wife, at the end…at the top of the escalator. I looked down at Trump Tower in the atrium…; we had more…press…I’ll tell you. I've never seen so much press in my life. It looked like the Academy Awards. I said, “what am I doing?”. I've never seen anything like it. And I went out, and I made a speech. And I talked about illegal…immigration. And it was a firestorm. You remember. A firestorm. The people coming across the border…-THE CROWD APPLAUDS TIMIDLY-…and I took a lot of heat! And I say [it]!
Rush Limbaugh said, “he took more incoming than any human being I've ever seen”. And I did! [I] took a lot of heat. And after two or three weeks, people were saying, “you know, but Trump has…a…a point!”. And then you had the killing of Kate, in San Francisco, which was a horror. And you had the killing of Jameel, in…as you know, in…in Los Angeles. And it was…like…just horrible, in California. You had the killing of the female veteran. 65 years old, who was raped, sodomized, and killed, by…a person that was here many, many times, and should have never been allowed in the country. And many other cases. And many other cases.
And people started saying, “you know, it's really right! It's a crime wave. What's going on is a crime wave”. And by the way, we're gonna have strong borders. We're gonna have the wall. We're building the wall. We're building the wall, folks. We're building the wall…-THE CROWD CHEERS AND APPLAUDS. And we're gonna have people come into our country…! But they're gonna come into our country legally! They're not gonna come in like they are now. They walk across a piece of Swiss cheese…-THE CROWD CHEERS AND APPLAUDS. They're gonna come into our country…legally! They're coming in. And it's fine. And they're gonna be good people, and they're gonna come in legally!
You know, I just left New Hampshire. We had a tremendous week in New Hampshire. We had a…we…blew it out! We got…every category, we won with…men, with women…; with tall…; with short…; with heavy…; with thin…; we won every category! We won with older people…; younger people…; highly educated…; not so highly educated…! With heavy college degrees…; without college degrees…; without high school degree…; we won everything! And I'll tell you, it was an amazing…they're amazing people too! The people of our country are amazing! The people…of our…country are…amazing! …-THE CROWD APPLAUDS TIMIDLY.
I mean, more than anything else, I've learned…! Somebody said, “what did you learn most?”. And you know, they think, “oh, you're just saying that…”. I'm not saying it! The people…of…our…our…our…country…are amazing people! They're amazing people! We have such unbelievable potential…! In fact, make America great again…? That's great. And about two weeks ago, I started saying, maybe…greater…than ever…before! Because we…-THE CROWD CHEERS TIMIDLY-…I really mean it! We have to get rid of the regulations! We have to lower your taxes! The taxes are crazy! We have the highest taxes in the world! Our companies are paying taxes, [and] they're leaving!
Pfizer! Great, big…you know, the…pharmaceutical company. Big…company. It's leaving! It's moving to Ireland. Because the taxes. And because they can't get their money in. Corporate inversion. You know, they have corporate inversions…they're leaving the country, and some of them are leaving to get their money! We have…money! Trillions of dollars are outside of the country. The Democrats agree it should be in. The Republicans agree it should be in. And they can't make a deal. They can't make a deal because we have a president that has no…leadership…ability! It would be so easy! …-THE CROWD CHEERS AND APPLAUDS. It would be so…easy! It would be so…easy…to…make a deal. I'm telling you, I think I could make that deal in 10 minutes. And yet we spend years…; you can make that deal…; who's gonna say…!? They have two and a half trillion dollars. I think it's closer to five trillion. The government says it's two and a half trillion. They don't know what the hell they're talking about. I'm telling you. I'm telling you. It's like five…trillion…dollars! They can't…get the money into this…country! If they did, they could use it for development…! They could build new companies…! They could spend it on so many things…! We can't get it in.
And…and all the politicians agree! And you could sit them down, and…I'm…for…in so fast! I could make a deal so fast! But we have people that…it's not their…it's not their thing. So, the companies now are leaving…to get their money! They’ve billions of dollars. They have, individually, billions of dollars. They're leaving to get their money. It's impossible. The bureaucracy is horrible. The tax rate would be insane. You couldn't do it because the tax rate is insane. There's no incentive to do it. But we could do it so easy. And we have all of this money pouring in. And this is what…we're gonna do.
Carl Icahn endorsed me. Some of the great business leaders endorsed me. Men…I…I mean, frankly, they'll all endorse me if I wanted it. Nobody knows who the hell they are! Nobody knows who they are! They call me, “Don, I wanna endorse you. Could we have a news conference?”.
I said, “nobody knows who you are!”. Guys [that are] worth three billion dollars [and] nobody ever heard of them! But they're great negotiators! We wanna use…our great negotiators. Not our political hacks, to deal with China, Japan, Vietnam, India…; …-THE CROWD CHEERS AND APPLAUDS. Mexico, which is killing us at the border! Mexico is killing us at the border. And killing us in trade!
You saw the other day, Carrier is moving down. They’re moving out of…they’re moving! 1,400 jobs…moving out of our country, moving to Mexico. And somebody had a cell phone going, where the cell phone is taking the shot of…the boss, saying, “we're closing up. We're moving to Mexico”. Right? [It’s] Not gonna happen with me! I'm gonna say to him the following. And…it…it…I hate to say it. I'm a free trader. I hate to say this: we have to have smart trading. I don't even call it free trade anymore. We don't free trade with China.
China…is gonna make…I mean, think of this deficit. We are going…put it in a different way. We're gonna have a trade deficit with China…of five…hundred…and five…billion…dollars. What kind of deal is this!? What is it!? That means you're sucking us dry. In the history of the world, what China's done to us…is the single…greatest…theft. Think of it! It's the greatest theft in the history of the world!
Now, I love China! I think it's great. The people are great. I've made a lot of money dealing with China! I have the biggest bank in the world as a tenant of mine, in a building of Manhattan. The biggest bank! In the world! By far! It's not even close! Our banks are like little toys compared to this bank. [It] has 400 million customers. Four…hundred…million customers!
Anyway, they're a tenant of mine. They definitely paid their rent on time, believe me…-THE CROWD LAUGHS. But they’re a tenant. But…I've sold…tens of millions of dollars of condos to the Chinese people. The Bank of America building, which I own a big chunk of, in…uh…San Francisco. I got it through…China. 1290 avenue of the Americas. One of the biggest buildings of Manhattan. I got through China. I deal with China! China’s is fine! But their leaders are too smart for our leaders! They're too smart!
So, we are losing…in trade deficits, we have five…more than five…hundred…billion…not million! Billion…dollars! And this has been going on for years. Not as high as that, but it's been going on for years.
And last quarter…we announced GDP, [and] we…we have not…we have nothing! We have no growth! Our country has no growth. And you hear about that phony jobs number where it's five percent. Five percent!? It’s not five percent.
First of all, we have so many part-time jobs. People in this audience, probably…; I know people that have worked in a company for 30 years as a full-time job. Very proud of it! They've been put…because of Obamacare, frankly. They've been put on as part timers. Now they've part time jobs and they go get a second job! But probably people in this audience! …-THE CROWD CHEERS AND APPLAUDS. So that you don't qualify for Obamacare! Because they don't wanna get involved with Obamacare, cause it's too expensive. It's a disaster! Because the premiums are going from 25, 35, 45, 55 percent up! And…uh…you look at what's going on! I mean, it is…it is so out of control.
Obamacare's gonna die in ‘17 anyway. It's gonna die. Unless…unless…-THE CROWD CHEERS AND APPLAUDS VIVIDLY-…no, it’s gonna. Unless the Republicans give it another life raft. I…I…It's just crazy…what's going on. But it's so bad…! It's worked out to be so bad…! And I have people…; do people here have Obamacare? Who…? Raise…raise your hand! Your…your premiums…who does have Obamacare!? You know, I keep hearing about people have Obamacare, [and I] never see anybody who does Obamacare! …-THE CROWD LAUGHS. Does anybody here have Obamacare? Isn't it amazing!? I hear Obamacare…! “You're the only one, stand up, ma'am congratulations. We're about 6,000 people” …-THE CROWD APPLAUDS. It's amazing! We have 6,000 people in here, [and] I have one person raising the hand. And I hear everybody has…what's going on!? And I did that before. I said, “who has Obamacare!?”. There with two people!
Let me tell you, it's a disaster. And it's falling of its own weight. And your…your pricing is going through the roof. And we can't have it. We are going…to have…great…health care and health insurance. We're gonna have a great...it's gonna be…phenomenal. We're gonna get rid of the lines.
You know, we have lines around each state. Which makes it impossible for other companies: If I wanna go from South Carolina, and compete in New York, you can't do it! As a company. You can't do it! And I have many states…; I'm in many states. [I] have…companies in many, many states. And…it's…it’s impossible! The reason is, the insurance companies took care of the guys that I’m running against. And others! They contribute! So, you have artificial lines!
So, a company would rather have…an absolute exclusive to…South Carolina. Or to…New York. Or to any state, rather than competing all over the United States. And now you have to compete and it's hard! It's hard to make money! It's hard! But that's what they want.
So, the insurance companies, through the politicians, are getting what they want.
I told…somebody before, that…[a] friend of mine came up. He's a doctor. He said, “you know, Mr. Trump? The worst thing that I've seen…and I can't believe it. We are the largest drug buyer in the world, the United States”. The largest drug buyer the world, by far. Prescription drugs and drugs…to make people better! Not to kind of come out of…the southern border. They don't make people better. They make people…they make people very sick. They make people very sick, and we're gonna stop it, okay? We're gonna stop it…-THE CROWD CHEERS AND APPLAUDS VIVIDLY.
By the way, and you know…maybe even more so. We're gonna stop it for the people of New Hampshire. You know, New Hampshire has a tremendous heroin problem. You look at New Hampshire, [and] it's like this. It’s so beautiful…! With the trees, and the valleys, and the roads…; it's the most beautiful place. And you go there…and I love it! Because I had such a great experience there, and then I had that great vote that was even better than the polls. The polls were saying I was gonna win in the vote. It was even better than that! And everybody was like, “oh, oh! This is great”.
I said, “you know, folks. I'm gonna really try and help”. The biggest problem they have, and you just don't see it with New Hampshire, is heroin! And I go and I say, “what's your biggest problem!?”. They have a big problem with the vets. We're gonna take care of the vets, by the way…-THE CROWD CHEERS AND APPLAUDS. But, it…we're gonna take care of our vets. This is a big vet area. This is a big vet area. But I'm gonna do it for New Hampshire because…New Hampshire…was…those people are incredible people. And they are just…stuck with…with…this massive amounts of heroin coming in from the southern border. We're gonna stop it! And their kids are addicted. And their kids are addicted. And…it's a very tough addiction to get rid of. And we're gonna get in there, and try and help those kids. But we're gonna…we’re gonna stop the drugs from com in now! And that includes here, [it] includes everywhere.
But for some reason…and I've gotten very close to New Hampshire, because of that tremendous…uh…week that we spent up there, and the tremendous end result. And people are saying we may even have a better result here! Can you believe it!? Would that be nice? …-THE CROWD CHEERS AND APPLAUDS. And if we do, I'll tell you what, we're gonna run the table, and we are, in fact, gonna make America great again. We're gonna run the table, cause this is very important…-THE CROWD CHEERS AND APPLAUDS.
But, I said, in New Hampshire, I said I'm gonna really do something about it, because…it's just so…strange. You wouldn't think that they'd be talking about this. Cause you sit down in this idyllic setting… “what's your biggest problem?”.
“Heroin”
You say, “heroin?”. And you don't understand. But then, after you're there for a lot, you see it! It's a…it's just a massive problem.
So, we're gonna get those borders taken care of, but think of this: the drug companies. We’re the largest…in the world for purchasing. There's no bidding! They don't bid. They don't bid. They're restricted from bidding. There's some kind of nonsense, where they…essentially, [they’re] restricted from bidding. If we bid…with the drug companies…okay? …so that…and by the way, why aren't they bidding? Tell me why, because…and…my doctor friend said, “I don't understand it, Donald”.
As soon as he explained to me, I said, “you gotta be kidding”. But then I told him exactly why. I said, “because the Senators, and the congressman, get massive amounts of money…from the drug companies”. [It’s]very simple! That I know! I mean, that's so simple…! …-THE CROWD CHEERS AND APPLAUDS. And then I see this guy, Jeb Bush, who's got zero chance! By the way, zero chance of winning…; and he's a nasty guy! You know, in his own way…-THE CROWD CHEERS AND APPLAUDS-…in his own way, he’s a nasty guy. He's got zero chance…! He spent 20…million…dollars of ads on me. Negative ads. And they're not even correct! At least get them correct! …-THE CROWD BOOS TIMIDLY. Although maybe I'm better off if they weren't correct. My polls go up every time he plays an ad, so I don't know…-THE CROWD LAUGHS. It's not a very bad…; but, [the] guy spent 20…more than that! But he spent 20 million dollars of ads on me.
So, I see…his…director. His campaign chairman, for fundraising, is Woody Johnson of Johnson & Johnson, okay? Now, let's say…again, he's got zero chance, so he's not a good example. But, let's say Jeb Bush got in. He's not gonna do anything with competitive bidding!
Let's say Ted Cruz! He's got people…you gotta see what he's got! He's got the whole world lined up for him! And he lies! H! He lies! That guy lies. God, does not tell the truth! …-THE CROWD CHEERS AND APPLAUDS. You know, he holds up his Bible and then he lies! Let me tell you, that guy lies. He is a liar. And…a…very interesting with Ted Cruz. And I don't say that easily. And I know the difference between having fun, and playing the game, and…you know, we're in politics. But I know the difference between that and lying.
And…when Marco Rubio…said he lied, the other night at the debate…[he] said, “you're lying!”. He's really right! I agree with Rubio on that. The guy lies he'll say something…; I was hearing things about, “Donald Trump does not write the Second Amendment! He'll do away with the Second Amendment!”. I'm the strongest person on the Second Amendment! Like, by far! And I get these reports…! …-THE CROWD CHEERS AND APPLAUDS. And then they'd stop.
Well, what…look what he did to Ben Carson, in Iowa! He said, “Ben Carson has quitted the race”. During the election! When they're voting! People are walking in, [and] he's there telling everybody! “Ben Carson's quitted the race, go with Cruz”.
And then…they took thousands of votes away. Thousands! And then right after that, he called Ben Carson to apologize. After the votes were…counted. What kind of stuff is this!? And Ben Carson, in all fairness…I don't think he accepted the apology, cause…he's still angry about it. But how dishonest…!? Then he does a voter violation…thing. He could…called ‘voter violation’. It looks like it comes right out of the Internal Revenue Service, [it’s] so official. It said, “voter…violation”. [If] A person picks it up…not a sophisticated person… “Oh, wow! Voter violation!”. [It] look serious! [It] looks like…really, the real deal! The paper, everything's perfect! If I got it I think I'd be concerned! I’d call a lawyer. The lawyer will charge me 3,000 an hour, and say, “you're okay, Mr. Trump”…-THE CROWD LAUGHS. But seriously! These people gotta scare a letter…and essentially it said…it said, “did you this…? Did you that…? Did you that…?”. And then it…it gives them grades of F, fail! F, fail. F, F, F! And it said, “you can clear it up by going and voting for Ted Cruz”. What kind of stuff is this!? …-THE CROWD LAUGHS TIMIDLY. It's a fraud!
I'll tell you what: the head of the Iowa…GOP, Jeffrey, if you were really…smart, he'd…terminate that victory In Iowa…of Ted Cruz. And that's what you should do, because…-THE CROWD APPLAUDS-…what he did to Ben Carson, and what he did with all…the voter…violation fraud certificates…it’s a fraud! What he did is a fraud! They ought to terminate. But they don't have the guts to terminate. They don’t have the guts. The problem with our country is nobody has the guts. They…they don't have the guts…-THE CROWD CHEERS AND APPLAUDS.
But…but we had these…these great experiences. I mean, it was…still, like a great experience. And then we go to New Hampshire. Now we're here. And…we're gonna do things that…haven't been done! We're gonna put…drugs…out to bid, folks! And we're gonna save…300…billion dollars a year, okay? And when Woody Johnson calls me up, I don't care! I! He’s a nice guy! He actually bought an apartment from me, so I think he's a nice guy. But that doesn't have any impact. All the smart people live in my buildings, okay? …-THE CROWD LAUGHS.
But you know what? I'll get called…by lobbyists. I'll say, “don't even…”. I won't even take the call…-THE CROWD CHEERS. I don't…I…I…you know, again, I'm self-funding…-THE CROWD APPLAUDS.
I don't know…I don't know that I get credit for this, okay? Because, I…certainly I don't get the credit. But I've had guys in my office that would give me anything I want. I had one guy come in, he said, “Donald…”, you know, I've been in first place…practically since…since…uh…June 16th. Practically the whole route, right? I've been in first place almost the entire route! And when you are, the money…is just pouring in. I could have the largest…pack…! You know, these packs are crooked as hell, folks. They're crooked as hell. The packs are running the campaigns. They run out of money? The packs take over. They’re running the campaigns. They're crooked as hell. They're totally dishonest…; what's going on with packs is a disgrace, okay? It's a disgrace. They’re a dishonest…-THE CROWD CHEERS AND APPLAUDS-…they're dishonest as you get.
But I would have had the largest…amount of money, the largest pack…if I wanted to put money into that; if I wanted to raise…; but I would have had…I mean, Bush had 148 million, and he's a stiff. Okay? I would have had…-THE CROWD LAUGHS-….I would have had…the greatest…amount of money…ever in the history of packs, okay? But, it's wrong! It's not right!
And I said [it] to somebody. I said [it to] a group this morning. I was talking to a great group of people. Packed house. And I said, “tell me. Do I get credit for this? I'm self-funding my campaign. In all foreigners, I'm rich, but it costs me a lot of money! Does it matter, really!?”. And they stood up, and they started to give me a standing ovation. “It matters! It matters!”. I'll tell you why it matters: because…they have…; you saw the last debate, where they're clapping for Marco Rubio, and they're clapping for Bush. Because there was all their fundraisers and stuff out there! That was all their special interest people out there! And I made some good statement. I was the only one. I thought I did great in that debate!
You know, it's interesting. That was a great debate! I was being hit from 15 different sides…-THE CROWD CHEERS AND APPLAUDS. Everybody said I won the debates. Everybody said I won. And I really won the one…previous to that. That was the one with New York values, right? And we won that one. And we did great. And the Drudge poll, which is great. He's an incredible guy, by the way. The Drudge poll. They do a poll, and I had 68 percent. And that's against a lot of people!
And, Time magazine has a poll. I won that one too. And then I thought I did best in the last one, because I was being hit by everybody. They're desperate! They're desperate! And I was being hit! I never saw anything like it. It was like, I'm shooting like this…-MR. TRUMP RAISES HIS HANDS PRETENDING HE DODGES SHOTS. And…I thought I did really well. And…although some of the pundits said, “he was too nasty. He was too tough”. What am I gonna be, nice? …-THE CROWD LAUGHS. That…these…people are shooting at me, [and] I'm supposed to be like…; somebody said, “he was too tough…and he was too nasty”.
Well, we gotta be nasty, folks! Like with ISIS! They're chopping off people's heads. I wanna be nasty. Do you mind? Do you mind? I wanna be nasty…-THE CROWD CHEERS AND APPLAUDS. THEN IT STARTS CHANTING ‘TRUMP!’ REPEATEDLY. Oh, we're gonna be so nasty! ISIS is not gonna like us…anymore! ISIS is going to be…not so happy, folks. I'm…don't forget, I'm the one…that said, “take the oil”, right? For years, I've been saying that. Four years I've been saying “take the oil”.
I'm the one that said, “don't go into Iraq”. And I said that. “Don't go into Iraq”. 2003-2004, and before that. Now, I wasn't a politician, but it was covered in 2003-2004. Don't go…because I said, “you're gonna destabilize the Middle East”. I should be given points for…vision. Because we went into Iraq. We spent…trillions…; we spent two trillion dollars. Thousands of lives lost. Wounded warriors…who I love! Who I love! They’re more brave…they’re braver than all of us put together…-THE CROWD CHEERS AND APPLAUDS. Wounded warriors…who I love. All over the place. All over the place! And you know what we have from Iraq? Nothing! Nothing! We don't have a damned thing! We have nothing! Okay? This is the kind of thinking.
And then we have…Obama, who instead of getting us out properly…or keeping us there…once we're there, we probably should have kept the force there, at least a small force. So instead of getting us out properly, our president announces the date that we're leaving…that we're gonna be totally out. The enemy pulls back, and says, “I can't believe this is happening!”. In fact, they thought it was a ruse! They thought it was like… “he must be kidding!”….-THE CROWD LAUGHS TIMIDLY.
Can you imagine…General George Patton [saying], “we're leaving. We're leaving”…-THE CROWD LAUGHS. Now, he might say “we're leaving”, but he wouldn't mean it! He'd say, “we're leaving”, and they'd get…complacent. “Okay, we're gone!”. And then, he’d have soldiers lined all over the place, and then come in and he would whack the hell out of them, okay? That's a different kind…-THE CROWD CHEERS AND APPLAUDS. Let me tell you, that's a different mentality. That's a different mentality. But, you know, General MacArthur; General George Patton…that's a different mentality.
I see our generals, they’re interviewed by the people sitting back there there…-MR. TRUMP POINTS TO THE CAMERAS. They’re interviewed by the people sitting back there on shows. Our generals go, get…they do interviews. I say, “what the hell…!?”. Do we want our general doing interviews? …-THE CROWD YELLS ‘NO!’ TIMIDLY.
And one of them is just leaving recently. And they said, “what do you think?2.
“Oh, well, you know, ISI is very tough. Very strong…”; Do I wanna hear this? “Tough! Tough!”. He's saying ISIS is tough. ISIS…we can knock ISIS out…if we wanna do it, so fast, so surgically, so strongly…; we're gonna build that military! We have to build up…! But we've gotta knock them out! I didn't wanna be there. But you can't allow people to chop heads! And that's why we are! It’s like medieval times! …-THE CROWD CHEERS AND APPLAUDS.
When they…when they, in the previous debate, they asked Ted Cruz a question. “What do you think of waterboarding?”. And he goes…and he didn't want any part. “That’s…too tough a question! Waterboarding…; well, waterboarding…”. Think of it! They're chopping off heads, James Foley, a great young man. That's where it started. James Foley. We couldn't believe it. All of us. [we] couldn't believe it! Right? We saw it! With the…with the orange outfit. This beautiful, young guy. I've gotten to know his parents, who are incredible people. I…I contribute to their foundation. These…the parents are incredible people! And…James Foley, that's where it started. And we all said, “that can't be possible!”. Now it's all the time! They're chopping off heads!
So they say to Cruz, “what do you think of waterboarding? And would you continue waterboarding?”. And, “is it too severe?”. And he's like giving this horrible answer…you know, he's…; [you know what] I always say about Cruz? He's a very good debater, but he can't talk. Does that make sense? …-THE CROWD LAUGHS TIMIDLY. In other words, you have a conversation with them, that guy can't talk everything's, “wah, wah! I will do this! And I will do that!”…-THE CROWD LAUGHS TIMIDLY. “And I am a very honest person”. And then he lies! You know, I'm telling you. He's a good debater, [but a] bad talker. We need some good talkers.
But, they're asking him about...about waterboarding. Well, and he's really stumbling, and mumbling…and was terrible! Then they look at me! They said, “what do you think…about waterboarding?”.
I said, “waterboarding is good, but it's not tough enough. We should go further”. Nobody could believe it! …-THE CROWD CHEERS AND APPLAUDS. No, no! Nobody could believe it!
Now, I preface that…because I didn't know. I mean, I didn't poll it. You know, I have more money than all of these guys put together, but I said, “you know what?”. I…I don't have a pollster. I say what's right! I say what's right! These politicians…
If that question was asked…that's why Cruz was to hang with that question. He was petrified! He didn't know! If he says ‘yes’, does that mean he's too tough? If he says ‘no’…so, he did…he…you had to see it! He was stumbling and mumbling all over the place. And I didn't want…I don't wanna poll anything.
You know, it’s sort of interesting. They do polls. And these people pay hundreds of thousands of dollars, millions of dollars…to pollsters! Of…by the way, special interest money. So it's not so bad for them. But they pay all this money. I paid nothing. But, the network's give me polls every day. “We don't like Donald Trump…; he's great on the military's; he’s great…”.
Here's what it is. Great on the military: Trump. Always number one. Great on the border: number one. The best for the economy…; number one all the time! Right? Am I right!? You can say it. Always! Great on the economy; great on all…; nice person? I'm always last. Can you believe it!? And I'm a nice person! …-THE CROWD CHEERS AND APPLAUDS. Nice person. And I'm actually a nice person. But I'm the person that's gonna protect. You know, we're in this together: We're gonna protect. We're gonna win…; we're gonna have something so strong, and so powerful…; we're gonna protect. But, all the time I get it.
So, they asked me about waterboarding, and I say… “waterboarding is fine”. But I prefaced it by saying, “we have people…that are chopping off…heads. In the Middle East. They're chopping off the heads of Christians: They're chopping off the heads of others. They're killing and abusing women. There's nobody that I've ever seen…ever…!”. You know, it's one thing when you have warriors going at each other, and they’re shooting, and fighting, and killing. These people are disgusting!
I said, “they are chopping off heads. [they’re] Doing the worst things I've ever seen. I think waterboarding is excellent, but you have to go much further than waterboarding” And you know what? I got a standing ovation! It…the room went crazy! …-THE CROWD APPLAUDS. And I mean it! We're soft, and we're weak. And we can't be that!
Can you imagine the people at ISIS!? They're sitting…in…wherever they are, right? They roll over the place. By the way, they're growing like…they're all over! Now you look at maps…; you know, two years ago, I looked at a map, there’s like little areas of pink. Now you look at a map [and] it's like all over the place!
But can you imagine these people…!? These are tough cookies, right? Tough! Mean! Can you imagine them listening to this conversation about waterboarding? …which is the least form…nobody knows if it's torture…; you know, they haven't been able to define waterboarding. They don't know if it's torture, if it is…; [it] might be a little bit too tough…; we can't be nice…; it's like, you know, these guys that…commit murder, right? They commit murder. They kill someone. They…they kill…an 80-year-old woman. And they rape her, and slugger her, and drop her, and just kick the hell out of her. And…they go to jail. We don't want the death penalty. It's cruel and unusual punishment. You know? Okay. So, I don't know! …-THE CROWD BOOS TIMIDLY.
Then, then you have…and then you have another case, when they get the death penalty, [they] wanna give them drugs, to put them to sleep quietly, and this…; look, we're in a fight for our lives. We've got people coming in…; we've got ISIS in our country, folks. Just so you understand it. We have…we have president…uh…look, I hate to even use…; we have President Obama…[who] doesn't understand that…radical Islamic terrorism is coming in. They could be coming in through the migration.
When you look at the migration, you have tremendous…you of thousands and thousands of people, and people are saying [it]! And I say it all the time! There's…there’s disproportionately young, strong men! You look…right? You look at what happens with Germany. What she has done to Germany…; I have friends from Germany right now. They're leaving Germany! They're leaving! They were so proud of Germany two years ago. They were talking about “Germany's the greatest place”. They're leaving Germany! Germany's under siege. They're leaving Sweden! You see what happened in Sweden! Take a look at Brussels! I was in Brussels many years ago! It was so beautiful! It's under siege. They cancelled New Year's Eve! It's like an armed camp! Are we crazy!?
Now, I have a bigger heart than anybody! And we wanna build safe zones in Syria! And I wanna get the Gulf states, who are spending nothing, and they have more money than everybody put together…; I wanna get them to pay for it! They gotta pay! They've gotta pay! …-THE CROWD APPLAUDS.
But, we have to be…vigilant…! We have to be tough…! And we cannot let…these people from Syria, who we have…not been…able… to vet, at all. We don't have papers! We don't have documentation! Nobody has any idea where they come from…! And that's all we need! This is like the great Trojan Horse. That's all we need! [It] is these people coming into our country by the thousands. And they turn out to be the people…that we most don't want, okay? [It’s] not gonna happen! And if I win, the people that are in are going out. They’re going out, I'm sorry. They're going out…-THE CROWD CHEERS AND APPLAUDS.
You…you see what can happen…with two young people. She may have radicalized him. Nobody knows. But she came in, they got married , and…they killed 14 people. This is two people. And these are not…fighting people. These are not like what we're talking about.
And the other thing is, we have people…that…are ISIS. They leave our country. They fight for ISIS. And then we come…they come back. And they…allow them to come right back… “oh, come on back in. No, it's wonderful to have you!”…-THE CROWD LAUGHS TIMIDLY. [If] anybody goes out, and is sympathetic or fights for ISIS, they're never coming back. Ever, ever, ever…coming back into this country again! …-THE CROWD CHEERS AND APPLAUDS. They're never coming back into this country again.
So, here's the bottom line. We have tremendous potential. We're gonna make great trade deals. And when I came down that escalator, I took a deep breath, and I told Melania, my wife, I said, “Ah…! Let's do it!”. [It is/was] not easy! Believe me, not easy.
Then you have all these maniacs back there: The press. They are the worst. They are, by the way. They are…-THE CROWD LAUGHS AND APPLAUDS TIMIDLY. They're the most dishonest human being…most of them. Not all of them, but most of them. They…they are the most…for instance, look at this room. [It] goes back to each corner, this massive convention center. They'll show this group of people maybe if we're lucky. They’ll say, “Donald Trump spoke today in front of the small crowd…”. They never talk about the crowd.
I had one day where I had 12,000 people, and Bernie Sanders, I mean, give me a break. I call him ‘the 95 percent’. [Do] you know what 95 percent is? 95 percent tax. Okay. Bernie Sanders had three. Bernie Sanders had three…and he does get the second largest crowds, by the way. But…but look at this crow! Up to the corner, people…trying to get out…! Trying to get in…into the building…; look, they're trying to come from outside. And they’re having a hard time. I'm so sorry ma'am! It's so tough…-MR. TRUMP TALKS TO SOMEBODY IN THE CROWD SPECIFICALLY ALTHOUGH OFF CAMERA. Look, they're trying to pour it in, they can't.
But, here's what they’ll show. They…they won't even show this. They show my face! The…only…thing that helps me is when I have a protester, right? Because if I have a protester, like in that back corner…; I didn't think the cameras could move. I thought they were like these really modern cameras, they’re fixed.
And I'll go home, and I tell this story all the time. I said to my wife, “darling, how did the crowd look?”.
“Oh, [it] didn't look like there was much of a crowd. It sounded like a lot of people, but…”.
I said, “what do you mean? Didn't they show the crowd?”. They never show the crowd. The only time they show the crowd…is when there's a protester, because a protester is a bad thing. So they wanna capture the bad.
So they have Bernie Sanders with 3,000 people. I was with 12,000 people. They said, “Bernie Sanders had a fantastic crowd of 3,000 people!”. And then they have me. They said, “Donald Trump spoke today…and…” …-BY COMPARISON WITH SANDER’S REPORTING, MR. TRUMP SAYS THE LATTER IN A FLATTER AND DULLER TONE-…unbelievable. No, it's so unfair. Let me tell you something. Structurally, and with the press, but structurally, the Republicans have a big disadvantage.
Now, in the FOX poll that came out…just recently, and in the…uh USA Today poll that came out yesterday, we’re...I’m…really big ahead in the…uh…in nationwide, they have me head-to-head against Hillary and Bernie and I beat them both. Isn't that great? We're not doing this for…-HE CROWD CHEERS AND APPLAUDS-…I'm not doing this…I'm not doing this to get a nomination, because frankly…;
You know, I had a call from one of the top reporters, really in the world. And…he's very smart. On the liberal side, but…every once in a while you have to take those calls too, right? …-THE CROWD LAUGHS TIMIDLY. And [he] said, “how does it feel?”.
I said, “how does what feel?”.
“What you've done has never been done before”.
And I've been on the cover like three times in the last…of Time magazine, in the last few months. And, the one from last week was an unbelievable story, because it talks about us! All of us together. It's a movement.
And he said, “how does it feel?”.
I said, “it feels like…[it] doesn't feel anything. I haven't done anything”.
He said, “yes, you've done. What you've done has never been done in politics before. You've changed the whole face of politics. There's never been anything like this”. No, he said that…-THE CROWD CHEERS AND APPLAUDS.
I mean, look at this crowd. I have…five, six thousand people here. When the other candidates come, they'll have 40. They'll be in one of the little conference rooms. They’ll have…51…-THE CROWD MUTTERS. It's true! And we have, at least 6,000, they said. More than 7,000.
So, so here's a story. So he said, “how does it feel?”.
So, I said, “I don’t…”.
He said, “no, no, what you've done…it doesn't matter”.
Now, that was in the summer, cause it was called ‘the summer of Trump’. I said, “it doesn't matter”.
He said, “no, if you don't do anything more…what you've done will always go down. It'll go down in history”.
I said, “no, it won't. It doesn't mean anything”.
Then he calls up again, and now…the autumn has gone, right? We're getting into…January. He said, “it's unbelievable! It's hotter now than it's ever been”. We had 20,000 people at the Mavericks arena…; we had 35,000 people in…in Mobile, Alabama. We have the biggest crowds! We have thousands! The only thing that stops our crowds, like this one, is the size of the building! You can't get them in! The fire marshals. [The] first person I see is a fire marshal…-THE CROWD LAUGHS TIMIDLY. I go, “please, let them in”. And they usually like me, and they usually…do nice, right? They're great, great, great people! But the fire marshals have become very important to me, because they…you know, stop people from coming in! And I hate to send thousands of people home! We sent thousands and thousands! Even tonight, 2,000 people couldn't get into this…arena! And we send them. And I hate that!
But he said, “so, how does it feel?”.
I said, “it feels good. But, it doesn't mean anything. Because, unless I win…”.
He said, “well, you'll get the nomination. I really think…”.
I said, “no, no, no! I'm not talking…; I mean…win!”. Because I will consider it…if we don't win…I'm not just talking [the] nomination. I'm talking…we wanna make our country better! Right? We wanna make our country better! …-THE CROWD APPLAUDS.
And I said, “if we don't win, and if I don't win, I will consider this a major loss!”. This is not…you know, I will have spent a lot of money! And, I don't care about the money, but I will spend a lot of money. And I will spend a lot of time! I mean, this is like my fifth one today, right!? And, I said, “so, if we don't win, I will consider it a major loss. You can write about it in ten years, and say how wonderful it was, but I will consider a loss”. Because, I'm not doing this to look good. I'm doing this because we really do have that incredible potential here! We're gonna make this country so incredible again! Again! The word is ‘again’!...-THE CROWD CHEERS AND APPLAUDS.
So, just to wrap up. We were gonna take questions, but you don't want…; you know, it's been such a nice thing, and we won't bother with the questions, because I went on a little bit longer than I would normally.
Elton John told me…Elton John's a good friend of mine, and he said to me, “you know, when you finish with a great song, get off the stage”…-THE CROWD LAUGHS. It's true! Did you ever see? You go to a concert, and they just, absolutely, they're phenomenal. Elton, or somebody. And, they do it so. And the place is going wild…! They're standing, and they're standing…! And they’re cheering and they’re going crazy! Right? And they're calling for an encore. And the guy comes out [and] does an encore…or her! But, somebody comes out [and] does an encore, right? And the first song is okay…; and the second song is okay…; and the third song is a dud. And you leave like this…-MR. TRUMP SLOUCHES AND DRAGS HIS FEET. THE CROWD LAUGHS. Right?
So, you know it's been such a good experience being with you. We got a lot! I mean, I said things here that I don't like to say, generally speaking, but I know…I understand this audience.
I'm just telling you this: we don't win anymore as a country. We don't win anymore. We lose all the time. We lose with ISIS…; we lose with healthcare…; we lose with Common Core…education. We lose with everything. There's nothing we win at! We don't win at all! We don't win it all!
We're gonna start winning again, folks! We're gonna be smart. We're gonna be the smart people. I’m telling you…-THE CROWD CHEERS AND APPLAUDS. We're gonna win for our vets. We're gonna take care of our vets…-THE CROWD CHEERS. We're gonna win for our military, and we're gonna win. And we're gonna knock ISIS out. We're gonna win in education. We're gonna win in healthcare. We're gonna keep our Second Amendment so strong, and so good…and we're gonna be so proud of it…! We're gonna start winning again. We are gonna start winning again.
And I'll tell you something. The potential here is incredible. I want to be in a position where in two years, three years, four years…you're gonna say, “I was there, with our future president, and…he gave a speech. And he said ‘we're gonna win’. And he more than fulfilled…”. I fulfill things. I get things done. I fulfill things.
And, again, I'm not influenced by the money. I don't care about the money. I have more money than all of them. I don't care about the money! I care about this! I care about fairness. I care about making…our country…so…strong. We have just one chance to do it. If we lose this election…if this election goes through a Hillary, who's…amazing, that you can even be in the election after what you did. Or a Bernie Sanders…; or a Biden…; or a Kerry…who made the Iran deal, who I can't imagine they could use Kerry after making the Iran deal. Who could get elected after making…one of the worst deals I've ever seen in history?
But if this election goes to somebody else, and if we go another four years, essentially of Barack Obama, you're never gonna bring it back. You're never gonna bring it back.
So I just wanna tell you…I wanna thank you. I love you folks. Go out on Saturday. Go out and Saturday and vote…-THE CROWD CHEERS AND APPLAUDS. You've gotta go out and vote! You will be so happy! You will be so proud…! And we will make…America…great again! Thank you very much! I love you all! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you, everybody! [I] love you! Thank you!
