Transcript - Remarks: Donald Trump Addresses the FITN Republican Leadership Summit - April 18, 2015 | Factba.se

Donald Trump

00:00:00 - 00:00:15 (15 sec)

Thank you. Thank you very much. I greatly appreciate it, an amazing place and a fantastic crowd. So when was the last time you've seen our country win at anything? We don't win anymore.

Donald Trump

00:00:15 - 00:00:25 (10 sec)

[Audience Yells] True. That's true. We don't win anymore. Whether it's ISIS or whether it's China with our trade agreements.

Donald Trump

00:00:25 - 00:00:50 (25 sec)

No matter what it is, it seems that we don't seem to have it. We make five-to-one deals. We get Bergdahl. They get killers that are now leaders that are all back and fighting us. These are the kind of deals we make. The nuclear deal is a disaster. This is going to lead to nuclear proliferation all over. You're going to have nukes.

Donald Trump

00:00:50 - 00:01:05 (15 sec)

You're going to have countries fighting like hell to get them. All because we have people in there that are either incompetent or there's something maybe even worse going on. I happen to think they're incompetent. You look at what's happening.

Donald Trump

00:01:05 - 00:01:26 (21 sec)

You look at what's happening everywhere in our country. Now, our real unemployment rate, you know that's not 5.6 percent. It's really probably 19 to 21 percent. That's really -- when I'm building buildings, and I'm building many of them, every time I go to a job when people know I'm there I have hundreds of people at the street.

Donald Trump

00:01:26 - 00:01:51 (25 sec)

They want to see me. They want to come in and they want to be part of it. They want to know can they get a job. That's not 5 percent and 5.6 percent. The real number is astronomical. You look at what's going with various things that our country's doing. And then you hear politicians. And all you hear is all talk, no action.

Donald Trump

00:01:51 - 00:02:06 (15 sec)

And I'm actually disappointed with a lot of the Republican politicians. I'm a conservative Republican. But you hear something. Whether it's Obamacare, which is a disaster, which has to be repealed and replaced.

Donald Trump

00:02:06 - 00:02:25 (19 sec)

Whether it's... [Applause] Whether it's we're going to cut Social Security because that's what they're saying. Every Republican wants to do a big number on Social Security. They want to do it on Medicare.

Donald Trump

00:02:25 - 00:02:41 (16 sec)

They want to do it on Medicaid. And we can't do that. And it's not fair to the people that have been paying in for years. And now all of a sudden they want to be cut because the Republicans and the Democrats don't know how to bring jobs back to our country.

Donald Trump

00:02:41 - 00:03:01 (20 sec)

If I run and if I win, I will bring jobs back, believe me. We'll bring them back from China where they're ripping us like you've never seen. You know China just did a big cut on their currency. They're knocking the hell -- they're manipulating it to a level they've never done it before.

Donald Trump

00:03:01 - 00:03:18 (17 sec)

Nobody thought they could do it. Nobody thought they could get away with it again, and they're doing it. And it's taking tremendous business away from the U.S. And what they're doing is they're making it impossible for our companies to compete, impossible.

Donald Trump

00:03:18 - 00:03:34 (16 sec)

A friend of mine, and as you know, Japan has backed -- they're doing the big devaluations. Is a terrific guy, a great contractor, he's an excavator. He went out and he called me the other day. He's very upset.

Donald Trump

00:03:34 - 00:04:03 (29 sec)

I said what's your problem? He said I just put in a huge order for Komatsu tractors. I said why did you do that? He said because Japan has so strongly devalued the yen, so strongly that it is impossible for Caterpillar to compete. And he was very, very sad. And he's going to have now Komatsus, big problem.

Donald Trump

00:04:03 - 00:04:20 (17 sec)

Another friend of mine, great guy, manufacturer, you know they talk about free trade. There's no free trade. Free trade's good if you have smart people on your side. But it's a disaster if you have stupid people or incompetent people, which is what we have.

Donald Trump

00:04:20 - 00:04:37 (17 sec)

So a friend of mine, big manufacturer, he goes out and he's trying to get business with China. And he calls me goes, it's impossible. I can't get my product into China. And they want to charge a huge surtax.

Donald Trump

00:04:37 - 00:05:01 (24 sec)

It's going to be like massive, like 42 percent. I said does the world know this? What China's doing is incredible. What Mexico, that's the new China, is doing to this country at the border where it's like a [Inaudible], people pour across. What Mexico is doing is outrageous that we don't do something about it.

Donald Trump

00:05:01 - 00:05:22 (21 sec)

[Applause] And Mexico is not our friend. Now, Ford Motor just announced a $2.5 billion plant in Mexico. How does that help us? They make the cars, they employ Mexicans. They make the cars and they send them over to our country, no tax, no nothing.

Donald Trump

00:05:22 - 00:05:41 (19 sec)

That means we're not going to make those cars in our country. Two weeks ago, front page of the Wall Street Journal, big story on Mexico taking a tremendous -- a billion-dollar car plant out of Tennessee. It was going to go to Tennessee, big German company. Was going to go to Tennessee, was all set.

Donald Trump

00:05:41 - 00:05:57 (16 sec)

And then out of the blue, Mexico swiped it. They took it. They gave them all sorts of things. And now it's being built in Mexico. More people employed. And then they treat us like garbage at the border. They laugh at us. They laugh at us.

Donald Trump

00:05:57 - 00:06:10 (13 sec)

So Mexico you have to be very careful with because Mexico is treating us like a bunch of babies because we're led by people that truly don't know what they're doing. They're rank amateurs... [Applause] They're rank amateurs. And I will say this.

Donald Trump

00:06:10 - 00:06:25 (15 sec)

Whether it's Benghazi, whether it's IRS, whether it's any of the many things that you see that are going wrong with our country. The executive orders are an outrage. We have a president that can't lead. He said the hell with it.

Donald Trump

00:06:25 - 00:06:37 (12 sec)

I'm not going to do this anymore. I want to rest and I want to do other things, including going out to play golf. This guy played hundreds of rounds of golf. I shouldn't complain.

Donald Trump

00:06:37 - 00:06:50 (13 sec)

I own golf courses all over the world. So I shouldn't be angry at him. It's good, except it's not good because he should be doing other things. But he signs executive orders because he's given up.

Donald Trump

00:06:50 - 00:07:11 (21 sec)

He can't convince anybody to do anything. So he's given up. And he signs on immigration and on other things. You have not seen the last of it. Now, we have a court system that's pretty messy. It takes a long time. So he figures I'll be out of office by the time this stuff is solved. And it's a real, real problem.

Donald Trump

00:07:11 - 00:07:27 (16 sec)

So I know you have people running. And I've done really nicely in the polls when they put me in polls. But everybody thinks, oh Trump is not running, he's not running, why would he run? They think I have a great life. They think I have a wonderful company.

Donald Trump

00:07:27 - 00:07:36 (9 sec)

I'm not going to run. Why would I do that? Why would I do this one instead? I mean they think he's having a good time. This is not fun. Believe me, I love you people.

Donald Trump

00:07:36 - 00:07:56 (20 sec)

I'm not having a great time. It's great. But I'm not having a great time. I can think of other things, many other things where I could have a good time. I love my company. I have a terrific time running it. But I have children that can take over and I have executives that are great. And they can run that country.

Donald Trump

00:07:56 - 00:08:20 (24 sec)

And I will tell you, politicians are never going to solve the problems we have because the problems we have are so deep seeded, and they're so intractable that a politician doesn't have a clue. For instance, you've heard a lot of people over the past few days. Nobody's talking about China taking our jobs, nobody. Nobody's talking about our jobs are leaving this country.

Donald Trump

00:08:20 - 00:08:29 (9 sec)

I mean outside of nursing homes and other things, we're not going to have any jobs I this country. We're not going to have anything. And I know how to bring it back. And I know the people to do it.

Donald Trump

00:08:29 - 00:08:51 (22 sec)

If it's not me -- I wrote the book The Art of the Deal I want 10 percent. [Laughter] But, we have people that have to read the book because they don't understand. And when they honor the heads of China and they give them balls in the White House, and they put up a tent because they don't have a ballroom because -- this is crazy. You know the story.

Donald Trump

00:08:51 - 00:09:06 (15 sec)

I offered them a ballroom, over $100 million. I called David Axelrod. I said, David, I see you have all the heads of state and all the biggest people from China, and you're in a crummy tent. And it's an old, broken tent that I guarantee they paid a fortune for to put up on the lawn, guarantee.

Donald Trump

00:09:06 - 00:09:25 (19 sec)

More money -- the guy made his money probably 10 times over from one event. I said I will build, free -- now because it's the White House you know we have landmark and little things like that that I do. I do a lot of it, Old Post Office. I'm doing a lot of different things.

Donald Trump

00:09:25 - 00:09:44 (19 sec)

I renovated Grand Central Terminal. I renovated Plaza Hotel. I know about -- I said we'll go out and get the best five architects, American architects by the way, only American architects... [Applause] I said, and we'll have five proposals, and I will build you an incredible ballroom for the White House.

Donald Trump

00:09:44 - 00:09:56 (12 sec)

Cost me over $100 million, minimum $100 million. And I will build you the most beautiful ballroom you have ever seen. We'll all decide. We'll have a charrette, what's called a charrette.

Donald Trump

00:09:56 - 00:10:07 (11 sec)

And we're all going to decide which is the most appropriate one. And it'll be beautiful. And I'm going to build it, and it'll be a great thing for the country. You won't have to use tents anymore.

Donald Trump

00:10:07 - 00:10:24 (17 sec)

Not that we should be honoring the people from China because they do nothing but rip us off, but let's just use them as an example. [Laughter] So, I said I will spend over $100 million, whatever it costs. And I'm going to build it free of charge, no charge, nothing. You're going to pick the one you like.

Donald Trump

00:10:24 - 00:10:47 (23 sec)

I never heard from them. That's the way it is. Never heard from them, never called back, never said, oh gee. Actually, he liked the idea. Then I never heard from him. So, that's emblematic of the way our country is. That's emblematic of the way it is going to be for a long time if we keep having politicians in there. So just to finish -- and I'm going to do a couple of questions.

Donald Trump

00:10:47 - 00:11:04 (17 sec)

But if I decide to run, and I think I'm going to surprise a lot of people, a lot of people. If I decide to run and if I win, I think we'll have a great chance, a great chance. I will make this country great again believe me, and no politicians going to do it. That I can I tell you with surety.

Donald Trump

00:11:04 - 00:11:18 (14 sec)

So, with all the people you're listening to, you can forget it because politicians... [Laughter] ... are all talk. They're no action. I dealt with them all my life. It's really easy to make money against politicians, believe me. [Laughter] And we will make this country great again. Let's have a couple of questions.

Donald Trump

00:11:18 - 00:11:27 (9 sec)

Go ahead. Thank you. Thank you. [Applause] Thank you. [Applause] Thank you. Thank you very much. [Applause] OK. Yes, ma'am?

Question

00:11:27 - 00:11:29 (2 sec)

[Off Microphone]?

Donald Trump

00:11:29 - 00:11:30 (1 sec)

Sure. We have a mic for you. Go ahead.

Question

00:11:30 - 00:11:37 (7 sec)

Thank you. I'd just like to know if you think you can beat Hillary Clinton.

Donald Trump

00:11:37 - 00:12:13 (36 sec)

I do. I know Hillary very well. I do. I can beat her. And I think most other people will not. I just -- I'll be honest with you. I like Mitt Romney. He's a nice person. But I was very, very disappointed in the performance of Mitt Romney because the last month, month-and-a-half he disappeared. And I called. I said why aren't you out there in the rain shaking hands with governors? Or in some cases kissing governors, right?

Donald Trump

00:12:13 - 00:12:37 (24 sec)

But shaking hands with governors, why aren't you doing it? And he said well, a bah bah bah bah bah. And he didn't do it. He failed. And Obama, give him credit, he was on Jay Leno. He was on David Letterman. He was on every show, every show. And Mitt Romney wasn't. I remember Sean Hannity was telling me, good guy, he said I can't get -- I can't get Romney on the show.

Donald Trump

00:12:37 - 00:12:46 (9 sec)

Now Sean's a positive force. How can you not get him on the show? But he couldn't get him on the show. And I was very, very disappointed in Mitt Romney because something happened. You know I sports they call it they choke.

Donald Trump

00:12:46 - 00:12:59 (13 sec)

Some people choke. That's why when Mitt was thinking about running everyone said he's not going to run. I said really? He's all over the country endorsing senators -- let me tell you.

Donald Trump

00:12:59 - 00:13:12 (13 sec)

If you're not going to run, you're sitting home watching television. So he was going to run. And I was very strong I didn't want him to run because he choked. And you can't allow that to happen again.

Donald Trump

00:13:12 - 00:13:27 (15 sec)

If I got the nomination I would put up a fight like nobody's ever put up because we have to save the country. Our country's in deep trouble. You know, we owe $18 trillion... [Applause] Thank you. [Applause]

Donald Trump

00:13:27 - 00:13:54 (27 sec)

We owe $18 trillion. It's going to soon be $22 trillion, when it hits $24 trillion that's the magic number. That's called the point of no return. A couple of you folks from the Wharton School of Finance, I see you nodding. You don't even understand. $24 trillion is the point of no return. It's going to be very hard to come back. And with Hillary it's basically four more years of Obama. And you can't allow it to happen again. OK? Thank you.

Question

00:13:54 - 00:13:55 (1 sec)

[Off Microphone].

Donald Trump

00:13:55 - 00:13:57 (2 sec)

Question

00:13:57 - 00:13:59 (2 sec)

Donald Trump

00:13:59 - 00:13:59 (0 sec)

Question

00:13:59 - 00:14:04 (5 sec)

I guess the question I have is, obviously you don't care much for politicians...

Donald Trump

00:14:04 - 00:14:09 (5 sec)

Not too much. No, I do. I like them. I make a fortune off politicians, why wouldn't I like them? [Laughter] They're easy.

Question

00:14:09 - 00:14:17 (8 sec)

I understand. But if you're going to look for a running mate, where would you look for a running mate? What kind of a person would you look for a running mate?

Donald Trump

00:14:17 - 00:14:22 (5 sec)

Well, sadly, I'll probably pick a politician, but hopefully I'll be around. [Laughter] OK?

Question

00:14:22 - 00:14:26 (4 sec)

And in your cabinet I'm assuming that you would go with businessmen like yourself.

Donald Trump

00:14:26 - 00:14:38 (12 sec)

Well, it's actually a great question. So, we have people negotiating for us that are diplomats and people that don't know how to negotiate. You know negotiation is a great art, a great skill. And we have people that they don't have a clue.

Donald Trump

00:14:38 - 00:14:52 (14 sec)

And the other night, and I must say, and I like her, I think she's a -- Caroline Kennedy. I saw her on 60 Minutes. I know, but I saw her on 60 Minutes and it was an amazing piece because they said how did you get this job? She said well, I was looking for something and I went to the White House.

Donald Trump

00:14:52 - 00:15:09 (17 sec)

This is true. And I asked do you have anything? They said hah, well how would you like to be the ambassador to Japan? She said really? Could I do that? They said yes, how would you like that? Now, I'm not knocking her. I think she's nice. She's actually a good friend.

Donald Trump

00:15:09 - 00:15:25 (16 sec)

I mean Ivanka likes her. And when Ivanka likes somebody that means she's good, OK, because Ivanka's a great person. But my daughter likes her. I mean she's nice. But she's not talented at what you have to do. And I see Abe and I see all the people from Japan. I know some of them. I've dealt with these people for a long time.

Donald Trump

00:15:25 - 00:15:35 (10 sec)

I deal with a lot of them, Bank of China. The biggest banks in the world are in my building. I deal with the Chinese. I made a fortune. I mean you'll see that if I put in my statements. I made a fortune against China.

Donald Trump

00:15:35 - 00:15:45 (10 sec)

I say against, not with, against, hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars. But I see all these guys. And on 60 Minutes they're really pushing her around to say oh, come over here. And she's doing all this stuff.

Donald Trump

00:15:45 - 00:15:54 (9 sec)

Then she talks about trade. She doesn't know about trade. What I would do, to answer your question, I'd go to Wall Street. I know all of the killers on Wall Street.

Donald Trump

00:15:54 - 00:16:21 (27 sec)

I know the great ones. I know the ones that are highly overrated like some of the media's overrated. And some are great. And some are terrible, by the way. But some are overrated. But I know all the great deal people. And believe me, I know them. And there are plenty that are overrated. And I know the bad ones. But I know the best. And some of them are names you've never heard of. And I'd get these guys to go and negotiate. I'd say you've got China, make a good deal.

Donald Trump

00:16:21 - 00:16:48 (27 sec)

China doesn't have a chance. This isn't with Caroline. This isn't with -- these are the best. And you know we have the best in the world, we don't use them. We don't use our best, our brightest and our sharpest, and it's a big, big problem for our country. [Applause] And just so you know, with countries like China and others, especially the Asian countries where these countries, they're -- this isn't based on niceness.

Donald Trump

00:16:48 - 00:16:58 (10 sec)

This isn't based on oh gee, they have a wonderful personality or they helped somebody or they gave campaign contributions and therefore they got a job, which is the way most of it happens, frankly.

Donald Trump

00:16:58 - 00:17:13 (15 sec)

But this isn't about that. This is -- in those countries they take the smartest, smartest, smartest, the one who is winning, winning, winning. And that's what we have to deal with. So we can't have these babies that don't have a clue negotiating deals.

Donald Trump

00:17:13 - 00:17:29 (16 sec)

We have all the cards against China and other countries because without us they would have a depression the likes of which you've never seen. Believe me. We have the cards. We just have people that don't know that we have the cards. It's like in -- with us.

Donald Trump

00:17:29 - 00:17:40 (11 sec)

How do you cut off sanctions and then go into a negotiation with Iran? What you do is double or triple the sanctions and go in. That's why they're laughing at us. I mean they go back and they're dancing in the streets. This guy's become the hero.

Donald Trump

00:17:40 - 00:17:54 (14 sec)

And they're saying everything we said is a lie. But none of this stuff is going to happen. We have a great agreement. You'd think after seeing -- if somebody did that to me I'd say you know what, maybe you're right. The deal is off. I can't believe that they're so brazen.

Donald Trump

00:17:54 - 00:18:09 (15 sec)

They go in and I'd say you're fired. [Laughter] [Applause] You'd think after seeing -- if somebody/// This guy. Thank you. [Applause] That's very nice. Thank you. [Applause] But how do you do that? How do you negotiate with people that make a deal and then they do that? Terrible. OK. Another question, then we'll call it quits.

Donald Trump

00:18:09 - 00:18:15 (6 sec)

Yes, sir? Go ahead. Go ahead.

Question

00:18:15 - 00:18:20 (5 sec)

Several years ago you were going to build a restaurant down at Jones Beach in New York.

Donald Trump

00:18:20 - 00:18:22 (2 sec)

Question

00:18:22 - 00:18:26 (4 sec)

And our wonderful governor gave you a miserable, miserable time...

Donald Trump

00:18:26 - 00:18:26 (0 sec)

Question

00:18:26 - 00:18:27 (1 sec)

And I understand...

Donald Trump

00:18:27 - 00:18:28 (1 sec)

Well, he was OK. But go ahead.

Question

00:18:28 - 00:18:37 (9 sec)

I understand why you pulled out of that deal. But what concerns me is there were a lot of people on the island who were fighting for you.

Donald Trump

00:18:37 - 00:18:38 (1 sec)

They always wanted it.

Question

00:18:38 - 00:18:41 (3 sec)

But after Hurricane Irene and Super Storm...

Donald Trump

00:18:41 - 00:18:42 (1 sec)

Hurricane Sandy.

Question

00:18:42 - 00:18:44 (2 sec)

Well, between the two of them...

Donald Trump

00:18:44 - 00:18:44 (0 sec)

Question

00:18:44 - 00:18:47 (3 sec)

... quite clearly the basement of that building would've been...

Donald Trump

00:18:47 - 00:19:07 (20 sec)

I think it would've been good. But you know I'll tell you what happened. I was going to do it. I was all set to start construction. And then Hurricane Sandy came along and wiped out Jones Beach. Wiped it out where you wouldn't have been able -- you weren't even allowing cars and you know the whole thing. And frankly, my insurance company offered me a deal that I couldn't refuse. Does that make sense? Because I'm a business -- I talk turkey.

Donald Trump

00:19:07 - 00:19:14 (7 sec)

They offered me a deal. I said well, that's pretty good. That's better than I could do if I build it. Why should I build it? OK. Does that make sense?

Donald Trump

00:19:14 - 00:19:34 (20 sec)

But, Gov. -- I'll tell you. Cuomo, I'm not a big fan of what's going on with fracking and all the things that they're screwing up in New York. But they actually treated me. They wanted me to do that deal. But when Hurricane Sandy came along I decided not to do it because Jones Beach was just wiped out. And as you know, it still hasn't recovered. How about we'll take one more because that's a very local question? We'll do one more question.

Donald Trump

00:19:34 - 00:19:37 (3 sec)

Question

00:19:37 - 00:19:38 (1 sec)

[Off Microphone]...

Donald Trump

00:19:38 - 00:19:39 (1 sec)

Nice looking guy.

Question

00:19:39 - 00:19:40 (1 sec)

[Off Microphone]...

Donald Trump

00:19:40 - 00:19:41 (1 sec)

Go ahead, scream it.

Question

00:19:41 - 00:19:43 (2 sec)

Donald Trump

00:19:43 - 00:20:01 (18 sec)

Thank you. That's what I want to hear. [Laughter] Thank you. I couldn't have asked for a better question. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much. I really appreciate your enthusiasm. The crowd, you're terrific. And we're going to make this country great again. Thank you very much. [Applause] Thank you. Thank you. [Applause] Thank you. [Applause]