Transcript - Remarks: Donald Trump Addresses Coast Guard on Thanksgiving - November 23, 2017 | Factba.se

Gene Gibson

00:00:00 - 00:00:14 (15 sec)

Thanks, everyone. Mr. President, it is my honor to introduce to you to the crew of Coast Guard Station Lake Worth Inlet and the Marines safety and security teams from Miami, Florida and Kings Bay, Georgia.

Gene Gibson

00:00:14 - 00:00:20 (6 sec)

I'd like to thank you for everything that you've brought in for us today. This is quite an honor to have you here, sir, and the floor is yours.

Donald Trump

00:00:20 - 00:00:21 (1 sec)

Thank you very much.

Gene Gibson

00:00:21 - 00:00:22 (1 sec)

Donald Trump

00:00:22 - 00:00:48 (26 sec)

I appreciate it. It is an honor to be here, I have to tell you. You know, the Coast Guard, always respected. But if you were looking at it as a brand, there's no brand that went up more than the Coast Guard, with what happened in Texas. And I would say, in particular, Texas has been incredible. You saved 16,000 lives -- nobody knows that -- 16,000 lives.

Donald Trump

00:00:48 - 00:01:13 (25 sec)

In fact, when I first heard the number, I said, you mean like, six hundred? Five hundred? Sixteen thousand lives in Texas. So, as bad as that hurricane was -- and that was a bad one. That was a big water job, right? It kept coming in and going back. They couldn't get rid of it. They've never seen -- I guess it was the biggest water dump they've ever seen. But when you get 16,000 -- good to see this group of people. [Laughter]

Donald Trump

00:01:13 - 00:01:26 (12 sec)

But when you do 16,000, that's really something. And then Florida hit, and you know that one very well. You knew that one pretty well, right? The job you did in Florida. And then, Puerto Rico.

Donald Trump

00:01:26 - 00:01:52 (26 sec)

And I really mean that. I think that there is no brand, of any kind -- I'm not just talking about a military brand -- that has gone up more than the Coast Guard. Incredible people. You've done an incredible job. And I love coming in here and doing this with you today. I think it's -- well, we have to keep you very well fed. [Laughter] This is good stuff. But it's an honor. And the First Lady, you know --

Melania Trump

00:01:52 - 00:01:55 (3 sec)

Happy Thanksgiving.

Audience Members

00:01:55 - 00:01:56 (2 sec)

Happy Thanksgiving.

Donald Trump

00:01:56 - 00:02:17 (21 sec)

And we went together to Texas, and we saw what you were doing. And you just followed that storm, right next to that storm. And you just -- you saved so many people. I still haven't figured out how people take their boats out into a hurricane. Someday you'll explain it. Gene was just telling me that they actually do it to save their boat, in many cases.

Donald Trump

00:02:17 - 00:02:35 (18 sec)

But they're not thinking about their life, they're thinking about their boats. And, I don't know -- I mean, they go out in a boat and they think, I guess, they're -- you know, they've got a wonderful boat, they've had it for years, it can weather anything. And then they have 25-foot waves pushing out -- and that would be the end of them.

Donald Trump

00:02:35 - 00:02:46 (11 sec)

So you saved a lot of people. And I just want to thank you on behalf of the whole country and on behalf of us. What a job you've done, and thank you all very much. And I'll also take questions if you have them.

Donald Trump

00:02:46 - 00:02:54 (8 sec)

Now, should we leave the media here to do the questions? [Laughter] Or should we tell them to leave? You know what, it's Thanksgiving, so let's let the media stay. Okay?

Donald Trump

00:02:54 - 00:03:14 (19 sec)

Anybody have any questions about the country, how we're doing, or any of those things? I love it when you don't. [Laughter] See, that means you're doing great. I love that. That's the greatest. The press, I know, doesn't have any questions. If you do, we won't take them, but that's all right. [Laughter] The press has plenty of questions.

Donald Trump

00:03:14 - 00:03:38 (24 sec)

But the country is doing really well. Stock market, all-time high. This is all good stuff. I just spoke to a lot of your friends in Afghanistan and in Iraq. We spoke to the USS Monterey -- great ship, great missile ship. We spoke to a lot of different folks from the Air Force, the Army -- just now, a little while ago at Mar-a-Lago.

Donald Trump

00:03:38 - 00:03:53 (16 sec)

The telecommunications systems, what you can do now, we go live to Iraq, live to Afghanistan. I mean, it's really incredible. But I told them our country is doing great. And you folks are fighting so hard and working so hard.

Donald Trump

00:03:53 - 00:03:57 (4 sec)

And it's nice that you're working for something that's really starting to work.

Donald Trump

00:03:57 - 00:04:08 (11 sec)

We've cut back so much on regulation and all the waste, and all the abuse. And the stock market on Friday hit an all-time high. The highest it's ever been, ever.

Donald Trump

00:04:08 - 00:04:23 (15 sec)

Your whole, long life, the stock market is higher than it's ever been. And that means your 401(k), all of the things that you have, whether it's -- even if you're in the military, you have a country that's really starting to turn.

Donald Trump

00:04:23 - 00:04:40 (17 sec)

We want to have a strong country. We want to have a country where I can buy new Coast Guard cutters and not have to worry about it, all right? And that's what we're doing, we're building up wealth so that we can take care of our protection. And we're ordering tremendous amounts of new equipment.

Donald Trump

00:04:40 - 00:04:55 (15 sec)

We're at $700 billion for the military. And, you know, they were cutting back for years. They just kept cutting, cutting, cutting the military. And you got lean, to put it nicely. It was depleted, was the word. And now it's changing.

Donald Trump

00:04:55 - 00:05:08 (14 sec)

The Navy, I can tell you, we're ordering ships. With the Air Force, we're ordering a lot of planes, in particular the F-35 fighter jet, which is, you know, almost like an invisible fighter. I was asking the Air Force guys, I said, how good is this plane?

Donald Trump

00:05:08 - 00:05:27 (18 sec)

They said, well, sir, you can't see it. I said, yeah, but in a fight -- you know, a fight -- like I watch in the movies -- they fight, they're fighting. How good is this? They say, well, it wins every time because the enemy cannot see it. Even if it's right next to it, it can't see it. I said, that helps. [Laughter] That's a good thing.

Donald Trump

00:05:27 - 00:05:42 (16 sec)

But, I mean, we have equipment that -- nobody has the equipment that we have. And it's sad when we're selling our equipment to other countries but we're not buying it ourselves, okay? But now that's all changed. And the stuff I said -- the stuff that we have is always a little bit better too.

Donald Trump

00:05:42 - 00:06:03 (21 sec)

You know, when we sell to other countries, even if they're allies -- you never know about an ally. An ally can turn. You understand. You're going to find that out. But I always say, make ours a little bit better. You know, give it that extra speed. A little bit -- keep a little bit -- keep about 10 percent in the bag, because what we have -- nobody has like what we have, and that's what we're doing.

Donald Trump

00:06:03 - 00:06:19 (16 sec)

But we're really proud of the Coast Guard. And I'm very proud -- I walked in today and Gene said, the day I got elected, the following morning they were putting up the statement that I made right on your front door -- right on your glass.

Donald Trump

00:06:19 - 00:06:38 (19 sec)

And I came in and the first thing I noticed, of course -- I said, wow, look at that. And I said, did you put that up just for me because I happened to be coming here today? And you did that the first day, so that tells me something. That tells me something. Thank you. Special guys. Let's go, fellas, come on. Let's get up here. Let's get up here.

Gene Gibson

00:06:38 - 00:06:41 (3 sec)

Okay, help yourself.

Donald Trump

00:06:41 - 00:07:00 (19 sec)

This is good stuff. You know this is made by... thank you. look at the muscles on this guy. Can I beat him in an arm wrestling contest? What are my chances of an arm wrestling contest? I think I'd be in trouble. Trouble. I think I'd be in trouble.

Donald Trump

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

Thank you, ma'am, you take care. Thank you very much. Look at all these guys. They're in such good shape. What's going on here? And you know what? Keep it that way. You're in such good shape. Thank you.