Transcript - Speech: Donald Trump Speaks at a GOP Fundraiser in Sioux Falls, South Dakota - September 7, 2018 | Factba.se

Donald Trump

00:00:00 - 00:00:32 (32 sec)

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. We'll get back to Kristi, but I have to just say this. She just walked off the stage. She is so highly respected in Washington, D.C., which is a very swampy place, very... [Laughter] ...very evil kind of a place in certain ways. But I have to tell you, she is respected by everybody. She has done a fantastic job. And you're going to have a great governor.

Donald Trump

00:00:32 - 00:00:48 (16 sec)

And speaking of great governors, Dennis Daugaard is here. Where's Dennis? Where is he? He has been a great, great governor. Thank you. Dennis, thank you. Dennis and Linda, thank you very much.

Donald Trump

00:00:48 - 00:01:11 (23 sec)

And Senator Mike Rounds. Where's Mike, Mike? Where are you, Mike? Thank you, Mike. What a job? And Jean. Thank you, Mike. Mike has been a tremendous help. You know, we have a very, very tall wonderful senator here. [Laughter] We know our -- our guy, right? Where's John, John Thune? Who is...

Donald Trump

00:01:11 - 00:01:36 (24 sec)

...thank you, John. Thank you for being here. Mike and John have been so helpful to all of the things. We're going to go over them. But all of the things that we've done, those two have been there every inch of the way, and we really appreciate it. John, Mike, thank you very much. Appreciate it. Thank you very much. Fantastic. And, you know, you have Dusty Johnson.

Donald Trump

00:01:36 - 00:02:05 (30 sec)

Where's Dusty? Where is Dusty? Where is Dusty? We got to get our two cents in here. Come on, Dusty. Act large. There he is. Raise that hand, Dusty. Going to be your next congressman, right, Dusty? Thank you very much, Dusty, for coming. We appreciate it. And somebody that's been very helpful to me all the way along the line and been really great and running with Kristi, they run as a team, and that's Larry Rhoden.

Donald Trump

00:02:05 - 00:02:43 (38 sec)

Larry? Thank you. Where is Larry? Thank you, Larry. Great job. That's a good team. I would say maybe it could even be a great team, Larry. So, really good. I -- we appreciate it very much. We just want to thank -- you have some great folks in South Dakota, and I wanted to come here and just pay my respects. What the heck? I mean, it's not that far, right? And you were very, very good to me on that very special day in November... almost two years ago.

Donald Trump

00:02:43 - 00:03:11 (28 sec)

Can you imagine? Can you believe it? Can you believe it? It's the -- how time flies. Thank you. I love that banner. Look at that. Hold that up, yeah. Thank you. Thank you. I appreciate it very much. So Kristi is in a race. I'm here for Kristi, and we're all here for Kristi. She's in a race. It's going to be a tough race. But she is somebody that's going to really take care of the folks that are in this room and in this state.

Donald Trump

00:03:11 - 00:03:30 (19 sec)

And I've done a little research on Billie Sutton. [Laughter] And I feel I had to. And Billie proposed hiking the South Dakota sales tax by $128 million. That's not good ... [Laughter] ...that's not good. That's not a positive, right? [Booing]

Donald Trump

00:03:30 - 00:03:44 (13 sec)

You know, these tax hikers, they're not positives. By the way, while I'm at it, Kristi was one of the people most instrumental in getting us the massive tax reduction that you got, and it was really...

Donald Trump

00:03:44 - 00:04:17 (34 sec)

...really good. The tax cut, remember the Tax Cut Cut Cut plan? They said what should we name the plan? I said the Tax Cut Cut Cut ... [Laughter] ...because I couldn't understand they couldn't pass it since Ronald Reagan. Ours is the biggest ever passed, and they couldn't get anything passed. So Mike Rounds and John Thune, they came up, and we were talking and we're all together, a whole group of us. And I said, I don't understand how you can't pass tax cuts. Could somebody explain?

Donald Trump

00:04:17 - 00:04:39 (21 sec)

And then I looked at bills and everything was the reform -- tax reform. I said, But reform could mean tax increases, right? I said, No wonder you couldn't get anything passed, nobody knew what was going on. And I said, What would you like it to be? I'd say, The Tax Cut Cut Cut bill of... [Laughter] ...and they didn't like that.

Donald Trump

00:04:39 - 00:05:24 (45 sec)

They thought that was a little hokey, so we didn't. But we call it the Tax Cut and Reform or the Tax Cut and JOBS that worked out quite well. We got it done. But I will say this, we didn't get -- I don't think we got a Democrat to vote for it. We got nobody to vote for it. And it's one of the things that's making our country tick, that regulation cutting. So, Billie wants to take the taxpayers and have them pay for health care benefits for illegal aliens. I don't like that, I don't. [Booing]

Donald Trump

00:05:24 - 00:05:46 (22 sec)

Somehow that doesn't work. How about this guy in California? He's running for governor of California and he wants to have open borders so that the whole world can come in. And when they come in he wants to give them free education, free medical, free health care. He wants to give free everything. I said, But the whole world is going to go to California.

Donald Trump

00:05:46 - 00:05:57 (11 sec)

And they're going to be able to walk in and say, I want my health care. Now, you might have 500, 600, 700 million people. We could double our population in about two months ... [Laughter]

Donald Trump

00:05:57 - 00:06:12 (15 sec)

...of the United States. They'll say we just went from 350 million people to 700 million people, and it all took place over a period of three months. And they all live in California, and what a mess ... [Laughter]

Donald Trump

00:06:12 - 00:06:37 (24 sec)

...what a mess. I don't get it. CROWD: Build the wall! TRUMP: Yeah. Oh, we're building the wall. We're building the wall, not only building it, we've already started it. We've started the wall. $1.6 billion last year, $1.6 billion this year, we're rapidly in San Diego and other parts of the country. We're picking the locations that are worse. Oh, by the way, it works so easily, it works. They say walls don't work.

Donald Trump

00:06:37 - 00:07:05 (28 sec)

Tell Israel that the wall didn't work. They put up their wall... which is a series of very strong fences. I think they have like one percent coming across. They have nobody coming across. They work and they have to work because we are being inundated. We really have the worst laws. You know, I've said it a lot -- history of any country. We have laws -- catch and release.

Donald Trump

00:07:05 - 00:07:37 (32 sec)

You catch them, and then you release them, and you tell them come back to court. Let's see. We can get you a hearing in three years. Please be back in three years. [Laughter] And they don't understand what you're saying because they don't speak the language. [Laughter] And many of them are greeted by lawyers at the border. You know that right? You know you have lawyers standing at the border saying, Repeat after me. Read the statement.

Donald Trump

00:07:37 - 00:08:15 (39 sec)

I have been abused. I need safety. It is for my personal health. Oh, OK, congratulations. You've just become a citizen of the United States of America. I have to tell you folks, this country what they're doing is crazy. What's happening, it's crazy. It's not rational. I think they're so -- they're so -- and I say it they're so incensed and so wild over the fact that we easily won an election that they were expected to win that that they're no longer...

Donald Trump

00:08:15 - 00:08:50 (35 sec)

No, they're no longer rational. They become lunatics. [Laughter] Have you seen -- so we have a great judge named Kavanaugh and... and hopefully in a short period of time like October 1st, but hopefully we'll give him a few days earlier than that, but opening of the Supreme Court he'll be sitting there very proudly. But he's a great gentleman. He is a great scholar, a great mind, great intellect and a nice person.

Donald Trump

00:08:50 - 00:09:20 (30 sec)

And the screaming, and the shouting, and the -- the way they've treated him in the court system and the system itself is horrible. Now, they're all running for president, I hope, I hope. [Laughter] We dream about them. [Laughter] We dream about them. No, but their nastiness, you heard the statements and the shouting. You heard all of the different statements.

Donald Trump

00:09:20 - 00:10:01 (41 sec)

Did somebody say Spartacus? [Laughter] Did you look at our beautiful movie Spartacus with Douglas, right, Kirk Douglas. He's not Kirk Douglas. [Laughter] That is not -- now Kirk Douglas I could be worried about. [Laughter] That was Kirk Douglas at a very good point in his life and they showed him, and then they showed Cory Booker. And I said -- I said, That's not Kirk Douglas. [Laughter] But now what's happened has been crazy when you look at it. And it's bad for our country.

Donald Trump

00:10:01 - 00:10:31 (30 sec)

There's no reason for it, but they -- they really have gone -- they've gone totally over the edge. And you can't do the things they want to do. It doesn't work -- it doesn't work for them. I was with a young aide today. We were all together in a big room. And I said, You know, I want to ask just one simple question. I could ask it of Mike and John. I could ask this question -- I've been asking this question for a long time.

Donald Trump

00:10:31 - 00:11:00 (29 sec)

We've got a country that's doing unbelievably well. It's the greatest economy in the history of our time. And President Obama made a speech. Now, if that doesn't get you out to vote for the midterms, nothing will. [Laughter] But he made a speech today. They said, What did you think of his speech? I said, Well, I did start watching it, but sadly I fell asleep. [Laughter] That seems to be the quote of the day, by the way, which is -- which I sort of figured.

Donald Trump

00:11:00 - 00:11:33 (32 sec)

[Laughter] But -- but I said we have the greatest economy in our history. We have the greatest job numbers just about in our history. You look at African-American. You look at any -- any -- any statistic you look at. In fact, the one I'm doing the worst with is women because they're only the best in sixty-five years. Can you imagine that? Women -- and within two weeks I think you'll be historic numbers also. But unemployment is the lowest has been for many, many decades.

Donald Trump

00:11:33 - 00:11:54 (21 sec)

And our military is soon going to be stronger than it's ever been. It was depleted. It was -- I'm telling you our military was a mess. We were having fighter jets and planes where the father was a pilot. He had retired and the son was flying the same plane. And they were buying -- they were buying parts from bringing them in from the desert, you know, where they parked the old planes.

Donald Trump

00:11:54 - 00:12:11 (17 sec)

I said, No more, folks. We have the most beautiful planes on order that you've ever seen. You know... we make -- which, by the way, this is the only time the jobs are much less important, but we make all of the -- we make the greatest military equipment in the world, greatest fighter jets, the greatest planes generally, greatest rockets and missiles.

Donald Trump

00:12:11 - 00:12:34 (23 sec)

We make the greatest military equipment in the world. We make missiles that can knock missiles out of the air from thousands of miles away. You figure that one. OK, just figure that one. And they have a 96 percent. If you shoot two of them up, which the company likes, but if you shoot two of them up ... [Laughter] ...you have a hundred percent, but that cost you another $5 million so you try and do it with one.

Donald Trump

00:12:34 - 00:13:04 (30 sec)

[Laughter] But we have -- we have the greatest talent in the world, and it all means jobs. But jobs there, I don't even think about because we need a strong military especially in these times. And we're building up every aspect of our military, including our nuclear arsenals. I hate to do it, but we have to be stronger than anybody. You know, I hate to do it. But you see what's going on in the world. And by the way, we had some very, very strong news from North Korea.

Donald Trump

00:13:04 - 00:13:27 (23 sec)

You know, what started off under President Obama very bit, and -- and under President Bush and under many presidents, but it started off very, very bad. And at the end of President Obama's term, he said that's the single biggest problem that our country has. And I was going to ask, you know, did anybody speak to him? [Laughter]

Donald Trump

00:13:27 - 00:13:39 (12 sec)

But we could have -- we could have -- we could have very easily have gone to war. And then it came to me, and they thought my rhetoric was far too tough, the fake news media. They said ... [Laughter]

Donald Trump

00:13:39 - 00:14:07 (28 sec)

...they said -- remember they said, He's going to start a nuclear war. He's going to start -- why is he saying these things? This -- I won't even use what I'm saying because now I get along with them so I don't want to bring up the statements. [Laughter] I did ask him, Did you ever hear of Elton John? He said, No. [Laughter] But he said, No. He said, No. But we got along really well, but -- but it was very interesting.

Donald Trump

00:14:07 - 00:14:31 (24 sec)

So they said, His -- his rhetoric is too tough. These people -- the fakers ... [Laughter] ...like these guys that write books and they put phony quotes out all over the -- totally phony quotes. I mean, totally like fraudulent books. They're like fraudulent books. But -- and then we're supposed to take it because we have lousy libel laws. Hey, Mike and John, could you do me a favor?

Donald Trump

00:14:31 - 00:14:54 (23 sec)

Create some libel laws that when people say stuff bad about you you can sue them, and if you're right you win? [Laughter] Would you do -- would you please -- would you please do that? Wouldn't when that be nice? Then you'd see books that would be really like, hey, Trump has done a great job, but we actually have a lot of good books. But when I was very tough on him, they said he's going to create war.

Donald Trump

00:14:54 - 00:15:18 (24 sec)

Well, just the opposite happened, just the opposite happened. And then when I was with Putin, they said, Trump was too nice. He was too nice. It was terrible. So one I was too tough, it's terrible. I'll cause war. The other one, I'm too nice, I'm too nice. I was nice. It's the first time I've ever been called too nice. [Laughter] It's incredible. My Putin meeting was one of the best meetings I've had.

Donald Trump

00:15:18 - 00:15:58 (40 sec)

It was a tremendous success, but they made it sound like it wasn't. What the hell do they know? We talked about ... [Laughter] Seriously. Right? Seriously, but it was a great success. It was a tremendous thing. We talked about the safety of Israel. We talked about Ukraine. We talked about Syria. We talked about a lot of things. And it was a very very productive meeting and -- you know, but you come home, you say, Gee, when I walked off the stage, everyone said that was a great, great meeting, great press conference. Like two hours later they said, The press didn't like it. I said, Tell me about it. Now if I was tough, you know, they wanted me to get into a boxing match.

Donald Trump

00:15:58 - 00:16:29 (31 sec)

They wanted me to do things that would have been so bad. And you know what? They wouldn't have liked that either. They would have said, That was terrible his performance. So, we have to understand where we are. We have a great country. We have done better than we've ever done before. And I did ask, I said, Tell me. Why would -- you know, a lot, not as many as this thinking, but a lot why, would they be so angry that I'm -- our country is strong again, that our economy is the best it's ever been, so many things are happening.

Donald Trump

00:16:29 - 00:16:36 (7 sec)

It's been so good. Crime is way down other than when you have a mayor like you have in Chicago, you know, that's ... [Laughter]

Donald Trump

00:16:36 - 00:16:45 (10 sec)

...oh, it's just bad policy. It's not -- said somebody could go in. Rudy Giuliani, in all fairness, we had a big problem in New York, he came in, he was mayor. He knocked the hell out of it and he did a great job...

Donald Trump

00:16:45 - 00:17:06 (21 sec)

...and it became one of the -- it went from one of the most unsafe to one of the safest cities, Rudy Giuliani. He was a great mayor. I mean, Rudy came in and he was tough as hell, and he stopped it. You know, it went from one of the most unsafe cities to the safe -- I guess, the safest large city in the country, in the world. It's incredible what happened.

Donald Trump

00:17:06 - 00:17:37 (31 sec)

You could do the same thing in Chicago very easily if you have the right person. You need the right person. But I said, Why is it that they wouldn't be happy? Don't they like success? And this young person said, Actually, Sir, they don't care about success, they really don't. They just want to sort of when you're taking what they had away from them. But we have to take it away because you look at these horrible trade deals that we had where they were taking our jobs, taking our companies, taking our factories.

Donald Trump

00:17:37 - 00:17:57 (19 sec)

We were closing up all over the country -- all over the country. And now we have tough, strong, smartly negotiated trade deals. We have to deal with Korea coming. That was the one where the deal was taken off my desk. Another phony -- so a deal -- I would fire a person so fast if he ever touches my desk. [Laughter]

Donald Trump

00:17:57 - 00:18:27 (31 sec)

That's the Resolute desk. [Laughter] Some guys going to take a deal off my desk, he took the South Korea trade deal off my desk, right? Oh, give me a break. In the meantime -- in the meantime, we're signing that deal in two weeks. We're waiting to sign it probably at the United Nations and it's a great deal. That was a Hillary Clinton special. That was a deal that was going to create 200,000 jobs.

Donald Trump

00:18:27 - 00:18:51 (24 sec)

And she was right, it did, it created 200,000 jobs for South Korea, not for us. [Laughter] Remember she was talking about, We will create 200,000 jobs. Nobody ever said where. They should have said, You mean, we assumed in the United States. Didn't work that way, it was a horrible deal. We made it into a fair deal. And that was the deal that was supposedly snatched -- snatched from my debt.

Donald Trump

00:18:51 - 00:19:22 (31 sec)

This Woodward book is a total -- it's a total fraud. These people. Libel laws, libel laws... libel laws, Mike and John, but we're doing great as a country, and I'm very proud of it. I -- I had written down just a couple of little things. We have -- by the way, we have John Kelly who just came out with a fantastic segment with the great General John Kelly. General Kelly came out with a great statement.

Donald Trump

00:19:22 - 00:19:52 (30 sec)

General Mattis said, I never said that. And one thing with Mattis and another thing with John Kelly, when they say they didn't say it, they didn't say it. They're not messing around. Four stars, four stars... Marines. So I just said, Let's put together a little list of some of the things we've done. We've done more in this administration than any administration, I believe, in this short period of time.

Donald Trump

00:19:52 - 00:20:23 (31 sec)

We're not even two years yet than any administration in the history of our country. We've done more. Nobody even close, we've done more. And... and it's four pages of -- of this. Look, I mean, it's just -- see, four -- four pages, each line is another thing. Look, this is -- this goes on and on and on. And if I read every one of them as big as they are, because they're big things, as big as they are you would be bored.

Donald Trump

00:20:23 - 00:20:55 (32 sec)

But just go over a few of them. More than four million jobs have been created since our election with 200,000... 200,000 jobs created just in the last month -- in the last month, 200,000. Wages are growing at the fastest pace in many years. And you know it's finally it's about time because maybe not so much for the people in this room, but people were working two and three jobs and they were making less money than they were making 20 years ago.

Donald Trump

00:20:55 - 00:21:18 (23 sec)

That's a statistical fact, and it's nice to see that wages are finally first time in many, many years that wages are going that. More Americans are now working than ever recorded in the history of our country. In other words, today right now, you have more Americans working than have ever worked in the history of our country. That's an amazing statistic.

Donald Trump

00:21:18 - 00:21:45 (28 sec)

To me that's like one of the biggies. Jobless claims just fell to their lowest level in nearly 50 years. Now they don't report these things because they're fake news, you know. Manufacturing jobs are growing at the fastest rate in more than 30 years. Now, President Obama said there's no such thing as a manufacturing job essentially any more, that you're not going to get them back.

Donald Trump

00:21:45 - 00:22:18 (33 sec)

Remember he said that? And I said -- I said, Oh, we're not going to make things anymore. We're not going to make -- those are the best jobs. Those are like the most important jobs, the best jobs. I have people strong, tough guys. I was with them the other day in Illinois. I was with U.S. Steel. They're opening up eight plants, eight. The steel industry -- Nucor -- Nucor is opening up. Nucor is opening up. And I've seen that Nucor is opening up, I think, two or three and big ones, big.

Donald Trump

00:22:18 - 00:22:37 (19 sec)

New, brand new. One's going to cost almost $1 billion dollars. One's going to cost $750 million because they were dumping steel to destroy our steel industry, and then they were going to charge us twice. As soon as they got us off steel then they're going to sell it to us and they were going to charge us twice than three times. And we would have had no choice.

Donald Trump

00:22:37 - 00:22:59 (22 sec)

We can't lose our steel industry, we can't lose our aluminum industry. And frankly, you can't lose certain industries, but we can't lose steel. We can't lose aluminum. From a national defense standpoint we can't, so very important. But you take a look at what happened. To me, one of the things, and coal, you know about, you know about. It's been incredible what's happened with clean beautiful coal.

Donald Trump

00:22:59 - 00:23:49 (50 sec)

But what's happened to steel is one of the great miracles because it happened over a seven-month period. It's one of the hottest industries right now in this country, and it makes me feel so good. You know, I've had steel workers and... I mean I had a couple of things happen. Steelworkers came up to me and they were crying, I mean, they were like eight or nine of them and only one wasn't. And I said, What's your problem? And, I don't cry ... [Laughter] ...I don't cry, Sir. But almost all of them were crying and they were thanking me at the opening of one of the big plants for United States Steel, and it used to be one of the greatest companies in the world, used to be like the biggest company I think in the world 50, 60 years ago.

Donald Trump

00:23:49 - 00:24:01 (12 sec)

But they are now back and they're doing great, and they're so happy and they're so prepped. But these guys they were crying. But when I was -- I just left a place called North Dakota. You all like North Dakota, right? [Laughter]

Donald Trump

00:24:01 - 00:24:35 (34 sec)

I do. You like it, right? You have Kevin Cramer running for the Senate. He's doing great. But I just left and I did something similar. And I walked in and, you know, it's very interesting. A man greeted me at the door, but it happened so much, and he was a strong tough guy and he was crying. And he said, Mr. President, thank you for saving America. You have saved America. [Inaudible].

Donald Trump

00:24:35 - 00:24:59 (24 sec)

And I'm telling you that man, he was tough. He hasn't cried. I don't think he even cried when he was a baby. [Laughter] That's how tough, but he was really -- I mean, he meant it. And I have it right now. We were just shaking hands with some of the people from your area right here, and they were -- so many of them say thank you for saving America. We're saving America.

Donald Trump

00:24:59 - 00:25:31 (32 sec)

We were on a path that was going to be... We were on a really bad path. And those two men have helped us a lot. I want to tell you that Mike and John, they were... they have helped us. I can't even tell you, I can't even tell you... but they've helped us a lot. Another thing, new unemployment claims, think of that, hit a 49-year low. Economic growth last quarter, you know, was 4.1. They just adjusted it upward to 4.2 percent, incredible.

Donald Trump

00:25:31 - 00:25:54 (23 sec)

American pensions have grown more than $2 trillion in value since the election. Think of that. Think of that. But think of this, so I told them so she probably heard it, but it's a great story. 401(k)s, everybody has -- a lot of people have 401(k)s, right? And I was in New York and I was saying hello and there were policemen on the line because I was -- I love law enforcement.

Donald Trump

00:25:54 - 00:26:21 (27 sec)

I think they're great. I love ICE. I love Border Patrol. I love law enforcement. And this big good-looking cop, he was standing in line and was taking -- but he said, Sir, I'd like to thank you. My 401(k) is up, I think he said 49 percent, some ridiculous number. And my wife always thought I was really bad financially, she'd laugh at me. [Laughter] She basically, Sir, thought I was stupid. [Laughter]

Donald Trump

00:26:21 - 00:26:44 (23 sec)

And I'm up 49 percent. And now she thinks I'm a financial genius, too. [Laughter] Now I think everyone with a 401(k) is going to vote for us because if they don't, that 49 percent is going to be down to minus 49 percent. And I'll tell you, that can happen, that can happen. And I really think it will happen. They'll slap on your high taxes. You know, we're paying for all this through growth.

Donald Trump

00:26:44 - 00:27:11 (27 sec)

The growth is so enormous. All the -- it all gets paid for by growth. Everybody wants a piece of our country. We're doing better. Every time -- practically, every time a foreign leader comes in to see me, whether it's Abe of Japan, whether it's Modi of India, I've become friends with all of them. You know, it's -- some of them are tough relationships because they've really been taken advantage of our country for many, many decades.

Donald Trump

00:27:11 - 00:27:38 (27 sec)

But I'm friendly. They respect me. I respect them. They're respecting our country again. Our country is no longer being left at, folks. Our country is respected again. Our country is respected again. And every one of them, every one of them, they come in and usually the first thing they say is, Congratulations on the job you've done with your economy. It's incredible what's happening in the United States.

Donald Trump

00:27:38 - 00:28:00 (23 sec)

A lot of them say we're trying to copy many of the things that you've been doing having to do with regulation and taxes and many other things we've been doing. But they're all saying congratulations. And people are pouring. Investors are coming in. You know, under our tax cut plan, we're allowing a lot of other things, for instance, ANWR, for instance, we got rid of the individual mandate from Obamacare, which is a disaster, the most unpopular thing.

Donald Trump

00:28:00 - 00:28:25 (25 sec)

I mean, ANWR, they've been trying to get that starting to drill for 46 years -- 46 years. That's why I approved it because the only reason I approved it I heard they couldn't get it. I like to do things that you can't. [Laughter] But everyone thinks it's a big deal. Everyone thinks it's a big deal. But it's incredible what we've done and we want to keep it going.

Donald Trump

00:28:25 - 00:28:50 (25 sec)

Just a few more things, African-American unemployment, you know all about that. Asian-American, you know, I mean this point you have to point youth unemployment, big thing. It's you -- it's just recently hit the best level in a half a century. Think of that. So youth unemployment has reached its lowest level in 50 years, lowest unemployment rate ever recorded for Americans without a high school diploma.

Donald Trump

00:28:50 - 00:29:22 (31 sec)

That's a big thing. I mean, you have that didn't go to high school. They didn't get a diploma from high school. They can't get a job. They're at the best point they've ever been. Veterans unemployment is doing better than it has in many, many years. Almost 3.9 million Americans have been lifted off food stamps since the election -- 3.9 million. Medicare will be $700 billion stronger over the next decade thanks to our growth.

Donald Trump

00:29:22 - 00:29:45 (23 sec)

And I will tell you that Billie Sutton, and people like Billie Sutton, Democrats with a very strong liberal leaning, they're going to destroy your Medicare and they're going to destroy your Social Security. I'm leaving your social -- it's going to be left alone, your Social Security will be left alone. We're not touching your Social, we're just going to make it stronger.

Donald Trump

00:29:45 - 00:30:06 (21 sec)

We're going to make the country stronger. We pay for things through growth. The way we're growing right now will be able to pay for things that nobody thought possible. Remember during debates they'd say, How are you going to do it? I said, We're going to do it through growth. They didn't know what growth was because frankly ... [Laughter] ...you know, Hillary talked about growth and should make a deal like she made with -- with South Korea.

Donald Trump

00:30:06 - 00:30:33 (27 sec)

We have real big growth. And the great thing is -- the really great thing is that our growth has tremendous potential. It's going to get much better. Think of this. One point in GDP, now when I started, it was down into low ones. President Obama had the lowest recovery since the Great Depression, so lowest. the worst recovery. It was like this. It was just terrible.

Donald Trump

00:30:33 - 00:30:53 (20 sec)

And I'm not even knocking it. It was terrible. It could have never -- and if the Democrat would have gone in, you literally, in my opinion, would have gone into substantially negative numbers. You wouldn't be up 4.2 percent. You would have been down 4.2 percent. You would have gone down. It would have been a disaster for our country. And we have such incredible growth.

Donald Trump

00:30:53 - 00:31:12 (19 sec)

What's happened has been very much of a miracle, but they haven't seen the miracle yet. The miracle is going to start because now we're getting things ready. I've said, You fixed a trade deal. When India has six, seven, eight percent, when China used to have 11, 12 percent, they're still at six or seven, when they're at seven percent they're feeling badly.

Donald Trump

00:31:12 - 00:31:37 (25 sec)

And I'd say, How come we have to be at one percent? Well, it's the size. I said, Really? Well, China is bigger than we are and India has 1.5 billion people. How come they're at 10 percent and 11 percent? Well, they can't answer it. [Laughter] Right? They can be at 11 percent and we're at 1 percent, and they're saying, oh, that's great. No, no, we have more potential than any other country.

Donald Trump

00:31:37 - 00:32:01 (24 sec)

And frankly, I'll tell you, India called us the other day. They said they would like to start doing a trade deal, first time. They wouldn't talk about it with previous administrations. They were very happy with the way it was. And my trade reps who are very tough and very smart, very good, headed by Bob Lighthizer, we have very talented people. They said, Why are you calling? Because of President Trump.

Donald Trump

00:32:01 - 00:32:22 (21 sec)

I was going to wait a little while. We're going to -- like they want to do it. Same thing with Japan. Japan called us. They said, We have to do a trade deal, because they didn't want to wait because they know if they wait they know what's going to happen. They called us out of respect because they're respecting our country. Again, they're respecting our country... because we have a commander.

Donald Trump

00:32:22 - 00:32:57 (35 sec)

You're right. Thank you. So I could go over these little things. Thank you, Darling, for that -- this fan with that beautiful Trump hat on, look at that. [Laughter] She said because we now have a commander-in-chief. I... I guarantee you she voted for Trump and he voted for -- I think everybody have voted for Trump. I just left your great head of the Republican Party.

Donald Trump

00:32:57 - 00:33:24 (27 sec)

I said, How am I doing here just on occasion? Sir, you are through the roof so ... [Laughter] Thank you very much, South Dakota. So I have many more -- little things, little thing. The Olympics, Obama wouldn't talk to them. They called me from the Olympic Committee, Would you talk to the Olympic Committee because they're not going to come here? They're coming here in 2028 they're coming here.

Donald Trump

00:33:24 - 00:33:46 (22 sec)

They said, Would you... we got the Olympics. They said, Would you speak to them. Why isn't the president -- this was when I was president-elect, why isn't he speaking to them? Well, he's not doing it. I said, I'll do it. I spoke to the head of the Olympic Committee, really nice guy. I couldn't get him off the phone. You know why? [Laughter] They were so starved for love. [Laughter]

Donald Trump

00:33:46 - 00:34:11 (26 sec)

He's -- I couldn't get him off the phone. Nice guy, he was a nice guy, nice guy. He came from beautiful place and near the mountains in Europe. You're upstaging a little bit folks. You're making make a lot of bad decisions in Europe. A lot of bad decisions have been made in Europe, and I hate to see it. I hate to see what's happening. I helped get the -- the big bid for the World Cup Soccer.

Donald Trump

00:34:11 - 00:34:41 (30 sec)

My son is very happy, Barron. He loves soccer. You know, with all I have done between tax cuts, and regulation and military, Barron is more impressed that I got the World Cup. [Laughter] So I could go over these just one after another after another, but we are doing great as a country. I have to just end by saying this. Kristi is a very special person. She's extraordinary.

Donald Trump

00:34:41 - 00:35:12 (31 sec)

I dealt with her. She is tough. She is strong. She is nice. Sometimes she's not so nice. [Laughter] But that's only one. It's important for her constituents. She fought for you so hard and I saw it. And when I heard she was running for governor, I really said, Wow, that's a great -- you know, what a match. That's a great -- that's a great person. If she wins they're going to have somebody that's very special. So that's why I'm here.

Donald Trump

00:35:12 - 00:35:42 (30 sec)

I came a long way, but it's very important to be here because when you have people that are dedicated like Kristi, when you have people that care so much about what they're doing, I think I have an obligation even to the country. I know it's a governor's race and I can't do it for the governors because I'm trying to get our senators in. I'm trying to get our Congress people in, very important, because we don't want to go back to the Obama strangulation of regulations and high taxes. [Booing]

Donald Trump

00:35:42 - 00:36:27 (44 sec)

No, we don't want to do it, so I can't do this for the governors for the most part, but it's still, I mean, so important. So I felt that I would come here and I would let you know that I fully support Kristi Noem. She is an outstanding person. And she is going to be a great, great governor. Kristi, could you come up please? Kristi, come on up, Kristi. Thank you, Kristi. I'm not doing this for every governor.