Transcripts For FBC Stossel 20240622

Were going to be covering the republican frontrunner donald trump tonight. Hes said to address this pep rally in mobile, alabama. It is projected to be, by the campaign, the largest rally of 2016 primary season. So far with some 40,000 folks in attendance, as we listen to the national anthem, the only other 2016 president ial candidate to come close to that size crowd, democratic candidate Bernie Sanders, he pulled in 28,000 in portland, oregon earlier this month. The closest republican in the run for the greatest attendance to an event is senator ted cruz, he drew some 11,000 at his president ial announcement, way back in march, but this is the interesting thing about the cruz announcement, and please, folks, who support senator cruz, were just putting the facts in place. His announcement took place at liberty universitys convocation, and students at liberty are required to attend the event. So he threw in a Campaign Announcement of his own in the midst of it. Trump is proving to be the mainstream liberal media, and their idea of something of a surprise. Hes proving that he can win the south with these kinds of crowds, if he is to continue them. Hes trying to prove he can go all the way to the white house by so doing. Hes leading the vast republican primary field in all recent polling. In anticipation of tonights rally, trump today tweeted, quote, were going to have a wild time in alabama tonight. Finally the silent majority is back. Were going to go to fox news correspondent john roberts. Hes live with us tonight in mobile, and i know youve got to be excited to be in attendance. John, great to have you with us this evening. Reporter good to have you too, lou. Theyre just finishing on the anthem. Give me two seconds. And the home of the brave [ cheers and applause ] reporter sorry, lou, i dont want to be the correspondent broadcasting over the anthem. Really interesting and enthusiastic crowd tonight, though not as large as the Trump Campaign predicted it would be. They said they had more than 35,000 people who applied for tickets, but thunderstorms have been threatening, pretty hot, maybe people decided not to can. I think the stadium is maybe a third full it. Holds 30,000 people. You can do the math. Theres probably 12,000 to 15,000 people here tonight. Good for a republican rally. Bernie sanders holds the record for a record in portland. 28,000 people at that one. I think Bernie Sanders will hold the record but donald Trump Building crowds. They had to move this from a Convention Center to the outside stadium, and trump expected on stage probably five, ten minutes from now, lou, he never has much of a warmup act. Couple of people and hes on stage. Lou you know, john, as you talk about the crowds and i have to say the screen with you in the foreground, the screen shows obviously thousands of people in the stadium. Do you see this as a misstep by the Trump Campaign to speculate and then say 35,000 is their expectation in attendance, and then have this kind of turnout . Well, you know what, lou . The rule in policy is you want to exceed expectations. Trumps campaign has hit a little record for being very liberal with its count of how many people come out to the events. Claimed 15,000 when there was 3,000. Saying 35,000. They might have had 35,000 respond, lou, not everybody who responds is going to come out. They cant say there are more people than there are, we know how many people the stadium holds. Lou they said 35,000 rsvps, was that the statement and the press inferred from that, that would be in attendance or is that their claim . The press does infer a lot. The Campaign Came out saying more than 40,000 people asked for tickets or rsvpd. They have not predicted that many people will be here, but certainly have led us to believe that that many people may be here. Lou ive never seen a politician or his or her campaign do that with the National Media. Never reporter shocking, lou, shocking were going to be coming to you throughout the evening. Were about, what, five, ten minutes away there . I could expect no more than ten minutes. Lou were going to return to you forthwith. Thank you, john roberts in mobile, alabama. Great to have you covering the event. I cant wait, and i know that many of our panelists, if not all, are excited to witness what the donald brings to mobile. Joining us now real clear politics political reporter caitlyn hueyburns, former reagan political director, fox news political analyst, ed rollins, the man, the legend. Good to have you. The old man. Lou theres a lot of that going around between you and me. Cohost of outnumbered fox news, jedidiah bila and National Review editor and fox news contributor, rich lowry. Great to have you, rich. Thank you. Lou caitlyn, john roberts says its a third full. As we parsed it down a little bit, it turns out it was at best the implication is they could have as many as 40,000, but we in the National Media ran with it and made it an expectation. Shame on us. But was that a mistake on the part of the campaign, you think . Trump likes to create a little atmosphere before he takes the stage. Earlier this week, i was at one of the town halls, he gets the crowd going a little bit. So well see when he actually takes the stage. But he, you know, accomplished what he wanted to, right . Most of the National Media is there, a lot of attention on a friday night. Lou were there most important of all [ laughter ]. So hes usually good at making tv, as weve seen. Lou what do you think, ed . You know hes a phenomenon, a great salesman. You look at visual on television, the big crowd, the public doesnt know how big or small it is. Hes drawing better than anybody else. Hes tapped into something. Ive been around the game for 50 years, i was with perot, as you know, and reagan, hes tapped into something that is very unique, i dont know whether hes the guy to carry it all the way. He has it right now and has everybodys attention. Lou ed, you mentioned perot and the fact you managed his campaign. Tried to. Lou you tried to manage him, you managed the heck out of the campaign, you did great with it. Thats the greatest analog in my memory between donald trump and ross perot. These are phenomenon. Part of the phenomenon is people were dissatisfied with bush, a high disapproval rating and people are dissatisfied with both parties. I think theyre looking for some alternative. The tea party, elected Republican Congress and theyre very unhappy with whats happened with the leadership in the congress. And to a certain extent hes tapping into the unhappiness in america. Lou is he likely a catalyst to reform the Republican Party or is that implausible . I think its implausible, the Republican Party is an establishment party, theres no old bosses that make it happen anymore. My sense is theyll do everything they can after a period of time to stop him state by state, countybycounty and may not do so. Lou that may blow up in their face . Could easily blow up in their face. Lou Hillary Clinton has got to be excited to hear you say that. We know how important hispanic voters are to us longterm. If were going to be any party, and i think the immigration dialogue is not about enforcing the laws which im certainly supportive of, but the rhetoric and everybody following his suit is damaging to us longterm. Lou were going to take up that because the fact is the republicans have never done well with the hispanic voters, and not about to get africanamerican, can we stipulate that. Never, in my lifetime. Lou jedidiah, your thoughts as you watch. Ed declares him to be a phenomenon, but this is great, great theater that he is putting together on the campaign trail, and americans are watching . People are excited to see what he has to say. What other politician right now inspires people to wait with bated breath to see what hes going to say . Hes entertaining, he makes people laugh. Lou is your breath baited . It is i am in anticipation. I am excited. And listen, im not someone who craves political speak. I dont love listening to politicians. I typically fall asleep when. This man talks, i do listen, i find myself entertained. A lot of politicians have forgotten, this is an entertainment business as well. You have to charm, Ronald Reagan did it best. And policy that oo. Lou nobody better. And unless you say things in a way thats convincing and compelling people dont take the time to listen to your record or policy. Hes tapping into. That all the republican candidates should be paying attention to this and making their messages more compelling. If they want to steal the microphone from him, its not easy, lou. Lou you can bet he didnt say he paid for the microphone. Tonight he does. He paid for the crowd in the field. Billions for that. Lou with the trump 757. Come on. Youve got to admit, rich, thats strong stuff. Spectacle. Jedidiah is absolutely right, hes highly entertaining and different than the rest of the guys and this event speaks to the enthusiasm. The rest of the field looks faded in comparison, and theyre all kind of scattered and flailing in all directions trying to figure out how to react to him. At the moment, none of the controversies have taken him down, theyve made him stronger. If he continues to top the field like this in a couple months, then youre going to see the next test, which will be a massive barrage of negative ads by a super pac of one of the candidates or Shadowy Organization that all of a sudden springs up out of nowhere and tries to take him down. Lou now i ask you, what happens every time someone attacks trump . Individual candidates at this point, as rich says, another swift vote pac effort, only this time directed at the republican frontrunner. What do you think the odds of that are . He has been so inordinantly successful and overwhelming. Nothing has been able to tear him done. If i were trump, i would run opposition ads against myself. To your point, these are people who are really excited and passionate, so if youre the other republican, and i would say this about sanders too, if youre a democrat, looking at a base thats very energized and animated. You need to figure out how to tap into that and turn those into votes. The absurdity of bush. Bush is going to spend 10 million on a biography. Thats old game. Its not new game. If you dont know his biography now and youre a supporter. Hes governor of florida for two terms and one of the bushes. So its a waste of money. Lou you saved that man about 9,900,000. Its not going to move numbers. The bottom line is there will be a swift boat attack. When someone attacks him, he punches back or vice versa. If theres a sustained attack and they take his liabilities, which there are many and the place they can have impact is evangelical supporters in iowa. 60 of the voters are evangelical. Lou right now, evangelicals are supporting this man. His life is an open book. When you find out more, or as they define it, they could do damage, and i think theyll do damage. It may not matter. May be like Arnold Schwarzenegger in california. He had women saying he did this to me and this to me three days before he was elected governor. I destroyed the party and the state, but other than that [ laughter ]. Lou he had a little help in that, gray davis pushed him in with an early start. But everybody remembers the Washington Post hit piece went after him, and the affect of that. They claimed he had raped his wife, basically dredging up 30yearold deal. Turns out, you wake up the next morning who is it endorsing his candidacy and calling the best candidates for the presidency other than his exwife. Ivana. None of that is going to matter if theres no other republican capable of coming out and grabbing the microphone. You had scott walker come out with an obamacare alternative this week. Were not talking about that. Were talking about donald trump. The reason is scott walker did a bad job presenting a compelling argument in a way that people at home would sit and say this is an important issue to me, this is why it matters. They dont believe in the candidate if they dont believe in the delivery of that message. This is the only man delivering that message in a way that resonates with people. Until he does, hes got the microphone. Lou rich, this is a clintonesque moment rather than a reaganesque moment. He borrowed the flyover in the 757 from the 96 campaign of bill clinton with air force one and now doing the clinton effect thing and building a little drama here. [ laughter ] the man is rich in resources from which he draws, rich . Remember the 1996 convention, or was it the 2000 convention when bill clinton went down the tunnel and they had the camera on him. Maybe theyll do the same with trump. If you do the test where you turn the sound off and look at these guys. Lou we dont encourage that. The sound is the best part of television, lou. Some other channel, you might want to try it. He looks like a throwback alpha male guy, and you look at bush. Lou are you saying alpha males are throwbacks . I am, unfortunately. And you look at bush, and he seems like a wimpy, modern dad from a contemporary sitcom. So he really has he does things bigger than everyone else at the moment. But does, as ed points out, he has vulnerabilities that tell over time. You look at guys that won iowa in the past. Mike huckabee, rick santorum, its george w. Bush, its very serious social conservatives in evangelicals. Lou ive always thought, and thats not to negate what you are saying this is when people might want to turn the sound down. [ laughter ] i have always thought politics is not unlike war and generals, in war, generals are fighting the last war. In politics, sometimes politicians and candidates dont capture the moment. No one appears to have captured the moment, caitlyn as well as donald trump right now. Right. I talked to other campaigns, did you anticipate the energy coming from the base . They didnt anticipate donald trump they are republicans thats why. The interesting thing about trump, we try to apply political lessons and lessons of history, and they just really dont apply. This is a very different situation, and i think going back to what might be able to bring him down, voters know who he is, they know what hes about. There are few things that theyre going to be surprised by. Thats what makes a difference between him and the other candidates, some other outsiders, ben carson, carly fiorina, when things come out about them, voters learn more about them. They already know a lot about trump. Lou perhaps its not an apt or appropriate comparison, i think of berlusconi in italy, heres a man bigger than life, it was extraordinary in the extremes of his conduct, his public conduct. But immensely successful. He, trump, is at least in those proportions in america. We live in an era of celebrity and cable news more than anything else. And cable news has driven this campaign. Lou what are you going to say about cable news now . [ laughter ]. Uhoh what in the world . I love it. Lou those little half hour vignettes on abc, cbs and nbc, this audience is far too smart to be jaded by those statements. Five minutes, three minutes, hes dominad. But the domination night after night of being on not just this channel which hes been on plenty but other channels and the drumbeat is boom, boom, boom, boom. Hes a bigger than life salesman. He says ill go to japan and get the jobs back. No one says how . You doubt me . Ill do it. Ill get the mexicans to pay for the wall. You ask a question, he dismisses it. Hes general patton. Lou you could argue hes also following the obama template. Obama said fundamentally, he said hope and change, nobody asked which change, what youre going to do. Fundamental transformation like what . And the National Liberal media go, again, clucking like those ducks in uniform lines behind one another. You hit the nail on the head, obama was a phenomenal campaigner. He did it best. Anyone who wishes to run a Successful Campaign should study what he did not once, but twice. Despite anything negative going on, he was able to connect with the people. Lou the 2012 campaign is frankly as is every bit impressive to me as the 2008. Yeah, because then he had the record. Lou hes carrying an anvil. Exactly right. In the midst of economic troubles and people out of work and National Security policy that was a disaster, that man still managed to convince you he the right man for the job again. Thats what you have to do. Rich seems a little perturbed. Oh, and also what obama did in 2012 is completely destroy mitt romney, hammer and tongs. On trump we talked about style and how entertaining he is, substance is important obviously. Immigration is the issue where the elite of both parties are most out of touch with popular opinion, and where trump i think goes too far in a lot of respects, the core of it, i think, points the Republican Party in a healthy more populist direction where you put the interests of the country and the American Workers first, enforcement first and question whether we need the historically high levels of Legal Immigration that we take for granted at the moment on. Lou and again, you see the crowd, it appears to be building, and perhaps thats why there is a delay. Whoa we were just about ready to ride over to the other side there on that one. [ laughter ] id like to bring john roberts in. Im told were working on reconnecting there. There are thunderstorms john said in the area as well. Im sure thats part of it. If he can stand up there and get hit by lightning. Thats when you know hes a superhero. Lou we dont want to wish anybody that for any political advantage at all. Hope everyone stays safe. Lets go to the idea that this man, donald trump, is capable of taking on anyone, and getting away with it. The pope. How many candidates eagerly say the pope is effectively wrong, wrong, wrong, nice guy, i like him, but i just really disagree with him. He goes after him. Says capitalism is great. What the hell is the pope talking about . The greatest show of all, the pope talked about coming across the border from mexico saying he cant do that and donald trump is there to stop the pope at the border. Youd have the most gigantic show ever. Thats obviously not going to happen. You have to be careful attacking the pope. Hes got a great catholic following. Id be careful about that. Seven out of nine members of the court. Lou jesuit training pays off. I was trained by the dominican. I am biased towards the jesuits. Lou the fact of the matter is the pope, this is going to be a collision, and its one that you can start to anticipate already, and that is between the pope and Cardinal Dolan coming with the pope to capitol hill for a joint session of congress, and the pope is going to speak and donald trump is going to be hes going to be the expression is raising hell. Hes going to be honest and say what he has to say regardless who the person is. What people find refreshing about that is people are unwilling on the right to take on the left. If hes willing to take on the pope, who knows who else hell take on. Lou we know one thing, donald trump, are you ready, is in the house hes entered the stadium. Another one of those trump signs, in case there was any confusion who was going to be there speaking. Red hat, looks like an open blazer with white shirt. Make America Great again. And you dont get better in mobile than listening to lynard skynard. For a guy who cant sing or throw a football. Hes doing well in alabama. Thats another way hes broken the political rules, lou, usually the rule is never if youre a politician, wear a hat. He always wears a hat. One of the people. Because of the hair do, but thats okay. Thank you theyre so beautiful. You know now i know how the great billy graham felt because this is the same feeling. We love billy graham. We love billy graham. You know this all started, we had a hotel, and we were going to have about 250 or 300 people, and the hotel was great, they called and said we cant hold this, this is crazy whats going on, and then we went to the Convention Center, and they can have 10,000 people, and were all set and were excited and the next day they said too many people, we cant put them in. So we came here we came here [ cheers and applause ] you know today, if you notice, we have a stock market not doing so well. We have a country not doing so well. Weve been saying it for a long time. We have politicians other than the few politicians that are with us tonight, right . Well exclude them, but we have politicians that dont have a clue. Theyre all talk, theyre no action, whats happening to this country is disgraceful. [ cheers ] and you know when i announced i was running for president , i brought up, i brought up the subject of ilLegal Immigration. [ cheers ] and i took a lot of heat. That i can tell you. Rush limbaugh actually said incoming. He got more incoming than anybody ive ever seen, and two weeks later, everybody was apologizing to me. They saw they was right, between what happened in San Francisco to incredible kate and her family, such an incredible family, and jamil and so many people so badly hurt. The other day in california last week, a woman, 66 years old, a veteran, was killed, raped, sodomized, tortured and killed by an illegal immigrant. We have to do it. We have to do something. We have to do something. [ cheers ] were going to talk, were going to have a lot of fun. The weather is a little dicey, thats okay. But who cares . If it rain, right . [ cheers ] right . You know, if it rains ill take off my hat and ill prove, ill prove once and for all that its mine, okay . [ cheers ] so were going to talk about a lot of different subjects, and its nice friday night, what the heck, right . Whats better . Whats better . What people in the people that built this country. Thats what we have here. The people that built the country. Great people. So well start with a little talk on the ilLegal Immigration. Whats going on. Weve got to stop it. Were going to build a wall [ cheers ] and its going to be. You know its amazing. The politicians ten years ago, 15 years ago all wanted a wall, but it never went, it never happened because somebody didnt want it, probably a lobbyist. You know all these guys like bush and like Hillary Clinton, theyre all taken care of, i dont know if you know. [ booing ] when hillary has 60 million. And when jeb bush, uh, when jeb bush, who is totally in favor of common core, weak on immigration, right . Very weak on immigration, wants to let people come in. Though now he is using anchor baby, he put out a memo, you cannot use anchor baby, now because i used it, hes using it. Politicians in his case he has 114 million. In hillarys case, shes got 60. I dont know shes going to make it to the gate. What do you think . No im not sure shes making it to the gate. Some bad things came out today. You know the word classified. You know, theyve destroyed general petraeus over less, and nothing seems to be happening here. It will be very interesting to see what happens ultimately. But we have right now, and i just got these numbers today. I said what are they . 7. 5 of all of the births in this country are illegal immigrants, okay . Cant afford it. And theyre supposed to stay. I turned out to be right, the 14th amendment. These guys on television said you cant change the 14th amendment. It will take so long. I agree. You know what . An act of congress, the 14th amendment, you can do something with it and you can do something fast. You can do something fast. We have 300,000 babies to take care of. In the case of other countries, including mexico, they dont do that, it doesnt work that way. You dont walk over the border for one day and all of a sudden we have another american citizen. It doesnt work that way. Mexico doesnt do, it other places dont do it, very few places do it, were the only place, just about, thats stupid enough to do it. [ cheers ] so i decided to run. Ive gotten an amazing reception. Has this been great . [ cheers ] man i mean, its been wild im a nonpolitician. The other day i served jury duty, right . I told you they had occupation, i refused to put down politician. But, i will say this, we have a great politician here. We have a man here who really helped me, he is the one person i sought his counsel because hes been so spoton, so highly respected. Has anybody ever heard of senator Jeff Sessions . Huh . Jeff, come up, get over here, jeff look at him hes like 20 years old [ cheers ] unbelievable guy. Look at him say hello. Come here, jeff. [ cheers ] just say hello. Donald welcome to my hometown, mobile, alabama. [ cheers ] the american people, these people want somebody in the presidency to stand up for them. [ cheers ] their interest and the laws of traditions of this country, we welcome you here, thank you for the work you put into the immigration issue. Im really impressed with your plan. I know it will make a difference. And this crowd shows a lot of people agree with that. Congratulations. [ cheers ] welcome and god bless. Thank you, jeff. He was so great, such a help. So, i go around and i see so many people and ive been treated so well by the people, and were leading in every poll, were leading in just about every state. [ cheers ] including alabama. [ cheers ] were leading in florida. Can you believe it . And were leading big in florida. And you know whats really amazing . I said florida, i love florida, its a great place, great. But florida, we have a governor and we have a sitting senator and im killing them. Explain that. Obviously, theyre not doing a very good job because that shouldnt be happening, but were winning in florida, pennsylvania, iowa, New Hampshire, south carolina, north carolina, texas, and then nationally were just absolutely way ahead of everybody else. You know if this were another country, we could maybe call for an expedited election, right . I would love that. Can we do that . Can we do that . Id like to have the election tomorrow. I dont want to wait [ cheers ] so the reason that i think we see this receptivity is that i know the game better than anybody. Ive been on the other side. You know, i was totally establishment with my hands in millions of dollars all the time to these characters, right . I was like the fairhaired boy. Do i look fairhaired . But i know the game. I understand it. And so many people have come up, lobbyists, i said i dont want money from lobbyists. Recently last week, a man comes up whos a good guy, i know him, i said i dont want your money, i dont want your money because i dont know, maybe ill rethink it, should i rethink it . Take it, take it. How about this . How about if i take his money but in the end i screw him and dont do anything for him. Is that okay . Can i do that . [ cheers ] you know, because i built a great business and i feel stupid, i say i dont want your money. I can take it, please . I promise i wont do anything for it. I told him, i dont want your money, in two years when you come to see me about something, im not doing it unless its good and unless its going to make America Great again, right . Right . But im going to have to rethink it. I think im going to rethink that, i think i should take a lot of money. Are we allowed to give it to charity or something . I dont know. Just take it. Just take it. So what happens is these guys come up, and im lucky, you know, everybody said hes never going to run, okay . You know that, right . My wife actually said, and she knows me pretty well, and sees the reaction, and for a long time whether its trump, order of the deal, come here, i love that book. You know i said the other day, and it played pretty well. That is my second help her over here. Help her over here that is my, give me that book, give me that. Theres also the art of the deal. Thats the original. Thats when they used real paper, right . You know i said the other day because so many people carry around the art of the deal because theyre begging, theyre begging their politicians, please, please, read the art of the deal when you negotiate with china and japan and with mexico and with vietnam and with saudi arabia, and with everybody. You know, right now, we have a problem where north korea is getting frisky, right . Recently i ordered 4,000 Television Sets. Id like to order them from here. Like the hats are made in america. Can you believe i was able to find a guy . I had to do that. These hats are hot as a pistol. You know that. Theyre made in america. Im going to give you your book, believe me, i havent forgotten about you. Theyre made in america, and now i see today its hot on the news that our very dear friend from north korea is acting a little bit rambunctious again, so i ordered 4,000 Television Sets from south korea, whether its samsung or sharp or lg or any of them, theyre all made in south korea. I paid a fortune. And theyre wonderful and theyre wonderful people, theyre making a fortune. Do we have anybody that makes Television Sets in this country . I almost dont think so, right . Theyre mostly made, other than sony, which has lost its way. Prices are too high. Theyre mostly made in south korea. I see north korea is acting up. So i see were sending ships and getting troops ready. We have 28,000 troops over there, and were getting ready just in case, were going to fight, were going to protect, we get nothing, we get nothing. What do we get . We get nothing. Saudi arabia and i get along great with all of them, they buy apartments from me, they spend 40 million, 50 million, am i supposed to dislike them . I like them very much. Saudi arabia makes one billion dollars a day, thats before oil went down a little bit. These are minor details. Lets say they were now make half a billion a day, thats not so bad, right . We get nothing, and they wouldnt be there without our protection. Even germany, germany is a power. Who has a mercedesbenz, anybody . Lot of people. Theyre a power. They pay us nothing. We defend the whole world. Somebody said thats like the mafia defense. I said dont worry about it, the mafia is not so stupid. They said thats terrible to ask for money. No, they said it, they said thats terrible. How could you possibly ask for money to defend a country . I mean tell me. Tell me, how crazy are we . So now were sending our ships, sending our everything, we got ill tell you what, the 28,000 troops that we have on the border between north and south korea, thats dangerous territory. Theyre in harms way. Theyre in harms way, and we get nothing, we get nothing. Other than theyre a good competitor, they take our trade. We lose a fortune with them, lose a fortune with china. We defend japan. You know, we have an agreement with japan if somebody attacks japan, we have to come to their rescue, but if we get attacked, japan doesnt have to help us. You think thats a good deal . No thats like Sergeant Bergdahl. Has anybody heard of Sergeant Bergdahl, no, no, the traitor. I called president obama the five for one president. We get Sergeant Bergdahl, six people that we know of, six people were killed trying to get this guy back. Six people. They went after him. They wanted to get him back. So we get Sergeant Bergdahl and they get five people they desperately wanted for years that are right now back on the battlefield, trying to kill everybody including us. How stupid are we . How stupid are we . And you know the reason we have crowds no matter where i go, New Hampshire was so incredible, you saw it, it was on television. Every time i go on television, its got to be live. They said live. Can i have a rest please . Tonight its live on fox, who likes fox . I like fox. [ cheers ] its live on cnn. Who likes cnn . No and this is going to be a good one, and its live on msnbc, right . No well, theyre still working. Theyre still working. I said how come its always got to be live . Why cant they cover me like everybody else . Every time i speak it has to be live. Its ridiculous. But its okay, we have to suffer with it. But, look, the reason i have this incredible enthusiasm, and i really appreciate you, especially with this weather and this heat and everything else. But the reason i have it is because i do know what im doing, i dont say that in a braggadocios way, you people are looking for somebody that knows what hes doing, no matter what it is. [ cheers ] im going to sign her book, i got to get her the hell out of here. Shes so beautiful. I said it the other night. My second Favorite Book of alltime. Whats my first Favorite Book . The bible the bible. And as much as i love the art of the deal, its not even close, we take the bible all the way. Right . So i was saying, so they said i wasnt going to run, and everybody said hes never going to run, never going to run, hes just having fun, just a good time, his brand. Like i care, my brand. At this point, my brand [ laughter ] i lose gutless macys because i said about ilLegal Immigration, they dropped my brand. Theyre gutless, theyre all gutless. I have to sue univision, my poor Miss Universe people, the beautiful girls, these beautiful women, some are girls, but beautiful women, i get dropped. You have the magnificent women that work all their life to be in the miss usa contest and two weeks before the contest, nbc and univision drop because they thought my tone was a little bit strong. And it turned out i was right. So heres the good news, i sued them both. [ cheers ] and in the case of univision, i sued them for 500 million. I want that money. I want that money. So i actually put it on the other day, miss u. S. A. , i put it on, it was only fair to the people. And we had it on the small network, it was fine. Who would do that . All because they want to be so politically correct. They actually called and said well get it back on soon. You know in the case of a couple. They said trump loses nascar. It was all over the world. A friend of mine called because i opened with a strong statement. Meaning ilLegal Immigration, weve got to solve the problem. All over, one day it was nascar. Trump loses nascar. I said i dont have a deal with nascar. It turned out that i lost nascar. You know what they did . They rented a ballroom at trump doral. That was the lawsuit. They had a ballroom. I kept the deposit and rented it to somebody else. [ cheers ] the next day, i didnt even know i had a deal with them, turns out they had a ballroom in one of my places, doral. The next day, espn severs ties with trump. All over the world. Espn, i have friends that called me from paris, a great businessman, too bad what happened to espn. You know what it was . A golf outing at one of my courses in los angeles. Big deal. This was all over the world. I mean the press, maybe they didnt get it, maybe they dont get it. I was very disappointed with macys, shirts and ties, not a big deal. They heard there were going to be pickets in front of the store. I said for two hours, theyll be gone, theyll go for lunch, and theyll be back, its true. They said its so bad, can we sever ties . I said i dont care, i dont wear ties that much anymore. I didnt like the ties that much anyway, because they were made in china. True, true. But i hate gutless people, and so the reason that were getting this receptivity which is like this all over the place is because i found my papers and they said never to run and sign the big document, which is a onepage document, youre giving your life away, and i signed, and then they said, oh, i cant believe it. The pundits get paid half a Million Dollars to sit there and make. Out of themselves. Call them pundits. Somewhere great, somewhere incompetent. I could tell you the once, he knows. He says i know which one. There are still about five left. There were 50, now theres about 5. Theyre coming around. But what happens is then they say hell never file his financials. Hell never file because hes probably not as rich as people think. I said actually one of the reasons i want to run is because i want to run my financials theyre so good. Its true. Its true. So i have like about 102 pages or 98 pages of stuff, and they have all these boxes, over 50 million, over 50 million, and they were phenomenal. They were phenomenal. Much better. And people realized and it was a net worth, and this is not bragging, im going to tell you why, over 10 billion. Thats good, right . Very little debt, very little debt. To show you how stupid people are, it has a line for income. It has over 400 million a year. Is that good . My son eric is here. Look at eric. He can live on that. It has a line, income, it varies with Different Things but basically over 400 million a year. 365. Is there anybody that would not want to make that much money in one year here . Raise your hand with. It comes responsibility, but i will tell you this. Reason people like what im saying is because i want to put that energy, whatever the hell kind of energy is, i dont know if its screwed up, good, if its genius, whatever it is, i know how to do things. And im not going to do, i wont care about, were building a great building on pennsylvania avenue right opposite between the white house and the Old Post Office. You know in real estate, theres a slogan, always get the post office because they were there first. I got the Old Post Office in washington, d. C. , and i got it from the obama administration. Can you believe that . Now thats called dealmaking. One of the most soughtafter buildings in the history of the General Service of this administration, and i got it. They did the right thing, were doing a great job and made a great statement. It will be opening, and heres a little story. Its now under budget and ahead of schedule. Do you ever hear that from government . [ applause ] and we finished doral, and a lot of great jobs. My son eric is here, and ivanka, im not has anybody heard of ivanka. Im not going to do big deals, come here, eric. Who cares if we do a building, it doesnt mean anything, my whole energy, my whole being is going to be to make our country rich and to make our country great again. Thats what my whole thing is. [ cheers and applause ] and ive always had an aptitude for making money, some people would say thats nice. One person said mr. Trump, thats very crass, i said what . You said youre going to make the country rich. Thats crass. I said you have to understand, in order to make our country great, i have to make it rich again. Were a debtor nation. He agreed. Do you agree with me . Yes, he agrees. I can see that. Anybody with a sign that big has to agree. So i will devote 1,000 , i couldnt care less about the Old Post Office, i couldnt care less about any of the stuff. My kids are very good, theyre going to run it very nicely, and i just want to make this country so great. And thats whats going to happen. And thats whats going to happen. [ applause ] like, as an example, give you a couple of examples. In alabama, u. S. Steel, big closure, or essentially a closure, and i said why . What happened . I said anybody work there . I dont think so, i hope not. Big closure, and one of the reasons is china is dumping so much steel into the United States, and other companies, really other countries also, but china, i love that sign, look at that, huh . Wow, wow, thats true. The only problem is youre breaking everybodys view, but the sign is fantastic. Thank you. So china is dumping tremendous amounts of steel into our country. The government is subsidizing it, its almost like they want us to just die, and they have no respect for us, and like saudi arabia, like japan, i get along with them great. You know the largest bank in the world is in one of my buildings, they pay me rent. They buy apartments, they spend so much money, am i going to dislike them . I love them. The problem is, their leaders really smart. Theyre really cunning. Theyre really sharp. And we have dummies, right . We have dummies, we have dummies. We have people that dont have a clue. And i dont know, some people say theyre bad people, i dont think theyre bad people, theyre incompetent people. I think theyre incompetent. So you look at china and what theyve done, and last week, and i said this, ive been saying this for a long time. Last week they devalued their currency, and were having a lot of hard times because of what they did. And when i hear devaluation of the chinese currency, you know the word, the sucking action, thats called sucking, like a vacuum, i hear the sucking action. Two things get sucked out of us, our jobs and our money, now think of it, china sells us our product, takes our jobs, takes our base, does our manufacturing for us, and we owe them 1. 4 trillion. Thats like a magic act. I call it the magic act in reverse. We owe them money. Japan, and japan is back, they have lobbyers, the new Prime Minister and abi is smart, really smart, and hes negotiating against carolyn kennedy. Carolyn. [ laughter ] and i was watching 60 minutes, ill give you guys a plug, watching 60 minutes and theyre doing a feet our carolyn kennedy. I like her, you know why . Ivanka likes her, anybody my daughter likes, we love ivanka. So what happens is that theyre doing a feature, and they said how do you become ambassador to japan . And with japan, the ambassadors a very important position, you negotiate, you need someone sharp, you need a killer, right . A smart killer, not a dumb killer. There are plenty of dumb killers. You need somebody smart. How do you get the ambassadorship . She said, well, this is close, you can check it out. I dont know, i wanted a job and had nothing to do, so i went to the white house and i said could i have a job . Do you have anything for me to do . They said how would you like to be ambassador to japan . And she said really . This is this is she said ill do it. She couldnt believe she got it. And show the rest of show is her being wined and dined by abi and all of the killers, wined and dined, dinner and lunches and breakfast, shell do anything they want, anything. So i have the smartest toughest, meanest, in many cases most horrible human beings on earth. I know them all, theyre killers, negotiators. Some are nice people, very few, some are nice people. I will put the meanest, the smartest, we have the best in the world and dont use them. We use political hacks, diplomats, people that have never done a job, somebody stole my plane, damn it people are pointing up to the plane. Its actually not mine. You know, as an example, carl icahn, did anyone hear of carl icahn, hes an unbelievably tough business guy, so i called him, i said you know, carl, im doing pretty well, im leading every poll. He said youre doing great he cant believe it either. [ laughter ] and i said, if i ever get there, i want you to oversee the negotiations with china, i can get him too, china and japan. Ill do it. Ill do it. [ cheers ] ill do it. Remember when i said somebody has blood coming out of her eyes with hatred. He had blood coming out of his eyes, he will do it. Unbelievable negotiator, unbelievable negotiator, and i know others, i know the best, i know the worst, i know the ones that are overrated, i know the once you never heard about or read about that are better than all of them, but carl is one of the greats, very famous, very rich, and he would love to do it. Hed love to give back, and he knows whats happening. Theyre ripping us. So they send their stuff over here, and actually somebody the other day said what china has done to the United States is the greatest single theft in the history of the world. Interesting statement. Weve rebuilt china . Weve rebuilt china. So we have free trade, the problem with free trade is when you have free trade, very important, you need competent leaders. Thats the one problem with free trade. I like free trade, im a free trader. You need great negotiators and great leaders. We dont have that. We dont make good deals, everybody is killing us. So we dont have unbelievable deals. A friend of mine is a manufacturer and trying to do business with china and what hes and hes a good manufacturer, makes great product, better than what they do. They dont want him sending stuff. And he calls and says its impossible to do business, i cant get my product. Theyre dumping stuff here by the ship load. He said its impossible. Finally gets a product in there and they charge him a massive tax, which they call a tariff because it sounds a little more sophisticated and says its impossible to do business with china. Boeing does business with china and they want all of their intel, they want all of their copyrights, they want everything, otherwise were not buying planes and building big factories in china. I dont blame china. I respect them. Im not angry at them, im angry at our leaders for being so stupid. Im not angry at china. [ applause ] and mexico is the same thing. You know mexico is the new china. The other day nabisco, nabisco, oreos, oreos, i love oreos, ill never eat them again, never eat them again. Nabisco closes the plant couple of days ago in chicago, and theyre moving the plant to mexico. Now why . Why . Why . Have you heard my story . My favorite story is ford, you heard the story with ford. Do we want to hear it again or not . Yes yes, thats a big one. So ford, great company, theyre building a 2. 5 billion car factories in mexico. Now theyre closing up places all over the United States, building a massive factory in mexico. So i went to the great school. I was actually, i was and hopefully really smart, Wharton School of finance, even then it was hard to get into the hardest but i went to the great Business School and i get business. And i fully understand theyre building a 2. 5 billion plant, theyre going to sell cars, back to us, theres no tax, theres no, nothing. So were closing the massive plants, another plant, another big foreign car company, there was a plant being built, it was all set to get started in tennessee, you read about it. It was a couple of months ago, wall street journal, all set to get started. All of a sudden, mexico took it away, and now its not going to be built in tennessee, its going to be built in mexico. So ford is building a plant. Heres what i did. I said to myself, i give myself this because it really is sort of right. I give myself this position and i say, lets assume that somebody else becomes president , wouldnt be that horrible . Wouldnt that be horrible . So lets assume somebody else becomes president. Lets assume a very lowenergy person, very, very low energy, so low energy that every time you watch him, you fall asleep, but lets say, he said hillary, yeah, hillary, too. So lets say jeb becomes president. Boo not good. Not good. First thing that happens, like i said, your schools go to hell. Forgetting about that. So lets say that jeb doesnt want this plant built. So theyre going to call him, the head of ford and say mr. President , we want to build it. Hell say well, we dont want it built. The next day or next hour hes going to get a call from the lobbyists and the special interests and his donors and theyre going to say, hey, jeb, we gave you 8 million of your 120 million that you raised