Remarks by President Trump to Troops at Al Asad Air Base
Al Asad Air Base, Al Anbar Province, Iraq
December 26, 2018
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
THE PRESIDENT: Well, first of all, at ease. At ease. Let’s have a good time. Let’s have a good time. And we had an incredible meeting that lasted for about an hour, and you have no idea what we’ve come up with. You’re going to be so happy. You’re going to be so happy.
I want to just first say thank you for everything. And, on behalf of Melania and myself, we had a great flight in. So I want to thank you, honey. Come say hello, honey. Say hello. (Applause.)
THE FIRST LADY: I’m very honored to be here tonight. Thank you for your service, for your sacrifice, and keeping us safe and free. I’m very proud of you. And, on behalf of our nation, I’m wishing you a merry Christmas and a happy and prosperous New Year. Thank you again, and to your families. (Applause.)
THE PRESIDENT: (Laughs.) Let’s let her make this speech, right? She’s great. A very popular First Lady and a great person.
And I want to thank General LaCamera for the incredible job he’s done. And I was just saying, we had a meeting with him and some of your great representatives, and we have some ideas, that are more than ideas, that are going to be just — we like to win. Do we like to win? We’re going to win. (Applause.)
I want to thank everyone at Al Asad Air Base. Special people. We came in, we were — we felt very safe coming in. It was a pretty difficult journey in certain ways, but we felt very, very good; very safe. And also we knew exactly where we were going, and we’re going to say hello to you and wish you all a merry Christmas and a happy New Year. Very important. Thank you very much. Great job.
So Melania and I are thrilled to be here with the extraordinary men and women of the American Armed Forces — the greatest military, and — especially as we get all of this billions and billions of dollars of new equipment that I approved over the last two years. You’re getting such new equipment, your eyes are popping, right? (Applause.) Your eyes are popping. You’re getting the best equipment in the world.
As you know, it was being very rapidly depleted, and it wasn’t good. And we weren’t going to let that happen to you or to our country.
And I just want you to relax. Let’s have a good time for a few minutes, and then I’ll be heading to another location, and then I’ll be heading back. But I have you totally in mind — totally in mind.
We came to Al Asad to share our eternal gratitude for everything you do to keep America safe, strong, and free. Though you are thousands of miles away from your home and your loved ones, I hope you all had a merry Christmas. I also know that, speaking for your families, they are missing you and they love you. And you know they’re every bit a part of your success; they make it possible. So they’re very special to us, all of the families.
It’s because of your sacrifice that America’s families can celebrate in safety and in peace. And we’re doing great back at home.
There are many incredible patriots to recognize here, right now. And I’d like to start by saying a few words for Colonel Michael Maddox. Colonel, thank you very much. (Applause.) Thank you, Colonel. Great job. Thank you, Colonel. No games. I can see — I know people. No games for the Colonel. No games with your general, right? Not a lot of games. It’s called, “They want to win.”
I want to thank the 201st Regional Support Group. (Applause.)
One that everybody knows of, even back in the States: Task Force Thunder and their Lieutenant Colonel Kent Park. (Applause.) There’s a reason for that name, “Thunder,” isn’t there? (Applause.)
The 443rd Air Expeditionary Squadron and their great commander, Major Dicie Hritz. Where is Dicie? (Applause.) Thank you. Great, fellas. Great.
The 1st Expeditionary Rescue Group and their commander, Colonel Michael Guischard. (Applause.) Where is Michael? Thank you. Thank you, fellas.
The 3rd Cavalry Regiment and their commander, Colonel Jonathan Byrom. (Applause.)
Brigadier General Austin Renforth. Where is Austin? Austin. (Applause.) Thank you, Austin. Thanks, Austin.
Everyone at the Special Operations Joint Task Force. Thank you. Where the hell are they? (Laughter and applause.) And all personnel who reside at Camp Havoc. You know that that means — Camp Havoc.
Also joining us this evening is the U.S. Ambassador to Iraq, Douglas Silliman. Douglas, thank you very much. Great job, Douglas. Great job. (Applause.)
The courageous men and women at Al Asad Air Base are on the leading edge of our fight to vanquish America’s terrorist enemies. You know that.
The other reason I’m here today is to personally thank you and every service member throughout this region for the near elimination of the ISIS territorial caliphate in Iraq and in Syria. (Applause.)
Two years ago, when I became President, they were a very dominant group. They were very dominant. Today, they’re not so dominant anymore. (Applause.) Great job. I looked at a map, and two years ago it was a lot of red all over that map. But now you have a couple little spots. And that’s happening very quickly. That’s happening very quickly. You’ll be seeing that.
I want to just say great job. And we’ll be watching ISIS very closely. We’ll be watching them very, very closely — the remnants of ISIS.
No enemy on Earth can match the awesome strength of American soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines. Nobody is even close. And nobody is even close, in terms of our equipment. We make the greatest equipment in the world. Whether it’s missiles or ships or anything you want to name, we have the greatest in the world. The jet fighters, the new F-35, the Super F-18s — we have the greatest fighter jets in the world. We make the greatest equipment in the world.
But you strike fear into the hearts of our enemies and bring comfort to all of our allies and those who cherish peace. And we want peace. And the best way to have peace is strength. When we’re strong, we’re going to have peace. If we’re not strong, you know what happens. So we’re stronger than ever. And very soon, when it all comes in, when that equipment keeps flowing — it’s being made, much of it now — there will be nobody ever in history that’s even close.
American and coalition forces have had one military victory after another over the last two years against ISIS, including the retaking of both Mosul in Iraq and Raqqa in Syria. We’ve liberated more than 20,000 square miles of territory. Think of what that is — 20,000. Twenty thousand acres is a lot; think of what twenty thousand square miles is. It’s a lot. This was all formerly held by ISIS — and liberated more than 3 million civilians from ISIS’s bloodthirsty control.
The men and women stationed at Al Asad have played a vital role in the military defeat of ISIS in Iraq and in Syria. Because of these gains, our service members in Syria can now return home to their families. Some will come here for a stay, but a lot of them are going to be going back home, where they want to be, with their families. They’ve done a fantastic job.
Originally, years ago, they came here. And it was supposed to be for three to four months, and that was a long time ago. That was many years ago. But what a job you have done. What a job they have done. I made it clear from the beginning that our mission in Syria was to strip ISIS of its military strongholds; we’re not nation building. Rebuilding Syria will require a political solution. And it’s a solution that should be paid for by its very rich neighboring countries, not the United States. Let them pay for it. And they will. They will.
In fact, Saudi Arabia yesterday — you probably read — stepped up to the plate and has already made a commitment of substantial funds for development. And President Erdogan of Turkey has also agreed to take out any remnants of ISIS, and we’ll be working with them. We’re going to be working with them.
Our presence in Syria was not open-ended, and it was never intended to be permanent. Eight years ago, we went there for three months, and we never left. But now we’re doing it right, and we’re going to finish it off.
One year ago, I gave our generals six more months in Syria. I said, “Go ahead. Get them.” And it turns out it was really a year and a half ago. I said, “Go get them.” “We need six months.” “Go get them.” Then they said, “Give us another six months.” I said, “Go get them.” Then they said “Go — can we have one more, like, period of six months?” I said, “Nope. Nope.” I said, “I gave you a lot of six months.” And now we’re doing it a different way. And we’re doing it. And you’re doing it, folks. You’re doing it. Just the remnants.
The men and women who serve are entitled to clear objectives, and the confidence that when those objectives are met they can come home and be with their families. Our objective in Syria was always to retake the territory controlled by ISIS. Some people said we’ve already retaken 99 percent. That’s a number that comes up a lot. And if you look at the map, before and after, it looks like 99 percent.
Now that we have done so, the nations of the region must step up and take more responsibility for their future. And also, they have to confront those remnants of ISIS and take them out very easily — if, after we’re totally finished, they’re even left at all.
There will be a strong, deliberate, and orderly withdrawal of U.S. forces from Syria — very deliberate, very orderly — while maintaining the U.S. presence in Iraq to prevent an ISIS resurgence and to protect U.S. interests, and also to always watch very closely over any potential reformation of ISIS and also to watch over Iran. We’ll be watching.
While American might can defeat terrorist armies on the battlefield, each nation of the world must decide for itself what kind of future it wants to build for its people, and what kind of sacrifices they are willing to make for their children. America shouldn’t be doing the fighting for every nation on Earth not being reimbursed, in many cases, at all.
If they want us to do the fighting, they also have to pay a price — and sometimes that’s also a monetary price — so we’re not the suckers of the world. We’re no longer the suckers, folks. And people aren’t looking at us as suckers. And I love you folks because most of you are nodding your head this way. We’re respected again as a nation. We’re respected again.
America is safer, and peace is more possible because of the incredible courage and devotion of every patriot here tonight. Some people say, “Well, maybe somebody comes from the area, and they hit us on our homeland.” If that happens, they will suffer consequences over here like nobody has ever suffered before. (Applause.) Let me just tell you. And I hope they hear that loud and clear. And that’s not a threat; that’s going to be a fact. If anything should happen at all, nobody will ever have suffered the consequences that they will suffer. Just remember I said it.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: (Inaudible.)
THE PRESIDENT: We will honor — you’re welcome. You’re welcome. (Laughter.) We will honor your service by doing everything in our power to defend our homeland and to stop terrorists from entering America’s shores. And that includes the strengthening of our borders.
I don’t know if you folks are aware of what’s happening. We want to have strong borders in the United States. The Democrats don’t want to let us have strong borders — only for one reason. You know why? Because I want it. (Laughter.) If I said — you know, I think, just standing here looking at all these brilliant, young faces — these warriors. You’re warriors. You know, you’re modern-day warriors. That’s what you are.
But you gave me an idea, just looking at this warrior group. I think I’ll say, “I don’t want the wall.” And then they’re going to give it to me. (Laughter.) I’ve figured out the solution, First Lady. (Laughter.) Tell Nancy Pelosi, “I don’t want the wall.” “Oh, we want the wall.” And then we get the wall. (Laughter and applause.) That’s another way of doing it. (Applause.) That’s another way of doing it.
No, we have to have it. And, you know, not only human trafficking; drugs; illegals; a lot of criminals — bad records. We’ve seen murderers come in through the — you saw what happened with the caravan, as we call it. A caravan of thousands of people.
And, by the way, our Border Patrol did an incredible job, and our military did an incredible job. And local law enforcement on the various parts of the border did an incredible job. And those caravans are slowly breaking up, and they’re going back where they came from, and they have to come into our country legally. Legally.
And that’s what you’re fighting for. You know, when you think about it, you’re fighting for borders in other countries, and they don’t want to fight — the Democrats — for the border of our country. It doesn’t make a lot of sense.
At this sacred time of the year, our thoughts turn to the American heroes who gave their last breath in defense of our country, including the seven brave souls who perished last March on the Jolly 51 rescue helicopter. You know exactly who we’re talking about. Some of you were great friends of theirs.
Through their incredible sacrifice, our fallen heroes have achieved immortality. That’s what it is; it’s immortality. Immortality. They will live forever in the hearts of their countrymen, in your hearts, and in the history of the United States of America. They will live forever.
The dignity and glory of the American warrior is recorded on the fields of battle and in acts of valor that will live for all of time. You’re going to be remembered for all of time. And under my administration, we’re winning now. We’re not playing to lose slowly, like they’ve been doing for 19 years. We’re fighting in areas where we shouldn’t be fighting, and spending hundreds of billions of dollars doing it.
No. You have the right thought process now going, for the first time in a long time. (Laughter and applause.) Thank you. We want to fight where it’s meaningful, which is basically what you’re just saying. And you understand that better than anybody. The people in this room understand that better. Your general understands it. I just met with them. Your general understands it. We want to fight for the meaningful things.
No force in history has done more for the cause of justice and peace. I want each and every one of you to know that we will always protect those who protect us. You protect us. We are always going to protect you. And you just saw that because you just got one of the biggest pay raises you’ve ever received — unless you don’t want it. (Applause.) Does anybody here — is anybody here willing to give up the big pay raise you just got? Raise your hands, please. Ah, I don’t see too many hands. Okay, don’t give it up.
It’s great. You know what? Nobody deserves it more. You haven’t gotten one in more than 10 years — more than 10 years. And we got you a big one. I got you a big one. I got you a big one. (Applause.)
They had plenty of people that came up. They said, “You know, we could make it smaller. We could make it 3 percent. We could make it 2 percent. We could make it 4 percent.” I said, “No. Make it 10 percent. Make it more than 10 percent.” Because it’s been a long time. It’s been more than 10 years. It’s been more than 10 years. That’s a long time. And, you know, you really put yourselves out there, and you put your lives out there. So congratulations.
We’re fighting every day to ensure you have also the tools, the equipment, the training, and resources that you need to fight and to win. We don’t play “prevent defense” anymore. We’re not doing that. That’s why, when you see me doing things, I always have things in mind. I always have lots of things in mind — things that you have in mind, too, but a lot of other people don’t. A lot of the media doesn’t want to report it correctly, but we have a lot of things in mind.
But do you ever see at — like, in football, where a team is holding the other team scoreless — they can’t throw; they can’t pass; they can’t do anything. Now it’s three and a half quarters; they got to just hold them. And they say, “Let’s change to prevent defense.” And that’s what happens.
And you know what it does? It prevents them from winning. How many times have you seen that? We don’t like prevent defense. We want real offense and we want real defense. And that’s what we’re doing.
We have secured a record increase to our military budget, and we are purchasing all of this great equipment — $700 billion last year; $716 billion — with a “b,” with a “b.” We were fought very hard by the Democrats and others. But I said, “We have to take care of our military.”
I mean, I want to see costs come down, too. But not when it comes to our military. You have to have the finest equipment anywhere in the world, and you have that — $716 billion. And this year, again, we’re going to be — don’t tell anybody because nobody else knows — even a little bit higher.
But we have no choice. We can’t play cheap with our warriors or military. We can’t play cheap with victory. And we’re not going to.
We understand the best way to preserve the peace is to be prepared for combat, and the surest way to prevent conflict is to be totally unyielding and totally ready for conflict if that should happen.
America is a peace-loving nation. But rest assured, if we are forced to fight, we will engage the enemy with overwhelming force like never before — like nobody has ever seen before. (Applause.)
There is no military more capable and, now, more lethal, more fearless, and more skilled than the United States Armed Forces. Nobody is even close. Our faith and confidence in you is absolute and total. You are the sentinels who watch over our nation. You are the warriors who defend our freedom. You are the patriots who ensure the flame of liberty burns forever bright. That’s who you are. That’s who you are.
To everyone at Al Asad Air Base, and every American serving overseas, may God bless you, may God protect you, and may God always keep you safe. We love you. We support you. We salute you. We cherish you. And together, we pray for justice, goodness, and peace on Earth.
We are putting America first, for the first time in a long time — longer than anyone can remember. At the same time, we’re here to help others. And for all of you that have those red caps — and I saw them before; I signed a lot of them — it says, “Make America Great Again.” And you know what? That’s exactly what we’re doing.
So we flew all night on Christmas evening — the First Lady, myself, John Bolton, and a lot of other great people on that plane. Thank you, John. And it was worth every minute of it. And I just want to thank you. You are outstanding, outstanding people. And we will never let you down. Just remember that.
God bless America. Thank you very much.
* * *
Remarks by President Trump in Briefing at Al Asad Air Base
Al Asad Air Base , Al Anbar Province, Iraq
December 26, 2018
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
THE PRESIDENT: So we’re meeting with some of our great leaders. We’re in Iraq. We flew all night and arrived very safely. It was an interesting trip, I will tell you that. I know there was a lot of security up there in the air, the skies — they tell me. But here we are. We’re discussing strategy. We’re discussing lots of things, including even nearby Syria.
We’re — there’s no military like we have. We can do whatever we want. But we have to decide what’s right, what’s not right. They’ve done a fantastic job over the last two years that I’ve been here. I can tell you, speaking from personal knowledge, they’ve done a fantastic job. And it’s a great honor to meet all of you, and we’re going to be meeting some other people a little bit later. And then we’re going to be speaking in front of your troops, and I look forward to that. That’ll be happening in a little while.
And I want to thank the press. You’ve made a journey. You knew where you were going, and we appreciate your coming with us, very much so. That takes courage also. We very much appreciate you coming with us. So thank you very much.
Do you have any questions in the media?
Q Why did you want to come to Iraq?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, it’s a place that I’ve been talking about for many years. And many, many years, before it started, I was talking about it, as a civilian. And many of you know what my feelings were. And I wanted to come and see Iraq. I wanted to come and pay my respects, most importantly, to the great soldiers, the great troopers that we have here. Nobody better.
We brought along John Bolton, brought along the First Lady, and some other great people — very talented people. But I wanted to see what we were doing over here. I tell you what, I’m very impressed with these folks. We’ve gotten a lot of communication through the White House, but I wanted to see it firsthand. And so we flew — we left at about 11:00, and we flew all night. And I think it’s going to be well worth it.
Q Mr. President, what effect will your decision in Syria to pull out the 2,000 troops have here in Iraq?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, you know, we can do things from Iraq that — we can take over some of the slack. But, as you know, we’ve knocked out about 99 percent of the caliphate. It’s time to bring them back.
I told the generals — about a year and a half ago, I said, “Let’s get out of Syria.” And they said, “Sir, can we have some more time?” I said, “Yep. You’ve got another six months. Let’s get out of Syria.” I’ve said it for a long time. And then — and other places, too, I was talking about. But let’s talk about Syria.
I said, “Let’s get out of Syria. Let’s bring our young people home.” And they said, “Sir, could we have six more months?” I said, “Yep. You’ve got six more months. Let’s go.” And I gave them six months. Then I said, “Let’s get out.” And they said, “Sir, could we have six more months?” I said, “Yep. You’ve got six more months.”
And then they said again, recently, “Could we have more time?” I said, “Nope. You can’t have any more time. You’ve got enough time.”
We’ve knocked them out. We’ve knocked them silly. I will tell you that I had some very good talks with President Erdogan, who wants to knock them out also. And he’ll do it. And others will do it, too, because we’re in their region; they should be really sharing the burden of cost, and they’re not.
And now they’re going to be doing it. And if they don’t, they’re going to go in, and they’ll go into places like Turkey and Russia and Iran and Iraq and lots of others places.
So these people are going to have to start doing a lot of their own work, and they’re going to have to start paying for it, because the United States cannot continue to be the policeman of the world. We don’t want to do that. We want to protect our country. These people want to protect our country. They’ve been here a long time.
Q Do you have any plans to pull the forces out of Iraq as well?
THE PRESIDENT: No plans at all, no. In fact, we could use this as a base if we wanted to do something in Syria. If — I will say this, if you take ISIS and if we see something happening with ISIS that we don’t like, we can hit them so fast and so hard, they won’t — they really won’t know what the hell happened.
But it’s time to get our soldiers out, and it’s time to get our young people out. And I’ve been signing plenty of letters, and I don’t like sending those letters home to parents, saying that your young man or your young woman has been killed. And I don’t like doing it. We’ve been doing it long enough.
We’ve been here, and if you look at Afghanistan, 19 years. We’ve been doing it a long time. And these people at this table have been incredible. These are incredible people. And these are incredible men and women. But we’ve been doing it a long time.
So I gave notice in Syria — you know, the way it was reported was like I just pulled out; I didn’t just pull out. I’ve been talking about it for a year and a half. I’ve been telling the generals, “Let’s go. Go ahead, take more time. Let’s go. Take more time.” Constantly giving them more time. Finally, I said, “Okay, it’s now time for others to take over that fight.” We don’t want to be there.
If you look at Syria — so we went there about eight years ago, and it was supposed to be for a three-month period of time. We never left. It’s time to bring our people back home.
Thank you.
Q Sir, what do you make of people like Lindsey Graham, who say you’re making a mistake?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I had a good debate with Lindsey Graham in front of a lot of people the other day. And I think even Lindsey would say that that had a big impact (inaudible). Lindsey Graham is somebody that I like, that we work together — we agree on many things. We agreed on Justice Kavanaugh, Justice Gorsuch. We agreed on many things.
I think that a lot of people are going to come around to my way of thinking. It’s not fair when we burden the — when the burden is all on us, the United States. We’re building now — as you folks know, you’re seeing new equipment coming in for the first time in many years — $716 billion and $700 billion, the last two years. Far more than you ever got.
And now we’re buying all beautiful, new fighter jets. And we’re buying — we’re building new ships. We’re doing a lot of new things, even the equipment for your men and women.
But it’s time for us to start using our head. We don’t want to be taken advantage anymore by countries that use us and use our incredible military to protect them. They don’t pay for it, and they’re going to have to.
Now, if you look at what happened in Syria, President Erdogan stepped up, and he says he wants to knock out ISIS. We say, “Whatever’s left.” It’s just the remnants of ISIS. And Saudi Arabia just came out and said they’re going to pay for some economic development, which is great. That means we don’t have to pay.
But we may help, at some point. We may go back and help. We can do a lot of things with our companies and others, where they go out and they do a great job.
But the bottom line is: We’re going to use our heads, and wealthy countries cannot continue to use the United States to defend them. These are wealthy countries. These are seriously wealthy countries, in certain cases, that I’m talking about. I’m not only talking about in the Middle East. I’m talking about all over the world. Wealthy countries cannot expect the United States to pay for a vast majority of their military. They can pay us. They can reimburse us.
There’s nobody has a military like us, but we’re all over the world. We’re spread out all over the world. We’re in countries that most people have never even heard about. And, frankly, it’s ridiculous.
So that’s the story. It’s very simple. I wanted to come to Iraq. I wanted to meet these great heroes. And that’s what we’re doing, and that’s why we’re here. That’s why we took that flight.
Q Mr. President?
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah.
Q About the criticism that, by leaving Syria, you might increase jeopardy for Israel, how do you respond?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I don’t see it. And I spoke with Bibi. I told Bibi. And, you know, we give Israel $4.5 billion a year. And they’re doing very well defending themselves, if you take a look.
But we’ll be there for Israel. We’ll always be there for Israel. I’m the one that moved the embassy to Jerusalem. You know, nobody was willing to do that. All these Presidents came and went. They all said they will do it. They never did it. Many, many Presidents said they were going to move the embassy to Jerusalem. They never did it; I did it. Big difference.
So that’s the way it is. We’re going to take good care of Israel. Israel is going to be good. But we give Israel $4.5 billion a year. And we give them, frankly, a lot more money than that, if you look at the books — a lot more money than that. And they’ve been doing a very good job for themselves.
Q Sir, what about the timing of this trip, coming during a government shutdown back in Washington?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I did this — about three or four weeks ago, we set this up. We actually had a couple of them set up, and we cancelled for security reasons because people were finding out.
Pretty sad, when you spend $7 trillion in the Middle East, and going in has to be under this massive cover, with planes all over and all of the greatest equipment in the world, and you do everything you can to get in safely. Pretty sad. You spend $7 trillion, and you have to come in through military escorts and all of the other incredible things that they did. Incredible.
Q How long do you think the shutdown will last, Mr. President?
THE PRESIDENT: Whatever it takes. I mean, we’re going to have a wall. We’re going to have safety. We need safety for our country, even from this standpoint. We have terrorists coming in through the southern border. We have the terrorists also coming in, fellas, through the southern border. Because you know why? It was always the easiest.
Now, we’ve made it very tough, but — I won’t put them on the spot, but I guarantee you, they would say, “You don’t have a wall, you’re not going to have…” I mean, the folks that are saying, “Can we have some drones? Can we have technology?” Technology is bells and whistles. You have to have a wall. You have to have protection.
But we have, in addition to drugs, in addition to human trafficking, in addition to mass numbers of illegals who are coming in — many of whom are criminals. You saw that. Six hundred and eighteen, so far, that we found — in some cases, very serious criminals. In some cases, murderers. You saw that yourselves. It was on your cameras for everybody to see.
We need a wall. So when you say, “How long is it going to take?” When are they going to say that we need border security? When are the Democrats going to say it? Don’t forget, the Democrats all agreed that you need a wall, until I wanted it. Once I wanted it, they didn’t agree.
Steve.
Q What’s your timeline on a new Defense Secretary?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, we have wonderful man in there now, as you know. Our friend, Shanahan, is a good man, and he’s done a great job. And he’s a good buyer. I wanted somebody that could buy, because I’m giving a lot of money and I don’t want it to be wasted.
You know, when I came here, they were spending — for a $4 billion aircraft carrier, they were up to $16 billion. That’s not me; that’s them. I inherited that and many other things. Cost overruns all over the place.
So Shanahan was at Boeing, and did a great job at Boeing. He was there for a long time. Boeing is a hell of a company. He did a great job. Very responsible for the success of a certain plane, the Dreamliner. And he’s a respected man. He could be there for a long time. I mean, I’m in no rush.
I will say that I’ve got everybody — everybody and his uncle wants that position. And also, by the way, everybody and her aunt — just so I won’t be criticized for that last statement.
Everybody wants that position. Everybody. Everybody — so many people want to be — who wouldn’t want to be Secretary of Defense? Even these folks would like to be Secretary of Defense. Who wouldn’t want to be? This guy, he’s looking over there. He said, “Boy, I would like that (inaudible).” (Laughter.)
So we have a lot of people. We have a lot of great people who want to be Secretary of Defense. We’ll take our time and we’ll make the right decision.
Q Mr. President, have you come down from $5 billion to $2 billion for border security in the conversations with Democrats?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, you know — as you know, we’ve already built a lot of wall. We’re building a lot more, you know, just through the normal budget. And we fixed a tremendous amount of wall — many miles. Sarah can give you the numbers. Sarah Sanders can give you the numbers. But we’ve fixed a lot of wall, and we’ve renovated it. It’s very, very good. It’s as good as new. And, you know, many, many miles of that.
And we’ve also built new wall a lot. But we just gave out a contract that, when it’s all completed out, it’ll be 115 miles. That’s a lot. We’re talking about 500 to 550 miles. And this will be — just this one contract is 115. I’m going there — I assume you’re coming with me — on probably the end of January, a little bit before the State of the Union. I think we’re going to do it before the State of the Union Address. I’ll be going to Texas, and we’re going to be sort of having a long — we’ll have a long groundbreaking, because it covers a lot of territory. But we’re going to have a groundbreaking for the wall.
Q But as to the matter of negotiations, sir, have you come down from the $5 billion ask to $2 billion? That’s a perception Democrats have.
THE PRESIDENT: Here’s the problem — yeah, here’s the problem we have: We have a problem with the Democrats because Nancy Pelosi is calling the shots, not Chuck. And Chuck wants to have this done. I really believe that. He wants to have this done. But she’s calling the shots, and she’s calling them because she wants the votes.
And probably, if they do something, she’s not going to get the votes, and she’s not going to be Speaker of the House. And that would be not so good for her. Because she’s got — you know, she’s in a very tight contest. I know her contest very well; I know it maybe better than she does. I know exactly where she is. And she’s in a very, very tight contest. There are those that say she doesn’t have the votes yet. Let’s see what happens. I say she does.
But if Chuck does this, it could very well have negative implications on her becoming Speaker of the House. So they all know you need it; they all know you need this border security. They all know you need the wall — or whatever you want to call it — in order to secure our border, which these people know more about than anybody. And they can tell you, you need a wall. But the one who is calling the shots is Nancy Pelosi.
Q Will you accept $2 billion instead of $5 billion, sir?
THE PRESIDENT: I’m not going to talk about it now. But I will say this: We have been building a lot of wall. A lot of people don’t know it, and I haven’t really been stressing it, frankly, because maybe I felt it wasn’t the right thing to do. But we’ve been building a lot of wall. If you go out, you’ll see it. Or we can give you an exact list. Sarah, you’ll do that.
But we’re building now — we just gave out a contract, as you know; I just released it the other day. But we are building a lot of wall. We have a lot of great wall going in the most important places. We’re starting in the most important places, which I would say history says, fellas, that’s a good thing to do, right? Do the most important places first and do the least important places last.
So we are probably up to — with what we’re building now and what we’re going to start very shortly, we’re probably up to over 200 miles of wall. Nobody knows that, nor did I want to tell anybody. So we are moving very rapidly. And I have other sources if I need them. But we have to do it the right way.
Look, the American public is demanding a wall. I think they’re under a lot of pressure. The problem is, we need 10 Democrat votes in the Senate. The House is 100 percent. You saw that. Nancy said we’d never get the votes in the House. Not only did we get them, we got them by a lot — 217 to 185. I mean, we got them by a lot. Nobody believed that.
Nancy Pelosi sat, and she said you couldn’t get the votes in the House. And then we got the votes in the House. And that was for $5.8 billion.
So we’re doing well. The problem is, we need 10 votes in the Senate, and they have to be Democrat votes. They can’t — you know, people don’t understand. They hear we have the majority. Well, we have, right now, the majority by one. Soon, we’ll have the majority by three because we won the Senate and we picked up. Nobody ever reports that, but we won the Senate and we picked up two seats, which is — you know, someday one of you guys are going to get out and actually report that. There are those that say it’s more important because that’s what approves Supreme Court judges, judges, people — everything.
But we won the Senate, and people were very surprised at how well we did in the Senate. We almost won three additional seats that we weren’t expected to be anywhere near.
So Nancy is calling the shots. And they all know — look, politically speaking — I don’t do it for politics; I’m doing nothing for politics. But, politically speaking, people want border security, okay?
One more question?
MS. SANDERS: We’ll take one more question.
THE PRESIDENT: One more.
Q Did you have any concerns about coming here today?
THE PRESIDENT: Absolutely, when I heard what you had to go through.
Q What did you go through?
THE PRESIDENT: I mean, look, I had concerns for the institution of the presidency because — not for myself, personally. I had concerns for the First Lady, I will tell you. But if you would have seen what we had to go through, with the darkened plane, with all windows closed, with no lights on whatsoever, anywhere — pitch black. I’ve never seen it; I’ve been in many airplanes — all types and shapes and sizes. I’ve never seen anything like it. We’re coming in, and I know all of the things that were surrounding us for safety.
So did I have a concern? Yeah, I had a concern, but my bigger concern was maybe the people that were with me, certainly all of them — except, I think, John Bolton. He’s a pretty tough guy. He can handle it. Right, John? John can handle it.
And, by the way, John and I agree on all of this. And I think John will say that we went through numerous — extension, extension, extension. John — and John is, you know, pretty strong on the subject. He’s pretty strong. He’s pretty hawkish on everything having to do with the military.
And, by the way, I think I’m probably more hawkish than anybody. Anybody. Nobody is more hawkish than me. But I also like to use it in the right place. And, frankly, I like not using it at all.
And one of the things we’re doing is we are building the greatest force that we’ve ever had, that we’ve ever had. We’ve never had a force like we’re building, in terms of the equipment. We have the best people, to start off with.
And by doing what I’m doing, hopefully, we won’t have to use it. But there is nobody that believes more strongly in having a powerful military than I do. And we’re respected once again in the world, and that’s nice to see because our military — I’m not going to put them on the spot, but our military was seriously depleted when I took office. Seriously depleted. It was in bad shape. And very soon, it’s going to be phenomenal shape.
Okay? Thank you all very much.
* * * * *
Zdroj: https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-troops-al-asad-air-base-al-anbar-province-iraq/, https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-briefing-al-asad-air-base-al-anbar-province-iraq/
Ilustračné foto: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/96/Donald_Trump_by_Gage_Skidmore_2.jpg/1024px-Donald_Trump_by_Gage_Skidmore_2.jpg
