Prior to departing the White House for a trip to California and Las Vegas, President Trump delivered remarks to the media and took questions. [Video and Transcript below]:

.

[Transcript] – South Lawn – 9:50 A.M. EDT – THE PRESIDENT: Hello, everybody. The economic numbers just came out; they’re very, very good. Our country is doing unbelievably well, economically. Most of you don’t report that because it doesn’t sound good from your perspective.

But the country is doing really, really well. We have a lot of very exciting things going on. A lot of companies will be announcing shortly they’re moving back into the United States. They’re all coming back. They want to be where the action is.

I’m heading to the border. We’re building a lot of wall. We’re going to show you a section. And a lot of things are happening. A lot of very positive things are happening.

Q Mr. President, what should the Fed do with interests rates and (inaudible)?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, I personally think the Fed should drop rates. I think they really slowed us down. There’s no inflation. I would say, in terms of quantitative tightening, it should actually now be quantitative easing. Very little, if any inflation. And I think they should drop rates. And they should get rid of quantitative tightening. You would see a rocket ship. Despite that, we’re doing very well.

Q What’s going on with the ICE Director, Vitiello? What is happening with Vitiello’s nomination?

THE PRESIDENT: We’re going in a little different direction. Ron’s a good man. But we’re going in a tougher direction. We want to go in a tougher direction.

Q What is exactly is offensive about Joe Biden’s behavior? And are you the right messenger for that?

THE PRESIDENT: Yeah, I think I’m a very good messenger. And people got a kick out of it. He’s going through a situation; let’s see what happens.

But people got a kick — we got to — we got to sort of smile a little bit, right?

Q Does that mean you see Joe Biden as a threat? Do you see Joe Biden as a threat? Is that why you —

THE PRESIDENT: No, I don’t see Joe Biden as a threat. No. I don’t see him as a threat. I think he’s only a threat to himself.

Q (Inaudible.)

THE PRESIDENT: I just don’t see him as a threat. He’s been there a long time. His record is not good. He’d have to run on the Obama failed record.

You look at what happened with so many different things: North Korea, the Middle East, the economy never got going. No, I don’t think Joe is a threat. I’d love him to be — I mean, look, I’d be happy with any of them to be honest.

Q Why did you change your mind about shutting down the border?

THE PRESIDENT: I never changed my mind at all. I may shut it down at some point, but I’d rather do tariffs. So Mexico, I have to say, has been very, very good — you know that — over the last four days, since I talked about shutting down the border.

If they continue that, everything will be fine. If they don’t, we’re going to tariff their cars at 25 percent coming into the United States. So every time they make a car, it’s a 25 percent tariff. That means we make money as opposed to lose money. We probably bring those car companies back into the United States.

But if, on the other hand, it doesn’t work — which it will, 100 percent — the tariffs will work just like they’ve worked with steel. Our steel industry is so hot right now because of what I did with tariffs. Same thing with aluminum — they’ll work. But if it didn’t work, I will close the border.

I am also — I’m looking at an economic penalty for all of the drugs that are coming in through the southern border and killing our people.

Q Mr. President, how did your meeting with China go yesterday?

THE PRESIDENT: The China meeting was a big success. I think we’re going to have a — look, we have a very good relationship. We’re going to see. I don’t want to predict a deal or not a deal. But we’re very well along. We’ve really negotiated probably the two hardest points very successfully for our country.

And China understands — you know, China has taken advantage of our country for 30 years. And we can’t do that anymore. Not with me.

Q (Inaudible) why aren’t you closing the border this week?

THE PRESIDENT: Because Mexico has been absolutely terrific for the last four days. They’re apprehending everybody. Yesterday, they apprehended 1,400 people. The day before, it was a thousand. And if they apprehend people at their southern border, where they don’t have to walk through, that’s a big home run. We can handle it from there. It’s really good.

Now, Congress has to act. They have to get rid of catch and release, chain migration, visa lottery. They have to get rid of the whole asylum system because it doesn’t work. And, frankly, we should get rid of judges. You can’t have a court case every time somebody steps their foot on our ground. So very important that Congress acts.

But Mexico, in the last four days — it’s never happened like that in 35 years.

Q The USMCA side deal says you can’t do tariffs on cars. Why do you think you can?

THE PRESIDENT: This will supersede USMCA. USMCA is a great deal and it’s very good for Mexico, but this will supersede USMCA.

Q Mr. President, are you going to the Correspondents’ Dinner or are you going to hold a rally?

THE PRESIDENT: I’m going to hold a rally.

Q Instead of the Correspondents’ Dinner?

THE PRESIDENT: Yeah, because the dinner is so boring and so negative that we’re going to hold a very positive rally instead.

Q Where?

THE PRESIDENT: We haven’t determined. We have about three sites. Everybody wants it. It’ll be a big one, but the Correspondents’ Dinner is too negative. I like positive things. Okay?

Q Are you worried about Michael Cohen’s hard drive?

THE PRESIDENT: No. They’ve already got it. He’s old news. He lied numerous times during his last testimony. They’ve had that for many months.

Q Are you confident you’ll be able to keep the Democrats from getting your taxes?

THE PRESIDENT: Oh, I don’t know. That’s up to whoever handles it. I don’t know. Hey, I’m under audit. But that’s up to whoever it is. I — from what I understand, the law is 100 percent on my side.

Q (Inaudible) temporary protected status for Venezuelans — will you give it to them? You said their country is in crisis.

THE PRESIDENT: Venezuela is a mess. This is what socialism brings. If you elect a socialist here, you’ll have the same exact country as you have in Venezuela. Thank you.

END 9:57 A.M.

President Trump delivered remarks today during a White House Opportunity and Revitalization economic group meeting. [Video and Transcript Below] What is the axiom that needs to be continually referenced when contemplating the forces aligned against President Donald Trump?  “There are trillions at stake“.

President Trump is single-handily navigating U.S. interests amid a landscape where the entire BIG CLUB is aligned against him.  All but a handful of DC politicians are owned by Wall Street’s BIG CLUB (Donohue and McConnell); multinationals & allied media. Meanwhile, to enhance their self-interests/plans, the ‘Occupy’ left-wing Democrats have abandoned all prior positions and joined a tactical alliance with Wall Street in the hopes of removing President Trump.  These are the forces against all ‘America First‘ policies.

.

[Transcript] -White House – […] PRESIDENT TRUMP: We’re losing, a few years ago, two hundred, routinely, to China. We can’t do that. We’re going to turn it around. It’s got to be a great deal. If it’s not a great deal, we’re not doing it.

But it’s going very well. Top officials are here. And, you know, we’re very well along on the deal. It’s a very complex deal. It’s a very big deal. It’s one of the biggest deals ever made. Maybe the biggest deal ever made. It will be a great deal for our farmers. Technology, intellectual property theft — everything is covered. There’s not a thing that’s not covered.

We could have made a quickie, but we’re in a very good position. Our economy is way up. China is not way up. And we’re — could either make a very good deal or we’re not going to make a deal at all. But I think it looks like the deal is moving along very nicely.

So I think you’re going to meet me in — we’re going to say hello to the media for a little while, sometime after 2 o’clock. Okay?

Thank you, everybody.

Q (Inaudible) Mexico?

THE PRESIDENT: Yeah, a lot of good things are happening with Mexico. Mexico understands that we’re going to close the border or I’m going to tariff the cars. I’ll do one or the other. And probably start off with the tariffs. That will be a very powerful incentive, because Mexico has the strongest immigration laws anywhere in the world. They don’t have courts like we do. We have a stupid system of courts. It’s the craziest thing in the world. We could be the only country that has it. If you put a foot on the property, you put a foot into the United States: “Congratulations. Go get Perry Mason to represent you.” You end up with a court case.

And then they release you, and you come back four, five years later but nobody comes back. Two percent come back. The not-so-smart ones come back. It’s the most ridiculous system anyone has ever seen.

And we have catch and release and we have chain migration, where somebody comes in and brings the whole family. “Bring them all: your grandparents, your brothers, your sisters, your cousins.” The craziest thing I’ve ever seen. Put in by Democrats.

And the Democrats are going to straighten it out. And if they don’t straighten it out — and I predicted this. I mean, I hate to see it, but at least I can say I was right. I told everybody. This is — you have a national emergency at our border and nobody even talks about drugs — the drugs that are flowing in.

So for the last four days — and you actually have covered it to a very minor extent — Mexico has been capturing people and bringing them back to their countries at their southern border. They’ve been taking people under their very powerful laws — they have the right to do it — and they’re bringing them back to where they came from. That’s about three days now, I guess, since — frankly, since they heard I was going to close the border.

But before I close the border, if Mexico — and we love Mexico. We love the country of Mexico. We have two problems: We have the fact that they allow people to pour into our country. We have to stop them. Border Patrol has been incredible. ICE has been incredible. Law enforcement has been incredible.

And the other problem is drugs. Massive amounts of — a large — most of the drugs — much of the drugs coming into our country come through the southern border in all different ways. Much of it where we don’t have walls.

The wall is under construction, by the way — large sections. We’re going to be meeting, I think, on Friday at a piece of the wall that we’ve completed, a big piece. A lot of it is being built right now. A lot of it is being signed up right now by different contractors. It’s moving along very nicely. But we need the wall, but we need lots of other things.

So we need help from Mexico. If Mexico doesn’t give the help, that’s okay, we’re going to tariff their cars coming into the United States.

The other thing is — because Mexico is such a big source of drugs, unfortunately — unfortunately — now we have China sending fentanyl to Mexico so it can be delivered into the United States. It’s not acceptable.

So the second aspect of it is, which you haven’t heard before, is that if the drugs don’t stop — Mexico can stop them if they want — we’re going to tariff the cars. The cars are very big. And if that doesn’t work, we’re going to close the border. But I think that’ll work. So it’s massive numbers of dollars.

So if we don’t see people apprehended and brought back to their countries, if we see these massive caravans coming up to our country, right through Mexico — coming right through Mexico, like nothing. Busses are even given to them.

For the last three days, it hasn’t happened, since I said we’re closing the border. The only thing, frankly, better but less drastic than closing the border is to tariff the cars coming in. And I will do it, just like — you know I will do it.

I don’t play games. I’ll do it.

So we’re doing it to stop people. We’re going to give them a one-year warning. And if the drugs don’t stop, or largely stop, we’re going to put tariffs on Mexico and products, in particular cars.

The whole ballgame is cars. It’s the big ballgame. With many countries, it’s cars. And if that doesn’t stop the drugs, we close the border. Because Mexico, last year, and over — for many years — just like China, except China numbers are even bigger.

And I don’t blame China and I don’t blame Mexico, if they can get away with it. I blame the people that used to sit in this seat, because they should have done something about it. And I’m not just talking about President Obama; I’m talking about many Presidents. They should’ve done something about it.

So if Mexico doesn’t do what they can do very easily — apprehend these people coming in — and they can do it in a much more humane fashion. Why should they walk up 2,000 miles and then be brought back? They can stop them right at their southern border, right where they come into Mexico. And they have unbelievable immigration laws where they have the right to do it. The most powerful in the world. As good as you can have. And they’re going to do it. And if they don’t do it, we’re going to tax the cars. And if that doesn’t work, we’re going to close the border.

But we’re also going to do something having to do with tariffs on drugs. Because not only are hundreds of thousands of lives a year being ruined in our country, but numbers of people are dying that you wouldn’t believe. I mean, we’ll lose one military personnel and it’s a front-page story. And yet, we have 100,000 people. People don’t even know the number. They say 77,000; they say 72,000. Any number they give, you can guarantee to raise it. And if the drugs don’t stop, we’re going to put tariffs on. It also costs our country at least $500 billion through our southern border — $500 billion.

So we will put tariffs on if they don’t apprehend, and ultimately we’re going to give a period of time. But if, in a year from now, drugs continues to pour in, we’re going to put tariffs on.

Now, we have a deal: USMCA. It’s all done. They’re going to have to live with it, okay? They’re going to have to live with it. I’m not trying to be unfair. They’re going to have to live with it. The USMCA is a great deal for everybody. But this is more important to me than the USMCA, so they’re going to have to live with it.

Thank you very much.

Q Mr. President, can you get the USMCA passed by Congress?

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. Thank you. I’ll tell you one thing: It’s a great deal. If they don’t pass it, it’s purely political, that’s all. The USMCA, everybody wants to see it passed. But we’ll see. Whatever they want to do is okay with me.

END 12:24 P.M. EDT – [Full Transcript Here]

This is a rather remarkable statistic [Technical Data Here] Weekly unemployment claims dropped to 202,000 for the week ending March 30th.  That’s the lowest level of jobless claims since December 1959.  More people are working today than ever in U.S. history. [The DOL jobless claims statistic is not connected to the unemployment rate; the BLS unemployment report for March will be announced tomorrow morning.]

(Via CNBC) The number of Americans filing applications for unemployment benefits dropped to a more than 49-year low last week, pointing to sustained labor market strength despite slowing economic growth.

Initial claims for state unemployment benefits declined 10,000 to a seasonally adjusted 202,000 for the week ended March 30, the lowest level since early December 1969, the Labor Department said on Thursday.

Data for the prior week was revised to show 1,000 more applications received than previously reported.  Economists polled by Reuters had forecast claims rising to 216,000 in the latest week. (read more)

Carpe Donktum strikes again.  A little while ago President Trump tweeted the hilarious spoof created by meme generator Carpe Donktum.  Here’s the video meme:

.

And below is the tweet from President Trump welcoming back Joe Biden.