Tonight President Trump will deliver remarks at Joint Base Andrews and sign the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020.  Included in the bill are twelve weeks of paid parental leave, initiation funds for the United States Space Force and Southern border wall funding. President Trump will then fly to Florida for the holidays.

Anticipated start time 7:30pm ET.

WH Livestream Link – Fox News Livestream – Fox Business Livestream

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This is interesting. Last year Speaker Pelosi used the SOU invite to play out political gamesagainst President Trump.  This year, considering the political impeachment effort, I thought she would be likely to replay that scheme; but she didn’t.   This implies the private polling and public sentiment (ie. bbacklash) against her constituent democrats must be much more severe than is currently visible:

Per Hogan Gidley: President Donald J. Trump has accepted the Speaker’s invitation to deliver the State of the Union Address on February 4, 2020.

Earlier today President Trump held a press availability in the oval office to welcome former democrat representative Jeff Van Drew into the republican party.  Congressman Van Drew left the Democrat party as a result of the House impeachment fiasco.

[Video and Transcript Below]

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[Transcript] – THE PRESIDENT: Well, thank you very much. We have a very big announcement, to me. I think it’s been many years — I hear 10 years, maybe more — where Jeff Van Drew, highly respected — in fact, I didn’t know, as a Democrat, how you could have won in that district. I know the district very well. But that is a great tribute to you. But Jeff will be joining the Republican Party.

And we were very fortunate he voted our way yesterday, as you probably know. And we had a totally unified party. I don’t think there’s ever been a time where the Republican Party was so united. But Jeff will be joining the Republican Party. And I really — to me, it’s a very exciting announcement. I think, Kevin, you said it was about 10 years since that’s happened.

LEADER MCCARTHY: Yeah.

THE PRESIDENT: And I don’t even know who the last one was. It would seem to me it was even more than that. But it’s a big deal.

LEADER MCCARTHY: It’s a very big deal because he’s going from the majority to the minority, and it normally doesn’t go that way.

THE PRESIDENT: Right. Yeah, but he’s very smart because he knows it’s not going to be the minority for long. I have a feeling we’re going to do very well in 2020, in November — November 3rd, to be exact. Get out and vote.

But, Jeff, thank you very much. It’s a great honor. Thank you.

REPRESENTATIVE VAN DREW: Thank you, Mr. President.

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. Please. Would you like to say something?

REPRESENTATIVE VAN DREW: So, I have a few words. And I usually never, ever — I don’t read speeches. And this won’t be very long —

THE PRESIDENT: Sure.

REPRESENTATIVE VAN DREW: — I promise you, Mr. President. But I had a few bullets. There’s a few points I really wanted to make today.

And I would start with how this started. I’ve been a Democrat for a lot of years. And I actually had a meeting with somebody about two weeks ago, I guess it was. And the individual was a local county chairman in the Democratic Party. And he sat down and he says, “I just want to tell you something.” And he said, “I want to tell you that you can’t vote against impeachment.”

I said, “What do you mean I can’t vote against impeachment?” He says, “You can’t vote against impeachment. You will not…” I have eight counties in my district. “You will not get the line. You will not get the county. I will do everything to prevent that from happening, and everything to destroy you.” This is a pretty young guy, so it was pretty gutsy.

THE PRESIDENT: Yeah. A wise guy.

REPRESENTATIVE VAN DREW: And it kind of hurt because, for years, I have given everything that I could to my people and my district.

You know, Mr. President, you asked why I win. Truthfully, because I’m a crazy man, and when people have a problem, when they need something, when we want to help them — I have the best staff in the world, good people around me, and we do everything that we can to make it better.

And that kind of hurt, and it kind of made me think a little bit: Is this what I really want to do? Because there were other times in my life, when I thought about this. I thought about it when I did legislation. And, actually, it was in the state senate.

And I don’t know if this is going to be relatable to not, but I want to say it anyhow because I’ve always wanted to just mention this because I think it’s important, in a way. This is not — it was not a complex bill. It was not something that was, you know, very difficult to understand. It isn’t intellectually stimulating to some people. I understand. But I did two bills, and one of them — it’s unusual for New Jersey — would allow, in any public or private building, to have “In God We Trust” on the wall. And the second one was that you could fly the American flag wherever you wanted to, however you wanted to, as long as it was respectful.

And I thought these were wonderful bills. I mean, I thought everybody was going to be, “This is just a great thing.” And I had some very progressive — and not all Democrats — but these were really progressive Democrats that came to me and said, “We’re really disgusted with you.” And I said, “Why?” “Making such a big deal about the flag. The flag is just not that big a deal.”

THE PRESIDENT: Yeah.

REPRESENTATIVE VAN DREW: “‘In God We Trust’ is not that big deal.”

THE PRESIDENT: That’s where they’re going.

REPRESENTATIVE VAN DREW: “And you shouldn’t even mention His name.” And I was shocked. I was shocked. We put them up anyhow, and we did want we wanted to do. But it really —

THE PRESIDENT: That’s a very Republican thing, by the way. (Laughter.)

REPRESENTATIVE VAN DREW: I know. I know.

THE PRESIDENT: You’re not going to find any one of us that — I can tell you, Kevin, Mike, I think you’re okay with it, right?

REPRESENTATIVE VAN DREW: And I think most folks should be okay with it.

THE PRESIDENT: The whole country should be okay with it.

REPRESENTATIVE VAN DREW: You’re right.

I talk about American exceptionalism. This is the greatest country on the face of the Earth. I started out as not a wealthy kid. Had the opportunity to work hard. Got into dental school, graduated. And, my God, I’m sitting here next to the President of the United States. That’s unbelievable. That’s America.

So I don’t want anybody to ever tell me that there isn’t American exceptionalism. I don’t want anybody to ever say that this is the same as every other country in the world, because it is not. It is not. And you know that and I know that. And, hopefully, everybody in this room knows that.

And, again, from certain groups of people that represented certain parts of the party, I was criticized. And they said this country is the same as every other country, and there is no such thing as American exceptionalism.

I’m a capitalist. Socialism, in my opinion, has no place in the United States of America. And I think everyone should know that.

I believe that this country can afford people opportunity and give them that opportunity so that they can succeed. And we all should know that as well.

I love bipartisanship. Do you know that I even had times, quite frankly, being a Democrat — again, not from all folks; there’s some middle-of-the-road folks — but from some of these extreme folks that they said, “Bipartisanship is a bad thing.”

THE PRESIDENT: Yeah.

REPRESENTATIVE VAN DREW: “It’s a bad thing because it’s going to make you more like a Republican.” Again, I don’t believe that. I don’t think you do. I believe in what you’re doing with the economy. It’s a better, stronger economy. I believe it’s going to be even better.

THE PRESIDENT: A new record today, by the way. It’s up 125 points today. So your 401(k)s are way up. But a new record today, Jeff. So, that’s great.

REPRESENTATIVE VAN DREW: And thank you for that. I believe the New Green Deal is something that we should never, ever even think about doing. I don’t even know how anybody could bring that up. We can have a strong and good environment and we can have a good economy at the same time. And that’s something that I think Republicanism represents.

Lower taxes, balancing the budget, honoring our police, our fire, our rescue, our veterans, our soldiers — these men and women.

I want to tell you one quick story. Chris will have a picture of it. He’s — like I said, he’s a Marine. An older gentleman. Is he a Marine too, that stood out there?

PARTICIPANT: (Inaudible.)

REPRESENTATIVE VAN DREW: He’s a Marine, right? An older gentleman, when he heard I announced — in the cold — came in front of my office and stood out there holding the American flag for 12 hours in honor of it.

THE PRESIDENT: That’s great. Wow.

REPRESENTATIVE VAN DREW: It’s — it was an amazing thing. And not quite the peop- — the length of time people wait for you, but —

THE PRESIDENT: That’s okay. (Laughter.)

REPRESENTATIVE VAN DREW: — that was still pretty neat. (Laughter.)

THE PRESIDENT: That’s okay. They won’t do that if you’re a Democrat, I can tell you right now. Wouldn’t go well.

REPRESENTATIVE VAN DREW: So, I guess what I say is, I believe that this is just a better fit for me. This is who I am. It’s who I always was, but there was more tolerance of moderate Democrats, of blue-dog Democrats, of conservative Democrats. And I think that’s going away.

Two more things I want to say: One, you have my undying support.

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. Thank you very much.

REPRESENTATIVE VAN DREW: And always.

THE PRESIDENT: And, by the way, same way.

REPRESENTATIVE VAN DREW: Thank you.

THE PRESIDENT: I’m endorsing him. Okay? We’re endorsing him. I can’t speak for these two gentlemen, but I can say, “I’m endorsing him.”

REPRESENTATIVE VAN DREW: Thank you.

THE PRESIDENT: How do you feel about that, Mike? Are you okay?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: You have my support and gratitude, Congressman.

REPRESENTATIVE VAN DREW: Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Vice President.

LEADER MCCARTHY: You have my support as well.

REPRESENTATIVE VAN DREW: Thank you, Leader.

THE PRESIDENT: We’re together. Thank you.

REPRESENTATIVE VAN DREW: And the last thing I will say: One of my heroes — and he’s always hung in my office; I have a bipartisan wall that has a lot of different people on there — Ronald Reagan. And when he said, “I didn’t leave my party. My party left me.”

THE PRESIDENT: That’s true. That’s what he said.

REPRESENTATIVE VAN DREW: And I’m saying the same thing.

THE PRESIDENT: He was a Democrat and he — he moved over. And he said exactly those words. That’s fantastic. Thank you very much. (Applause.) Thank you very much.

REPRESENTATIVE VAN DREW: Thank you.

THE PRESIDENT: It’s really good. Beautifully done. It’s beautifully done. Thank you.

Mike, do you have anything to say?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, I just — I just want to say: Welcome to the Republican Party.

REPRESENTATIVE VAN DREW: Thank you.

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Congressman, it’s an honor to share this moment with you, with the President of the United States, and with the Republican Leader, with your team and their family, as well as, I know, another public official from New Jersey that will be following your lead.

THE PRESIDENT: That’s right.

THE VICE PRESIDENT: But as I told you before, I also — I just want to tell you how grateful we are for your voice of reason and common sense in the days leading up to your decision. You showed personal and political courage. And I know the people of your district will be as grateful as we are today for your leadership and for the decision you’ve made.

And we look forward — we look forward to serving with you together and working with you on behalf of New Jersey and America for many years to come.

REPRESENTATIVE VAN DREW: Thank you, Mr. Vice President.

THE PRESIDENT: Good. Thank you, Mike. Kevin?

LEADER MCCARTHY: Well, we just want to welcome you to the party, but more importantly, if there’s anybody else that feels like you. If there are other people out there that feel this new socialist-Democrat wing of the party has left them behind, join with us. Because everything you talked about is an American issue, and it shouldn’t — it shouldn’t have to be debated, whether there’s a flag or God or others.

And so we’ve worked together even when you were on the other side of the aisle, but it’s nice to have you on this side now, too.

REPRESENTATIVE VAN DREW: Thank you.

LEADER MCCARTHY: And you just changed our number to 18. We only need 18 more to be the majority. And I think we’ll do that soon.

THE PRESIDENT: We’re going to do very well. We’re way up in the polls. And we’ve gone up more, I think, proportionately, than we have ever gone up, in the last two weeks. And we’re honored.

Now, I understand, they’re playing games. They don’t want to put in their articles — their ridiculous, phony, fraudulent articles. And I think they’re not allowed to do that. I hear it’s unconstitutional and a lot of other things. But they don’t want to put them in because they’re ashamed of them, because it’s a — what they’ve done is wrong and it’s bad for the country. Very, very bad for the country.

We’re trying to get USMCA done. We’re going to get that done, I think, pretty quickly.

We have our great deal with China. China has already started to buy, with the farmers and with the manufacturers. Tremendous amounts of money are being spent back in the United States. And the farmers are happy. They had to put up with a lot, but we took care of them out of the subsidies that we were getting out of the tariffs that we were getting. But China is now buying very big in the farm belt and in the manufacturing belt also. They’re spending a lot of money. And I said it was going to happen and it happened.

And we’re going to get a lot more. They want to make — they want to keep going. They’re still paying tremendous amounts of tariffs, and they’d like to have the tariffs reduced. And we’ll see if we can get a second part of the deal. But the USMCA — the combination of those two deals will be the two greatest trade deals. You’ll never see anything like it. So we’ve done very much what we’ve said.

You know, Jeff, we rebuilt our military. We spent almost $2.5 trillion on the military. When we came in, the military was totally depleted. I will say, the Democrats did not help. They’re not into the military at all. And we spent $2.5 trillion. We have new planes. We have new everything right now. Much of it’s coming over the next year. But within a year, we’ll be in a position that we’ve never been in, in terms of equipment. And the military will be a strong as it ever was — proportionately, maybe stronger.

So it’s been an amazing period of time. And to have you is a tremendous asset for the party.

REPRESENTATIVE VAN DREW: Thank you.

THE PRESIDENT: And again, thank you very much, my friend.

REPRESENTATIVE VAN DREW: Thank you.

THE PRESIDENT: We’re with you all the way.

REPRESENTATIVE VAN DREW: Thank you. Thank you.

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you.

REPRESENTATIVE VAN DREW: I’m with you.

THE PRESIDENT: Tremendous honor. Thank you.

Q Mr. President, can you speak personally for a moment and just tell us: What does it feel like to be the third President in U.S. history to be impeached?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, I don’t feel like I’m being impeached, because it’s a hoax. It’s a setup. It’s a horrible thing they did. They happened to have a small majority, and they took that small majority and they forced people. And, you know, they said, “Oh…” I watched Pelosi out there saying, “Oh, no. We don’t want to talk to anybody.” They put the arm on everybody. They tried to get them to do what they had to do. Many of those people were like Jeff, where they didn’t want to vote that way.

But it doesn’t feel — to me, it doesn’t feel like impeachment. Last night, I said it — I — we had a great time last night. The room was packed. Thousands of people couldn’t get in. A section that, really, is a pretty much 50-50 section, in terms of Democrat-Republican, we had — every one of those people is voting for Trump/Pence. Every one of them. And it’s Michigan — an important state. We brought back tremendous amounts of business, tremendous car companies coming in — everything else.

And I’ll tell you, I was up there and I was thinking about — I actually said it: It doesn’t feel like impeachment. And you know what? It’s a phony deal. And they cheapened the word “impeachment.” It’s an ugly word. But they cheapened the word “impeachment.” That should never again happen to another President.

And I think you’ll see some very interesting things happen over the coming few days and weeks.

But, to me, all I look at: We have the greatest economy in the history of our country. We’ve never done so well. Our military being rebuilt. You take a look at the tax cuts. You take a look at the regulation cuts at levels that nobody has ever seen. We’re protecting our Second Amendment, which other people won’t do.

No, we’re doing things that nobody has ever done before. Nobody has ever seen. We have the strongest economy in the history of our country and our country is doing well.

And, you know, the other thing that I really saw from yesterday that — I think you people have been covering politics for a long time. You’ve never seen a Republican Party — zero negative votes. Zero. That hasn’t happened almost ever. Because the Republicans are not necessarily known for that.

We have better policy. They want open borders — the Democrats. They want sanctuary cities. A lot of bad things happen. A lot of other things they have.

We’re doing tremendously on healthcare. The individual mandate — you know, we won yesterday in Supreme Court. You saw that, in the appellate division. We won yesterday. Individual mandate is now gone. That’s tremendous savings. That was the worst part of Obamacare. We take care of preexisting conditions. They’re not going to be able to do that.
We’re doing things that nobody has ever done before, and our country has never done better. So, we’re really happy about it, and we’re really happy to have Jeff onboard.

And we think, in 2020, based on the polls — I just saw a poll came out in USA Today yesterday where I’m beating every candidate by a lot. I guess most of you saw it. Not that USA Today is a friend of mine, because they’re not. But they had a poll, and it was me against their top candidates on the other side. And I’m beating everybody by a lot. And I think that’s where we’re going.

I mean, we have the best economy in history. And if you remember the famous quote, “It’s all about the economy, stupid.” Well, I don’t — I never believed it was all about the economy. But the economy is a big thing. When you have 401(k)s where people are up 70, 80, 90 — and even more than that — percent. They like Trump, and they like Mike. And we’re going to have a good time.

Thank you all very much. Thank you. Thank you very much.

Q Can you tell us about your strategy for the Senate, sir? Can you tell us a little bit about your strategy for the Senate trial?

THE PRESIDENT: Uh, we think that what they did is wrong. We think that what they did is unconstitutional. And the Senate is very, very capable. We have great senators — Republican senators. We cut your taxes. We cut your regulations. We did things that nobody else would even think about being able to do.

And I think — you know what one of the things, Jeff, that we’ve done that nobody wants to talk about: This week, I will have signed the 172nd federal judge, including appellate judges. We’ll have 182 by the end of the year. One hundred and eighty-two. It’s unheard of.

Now, President Obama was very nice to us. He gave us 142 empty positions. That’s never happened before. But, as you know, that’s said to be the most important thing that a President has. I happen to think military and defense and all of it is the most important thing, but this is right up there.

We’ll have 172 judges. We’re going to have 182 by the end of the year or shortly thereafter. And it’s the most incredible thing. And two Supreme Court justices — two great ones.

So with all of the things we’ve done, and we’ve done that with the Senate — because what’s never said is that, in the last election, we picked up two Senate seats. Nobody talks about that. And we couldn’t focus on the House. I couldn’t focus on the House. We’ll be very focused on the House this time. But I couldn’t — other than Andy Barr, who won against the same candidate that’s now going against Mitch. And she wasn’t very good against Andy Barr, and she won’t be very good against Mitch McConnell.
But we’ve had tremendous success. So, I’m going to let them decide what to do. That’s going to be up to them.
Thank you all very much. Thank you everybody. Thank you. Thank you.

Q Is Pat going to be your lead attorney in the Senate?

THE PRESIDENT: I think so, yeah. He’s doing a great job. Pat.

Q You think so?

THE PRESIDENT: Yeah.

Q Is he going to be your main lawyer in the Senate?

THE PRESIDENT: It looks like that. Yeah, Pat Cipollone. We have a couple of others that we’re going to put in. But Pat has been fantastic as White House Counsel.

Thank you, everybody.

END 3:19 P.M. EST

While the swamp is voting on false and malicious impeachment articles, our President travels to Battle Creek, MI to hold a MERRY CHRISTMAS Rally at the Kellogg Arena. President Trump is expected to speak at 7:00pm EST

RSBN Livestream Link – Fox10 Livestream Link – Donald J Trump Livestream

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Earlier today President Trump and First Lady Melania welcomed Guatemala President Jimmy Morales and his wife to the White House.  Prior to their bilateral meeting the two leaders held a press availability in the Oval Office. [Video and Transcript Below]

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[Transcript] – PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, thank you very much. It’s a great honor to have President Jimmy Morales and Mrs. Morales —

MRS. MORALES: Thank you.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: — of Guatemala with us. We’ve had a tremendous relationship over the last two years, on the border. We’ve signed agreements with Guatemala that have been tremendous in terms of really both countries, but our country, with respect to illegals coming into our country. We just can’t have it. And it’s been very much slowed up. Guatemala has been terrific. Honduras, El Salvador, likewise, have been excellent.

And, as you know, we have 27,000 Mexican soldiers on our border right now protecting our border. So it’s been, really, very good. The results are very good.

The wall is being built. We’re building a very big wall. We’re up to almost 100 miles already. And we should have over 400 miles, hopefully by the end of next year, if everything keeps going on the same path, or shortly thereafter. But we should have pretty close to 400 miles — maybe more than that — up by the end of next year.

So we’re really doing a job in mostly immigration, I would say, with Guatemala, but we also do trade. They’re also buying some military equipment. And the relationship is very good. It’s a very important country from the standpoint of the border and trade. And we do a lot through Guatemala. A lot of things run through Guatemala.

Please.

Do you want to interpret? Yeah.

INTERPRETER: (Interprets the President’s remarks.)

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Please.

PRESIDENT MORALES: (As interpreted.) For us, it’s an honor to be again in the USA, the main partner and ally of Guatemala, both in security and trade. We have achieved a lot of great success, and we have a great relationship. We have been able to work with migration, and we’re trying to make it legal, because by no means we can endanger minors or populations, who are vulnerable, to coming to the border illegally.

We have signed different agreements with the USA, including things related with trade and security. And we want to be able to negotiate temporary visas both for agriculture and construction sector.

And we are really honored to be right here at the White House. Thank you very much.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Thank you very much.

One of the big things that’s happened with Guatemala — and Honduras, El Salvador, and some others — is that, in past administrations, they and others would not take people back. So if we had very dangerous people in our country and they came from Guatemala, or another country that we now have agreements with — we never had agreements with anybody — they just wouldn’t take them back. But now they have to take them back, and they take them back with open arms.

And by doing this, we’re getting rid of the most dangerous people. The people that are most dangerous, we’re getting them out of the United States because they don’t belong here. They didn’t come from here, and we’re getting them out. We’re taking them out by the thousands.

Thank you all very much. Appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you very much.

Q Mr. President, what do you say to Americans —

Q Are you going to watch — are you going to watch the House proceedings tomorrow?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: I’m not watching. I have not — I have not seen it.

Look, it’s a hoax. The whole impeachment thing is a hoax. We look forward to getting on to the Senate. We’re not entitled to lawyers. We’re not entitled to witnesses. We’re not entitled to anything in the House. It’s a total sham when you have a guy like Shifty Schiff go out and make up a statement that I’ve made. He said, “This is what he said.” But I never said it. He totally made it up. In Guatemala, they handle things much more diff- — much tougher than that.

And because of immunity — he has House immunity — because of immunity, he can’t be prosecuted. He — he took a statement and totally made it up. It was a lie. It was a fraud. And you just can’t do those things. So, you know, look, this has been a total sham from the beginning. Everybody knows it.

I’ve never seen the Republican Party so united. We got — on our last vote, as you know, we got 100 percent of the vote. I believe the Senate is equally as well united. I watched Mitch McConnell this morning. I watched numerous people last night — senators — and I think we’re equally well united.

They know it’s a hoax. It’s a witch hunt. And it’s just a continuation. It’s been going on now for almost three years. And it probably started before I even won the election, based on what we’re finding out with the insurance policy quotes and other things. So it’s a disgrace.

Yes, Steve.

Q Are you going to let Senator McConnell decide on witnesses and all of that?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Yeah. He can decide.

And we’ll also have to decide on when we’re taking the vote for the USMCA. A very big — a very important deal. A very, very important deal with Mexico, Canada, ourselves. We’re going to have to decide whether or not that comes first or second. To me, I’d let the Senate decide on that.

Q And, Mr. President, do you take any responsibility for the fact that you’re about to be impeached?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: No. I don’t take any — zero, to put it mildly. They took a perfect phone call that I had with the President of Ukraine — an absolutely perfect call. You know it; they all know it. Nothing was said wrong on that call. To impeach the President of the United States for that is a disgrace and it’s a mark on our country.

And I’ll tell you what: Other Presidents, in the future — unless they do something about this, other Presidents are going to have to live with this. And every time they do something that’s a little bit unpopular or a little bit strong — even if they’re 100 percent right —

Because I’ve done a great job, when you look at the kind of jobs we’ve created, when you look at the economy that we’ve created, when you look at rebuilding the military, taking care of the vets. You just take a look at what we’ve done with Choice — Veterans Choice; with Accountability and the vets; with what we’ve done to protect our Second Amendment; and so many other things. Nobody has done as much as I’ve done in the first three years.

Thank you all very much. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you very much.

Q Mr. President, on Guatemala — on Guatemala, are you planning to withhold aid if the new President-elect of Guatemala does not implement your immigration agreement, Mr. President?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Guatemala is terrific.

Q But what if they — the President —

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Guatemala has been terrific. Thank you.

END 2:25 P.M. EST

Great interview with United States Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer as he described the goals, objectives and outcomes of the USMCA and U.S-China Phase One agreements.

While answering a question about Wall St. journal criticism of the USMCA, Lighthizer discussed the dynamic of Wall Street -vs- Main Street as part of the bigger picture objective in the revised deal. He avoids the words “globalism” -vs- “nationalism” but the sentiment as described is there.

On China Lighthizer emphasizes the “phase one” deal is really a test to see if it is even possible to have an enforceable trade agreement between a communist state-run economy (China) and a free-market economy (U.S).

In July and August the U.S. was heading into a recession according to the media.  The Washington Post was at the forefront of the recession narrative with multiple articles predicting certain doom for the U.S. economy…. except there was a problem. All of the economic data would not support their predictions.  Things only got better.

The media gnashed their horrible teeth and stomped their horrible feet; alas Main Street continued to get stronger; wages higher, unemployment lower, and more middle-class Americans gaining strength and financial footing.  The media shouted at trees hoping and praying their predictions would soon evidence and the economy would throw itself into reverse.  Foiled again, it just never happened.  Democrats have permanent frowns.

Today the Washington Post admits defeat, informs their audience that cheering for economic collapse is futile, and states, reluctantly, the U.S. is unlikely to enter a recession:

Earlier today President Trump held a round-table meeting with several governors to discuss the ongoing regulatory reform initiative. [Video and Transcript Below]

[Transcript] – THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much, everybody. We’ve had a very big day in the stock market today, as you know. That will be 133 days where we set a new record. And that’s fantastic. Our jobs numbers have come in fantastically well — really well. And we’re with some of our great governors and other leaders of areas of our country that are doing incredible things.

We’re talking about a lot of deregulation. We’re talking about various tax cuts and various tax incentives so they continue onward with what they’re doing. But this is a meeting that was set up and was set up a while ago.

And I think they’re very happy about the fact that we have cut regulations like nobody in the history of our country. We have — in less than three years, we’ve cut more regulations than any President for their full term, or terms — or, in one case, it’s beyond two terms. We know who that is, Asa, right? (Laughter.) In one case, you had a little longer than the eight.

And we’ve cut more than any President ever, and we’re going to cut a lot more. And we have a — we wanted to do one for two, and we’re going to be probably one for ten or twelve by the time we finish. I think we’re at about one for eight right now. So we’ve done some things that are pretty — pretty amazing.

We have a lot of military areas represented at the table. And those areas are doing very well; they’re thriving too. As an example: Alaska. But they’re really thriving. And our whole country is thriving. It’s thriving like never before. The jobs numbers are incredible — best in 51 years. And I think soon we’re going to be able to say “historic.” If we go a little bit lower, we’ll say, “In the history of our country, the best job numbers.”

With African Americans, with Asian Americans, and Hispanic Americans we actually have the best in the history of our country. Best job numbers, best unemployment numbers, and the best employment numbers too. There is a slight difference.

More people are working today in the United States than at any time ever in our history. We were almost up to 160 million people; we’ve never been close. So that’s something really good.

I think what we’ll do is we’re going to go around the room quickly and say a few words about the area represented or the state represented. And I’ll start off with our great Vice President, Mike Pence, and then we’ll go around perhaps. Governor, we’ll start with you, okay?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Thank you, Mr. President. And great to welcome not only members of our Cabinet, but really some of the most accomplished governors in the country to the table — people that have been leading in what you have defined as the Governors’ Initiative on Regulatory Innovation.

At the outset of this administration, you committed to revive the American economy. As you said, Mr. President, we cut taxes across the board for working families and businesses large and small. We’ve fought for free and fairer trade with deals that were just announced and headed to the floor: the USMCA next week, phase one on China, the Korea deal. We’ve worked to expand access to American energy.

But it’s been the regulatory initiative that you made a priority in this administration early on that’s also been driving 7 million jobs created by businesses large and small. And that record unemployment rate that you challenged us to work with governors around the country to make sure that states were also replicating the deregulatory effort that you initiated here at the federal level.

And we have gathered here some of the — some of the real champions of regulatory relief, of people that have been doing it. And the governor-elect from Mississippi has — in his role at lieutenant governor, has been a champion of regulatory reform.

And so today, really, is about how we keep the momentum in the economy by encouraging even a greater partnership on freeing up the American people to create jobs and create wealth and opportunity.

And I know they’re all grateful for your leadership, Mr. President, but I know how grateful you are for the governors gathered around here and all those that they represent who have been taking the principles you put into practice here, at our nation’s capital, and putting them into practice at the local and state level to create jobs and opportunities for Americans.

THE PRESIDENT: Good. Thank you, Mike, very much.

Brad?

GOVERNOR LITTLE: Mr. President, following your leadership, my first executive order was the “two for one” — that for every new rule, we give up two.

I did pretty well.

THE PRESIDENT: You did well.

GOVERNOR LITTLE: I exceeded that by 4,000 percent. (Laughter.) We got rid of 82 rules for every new rule we’re implementing this year.

THE PRESIDENT: That’s fantastic. That’s great.

GOVERNOR LITTLE: But it — the whole effort of what it does, of reducing the friction costs, particularly startup and small businesses, and, you know, people that have a tougher time —

THE PRESIDENT: Right.

GOVERNOR LITTLE: — washing away that regulatory friction at both the federal level and the state level is a lot of that job creation. It’s just — and it’s a gift that keeps on giving. If you keep being diligent on it —

THE PRESIDENT: That’s right.

GOVERNOR LITTLE: — is that — that atmosphere for people to be successful — the great American story of entrepreneurial-ship — only happens if you reduce regulatory friction. And whether it’s in licensing, which we’re working on — about doing away with licensing requirements and making it to where military spouses don’t have to go over a hurdle when they transfer from one state to another, or whether it’s just rules to start. And then, when you get done, you got to make sure that it doesn’t build back up.

THE PRESIDENT: Right.

GOVERNOR LITTLE: So we look forward to continuing to work with your administration on this.

THE PRESIDENT: Good. Great job. Thank you very much, Brad.

Pete?

GOVERNOR RICKETTS: Well, Mr. President, thank you again for leading on the regulatory reform. It’s really a key thing, especially things — when you get rid of job-killing things like the Waters of the U.S.

THE PRESIDENT: Right.

GOVERNOR RICKETTS: What you’ve been doing on occupational licensing reform — that’s a big thing we’ve been working on in Nebraska as well.

And just, it impacts so many people’s lives when you do that. So, for example, we have a woman who wanted to open up her own hair-braiding business in her home. But because of the rules and regulations in Nebraska, she would have had to have 2,100 hours of licensing — you know, classrooms to be able to get that license.

THE PRESIDENT: That’s a long time.

GOVERNOR RICKETTS: And now maybe I don’t get the whole hair-braiding thing — (laughter) — but nobody’s health or safety is put at risk by bad hair-braiding. And so one of the things we did is we took — you know, got rid of that requirement so she wouldn’t have to have that license so she could open up her own business —

THE PRESIDENT: Right.

GOVERNOR RICKETTS: — and be able to help add jobs to the economy. And that’s one of the things that your administration supported. So thank you very much for that. We really appreciate it.

And we’re continuing — I signed an executive order freezing all regulatory rulemaking until the regulations have been reviewed. We were able, for example, to cut the amount of regulation by 59 percent — our Department of Environment and Energy.

We’re working with your Federal Highway Administration, so we’re taking over the NEPA reviews. And that’s going to allow us to be able to get those environmental reviews done faster, still with your oversight. But we’re one of eight states that’s done that. I’d love to say we’re the smallest state, but Alaska actually has that distinction as being the smallest state doing that. But that’s an example of how we’re doing it.

And then, just process improvement, trying to make sure that we’re doing a good job of getting these things turned around quickly. We’ve saved about 300 hours of our teammates’ time, but what it’s allowed to do is be able to turn around permits in a third of the time it was taking before.

So all this is really helping to, again, get rid of that friction that Brad was talking about so that people and average Americans can get about their lives and go about creating the prosperity that we’ve experienced under your administration.

THE PRESIDENT: Any word on the pipeline permits?

GOVERNOR RICKETTS: So, we’re — actually, TC Energy right now is going through getting the easements for all the landholders that they hadn’t come to agreements with yet. And, of course, we’re still waiting on the lawsuit in Montana. But I expect that that’s — there’s going to be more action on that next year.

THE PRESIDENT: All right. Good. Thank you very much, Pete.

Please. Thank you.

CHAIRMAN SAGE: I’d like to thank you. It is an honor to be here today, Mr. President and Mr. Vice President.

I don’t know if anybody is — or everybody is all familiar with where I’m from. I’m from the Southern Ute Indiana reservation in the southwest part of Colorado. We take a lot of pride in our culture and our heritage. What we have, we’d like to set an example for Indian Country.

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. Thank you.

CHAIRMAN SAGE: Thank you.

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. Please.

STATE REPRESENTATIVE TOWNSEND: Mr. President, thank you very much for what you’re doing. And I want you to know that what you’re doing not only makes a difference in New Mexico — which we appreciate — I know, from earlier conversations, it makes a difference all over the nation.

THE PRESIDENT: Right.

STATE REPRESENTATIVE TOWNSEND: New Mexico lives and breathes oil and gas. We’re your third-largest oil producer, sixth-largest natural gas producer. In the last two years, we had $2 billion of surplus revenue to that state because of this industry. It’s been amazing. God willing, we’ll have $174 billion of capital invested in this industry over the next couple of years. We have a lot of opportunities.

THE PRESIDENT: So what’s going to happen when they want to shut you down?

STATE REPRESENTATIVE TOWNSEND: Well, we’re banking on you, Mr. President. (Laughter.)

THE PRESIDENT: You better bank on me.

STATE REPRESENTATIVE TOWNSEND: We’re banking on you.

THE PRESIDENT: You’re my friend, Jim. You have no choice. (Laughter.)

STATE REPRESENTATIVE TOWNSEND: It’s a great honor to know that we have back-stock for what we’re trying to do. And I can tell you that —

THE PRESIDENT: It’s true.

STATE REPRESENTATIVE TOWNSEND: — there’s a whole bunch of folks out there that understand the risk associated with the oil and gas business. What they have trouble with is the risk associated with the politics.

THE PRESIDENT: That’s right.

STATE REPRESENTATIVE TOWNSEND: And what you’re doing is removing that risk, allowing us to deploy capital and make a lot of money for the nation, for our country, for our state, and our city. We’re growing like — I mean, unbelievably. I mean, the Permian and the Delaware are just prolific.

And recently, I had dinner with a lady that’s over the Lower 48, for a major company. She told me that only about 10 percent of those reserves currently are being tapped with technology.

THE PRESIDENT: Right. That’s what I hear.

STATE REPRESENTATIVE TOWNSEND: So you can just imagine what’s in front of us with a little entrepreneurship. So —

THE PRESIDENT: And we’re doing well out there, I understand.

STATE REPRESENTATIVE TOWNSEND: Yeah, it’s pretty nice right now. We appreciate it. Thank you very much.

THE PRESIDENT: That’s good. Thank you very much, Jim. Please. Asa?

GOVERNOR HUTCHINSON: Well, Mr. President, first of all, congratulations on both USMCA —

THE PRESIDENT: Yeah.

GOVERNOR HUTCHINSON: — but also the first phase of the China trade. That is, as you know, very important to my farmers in Arkansas, but also our — we’re a global export in a lot of different areas. And so, that trade is very important to us. Congratulations to you. That’s — keep at it.

And then to — secondly, thanks for your leadership on regulatory reform. The fact that you and the Vice President have taken a leadership role — and it makes it easier whenever it comes to getting general assembly, legislative support — the public becomes more aware of this. And so we’ve made it a priority. It does impact the economy when we can reduce the burden of regulations and delays.

Just in the air permitting — which is required, of course, for a manufacturing facility — we have reduced the wait time for an air permit by 600 days. Now, that’s just startling to think that there would be that kind of a backlog. But that’s the kind of process improvement that helps industry either get a yes or a no more quickly.

And then we’ve taken on, of course, the licensure reform to help those that are coming into the state. And your leadership on that has been very important. So —

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, Asa.

GOVERNOR HUTCHINSON: — thank you.

THE PRESIDENT: You’re doing a great job. Great job.

Gene?

SECRETARY SCALIA: Well, Mr. President, as you know, just a little more than a week ago, we had this just extraordinary jobs report yet again.

THE PRESIDENT: Yeah.

SECRETARY SCALIA: The market-watchers, the experts were saying we’d add about 180,000 jobs, which is a good number, and we just blew that out of the water with 266,000 additional jobs, and then adding 41 [thousand] for September and October.

THE PRESIDENT: Right.

SECRETARY SCALIA: Just another great month. But, as the Vice President said, we have to maintain that momentum. We can’t rest content with what’s going on right now. We need to continue to look for ways to improve the economy. The USMCA is something that you and the Vice President and others have been championing as part of that solution for a long time.

But de-reg is such a good issue for you and the Vice President and others to be bringing out to the states. The jobs market that we’re experiencing, it didn’t just come about; there are reasons for it. And deregulation, as you’ve led it, is one of the prime reasons the states now can be examples of leadership as well.

And as Governor Hutchinson mentioned, occupational licensing — these requirements that you have a specialized license that varies from state to state — we’re very concerned about military spouses. The soldier moves from state to state, and the spouse comes along. Military spouses move from state to state seven times as much as average Americans. So this is a real burden on them. It’s a burden on their families, who are already sacrificing so much.

And so we’ve been working with the states and others, and with the Second Lady as well, in trying to address that problem.

THE PRESIDENT: Very good. Thank you very much, Gene.

And I have to say, Governor-elect Tate Reeves, he — we spent a couple of days with you and — governor-elect of a wonderful state, Mississippi. And he won, and he won easily. It was a tough race, it was a tight race, and people were watching it closely. And when he won easily, they don’t cover it. Why don’t they — why is that? (Laughter.) They didn’t mention a thing. But that’s okay; they know in your state.

But you’re going to do a fantastic job, and we appreciate you being here, Tate. Congratulations. That was a great race. You really ran a great one. It was pretty even, and he won by seven — and won by a lot. And we appreciate you being here.

Go ahead, please.

GOVERNOR-ELECT REEVES: Well, thank you, Mr. President. And as a good mutual friend of ours says, these guys behind us don’t ever cover airplanes that land safely. (Laughter.)

THE PRESIDENT: I guess. I guess, yeah. Can I use it?

GOVERNOR-ELECT REEVES: The reality is that — and Secretary Scalia said this, which I think is very important — these job numbers, these — lowest unemployment rate in Mississippi’s history, in America’s history —

THE PRESIDENT: Yeah.

GOVERNOR-ELECT REEVES: The highest employment rate — we actually have 88,000 more people working in Mississippi today than was working eight years ago.

And what’s important to note is: These things don’t just happen. It’s not just happenstance. It’s the fact that good policies work. They work for Mississippi’s economy and they work for America’s economy.

And so I just want to thank you very much for your leadership on regulatory reform, your leadership on cutting taxes, your leadership on lowering regulations, your leadership on the trade deals. It’s making a difference in my state, and it’s making a difference across the country.

And thank you and to the Vice President for everything that you’re doing. I look forward to working with you for the next four years.

THE PRESIDENT: Good job. Good job, Tate.

GOVERNOR-ELECT REEVES: Thank you.

THE PRESIDENT: Appreciate it.

Russ? You want to say something?

ACTING DIRECTOR VOUGHT: Yeah, I just wanted to build on the momentum of where we are. So, in the first three years, the President has been able to lower regulatory costs by $50 billion over three years. We’re going to double that in the year 2020. What that looks like is about $220 billion of savings to the economy per year, so substantial growth from deregulatory initiatives.

That’s about $3,100 per family that’s going to benefit when we’re all said and done — when the President and the Vice President are all said and done — of real money in households’ pockets. That looks like about three mortgage payments. That’s about the size of a family’s entire gas bill for the year. So this is real money, real benefit, and it’s only just begun.

THE PRESIDENT: Great. Thank you very much.

Eric?

GOVERNOR HOLCOMB: Well, let me pile on the praise and tell you why it’s so easy to do so, in terms of a few Indiana indicators. When the Vice President handed me the keys in Indiana, we were heading in the right direction — humming along. But since that period of time, we just closed — we just — our budget committee just threw out our revenue numbers for the first five months of the year. We’re $200 million-plus above where it was projected to be. We got about 13.9 percent in our cash reserves.

THE PRESIDENT: That’s great. Wow.

GOVERNOR HOLCOMB: About $2.29 billion in cash reserves.

We’ve got more people working, just like in Mississippi, than ever before in our state’s history. We’ve tripled the foreign direct investment in the last three years.

And so we are moving in the right direction. And it’s because of — as good as it was three years ago, it is great right now because of this partnership and because the tax and the regulatory environments work.

THE PRESIDENT: Big difference.

GOVERNOR HOLCOMB: Yeah.

THE PRESIDENT: Big difference.

GOVERNOR HOLCOMB: Huge. It is the difference.

THE PRESIDENT: Great job you’re doing. Thank you very much.

David?

SECRETARY BERNHARDT: Well, sir, we manage a lot of land. Some of that land is Indian land that we manage with the tribes.

And so, today, Chairman Sage and I began a process with the rulemaking that will allow them to better define how they want to have their land managed, and then we’ll approve a single permit that then they can manage the land going forward. So it’s really exciting.

Interior has been a leader in the deregulation effort. We’ve issued the second-most deregulatory number of regulations, and we’ve really punched above our weight, and our permitting times are down. And revenue for oil and gas is nearly double

THE PRESIDENT: That’s great.

SECRETARY BERNHARDT: — from where it was when the President took over.

THE PRESIDENT: That’s great. Thank you very much, David.

Please, Governor, go ahead.

GOVERNOR DUNLEAVY: Mr. President, it’s a pleasure to be here. I want to thank you for all of things that you’re doing. Because I don’t think what people realize is that numbers don’t lie; the numbers don’t lie when you’re talking about unemployment, investment, et cetera.

And what you’re doing for the country is, obviously, helping Alaska tremendously. Kind of far away, tucked up there in the north — but we now have record unemployment in Alaska. Our GDP is up now two quarters in a row. Personal income is up higher than it’s been in 10 years. More personal wealth is being created in Alaska.

I also want to do a shout-out from the troops. I don’t know if folks know this, but whenever the President flies over to Asia, he lands in Alaska and refuels. But unlike some others in the past, he gets out of the plane, and he goes and he meets the troops. And they talk about it all of the time. All of the time.

THE PRESIDENT: It’s true. Every time. Every time.

GOVERNOR DUNLEAVY: And I get an opportunity to talk with the President. And it’s not just a “BS” session, but it’s about: What can we do to help Alaska? What’s happening in your state? What do we need to work with?

And I would say, Mr. President — and I’m being honest — I can’t think of a President that’s helped Alaska more than you have, with trying to deregulate a number of the projects that we’ve been working on, helping us gain a leg up again to be one of the top energy-producing states in the country. And I just want to thank you.

And, in terms of regulation, in terms of helping the military spouses, we’re doing our part. We’re looking at 239 different regulations to either modify or roll back in over 100 professions.

We have a large indigenous population in the state of Alaska. About 15 percent of our people are Alaska natives. And your work on — working on missing indigenous women, your work on public safety, your work on opioids — again, the numbers don’t lie.

You’re doing a tremendous job. And I want to thank you on behalf of the people of Alaska, because what you’re doing is helping us tremendously as well.

THE PRESIDENT: And now logging — we did a big thing on logging.

GOVERNOR DUNLEAVY: Absolutely. (Inaudible.)

THE PRESIDENT: And we did a very big thing on ANWR, which is potentially the biggest in the world. We’ll see what it is ultimately, but it’s potentially the biggest site in the world. So it’ll be very interesting to see how that turns out.

Great job. Thank you very much.

Anybody else? Would anybody like to say? Would you like to say something? Go ahead.

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Senator Obhof.

STATE SENATOR OBHOF: Thank you, Mr. President.

THE PRESIDENT: Thanks, Senator.

STATE SENATOR OBHOF: First of all, I think we’ve heard some people say congratulations on the USMCA. I’d like to congratulate you, too. But, more importantly, I’d like to thank you for keeping your promises to the people of this country — that when you said you would renegotiate NAFTA, you did so. And we appreciate the follow-through.

Ohio is doing great right now. Our employment numbers are good. We’re running a surplus as well. But we’re also following your lead on regulatory reforms. So, in the state budget that Governor DeWine signed this past summer, we adopted the “one in, two out” rule. We actually passed legislation in the last week related to military spouses so that they can get reciprocity and get working quicker.

And we have new legislation that was just introduced — similar to what has happened in Arizona — that would, for many areas of occupational licensure, grant reciprocity from other states.

THE PRESIDENT: And you have a lot of car company expansions, and you’re doing really good.

STATE SENATOR OBHOF: We’ve had some very good news in Lordstown in the last few weeks.

THE PRESIDENT: I know that. I know it very — I’ve been pushing it very hard. That’s good. Kristi?

GOVERNOR NOEM: Yes, Mr. President. First of all, thank you for making your senior staff available to us today. We sat down for an hour and a half, and it was just really nice to have a give-and-take —

THE PRESIDENT: Right.

GOVERNOR NOEM: — and really hear from them some of the details of things that we can dig further into, things that you’re doing that maybe we won’t have time to discuss right here.

But also from — on behalf of South Dakota, thank you for the trade agreements. You know, we have had the largest natural disaster in our state’s history this year. We have more unplanted acres than any other state in the nation, and we’ve been devastated. So I’ve been tightening our belt. But these trade agreements, on a tough year where farmers are struggling, to have that good news come right before Christmas —

THE PRESIDENT: Right.

GOVERNOR NOEM: — really did help them quite a bit.

And you never quit, which — I love that you did it until you got it done and you won. And, by turn, we get to win because we’re going to get to keep our family farms and we’re going to get to keep South Dakota wonderful. And so I appreciate that.

THE PRESIDENT: It’s a great place. And you also are going to have a very exciting Fourth of July.

GOVERNOR NOEM: We are. We’re going to have fireworks.

THE PRESIDENT: Right.

GOVERNOR NOEM: And I’m hoping you will —

THE PRESIDENT: For many years — for many years, the fireworks —

GOVERNOR NOEM: — you will come — at Mount Rushmore.

THE PRESIDENT: Well, we’re going to think about it. Mount Rushmore. They ended the fireworks. How many years ago? A long time.

GOVERNOR NOEM: Gosh, it was at least 10 years ago. So —

THE PRESIDENT: Nobody knows why, but you just couldn’t have it. And now you’re going to have fireworks. And the Governor called, and she said, “You got to do me a favor.” Right?

GOVERNOR NOEM: And you did.

THE PRESIDENT: And we worked it out. And we got it done. And you’re going to have fireworks.

And I appreciate what you said on the trade deals. They’re incredible deals.

GOVERNOR NOEM: They are.

THE PRESIDENT: And they’re big. And they’re big. And every once in a while, you’ll hear a critic. There’s never been deals like this made.

But you have some globalists — you know, they want us to lose money. Sometimes you have a globalist get on — I watch it: “Who cares about the United States? Let’s lose money.” I’m the opposite. When I have deficits — I don’t like deficits. You have some people that don’t mind deficits. The deficits — I don’t like factories closing and plants closing in this country, going to another country, taking our jobs.

So, I’ve never really been one to want to put up with it even. I’ve been watching it for — it’s probably one of the reasons I’m President. I’ve watched that for so many years, where your factories and your plants all over — whether it’s Indiana or any other state. Even you, Asa. Right? I mean, once and a while, they’ll close one over there.

But it was — the fact is, I would watch as they close plants, everybody gets fired. They move to Mexico or some other place, including China. And, in China, they don’t move; they just buy the product. And some people are happy. But, no, not me. We keep our jobs. They’re moving back.

The agreement is very tough. The USMCA is very, very tough. It’s very hard to move. Economically, it makes it really prohibitive to get out. And it was very important to me.

But no, I’m not a globalist. I love this country, and we’re going to take care of our country. The deal with China is a massive deal, from a manufacturing standpoint. But the farmers — I mean, the farmers, I guess, maybe will be the —

GOVERNOR NOEM: They will.

THE PRESIDENT: — biggest beneficiary of all. You see that already.

GOVERNOR NOEM: Yes.

THE PRESIDENT: And China has already started to buy. I told them — four, five weeks ago it looked like we were going to get to a deal. I said, “Start buying now. You’re going to start buying now.” And they did. And they were doing a lot of business with the farmers and China. And so the deal will be finalized over the next couple of weeks.

It’s actually — translation is the biggest thing. The deal was finished, but the translation is very important. (Laughter.) I said, “Make sure you have the right translators.” Because you can lose a lot with bad translation.

GOVERNOR NOEM: That’s true.

THE PRESIDENT: So we’re working on getting that done, but it’s going to be a really a big —

GOVERNOR NOEM: Thank you.

THE PRESIDENT: — it’s going to be a — and I think you already see it. I think most of you see that now with China, right? They’ve already come in and they’re buying — they’re buying very big. So, anyway.

We have a tremendously successful country. I think, economically, it’s the most successful it’s ever been. Our military is totally rebuilt. Our vets are being taken care of. We have Choice and we have Accountability.

You know, people don’t talk about Accountability. We had a situation in Arizona where you couldn’t fire people. They did horrible things and you couldn’t fire them. Now you can fire them. And it took — 55 years, they’ve been trying to get that approved and they couldn’t. And we got it approved.

That means that — people are bad, they don’t treat our vets well, they don’t treat them with respect — they get fired. That’s the way it is. And more than 8,000 people have been let go that were — were not good for us, were not good for the vets. And they’ve been trying to do this for decades and they couldn’t get it. So we got Accountability done.

And we have Choice done. Choice is a big deal. From your standpoint, it’s a big — most of you — all of you have big vet areas — everyone in this room.

But now you can — you can tell somebody, if he’s got to wait two weeks to see a doctor — or four weeks or nine weeks, in some cases; it’s the craziest thing — you go right outside, you see a doctor — a local doctor. You pick the doctor. We pay the bill. And they get — they’re better.

We’ve had cases where they had to wait so long. They were just — not very sick. Pretty routine stuff. They end up terminally ill because they couldn’t get to see a doctor. So we finally got Choice done. And they’ve been trying that one for 44 years. For 44 years, they’ve been trying to get Choice done. And we got it done. So, the vets are very happy with us.

Big on Second Amendment. This is a big Second Amendment group. I think, for the most part, I can say that. I don’t think anybody is going to raise their hand and fight me on that one, Jim.

STATE REPRESENTATIVE TOWNSEND: (Laughs.) No.

THE PRESIDENT: But this is a big Second Amendment room — these governors, every one of them. And we’re very strong on our Second Amendment.

So, our country is doing fantastically well. Thank you all very much. Thank you very much.

Q Mr. President, are you concerned about North Korea at all right now — the developments in North Korea?

THE PRESIDENT: We’re watching it. We’ll see. I’d be disappointed if something would be in the works. And if it is, we’ll take care of it. But we’ll see. We’re watching it very closely. We’re watching North Korea — we’re watching many places, actually, very closely. But North Korea, we are watching very closely.

Q Mr. President, how much has Giuliani shared with you about his recent trip to Ukraine?

THE PRESIDENT: Oh, not too much, but he’s a very great crime fighter. He was probably the greatest crime fighter over the last 50 years. Very smart. He was the best mayor in the history of the city of New York. He’s a great person who loves our country. And he does this out of love, believe me. He does it out of love.

He sees what goes on. He sees what’s happening. He sees all of the hoax that happens when they talk about impeachment hoax or the Russian collusion delusion. And he sees it and he’s a — he’s a great gentleman. And he was, again, the greatest mayor in the history of New York, and probably the greatest crime fighter in the last 50 years. He knows what he’s doing.

Thank you very much, everybody. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

END TRANSCRIPT