Remarks by Quote-Unquote "President" Trump at the Conservative Political Action Conference

10:23 A.M. EST

QUOTE-UNQUOTE “PRESIDENT” TRUMP: Thank you, everybody. So great to be with you. Thank you. (Applause.)

Great to be back at CPAC. (Applause) The place I have really –

AUDIENCE MEMBER: We love you!

QUOTE-UNQUOTE “PRESIDENT” TRUMP: Dad? Is that you? Did you – did you finally… (Squints out into distance) Oh, it’s just some idiot. Never mind.

You know, if you remember, my first major speech – sit down, everybody. You know, the dishonest media, they’ll say he didn’t get a standing ovation. You know why? No, you know why? Because everybody stood and nobody sat, so they will say he never got a standing ovation, right? (Applause.) They are the worst.

Donald Trump did not get a standing ovation. They leave out the part, they never sat down. They leave that out. And yes, I, the Quote-Unquote “President” of the United States, the most powerful man in the world except for the ones who make the actual decisions, am going to get hung up on that. I am going to start a big speech with a petty gripe about the news coverage I get. Because that’s who I am. And now I own you. Own you.

(Applause.)

The media didn’t think we would win.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: They knew. (Laughter.)

QUOTE-UNQUOTE “PRESIDENT” TRUMP: The pundits – you’re right. They had an idea. The pundits didn’t think we would win. They knew I would win, and they didn’t think I would win. These two statements are in no way incompatible.

The consultants didn’t think we would win. But they all underestimated the power of the people – specifically, the power of 107,000 people in three Midwestern states. And those people proved them totally wrong. Never – and this is so true, and this is what’s been happening – never underestimate 107,000 people in three Midwestern states. Never. I don’t think it will ever happen again.

And I want you all to know that we are fighting the fake news. It’s fake – phony, fake. (Applause.) A few days ago, I called the fake news “the enemy of the people” – and they are. Because I have no understanding of the history of that phrase. None. Like “America First,” remember that one from the campaign? There’s another phrase whose history I am completely ignorant of. I just pick up these horrible, bloodstained phrases and throw them back out without the slightest comprehension of what they actually mean. I don’t understand them at all.

And remember this – I am the Quote-Unquote “President” of the United States. Every word I say can affect the lives of billions of people. Billions. And I use that power to complain about my press coverage. To complain about specific networks, specific reporters. Let’s not mention names, right? Should we?

Look, the Clinton News Network is one. (Applause.) Totally. Take a look. Honestly. Take a look at their polls. Look at how inaccurate – look at CBS, look at ABC also. Look at NBC. Take a look at some of these polls. Heck, take a look at literally all the polls. They’re so bad, so inaccurate. They all show me being historically unpopular, so you know they’re inaccurate.

And what it does is it creates a false narrative. It creates like this narrative that’s just like stomping around a breaking things like a blind rhino in a china shop will make people not like you. It creates a whole false deal and we have to fight it folks. We have to fight it. They’re very smart, they’re very cunning, and they’re very dishonest.

So just to conclude – yes, I have just spent the whole first part of my big speech complaining about my press coverage. They say I can’t complain about my press coverage because of it’s petty, and small, and beneath the dignity of my office. But the First Amendment gives me the right to be as petty and small as I want. It gives you the right and me the right to crawl up our own asses as far we want. (Applause.)

So just in finishing, I say it doesn’t represent the people. It will never represent the people. Only I represent the people, and by “the people” I mean the 107,000 people in three Midwestern states who, in a complete perversion of the principle of majority rule, made me the Quote-Unquote “President.” And I’m here fighting for those 107,000 people, and I will continue to fight for those 107,000 people.

So we’re all part of this very historic movement, a movement the likes of which, actually, the world has never seen before. There’s never been anything like this. There’s been some movements, civil rights, abolition of slavery, whatever, but there’s never been anything like this. Nothing. History began four months ago. This is the Year Zero.

But I’m here to today to tell you what this movement means for the future of the Republican Party and for the future of America.

First, we need to define what this great, great unprecedented movement is, and what it actually represents. The core conviction of our movement is that we are a nation that put and will put white people first. (Applause.) Foreigners, brown people, yellow people – terrible. We’ve defended other nations’ borders while leaving ours wide open; anyone can come in. My grandparents, my mother. Anyone.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: A wall!

QUOTE-UNQUOTE “PRESIDENT” TRUMP: Oh, we’re going to build the wall. Don’t worry about it. We’re building the wall. In fact, it’s going to start soon, way ahead of schedule, way ahead of schedule. In fact we’ve already started building it. Way, way ahead of schedule. We finished building it last week. It’s done. It’s built. We’re winning.

And remember, we are getting the bad ones out. These are bad dudes. We’re getting the bad ones out, okay? We’re getting the bad – if you watch these people it’s like, oh, gee, they’re so brown. So brown. So we’re getting bad people out of the country, that shouldn’t be – whether it’s chestnut or russet or burnt umber. We’re getting the brown ones out. Those are the ones that go first, and I said it from day one. Basically all I’ve done is keep my promise. (Applause.)

Now, I’ve been watching – and nobody says it – but Obamacare doesn’t work, folks. I mean, I could say – I could talk – it doesn’t work. There are fewer uninsured people now than ever before. I always say, Obamacare doesn’t work.

So we’re going to repeal and replace Obamacare. (Applause.) Except that we’re not, because that would be really hard. So we’ll just slap some stickers on it and call it a day. But we’ll tell you suckers we repealed and replaced it anyway, and you’ll believe it, because you’ll believe anything. Anything.

AUDIENCE: USA! USA! USA!

QUOTE-UNQUOTE “PRESIDENT” TRUMP: We’ve taken swift and strong action to secure the southern border of the United States and to begin the construction of the great, great border wall. (Applause.) And we’ll stop it. I’m also working with the Department of Justice to begin reducing violent crime. I mean, can you believe what’s happening in Chicago, as an example? Two days ago, seven people were shot –

AUDIENCE MENBER: It’s Iraq!

QUOTE-UNQUOTE “PRESIDENT” TRUMP: Yes. Yes. Seven people shot is exactly the same as 190,845 people. Exactly the same. Yes. Thank you.

We have begun a historic program to reduce the regulations that are crushing our economy – crushing. We started by removing regulations prohibiting mining companies from dumping toxic rubble into streams and forcing oil companies to disclose the bribes they pay to foreign leaders. You can feel the extra freedom in America already. And soon if you live in West Virginia and take a drink of water, you’ll be able to taste it.

Another major promise is tax reform. We’re going to massively lower taxes on the 1%, raise taxes on families with children, and make our tax code much simpler and much more fair for everyone, especially people like me, which you aren’t. None of you in this room. None. (Applause.)

As part of my pledge to restore safety for the American people, I have also directed the defense community to develop a plan to totally obliterate ISIS. (Applause.) Nobody thought of that before until I came along. Nobody said “hey, let’s eliminate ISIS.” I thought of it. You’re welcome.

At the same time, we fully understand that national security begins with border security. We are going to keep radical Islamic terrorists the hell out of our country. (Applause.) We will not be deterred from this course. We will not let “the law” or “the Constitution” or “basic human decency” get in the way. You will see the action. (Applause.)

We’re meeting with business leaders, we’re meeting with unions, we’re meeting with law enforcement, where the White House doors used to be totally closed – they were closed, folks. You don’t realize that, because you’re stupid. They were closed. What’s his name, Obama, never met with business leaders or met with union leaders or met with law enforcement. Never. The doors were closed. Now they’re wide open.

And we’re translating these meetings into action. Shortsighted, poorly thought out, counterproductive action. And we will not stop until the job is done.

We will fix our broken and embarrassing trade deals that are no good – none of them. You wonder, where did the people come from that negotiated these trade deals? Where did they come from?

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Government!

QUOTE-UNQUOTE “PRESIDENT” TRUMP: That’s right. No corporation ever wanted to use cheap foreign labor, or evade American workplace safety laws, or dump things into the environment that they could never get away with dumping into the environment here. None. It was government, government forced them to.

The forgotten men and women of America will be forgotten no longer. Those 107,000 people in three states, they will not be forgotten. The three million more people who voted for Crooked Hillary than voted for me, though, they can stay forgotten. Forget them. They don’t exist.

As long as we have faith in each other, and trust in God, then there is no goal, at all, beyond our reach. There is no dream too large, no task too great. We can accomplish anything we want to, no matter how stupid. We are Americans, and the future belongs to us. Thank you. God bless you, and God bless the United States of America. Thank you, folks. Thank you. (Applause.)

END 11:04 A.M. EST

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