Remarks by Quote-Unquote "President" Trump at the National Museum of African American History and Culture

THE QUOTE-UNQUOTE “PRESIDENT”: Thank you very much, everybody. It’s a great honor to be here.

This museum is a beautiful tribute to so many American heroes – heroes like Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, Booker T. Washington, and several others whose names my aides have written on this index card. (Flourishes index card)

It’s amazing to see. I went to – we did a pretty comprehensive tour, but not comprehensive enough. So I’ll be back. I told you that. Because I could stay here for a lot longer, believe me. It’s really incredible. It beats working, anyway.

I’m deeply proud that we now have a museum that honors the millions of African American men and women who built our national heritage, especially when it comes to faith, culture and basketball. My wife was here last week and took a tour, and it was something that she’s still talking about. She was born in Slovenia, you know, and until last week she thought black people were a story we told to scare children. So it really is very, very special. It’s something that, frankly, if you want to know the truth, it’s doing so well that everybody is talking about it.

I know President Obama was here for the museum’s opening last fall. And I’m honored to be the second sitting President to visit this great museum. And the first one to have been born in the United States. So important. Nothing more important.

This tour was a meaningful reminder of why we have to fight bigotry, intolerance and hatred in all of its very ugly forms. The anti-Semitic threats targeting our Jewish community and community centers are horrible and very painful. There, now I’ve said something about that, you can stop asking me why I haven’t said anything about that. I just did. I said something. Problem solved.

I want to thank a great friend of mine, Dr. Ben Carson, and his beautiful family for joining us today. It was very special to accompany him and his family for the first time seeing the Carson exhibit. And I’ll tell you what, we really started something with Ben. We’re very, very proud of him. And it’s not condescending of me to talk about him like that in any way, so stop thinking that. A literal brain surgeon, I talk about him like he’s a promising child who’s going on to big things because I gave him a job. Not condescending at all. At all.

He grew up in Detroit, and had very little. He defied every statstic. He graduated from Yale, and he went on to University of Michigan’s medical school. He became a brilliant – totally brilliant – neurosurgeon, saved many lives, and helped many, many people. And now I’ve appointed him to be Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, a job which has nothing to do with medicine whatsoever, because I felt like it. So I just look forward to that. I look forward to watching it. He’ll do things that nobody ever thought of.

I also want to thank Alveda King for being here, and as we saw her uncle’s wonderful exhibit, and he certainly deserves that. Certainly. Martin Luther King, Jr. certainly deserves a place in the National Museum of African American History and Culture. I just wanted, as the president, to settle that question. And so, Alveda King, thank you very much.

MS. KING: Thank you, sir.

THE QUOTE-UNQUOTE “PRESIDENT”: Come up here for a second.

MS. KING: Yes, sir. Thank you.

THE QUOTE-UNQUOTE “PRESIDENT”: I have been watching you for so long, and you are so incredible. And I wanted to thank you for all the nice things you say about me.

MS. KING: Thank you, sir.

THE QUOTE-UNQUOTE “PRESIDENT”: Not everyone says nice things, but she’s special.

MS. KING: I love you and your family. You’re the best. You’re great.

THE QUOTE-UNQUOTE “PRESIDENT”: Thank you. It’s the greatest thing to have a black friend. The greatest. You’ve all seen us together now, right? You’ve seen me with my black friend? Good.

MS. KING: Thank you. Thank you.

THE QUOTE-UNQUOTE “PRESIDENT”: OK, you can sit down now.

So with that, we’re going to just end this incredible beginning of a morning. But engraved in the wall very nearby, a quote by the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., who’s done an amazing job that is being recognized more and more. In 1955, he told the world, “We are determined… to work and fight until justice runs down like water, and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

And that’s what it’s going to be. We have a divided country. It’s been divided for many, many years, not my fault, definitely not my fault. But we’re going to bring it together. Like I told those hookers Vlad lined up for me in Moscow to do, we’re going to make it run down like water. Like a mighty stream.

So thank you all very much for being here, I appreciate it. And congratulations. This is a truly great museum, which is something I really did not see coming. Thank you.

(Applause)

END 10:03 AM EST

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