[Applause] USA. How we doing, American warriors? [Applause] What an absolute honor it is to be here amongst America's best alongside our allies. I look out into this audience and I truly see the eyes of American strength, the eyes of American deterrence, the eyes of Americans who put America first. So on behalf of a grateful nation, I want to thank you for your willingness to take the prime of your life to raise your right hand to defend our Constitution and our great nation. We salute you. We thank you and your families these six or 7,000 miles
away. You know, I have the distinct privilege every day of watching President Donald Trump put America first. From the Oval Office to foreign trips, every single moment he has the best interests of our war fighters in mind. He wants to ensure in every situation, in every scenario, in every conflict, we have your back. And that's his message to me. He says, "Pete, we better have their back as warfighters every time." We have three things at the Department of Defense that we're doing to ensure we achieve peace through strength and put America first. Number one, we're
restoring the warrior ethos. No more political correctness, gender pronouns, DEI, CRT, or climate change. We're in the business of war fighting, accountabilities, standards, warriors, and lethality. And the American people have responded. The young people of America have signed up in historic numbers, which is why you've seen recruiting skyrocket across the country in historic ways, responding to their commander-in-chief, Donald Trump. Uh, you've also seen retention in our ranks at historic numbers as well. We're restoring the warrior ethos. We're also rebuilding our military. President Trump has committed a trillion dollar defense budget, a historic budget unlike any
before. A generational rebuilding of our capabilities. We will have the best ships, the best subs, the best planes, the best fighters, the best drones, missiles, air defense, space defense, border security, Golden Dome, you name it. America will be stronger than ever before under our commander-in-chief, Donald Trump. He is committed to that. And number three, we are reestablishing deterrence. Sadly, over the last four years, we saw a collapse in Afghanistan. What happened on October 7th, the war in Ukraine, violence unleashed by wokeness and weakness. But under President Trump, we're seeing a renaissance of peace through strength.
Our enemies know that we mean business. and our allies like Qatar here know that we will stand beside them. That projection of strength, that recognition of American leadership is what unleashes peace. You see, my first motto as a platoon leader was those for my platoon Charlie Company second to the 113th was those who long for peace must prepare for war. We are war fighters standing behind this commander-in-chief prepared to deliver peace and security for the American people. And we have the greatest commander-in-chief possible in the Oval Office and here with us today. It's always my
message to the troops. This man has your back. And that is why it is a distinct honor to introduce to you the 45th and 47th President of the United States, our commanderin-chief, Donald J. Trump. [Applause] [Music] If tomorrow all the things were gone, I'd worked for all my life and I had to start again. Just my children and my wife. Thank my lucky stars to be living here today. Cuz our flag still stands for freedom and they can't take that [Music] away. And I'm proud to be an American where at least I know I'm free.
And I won't forget the men who died, who gave that right to me. And I gladly stand up next to you and defend her still today. Cuz there ain't no doubt I love this land. God bless the USA. [Music] From the lakes of Minnesota to the hills of Tennessee, across the plains of Texas, from sea to shining sea, from Detroit down to Houston and New York to There's pride in every American heart. And it's time we stand and [Music] say that I'm proud to be an American where at least I know I'm free. And I
won't forget the men who died, who gave that right to me. And I gladly stand up next to you and defend her still today. Cuz there ain't no doubt I love this land. God bless the [Music] USA. And I'm proud to be an American where at least I know I'm free. And I won't forget the men who died, who gave that right to me. And I gladly stand up next to you and defend her still today. Cuz there ain't no doubt I love this land. God bless the US. [Music] [Applause] Well, thank you very much
everybody. This is an honor. What a beautiful group of people you are. You are good. I wish I looked like you. I would have I would have been president 20 years ago if I looked like you. But I want to give a special hello to Aluded Air Base. Sometimes referred to as the deed. That's a little sinister term, the deed. Today we can all relax and be at ease and we're going to have a little fun. I have nothing else to do. So, let's have a little fun. Right. [Applause] So, I'm thrilled to be here
with the men and women who embody American strength and pride, the warriors of the United States armed forces. It's an amazing group of people. You are without a doubt the greatest fighting force in the history of the world. That's the way it is. I said it last night. I said it strong. We have the strongest military in the world. Not even a contest. We have the best equipment. Nobody has equipment like us. Nobody has the planes or the missiles or anything else. And as your commander-in-chief, I'm here to say that America's military will soon be
bigger, better, stronger, and more powerful than ever before. We just did a budget. The budget was the highest by far. Over a trillion dollars. It's a lot. It's a lot of stuff. And hopefully it's peace through strength. Hopefully you don't have to use it. Uh because if you use it, uh I feel sorry for the other guy, but we don't want to have to use it. I want to recognize a true warrior and that's our secretary of defense. They put him through hell. The radical left did. And uh he's incredible. You know, he went to
the best schools. He did the best stuff. He was a smart guy and he's a great guy and I just listened to his words standing backstage when he was speaking and he really has it right on the peg. Pete Hegath. He's going to be great. You're going to love this guy. You're going to love [Applause] [Applause] him. And I also wanna influ it's really I want to influence you to clap for a man who's a great influencer. In fact, my son Baron said, "Dad, you got to do an interview with somebody I hadn't heard of,
but my son knew very well. He knows everyone." He said, "Dad, this is before the election. You know, we won in a landslide in case you hadn't known. But he said, "Dad, you got to do an interview with a guy named Theo Vaughn." And I said, "Who the hell is Theo Vaughn?" He said, "Dad, he's such a big guy. You got to do an interview." So, he knew all the names. I didn't know the names. And where is Theo? He's around here someplace, I think. Theo, thank you very [Applause] much. That's Baron. You know Baron.
He said, "You got to do with it." We had a good time, right? Had a good time. We had like 270 million people that listen. And so, you know what? I think Baron was right. Thank you for being here, Theo. Appreciate it. Also, Lee Greenwood, right from the beginning, that song went on. And you know, that song was a successful song, but we made it the most. Number one, we made that song uh it's the top of the list of that type of song. That's a pretty big I don't want to go into the list
because you'll get upset with me if I do like uh the national anthem and things. It's like and it became uh unbelievable. And I was saying you could get Elvis or anybody else to do a song. There's nothing. That was my intro song right from the beginning because as you know we won three elections. Okay. And some people want us to do a fourth. I don't know. We'll have to think about that. You saw the new the new hat. The hottest hat is it says Trump 2028. We're driving the left crazy when you see that.
We didn't need that hat. But uh it was uh it's been an amazing period of time. And when uh Lee Greenwood did that song, it went from the first day I I came out and played it. It was a great song, but we didn't know. And then I did it a second time, a third time, and that was 968 rallies ago. Can you believe that? We did 968 rounds. There another hat says 968. I said, "What the hell does that mean?" That's the number of rallies. I said, "You have to be kidding." But from the
very beginning and we played Lee's song and it was the walk-on. And then for the last inauguration, I had every all the big singers, they wanted to do a song for me, and they wanted to have me walk on to their song. And my people, oh, that would be nice. That would be nice. And when I heard about it, we were all set. We had a lot of them. And I heard about it, I said, I'm not switch. Are you kidding me? I'm not switching. So, we stick with Lee. There's nobody could have done better
than Lee. And he's been so loyal and so great. And it's been really about nine years of that stuff. And you know, we had really honestly we had three unbelievable campaigns. And it's been uh it's been an honor. And there's nobody been stronger than the military in terms of backing us. Nobody. So I just want to thank you all very much. Great honor. Thank you very much. [Applause] And also with us today is a really a great talent and uh somebody who's one of the most popular television hosts in history. Still looks young to me,
but he's been doing it a long time, but he's an incredible man. He's always seems to take my side, and therefore I like him even more. But he has a he has common sense. We talk about common sense all the time, but he's one of the biggest in the history of television. The great Sean Hannity. He's here someplace. Sean, stand up wherever you are. Thank you, Sean. Thank you. Where is he? Thank you, [Applause] Sean. Thank you, Sean. He was a little shy for a change. I I've never seen that. Uh, we're also grateful to
have a very excellent ambassador, Timmy Davis. Everybody loves him. Timmy, thank you very much. Thank you. Along with your great military leaders, real these are real leaders. These are real tough cookies. Lieutenant General Derek Trapper, France. Major General David Shoemaker. Brigadier General Richard Duce Dickens, Chief Master Sergeants Chris Murphy and Joshua Weiner and Colonel Brian Ellis. We want to thank you. Amazing people. They're real leaders and this is one of the great bases anywhere in the world and we're lucky to have them. Thank you very much, fellas. [Applause] And a very special thanks as well
to our partners from the Qatar Army and Armed Forces. Let's give them a really special hand. They are so great. They are so great. And in particular, we want to be uh give a little special applause for somebody that's been so good. Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Sah. Where are you, Sah? Thank you very much. Great. Thank [Applause] you. Thank you. It's an honor. Yesterday, we signed an agreement for Qatar to purchase 42 billion dollars worth of the finest American military hardware, including THAAD missile batteries, Pegasus refueling aircraft, Desert Vipers, light armored vehicles, amphibious
combat vehicles, the MQ9B, and the Sky Guardian drones. That's all the best stuff. Is it? If it isn't, please stand up and tell me, and we'll get something else. But I believe it's the best. Qar will also be investing10 billion dollars to support this massive base in the coming years. And there's no place like it they say. And uh a man the leader Amir he's been a special friend of mine for a long time long before I did the political thing. when he was a novice, he was a young guy and we got to know
each other and we liked each other and got along long before I ever thought of running for president. And it's nice when you have that kind of a relationship. We got along right from the beginning. He's a special guy who's a great leader, great leader of your country. So, I want to just uh congratulate you on that and all the Qatari people, a spectacular group, and it's an honor. And I don't think our friendship's ever been stronger than it is right now. It's uh you had the last administration. I don't know if they knew too
much about what was happening, but this administration does. And uh you will never see anything like the relationship that we have. We just left Saudi Arabia, as you know, and you have a fantastic crown prince. He is a fantastic guy likewise. And we're going from here, we're going to UAE and uh United Arab Emirates and uh we're going to see another leader. We have it's an amazing part of the world and our relationship has never been stronger and you're going to see that as time goes by. But uh with us, it's not words. As you
know, I'm in the midst of a very historic trip visiting the key partners in the Gulf. We had uh just uh some incredible stopovers and a wonderful day yesterday. We had the dinner however with his highness the Amir and he is uh I'm going to see him in a little while. I'm going to be saying goodbye to him but we'll we'll be saying hello again very very soon. But no visit in the Gulf would be complete without stopping to salute the people who keep America safe, strong, and free. And the patriots of the United States
Army, Navy, Space Force. I love Space Force. That's I have to say that's my little baby. You know, I started that. They said that will never work. Oh, it worked. You know, we were way behind Russia and China and now we're way way ahead of everybody. So, Space Force, I'm very happy. That was my you know not since the air force has that happened. So we created a force and it's a big force and it's a brilliant force. So space force thank you for doing such a great job. The Marines and of course the United
States Air Force. Alided is the home of the legendary 379th Air Expeditionary Wing known as the Grand Slam Wing. We also have the first expeditionary theater support group. You got them all. And let's not forget the top-notch army soldiers from the 11th Air Defense Artillery, the Imperial Brigade. Thank you, fellas. That's great. We also have the Eighth Expeditionary Air Mobility Squadron known as Mighty OOS. Where are the OOS? We don't want to fight with them. All of you are the tip of the spear. You're the finest we have anywhere in the world. You're the finest
we have. You're the finest anyone has in the fight against the enemies of civilization. You're the people that are defeating chaos, combating terror, defending our interests, supporting our allies, securing our homeland, and making America incredibly proud. And you know what? Making America great again. That's what's happened. It's happened very fast. Happened very fast. As president, my priority is to end conflicts, not start them, but I will never hesitate to wield American power if it's necessary to defend the United States of America or our partners. And this is one of our great partners right here. When
we're threatened, America's military will answer our enemies without even thinking about it. We have overwhelming strength and devastating force. And we had people that didn't like to talk about that. You know, they didn't want to talk about the level of quality that we have. They didn't want to talk about anything. They didn't We're going to have a big parade this year, you know, in Washington DC, a real parade. And I'll tell you just a little story. A week ago, May 8th, uh I'd call up a certain country and they said, "Oh, we're celebrating the victory
of World War II today, sir." "Oh, really?" I'd speak to one of the presidents or prime ministers or whatever. And they were so busy. Oh. Oh, yes. We're celebrating the victory of World War II. Then I speak to another one that they were celebrating. And the fact is Russia was celebrating. France was celebrating. Everybody was celebrating but us. And we're the ones that won the war. We won the [Applause] war and they helped. But without us, they don't win the war. We're all speaking German. You know that, right? Without us, they're speaking German. Maybe a
little Japanese, too. We won the war. and we're the only ones that didn't celebrate. So what I did is I got my crack staff over there and we did it every time. We have May 8th and we also have the date in November, that sacred date in November for World War I because we won that war, too. But think of it, I'm calling now. We love France, right? But I think we did a little more to win the war than France did. Do we agree? You know, I don't want to be a wise guy. But
when Hitler made his speech at the Eiffel Tower, I would say that wasn't exactly ideal. And I called up the president Mcronone, good guy, by the way, Donald, we are celebrating our victory over the Germans. Oh, that's wonderful. No, we don't take credit for what we do. And I said, what the hell? Every country I've spoken to in the last week is celebrating the war but us. Isn't that terrible? So, we're going to be uh doing uh holidays, but I said it has to be a working holiday because we, you know, you can only do
so many of them. We have a lot of holidays. I'm not so sure we should have them and you don't have to go to work. Our country has to go to work. So, we're going to have a working holiday for each one of those two dates. And we're going to be celebrating, too, because we should celebrate more than anybody else. And others did help a lot, but nobody helped like us. We wouldn't have won. I mean, the fact is not winnable without us. And now we're stronger than ever before. You know, I rebuilt the military
in my first term. We had a great first term every way. We had the greatest economy ever, stock market up 88%, the biggest rise ever, and all of that stuff. But the second term is going to be even better. We have over 10 trillion dollars going to be invested in our country. And this little tour didn't hurt, I will tell you. between the three great places. I recently announced that I'll approve an unprecedented $1 trillion dollars. As I told you, it's going to end up going higher. Investment in the US armed forces, and that's a
record. As part of that effort, I signed an order to build the Golden Dome Missile Defense Shield to protect our country from missile attack. Is everybody okay with that? It was called the Iron Dome, but I changed it to the Golden Dome. I thought it was a little more beautiful, maybe a little more modern or something, but we're going to have it. And it's uh it's amazing actually what they do. It was, you know, it's going to cost many billions of dollars. All made in the USA. I want it all made in the USA. The
days of making our parts all over the world because we have wonderful partners. No, it's America first now. America first. We're going to make it all in the USA. And we're going to, by the way, it's America first, but we're going to take care of other countries. We're going to have plenty left over because we're doing things now. You know, six months ago, our country was laughed at. Now, our country is respected again at a level that it hasn't seen in a long, long time. And we're going to keep it that way. And our air
force will soon have the world's first and only sixth generation fighter jet, the F47. Why did they name it 47? Does anybody know? I don't know. That was a nice thing. But uh it's quite the plane. They say it's uh there's never been anything done. But we're also looking at an increased version of the F-35. I think we're going to call it the F55, which will be a double engine plane. I like two engines on a plane. I'm sorry if I say that, but does that make sense to anybody? Does anybody agree? General, do you
agree with that? I like Thank you. So many of us, Sir, this engine is infallible. No engine is infallible. I like two engines on a plane. Should have been made with two engines. If I were here, you would have had two engines, and you would have had a lot of other victories, by the way. But we're going to do uh when you think of it, Russia Ukraine would have never started. October 7th, Israel would have never happened because Iran, as you know, was broke. They were unable to fund Hamas or anything else. It wouldn't have
happened. We wouldn't have had the disaster of Afghanistan, the leaving. We were getting out, but we're getting out with dignity and strength. We're going to keep Bram Air Base. We aren't going to give that up because it's one hour away from China. One hour. You know who occupies it now? China. The damage that that administration did to this country is legendary. Allowing 21 million people through an open border where anybody could walk into the United States of America is something that will never be forgiven. Grossly incompetent and evil. Bad people too. Bad people. But the
real strength of our military doesn't come from its fighter jets. It really comes from our people. That's you. Comes from our people. You're unbelievable people. The aptitude and all of the things you have to do to do what you do. You know, I look at some of those engines and I'm a pretty smart cookie. I would tell you I'm real smart. And I look at you and you take those engines apart and put them back together blindfolded and fix them up. It's amazing what you're able to do and then to fly them just incredible. You're
incredible. You're a very special group of people. And that's why in my 2026 budget includes uh across the board. Maybe you don't want to look for the good of the country. You don't have to take it. Pay raises for each and every one of you. Substantial pay raises. But you don't have to take it. You don't have to take you can go to your commanding officer say sir I'd rather not take that pay I love my country sir I don't want I refuse to take it anybody here raise your hand please if you refuse to
take it let's see here all right well at least at least we have smart people that's good so you do your duty for us and as commander and chief I will always do and fulfill my duty to you. That's what I'm doing. Under the Trump administration, we're liberating everything in our armed forces from really radical social experiments carried out under the previous administration and beyond that and actually beyond that and restoring the strong and fierce spirit of the American warrior and the American fighter. On day one, I signed an executive order stopping our service members
from being forced to endure endless training sessions on political correctness. We don't care if you're politically correct. And I directed the reinstatement of all patriots expelled from our military by the COVID vaccine mandate, which should have never happened. They're being returned at their former rank with full back pay. Very important. After years of not making our enrollment targets, to me, this is the biggest thing. Our military suddenly has the best recruiting numbers that perhaps they've ever had, but certainly in 30 years. Think of that. You go back six months ago, we couldn't get people to
join the military. Nobody wanted your job. Now, everybody wants your job. So, we went from having the worst numbers we've ever had in terms of recruitment. That included police officers also, firefighters, but police officers. But in the military, think of that, you couldn't get people to join the military. And now we're brimming over. We have the highest numbers. We probably minimum 30 years, but probably have ever had because there's such an incredible spirit now in our country. We have a whole new spirit. And it began on a date, November 5th. That was election day. Under
the Trump administration, America is back. And America's military is back, bigger, better, and stronger than ever before. Since my inauguration, service members stationed throughout this region have terminated. 83 major terrorists operating across Iraq, Syria, and Somalia, including the number two just recently, global leader of ISIS. And I knocked out ISIS as you know in my term. They said it was going to take four years. I said why four years? That's a long time. And then I met a general raisin Kane. He's now the head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, right? And he was great.
He said, uh, we could do it in three weeks, sir. I said, well, I was told four years, General, by your television generals in Washington, DC. and he didn't want to be disrespectful to them. He said, "Sir, I'm telling you, if you want, we can do it in three weeks." And that's what he did. He knocked out 100% of the ISIS caliphate in three [Applause] weeks. Should I tell you a little long boring story about that? Yes. Okay. Some of you have heard it because it's sort of a cool story. But I was wondering why
we couldn't defeat, you know, ISIS. We have this great military, all these great jets that we have new all over the place, the best in the world, the fastest, the best. And I went out and I said to a certain general in Washington DC, a television general, not much. There's a real general on tele. You have the television guys and you have the real generals. And I said, general, how long will it uh take us? because it doesn't make sense. We're spending a lot of money on defeating ISIS and they don't have great equipment. They
in many cases don't even have equipment. They're vicious and they are good fighters. We always have to respect that, sir. It'll take at least five years, sir. I said, five years? That's a long time. You mean we have jets, they have knives, and it's going to take five years? Yes, sir. I said, I don't really believe that. So, I did something that I've never done before. I said, "I want to go to Iraq and I want to meet with the people in Iraq because maybe they're different." But I couldn't understand how a large and powerful
terror group could last so long. And so I scheduled a flight, meaning I left at 3:00 in the morning, was pitch black. We left very very under guard. We traveled through Washington DC. There was nobody around. Got to the hanger at about 3:15. Air Force One was waiting for us. Pilots, the best looking human beings I've ever seen. Even better looking than Tom Cruz and he's a friend of mine. Okay. These guys were central casting. And they could also fly. And we headed out about 3:30 in the morning, pitch black. We headed for Iraq and
nobody knew I was going. Nobody. And we're flying and we're starting to get close. And they come to see me and they say, "Sir, we have a problem. What? We're flying over enemy territory very soon, sir. Could we please turn off your lights?" I said, "My lights? We're flying in Air Force One. We just spent trillions of dollars on fighting the and you can't fly in with lights on." No, sir. It's very very dangerous out there. So I said, "Oh, obviously turn them off." Then he comes in in addition to the lights. We want to
turn down the shades. So I said, "You mean not even shades?" Okay, we turned down the shades. They said, "I want to go upstairs. This is 747, two levels, beautiful plane. Just ordered new ones, by the way. Beautiful new ones." And Boeing just, by the way, did the biggest order in the history of Boeing. Just uh did with your beautiful territory right here. They ordered, I think, 160 planes. I think it's the largest order ever for aircraft. So, I salute the people from Boeing, Kelly, and everybody. And General Electric, the engines are General Electric Super
Prime, and I I really think it's great. Congratulations. But I go up to the to see the pilots because I love sitting with the pilots. I admire their skill. I really do. And like amazing, especially at a certain level. And when you when you fly Air Force One supposedly you're the best pilot. So I hope that's true by the way. But it seems to be I have no complaints. We land it's like always landing like glass. I've had pilots where when you land it's not a pretty picture. In fact you admire the plane so much
for being able to keep apart you know. I mean these sometimes I land with some of these guys you're bouncing down the runway. I'm saying these planes are amazing that they don't crack up, but these pilots landed. I mean, and the 747's a hard one to land, but they're great. So, I go up. I see the pilots. I say, "Hi, captain. The guy's a handsome guy. We got a blonde flat top. I'd like to have a flat top like that. I don't know if the hair is good enough for that. I don't think so. I
don't think I'm going to try it either." But perfect person. Then I look at the right. He's perfect. Everybody was perfect. They're like perfect human beings. I said, "How we doing, Captain?" "We're doing fine, sir. We'll be there in half hour, sir." I said, "They want the lights turned off, Captain." And they do, "Yes, sir. They're doing the right thing." Oh, that's great, Captain. That's that's great. So, now we're 15 more minutes and all of a sudden, and most of you know the sound because that's what you do. But you have the computer voice, a
beautiful voice where it says 1,900. They're talking about feet. So when you're in the big planes and sophisticated planes, a voice comes on and I'm sitting back there watching them fly it beautifully. And I'm still not 100% happy with the statement that he agrees that the light should be turned off. I would have preferred that he said no, there's no problem, but that's not what he said. So we're going through and it goes 1,900 800 700 Talking about feet now 700's getting pretty close to the ground. I don't see a thing. There's no lights. There's
no runway. And I've done this a lot. And I always see the runway in the distance. I have fairly good eyes. I'd say for my age, extremely good eyes. And I don't see a runway. 600 500s. Captain, are we okay? Yes, sir. We'll be landing in just a few minutes, sir. 400. Captain, are we okay? I don't see a runway up there, Captain. Oh, we're fine, sir. No problem, sir. 300 200. I'm saying, "Captain, you sure we're okay here?" And he said, "We're fine, sir." And then b, you know, just lands that thing so beautifully.
And I see you. They had no light. They had no nothing. I don't know how the hell they do it. Okay. All I know is we landed like and for him it was routine and I'm trying to pretend I'm cool as a cucumber. You know, I'm your president. I'm supposed to be cool as a cucumber. And I'm like, you know, I'm like I'm not happy. But after we land, I actually went to my people and I said, I want to ask you a question. I did a very brave thing just there. Is the president allowed
to designate himself for the Congressional Medal of Honor? And they said, "Uh, sir, honestly, that wouldn't be good." I said, ' Okay. So, anyway, we get it. I kid. You know, I have to say I kid because the fake news is back there and they'll actually No, it's true. And they'll say that the president wanted to give himself the Congressional Medal of Honor and he was talked out of it by his staff. So, anyway, so I I get the door opens. We have a platform and I have uh I see down I look down and
I see all these are all specimens just like you guys are all perfect people and I'm seeing a couple of generals, a couple of uh staff sergeants and drill sergeants but everybody's like from a movie and I walk out of the plane and meet the first gentleman and I said, "What's your name?" He said, "Cane, sir. My name is Kane." I said, "Hello, Kane. What's your first name? Well, they call me Raisin. I said, "Wait a minute." Raisin. You mean like Raisin Cane? Yes, sir. That's what they call me. General, I love you. You're the
guy I'm looking for, General. You're the guy I'm looking for. So, is Raisin Kane? It's Daniel Kane. But Raisin Kane, that's what they call him. Then I met another general. I met a colonel. I met a S. We all They said, "Sir, would you like to rest?" He said, "What do you mean rest? I've been resting on the plane. I don't want to rest. What do I have to arrest for? He was thinking about Biden to come. Okay, Biden. Biden would have rested the entire trip. He wouldn't know. First of all, he wouldn't have made
the trip. But if he landed, he would have been rested for about five days before he had the first meeting. I said, "No, let's go have the meeting because I want to find out what's going on over here. We're spending a lot of money and people are being killed. I want to find out why it's taken so long. So, let's go right away." So we went to the almost like a just a very secure room that was in the form of a boardroom, very professional. However, it was very highly sophisticated with the equipment. Best you
can buy. We have the best you can buy all the time. But uh I went into the room and I said, "General, so they tell me in Washington it will take four to five years to defeat ISIS and I want to know from you. Is that true or is that No, sir. But it's not my place to say, sir, because they are the ones that have called the shots. They said, 'Well, uh, if you disagree, you do. It's not the military way, sir. You have to listen to them. That's a chain of command. I said,
oh, that's great. I'm not sure I like that system, but how long do you think it would take you if I gave you total authority to go in and knock the hell out of them? So, it would take approximately three weeks. I say, say it again, General. I was told five years, sir, it'll take three weeks and you'll have time left over. I said, 'You got to be kidding me. Where the hell have you been? And then I sort of was really in disbelief because I said, you know, I've been hearing for so long and
we've been fighting it. How long were we fighting? 18 years or something. And here's a guy telling me three weeks. So I said, General, how do you do it in three weeks? He says, "Well, sir, I don't like saying this because I do have people in Washington, but I'm going to say it. We have portable stations. We have portable runways. We have runways all over the place. We have other bases. And we're being forced to fight them from a very far away distant base, which is right here. And by the time we get there, we
have to come back because there's no fuel. And we're way too far away, sir. And they're over here." And he shows me a map. And we're over here. And we're all the way here, sir. I said, 'Why didn't they use the other bases?' Well, uh, they didn't want to disturb the country where those bases were located. I said, 'We give those countries billions of dollars. We can disturb them a little bit. They wouldn't know what we're doing anyway. Are they going to know where the planes are going? Not really, sir. I said, "So, what would
you do different?" He said, "Well, sir, I'd start from here and I'd get He went through a whole thing. Then I'd hit him from the left. I'd hit him from the right. I'd hit him from underneath. I'd hit him from a top. I'd hit him from every angle, sir. It hit him so hard and so fast they wouldn't know what the hell is happening. I said, "And you think you can do that in three weeks?" "Yes, sir." And we're going to have time left over. And I said, "Let me think about it, General." I went
back to Washington and I spoke to a couple of people and they said, "I don't think so, sir. I think you're talking about years of fighting." And then I called the general and I said, "So, General, you still think you can do it in three weeks? A lot of people think you can't even come close to that, sir. We'll have time left over." I said, "Go to it, General. Go to it. Thank you, sir." And he hit the hell out of him. He hit the hell out of him. And he calls me up. Sir, we
have a lot of these people and if you want I can finish it off right now, sir. I said, well, I don't know. That's a lot. It's, you know, it's a lot of people. Well, these people are not good people, sir. These are not good people. You'll feel better about it. Well, they're not good people, but they're people, aren't they? And he goes, I said, you know what? Why don't you buzz them for a little while and maybe after a day or two of buzzing them, they'll surrender. They don't know about surrendering, sir. Well, maybe
they'll raise the white flag. They don't have a white flag, sir. He said, "Well, give it a shot anyway." He said, "All we're going to do is take a couple of bullet holes in our wings. You guys know about that, right?" And I said, "Well, let's give it a shot." And he calls up and says, "Let me do the job, sir." I said, "All right, do the job." And we defeated 100% of the ISIS caliphate in just a very short little period of time. Totally different from what I was told in Washington DC by a
bunch of freaking losers. Okay? Losers. And that's the beginning. And I took that general and made him the head of the joint chiefs of staff as I told you. And he's going to be great. And he's highly respected by everybody. Just a different kind of respect. It's a real respect. But we can do our job better than anybody in the world. But you have to have the leadership of the top at the top. And we're doing that. We're finding, you know, we uh we let a lot of four stars go. A lot of four. We
had more four stars. We had I think 425 four stars in World War II, which by the way, we won in World War II. We had 187 generals and we had like 425 generals now. without really a war. And so we made a lot of changes and we have the best. We have the best. We figured we worked hard to figure the best, the real ones. We want the real generals, not the fake generals and not the political generals, too. So, we have something that's special, but it can show you really what happened. And we
also just apprehended, as an example, the ISIS terrorist of uh the Alreg, the one that caused all of the problems in Afghanistan, caused unbelievable destruction. We lost 13 great soldiers. I got to know the parents and the families of those soldiers. But you know what they don't say is the ones who were so horribly wounded, which were many, and hundreds of people were killed from the other side. I always include that. That should have never happened. That whole mess should have never happened. I think it was the most embarrassing day in the history of our
country. And uh we're not going to have things like that happen anymore. And again, we should have kept we should have kept the air base. We should have kept it. We left it go. And we left. And it was a very embarrassing moment in the history of our country. That'll never happen again. There are a lot of people that said that Russia went into Ukraine. When they saw that, they said, "Wow, we didn't think that was possible. But it's not possible any longer." I could tell you that's another one would have never happened if I
were president. Russia would have never gone into Ukraine. All of those things, they would have never happened. But the Afghanistan withdrawal, not the fact that they withdrew, but the fact that they the way they did it was so horrible and so embarrassing. So we brought this uh horrible person to justice to American justice. We we caught the person that that set off that bomb. And all of this is possible because of the work that you do with partnerships that you forge. In this case, it was Pakistan. And by the way, I don't want to say
I did, but I sure as hell helped settle the problem between Pakistan and India last week, which was getting more and more hostile, and all of a sudden you'll start seeing missiles of a different type, and we got it uh settled. I hope I hope I don't walk out of here and two days later find out that it's not settled, but I think it is settled. And we talked to them about trade. Let's do trade instead of do war. And Pakistan was very happy with that and India was very happy with that. And I think
they're on the way. You know, they have been fighting for about a thousand years in all fairness. So I said, you know, I could settle that up. I could settle anything. Let me settle it up. Let's get them all together. How long have you been fighting? About a thousand years. Oh, that's a lot. I'm not sure about that. I'm not sure about settling. That's a tough one. They've been fighting for a long time. But uh we got that settled. Nobody boy everybody was very happy. I'll tell you that looked like it was really going to
be escalating out of control. But with us today is the first sergeant of the 379th wing, Master Sergeant Patrick Elders. Patrick, wherever you may be, where are you, Patrick? Handsome guy. Wow. I'm looking at him from here and it says after having served 22 years, he's a a lot. How long have you been in Patrick? Wow, that's amazing. It looks like he's like 25 years old. I'm saying 22 years. They said we must have this mixed up. We don't have it mixed up. I guess when you love what you do, you stay young, right? And
he loves what he does. No doubt about it. But having served over 22 years in the Air Force, he's one of his uh right now this is his sixth deployment. But this time it's a little different because his stepson Airman first class Ashton Inman is on his own first ever deployment nearby in Kuwait right now in Kuwait which is really incredible. Master Sergeant Elders is proud that two generations of his family are now serving the same mission in the same theater protecting the same great American flag. So say hello to him. Thank you very much.
Very nice. A lot of stories like that. A lot of stories like that. And I want to thank Airman First Class Inman also very much. It's uh that's a great that's a great story. That's a great story and we have many of them. I I guarantee in this room right now there are many such stories. There are several married couples serving side by side in uniform at this base including Staff Sergeants Tyler and Paige Duck. Where is Tyler and Paige? [Applause] For years they grew their relationship while Paige was deployed in the UK and Tyler
was halfway around the world at Joint Base Elmenorf Richardson in Alaska conquering a 14-hour time difference. That's a lot of time difference. And now they're together at Al Yudid. And it's really great. So Staff Sergeants, congratulations. It's fantastic. The American people never forget that our service members and their families make incredible sacrifices each and every day so that all Americans can be safe and be free. And we love our amazing military families. Our military families are as good as you can get. The men and women here today are part of a noble tradition of service
that has been passed down from one generation of Americans to the next. and your spirit and courage and sacrifice has always been there when we needed you the most. You're always there when we need you the most. With us today is Master Sergeant Michael Schlow, who happens to be from a small town in a place called Butler, Pennsylvania. Has anybody heard of Butler, Pennsylvania? Yeah. Michael is a member of the Air Force Reserve as well as Butler County Corrections Officer. And last July 13th, he attended the rally where an assassin tried to take my life.
He gave it a shot. Not good. I was someday. As soon as the shots were fired, Michael raced to direct law enforcement toward the sniper's perch, then worked to evacuate the rest of the crowd in a very safe manner. But Master Sergeant Schllo would be the first to tell you who the real hero was that day. He personally knew and really liked. Veteran firefighter, also a veteran of the military, great veteran of the military who laid down his life for his country. Really laid down his life for his country. His whole life was about his
country. Corey comparator. And he's become somewhat of a legend, I will tell you. He took a hard shot. He took a hard shot guarding his family. Master Sergeant Schllo, your commitment represents the very best in America. Thank you for your incredible service that day and forever because that day was a horrible day, but you acted with incredible bravery. We've gotten reports about what you did. It was really amazing and I personally appreciate it. That was a that was a rough day. We don't want to have days like that. But Corey was an incredible guy. Lost
his life guarding his wife and children. Every American warrior here today inherits the legacy of exceptional patriots who have defended our freedom for nearly 250 years. You carry on the glorious tradition of the heroes of Lexington and Concord, Gettysburg and Bellowwood, Normandy and Midway. You embody the spirit of the soldiers who hoisted the flag over Fort Mckendry and the Marines who planted the stars and stripes on the summit to Ewoima. That was a rough attack. You carry forward the mission of generations of Americans before you who marched through halls of gunfire, treked over rugged mountains,
stormed across scorching deserts, sailed through hostile waters, conquered unknown dangers, and poured out their blood and guts and battlefields all over the world. The military is incredible. And we won our independence. We preserved our union, protected our way of life, defeated fascism, crushed terrorism, liberated millions and millions of people from bondage, and brought communism to its knees. It's what we did. And now we're going to defend America from all enemies, overcome all obstacles and dangers, and as one nation, we're going to build a future of peace and prosperity for generations to come. Together we will
stand strong. We will stand proud. We will live free. And we will fight fight fight and win win win. [Applause] So, my trip is four and a half days, but this is the one I was so looking forward because I'm with the people that I really love and respect. We love and respect you. This is what you're doing, the service you do for your country. You keep us safe. There is no more important profession. And I was so proud to see those reports coming in just a few days ago saying that the enrollment is at
the highest level ever. Especially when I had a suffer running against a group of people that were very inappropriate where they allowed that reputation of what you stood for and what you stand for to deteriorate to a point where we weren't able to recruit. So just remember this, you have a job now that everybody wants. Everybody wants to be doing what you're doing. It's a special job. And I am so proud when I saw those numbers come across the board that we set the record for enrollment in the military. And we took that from the
exact opposite just six months before. I was very, very proud of that. We have a great country. We have a proud country. We have a country that's respected all over the world. And as I said before, a year ago we were laughed at, but nobody's laughing at our country anymore. We're the most respected country anywhere in the world. And thank you very much. And enjoy your lives. And God bless America. Thank you very much. Thank you. [Music] [Applause] [Music] There's no need to feel down. I said young man off the ground. I said you're in
a new town. There's no need to be unhappy. There's a place I do and I'm sure you will find many ways [Music] to fun. It's fun to stay at the YMCA. [Music] It's hard to stay