The President: Thank you, Ralph.
He said we got 81 percent of the vote.
I want to know who were the 19 percent?
(laughter)
Where do they come from?
Thank you, Ralph, for that really kind introduction
and for your great leadership.
It's wonderful to be back here with all
of my friends.
It is the fifth time.
Who would have known this was going to happen?
But we had a feeling, didn't we?
(applause)
And Ralph, I want to congratulate you and your
wife, Joanne, and each and every person in the
audience today.
In just a few years, you've helped turn a small
organization into a really nationwide, beautiful
movement.
(applause)
So true.
And what you have achieved is extraordinary.
I've spoken to this group so much, so often.
I'll be back.
Most recently, one year ago this week, when I came
here to ask for your support, your help, and
your prayers and wow, did you deliver.
(applause)
You really did.
Last year you knocked on more than 1.2 million
doors in the key battleground states where,
as you remember, we focused.
Supposed to be focusing on those states.
You sent 22 million pieces of mail, shared 16 million
videos, and made 10 million phone calls.
That's something.
(applause)
And I'm honored by your incredible support and
grateful for your commitment to our shared
cause.
Thank you for all that you do.
Thank you very much.
(applause)
Thank you.
You didn't let me down, and I will never, ever let
you down.
You know that.
(applause)
We will always support our Evangelical community and
defend your right, and the right of all Americans, to
follow and to live by the teachings of their faith.
And as you know, we're under siege.
You understand that, but we will come out bigger
and better and stronger than ever.
You watch.
(applause)
You fought hard for me, and now I'm fighting hard
for all of you.
I have one goal as President, to fight for
the American people and to fight for America and
America first.
(applause)
We are going to battle for every American who has
lost a job, for every family who has lost a
loved one, for every American of faith who has
lost their rights and lost their freedom.
The forgotten men and women will never, ever be
forgotten again.
You know about that.
(applause)
Remember they said, "Where did all these people come
from?"
And you know what?
They're still trying to figure it out.
They don't get it.
(laughter)
They don't get it.
Your voices will resound across the halls of our
Capitol and across the world.
We recite today the words of Isaiah Chapter 1, Verse
17, "Learn to do right.
Seek justice.
Defend the oppressed.
Take up the cause of the fatherless.
Plead the case of the widow." The entrenched
interests and failed bitter voices in
Washington will do everything in their power
to try and stop us from this righteous cause to
try to stop all of you.
They will lie, they will obstruct, they will spread
their hatred and their prejudice, but we will not
back down from doing what is right.
(applause)
Because as the Bible tells us, we know that the truth
will prevail, that God's glorious wisdom will shine
through, and that the good and decent people of this
country will get the change they voted for and
that they so richly deserve.
(applause)
Nothing worth doing ever came easy, but we know how
to fight better than anybody.
And we never, ever would give up.
And we don't give up.
We are winners, and we are going to fight and win and
have an unbelievable future.
(applause)
Unbelievable future, and it's going to be together.
(applause)
We are keeping the solemn promises that we made to
the great citizens of our country.
We are eliminating job-killing regulations,
reversing government overreach, and returning
power back to everyday Americans, the way the
country started.
(applause)
In just a short period of time, we've already added
nearly one million new jobs and approved historic
increases in military spending.
We've achieved a record reduction in illegal
immigration.
Did you see at the southern border, 75
percent, 75 percent.
(applause)
If they do one percent in the past, it used to be,
"Oh, we're doing so well." 75 percent.
General Kelly is doing a great job, and we are
protecting our families, schools, and cities by
removing the gang members.
(applause)
MS-13.
We are spreading them out, the drug dealers and
criminals from our country and cracking down on the
sanctuary cities that protect them.
(applause)
And we believe that people that come to our country
should love our citizens and embrace our values,
our values, folks.
(applause)
In my first 100 days, and I don't think anybody has
ever done more or certainly not much more, I
appointed and confirmed a Supreme Court Justice in
the mold of the late, great Antonin Scalia.
(applause)
And now Justice Gorsuch has a seat on the United
States Supreme Court.
(applause)
I made a promise.
We have also proposed an historic tax cut, biggest
in the history of our country, by the way.
And we are fighting for fair trade that creates a
level playing field for all of our American
companies and our American workers.
We are not on a fair playing field, but it's
getting fairer by the day.
We are bringing back our jobs.
(applause)
To protect those jobs and the sovereignty and
freedom of the United States, I followed through
on my promise to withdraw from the Paris Climate
Accord.
(applause)
Thank you.
You understand it.
You understand how bad it was for our country.
It was going to strip of us of our jobs, our
wealth, our companies.
And they keep saying, "Oh, it's non-binding," so
innocent.
I figure between that deal, the Iran deal,
NAFTA, we've got some beauties, don't we?
(laughter)
Don't worry.
You're going to see some real good ones coming
about very soon.
You're going to see some great ones coming about
very soon.
American will continue to lead the world on
environmental protection.
We're going to have clean water, crystal clean.
(applause)
We're going to have clean air, but what we won't do
is let other countries take advantage of the
United States anymore and dictate what we are doing
and dictate our future.
(applause)
From now on, we will follow a very simple rule.
Every day I am President, we are going to make
American first, not somebody else, not some
other country.
We are going to make American first.
(applause)
Thank you.
As I am sure you know, I've also reinstated the
Mexico City Policy first put into place by Ronald
Reagan to protect the unborn.
(applause)
Thank you.
And in a really beautiful ceremony at the White
House on the National Day of Prayer, I signed, as I
promised I would, a new Executive Action to
protect religious liberty in America including the
rights of groups like yours, the Little Sisters
of the Poor.
Thank you.
Stand up, the Little Sisters.
(applause)
They fought so hard for so many years.
All of a sudden they heard, "We won."
(laughter)
Right?
They were tough.
Don't want to mess with the Little Sisters, right?
(laughter)
They hung in.
They had a lot of losses.
They sustained a lot of losses, but all of a
sudden, one day a few weeks ago, it was over.
They won.
So congratulations.
Great toughness.
Great.
Great people.
(applause)
That Executive Order also followed through on one of
my campaign promises to so many of you to stop the
Johnson Amendment from interfering with your
First Amendment rights.
(applause)
It was my promise.
This Executive Order directs the IRS not to
unfairly target churches and religious
organizations for political speech so the
people that you most respect can now feel free
to speak to you, like my friend sitting right over
here.
I can now hear them, and they're unimpeded.
So, I just want to congratulate everybody in
this room because that was a big deal, and it was a
very important thing for me to do for you.
And we're not finished yet, believe me.
We're not finished yet, so thank you very much.
(applause)
No Federal worker should be censoring sermons or
targeting pastors.
These are the people we want to hear from.
(applause)
How about the people you do hear from every night
on television?
You want to hear from them?
I don't think so.
No, no.
We want to hear from the people that we want to
hear from.
As long as I am President, no one is going to stop
you from practicing your faith or from preaching
what is in your heart and from preaching -- and
really, this is so important, from the bottom
of my heart, from preaching from the people
that you most want to hear and that you so respect.
So, we have taken a very, very strong position, and
you picked a winner.
(applause)
So, we want our pastors speaking out.
We want their voices in our public discourse, and
we want our children to know the blessings of God.
(applause)
Schools should not be a place that drive out faith
and religion.
(applause)
But that should welcome faith and religion with
wide-open, beautiful arms.
(applause)
Faith inspires us to be better, to be stronger, to
be more caring and giving, and more determined to act
in selfless and courageous defense of what is good
and what is right.
It is time to put a stop to the attacks on
religion.
(applause)
Thank you.
We will end the discrimination against
people of faith.
Our government will once again celebrate and
protect religious freedom.
(applause)
Restoring freedom and opportunity also means
repealing and replacing the disaster known as
Obamacare.
That was easy.
Do you see how it's failing?
Okay.
So, I've been saying 116 percent for so long.
That was Arizona.
So yesterday I have a new number, 204 percent in
Alaska, increase.
It's a catastrophe.
Obamacare, as one of the big insurance company's
heads said, "is in a spiral, is in a death
spiral." It is dead, dead.
Some of the states are losing their insurance
companies.
Yesterday Ohio lost one of the big ones, and Ohio has
got problems now.
They all have problems.
Kentucky, Tennessee, every place I go, but we're
dealing with obstructionists.
The Democrats are obstructionists.
You know what?
It would be great to get along with them, but it
seems to be impossible.
(applause)
They are obstructionists, and they have a healthcare
plan that's a disaster called Obamacare.
Again, the insurance companies are fleeing.
The premiums are through the roof.
The deductibles -- I mean, unless you die a long,
horrible, slow death, those deductibles are so
high, sadly folks, you'll never get to use them.
It is a disaster what's going on with Obamacare.
Nobody wants to talk about it, but you take a look at
the premiums how high.
You take a look at those deductibles.
You have nothing.
And then, of course, the mandate.
Let's pay to get out of it.
Okay?
We're the only one -- we pay to get out of not
paying.
That's how bad it is.
So, Obamacare is dead.
And don't let them pin it on the Republicans, by the
way.
We've only been here for a short period of time.
Okay?
But a good bill passed in the House, something I
hope great is going to come out through Mitch
McConnell and the Senate, and we're working very
hard.
I can tell you we're really working hard.
And if we had the best plan in the history of the
world, we wouldn't get one Democrat vote.
Just remember that.
If we had a plan that gave you the greatest
healthcare ever in history, you wouldn't get
one Democrat vote because they're obstructionists.
They're bad right now for the country.
They've gone so far left that I don't know if they
can ever come back.
Now as a, believe it or not, politician -- I never
would call myself a politician, but I guess
that's what I am.
I became President.
I guess I'm a politician.
(laughter)
Selfishly, I love where they've gone because I
think they've taken the wrong path, but they have
gone so far left trying to appease a certain group
that I think they've made a horrible mistake.
But what they have done is to obstruct, and that's
why when it comes to the elections in '18, we have
to get more because we only have -- We're only up
by two in the Senate, and pretty small number in the
House, and we have to build those numbers up
because we're just not going to get votes.
Now maybe times will change, and that could
happen at some point.
I remember when Republicans and Democrats
would fight like hell, then they'd go out, have
lunch together, have dinner together, go back
fight like hell, and get a lot of things done.
Now the lunches and the dinners don't take place.
The level of hatred is beyond anything that I've
seen.
So, they are obstructionists, but we're
going to get healthcare done.
We're going to get the tax cuts done.
We have the biggest tax cut and great tax reform.
We're going to get it done, but sadly, we're
going to have to do it as Republicans because we
won't get any Democrat votes.
And that's a very, very sad, sad thing.
I filled my Administration and Cabinet with people
who share our priorities and want to deliver for
the American people.
And even that, as you know, it's so hard, the
process, because of the obstruction.
It's so hard.
You know, they say, "Resist." But they really
should say, "Obstruct." But it's so hard because
you put -- when you hear that we have vacancies,
it's true.
But take a look at what's going on.
Getting the simplest appointment is a big deal
that takes forever.
Our wonderful Vice President, Mike Pence,
will be here later this week.
What a great guy he is.
(applause)
Great guy.
When Dr. James Dobson -- stand up, James.
(applause)
Good.
Great man.
Great guy.
Thank you, James.
Receives a lifetime achievement award, but
today I also want to congratulate Dr. Dobson
and his wife Shirley, who was with me at the
beginning of the campaign, right at the beginning of
the campaign.
And I called back because she was substituting for
James because he was so busy preaching, and I
said, "You know what James?
She may be better than you are." She was good.
(laughter)
We had a good time, right?
And I'll tell you what, the audience, they loved
her.
So, in advance of that recognition, James, and
for everything they've both done to keep the
focus on the family, I just want to congratulate
you.
It's just so amazing.
Thank you.
(applause)
Great people.
Thank you.
Thanks, Shirley.
Thanks, James.
Family is the foundation of American life, and we
are proud to stand together with all of you
to promote and protect family values.
We're here today to celebrate two values that
have always been linked together, and where Ralph,
frankly, has done such a great job in linking them:
faith and freedom.
They're linked together because liberty comes from
our Creator.
Our rights are given to us by a Divine Authority, and
no earthly force can ever take those rights away.
(applause)
That is why my Administration is taking
power out of Washington and giving it back to the
people where it belongs, as I've said right from
the beginning.
(applause)
For too long, politicians have tried to centralize
authority among the hands of a small few in our
nation's capital.
People are getting very rich.
Bureaucrats think they can run over your lives,
overrule your values, and tell you how to live, but
we know that families and churches, not government
officials, know best how to create a strong and
loving community.
(applause)
We know that parents, not bureaucrats, know best how
to raise children and create a thriving society.
(applause)
And above all else, we know this: In American we
don't worship government.
We worship God.
(applause)
Right?
We worship God.
Thank you.
Our religious liberty is enshrined in the very
First Amendment in the Bill of Rights.
The American founders invoked our Creator four
times in the Declaration of Independence.
Don't worry.
We're not going to let them change it.
(applause)
You see what goes on nowadays, right?
Benjamin Franklin reminded his colleagues at the
Constitutional Convention to begin by bowing their
heads in prayer.
Inscribed on our currency are the words, "In God We
Trust." And we proudly proclaim that we are one
nation under God every time we say the Pledge of
Allegiance.
You just heard a brave six-year-old patriot named
Christian Jacobs beautifully recite that
Pledge of Allegiance.
I first met Christian last week after the Memorial
Day ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery, where
we honor and remember the American patriots who made
the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom.
Christian was in perfect Marine dress blues as a
tribute to his dad, his beautiful dad.
And he walked right up to me in a big crowd of
people and without hesitation he asked if I
would like to come see where his daddy is
resting.
Next, he led me over to where Marine Sergeant
Christopher Jacobs lies among his brothers and
sisters in arms in Section 60 and showed me pictures
of his fallen father who is so great and so
important to him.
Not only does young Christian carry those
photos, but he carries his father's love in his heart
and his courage in his beautiful, beaming, young
face.
With his mom, Brittany, by his side, terrific mother,
I said, "Is your mother good or is she great?"
He said, "She's great." I said, "You better say
that."
(laughter)
He looked me square in the eyes and gave me a firm
handshake.
That six-year-old stood strong and tall and proud
in front of the Commander in Chief, just as I am
sure his dad would have wanted him to be.
He's extraordinary.
(applause)
Christian's father gave his life to defend our
freedoms and our flag.
Christian, your father was an American hero, and we
are so proud of what you are doing every day to
carry on his legacy.
(applause)
And Christian, we hope to prove worthy of the
sacrifices your family has made, and believe me,
we're going to work very hard to live up to your
standard.
Christian, stand up.
Come on, Christian.
(applause)
Thanks, Christian.
Good job.
Special guy.
Every day our brave men and women in uniform are
risking their lives to keep this country from
murderous groups like ISIS, Al-Qaeda, and so
many more.
We must confront this evil that plagues humanity and
eradicate it from our planet.
(applause)
The vicious slaughters in Manchester and the streets
of London underscore the depths of depravity that
we face, but these atrocities only harden our
resolve.
We're getting better and better and tougher and
tougher and smarter and smarter, Christian.
We cannot allow radical Islamic terrorism to
spread in our country or allow extremists to find
sanctuary on our shores.
(applause)
We will protect our country.
We will protect our families, and our ways of
life will always be protected.
We will crush this enemy that is waging war on all
of civilization.
Last month I traveled to Saudi Arabia to speak to
the leaders of more than 50 Muslim and Arab
countries and to rally them in the common fight
against terrorism, which is a menace to people of
all religions.
There can be no co-existence with this
violence.
I told these leaders that they must drive out this
enemy from the face of the earth.
Every child of God, no matter where they live,
what language they speak, or what book they live by,
deserves to be able to grow up in harmony,
dignity, and peace.
In that summit, the likes of which there has never
been any summit like it, you've seen it.
You watched it.
We reached historic agreements to fight not
only terrorism, but the wicked ideology that
really drives it.
I mean, it's just driving it.
And to starve this enemy of the funds, the billions
and billions and billions of dollars that's being
poured out into the enemy.
I think it was one of the great, great summits.
And I think it's going to have a profound effect on
terrorism.
(applause)
Finally, because my Administration is deeply
committed to the right of religious believers
everywhere to be free from persecution, I called on
these leaders to protect Muslims and Christians and
Jews and people of all faiths, because you know
what's going on there, and it's horrible, horrible.
Terrorism is a threat, and it is a big threat, to
religious liberty around the world, and all
responsible nations must protect the right of
people to live and worship according to their
conscience.
(applause)
Here in America, my Administration is
determined to work with you to protect your
religious liberty, not just for some, but for
everyone.
Together we can crush the horrors of terrorism.
We can usher in a new era of faith, family, and
freedom because we understand that a nation
is more than just a geography.
A nation is the sum of its citizens, their hopes,
their dreams, their values, and their prayers.
America is a land rich with history and culture
and filled with people of courage, kindness, and
strength and though we have many stories that we
all share at home, the one thing we do share is one
beautiful destiny.
And whether we are black or brown or white, we all
bleed the same red blood.
(applause)
We all salute the same great American flag.
(applause)
And we are all made by the same Almighty God.
(applause)
We face many challenges.
There are many hills and mountains to climb, but
one by one, we will scale those summits, and we will
get the job done and get the job done correctly.
We will prove worthy of this very, very important
moment in history.
As long as we have pride in our beliefs, courage in
our convictions, and faith in our God, then we will
not fail.
(applause)
And as long as our country remains true to its
values, loyal to its citizens, and devoted to
its Creator, then our best days are yet to come
because we will make America great again.
Thank you.
God bless you.
(applause)
Thank you.