Trump: Presidents Should Have Spent Last 15 Years at Beach

Argues we'd be better off than where those presidents have left us
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Feb 24, 2017 10:53 AM CST
Trump: Presidents Should Have Spent Last 15 Years at Beach
President Trump speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) Friday in Oxon Hill, Md.   (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

In 2011, as the "money, money, money, money" chorus of his reality TV show's theme song blasted, Donald Trump stepped out before the nation's largest gathering of conservative activists for the first time. The crowd was less than adoring, occasionally laughing at and booing the longtime former Democrat, the AP reports. What a difference six years makes. The commander-in-chief took the stage Friday morning at the Conservative Political Action Conference, recalled that first experience fondly, railed against the media, and then discussed myriad ways in which he's keeping his campaign promises during a speech filled with applause and chants of USA! USA! Here are 13 standout lines from the president's speech:

  1. Trump told the crowd to sit down. "The dishonest media, they'll say 'he didn't get a standing ovation.' You know why? Because everybody was standing and nobody sat. They're the worst."
  2. "I'm against the people that make up stories and make up sources. [The media] shouldn't be allowed to use sources unless they use somebody's name. Let their name be put out there. 'A source says that Donald Trump is a horrible, horrible human being.' Let them say it to my face."
  3. [The media get] "upset when we expose their false stories. You know they always bring up the First Amendment. Nobody loves it better than me. I mean, who uses it more than I do? But it gives to me, to you, to all Americans the right to speak our minds freely ... to criticize fake news and criticize it strongly."
  4. "We're all part of this very historic movement, the likes of which the world has never seen before. There've been some movements but there's never been anything like this. ... I'm here today to tell you what this movement means for the future of the Republican party and America. The core conviction of our movement is we are a nation that put and will put its own citizens first."
  5. "Oh, we're building the wall. In fact, it's going to start soon, way ahead of schedule. Way, way, way ahead of schedule."
  6. "We are getting the bad ones out. These are bad dudes ... whether it's drugs or murder. ... Those are the ones that go first and I've said it from day one. Basically all I've done is keep my promises."
  7. "In the Middle East as of four weeks ago we've spent $6 trillion, and it's in much worse shape than it was 15 years ago. If our presidents would have gone to the beach for 15 years we'd be in much better shape right now."
  8. "From a purely political standpoint, the single best thing we can do [about ObamaCare] is nothing. Let it implode completely. ... Two years, don't do anything. The Democrats will come to us and beg for help ... but it's not the right thing to do for the American people. ... So we're going to repeal and replace ObamaCare."
  9. "We have begun a historic program to reduce the regulations that are crushing our economy. We're going to put the regulation industry out of work and out of business. And by the way, I want regulation. I want to protect our environment. I want regulations for safety and I want them to be so strong and so tough, but we don't need 75% of the repetitive, horrible regulations that make us noncompetitive overseas."
  10. "In anticipation of these and other changes, jobs are already starting to pour back into the country. In fact I think I did more than any other pre-president."
  11. "I took a lot of heat on Sweden and then a day later I said, 'Has anybody reported what's going on?' Take a look at what happened in Sweden. I love Sweden but the people over there understand I'm right."
  12. "Let me say this as clearly as I can: We are going to keep radical Islamic terrorists the hell out of our country. ... In a matter of days, we will be taking brand-new action to protect our people and keep America safe."
  13. "No matter the color of the blood we bleed, it's the same red blood of great, great patriots. ... [America is] coming back and it's roaring and you can hear it."
(More President Trump stories.)

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