08/15/20: President Trump Holds a News Conference

Thank you very much, I appreciate it and thank you for being here. Let me give you a brief update on the China virus and our economic recovery, which is going very well, as you have probably heard that almost 85 percent of jurisdictions across our country are reporting a very sharp decline in cases and that despite that we have the number one testing program in the world, we have almost 70 million tests far more than any other country this week, cases across the country are down by six percent test positivity. the rate has fallen to just 6.5 percent, a 71 percent reduction since April and a 15 percent reduction since mid-July, that's a big reduction, the hospitalization rate for the virus has halved since April and I urge everyone to apply common sense mitigation measures, we know that and we are all doing that and I want to thank the American people for really doing a great job.

The United States has administered more than 70 million more tests than the entire European Union combined, if you combine all of Europe, it is less than what we do. Millions of point-of-care tests are processed in less than 24 hours and many in less than 15 minutes. Nearly 80 percent of all commercial lab test results are now returned within three days, so we've reduced that number from about eight days to three days and that's just in the long-term lab cases, but we have a lot of 15 minute tests, we have some five minute tests, the turnaround time for the federal surge testing sites is only two days, so when you send them out even though you have a delivery time in which nothing can be done it is reduced to two days it is a very substantial reduction great work by the people who do it we are focused on aggressively protecting the highest risk people who live in nursing homes and long term care The facilities represent less than one percent of the U.S. population, but they account for nearly half of all deaths.

It's something amazing. That's one percent of the U.S. population, but they account for nearly half of China's virus deaths. That's why we've rushed to nursing homes. funding protective equipment and rapid testing kits and will announce additional measures to protect nursing home residents in the coming days. We have worked very hard with the nursing home companies and also with the governor's 50 governors across the United States and we have developed a good relationship with most of the governors and I think for the most part they are doing a very good job. They focus a lot on nursing homes and when they need equipment they can't get, they remember they're supposed to get it, but when they can't get it, we have enormous amounts of equipment in stock thanks to my administration's decisive action to save American jobs .

We are currently witnessing the fastest economic recovery in American history and that is because the foundation that we previously laid before the virus hit On our coast, the foundation was so solid that we had such a solid foundation that we We are recovering much faster than anyone anticipated. It turns out that it's going to be a very, very strong v and you'll see that in just a second, so retail spending has fully recovered. it recovered and now it's at an all-time high, that's not all the time for this month or last month, it's at an all-time high and you see on the chart this was before the plague, I call it the plague coming to our land and uh and it really affected 188, we are dealing with 188 countries and if you see that not only have we recovered but we are at a much higher level than we were, then it is an incredible number that no one thought would be possible, so we are currently witnessing the fastest economic recovery in American history which is an amazing statement so retail spending is great and now if they increased car production it would have increased by 28 and that It's their car production, which is there, so you'll see it's now. almost tied to where it was and that was an all-time record and we're already tied and if you had a used car graph you would see that used car sales are setting a record and that's great for production because when used cars ​​they are practically not available, they are very, very scarce, that means that you are going to make a lot of new cars, so that number will increase even beyond what it is now, but that is a fantastic number, it is a number. that's the equivalent of where it was and that was a record so you can see what's happening with the economy and the recovery and the stock market is almost at an all-time high, in fact the Nasdaq is at an all-time high historic, you've had 14 days where we already broke the record in the last two months, so there are a lot of wonderful things happening through the historic relief package that I signed into law.

We saved more than 50 million American jobs. 50 million American jobs and the unemployment rate is falling rapidly. Look, you've seen it and I think you'll see it in the next two months and you'll have a good report even before the election. You will have a very good report. I think you will have an incredible GDP. You're going to have a tremendous report on companies and much of it is going to be published, which is very lucky before the election. I think the Democrats are doing everything they can to try to do everything they can to stop these kinds of numbers.

They don't like these kinds of numbers because they think it will hurt them in the elections. I think we all have to come together and we have to do the right job and we have to do what is good for Americans. People, China treated us unfairly because they could have stopped it, that being said, China bought the largest amount of corn in history last week, they bought the largest two days in history of corn purchases and a massive amount of soybeans, also cattle . So China has been buying a lot of things and they are doing it to keep me happy, but they are dreaming about Joe Biden.

They would love for that to happen, but I don't think that's going to happen. They are dreaming. They and also Iran dream of jail and also many other countries dream of that because if that happens they will be owners of the United States and China, I can tell you that specifically they will be owners of the United States, you cannot allow that to happen if you remember that . China had the worst, the worst year it has had in 67 years before the plague reached our shores and now we are starting to do very well. We're going to have a very good third quarter, maybe a great third quarter and we're going to have an incredible year unless someone quadruples the taxes, which is what they're talking about and also the regulations.

We have said that we have done more in terms of reducing regulations than any administration in history, by far, whether it was four years or eight years or in one case more than eight years, in less than four years we have made more regulatory cuts by far and we are doing more as we go, some of their legal provisions can only be done at a certain pace, you have to wait 90 days, you have to wait 120 days before you can take the next step, we have a tremendous regulatory cut, That being said, we are going to have certain regulations to protect the environment and also safety, small business optimism has arrived.

The increase in June was higher than any month under the previous administration. Think about that, small business optimism was higher than any month under the previous administration and that's while we're going through a pandemic, a global pandemic, you have a number like that. and when you look at the numbers that we just cited about what's happening with cases and all the other hospitalization rates, a lot of tremendous things are happening, industrial production is increasing at the fastest rate ever recorded, I mean, think about these numbers I mean, how does that happen? Industrial production is increasing at the fastest rate ever recorded.

Consumer spending is expected to grow at an astronomical rate this quarter, so we don't have the number yet, but it looks like it will be at an astronomical rate. I mean I want college football to come back. These are strong, healthy, amazing people. These are people who really want to play football. A big talented quarterback, Trevor Lawrence, called me two days ago. I spoke to him a couple of times. He said sir, I just want to tell you that we want him back, we want to play and he is an incredible quarterback, as you know from an incredible Clemson school and uh, he is going to have a very good future in the NFL, he has everything he has. , height precision.

He's strong arm and fast other than that I guess he has some issues but he's got the whole package. I saw him last year running, maybe he was faster than the backs we're protecting. I think he's going to be great. but he's just a great young man. I talked to him for a long time. They want to play football and he made the statement that he feels he is safer on the field. He is safer on the field than he is outside. You know, off the field. he feels very confident and if you look at the second one, the big 12 and the acc are back, they want to come back and I think they will come back, the big ten, the pac-12 isn't and I wish they would come back and you know.

I just want to say something sad because I've been fighting for football to come back. We're trying to help the NFL as long as they stand for our national anthem, as long as they honor our flag in our country if they start. By kneeling I'm not going to help you much, that might come back, but I won't be watching and neither will many other people. I think what the NBA did was atrocious. I thought it was embarrassing the way they knelt and their grades. reflecting on that but I think football has to get smart in the nfl let's see what happens but if they do they learned their lesson I thought two years ago when people started not watching and when people didn't really go as much to the game. a lot of empty seats all of a sudden so they'll learn that lesson again if they don't realize it but I just want to say it Trevor Lawrence great and some of the great people sec big 12 acc i I want to thank you and congratulate you for coming back.

I also want to mention that CNN had a story that they will blame Trump for football in the swing states, how dishonest or that's good, they blame me. I'm the one pushing them to come back so they want to try to blame me so they and I guess the New York Times reported that one person there was one person in the story one person said maybe it's Trump's fault and I'm the one. which pushes it back, so I would like to see college football return. I would like to see them come back proud and strong. Trevor impressed me a lot.

I was very impressed with other people who called me players, called me coaches. Call me coach. Oh you want a coach who is central casting for a movie, if you're making a movie you have to put coach joe as the director because this guy is central casting, but when you have guys like nick saban and others asking him to come back, they want to come back and These are great athletes, these are not people who seem to be susceptible at all to this horrible disease and they want to play football and we have great testing so they can do the testing and when cnn and the new york times the new york times.

I quoted one person, one person, and I'm the one pushing, so we'll get it straight. I'm the one pushing for football to return. I think if I wasn't pushing, nothing would happen, so with that we. We'll take, uh, answer some questions, Steve, please, thank you. The US effort to extend the arms embargo on Iran in the UN Security Council failed yesterday. but we will do it once again you will see it next week yes, you will see it next week

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putin wants to hold a video summit on this topic do you want to do it? probably not no, I think we want to wait until after the elections.

Look, Iran really wants me to lose because if you know, Iran is a completely different game right now. They have not been sponsoring terrorism because they do not have much money to sponsor terrorism. You know we just captured four Iranian ships, as you know, and brought them to Houston. They were going to Venezuela. They're not supposed to be doing that. Iran would love to have me defeated if I win, which I hope to win. How can I do it? No, when you see numbers like this on both the virus and the economy, I mean, we should win, we should all move forward with this amazing thing and I built it once and I will build it again.

I think I already have it. The hardest part is done in terms of economics and that is with or without additional funds from Nancy Pelosi. They should have put things in what you call the law of attention or phase one, phase two, phase three, but they didn't do that. They put it at the end things they are asking for that have nothing to do with corona that have everything to do with radical left politics they received letters from their postal service saying that those ballots are due on November 3rdThey might not arrive on time as

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Isn't it your responsibility, since this is your postal service, to meet this critical need? Well, we have a man there for two months. He is a very talented man. He is a brilliant businessman. He has done very well. He is also a very nice man. He's working very hard, but as you know, the Democrats are not approving adequate funding for the post office and they are not approving adequate funding for this ridiculous thing they want to do, which is all male investment, if it's universal, you could call it post office. -when voting again absentee voting is great you request to be an absentee voter because I applied to get and then submitted my vote so it works great that's what we've had but now they want to send millions and millions of ballots and you see what is happening, they are being lost, they are being discarded, they are being found in piles.

It's going to be a catastrophe, so this goes beyond the post office. For joy, he is working very hard. The post office has lost billions and billions of dollars over the decades. Today I read numbers that are unthinkable and what they want to do now is hit the post office with millions of ballots from certain states and if you look at what happened in New York and Virginia and several other places, it is a catastrophe, they are losing 20 of the votes, no one knows what happened, so let's see what happens, but I say that this universal vote by mail is going to be catastrophic, it is going to turn our country into a laughingstock around the world.

You can't send out millions of ballots and look at all the evidence as if you had seen it then. there are many much more just look at new york look at new jersey look at the catastrophe in new jersey and new jersey had more than just patterson look at what is happening in virginia look at what is happening with this mail in the vote it is a disgrace the absentee is good universal mail is very very bad there is no way they can get it accurately they have a 20 and 30 percent difference and this is beyond the post office that being said they want money for universal mail and uh , ballots. and they are not understanding it you know why thanks to them we want the money to go to the people they want money to bail out the states that have done very badly the states that have done badly you know them as well as I do these are Directed by Democrats, usually radical left Democrats, take a look at what's happening in Portland and we'll go to Portland.

They have to ask us, we'll go to Portland, we'll fix it in an hour, like what happened in Minneapolis, we'll go fix it. in an hour we will fix it very quickly, but they have to ask us for it, so they need money, but they are not willing to approve the money they need if they can't get the money they need for universal mailing. vote, I don't see how they can have it and that's not just the post office, but also for the voting itself. Does Joy's postmaster have her back for the actions she has taken in recent years?

Yes, he is a fantastic man, he wants to do it. he wants to make the post office great again have you ever heard the expression he wants to make the post office great again the post office is a catastrophe machines all over the country that's one of them I don't know I don't know what What he's doing I can only tell you he's a very smart man, he's going to be a great postmaster general and obviously if he's going to pull these millions of ballots out of thin air he's obviously going to need funding but the Democrats are not willing to provide other things. and therefore they are not going to get the funding for that, but we are going to have a catastrophic situation with universal mail-in votes and, furthermore, the Democrats are not willing to give the money to the people and the post office.

The money said that A catastrophic situation was going to happen, but what are they doing to make sure that doesn't happen? Wouldn't these issues raise questions about the election results? If you win well, the problem with the mail in voting number one is I will never know when the election is over. Well, I mean, they called the election in New York for Carolyn Malone. They shouldn't have done that. I think they should redo those elections and you know the opponent is screaming. They can't believe it. The ballots are lost balanced they are defrauded it is a total disaster and they called it for it the reason is because I have been using it as a case so look we are going to have an election that will take place on a beautiful day November 3rd and usually at the end of the night they say donald

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won the election donald

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is your new president whatever they say you know what you're not going to know this possibly if you really did it right for months or for years because all these ballots will be lost, they'll go away and just take a look at a smaller base, but they're great tests, we're doing tests, I mean, these are, you could call them surveys, you could call them tests. look what's happening all over the country where you have universal mail wait a minute the ballots are lost there's fraud there's theft it's happening everywhere now we're going to do it with this whole large section of the country it's crazy that you oppose it and don't trust the mail when voting is that your postmaster general is using the postal service agency to create delays no, not at all, you would love for this to happen.

I didn't talk to him about it, but I'll tell him. This is what I imagine he would say number one, they didn't give me the funds because it's in Congress because they want a trillion dollars to bail out the states, just so you understand what they want, they want a trillion dollars to bail out. states poorly run by democrats well that's what they want they're not giving the money to the post office they have to give the money to the post office they're creating some delays now the steps you're creating no, not at all the steps you've taken they are trying to stop the tremendous losses that have taken place for many years, they are trying to streamline the post office and make it great again, okay, wait a minute, just look, I just read last night that now New Jersey is going to try universal email. voting right, they didn't know this, so now suddenly New Jersey is going to be hit with millions of ballots to send out.

They didn't know anything about this, so how does a post office work? How does a postal service work that doesn't? I don't know now, all of a sudden New Jersey is supposed to drop out and millions of ballots are going to be sent out all over New Jersey and if you look at some of the things they're saying, like taking the state of Nevada, taking that little scam that's going on there with the clubhouse political governor, where the votes don't even have to be in until seven, they're counted seven days after November 3rd, that means if Nevada is a very important state, I think we have a great opportunity. to win that state if the votes don't have to be 4-7 and they don't count the votes seven days later, that means how are they going to predict a winner on November 3rd.

It was automatically sent to someone. No absentee is okay. Okay, but once the ballot gets in the mail, it doesn't matter, but the workers have to sort it, so the bottom line is that there should be more resources for the post office, but the Democrats are not, they are not approving the resources . There has to be more resources, I agree because, suddenly, the post office is tripling and the problem is that the Democrats are not approving the necessary funds, it is there now they have 25 billion. I've seen 15 billion. I've seen a lot of money, I don't know how they can spend so much, but that's what they say, so not only do they want to distribute a trillion dollars as social assistance to all these states governed by Democrats that are doing poorly.

They want 25 billion dollars for the post office but they are not approving it now what I want is a lot of money thousands of dollars for the people because they really need money despite the good numbers despite numbers like that they need money to live and I want that to happen to the democrats don't care about that they just want to give bailout money to their friends who run the big states badly you want to pardon edward snowden and bring him back you suggested it once well, I'm I'm going to look at it, I mean, I'm not very aware of the Snowden situation, but I'm going to start looking at it.

Many people. It appears to be a split decision. Many people think that somehow they should be treated differently. and other people think that he did very bad things and I'm going to take a good look at it, well, I mean, I've seen people who are very conservative and very liberal and they agree on the same issue. both ways, I'm going to take a look at Edward Snowden, yes please, do you agree with Dr. Robert Redfield, who earlier this week said that if the United States does not follow public health guidelines, we could be in store for one of the worst failures we've ever faced from a public health perspective, no, I mean, you can't compare it to 1917, that was incredible, it was the worst of all time, by far.

Look, they lost possibly a hundred million people, no. I don't agree with that, but if you look at these numbers, they are going down considerably and I think a lot of Americans are wearing masks, which is good. Again, some people thought you shouldn't wear masks, you know when? This all started, Dr. Fauci, who I like and respect, said don't wear masks, it's okay, and so did Dr. Redfield, and suddenly it was like everyone should wear a mess and it's okay, people can change. of opinion, but wash your hands well. hygiene, all that stuff, I think people are really doing it at a level that they've never done before and when you look and when you look at the numbers, the way the numbers come out, I mean, it's very impressive when you see what's there. happening because of the way Florida is doing well, you see that and the hospitalizations and everything you know, normally you would have had a more attractive structure like ours during the first surge, we did well, we closed it, we had the greatest economy . in history we closed it, we understand the disease now, no one knew, no one knew what was hitting us, no one knew that older people would be very, very susceptible, especially if they have heart problems, diabetes and other problems, that all people would be very susceptible and young.

People would benefit very much if we look at the percentages. It's a small percentage that has problems, especially the big problem, so now I think we are doing very well, we are on the right track and we are also opening up. our economy and our economy are going to break records and if stupid people are not elected next year we are going to have one of the best years we have ever had, Jennifer go ahead, thank you, Mr. President, you have already taken action on tick tock and wechat, yeah, what other Chinese tech companies are you considering banning from operating in the US?

Well, the most important thing is Huawei, right, Huawei is not here and Huawei I will not allow it and I have told European countries and others, Australia. It has been fantastic as an example, but Huawei is not coming here and we said to certain countries that were thinking about Huawei, okay, you can use them, but we are not going to share intelligence and everyone has backed out. Look at the UK. It seemed like they were going in that direction and now they have backed out at Scotland Yard. Are there other companies in particular? There are more of them.

Yes, they are analyzing other things. Yes, we are saying that you want the mail to be processed. as quickly as possible, but why is your postal service dismantling these mail sorting machines across the country at that time? Well, you'll have to ask him. I know he is a very efficient trader, a very good trader, but again he needs money to trade. You are going to hit him with millions of votes and if you ask him he will tell you and he will tell you very nicely you have the money, it is there, it is ready to go, the Democrats don't want to approve it, but I also want to be ready for other things.

I want the money to go to the people so they can live very well because China caused the problem. They say Kamala Harris is eligible to run and be vice president or president because she was born in Oakland, California. so I have nothing to do with it, I read something about it and I will say he is a brilliant lawyer, I guess he wrote an article about it, so I don't know anything about it, but it's not something that bothers me, why do you say that? I just don't know, but it's not something we're going to pursue, let me say it another way, let me be, let me say it another way, don't tell me what I know, let me say it another way, let me say it another way.

It doesn't bother me at all. Don't know. I read a quick article. Turns out the lawyer is a brilliant lawyer, as you probably know, he wrote an article saying there might be a problem. It's not something I'm going to go to. to follow up if she's eligible i just told you i haven't gone into great detail if she has a problem you would have thought she would have been tested you would have thought she would have been tested by Sleepy Joe yes, go ahead I just want to ask you, after three weeks without no deal, has been constantly boasting about the Democrats, why doesn't he personally come to the table andsit with them?

I mean, I know Speaker Pelosi and the minority leadership were in the oval office in December 2018. It didn't go so well, everyone in the world saw that why not invite them if they don't want to come, that's up to them, so which I think we have done very well, we have had three phases, we are in phase four, we have got everything we wanted and we also got a great economy. All you have to do is take a look at these charts. Our economy is doing well, but we want different things. I want money for people.

They want money to bail out the Democrats. Democratic governors and mayors listen to me listen to me my people are doing very well and my people call me they are in the office they call me they call me when it's good no one knows the deal better than me when it's good I will get together, but right now I don't okay they want a trillion dollars to bail out the mismanaged states their are all democrats i mean they are democrat states something may happen but i want to tell you the country is doing very well right now we can live very happily without him, but I would like to do it because I want to give money to people I want to put money in the hands of people they want to put money in the hands of politicians so that politicians don't look stupid I have had some differences with their secretary of defense , mark esper, do you have confidence in him? his leadership there mark jesper did you call him jesper oh okay some people called him yesterday i don't get along with him i get along with him okay he's okay yeah no problem i consider firing everyone at some point at some point that's what Come on Jennifer, you?

You've got something, Jennifer, you're working so hard. Do you think there will be anyone else who will leave his cabinet after the elections, sir? So if we are successful, I think we will have a silent majority like we have never seen before. I think you read it where 62 of the people say they don't even tell the truth in the polls and where the polls are fake. You know where registered voters do and where they do a lot more Democrats than Republicans. The same thing happened last time. but this year I think we have a lot more enthusiasm, maybe those people over there would understand it better than anyone, but I think there is more enthusiasm for 2020 than even for 2016. and 2016 was a record, you found out and I think there is a lot more.

More enthusiasm now than in 2016. We have a silent majority like no one has seen. I just look. There are thousands of boats on lakes, rivers and oceans. Thousands and thousands of ships. They are called navigators for Trump voters. For Trump Pence. signs everywhere some of the boats have 10 flags they are incredible there are thousands we did nothing to do this this is just generic it just happened let me tell you I think the level of enthusiasm for what we are doing we want law and order we want low taxes they want to increase taxes taxes that they want to get rid of, they want to have open borders and they want to defund the police, how do you make money from that?

They want to go to Texas and they want to go to Pennsylvania and they want to stop fracking and Ohio they want to stop fracking they are against steel they are invited against anything that has oil in it the word oil in it you won't have a country these people are crazy they say go ahead like In As far as your cabinet goes, do you think you'll see more changes in your cabinet? Well, I don't know, I think for next year, generally speaking, a lot of times I understand that if we win, a president will ask for everyone to resign and then bring back the people he wants, that happened before Steve and I was able To see something like that happen, I think it makes sense, no, I have a very good cabinet, I mean, with few exceptions, I wouldn't say I'm thrilled with everyone, frankly. but in general I think we have a very good cabinet I think this I will say this no administration none no administration the first three and a half years they have done close to what we have done 300 that we will have at the end of the first term 300 perhaps more federal judges, including the appeals court, two supreme court justices, no one has done this if you take a look, take a look at what we've done the biggest tax cuts in history the biggest regulatory cuts in history rebuilt our military took care of our veterans we have a 91 approval rating from veterans, no one has ever had a 91 approval rating before I protected the second amendment, they want to destroy the second amendment, take a look at Kamala, they want to destroy the second amendment and, as you know, Joe has has no control over anyone he has no control over himself okay, thank you very much everyone, thank you