Donald Trump GOP Announcement - H 2015
AP ImagesDonald Trump is joining the 2016 presidential race.
The real estate mogul and Apprentice head made the announcement Tuesday morning from Trump Tower New York.
“Our country needs a truly great leader, and we need a truly great leader now. We need a leader that wrote The Art of the Deal; we need a leader that can bring back our jobs, manufacturers, military, to take care of our vets,” he told the audience. “We need somebody that can take the brand of the United States and make it great again. Ladies and gentlemen, I am officially running for President of the United States. We are going to make our country great again!”
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“I will be the greatest jobs president that God ever created,” he continued. “I’ll bring back our jobs from China, Mexico, Japan, so many places. I’ll bring back our jobs and I’ll bring back our money!”
Trump first began his speech by saying, “Our country is in serious trouble — we don’t have victories anymore…. The U.S. has become a dumping ground for everyone else’s problems.” He noted that the U.S. hasn’t been able to compete with Asia and the Middle East the way that he has been able to in business. “When was the last time you saw a Chevrolet in Tokyo? It doesn’t exist, folks,” he said, also discussing the state of unemployment “because China has our jobs and Mexico has our jobs…but nobody talks about it because it’s a statistic full of nonsense.”
“We spent two trillion dollars in Iraq, we lost thousands of lives, we’ve wounded soldiers who I love, they’re great, all over the place. Thousands and thousands of wounded soldiers, and we have nothing,” he continued. “Our enemies are getting stronger and stronger by the day, and we as a country are getting weaker,” he said, discussing America’s nuclear equipment.
He also called Obamacare “the big lie” and joked that he often builds websites that don’t cost $5 billion. “Obamacare kicks in in 2016 — Obama is gonna be out playing golf, he might be on one of my courses, I would invite him.… It s going to be amazingly destructive.”
Of current candidates, he said, “I watch the speeches of these people and they say, ‘The sun will rise, the moon will set, all sorts of wonderful things will happen,’ and people say, ‘What’s going on? I just want a job.’ They will never make America great again; they don’t even have a chance. They’re controlled fully by the lobbyists, by the donors and by the special interests.”
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“This is going to be an election that’s based on competence,” he said, noting his businessman roots with his father in Brooklyn and Queens. Since his critics have doubted his value because he runs a private company, he read aloud a financial statement that noted his net worth is over $8 billion. “Nobody’s ever gonna know unless I run, because I’m really proud of my success. I’ve employed tens of thousands of people over my life. That means medical, education and everything. … I’m not doing that to brag, because I don’t have to. I’m doing that to say that’s the kind of thinking our country needs.”
Trump was introduced by his daughter, Ivanka Trump, who said, “He is a dreamer, but more importantly, he’s a doer,” she said.
Twitter: @cashleelee
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