Tucker: CNN gloats over Trump's old taxes

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Tucker: CNN gloats over Trump's old taxes

New York Times reveals President Trump's businesses lost money; media goes into a frenzy.

This is a rush transcript from "Tucker Carlson Tonight," May 8, 2019. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

TUCKER CARLSON, HOST: Good evening and welcome to "Tucker Carlson Tonight." The President is holding a rally this evening in Panama City, Florida. We will go to it live when he begins speaking.

One thing we're going to be watching for is whether the President responds to the seismic story that broke last night on cable news. In case you weren't watching CNN at 10:00 p.m. Here's how they summarized it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: This is CNN Tonight. I'm Don Lemon. Are you listening? The President of the United States is a fraud and a con man.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: Holy smokes. This sounds like a big development. What happened? Did the President get caught running a Nigerian phone scam? Has he been selling Bitcoin? Did he spend two full years pretending that the Russian collusion hoax was real? Nope, nothing that sleazy.

Last night "The New York Times" revealed that more than 30 years ago, some of Trumps businesses lost quite a bit of money. Because of that, he paid no Federal income taxes for eight of the 10 years for which they had data. Unfortunately, this is a pretty common way to account.

Just last year, for example, some of the biggest companies in the world paid no Federal income taxes for exactly the same reason. That list would include Amazon, Delta Airlines, Chevron and General Motors.

CNN hasn't said a lot about that, they were too busy gloating over Trump's taxes from the Reagan administration.

Ladies and gentlemen introducing Mr. Don Lemon.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: You know, they say about gambling -- casino gambling, right? The House always wins. Well, not always. Not at least at Trump Casino. Come on? Who loses money at a casino except for the person gambling, not the owner.

Because I'm good enough, smart enough, and doggone, people love me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: Oh Don Lemon is easily amused and he was thrilled last night. When the whole point of your network is to attack a single person, this is a major story. From his shadowy layer hidden high above the newsroom, CNN secretive Dwarf King slithered to the intercom and summoned his minions.

From across the cable empire they gathered at his beckoning each with talking points ready.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR: He lost more than double the next biggest loser in this country. So he is literally the biggest loser. His losses were more than double the next biggest loser in the country. Does this team explain why he doesn't want anyone to have this information? That he was such a loser.

He calls people losers and he has such disdain and yet, he was literally the biggest loser in the country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: Trump lost money. Well, it's a good thing CNN is on that story. Otherwise, nobody would have guessed that Donald Trump had financial problems in the early 1990s, except people who are alive then or people who have internet access now.

Thirty years ago, Trump's personal debt crisis was national news. "Inside his wallet: Trump papers reveal huge debt," read the tabloids. "Trump in a slump." Even David Letterman mocked Trump with a top 10 list. Top 10 signs that Donald Trump is in trouble.

In the end, Donald Trump recovered. He made the disaster part of his brand. In fact, he wrote a book about it called "Art of the Comeback." When he launched his reality show, "The Apprentice," he bragged about all of this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: About 13 years ago, I was seriously in trouble. I was billions of dollars in debt, but I fought back and I won big league.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: So in other words, what we learned last night wasn't really news. What is news is that you can steal someone's private tax information, put it on television, and nobody even pauses or asks whether that's a good idea, much less than invasion of privacy. Are those the rules now?

Well, according to Democrats, yes, they are the rules. Lawmakers in New York are preparing legislation that would force the release of Trump's tax returns. But why stop there? How about his medical records? How about his internet search history? How about his texts or transcripts of his phone calls? Why not?

And if people who don't like Donald Trump can get that information about him, what about those of us who don't like CNN? Can we get Don Lemon's tax returns? What about Jeff Zucker's internet search history? That would be compelling. Seriously, why not? What's the limit? Is there a limit?

Donald Trump is on stage right now and about to speak. Before he takes the mic, we're going to check in with Victor Davis Hanson who is sitting on the set.

So, Professor, you saw this story -- news, really to no one -- but it sets a precedent that I think is interesting. Is it within bounds to reveal people's tax returns?

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON, SENIOR FELLOW, HOOVER INSTITUTION: No, it isn't. But of course, "The New York Times" is sanctimonious and for a higher good, it's ethical to break the law, or at least traffic in people -- with people break the law. But I don't understand the narrative because they're basically saying that 35 years ago, when Donald Trump was in his early 40s, he either did one of two things.

The guy who now gave us 3 percent GDP plus and record economy we haven't seen in 40 years was financially incompetent, and that matters, apparently, or he didn't pay taxes on money he never made or money he lost, so it doesn't make any sense.

And so I guess what the people bake into the idea that the Manhattan real estate market wasn't a nice place ever and that people who participate in it take ups and downs, and then then -- so it's not a story, but it is a story in this sense. It's the Logan Act, the Emoluments Clause, the 25th Amendment, Mueller -- it's one more narrative rather than here's Trump's record, and here also on the progressive side, here's our record, so the people are going to adjudicate, and that can't happen, because they don't want that question to be asked.

And then finally, there's a record of Presidents, remember, Nixon's Florida White House and there was a Reagan Ranch and there was Tony Rezko, and the Obama deal, then LBJ -- every President has a life outside of politics.

CARLSON: Right.

HANSON: So when he is in politics, they always go back and say, some cronies helped him or he lost money or he made money, but people don't really care because that's usually baked into the equation by the time he is President.

And it's the record, so that CNN clip is saying, "You can't have this guy. He was incompetent 35 years ago," but he has got the best economy in the world right now and everybody is envious of him. But if that -- if you don't believe that, we'll try this, that he didn't pay taxes on money he never had. I don't understand it other than just --

CARLSON: Right, you're not allowed to have this President. That's the message they're sending. Professor, thank you. We're going to dip back in to the President. He was just thanking people in the crowd. And we're going to see if he makes some news at this rally in the Florida Panhandle. Here he is.

TRUMP: ... isn't that terrible?

CROWD: (Chants "Four more years.")

TRUMP: Thank you. Well, I just want to say, "Hello, Panama City Beach." It's a nice place. We had some we had some --

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: We had some great times here. You remember before that, that great election. That great, great election -- 16, right, 16. And now we have 20 coming up. Who would believe? November 3rd, not November 8th. It's November 3rd, and it's going to be just as special as November 8th. It's going to be just as special.

And in certain ways, I can't say it's more important, but it's equally as important because we've made strides like no country has made strides, what's happened to our country. But we had a great time, and we had some incredible rallies right here. And we're working really hard for you, and we're going to talk about that in a little while. Things are going well, okay, well. We got hit with a little hurricane called Michael. That was not a nice hurricane, I can tell you that, but it's going well.

And I'm thrilled to be here with really truly incredible men and women of the Florida Panhandle.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: My friends, your strength and devotion and values are what truly make America great and what make America run, you know that. You love our country. You're proud of us history and you always respect our great American flag.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: So I was last here, in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Michael, you remember, we came -- that was pretty bad stuff. And I pledge to unwavering support and the support of our nation until you have fully recovered and rebuilt, and we will never ever leave your side. We've already given you billions of dollars and there's a lot more coming as you do it.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: And to support your recovery from hurricanes, Michael and Irma, the Federal government has committed more than $10 billion to the state of Florida that's committed, it's all committed and Rick Scott, and your new governor is a great governor. Rick was great. Ron deSantis is great.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: So now Rick has gone on to the Senate along with Marco Rubio and they're all working -- we're all working together and things are going good for you and for our country. Thank you, I love you, too. Thank you.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: That's a guy, but I love him, all right.

(Applause)

TRUMP: Whoever the hell you are, I love you. And tonight I'm pleased to announce that my administration will be allocating $448 million in HUD disaster recovery funds for the great people of Florida.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: And these dollars will help communities get back on their feet. We've already given you many, many millions of dollars, but these are additional moneys that are coming in to help the families put their lives together. Some families are still working very hard. It's been a tough one. More money is needed. I've just come from a stop at Tyndall Air Force Base where I saw the devastating effects of that category five hurricane Category 5 hurricane. Category 5.

Never heard about Category 5s before. Category 5 is big stuff. Tyndall was scheduled as you know, by the military to close. You know that, right? You know that. And I got a call from your great representatives, and they said, "President, they want to close Tyndall because it got beat up badly." It got beat.

In fact we have our best planes there. The F-22 is incredible-- incredible fighter jet, the most beautiful plane I think I've ever seen and some of them were damaged, but we lost none. We lost one. Seven were very badly damaged, they lost none.

And the military had it scheduled to be closed, and I heard about it. And I made a couple of calls.

(Applause)

TRUMP: And I said, "General, why are we doing that? Those people are incredible. Those people -- they work. They're just outstanding." I said, "General, why we're doing it?" And they said, you know, it was damaged. I said, "So what are we going to do? Build a new one someplace else at a bad location?" I said, "We have thousands of people. We're going to end up having 8,000 people back there working." So we're rebuilding the whole place.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: And we're doing the job. And we're actually moving in the F-35 fighter jet, which is the newest and the best in the world.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: And we got a lot of them. We've got a lot of them. And they're going to be moving in. So we're going to have actually many more people working at Tyndall than you had the day before the hurricane, okay? So be prepared.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: And they're doing drawings and they're doing architecture of different areas. We're building some new buildings. We're fixing some old good ones that got very badly hurt, but structurally, they are sound. And when we're finished, it's going to be something that's really special -- one of the best anywhere in the country, okay.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: And you have something very special. I was with Colonel Laidlaw who runs it. You know him? Oh, good. He is a good man and he was telling me the reasons and he said, "We fly right over the ocean. We get up. We fly right out over the ocean. When you do that, sir, you can do a lot more than when you're flying over people's houses." We know that feeling, too. So it's great, and it's going to be fantastic.

In the wake of the terrible storm, this extraordinary community pulled together and showed the world, your unbreakable spirit. We're down here a lot. I knew that long before the storms by the way, and you've also seen countless volunteers and visitor students and faith groups coming here to lend a hand to help, like almost no place else you can imagine.

And of course, people are still traveling from around the world to enjoy your sun. I happen to be one of them, by the way. And you're saying that you have pristine waters, which is exactly what you have because Panama City Beach is open for business as beautiful as ever.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: And today, I'm doing the most allowed by law to support the people of Florida. Because of the severity of this storm, Category 5, we will have the Federal government pay for 90 percent of the cost in many circumstances.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: Ninety percent and we can do that because of the incredible devastation and the size of that storm. So now we need Democrats in Congress to work with us to pass an acceptable bill. We're getting close. It's pretty tough dealing with them, they don't want to build a wall, but we're building the wall. They don't want to do a lot of other things.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: They don't want to do a lot of things.

CROWD: (Chanting "Build that wall.")

TRUMP: So we're building a lot of things. We're doing a lot of things that includes additional Hurricane Michael relief funding immediately. The money is coming immediately. No games, no gimmicks, no delays. We're just doing it. We're just doing it.

And by the way, FEMA, my people at FEMA -- FEMA did a tremendous job here and elsewhere by the way. They had this, they had in Texas, they had Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico got $91 billion and I understand they don't like me, it's the most money we've ever given to anybody.

We've never given $91 billion to a state. We've never given we gave to Puerto Rico $91 billion, and I'll tell you, the services. You look at the Marines, you look at the Navy, the job they did there was really incredible. Incredible.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: Incredible. In fact, I brought a chart, would you like to see a chart?

CROWD: Yes.

TRUMP: Very haphazardly, I just happened to have it with me.

(Laughter)

TRUMP: So there's your chart. Does everyone see that? So now --

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: See, I don't want to spend on a big board that because that costs the government too much money, I want to say. But you can all see that. That's Puerto Rico, and they don't like me.

(Laughter)

TRUMP: Texas, Florida -- the biggest hurricanes we've ever seen. Texas and Florida. But this -- and what the Democrats want to do, they want to give more and more. And I say, you know what? I have a great relationship with the people of Puerto Rico. But it hasn't been fair, the way they've treated all of us from the standpoint of their leaders. Because they complain, they want more money, they got $91 billion. It's the largest amount of money ever given for a hurricane to a state to any element and that's the way it is. But you're getting your money one way or the other. And we're not going to let anybody hold it up.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: And I think that the people of Puerto Rico are very grateful to Donald Trump for what we've done for them. That was a bad -- that was a bad storm, and you know, with Florida, thank you. With Florida, you drive on.

You have your -- you drive on. With Puerto Rico, it's a little tougher. It's called, it's called -- yes. It's called you get into a boat or you get into something but they did a hell of a job, including bringing the biggest hospital ship in the world right off the island.

So I want to thank the military. I want to thank FEMA for what they did there, for what they did in Florida, Texas. You look at Louisiana. Look at South Carolina, they got hit hard. North Carolina got a piece of it. Georgia, Alabama -- these are great places, and they're all getting aid, but the Democrats are trying to stop it. But you're getting it. Don't worry, you're getting it.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: You're getting it. You're getting it. And you've already gotten a lot of it. So that's good. Instead of wasting time and energy, taxpayer dollars on partisan stunts and hoaxes, and witch hunts, Democrats should be focused on building up our country. Did you see what just happened by the way? No collusion.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: No obstruction.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: No anything.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP Two years on a witch hunt. I could have gotten anybody in this audience. I could have found something on you.

(Laughter)

TRUMP: Two years, almost $40 million. Twenty Trump haters -- Democrats. I call them Angry Democrats. After two years -- nothing, no collusion.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: And now the Democrats -- we have a great Attorney General. Now the Democrats are saying "We want more." You know, it was going to be like, we want the Mueller report. Now they say, Mueller report? No, we want to start all over again.

It is a disgrace. We've got to focus on infrastructure. We have to focus on lowering medical prices and medicine.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: Always focused on our military and our vets, which we've done. And the Democrats really should be focused now on restoring and helping the Emerald Coast of Florida because that's what it is. It's time to come together for the people of Panama City, for the people of Florida. For the people of our country. It's time to stop this nonsense.

They think they're going to win. Did you see the one man? He said, "It's the only way we're going to beat him in 2020." They have to do this. The only way -- well, that's a compliment, I guess. But think of what he said. It's the only way they're going to beat me, and actually, it is working the other way. Because now, we have our best poll numbers that we've ever had. It's crazy.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: It's crazy. So we want to work with them, and we want to do infrastructure. We want to do all of the things that you know about, and we're going to get it done. Nobody has done so much as all of us because it's not just me. I'm a messenger. I've done a good job as a messenger.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: I've done a good job, but you've done a great job because you came from all over. You came from all over. You voted. They didn't know you. They didn't know that you folks existed in many cases, the invisible people. And you know you are? You're the smartest. You're the hardest working. You pay your taxes. You do all of this stuff. Great jobs, great talents. You're the best looking people, that's for sure.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: Yes, but see, I joke about this, but it's really not joking. They call themselves the elite. You ever see the elite? This is the elite. They are not elite. You're elite.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP:' I always take key. I say, "You have better houses. So do I. You have better boats. You have better everything. You have better everything. You're smarter?" You know, I say, "No, we're the elite." So let's let them be the elite. But we're the super elite. There's not even a contest. There's not even a contest.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: I always laugh when I hear it, they're the elite. And then you see this guy and you say, "He's not elite." Not my bookies now. But we're delighted to be joined tonight by many terrific Florida Republican leaders. They really have been fantastic.

And I -- you just got a little sample of it and you're getting a great sample of it because as your governor -- Ron deSantis has been doing a fantastic job. Where's Ron?

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: Where is he? Thank you, Ron. Great job. Great Governor. And along with Ron, you know, his first lady, Casey deSantis.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: And your First Lady. Melania is a big fan Casey. Big fan.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: And a man and a senator who is working with me very hard on Venezuela and Cuba and lots of other things and he's become really a good friend. We had our little squabbles, minor squabbles. But we've come together. He's a terrific person, actually. Senator Marco Rubio.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: Where is he? Thank you, Marco. Great job. Good man. How are we doing in Cuba, Marco? How we doing in Venezuela? Step by step. Step by step. What's happening in Venezuela is disgraceful. People are dying. They have no food, they have no water. This was --

CARLSON: The President of the United States, Panama City at a rallies thanking people in the audience. We will get back to him in just a minute when the speech begins. But we couldn't resist.

We have in the studio tonight, Congressman Devin Nunes of California, obviously a longtime member of the Intel Committee and at the very center of a lot of the biggest stories of this moment. Congressman, thanks very much for joining us.

I wanted to ask you about something specific, not directly related to your work in the House, and that's the news today that a Senate Committee has subpoenaed the President's son Donald Trump, Jr. The Senate, of course, still in Republican hands. That Committee run by Senator Burr of North Carolina, a Republican. Why are your colleagues in the Senate pursuing a story that we now know wasn't real? Why is this continuing?

REP. DEVIN NUNES (R-CA): I'm assuming because the Senate numbers are so tight and so close with the Republicans versus Democrats.

CARLSON: Yes.

NUNES: And you know, in the House, it's whoever has the gavel has all the power.

CARLSON: Right.

NUNES: So in the Senate, they have to have some type of agreement. So I'm assuming that they believe that they can get -- if you can believe this -- they're going to take Cohen's word, the Cohen who is in jail -- they're going to take his word, and I think they want to bring Trump Jr. in from I can tell, to see if he will -- if he is going to basically keep the same story or admit to whether or not he talked to his father, blah, blah, blah about the Trump Tower meeting.

Now, what's very frustrating about this is that Trump Tower meeting was Fusion Russians.

CARLSON: Right.

NUNES: I mean, before and after Fusion GPS who was working for the Democrats and the Clinton campaign. So what's frustrating about both the Mueller report, and I'm not sure exactly what the Democrats and the Republicans are doing the Senate, but nobody seems to be getting to the bottom of Fusion GPS' involvement in that - in the Trump Tower meeting.

Now, as you know, the Republicans, we finished our investigation, so there was no collusion. Well, now we don't control the gavels anymore.

CARLSON: Right.

NUNES: So we're asking to bring people in. We're asking for documents. We do what we can, but it's quite frustrating. But the bottom line to answer your question is, my guess is, this is something that Warner, the Democratic senator wanted, probably in order to close this - the Senate report out.

CARLSON: Mitch McConnell, the head Republicans in the Senate yesterday said, "Case closed, it's over. We're moving on. Maybe now we should take a turn at running the country."

NUNES: Right.

CARLSON: "Rather than obsessing over what we know is a hoax." But that message didn't filter down, I guess.

NUNES: Yes, it didn't make any sense. No.

CARLSON: It didn't make any sense. Essentially, I've got to ask you, how long until we start to see some of these key documents declassified, the ones you've been calling to see?

NUNES: Well, the President can do it anytime that he wants. I think there's some folks who want to wait for the Inspector General to finish his work. I'm not in that camp. I think the sooner we get these out, the better.

If you -- as a matter of fact, the requests are piling up, right. Like I sent another request on Friday asking about Professor Mifsud.

CARLSON: Right.

NUNES: Now, this is important because in the -- what I call the Mueller dossier -- the Mueller report, I call it the Mueller dossier because Mifsud is at the beginning of this. He is the first person supposedly, who talks about e-mails from Russia that are going to compromise Hillary Clinton's campaign, you would think that Mueller would tell us who he is.

But instead, he's very tricky about how he describes Mifsud. Because what we believe is that Mifsud is actually not some type of Russian asset as the Mueller dossier makes him out to be. We believe that Mifsud is, in fact, just some type of Western intelligence person.

As a matter of fact, he was -- he was in Malta, which is a small country, small island part of the European Union. He was in the Foreign Ministry there. He taught school in London. He taught school in Rome. He actually worked with our FBI and held conferences with the FBI.

And this is the kicker of all of it, and this is going to really, I think, make people really laugh. So at the time that we were starting our Russia investigation, okay, in the early 2017. Guess who was in the U.S. Capitol at the invitation of the State Department?

CARLSON: Who?

NUNES: Joseph Mifsud -- this Russian asset.

CARLSON: The one who is supposedly a Russia asset.

NUNES: A Russian asset in the U.S. Capitol, a hundred feet from --

CARLSON: We can't find this out quick enough, I would say. Congressman, thank you very much.

NUNES: Thank you for having me.

CARLSON: And let's head back to the President who is assessing the 2020 Democratic field. Here we go.

TRUMP: ... watch that one?

(Laughter)

TRUMP: By the way, you see the tariffs we're doing because they broke the deal. They broke the deal. They broke the deal. So they're flying in the Vice Premier. Tomorrow, he is flying. Good man. But they broke the deal. They can't do that. So they'll be paying. We don't make the deal. Nothing wrong with taking in over $100 billion a year, a hundred billion. We never did that before. And we have that happening.

A lot of good things happening with a lot of countries. We have a deal with Mexico. We have a deal with -- where is the deal? NAFTA. How bad was NAFTA? All the empty buildings, all the empty plans. We have a great deal with Mexico and Canada. We've got to get the Dems in the house to approve it.

And if they don't, that'll be okay, too. We're going to do something else. We will be just as good, if not better. You always have alternatives, folks. We've got to have alternatives. When they want to hold you up, which is a hold up, when they want to hold you up for political reasons, you always have to have alternatives. I've got a lot of good alternative, sometimes better. Some of it is better. Our economy is now the hottest anywhere on earth, and it's the envy of the world.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: Every time a foreign leader, a President, a Prime Minister, a King, a Queen, a dictator -- we've got some of them, too. Every time they come into the office, they say, "Congratulations on what you've done for this economy. It's the hottest on Earth. It's incredible." Every single time that's how they start off the conversation.

And you know it because the people of Florida are truly benefiting by what we've done internationally and nationally. So thank you.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: And our policy can be summed up in three very simple words -- jobs, jobs, jobs.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: The United States economy created another 260,000 jobs last month. Way, way, way above what people thought. They were making predictions much lower, then the big one. They were thinking about 1 percent, 1.2 percent maybe 1.5, and our growth number came in for the first quarter, which is almost always the lowest quarter of the year, historically -- 3.2 percent crushing expectations.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: Lot of surprised people. I wasn't surprised. Since the election, we've created nearly 6 million new jobs, including more than half a million manufacturing jobs and nearly 700,000 new construction jobs -- numbers that if I would have said this during the campaign, those people back there -- I call them the fakers, fake news media.

[Booing]

TRUMP: The fakers would have said he exaggerated, he exaggerated. They are a bunch of fakers. There's no question about it. But you know, in six years, they're all going to be out of business, folks.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: They're all going to be out of business. Now, if we want to drive him crazy, I'll say in 10 years, they'll go crazy. See, he is a despot. He is a despot. Well, 10 or 14? Let's see, whatever, we will watch. Watch, it will be headlines tomorrow. "Donald Trump wants to break constitutionality."

Unemployment just reached the lowest rate in more than 50 years.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: The women's employment rate is the lowest in more than 65 years and soon will be a record number.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: Women, women. Remember last election, "Oh, he is going to do so bad with women." I did great with women.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: We did great with the women. Hispanic-American unemployment just hit another brand new all-time historic low.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: African-American unemployment recently achieved the lowest rate in the history of our country. More people working today than ever.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: And Likewise, Hispanic-American unemployment, lowest in the history of our country.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: I'm going to like that on the debate stage, they'll be hitting me left, right. I'll say, "Lowest rates ever in history, highest income ever in history, for the different groups, highest income. More people are working today in the United States, almost 160 million that have ever worked in the United States before.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: And nearly one million more African-Americans are employed today than when I took office, think of that.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: Right?

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: That's what it is. The guy just screamed out, 14 more years. No. Fourteen more years, after many years of stagnation, wages are rising very fast, it hasn't happened in 20 years. And they're rising fastest, which makes me feel very good for blue collar workers, fastest proportionately.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: And driving our whole agenda is a jobs boom that is historic. It hasn't happened like this in many, many years, if at all. Certainly, during record keeping, it has not happened like this. And it has a lot to do with the fact that we've got more Federal regulations and regulations than any President in the history of our country. So these great companies now can breathe and hire people.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: Right?

CROWD: (Chanting "Trump, Trump, Trump.")

TRUMP: Thank you. And we just passed the largest package of tax cuts and reforms in American history, the largest. And we get rid of the individual mandate of Obamacare -- the most unpopular.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: And by the way, we would have repealed and replaced Obamacare, but one vote -- didn't work out. After campaigning for eight years, this particular person decided at the last moment to go, "No." It's all right, we'll get it anyway, it doesn't matter. We'll end up getting better. We will end up doing better.

Sometimes, you know, things like that happen, and you get angry, and you get a little bit sad. And then some of you weep, I don't weep, but you don't weep too much. I know too many of you. They never wept in their life. They didn't weep when they were babies.

But you get a little bit angry about it. And you know, what you do? You go and you fight, and it ends up being better than what you were trying to do in the first place. That happens. That happens.

And a good one, for those of you that love your children, of which I would think probably it's 95 percent.

(Laughter)

TRUMP: To keep your family farms and ranches and small businesses in the family -- they don't talk about this -- we eliminated the unfair estate tax or death tax.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: So now if you love your child, or you love your children and you have a beautiful farm ranch, small business. It's doing great. You know, the old days meaning like about two years ago, they had to go out and borrow money from a bank, lose their business, in many cases. Now you don't have a tax, you don't have a tax.

So if you love them, good; if you don't love them, I wouldn't leave it to them, and it's not going to matter.

(Laughter)

TRUMP: It won't help you much. But if you love your family, that's what's going to happen. It's great thing. We're reducing burdens in our businesses. But in return, we expect American companies to invest in America, which is what we're demanding to raise wages in America, which is happening and to hire American workers to do the job. That's what we want.

(Cheering and Applause)

CROWD: (Chanting "USA.")

TRUMP: And as I stand here, floating around on a piece of ice, this is crazy.

(Laughter)

TRUMP: I'm a little bit concerned about leaving the podium I'm holding, you have no idea what I'm going through on this stage. This is the worst damn stage, I've never seen.

(Laughter)

TRUMP: I've never seen anything -- stupid people did this one.

(Laughter)

TRUMP: No, no -- or brilliant. They may be the enemy. If it's the enemy, then they're brilliant. But I want them to hell out of here.

(Laughter)

TRUMP: And we're reversing decades of calamitous trade policies that enrich Wall Street at the expense of Main Street, you see what's happening. Although everyone is doing well, right now, everybody, the companies are doing great.

When Wall Street does good, that's a good thing for us. A lot of you have 401 (k) where they are double what you had just a couple of years ago, right? Listen to that.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: I tell the story, it happens a lot. But for some reason, this big policeman, you might have heard it, but this big strong guy comes to me, I was in New York. And he said, "Sir, thank you. My 401(k) --" and that was a year ago. This happens all the time. He said his 401(k) is up 47 percent.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: He said, "My wife used to think I was just horrible at investing. And now she thinks I'm the greatest investor in the world."

(Laughter)

TRUMP: And I think you're now the numbers are much better since then. But that's the 401(k) -- everybody is through the roof and we are going to keep it that way. We're going to make it better and stronger. And we're going to take in a lot of money from a lot of these countries and other folks that have been ripping us off for a long time.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: Long time. I mean, we paid for the military, and we're defending nations that are so rich. And I said to him, "King, you've got to do me a favor. You've got to pay." But nobody has ever asked for money. I said, "No, no, you've got to pay. You've got to pay. We lose billions and billions of those individual countries." And you know, it's one thing if we're helping people who are being horribly treated, and they don't have money and the countries are -- it's one thing. It's another thing, if we're dealing with countries that are loaded with cash, make a fortune, and we're defending them for a tiny fraction of what it costs. It's ridiculous. So it's all changing -- a lot of changes.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: One country -- I won't say the country, but one country we spend a lot of money on defending, very dangerous territory and it costs us $5 billion. And I said to a general, "Please do me a favor General, tell me. How much does it cost for us to defend this country which is very rich?" "Sir, I will check." He comes in and saying, "Sir, it's $5 billion dollars, sir." I said, "That's okay. Now, how much do they pay us?" "Sir, they pay us $500 million."

I say, "We lose four and a half million dollars to defend a country that's rich as hell and probably doesn't like us too much," can you believe that? And we've been defending it for many years.

So I call the leader of the country. I said, "You know, it's not fair. We're spending all of this money, great danger. And we have our men and women, they're the best in the world. And we're sending them over to your country. Not fair. You've got to pay, you've got to pay." And he said, like the King, he said, "But nobody's ever asked us that before." I said, "That's because you had stupid people running."

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: So they said -- they said -- thank you. I could give you 100 stories like this. He said that, "We can't do anything now because it passed our so called Parliament. And so we can't. It doesn't come due. When's next year?" He said, "Two months." I said, "All right, pay me something now. How much will you pay?" "We can't pay you more than $500 million." I've got this one phone call, right? "I said, make it $750 million."

Now, that's a long way short of four and a half billion that we're losing. But I said, "Make it $750 million." Anyway, we agreed to a number around $500 million. It was one phone call that lasted for 10 minutes. And once they got over the shock of being -- they're putting in money. And now the two months is up. And I just told my people, "Call them and ask for the rest of it, okay?"

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: And they'll pay. They'll pay. But we have many countries like that. I mean, we have many countries like that. We have countries like Saudi Arabia, very rich, nothing but cash, right. So I think they can afford to pay us, right, for defense? And they will and you know what? They will end up and they are buying a tremendous amount of equipment for $150 billion dollars they'll be spending in our country.

$150 billion. But we have a lot of countries that are rich that we are defending. And they don't even respect it. Honestly, when I ask them, they almost are looking at me saying, I should have thought, you know, like, it's amazing that nobody's asked us. Now, they don't say that. They're smart, but you feel it.

So a lot of countries we're defending. It's not fair, what's happening. They're paying us a tiny fraction in some cases. We defend Europe. It's not fair. They're not paying what they should be paying, we'll work it out. But they've got to pay their bills.

And you know what? In the end, they're going to like us more. And in the end, they're going to respect us. They're going to respect us.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: Under the previous administration, the United States lost nearly a quarter of a million manufacturing jobs, you remember that?

[Booing]

TRUMP: They let other countries raid our factories, steal our jobs and rob us blind. Other than that, there were very nice. They allowed China to freely loot our economy, plunder our intellectual property, and target our industries for destruction. That's what was happening. And look, President Xi is a friend of mine, great guy, but he is for China. I'm for the USA. I'm for the USA.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: So we're going to see. They come in tomorrow, and whatever happens, don't worry about it. It'll all work out. You know why? It always does. Don't worry about it.

There's no pressure because, you know, we're the piggy bank that everybody wants to rob, you understand that. So we have the thing that everybody wants. We are now the biggest market in the world by far. I'll tell you China was catching us. If another person happened to be in this position right now. First of all, there'd be about 10 people instead of all the people -- hey, I wish the cameras could spin around and show this massive field, you know.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: They won't do it. They won't do it. They never do it. They don't like to show it. And you know, I actually try and explain the ones that are semi-friendly. I said, you know, it's good for your production value to do that. Your production values are much better. Yes, let them know it.

CROWD: (Chanting, "USA.")

TRUMP: Now, look at this field, they never show it. They will show the people behind me. Congratulations.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: They may have a lousy seat, but you know what? They'll be famous tomorrow.

(Laughter)

TRUMP: But it is true. They never like to show the crowds. I went to Texas and I made a speech. And Beto, Beto. Boy, has he fallen like a rock. What the hell happened to Beto?

[Booing]

TRUMP: So we went to El Paso and I made a speech and we had an arena that holds eight or 9,000 people, the arena was packed. We had 35,000 people outside. We had these massive movie screens outside. So those people that couldn't get in, could see. He had 502 people.

The next day in the news, "The New York Times" guy actually wrote a story that he thinks that he had more people than me. Can you believe this? No, no. Can you believe it? No, so dishonest. And most of them just said two massive crowds. Well, his crowd was that massive. He had like 502 people according to the people that count crowds.

So we get a very bummed press, but that's okay, because we're here and they're not, right?

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: Very dishonest people. Maybe it'll change. You know, what's wrong with having a strong military? Good education? A strong economy? I don't get it. I don't get it. I don't get it. The hatred is incredible. But let's just keep it going, folks, because that's the way it is.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: But the great portrayal of the American middle class ended the day that I took the oath of office because I'm with you. I'm with you.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: And there are those that say even the fake news media, there are those that say it was the greatest day in the political history of this country, it's your greatest election. And it continues, you know, because they keep trying to take it away. Let's try take it away. That's not working do well. That's not working.

But for -- think of it, I mean, Hillary Clinton is still going up, "I think they stole the election." No, she lost. She lost. The next time -- no, no -- the next time.

CROWD: (Chanting "Lock her up.")

TRUMP: The next time, she has got to Wisconsin to campaign. You know, it hadn't been lost in decades. The people are great in Wisconsin, you have to go there and campaign. The people said, "Oh, you'll be okay. The Republicans haven't won the great State of Wisconsin in decades." You've got to go there. I went there a lot.

And in all fairness, her husband Bill, who is a good politician, they didn't listen to him. He said, "You better go to Wisconsin, you better go to Michigan. I'm seeing a lot of things out there. I see a lot of signs Trump-Pence."" Mike Pence, is he doing a good job, by the way?

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: Doing a good job. And his wife Karen is doing a great job. Mike. But I see a lot of Trump-Pence signs out there on the lawns, you better go there. And they started saying, "What the hell does he know?" Well, he's a pro. He's a pro. He knew a lot better than their analysts. Their analysts weren't so good.

But you have to go and you have to work and we are officially in a couple of weeks, we are starting -- can you believe? I got to the White House two and a half years ago, and the first night I stood on the area of the beautiful residence they call it. It's beautiful. I said to Melania, "Do you believe this?" It's going to be so long. It seemed like four years would never happen. And now we're a year and a half away less -- think of it. It is incredible how time flies, especially when despite the obstacles and the artificial things they put in your path. Especially when you love what you're doing, and more importantly, I love the results of what's happening because you hear them.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: You hear them. So I just announced that we will increase tariffs in China. Now, we won't back down until China stops cheating our workers and stealing our jobs. And that's what's going to happen. Otherwise, we don't have to do business with them. We don't have to do business. We could make the product right here, if we have to, like we used to. Remember, like we used to.

The era of economic surrender is over. The last administration also signed a disastrous trade deal with South Korea that caused our country nearly 100,000 jobs, but it was really 250,000 jobs.

And if you remember, our Secretary of State at the time, and our President at the time, said, "This will give 250,000 jobs." And he and she were right. Except it was for South Korea, not for us. It's a loser. And we totally renegotiated the Korea trade deal to restore these jobs and rescue the American auto industry because that was going to be a tremendous thing. And that deal is done, South Korea.

And right before I came into office, our nation was being signed up for a one-sided single sell out like you've never seen of the American worker. And I said it's not going to happen. The Transpacific Partnership was going to destroy our automobile industry, like you've never seen before. And our automobile industry is pouring back into our country.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: And today, for the people of the great state of Ohio, remember, you have to win the great state of Ohio. Boy, did we win it. We won it by like nine points. It's a great state. So everyone is coming back in. Toyota is coming in. Honda is coming in. Many, many car companies.

General Motors today just announced three big plants, 450 workers, $700 million, but the big announcement is in Lordstown, Ohio, they're going to be selling that plant to Workhorse, it's called. They make electric trucks because the enemy with all of the companies pouring into Michigan, all of the companies pouring into Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Ohio -- everywhere. With all of these companies, they kept hitting me with Lordstown because General Motors closed it.

Well, they did the right thing. They sold it to a company that's going to do a great job with that beautiful plant. And that happened just a little while ago.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: They'll be spending a lot of money and fixing it up. It's subject to the UAW they got to get out there and make a deal, UAW, come on. You've got to make a deal. But that's a great thing, right? Because that was the only thing that could hit me with. They could never hit me with anything because we've been so good. But they said, "What about Lordstown? What about Lordstown?" I call up Mary Barra, "Will you make a deal or open it please? I'm getting killed with that plant."

Anyway, today she called. They're going to be opening. It's going to be a great company going there. It's really wonderful.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: And another historic action, we finalized that agreement to replace the horrible NAFTA trade deal with the brand new USMCA like the song, YMCA.

The USMCA will mean countless more jobs for Florida farmers, ranchers and growers and manufacturers. But while we're unleashing an unprecedented wave of prosperity, the Democratic Party is trying to return us to the failures of yesterday. They want to have things rejected, because they're all waiting for 2020. They think the more they could hurt us, the worse, they make us look. I think they're making us look better personally, I really do. I really do.

CROWD: (Chanting "Four more years.")

TRUMP: I mean, they want to do investigations instead of investments. They want to do what they're doing, which looks so foolish, and maybe I read it wrong, but I think it drives us right on to victory in 2020. Because people get it. People get it.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: But our country. The great USA is not being pushed around anymore. Nothing is more dangerous than the Democrats' crazy immigration agenda. Democrats believe that everyone in the world has the right to violate our borders. They want open borders, disrespect our laws, and come into our country and collect benefits.

[Booing]

TRUMP: Courtesy of the United States taxpayer. Thank you very much.

[Booing]

CROWD: (Chanting "Build that wall.")

TRUMP: So despite the fact, and you see the hell we're going through trying to get the wall, which by the way works, they say, "We want to give him drones. We want to give him technology." Without the wall, nothing works, folks, you know that.

So we're going to have over 400 miles of wall built, it's already -- but much of it is already started, by the end of next year and we'll conclude it pretty shortly thereafter. We'll have the whole thing sealed up. And it'll be a lot easier. It's very tough when you have the worst laws on immigration, the worst loopholes -- catch and release -- you catch somebody and then you have to release them. Oh, that's a wonderful plan.

[Booing]

TRUMP: Chain migration you come in, and you bring your whole damn family. And if you're no good, you've got people all over the place. This is chain migration. The other one is visa lottery. It's a lottery. Who is coming to the United States? So these countries put people in a basket like little -- who is it? Who is it? Let's say, wow, that's beautiful. Isn't he like a stone cold killer? Yes, take him in.

Tell me, if the United States is accepting people under a lottery system -- compliments of Chuck Schumer -- if they're accepting people under a lottery system, do you actually think that the country is giving us their finest? Oh, no. They're giving us some rough people. I won't say it.

If you remember when I made this speech at the base of Trump Tower, I talked about what's happening. I mentioned the word rape. I was absolutely -- by the fake news media -- they went after it. Guess what? That's speech was so mild compared to what's actually happening that you read it today. And it's like, unbelievable.

But Democrats say they care about the poor. But their open border policies drive down wages, drain social services, and hurt the poorest Americans more than anybody else.

And the crime that comes in is unbelievable. You don't read it. They don't want to talk about it. Sanctuary cities, it's a total disaster. Republicans believe that you the American citizen have the absolute right to have your laws and borders enforced and forced strongly. It's your country.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: We believe that a welfare program should be protected for truly needy Americans, not for illegal aliens that come into our country illegally.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: We believe that our nation system should put the jobs and safety of American families first. We want to help people. We want to be gracious. And we want people. We need people, frankly, because we have so many companies moving into a country. We're the hottest country. They want to move their plants. We need people. They have to come in through merit. Merit.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: Last month alone, 100,000 illegal aliens were apprehended at our borders, you know what that is? They catch them. They take their name. They have to bring them to a court. They take them into court and then they have to release them because we have tens of thousands of people in detention beds. And they can't release them. Now, we did win a great court case last night. Go back to Mexico. Go on back to Mexico.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: And I told Mexico very nicely that you can't let people walk 2,000 miles up your country, because if we do that, we're going to close our border. If we have any more, we're going to close our border. I am going to do it. I don't care what it takes. We'll close our border.

So Mexico now for the first time has been taking people back to Honduras and Guatemala and El Salvador and other countries. And for the first time, not big enough numbers, but they're getting bigger. They're getting bigger. We can't have this folks. We can't have this. This is crazy what's happening and what we really need more than anything else, we need the loopholes closed by Congress. It would take 15 minutes.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: Everybody knows what they are -- asylum. Asylum. They walk in. They read a statement by a lawyer -- written by a lawyer at the border -- who probably gets paid by somebody that's not exactly friendly to this crowd.

CARLSON: And the hour is over. This show will be back tomorrow night at 8:00 Eastern Time. Sean Hannity picks it up with coverage -- continuing coverage -- of tonight's rally. See you tomorrow.

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