Remarks by President Trump at the 91st Annual Future Farmers of America Convention and Expo | Eastern North Carolina Now

Press Release:

    Bankers Life Fieldhouse  •  Indianapolis, Indiana  •  October 27, 2018  •  3:13 P.M. EDT


President Trump with the First Lady at the Tree of Life Synagogue: Above. (White House photo)     Click image to expand.

    THE PRESIDENT: Wow. Well, I want to thank you. When I hear the word "future farmer," that's a very, very important term. You're very smart doing that: "future farmer." I hear some people want to go into a business or an industry. I say, I wouldn't want to do that but I would like to be a future farmer. That I can tell you. (Applause.) That I can tell you.

    But as you know, earlier today, there was a horrific shooting targeting and killing Jewish Americans at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The shooter is in custody and federal authorities have been dispatched to support state and local police, and conduct a full and thorough federal investigation.

    This wicked act of mass murder is pure evil, hard to believe, and frankly, something that is unimaginable. Our nation and the world are shocked and stunned by the grief. This was an anti-Semitic act. You wouldn't think this would be possible in this day and age, but we just don't seem to learn from the past.

    Our minds cannot comprehend the cruel hate and the twisted malice that could cause a person to unleash such terrible violence during a baby naming ceremony. This was a baby naming ceremony at a sacred house of worship on the holy day of Sabbath.

    Anti-Semitism and the widespread persecution of Jews represents one of the ugliest and darkest features of human history. The vile, hate-filled poison of anti-Semitism must be condemned and confronted everywhere and anywhere it appears. There must be no tolerance for anti-Semitism in America or for any form of religious or racial hatred or prejudice. You know that. You know that very well. (Applause.) You know that very well.

    You're outstanding people. You were brought up incredibly by outstanding parents, in most cases. And I just want to thank you for your understanding. Because today, with one unified voice, we condemn the historic evil of anti-Semitism and every other form of evil. And unfortunately, evil comes in many forms. And we come together as one American people.

    I have just spoken - (applause) - go ahead, we should - we should. (Applause.) I have just spoken with the mayor of Pittsburgh, Bill Peduto - terrific guy - and with the governor of Pennsylvania, who I've been dealing with quite a bit lately on the hurricanes and other things, Tom Wolf, two terrific people, to assure the full and complete resources of my administration in the investigation of this attack.

    We are praying for the families of the victims, and our hearts go out to the wounded law enforcement officers in Pittsburgh. Very badly wounded and very brave. The results and the facts will be put out very shortly. But these were very brave officers. These are incredible people of law enforcement. And law enforcement does so much for us. So much for us. (Applause.) They really do. They do so much for us. And they're really unsung heroes. They don't get the credit they deserve, but I've always given them the credit. These are incredible patriots, incredible people.

    We mourn for the unthinkable loss of life that took place today, and we pledge in their name to fight for a future of justice, safety, tolerance, morality, dignity, and love.

    We must all rise above the hate, move past our divisions, and embrace our common destiny as Americans. And it doesn't mean that we can't fight hard and be strong, and say what's on our mind. But we have to always remember those elements; we have to remember the elements of love and dignity and respect, and so any others.

    As we hold Pennsylvania and the great people of Pennsylvania close in our hearts and prayers, I am glad to be here today in the wonderful state of Indiana - we love Indiana - (applause) - and to address some people that are going to be so successful: the Future Farmers of America. (Applause.) Especially - especially after I open up all those countries to you with our great trade deals, because you had the worst trade deals. You had the most one-sided, uneven, unfair trade deals. And they're falling one by one. You know that.

    We just signed Mexico and Canada and South Korea. (Applause.) And we're opening them up, and you're doing well. And you're going to do much better. You're even doing better. I looked at your numbers from two and three and four years ago; they weren't pretty. It was going in the wrong direction. Now you're going in the right direction. You know it.

    But before we get on to the farm business, I was in the plane - Air Force One. Did anyone ever hear of Air Force One? Beautiful. (Applause.) See? Anything can happen. If I can fly on Air Force One, then you can be a really, really successful farmer, right? That's what it is. (Applause.)

    But you know, as I was flying on Air force One, I said to my people, because of the horrible tragedy - I mean, I almost shouldn't say this, but people that have done this and do this for a living - tough living - people that went in as first responders, police officers, law enforcement, that have seen many crime scenes - they said this is one of the worst that they've seen. They've seen many horrible crime scenes. They said this is one of the worst they've seen.

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    And we're going to have to come out with very, very powerful punishment for these horrible people that do these things. Going to have to come out with the ultimate punishment. You know what the ultimate punishment is. It's time. We can't let this happen. It's time. And if it does happen, they have to pay a very big price. And it has to go much quicker. Not 10 years of legal wrangling. (Applause.)

    And I said on the plane that, number one, I'm going to see these young, brilliant, handsome, and beautiful - you know you're not allowed to say that anymore but I'm saying it anyway. Handsome. I'm not supposed to say "handsome," but you are handsome. (Applause.) And I'm supposed to say - I'm not supposed to say "beautiful," but you are beautiful. So I guess I'm just old fashioned. (Applause.)

    But I said on Air Force One that I would like you to call into Indiana - Indianapolis, anywhere you want - Indiana, and I wanted to see if you could find a rabbi and a pastor to say grace. And I said, I know we have a tremendous crowd and I think they would all understand it. I think most of them would love it.

    And we found a highly respected rabbi, Benjamin Sendrow, who's highly respected. And we found a great pastor. Don't forget, they were given about eight minutes' notice. It's like, can you get over here immediately? And we have Pastor Thom O'Leary, from the area. (Applause.) Oh, look at that, they know Thom over there. Look. (Applause.) Wow.

    And I thought I would invite them on stage. Let's give them a big round, and then let them each say grace, say a prayer, because today is a time when we could use a great prayer from a pastor and a rabbi.

    Please, come up. Please. (Applause.) Please.

    PASTOR O'LEARY: Would you your eyes and open your heart and pray with me today.

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    Father in Heaven, we don't always understand why crazy things happen in our world, but we're reminded that this Earth we live on will never be as great as Heaven and never as horrific as Hell, but we get tastes of Heaven and Hell.

    It's in this moment, God, that we would ask for your comfort and your love, and your grace, and your peace to be upon the victims and their family and their friends, and this community of faith that we stand up for.

    God, I pray for the police officers and their families that were affected. And, God, we pray for protection for our police officers. We honor them today.

    God, we pray for protection in America. We pray, God, that your wisdom and favor would be on our President, President Trump.

    We celebrate that every heartbeat is a gift. We thank you that you're a God of grace and mercy and love.

    It's in Jesus's name I pray. Amen.

    AUDIENCE: Amen!

    PASTOR O'LEARY: Rabbi Benjamin. (Applause.)

    RABBI SENDROW: (Speaks in Hebrew.)

    Our Father in Heaven, our hearts are heavy today with sorrow. On this day, which from the beginning of time you declared to be holy, the sanctity of the day, the prayers, the praise were shattered by the sound of gunshots.

    We first pray that you should send complete healing speedily to the injured, and send strength and comfort to the families of those who did not survive.

    We pray today for moral clarity. Let us not dismiss this as an act of insanity, but let us see it for what it is: an act of evil.

    As it is written in the Psalms - (Speaks in Hebrew ) - those who love God, hate evil. And this is a nation that loves its God. And this is a nation that hates evil.

    May we continue under the leadership of our President who works tirelessly to fight evil at home and around the world. May we join him in that fight, and may we always remember that the presence of a few evil people among us does not define this country.

    We are blessed to live in the greatest country on Earth, and for that, we thank you. Amen. (Applause.)

    THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. That was beautiful. Great people. Not a lot of notice. They did a good job, don't you think? That's not easy. (Applause.) That's not easy. And I assume a lot of people are watching, and we appreciate the fact that you allow them to watch. We very much do.

    One of the questions that I was asked when we said -

    AUDIENCE MEMBER: (Inaudible.)

    THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. One of the questions I was asked, "Will I come to this event?" And I said, "Future farmers - young farmers, I'm coming to this event." And then I was asked whether or not I was going to another event later on in Illinois, which was more or less of a rally - political rally.

    And at first, I was thinking I'll cancel. And then I said, You know, we can't let evil change our life and change our schedule. We can't do that. We have to go and do whatever we were going to do. (Applause.) Otherwise, we give them too much credit. We make them too important.

    And you go with a heavy heart, but you go. You don't want to change your life. You can't make them important. These are bad people. You can't allow them to dominate what we do. So I'll go. Not that I want to go, but I think I actually, in reverse, have an obligation to go.

    I remember when we had the attack in Manhattan. We opened that stock exchange the next day; people were shocked. A great group of people - the head of the New York Stock Exchange is just a fantastic guy - Dick. And he opened it up. He got it opened. Everybody was standing proudly with him. And the purpose wasn't financial. It had nothing to do with financial. It was that we don't let people that are evil change our lives.

    So I think when I'm finished with this, I should go to Illinois. I will go to Illinois. And we'll keep our schedule the way it's supposed to be, and we should all do that. And I maybe recommend that to others also. It's a personal choice, but I think maybe we should recommend that to a lot of people. In the meantime, it's my honor to be with you right now. Thank you. (Applause.) Thank you.

    Okay. Now we get down to the business of farming. Does anybody want to talk about farms and farming? (Applause.) And ethanol that I just approved for you. (Applause.) And for the country, by the way. And this group of people that are so ambitious. I saw that level - I came over; I figured I'd shake just one quick hand and run up to the podium. And the whole place - and I saw that level of ambition, and I said they're going to be very successful people.
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Remarks by President Trump Before Air Force One Departure News Services, Government, State and Federal Photo of President Donald J. Trump receiving a briefing on the mass shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

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