Remarks by President Trump at the Presidential Social Media Summit | Eastern North Carolina Now

Press Release:

White House East Room  •  Washington D.C.  •  July 11, 2019  •  3:51 P.M. EDT
    THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. (Applause.) Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Please sit down.

    I want to thank you all for being here - a very special day, a very important day. Many of you are friends, and many of you are friends that I don't know what you look like, but I know what you sound like - (laughter) - which, I guess, is probably more important. Right?

    But I want to thank you. And it's a terrific - it's a terrific day to be together. And, if you look, you're in a very famous place. We all work very hard. And I don't know if you call it "influence," I don't know if you call it "power," but whatever it is, we're in the White House. And we're going to stay in the White, and we're going to get our agenda done and completed beautifully. (Applause.)

    So I'm thrilled to welcome you here. And we're all working very hard. And I don't know if you know, but we just did 27,000 on the Dow. That's the highest in history. We're up a couple of hundred points today. (Applause.) The highest in history - for those of you that like the stock market.

    But the stock market means jobs. I view it as jobs, and I view it as 401(k)s. A lot of people say, "Oh, the rich people are getting rich." But if you look at the numbers, the greatest impact, proportionately, is blue-collar workers in what's happened, in this miracle that's happening. (Applause.)

    And people with 401(k)s, they're up 72 percent and 67 percent. And the wife or the husband - whoever is responsible - the other one says, "You're a genius. You're a great financial investor." (Laughter.) "Darling, you're up 77 percent this year." (Laughter.)

    So a lot of good things happened. A lot of people are happy. And I think, really, everybody is happy; some people just aren't willing to admit it. Does that make sense? (Laughter.)

    So this is a historic day. Never before have so many online journalists and influencers - and that's exactly what you are; you're journalists and you're influencers - come together in this building to discuss the future of social media.

    Each of you is fulfilling a vital role in our nation. You're challenging the media gatekeepers and the corporate censors to bring the facts straight to the American people. And that's what you're doing - you're going right to the people.

    Possibly, we wouldn't be here right now. I asked somebody, "What do you think I'd do without social media? Would I be here?" Because I said, "I think so." (Laughter.) But they weren't so sure. (Laughter.) I have to say that; you know that. I'm not sure I believe that, but I have to say it.


    But you communicate directly with our citizens without having to go through the fake-news filter. It's very simple. Together, you reach more people than any television broadcast network by far - not even close.

    We're delighted to be joined at this summit by someone you know very well: our Senior Advisor for Digital Strategy and somebody that's been working for me for a long time, for many years, Dan Scavino. Where is Dan? (Applause.) Stand up. Come here. Great job.

    So, long before we were even doing this, he was at a club - running a club and other businesses. And he was okay at doing it. (Laughter.) Not the greatest. I wouldn't say the greatest. (Laughter.) But you know what he was great at? He was always looking at his computer screen. I said, "That guy is incredible."

    So, right at the beginning, I said, "That's the man." And there was nobody better at that. And I think Hillary had 28 people and I had Dan. (Laughter.) Right? (Applause.) I had my Dan. And he works about 28 hours a day, and he works very hard. But he doesn't work - I mean, he loves it. He loves it.

    And his imagination and, really, working with all of you and many of you - he'll come up with ideas and you'll come up with ideas. And he'll run into my office. He said, "You got to see this."

    And a lot of times, I'll go out and I'll spend a lot of money on a concept. I'll say, "Here's a concept. Come up with this." And we'll hire these companies, and they want a lot of money. And they come back - it just happened the other day, right? I said, "That's terrible. These guys have no talent." (Laughter.) The people that have the talent are the people that we deal with. And it's true.

    And some of you are extraordinary. I can't say everybody, but - (laughter). No, but some of you are extraordinary. The crap you think of is unbelievable. (Laughter and applause.) True. Unbelievable.

    So I'm going to go back to the basics of Washington. I'm going to introduce some of my Secretaries. Steve Mnuchin. Steve? Where's Steve? Steve has done a fantastic job. (Applause.)

    Wilbur Ross. Wilbur? We have a meeting - (applause) - in a little while, on the census and citizenship. Can you believe: "Are you a citizen of the United States of America?" "Sir, you can't ask that question." (Laughter.) "Why?" "Because the court said you can't."

    We have three very unfriendly courts. They fight us all the way. The judges don't like us too much, I guess. But think of that, Herman. Think of that question: "Are you a citizen?"


    We spend - this is another thing that's so crazy: $20 billion on a census - $20 billion. They spend $20 billion. I said, "20 billion what?" (Laughter.) Twenty billion dollars on a census.

    They go through houses - they go up, they ring doorbells, they talk to people. "How many toilets do they have?" "How many desks do they have?" "How many beds?" "What's their roof made of?" (Laughter.) The only thing we can't ask is, "Are you a citizen of the United States?" (Laughter and applause.) No, isn't it the craziest thing? Twenty billion. (Applause.) Pretty amazing. Pretty amazing, Charlie.

    Also, David Bernhardt, great job you're doing - Interiors. (Applause.) He's the largest landlord in the United States. When my friends tell me how big they are, they - "I just bought another building." Big deal, Kevin, right? They bought another building. Then I look at David Bernhardt; he controls half of the United States. (Laughter.) Department of Interior. There's a lot of land - a lot of beautiful land - that we're taking good care of, David. Right?

    Acting Director Russ Vought. Russ, thank you. Great job. (Applause.) We're working on our budget. (Applause.)

    Along with some of the great members of Congress and a wonderful friend of mine who's my Leader, right? He's my Leader. I tell him that to his face because it makes him feel good. I don't know if I believe that, Marsha. (Laughter.) But, Kevin - stand up, Kevin. Kevin McCarthy, everybody. (Applause.)

    Senator Marsha Blackburn of the great state of Tennessee. We campaigned together. (Applause.) And she did - we can say it now: She ran against the most popular Democrat in the last 50 years. He really was great. A good man, right? THE PRESIDENT: And governor for quite a long time - eight years. And she just didn't stop.

    SENATOR BLACKBURN: I beat him by 12 points.

    THE PRESIDENT: Twelve points. (Applause.) She was down by 10, and she won by 12. That's right. She was down by 10, and she won by 12. And she wouldn't stop. They just - every day, "Where is she?" "She's here. She's there." Fantastic job you did. We're proud of you.

    SENATOR BLACKBURN: Thank you (inaudible).


    THE PRESIDENT: Well, thank you, honey. That's great. It was just - honestly, working with people that know what they're doing, it's fun. That was fun. And you know what you're doing.

    Representative Dan Crenshaw, who is very good at this, by the way, Dan. (Applause.) Very good at this. Really good. Thank you. It's great to have you in the party. And you have more courage than I do, Dan. Okay? That courage of yours is incredible. Thank you very much. Great job.

    A friend of mine, and a wonderful person, and somebody that has, I don't know, a pretty unlimited future, I'd say - I hear a lot of very positive things - Liz Cheney. Liz, thank you. (Applause.) Thank you.

    And, you know, I pardoned somebody named Scooter Libby. A lot of you don't know who Scooter Libby is. Scooter Libby is a man that got treated very unfairly. And Liz was right on the forefront of that one. And I said, "What do you think, Liz?" And you said, "Absolutely. He deserves it." And it's been a very popular pardon. He was treated very, very brutally and unfairly. So, thank you for that - for that help.

    Matt Gaetz. Where's Matt? Where's Matt? Stand up, Matt. (Applause.) Boy, a great defender. He gets on television, and he's like - it doesn't stop. And he's smart, and he's good, and he loves Florida, and he loves his people, and he's a hard worker. And, Matt, thank you very much. I really appreciate it very much.

    And Mike Johnson. Mike, thank you. (Applause.) Great job, Mike.

    And I want to thank a man who I said, a long time ago, when we said, "Let's do it" - because Josh Hawley is special. He is somebody that - I said, "Josh, you got to run." "Well, I don't know." You know, he had a good set-up - pretty well, right? You weren't going anywhere. He could do whatever he wanted in his great state.

    And I said, "I'm telling you, you can do it." And she turned out - she's a tough candidate. Whether you like her or you don't like her, she's tough. Right? And by the end of that, that was incredible. That was a hell of a race and he won. And he's young and he's brilliant. And I'm going to ask him to come up and say a few words, if you don't mind, about what we're doing. And come on up right now. I think it would be a good time, right? (Applause.)