Remarks by President Trump at Young Black Leadership Summit 2019 | Eastern North Carolina Now

Press Release:

White House East Room  •  Washington D.C.  •  October 4  •  5:07 P.M. EDT

    THE PRESIDENT: Boy, oh boy. This is a group. So - (applause). So, I've been doing this for a long time. That is the loudest I've ever heard anything in this room. (Applause.) You just broke the record. Unbelievable.

    Well, I want to thank you all. And I have a lot of friends, but - (applause) - and this is a place. 1799 it was built. 1799. Started off with number six - John Adams, President. And so, it's a long time. It's the White House, and we love it, and it's an honor to have you.

    But you really did - you broke the sound barrier. I've never heard that. I've never heard it quite like that, and I appreciate it. We love you. We love you.

    AUDIENCE MEMBER: We love you!

    THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. (Applause.) Thank you. And I'm honored to welcome everybody and these incredibly talented and unbelievable, patriotic, young American leaders. You're going to be the leaders.

    Somebody - I would be almost willing to bet, maybe even willing to bet - somebody in that audience, right here, right in front of me, is going to be standing here someday. I think so. (Applause.) (Inaudible.) You've got a good shot. You're going to have a good shot. You've done incredible work to get to this position, and I have tremendous respect for it.

    We're glad to be joined by our terrific Vice President, Mike Pence. (Applause.) And many of our Cabinet members are here. They wanted to be here. I told a couple of them, "Don't have to. Don't worry about it. What the heck. These are my friends." They said, "No, we want to be here." (Applause.) So we have a lot of our Cabinet members here.

    And to every young person: You represent America's future. You are the best and the brightest, the bravest and boldest, and someday you are going to be setting records like nobody before. I'm telling you, I know it. I know where's it's at. I know where energy is, and you have the energy like very few people have the energy. So I just want to tell you: Get out there. Prove me right, please. Okay? (Applause.) Prove me right. I have no doubt you will.

    Each of you has come to Washington for the Black Leadership Summit because you have - (applause) - what it takes to achieve real change on your campuses and in your communities, and that's what you've been doing, and that's actually why you're here.

    You speak out for the values and principles that have made America the most exceptional nation anywhere on Earth. And I will say this today: It's greater than it ever was before - our military, our economy. (Applause.) We have the greatest economy in the world. We have the greatest economy we've ever had. Tremendous numbers just came out today. You heard that.

HbAD0

    But you stand up for the oppressive forces - and you do. You stand right up to those forces in our country that demand conformity and control. You refuse to be censored, you refuse to be silenced, and you will never back down. (Applause.) And don't. Don't ever back down.

    You're the champions for free thought and free speech. And I especially want to thank a friend of mine who is - I mean, first of all, you think he's like 50, but he's about 25 or something like that. (Laughter.) He's a young guy. I can't - I can't even imagine being so successful at such a young age. What he's done in so many ways - and, really, more importantly, letting young people know that they have a voice. Charlie Kirk, from Turning Point U.S.A. (Applause.)

    Charlie, you've done a fantastic job. Fastest-growing organization of thought - of thought - in the country. He is something. Thank you very much, Charlie. I appreciate your being here.

    And we're also joined by a friend of mine - just got married - (applause) - just got married. And Candace Owens - I watched her, and I saw her coming. I said - you know, I'm pretty good at star power. I look, and I say, "That's a star." (Laughter.) Every once in a while, I'll see somebody. You know, it happens about once every five years. That's all it is. But I'll be watching. I saw Candace probably three, four years ago. How long would it be, Charlie? Four? Maybe four. I saw this woman on television. I said, "Man, I don't want to mess with her. She's tough. She's tough."

    Now, I'm not allowed to say it - you know that. I'm not allowed to say it anymore, but she's also beautiful. So, I'll say that, too. (Applause.) Okay?

    It's true. Under the #MeToo generation, we're not allowed to say it. So, all of you young, brilliant guys: Never ever call a woman beautiful, please. (Laughter.) You're not allowed to do it. And I've kept doing it, and I've never been told by that woman never to do it. Just say, "Thank you, sir." (Laughter.)

    Candace, would you come up here, and say a few words? Do you mind? Come. (Applause.) Thank you, Candace. Thank you.

    MS. OWENS: You know what? I was thinking: Every single President that comes into office, after two years, they look so much older. He seems to be the only President that's getting younger. (Applause.) Is he - I mean, like, he has somehow found a fountain of youth. I think he gets up out of bed - it's the fight. He loves the fight. He really does. (Applause.)

    THE PRESIDENT: We have no choice.

    MS. OWENS: We are - we are - we are so blessed. And, listen, let me say this: The media - the audacity of them to think that they're going to impeach our President. (Applause.)

    AUDIENCE: Booo -

HbAD1

    MS. OWENS: No. It's not happening. It's absolutely not happening. Not under our watch. We need to make sure we fight for this man - the one man who is standing up for Black America, we are going to fight for, guys. We have to keep it going. (Applause.)

    THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, Candace. Thank you. That's so nice. Outstanding person. She's another one. You're going to have to compete with her, too, for this position, I suspect. (Laughter.) Thank you very much.

    You know, it's sort of interesting. It's like: Do we have a choice? We have to fight, right? We have to fight. We have to fight for everything, whether we like it or not.

    Another man who has been so incredible - Ja'Ron Smith. Where is Ja'Ron? Is he around here? Ja'Ron Smith. (Applause.) Man, have you done a job. You've done such a great job, Ja'Ron. At least come up and shake my hand, will you, please? (Applause.) Come here, Ja'Ron.

    You know, he works with us, and he's actually not - I always say he's so elegant and so quiet and so nice. They say, "You don't know the real Ja'Ron." So I want to see that. (Laughter.) But what he does and the job he's done on outreach and so many other aspects of our lives is incredible. I want to thank you, Ja'Ron. Thank you very much. (Applause.) I want to thank you for that. I appreciate it. Thank you.

    And Ja'Ron knows what I'm about to do because - a man who I met on Twitter, or, as we would say, "social media"; he is some piece of work, this guy - he was hitting Debra Messing like she never got hit before. (Laughter.) This crazy Debra Messing started messing with us. And all of a sudden, I see this man on Twitter, and I see him all over. And he was hitting her and I never saw anything like it. (Laughter.) I felt so sorry for her.

    And then, I look and I say, "Who is this guy?" His name is Terrence Williams. I look - (applause) - and I look and I said, "Well, you know, the way you look..." And the first thing I look is, how many followers does he have? And he had like 700,000 followers. I said, "Whoa."

    You know, oftentimes I'll be impressed by somebody. I'll look and they have three followers, they say. (Laughter.) I say, "We have to wait for him or her." But this guy has a following like very few people. And I want to just thank you because I'm a fan of yours, also. You're a very successful guy. Say a few words. Please.

    ...

    Read the full transcript HERE.


You can visit a collection of all White House posts by clicking here.


Go Back


Leave a Guest Comment

Your Name or Alias
Your Email Address ( your email address will not be published)
Enter Your Comment ( no code or urls allowed, text only please )




President Donald J. Trump Approves Texas Disaster Declaration News Services, Government, State and Federal President Donald J. Trump to Award the Medal of Freedom

HbAD2

 
Back to Top