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Remarks by President Trump in a Fox News Virtual Town Hall
Press Release:
Lincoln Memorial • Washington D.C. • May 3 • 7:14 P.M. EDT
Q: Welcome back to our Fox News Virtual Town Hall: "America Together. Returning to Work." Here tonight, live from the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., we are joined now by President Donald Trump.
Good to see you, sir.
THE PRESIDENT: Well, thank you both, very much. We never had a more beautiful set than this, did we?
Q: (Laughs.) That's right.
Q: It's amazing.
Q: Thanks for doing this.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you.
Q: This is a little different than our last town hall in Scranton, Pennsylvania.
THE PRESIDENT: That's true. That was a beauty.
Q: We'll be taking questions from around the country.
THE PRESIDENT: Good.
Q: And a lot of great questions. I want to start with this, though, Mr. President: There is a real split in the country. There are folks out there becoming increasingly angry about the closures. There are many Americans also who are angry about the reopenings. They're fearful, as many of these states are on the rise in their numbers. There are 66,000 deaths. More than that now.
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah.
Q: As President, what do you say to the people who are scared to go back to work, on one side? And what do you say to the people who are really angry about these lingering closures?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I think you can satisfy both. If you're scared, you're going to stay back a little bit and you're going to watch it. And I think anyone over 60 - because we have pretty good - we have a pretty good roadmap right now. Anybody over 60 - you could say 65, but let's make it 60 - we have to protect those people and we have to watch it, and maybe they stay back longer.
But, no, I think you can really have it both ways. I think a lot of people want to go back. They just want to go back. You see it every day. You see demonstrations all over the country, and those are meaningful demonstrations. Oh, it's big stuff.
But you also have some people that are very scared. Probably everybody is scared, when you get right down to it. It's a terrible thing. A terrible thing that happened to our country. It came from China. It should've been stopped. It could've been stopped on the spot. They chose not to do it, or something happened. Either there was incompetence or they didn't do it for some reason, and we're going to have to find out what that reason was.
But people are absolutely scared, but there are other people that are scared about being locked in a room and losing their job and not having an income. And, you know, for the first - these are workers, these are people that want to get back and work and make a living, and they're afraid their job is not going to be there. And at a certain point, if you keep it going too long, that's going to happen. So I understand that very well.
Q: On that note, let's hear from our first video questioner. This is Shana Cruz (ph) from Cullman, Alabama.
VIEWER: Mr. President, my name is Shana Cruz and I'm a single mother from Alabama. I lived paycheck to paycheck before the virus, but then I lost my job in March. I haven't received a stimulus payment or anything from unemployment. I'm behind on every bill, about to be evicted from my home, and I've had to rely on donations in order to feed my children. I feel frustrated and I feel scared not knowing where to turn or what to do. What advice do you have for me and others in my situation? Is there more help coming?
THE PRESIDENT: Number one, there's more help coming. We have really no choice, because incredible people like this are - you know, it's not - it's not your fault. I mean, just remember that it's not your fault. And there is more help coming. There has to be. And we want to get it to a point, when we open, we're not going to lose businesses and therefore, more importantly, frankly, we're not going to lose the jobs that run the businesses.
So a case like that is an exact - you know, it's really - that's the reason why we have to do more. And we're going to do more, and everybody wants to do more. It's really - it's actually, on that aspect of it, it's very bipartisan.
So the answer is: Yes, we're going to do more. And you're going to have your job. You're going to get another job or you're going to get a better job. You'll get a job where you make more money, frankly, and I think that's going to happen.
I think we're going to have an incredible following year. We're going to go into a transition in the third quarter, and we're going to see things happening that look good. I really believe that. I have a good feel for this stuff. I've done it for a long time. We built the greatest economy in the world. The greatest economy, frankly, Bret - and you can correct me if you'd like, but you can't because it's fact - the greatest economy that the world has ever seen.
And then, one day they said, "Sir, we're going to have to close it." I said, "What are you talking about, closing it?" Nobody ever heard that. We're going have to close it. And we did the right thing. We saved - I think we saved millions of lives, but now we have to get it back open, and we have to get it back open safely but as quickly as possible.
Q: You know, let me ask you about that, because you've talked about that moment quite a bit with just this roaring economy and advisors saying to you, "We've got to shut it down at this point."
So when you look back on that moment and you see some other examples: Japan, for example, did not do as broad a shutdown. They've only lost about 500 people -
THE PRESIDENT: Excuse me, but -
Q: - out of 130 million.
THE PRESIDENT: You're right. But now they're doing a massive shutdown because they've been hit very hard. And so you're right about that.
Q: Yeah, that's my question. Do you ever look back at that moment in the Oval Office and say, "Maybe we went too far"?
THE PRESIDENT: No, we did the right thing. I do look back on it - because my attitude was, "We're not going to shut it down."
Look, we're going to lose anywhere from 75, 80 to 100 thousand people. That's a horrible thing. We shouldn't lose one person over this. This should have been stopped in China. It should have been stopped. But if we didn't do it, the minimum we would have lost is a million-two, a million-four, a million-five. That's the minimum. We would have lost probably higher than - it's possible higher than 2.2.
You know the way you have to look at that? I've never seen death like this. I've never personally experienced anything like it. And they talk about the flu and all of that. Well, I've known people that had the flu. All my life I see - I was lucky; I never had the flu. Then I came here; they want to give a flu shot. And I said, "I don't want a flu shot," but they have to give it.
But you know what? I've known people that had the flu all of my life. I never - nobody ever died. I never had a friend, he had the flu, and he died.
I've lost three friends. One a very good friend, a very successful man, a New York guy. He employed a lot of people. They were all crying over his death: Stanley Chera. He went to the hospital. He calls me up, he goes, "I tested positive." I said, "Well, what are you going to do?" He said, "I'm going to the hospital. I'll call you tomorrow." He didn't call. I called the hospital; he's in a coma. Now, I know a lot of people that had the flu; they were never in a coma.
This is a very advanced - this is a very horrible thing we're fighting. But with all of that said, we still - we've learned a lot about it. It affects older people. It infects - if you have any problem - heart, diabetes, even a little weak heart, a little diabetes, a little - this thing is vicious, and it can take you out, and it can take you out very strongly.
But children do very well. Young children do better than, you know, teens.
Q: So you think you've learned from this, how you've dealt with it now?
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah.
Q: If it comes up in the fall, you'll do something to -
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah, we'll put out the embers. We'll put out whatever it may be. We may have to put out a fire.
...
Read the full transcript HERE.
You can visit a collection of all White House posts by clicking here.
Go Back
Q: Welcome back to our Fox News Virtual Town Hall: "America Together. Returning to Work." Here tonight, live from the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., we are joined now by President Donald Trump.
Good to see you, sir.
THE PRESIDENT: Well, thank you both, very much. We never had a more beautiful set than this, did we?
Q: (Laughs.) That's right.
Q: It's amazing.
Q: Thanks for doing this.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you.
Q: This is a little different than our last town hall in Scranton, Pennsylvania.
THE PRESIDENT: That's true. That was a beauty.
Q: We'll be taking questions from around the country.
THE PRESIDENT: Good.
Q: And a lot of great questions. I want to start with this, though, Mr. President: There is a real split in the country. There are folks out there becoming increasingly angry about the closures. There are many Americans also who are angry about the reopenings. They're fearful, as many of these states are on the rise in their numbers. There are 66,000 deaths. More than that now.
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah.
Q: As President, what do you say to the people who are scared to go back to work, on one side? And what do you say to the people who are really angry about these lingering closures?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I think you can satisfy both. If you're scared, you're going to stay back a little bit and you're going to watch it. And I think anyone over 60 - because we have pretty good - we have a pretty good roadmap right now. Anybody over 60 - you could say 65, but let's make it 60 - we have to protect those people and we have to watch it, and maybe they stay back longer.
But, no, I think you can really have it both ways. I think a lot of people want to go back. They just want to go back. You see it every day. You see demonstrations all over the country, and those are meaningful demonstrations. Oh, it's big stuff.
But you also have some people that are very scared. Probably everybody is scared, when you get right down to it. It's a terrible thing. A terrible thing that happened to our country. It came from China. It should've been stopped. It could've been stopped on the spot. They chose not to do it, or something happened. Either there was incompetence or they didn't do it for some reason, and we're going to have to find out what that reason was.
But people are absolutely scared, but there are other people that are scared about being locked in a room and losing their job and not having an income. And, you know, for the first - these are workers, these are people that want to get back and work and make a living, and they're afraid their job is not going to be there. And at a certain point, if you keep it going too long, that's going to happen. So I understand that very well.
Q: On that note, let's hear from our first video questioner. This is Shana Cruz (ph) from Cullman, Alabama.
VIEWER: Mr. President, my name is Shana Cruz and I'm a single mother from Alabama. I lived paycheck to paycheck before the virus, but then I lost my job in March. I haven't received a stimulus payment or anything from unemployment. I'm behind on every bill, about to be evicted from my home, and I've had to rely on donations in order to feed my children. I feel frustrated and I feel scared not knowing where to turn or what to do. What advice do you have for me and others in my situation? Is there more help coming?
THE PRESIDENT: Number one, there's more help coming. We have really no choice, because incredible people like this are - you know, it's not - it's not your fault. I mean, just remember that it's not your fault. And there is more help coming. There has to be. And we want to get it to a point, when we open, we're not going to lose businesses and therefore, more importantly, frankly, we're not going to lose the jobs that run the businesses.
So a case like that is an exact - you know, it's really - that's the reason why we have to do more. And we're going to do more, and everybody wants to do more. It's really - it's actually, on that aspect of it, it's very bipartisan.
So the answer is: Yes, we're going to do more. And you're going to have your job. You're going to get another job or you're going to get a better job. You'll get a job where you make more money, frankly, and I think that's going to happen.
I think we're going to have an incredible following year. We're going to go into a transition in the third quarter, and we're going to see things happening that look good. I really believe that. I have a good feel for this stuff. I've done it for a long time. We built the greatest economy in the world. The greatest economy, frankly, Bret - and you can correct me if you'd like, but you can't because it's fact - the greatest economy that the world has ever seen.
And then, one day they said, "Sir, we're going to have to close it." I said, "What are you talking about, closing it?" Nobody ever heard that. We're going have to close it. And we did the right thing. We saved - I think we saved millions of lives, but now we have to get it back open, and we have to get it back open safely but as quickly as possible.
Q: You know, let me ask you about that, because you've talked about that moment quite a bit with just this roaring economy and advisors saying to you, "We've got to shut it down at this point."
So when you look back on that moment and you see some other examples: Japan, for example, did not do as broad a shutdown. They've only lost about 500 people -
THE PRESIDENT: Excuse me, but -
Q: - out of 130 million.
THE PRESIDENT: You're right. But now they're doing a massive shutdown because they've been hit very hard. And so you're right about that.
Q: Yeah, that's my question. Do you ever look back at that moment in the Oval Office and say, "Maybe we went too far"?
THE PRESIDENT: No, we did the right thing. I do look back on it - because my attitude was, "We're not going to shut it down."
Look, we're going to lose anywhere from 75, 80 to 100 thousand people. That's a horrible thing. We shouldn't lose one person over this. This should have been stopped in China. It should have been stopped. But if we didn't do it, the minimum we would have lost is a million-two, a million-four, a million-five. That's the minimum. We would have lost probably higher than - it's possible higher than 2.2.
You know the way you have to look at that? I've never seen death like this. I've never personally experienced anything like it. And they talk about the flu and all of that. Well, I've known people that had the flu. All my life I see - I was lucky; I never had the flu. Then I came here; they want to give a flu shot. And I said, "I don't want a flu shot," but they have to give it.
But you know what? I've known people that had the flu all of my life. I never - nobody ever died. I never had a friend, he had the flu, and he died.
I've lost three friends. One a very good friend, a very successful man, a New York guy. He employed a lot of people. They were all crying over his death: Stanley Chera. He went to the hospital. He calls me up, he goes, "I tested positive." I said, "Well, what are you going to do?" He said, "I'm going to the hospital. I'll call you tomorrow." He didn't call. I called the hospital; he's in a coma. Now, I know a lot of people that had the flu; they were never in a coma.
This is a very advanced - this is a very horrible thing we're fighting. But with all of that said, we still - we've learned a lot about it. It affects older people. It infects - if you have any problem - heart, diabetes, even a little weak heart, a little diabetes, a little - this thing is vicious, and it can take you out, and it can take you out very strongly.
But children do very well. Young children do better than, you know, teens.
Q: So you think you've learned from this, how you've dealt with it now?
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah.
Q: If it comes up in the fall, you'll do something to -
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah, we'll put out the embers. We'll put out whatever it may be. We may have to put out a fire.
...
Read the full transcript HERE.
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