Remarks by President Trump in a Meeting with Governor Polis of Colorado and Governor Burgum of North Dakota | Eastern North Carolina Now

Press Release:

    THE PRESIDENT: Well, thank you very much. It's great to be with the Governor of Colorado and the Governor of North Dakota, two governors that are working very hard — harder than they thought they'd have to work. We also have two very distinguished senators that you know very much: Senator Gardner, who you know, and — John, say hello. Say hello to the fake news.

    SENATOR HOEVEN: It's great to be here. Thank you, Mr. President. We appreciate the invitation. And, of course, appreciate all the support you're giving us -

    THE PRESIDENT: Yeah.

    SENATOR HOEVEN: — and the leadership of our governors.

    THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. It's been — and that's what we're doing. That's what we're here for — to do that and to talk about it. We just came out with a new listing on testing. We just cracked 10 million tests, which is here. I thought you'd like to show that to everybody. Ten million. We set an all-time record, by far. If you look down here, these are other countries that have not done anywhere near what we're doing.

    We're double. If you add them up and double them, we've done more tests. But I can't get the press to print that, unfortunately. They just don't want to print it.

    But I want to thank the governors for being here, very much. We appreciate it. We're going to have some good, fruitful talks about going even to the next step. And I know you're trying to open up, and I know you're opening up. You're sort of more than trying; you're opening up. And you're both — you're both doing an excellent job, and it's an honor to have you at the White House very much. And these two gentlemen have done a fantastic job.

    And David you know from Interior, and David is very much involved with your states. And how are they doing, David? What do you think?

    SECRETARY BERNHARDT: Fantastic.

    THE PRESIDENT: I think so. They're doing a good job. They really are. They're doing a good job.

    We're talking about, as you know, Space Force, and a lot of the states are interested in Space Force. And we're talking to some of them, and I know that Colorado is very interested in it, and so we'll be talking to you about that too. Okay? We might mention that today a little bit during our meeting.

    So thank you all very much. Thank you.

    Q:  Mr. President, what's your advice to administrators and school principals around the country in terms of their plans to reopen school and colleges in the fall?

    THE PRESIDENT: Well, I think they should open the schools, absolutely. I think they should. And it's had very little impact on young people. And I think that if you're an instructor, if you're a teacher, a professor, and you're over a certain age — like, let's say, 65 or maybe even, if you want to be conservative, 60 — perhaps you want to stay out for a little while longer.

    But I think you should absolutely open the schools. Our country has got to get back, and it's got to get back as soon as possible. And I don't consider our country coming back if the schools are closed. And it's had very little — a very unusual situation. It's had very little impact on young people. And I would strongly say they should open. It's up to the governors. It's the governors' choice. But their state is not open if the schools aren't open. So, again, it's had very little impact on young people, and I think they should open their schools.

    Q:  Mr. President, Senator Graham is introducing a bill to sanction China. Would you support it if it goes to the House and it comes to your desk? Do you support that bill?

    THE PRESIDENT: Well, I respect Lindsey Graham, and I'll certainly look at it. The bill to sanction China — so I'll certainly take a look at it. I have not seen it yet.

    Q:  Do you want to comment on the release of those names related to Michael Flynn?

    THE PRESIDENT: Well, the unmasking is a massive — it's a massive thing. It's — I just got a list. It's — who can believe a thing like this? And I watched Biden yesterday on "Good Morning America" being interviewed by one of your colleagues, George Stephanopoulos, and he said he knew nothing about anything. He has no idea. He knows nothing about anything. Nothing at all.

    And then it gets released today that he was a big unmasker. So how do you know nothing if you're one of the unmaskers? It's one of the very big stories, and I suspect you'll have, if it's possible, even bigger stories coming out.

    Q:  A follow-up on a separate subject, sir. We've had a number of explosions in Afghanistan. Are you concerned that that peace deal may be falling apart?

    THE PRESIDENT: Look, Afghanistan — we've been there for many years. We're like a police force. We're not fighting in Afghanistan; we're a police force in Afghanistan. And at some point, they're going to have to be able to take care of their country, and they're going to have to be able to police their country.

    But we're not meant to be a police force; we're meant to be fighters. And we've been there for a long time. So, I don't know, we'll have to see. I have not heard that, Steve. We have had — in Kabul, we've had some, I understand, some pretty big blowups.

    Q:  Yes.

    THE PRESIDENT: But again, you count on the government to be able to police themselves, and they're having a hard time, I suspect.

    But, again, we are the greatest fighting force in the world. We're not a police force that's going to stay around, and police the streets, and check out the red lights and traffic. It's not what we're supposed to be doing. Been there a long time.

    You know, our force is down quite a bit, as you know. We're way down. And a lot of people have come back, brought them back. But the government has to be able, at some point, to do something for themselves.

    Okay?

    Q:  Mr. President, Chairman Powell today said both that he wasn't interested in bringing interest rates negative and that he saw a need for additional stimulus from Congress. I know that you've said we could wait and see on the stimulus and that you want negative rates, so I was wondering your reaction to that.

    THE PRESIDENT: Well, I'm a believer in negative rates only if other countries that are competitors — look, Germany, they're an ally, they're friends of ours, but they're still competitors on trade and other things. So Germany, Japan, others have negative rates. And I think if they do, we're the most prime of the world.

    You know, where it's based — many countries based on the dollar. The dollar is by far the strongest, most powerful currency in the world. We've made it more powerful and we've made it stronger. And certainly, if they're going to have the advantage of negative rates, we should too. I feel strongly we should have negative rates. Negative rates is basically where they pay you interest if you borrow money. This is a new one. I've been looking for something like that all my life. That's a pretty good one.

    But certainly if other countries are going to be paid for putting out money — I mean, they're — think of it: They're borrowing money, and instead of paying interest, they're getting paid. It's the craziest thing.

    But you know what? Other countries are doing it. Look at Germany, look at Japan, look at others, and we're the most prime in the world right now. And we have the — we have the currency and we have the power of the dollar.

    So I know that the Chairman has — and he's done a very good job over the last couple of months, I have to tell you that, because I've been critical. But in many ways, I call him my "MIP." Do you know what an "MIP" is? "Most Improved Player." It's called the "Most Improved Player Award." Did you ever get one of them when you were playing baseball, Cory? A good baseball player?

    SENATOR GARDNER: Certainly not. (Laughter.)

    ...

    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 )




State COVID-19 Response Legislation / Message to County Membership News Services, Government, State and Federal FEMA Advisory: COVID19 — Exercise Starter Kit

HbAD0

 
Back to Top