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Trump's Remarks in Press Briefing; August 31, 2020
REMARKS
Remarks by President Trump in Press Briefing | August 31, 2020
Issued on: August 31, 2020
James S. Brady Press Briefing Room
5:45 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. I’d like to begin by saying we’ve just closed out another month of stock market. We had the best stock market — Dow — in 36 years. That’s very impressive. So people are very happy with their 401(k)s and with the stocks that they have. And that’s a tremendous achievement: best in 36 years.
Let me begin with a brief update on the China virus. Over the last month, our new cases in the United States have declined by 38 percent. Last week, we announced a breakthrough in testing that will allow us to have over 150 million rapid, point-of-care tests. These tests return results in less than 15 minutes, and many will be deployed to nursing homes. We’re being focusing — we’re focusing very strongly on nursing homes, assisted living facilities, and other locations that serve high-risk populations. So we’re going to have the 15-minute, and less, tests, and we will have 150 million rapid point-of-care tests. That’s something.
{snip}
We’d like to have the consent, as an example, in Portland. We could solve that problem in approximately one hour, but the mayor refuses, perhaps for political reasons. I don’t know why it’s good for him to have a city that’s falling apart and that’s under siege now for 94 days. But, really, it’s been under siege for years, if you know Portland.
So, to the mayor, I say: Whenever you’re ready, let us know. We’ll solve your problem of violence. We’ll solve your problem of crime. We’ll arrest those criminals very rapidly, and you’ll be able to have some nice evenings in Portland.
{snip}
The Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice are announcing a joint operation center to investigate the violent, left-wing civil unrest. And again, in Portland alone, the federal government has already taken care of and arrested 100 rioters, just in that one city. The wave of violence and destruction that we’ve seen in recent weeks and months has occurred in cities exclusively controlled and dominated by the Biden — Joe Biden party. If you take a look, the top 10 in the country are Democrats; it’s Democrat-run cities, and it’s a shame, and it can be solved so easy. It can be solved very easily.
The violence is fueled by dangerous rhetoric from far-left politicians that demonize our nation and demonize our police. We have to allow our police to do what they’re very good at doing. We’ve taken that power away. They’re afraid to lose their pension, their job, their everything. They’re afraid to be destroyed.
You saw this when left-wing extremists attacked law-abiding citizens attending the Republic — the Republican National Convention at the White House, including Senator Rand Paul and his wonderful wife Kelly. What they went through, but other people went through it too. And that was done very systematically. That was done on purpose. They knew we were having the convention, and they wanted to do everything they could to disrupt it. And the good news is the public is very wise to it. They see what’s happening, and they’re wise to it, and I think they are probably acting accordingly.
{snip. This goes on and on.}
They want to destroy our country. They’re going to destroy our suburbs. But I think I’ve gone a long way from allowing that to happen. The suburbs are protected, especially with the rule changes that I made. I took them out of the Obama administration; they were going to be made much worse.
{snip}
Two words that were taken out were the words “under God” — “under God” — two very important words in the Pledge of Allegiance. In their caucus, I guess they did it twice. They took it out of their Pledge of Allegiance. I heard it the one time, and I said “That’s strange. What’s — that’s a big…” I tell you, I figured they maybe made a mistake, something happened. No, they didn’t make a mistake. Then they did it later on.
So they took the word — essentially, took the word “God” out of the Pledge of Allegiance. We’re not taking the word “God” out of anything. We’re not taking it out of our Pledge of Allegiance, and we’re not taking the great word “God” out of anything.
{snip}
Okay, please. Thank you.
Q Mr. President, are you giving any consideration — or did you give any consideration to the governor and mayor’s request not to come to Kenosha tomorrow?
THE PRESIDENT: No, because Kenosha was something we did a good job on. The governor didn’t want us there. He didn’t want the National Guard, as you know. He was very reluctant. But I give him credit because, ultimately, he said yes. And as soon as he said yes, the problem ended.
But I have to see the people that did such a good job for me. And we’re meeting with numerous people. And we have tremendous support in the state of Wisconsin. So I promised them, when it all gets taken care of, we’ll go.
Q They expressed concerns though that it could exacerbate tensions and increase violence. Do you give any consideration to that?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, it could also increase enthusiasm and it could increase love and respect for our country. And that’s why I’m going, because they did a fantastic job. As soon as I called and told them, “Let’s go,” the whole problem stopped. That was — what? — six days ago.
Yeah, Jeff.
Q Mr. President, why are you not meeting with the family of Jacob Blake while you’re there?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I spoke with the pastor. A wonderful man — the family’s pastor. And I thought it would be better not to do anything where there are lawyers involved. They wanted me to speak, but they wanted to have lawyers involved, and I thought that was inappropriate, so I didn’t do that. But I did speak with the pastor of the family, who is a fine man, a wonderful man. And I think we had a great talk.
And I may, at some point, you know, do that. But they — they did have a lawyer that wanted to be on the phone, and I said, “No, that’s inappropriate,” but I just gave my best regards. But, again, I spoke with the pastor.
Yeah, please.
Q I have a question about coronavirus. But first, you were just criticizing Joe Biden, saying he didn’t mention the far left or Antifa during his speech today. You said you wanted to talk about left-wing political violence.
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah.
Q But I notice you did not mention that your supporters were also in Portland this weekend, firing paintball guns at people, some form of pepper spray. So do you want to also take this chance to condemn what your supporters did in Portland?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I understand they had large numbers of people that were supporters, but that was a peaceful protest. And paint is not — and paint is a defensive mechanism; paint is not bullets.
Q It’s a paintball gun. It’s a bullet.
THE PRESIDENT: Your supporters — your supporters — and they are your supporters, indeed — shot a young gentleman who — and killed him — not with paint, but with a bullet. And I think it’s disgraceful.
These people, they protested peacefully. They went in very peacefully. And I’ll tell you what they’re protesting: They’re protesting, when they turn on television, or read whatever they may be reading, and they see a city like Chicago, where 78 people were shot and 13 died; or a city like New York, where the crime rate has gone through the roof; or a city like Portland, where the entire city is ablaze all the time, and a mayor says, “We don’t want any help from the federal government.”
When these people turn that on and they see that, they say, “This is not our country. This is not our country.” That was a peaceful protest, totally.
Q But it was a supporter of yours, Mr. President —
THE PRESIDENT: Okay, go ahead, please.
Q It was a supporter —
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah, go ahead, please.
Q Mr. President —
Q It was a supporter of yours, Mr. President —
THE PRESIDENT: Go ahead, please.
Q Are you going to condemn the —
Q No, no, it was a supporter of yours, Mr. President —
THE PRESIDENT: Excuse me?
Q — who killed someone, who is accused of killing two people.
THE PRESIDENT: Excuse me?
Q It was a supporter of yours. No —
Q To follow up on what Kaitlan was saying, are you going to condemn the actions of vigilantes like Kyle Rittenhouse?
THE PRESIDENT: We’re looking at all of it. And that was an interesting situation. You saw the same tape as I saw. And he was trying to get away from them, I guess; it looks like. And he fell, and then they very violently attacked him. And it was something that we’re looking at right now and it’s under investigation.
But I guess he was in very big trouble. He would have been — I — he probably would have been killed.
Q But do you think —
THE PRESIDENT: It’s under — it’s under investigation.
Q Do you think private citizens should be taking guns (inaudible)?
THE PRESIDENT: I’d like to see law enforcement take care of everything. I think everything should be taken care of — law enforcement.
{snip}
And again, the bad cops — everybody agrees they have to be very tough on bad cops. But sometimes you have a cop or a police person who is a good — a good police person, right? Good. But they choke. You know, the timing — and they go through this, and they study this, and they work on it all the time. They literally have a quarter of a second to make some of these decisions. And they make a wrong decision, and it’s very devastating.
{snip}
The Republicans, we don’t have problems. You take a look at our cities; our cities are doing very well. They’re safe. They’re secure. I spent a lot of time in Texas, as you know, just a couple of days ago. And I was with the Governor of Texas, Greg Abbott. He was explaining they wouldn’t put up with it for a minute. They just don’t have the kind of problems that other people have.
Thank you very much. I appreciate it.
END
6:12 P.M. EDT
Remarks by President Trump in Press Briefing | August 31, 2020
Issued on: August 31, 2020
James S. Brady Press Briefing Room
5:45 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. I’d like to begin by saying we’ve just closed out another month of stock market. We had the best stock market — Dow — in 36 years. That’s very impressive. So people are very happy with their 401(k)s and with the stocks that they have. And that’s a tremendous achievement: best in 36 years.
Let me begin with a brief update on the China virus. Over the last month, our new cases in the United States have declined by 38 percent. Last week, we announced a breakthrough in testing that will allow us to have over 150 million rapid, point-of-care tests. These tests return results in less than 15 minutes, and many will be deployed to nursing homes. We’re being focusing — we’re focusing very strongly on nursing homes, assisted living facilities, and other locations that serve high-risk populations. So we’re going to have the 15-minute, and less, tests, and we will have 150 million rapid point-of-care tests. That’s something.
{snip}
We’d like to have the consent, as an example, in Portland. We could solve that problem in approximately one hour, but the mayor refuses, perhaps for political reasons. I don’t know why it’s good for him to have a city that’s falling apart and that’s under siege now for 94 days. But, really, it’s been under siege for years, if you know Portland.
So, to the mayor, I say: Whenever you’re ready, let us know. We’ll solve your problem of violence. We’ll solve your problem of crime. We’ll arrest those criminals very rapidly, and you’ll be able to have some nice evenings in Portland.
{snip}
The Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice are announcing a joint operation center to investigate the violent, left-wing civil unrest. And again, in Portland alone, the federal government has already taken care of and arrested 100 rioters, just in that one city. The wave of violence and destruction that we’ve seen in recent weeks and months has occurred in cities exclusively controlled and dominated by the Biden — Joe Biden party. If you take a look, the top 10 in the country are Democrats; it’s Democrat-run cities, and it’s a shame, and it can be solved so easy. It can be solved very easily.
The violence is fueled by dangerous rhetoric from far-left politicians that demonize our nation and demonize our police. We have to allow our police to do what they’re very good at doing. We’ve taken that power away. They’re afraid to lose their pension, their job, their everything. They’re afraid to be destroyed.
You saw this when left-wing extremists attacked law-abiding citizens attending the Republic — the Republican National Convention at the White House, including Senator Rand Paul and his wonderful wife Kelly. What they went through, but other people went through it too. And that was done very systematically. That was done on purpose. They knew we were having the convention, and they wanted to do everything they could to disrupt it. And the good news is the public is very wise to it. They see what’s happening, and they’re wise to it, and I think they are probably acting accordingly.
{snip. This goes on and on.}
They want to destroy our country. They’re going to destroy our suburbs. But I think I’ve gone a long way from allowing that to happen. The suburbs are protected, especially with the rule changes that I made. I took them out of the Obama administration; they were going to be made much worse.
{snip}
Two words that were taken out were the words “under God” — “under God” — two very important words in the Pledge of Allegiance. In their caucus, I guess they did it twice. They took it out of their Pledge of Allegiance. I heard it the one time, and I said “That’s strange. What’s — that’s a big…” I tell you, I figured they maybe made a mistake, something happened. No, they didn’t make a mistake. Then they did it later on.
So they took the word — essentially, took the word “God” out of the Pledge of Allegiance. We’re not taking the word “God” out of anything. We’re not taking it out of our Pledge of Allegiance, and we’re not taking the great word “God” out of anything.
{snip}
Okay, please. Thank you.
Q Mr. President, are you giving any consideration — or did you give any consideration to the governor and mayor’s request not to come to Kenosha tomorrow?
THE PRESIDENT: No, because Kenosha was something we did a good job on. The governor didn’t want us there. He didn’t want the National Guard, as you know. He was very reluctant. But I give him credit because, ultimately, he said yes. And as soon as he said yes, the problem ended.
But I have to see the people that did such a good job for me. And we’re meeting with numerous people. And we have tremendous support in the state of Wisconsin. So I promised them, when it all gets taken care of, we’ll go.
Q They expressed concerns though that it could exacerbate tensions and increase violence. Do you give any consideration to that?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, it could also increase enthusiasm and it could increase love and respect for our country. And that’s why I’m going, because they did a fantastic job. As soon as I called and told them, “Let’s go,” the whole problem stopped. That was — what? — six days ago.
Yeah, Jeff.
Q Mr. President, why are you not meeting with the family of Jacob Blake while you’re there?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I spoke with the pastor. A wonderful man — the family’s pastor. And I thought it would be better not to do anything where there are lawyers involved. They wanted me to speak, but they wanted to have lawyers involved, and I thought that was inappropriate, so I didn’t do that. But I did speak with the pastor of the family, who is a fine man, a wonderful man. And I think we had a great talk.
And I may, at some point, you know, do that. But they — they did have a lawyer that wanted to be on the phone, and I said, “No, that’s inappropriate,” but I just gave my best regards. But, again, I spoke with the pastor.
Yeah, please.
Q I have a question about coronavirus. But first, you were just criticizing Joe Biden, saying he didn’t mention the far left or Antifa during his speech today. You said you wanted to talk about left-wing political violence.
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah.
Q But I notice you did not mention that your supporters were also in Portland this weekend, firing paintball guns at people, some form of pepper spray. So do you want to also take this chance to condemn what your supporters did in Portland?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I understand they had large numbers of people that were supporters, but that was a peaceful protest. And paint is not — and paint is a defensive mechanism; paint is not bullets.
Q It’s a paintball gun. It’s a bullet.
THE PRESIDENT: Your supporters — your supporters — and they are your supporters, indeed — shot a young gentleman who — and killed him — not with paint, but with a bullet. And I think it’s disgraceful.
These people, they protested peacefully. They went in very peacefully. And I’ll tell you what they’re protesting: They’re protesting, when they turn on television, or read whatever they may be reading, and they see a city like Chicago, where 78 people were shot and 13 died; or a city like New York, where the crime rate has gone through the roof; or a city like Portland, where the entire city is ablaze all the time, and a mayor says, “We don’t want any help from the federal government.”
When these people turn that on and they see that, they say, “This is not our country. This is not our country.” That was a peaceful protest, totally.
Q But it was a supporter of yours, Mr. President —
THE PRESIDENT: Okay, go ahead, please.
Q It was a supporter —
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah, go ahead, please.
Q Mr. President —
Q It was a supporter of yours, Mr. President —
THE PRESIDENT: Go ahead, please.
Q Are you going to condemn the —
Q No, no, it was a supporter of yours, Mr. President —
THE PRESIDENT: Excuse me?
Q — who killed someone, who is accused of killing two people.
THE PRESIDENT: Excuse me?
Q It was a supporter of yours. No —
Q To follow up on what Kaitlan was saying, are you going to condemn the actions of vigilantes like Kyle Rittenhouse?
THE PRESIDENT: We’re looking at all of it. And that was an interesting situation. You saw the same tape as I saw. And he was trying to get away from them, I guess; it looks like. And he fell, and then they very violently attacked him. And it was something that we’re looking at right now and it’s under investigation.
But I guess he was in very big trouble. He would have been — I — he probably would have been killed.
Q But do you think —
THE PRESIDENT: It’s under — it’s under investigation.
Q Do you think private citizens should be taking guns (inaudible)?
THE PRESIDENT: I’d like to see law enforcement take care of everything. I think everything should be taken care of — law enforcement.
{snip}
And again, the bad cops — everybody agrees they have to be very tough on bad cops. But sometimes you have a cop or a police person who is a good — a good police person, right? Good. But they choke. You know, the timing — and they go through this, and they study this, and they work on it all the time. They literally have a quarter of a second to make some of these decisions. And they make a wrong decision, and it’s very devastating.
{snip}
The Republicans, we don’t have problems. You take a look at our cities; our cities are doing very well. They’re safe. They’re secure. I spent a lot of time in Texas, as you know, just a couple of days ago. And I was with the Governor of Texas, Greg Abbott. He was explaining they wouldn’t put up with it for a minute. They just don’t have the kind of problems that other people have.
Thank you very much. I appreciate it.
END
6:12 P.M. EDT
3 replies
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