From F47's Q + A at the Future Investment Initiative Institute Priority Summit in Miami, FL on 02/19/2025...
MR. ATTIAS: We’re almost at the end, Mr. President. But talking about United States of America, what is one cultural habit in the Uni- — in the US business that the rest of the world could learn from? What is the best practice?
F47: Well, I think we love our families, but I think a lot of the world loves their families, you know?
I was speaking to the head of Mexico, because I complain constantly about people pouring in. Now our border is the strongest border we’ve ever had. We’ve gone from the worst border ever in history to the strongest border.
But I was speaking to the president of Mexico — a very wonderful woman, actually — and I said — we were talking about drugs — “You can’t let people come through your country and come into the country.” You know, I was not that nice, but they understood what I was saying.
And she said something that really got me. She said — I said, “Are you a — you’re not a big drug-taking nation?” And she said, “No, we are not a consumer.” And I said, “A consumer. What a — you know, an interesting word. ‘We’re not a consumer nation. We’re not a consumer of drugs.'’”
I said, “What an interesting — and why — why is that?” He said — she said, “Well, we have very strong family values.” I said, “But we do, too. We do, too.” We have very strong — our families are devastated by what’s happening with fentanyl.
And China will not be doing — we’re going to make a deal with China. We’re not letting that happen anymore. And I had a deal — by the way, before I left... I had a deal with President Xi where they were going to give the maximum penalty to anybody making fentanyl and sending it into the United States, and their maximum penalty is the death penalty. And it would have stopped. But when the election turned out to be a rigged election — but that’s okay — when election turned out to be — it was an election that shouldn’t have happened.
All the — all the things that happened — I give you an example: We wouldn’t have had October 7th Israel attack. We wouldn’t have had Ukraine and Russia fighting. We wouldn’t have had inflation. We wouldn’t have had all of these things that, you know, happened.
But in speaking with her — she said about family values — I said, “Well, you’re not really saying anything there, because we have great families, too. We have great family values.”
She said, “Plus, we advertise a lot.”
I said, “Ooh. You mean you advertise about how bad drugs are?”
“Yes, we do. We spend a lot of money on advertising.”
And I said, “Unbelievable.”
That was such a great conversation, because we’re going to spend hundreds of millions of dollars advertising how bad drugs are so that kids don’t use them — that they chew up your brain; they destroy your teeth, your skin, your everything. (Applause)
And I thanked her for that. You know, I — I make so many calls, and I never learn anything from anybody. I know everything, and I never learned anything from anybody. (Laughter)
And I spoke to this woman... As soon as she said it... She didn’t have to say exactly what I said exactly. "What a great idea.”
And I think we’re going to have a — and I saw pieces of it. We’re going to go in with $100 million and then another $100 million initially.
But I saw some of the ads, and they are really violent. I said, “You have to make them strong.” Your skin practically comes off after a period of time. You lose your hearing. You — you lose your teeth. You lose — I mean, you — it — it is terrible, and we show this happening to people.
And I think we’re going to — you know, we — we did very well with — we had blue-ribbon committees, headed up by the First Lady of the United States and a lot of other people that — you know, they have no idea the viciousness of these cartels and these people. And they’re smarts. I mean, they’re very smart, tough people — making a fortune, by the way — an absolute fortune.
But we got it down 18 percent, which was a record. But 18 percent is not great, when you think about it. I think we could get it down 50 or 55 or maybe even 60 percent with advertising.
So, she really gave me something. I — I was going to call her and tell her that she did, but now I don’t have to call her because she’s going to be seeing this right now. (Laughter)
So, to the President of Mexico: Thank you very much. I appreciate it.
But we’re going to do a great advertising campaign saying how bad it is, how drugs are so bad for you. (Applause.)
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Wow... Nancy would be sooo proud...
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