On Labor Day, a Lot to Be Thankful For

Thank you very much. Thank you. Happy Labor Day. That was, really, a very special time I had speaking to some of the labor union heads and other people. They’re very happy with the way things are going. As you probably see, the numbers are terrific. 

So we called some people, wished them a very happy Labor Day, and they told us how they’re doing, and we really celebrate the American worker. We are in the midst of the fastest economic recovery in U.S. history. So we have a lot to be thankful for, including this really beautiful day. It’s why I thought we’d do this outside as opposed to in your more normal place.

The United States experienced the smallest contraction of any major Western nation. You probably know that. You look around and see how we’re doing compared to every other nation, and our rise is spectacular. And we’re rebounding much more quickly from the pandemic. 

The U.S. economy added 1.4 million jobs last month, and we’ve have added a record-setting 10.6 million jobs since May. 10.6 million jobs since May. That’s a record that is not even close. Second place is a long ways away.

In July, the Congressional Budget Office was projecting unemployment over 10.5 percent through the end of 2020. So they thought 2020, and maybe it would be a lot longer than that. Some projections, where you’d go through the entire year, and that includes a lot of months in the following year, 2021. And instead, the unemployment rate plunged, really, to the surprise of many, all the way down to 8.4 percent in August. And that’s the second-largest single month decline on record. And we have the first; we have both of them. So we have the two number-one declines — “decline” meaning positive, not negative.

We’re currently witnessing the fastest labor market recovery from an economic crisis in history — world history. By contrast, Biden presided over the worst, the weakest, and slowest economic recovery since the Great Depression. It was a long, slow slog, and it was a very small — very small on growth and very small on every other factor that you need. It was the weakest recovery.

Under my leadership, next year will be the greatest economic year in the history of our country, I project. And some people are starting to agree. We have a “V” shape. It’s probably a “super V.” And you see what’s going on with the stock market, where it’s, in certain cases, already setting records. NASDAQ has set 17 records already, and this is as we’re, hopefully, rounding the final turn in the pandemic.

First, we’ll end the pandemic. Under Operation Warp Speed, we’ve pioneered groundbreaking therapies, reducing the fatality rate 85 percent since April. You don’t hear that from the press very often. They don’t like to talk about that. So the fatality rate, 85 percent — think of that — since April.

The United States has experienced among the lowest case fatality rates of any major country in the world. And we are an absolute leader in every way. Under my leadership, we’ll produce a vaccine in record time. Biden and his very liberal running mate — the most liberal person in Congress, by the way, who’s not a competent person, in my opinion; would destroy this country and would destroy this economy — should immediately apologize for the reckless anti-vaccine rhetoric that they are talking right now, talking about endangering lives. And it undermines science. 

And what’s happening is, all of a sudden, you’ll have this incredible vaccine, and because of that fake rhetoric — it’s a politic rhetoric; that’s all it is. Just for politics. Because now they see we’ve done an incredible job, and in speed like nobody has ever seen before. This could’ve taken two or three years, and instead it’s going to be — it’s going to be done in a very short of period of time. Could even have it during the month of October. 

So, contrary to all of the lies, the vaccine that they’re — they politicalize. They’ll say anything. And it’s so dangerous for our country, what they say. But the vaccine will be very safe and very effective, and it will be delivered very soon. You could — you could have a very big surprise coming up. I’m sure you’ll be very happy. But the people will be happy. The people of the world will be happy.

Next, we’ll return to unprecedented prosperity through our pro-American policies. We’ll pass new tax cuts to boost take-home pay. We’re going to be cutting taxes very substantially. We get it back through growth. We had tremendous growth until we got hit with the China virus. 

We’ll continue our historic regulatory reduction campaign. We’ve — as you know, in three and a half years, we’ve cut more regulations than any other administration, no matter how long, no matter what period of time you’re talking about. We’ll enact fair trade deals, and we’re working on seven major fair trade deals right now. And when I say “fair,” fair to our country — because our country was ripped off by every nation. Friend, foe, didn’t matter: Every nation was ripping us off at a level that it’s just unbelievable, to be honest.

We’re going to be expanding Opportunity Zones, and we will keep that going. It’s been a tremendous — a tremendous program. I want to thank Senator Scott, South Carolina, for coming up with that whole concept, because he came up, and I liked it right away, and it was — it’s really turned out to be a tremendous thing, especially for African Americans, Hispanic Americans. 

We’ll continue to unleash American energy. We’re number one in the world. And we’re totally energy independent right now. And in 2021, we’ll create 10 million jobs, at least, in the first 10 months.

Joe Biden and the radical, socialist Democrats would immediately collapse the economy. If they got in, they would collapse it. You’ll have a crash the likes of which you’ve never seen before. Your stocks, your 401(k)s — remember, it’s the people that own these massive, listed companies. A lot of people: rich people and not so rich people and middle-income people. And those stocks will crash like you’ve never seen before.

The Biden plan begins with a 4-trillion-dollar tax hike. And that will end everything, including growth. There won’t be growth. There’ll be total contraction.

Biden has also pledged to demolish the U.S. energy industry and implement the same policies causing blackouts in California. He wants to have things lit up with wind. He’ll have to talk to China, Russia, India, and lots of other countries, because they’re not doing that. And if they’re not doing it, it puts us at a tremendous economic disadvantage, and it doesn’t work. 

You take a look at the blackouts in California; it’s really rather amazing what’s going on there. They’ve tried to go, and that’s just with a small portion going that route. That doesn’t work, and it can’t fire up our big plants. We’re going to have this great industry that we’ve created. Can’t fire up our big plants.

Biden’s plan for the China virus is to shut down the entire U.S. economy. He’s going to totally rely on somebody to walk up, “Yes, sir, it’s time to shut it down.” He’d be laying off tens of millions of workers and causing countless deaths from suicide, substance abuse, depression, heart disease, and other very serious illnesses. 

Because when you do a shutdown, there’s a problem on the other side; it’s not just from the virus. You have a big problem with suicides, with losing your jobs, with all sorts of things. You just take a look. Depression is a massive problem. And what happens is you — they turn to substance abuse, alcohol, drugs. So we can’t do that. And then we’d have to give up all of the gains that I’ve been talking about over the last three months. We’ve — what we have done is incredible. We’re setting records. All over the world, no matter where you go, nobody has done what we’ve been able to do.

So we’re setting records in jobs. We’re setting records in numbers. And you’re going to see some very big numbers. Third-quarter numbers are coming out right before a very special day, November 3rd. So you have the numbers coming out, and they’re, I think, going to be fantastic. You know, I think they’re going to be fantastic. 

The best numbers of all, if somebody doesn’t come along and raise taxes — double, triple, quadruple your taxes — will be the numbers from next year. But you’re going to have a good third-quarter number coming out. And I think it’s going to be hard for even the media to disparage that number.

Biden wants to surrender our country to the virus, he wants to surrender our families to the violent left-wing mob, and he wants to surrender our jobs to China — our jobs and our economic wellbeing. I’ve taken in billions and billions of dollars from China. No other President has done what I’ve done. I’ve given much of it to the farmers. I’ve given it to farmers and manufacturers, but I’ve given most of it to the U.S. Treasury. Nobody has done that. We haven’t taken in 10 cents from China ever. 

They targeted our farmers, and I targeted them. And I gave $28 billion to our farmers. Our farmers wouldn’t be existent right now. Right now, they’re very happy. In fact, they’re setting records on purchases. China is purchasing more corn than they’ve ever done. Record purchase of corn and soybeans, beef — because they know I’m not happy with them. They know I’m not happy at all. 

And, frankly, I don’t want to set the world necessarily to thinking too much about it right now, but there’s been no country anywhere, at any time, that’s ripped us off like China has. We lose billions and billions of dollars for years and years, decades. We’ve lost billions and billions and billions of dollars by dealing with China. We get nothing from China. They get nothing, other than loss, other than giving our money. And they take that money, and they build their military. And you see they’re building up a powerful military. And it’s very lucky that I’ve been building our up, because otherwise we’d be dwarfed right now by China. We would be a terrible thing. A terrible thing.

We’re way ahead on the nuclear front. We’ve upgraded our nuclear. Hope to God we never have to use it. But we would be in a position that we are not in right now. But China is spending the money we give them to build up their military. So when you mention the world “decouple,” it’s an interesting word. So we lose billions of dollars, and if we didn’t do business with them, we wouldn’t lose billions of dollars. It’s called “decoupling.” So you’ll start thinking about it. You’ll start thinking. 

They take our money, and they spend it on building airplanes and building ships and building rockets and missiles. And Biden has been just a pawn for them. He’s been so easy. They dream about Biden. There was a report today that they hope that Joe Biden becomes President. If Joe Biden becomes President, China will own the United States, and every other country will be smiling also. They’ll be smiling. 

When reports come out that certain countries don’t really like me too much, that’s not because of my personality, although it could be that also, frankly. It’s because of the fact that I’ve been very tough on countries that have been ripping us off for so many years. 

If you look at NATO, with the exception of eight countries — we’re one of them — every country is way behind. They’re delinquent, especially Germany, in paying their NATO bills. That means we end up paying it, and we’re not doing it. I told them; we’re not doing it. And they’ve increased their spending now $130 billion, going up to $400 billion a year. It’s all because of me. Then you hear the country doesn’t like me. I mean, I can understand that, because President Obama and other presidents, in all fairness, would go in there and they’d make a speech and they’d leave. I went in there, I looked, and I said, “This is unfair. We’re paying for NATO.” We’re paying for NATO. Almost all of it.

So they rip us off on the military and then they rip us off, with the European Union, on trade. And Biden doesn’t have a clue. You know he doesn’t have a clue. Everybody knows he doesn’t have a clue. In primetime, he wasn’t good. And now it’s not primetime. 

He spent 47 years sending American jobs to China, to Mexico, and to other countries, while collecting millions of dollars in campaign and super PAC contributions from global corporations that got rich by making American workers poor. 

His son, “Where is Hunter?” — Where is Hunter? — I call him “Where is Hunter?” — walked away with one and a half billion dollars to manage, even though he never did that before. He walked away with a fortune from Ukraine, from China, and from other countries. Between his son and his brother, you ought to read the statements. And the press doesn’t pick that up. If I ever did that, it would be — it would be hell, even worse than it’s been. Okay? Even worse than it’s been.

What he’s done is so incredible. “I won’t give them the billion dollars,” he says. “I won’t give them, unless they get rid of that prosecutor.” And then, voila, they got rid of the prosecutor. And the press doesn’t even want to talk about it. You talk about quid pro quo. With me, there was none. With him, he’s right on tape, and you don’t want to cover it. You should be ashamed of yourselves. The press should be ashamed of themselves.

But Biden shipped away our jobs, threw open our borders, and sent our youth to fight in these crazy endless wars. And it’s one of the reasons the military — I’m not saying the military is in love with me; the soldiers are. The top people in the Pentagon probably aren’t because they want to do nothing but fight wars so that all of those wonderful companies that make the bombs and make the planes and make everything else stay happy.

But we’re getting out of the endless wars; you know how we’re we doing. We defeated 100 percent of the ISIS caliphate — 100 percent. When I was in — when I came in, it was a mess; it was all over. They have it, in a certain color, all ISIS. A year later, I said, “Where is it?” “It’s all gone, sir. Because of you, it’s all gone,” because of my philosophy. But all gone. And I said, “That’s good. Let’s bring our soldiers back home. Some people don’t like to come home. Some people like to continue to spend money.” One cold-hearted globalist betrayal after another, and that’s what it was. 

Biden supported NAFTA. He supported China’s entry into the World Trade Organization. Two disasters. The most disastrous trade deals in history, both of them. I can’t tell you which was worse; they were both terrible.

And as you know, I ended it, and I ended NAFTA. And we’re looking at the World Trade Organization. They’ve become much better — I will say that. We — World Health, I got out of because we’re spending $500 million. China was spending $38 million, and China controlled it. But World Trade, we’re looking at it. They’ve been very nice to us lately, I will say that — amazingly. We never used to win anything at the World Trade; would lose every case. Now, all of a sudden, we’re winning a lot of cases. We just won $7 billion as a case. And they’re talking to us much differently than they used to, because if they don’t shape up, we’re going to ship out. That’s all. We’re not treated fairly. 

China is treated as a developing nation. Developing nation. We’re treated as a nation that’s fully developed. We’re not fully developed, as far as I’m concerned — when you look around at Portland and you see what these Democrats are doing to our cities. Take a look at what’s happening in New York and Chicago, where you have Democrat-run cities and mayors that are running, and governors that are running states so badly, and mayors running cities so badly. It’s very sad to look at it. It’s Democrat-run, every one of them that I see. I guess we could probably find one or two that aren’t. But I don’t — so far, I haven’t been able to.

If you look at Biden, he supported TPP, Trans-Pacific Partnership, which would have been a disaster; it would have destroyed our automobile business. By the way, many plants are being built right now — auto plants — in Michigan, just like I said. They’re being built in Ohio; they’re being built in South Carolina, North Carolina. They’re being built all over and expanded at a level that we’ve never seen before, because I said to Japan and Germany and others: “Sorry, you got to come here and build plants. Otherwise, we’re going to have to make it very tough on you with tariffs.”

And we got out of the horrible Paris Climate Accord that he’ll go back into because, you know, it sounds wonderful. It’s a disaster for this country. They’ve basically taken away your wealth, the Paris Climate Accord. And the other countries don’t have to adhere to it. China doesn’t kick in until 2030; they don’t have to do anything until 2030. We had very high standards. We would have had to close, under some scenarios, 25 percent of our businesses in order to qualify under this ridiculous Paris Climate Accord. It sounds good. It was very bad, very expensive.

The New York Times has just published an entire story on Biden’s China sell-outs, which is amazing for the New York Times. I appreciate that. In 2001, Biden said, “The United States welcomes the emergence of a prosperous, integrated China on the global stage because we expect this is going to be a China that plays by the rules.” They didn’t play by the rules. They didn’t play by the rules.

The World Trade Organization, one of the reasons it’s so bad is that China didn’t play by the rules. We did. We did. But their rules were easier because they’re considered a developing nation, so they had a much lower standard. But even that, they didn’t play by the rules. That’s when they became a rocket ship. They were flat-lined for years and years and years. Then they joined the World Trade Organization. And, frankly, they cheated. Okay? They cheated. I’ll say it. What difference does it make? I feel much differently. I feel I made a great trade deal with China. Great. And they’re buying. You know why they’re buying? Because they know I’m not happy. That’s why they’re buying. And I talk about it because today is Labor Day, and it’s a good to time talk about when we’re being ripped off by countries. But nobody is even close to China.

Biden cheered China’s rise as a great power “because great powers adhere to international norms in the areas of nonproliferation, human rights, and trade.” Well, they didn’t. They took advantage of stupid people. Stupid people. And Biden is a stupid person. You know that. You’re not going to write it. But you know that. 

The cost of Biden’s economic treachery was 60,000 shuttered American factories. And I heard this morning the real number is probably 70,000 — 70,000 shuttered American factories. And he’s talking about how wonderful it is with China. No, China has been very bad, on top of which we had the China plague sent to us and other viruses — nothing near this serious — but the swine, and we had other viruses sent in over the years that came from China. I wonder why.

If Biden wins, China wins, because China will own this country. If Biden wins, China will own this country, and hopefully you’re not going to be able to find that out. It’s the most important election in our history, right now. Most important election in our history.

Under my administration, we will make America into the manufacturing superpower of the world, and we’ll end our reliance on China once and for all. Whether it’s decoupling or putting in massive tariffs like I’ve been doing already, we’re going to end our reliance on China because we can’t rely on China. And I don’t want them building a military like they’re building right now, and they’re using our money to build it.

We’ll manufacture our critical medical supplies in the United States. We’ll create “Made in America” tax credits and bring our jobs back from China to the United States. And we’ll impose tariffs on companies that desert America to create jobs in China and other countries. If they can’t do it here, then let them pay a big tax to build it someplace else and send it into our country. We’ll prohibit federal contracts from companies that outsource to China. And we’ll hold China accountable for allowing the virus to spread around the world.

Now you can understand why China would much rather see Sleepy Joe than Donald Trump. But as long as I’m President, we will never waver in our undying loyalty to the American worker and to our country as a whole.

So, Happy Labor Day, everybody.