29 posts from Wednesday, February 26, 2025

Well, it's a question we've thought a lot about. We're doing a complete review of every single aspect of what happened with the botched withdrawal of Afghanistan and plan to have full accountability. It's one of the first things we announced at the Defense Department for that reason, sir. Certainly, General Raisin Kain, who's on his way in, was not a part of that. Instead, was a part of leading the effort against ISIS by untying the hands of war fighters and finishing the job properly and then bringing our troops home. So we're taking a very different view, obviously, from the previous administration. And there will be full accountability. I don't see big promotions in that group. I think they're going to be largely gone. I know the man on my left. I think they're going to be largely gone. That was a horrible display. And I've dealt with the parents and the family of the 13 that were killed. But nobody ever talks about the 40 that were so badly hurt, with the arms and the legs and the face and the whole thing, the missing arms and legs. It was so terrible the way that was handled.

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So since the election, the confidence in our nation, including right track, wrong track -- the first time it's ever happened where we were on the right track -- because this country has been on the wrong track for a long time. So the confidence in business, confidence in the country has reached an all-time high. We have never reached levels like we are right now.

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-We're cutting down government. We're cutting down the size of government. We have to. We're bloated. We're sloppy. We have a lot of people that aren't doing their job. We have a lot of people that don't exist.

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And President Trump has put together, I think, the best cabinet ever, literally, and I do not give false praise. This is an incredible group of people. I don't think that such a talented team has actually ever been assembled. I think it's literally the best cabinet that the country's ever had, and I think the company should be incredibly appreciative of the people in this room.

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In just over one month, illegal voter crossings have plummeted by numbers that nobody's actually ever seen before -- much more than 100 percent. And we've unleashed American energy at levels that will soon be reported, but we think we're going to get it going very quickly. We have incredible people on the energy front. I think we have really great people on every front. I'll let you know if they're not good, but I think they really are. And we're fighting every day to get the prices down. The inflation is stopping slowly, but part of the reason it's stopping is because of high interest rates and other problems that we inherited. But we have to get the prices down, not the inflation down, the prices of eggs and various other things. Eggs are a disaster. The Secretary of Agriculture is going to be showing you a chart that's actually mind-boggling what's happened, how low they were with us and how high they are now. But I think we can do something about it, Madam Secretary, and I think you're going to do a fantastic job in that position.

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It -- you're being here, and we've put together a great Cabinet, and we've had tremendous success. We've been given a lot of credit for having a very successful first month. And we want to make that many months -- and years, actually -- but we're going to have many good months and we're going to have many good years, I hope. And we're going to solve a lot of problems. We're doing very well with Russia and Ukraine. President Zelensky is going to be coming on Friday. That's now confirmed. And we're going to be signing an agreement, which will be a very big agreement. And I want to thank Howard and Scott for the job you guys did in putting it together. You really did an amazing job. And that will be on Rare Earth and other things. And, as you know, we're in for probably $350 billion. Europe is in for $1 billion -- $100 billion. And that's a big difference. So we're in for probably three times as much. And yet, it's very important to everybody, but Europe is very close. We have a big ocean separating us, so it's very important for Europe. And they hopefully will step up and do maybe more than they're doing and maybe a lot more. The previous administration put us in a very bad position, but we've been able to make a deal where we're going to get our money back and we're going to get a lot of money in the future. And I think that's appropriate because we have taxpayers that are -- shouldn't be footing the bill, and they shouldn't be footing the bill at more than the Europeans are paying. So it's all been worked out. We're happy about it. And I think that, very importantly, we're going to be able to make a deal. Most importantly, by far, we're going to make a deal with Russia and Ukraine to stop killing people. They'll stop killing young Russian soldiers and young Ukrainian soldiers and other people, in addition, in the towns and cities. And we will consider that a very important thing and a big accomplishment because it was going nowhere until this administration came in. They hadn't spoken to President Putin in two years. And so we'll keep you advised. Before we begin the Cabinet, I'd like to have Scott and a couple of people say a few things.

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-The weaponization of our system by law firms, even pro bono work they're doing, just in order to clog up government, stop government. And nobody knows about it more than me, and hopefully that'll never happen again. -So, the Covington and Burlington? -Covington and Burlington. -Okay. -Mr. President, may I ask you a question about Europe? So, long term, do you plan to maintain the number of U.S. troops stationed -- -Wait, I just want to savor this one, please. Who would like this pen? Why don't you send it to Jack Smith? A deranged person.

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