12 posts from Wednesday, May 7, 2025

But now for the real reason, and a reason I'm very proud of because he's been my friend for a long time with swearing in our next ambassador to the People's Republic of China. What timing, David? What timing? Only you could have picked this timing. I picked him a long time ago, but it's just happened to come due on a pretty important date. But our friend, David Perdue, Senator David Perdue, joining David this afternoon, or his incredible wife, Bonnie, has been at his side for a long time. Their sons, David and Blake, their daughter-in-law, Danielle, and daughter-in-law, Charlotte, and their grandsons, David, Hudson, and Jack. That's a beautiful family. Congratulations. I didn't think you had it in you, David. That's really something. That's pretty amazing. Look at that. Our new ambassador brings to this position a lifetime of experience at the highest levels of business and politics, and he is at the highest level. Over four decades in business he rose to lead several major American corporations, including, as the president and CEO of the footwear giant Reebok, where he did very well and did a great job, and later CEO of Dollar General. Likewise, he did a great job. David also lived and worked in Singapore and Hong Kong for several years, developing a wealth of experience negotiating and doing tremendous business deals for lots of different leaders that he worked with. Following his tremendous business success, as an executive, David stepped forward to serve America in government, and as we all know, in 2014 he was elected United States Senate in Georgia, and he was very popular, very respected from day one. He served on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and was a tremendous partner to our administration during my first term. I dealt with him a lot, and he solved a lot of problems. Now I'm interesting David to help manage one of America's most complex and consequential foreign relationships, and I know he'll do a fantastic job. As our lead diplomat in Beijing, David will work to promote American interests and stability in the Indo-Pacific, help stop the flood of Chinese fentanyl across our borders, which we have to do. We lost, I believe, 300,000 people last year, seek fairness and reciprocity for the American worker, ensure the safety of our citizens overseas, and promote peace in the region and in the world. And I'm confident that he will do an exceptional job. He's an exceptional man, and make our country very proud, and make our country very safe, too. So David, I want to congratulate you. This is as big as it gets, and the timing is unbelievable, but it's time that we have somebody like this. This is a very, very extraordinary man, and you're going to do a fantastic job. And say hello to President Xi when you're over there, please. Okay? Thank you very much. Marco, would you do the service? Thank you. You stand here and raise your right hand. Raise your right hand. Aye. Stephen. Aye. David Perdue. Do solemnly swear. Do solemnly swear. That I will support and defend. That I will support and defend. The Constitution of the United States. The Constitution of the United States. Against all enemies. Against all enemies. Foreign and domestic. Foreign and domestic. That I will bear true faith. That I will bear true faith. And allegiance. And allegiance. That I will do the same. That I take this obligation freely. That I take this obligation freely. Without any mental reservation. Without any mental reservation. Or purpose of evasion. Or purpose of evasion. And that I will well. And that I will well. And faithfully discharge. And faithfully discharge. The duties of the office. The duties of the office. On which I am about to enter. On which I am about to enter. So help me God. So help me God. Congratulations. (applause) David, would you like to say something? Mr. President, I'm humbled to be in this office today. I love what you've done with this office. I like the Declaration of Independence. I want the world to know that I know this man personally. He loves this country, and I am glad to be your man in China. Thank you. Thank you, David. (applause) I think just for the sake of formality. Here we go, David. Come on up. Come on up here, Bonnie. That's what it's all about, right? And now we send you on your way. Lots of luck. Yes, sir. We're right behind you, David. We're important to seeing you over there, sir. Okay. Have a good time. Congratulations, everybody. -Thank you. -Congratulations.

Transcribed automatically. Expect errors in names and numbers.

Well, thank you very much. Before we begin, I'm pleased to announce that I've just signed a proclamation officially designating tomorrow, May 8th, as a victory day for World War II, commemorating the 80th anniversary of America's victory in the Second World War. All over the globe, our World War II allies are celebrating this week, but the United States has never joined in with the proper celebration of our own, and the victory was mostly accomplished because of us. Whether you like it or not, we came into that war, and we won that war, and we had a lot of help from a lot of great people, a lot of great allies. But I think there would be nobody that would say that we were not the dominant force in that war, and we don't celebrate it, and I think that's a great disservice to the people that lost their lives and people that fought so hard in winning World War II, and also a separate victory day for World War I, and we're going to be doing that, too. It was American tanks and ships and trucks and airplanes and service members that vanquished the enemy 80 years ago this week without America. The liberation would never have happened, and so we have to pay tribute and homage to those people that gave us victory. And we did something else that people don't talk about. We rebuilt the world. All of these countries that were destroyed, we helped them rebuild. And that's something that, for the most part, others did not do. So with this proclamation, we are here by honoring the incredible sacrifice and heroism of millions of Americans who served in World War II, along with the unprecedented mobilization, home front that helped deliver this great triumph. All Americans should take pride in what these incredible patriots have achieved. So I just want to say happy victory day to all. So we are celebrating every year now. I can guarantee for four years, but I think after that we're going to have two victory days, World War I and World War II. This is World War II Victory Day. In the future, we're going to have a major celebration of each day. We're not going to have days off because we don't have enough days in the year. We have too many celebrations already. But we're going to have Victory Day and first World War I, World War II. And without us, those wars would not have been won. I think we can say that would not have been won. And I think it's time that the United States start taking credit for their achievements. And it's -- I really believe it's a shame. You know, I was watching for the last week, and I noticed France. I noticed other countries all getting ready for Victory Day. And I said that's sort of strange because David just added something. He said we also rebuilt the world. And I didn't have that, and I should have that. That was a big factor. But I noticed all of the countries, Russia, having a big day tomorrow. And by the way, they lost millions of people. And they were absolutely a major factor. But there was no major factor like us. We won the war, and we won it with the help of others. But everybody was celebrating with the United States of America. And I said, you know, I think it's time that we start celebrating victory. And that's what we're doing.

Transcribed automatically. Expect errors in names and numbers.

Welcome to the first meeting of the White House FIFA Task Force. In my first term, I negotiated the return of the World Cup to America, and now in my second term, I'll have the honor of hosting the World Cup for the first time of any president in more than 30 years. Starting this June, the United States will host the 2025 Club World Cup, and next summer, we'll host the official 2026 World Cup Tournament. America will welcome the world, everyone who wants to come here to enjoy, to have fun, to celebrate the game. I think that you'll see the very best of the United States of America, both in athletic competition, but also in hospitality. This is one of those events that I think is going to be remarkable and will stand the test of time as the world's greatest sporting event ever held and conducted. Great events don't happen unless you have great planning and starting well over a year in advance, putting your team together to make sure this event goes off without a hitch. I thank you for that. Thank you, everybody, very much. Appreciate it.

Transcribed automatically. Expect errors in names and numbers.