12 posts from Thursday, May 15, 2025

It's a true privilege to visit your country, special country, and gather as friends. I'm honored to be the first American president ever to officially visit. To the Amir, to the royal family, and to this entire nation, congratulations on a spectacular job. As president, I'm proud that our growing friendship is blossoming into a full-fledged economic and security partnership. We're setting records on this trip. We're bringing a lot of investment back into the United States of America. We'll be well over ten trillion dollars. I want to thank your Highness for helping with that number. You know you can count on us and you know that it's going to be a great investment for you. So tonight, let us give thanks for the blessings of this friendship. We have a great friendship. I want to wish peace to the Amir and to all Qataris working together. We can help the Qatar region unlock its potential. So I just want to say it's an honor to be with you.

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Now we're looking at the President of the United States, who is now officially in the final leg of his journey at the United Arab Emirates, where he is being greeted. It looks like inside of what would be a sophisticated hangar, where Air Force One pulled into. You can see American flags there on the right? Yeah, you can see the UAE flags. So there's no stairs to walk down, he walks out to a platform. So I think this is the final leg of the trip, right? And he's been welcomed in. He's going to be touring and visiting the iconic landmark in Abu Dhabi. He's going to have dinner tonight. And there's going to be an AI roundtable and trade talks a little bit later. The UAE is extremely ambitious. They want to become a semi-conductor and AI powerhouse. And as we look for other places to get this outside China, that is music to our ears. Looks like someone presented him flowers, maybe a child, it looks like. And then we haven't talked about this. We haven't talked about this this morning, the Chinook helicopter sale to the UAE, the State Department approved a possible foreign military sale to the UAE. It would be six CH-47F Chinook helicopters worth an estimated $1.32 billion. So, Ainsley and Brian, it's always interesting when they welcome the president, because each country has done something different. We've gotten camels, we've gotten horses as well to escort the president. And now it was some type of performance that you're seeing there as they have the American flag, as well as the UAE. Yeah, perhaps more than any other Gulf state, the UAE sees investment with the U.S. central to its strategy. It will deepen ties, it'll secure, there will be secures in return, and they have the money to back it up. It's one of the wealthiest countries in the world.

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But the real strength of our military doesn't come from its fighter jets. It really comes from our people. That's you. It comes from our people. Your unbelievable people. The aptitude and all of the things you have to do to do what you do. You know, I look at some of those engines and I'm a pretty smart cookie. I would tell you I'm real smart. And I look at you and you take those engines apart and put them back together, blindfolded, and fix them up. It's amazing what you're able to do and then to fly them. Just incredible. You're incredible. You're a very special group of people. And that's why in my 2026 budget includes across the board. Maybe you don't want it. Look, for the good of the country, you don't have to take it. Pay raises for each and every one of you. Substantial pay raises. But you don't have to take it. (Applause) You don't have to take it. You can go to your commanding officer and say, "Sir, I'd rather not take that pay entry." I love my country, sir. I refuse to take it. Anybody here, raise your hand, please, if you refuse to take it. Let's stay here. All right. Well, at least we have smart people. That's good. So, you do your duty for us. And as commander in chief, I will always do and fulfill my duty to you. That's what I'm doing.

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We've raised trillions of dollars in investments. There's never been anything like it. And just to finish, we have a country that now has, I think Howard, we can say that at least $10 trillion of investment and potential investment. And if the past administration did a half a trillion dollars, it was like a lot. But we did it in two months because it's actually a little more than three months. But I always say the first month, I had to get a little bit acclimated. So I didn't really do this the first, but when we started, so we've really been doing it, Susie, right, for two months. So in two months, we're going to have over $10 trillion. Nobody's ever come. No country's ever come close to that.

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I just want to thank everybody for being here. I want to thank the media. The media, I have to say, has been very fair. They've been very fair. They've been terrific, actually. I was watching some of our, normally, they would not say good things, but they're having a hard time saying bad because this is a record tour. There's never been a tour that will raise, it could be a total of three and a half, $4 trillion. This, just in this four or five days. And it's from great people. And our relationship now is very strong with Saudi Arabia. Nobody's coming. Nobody's going to be bothering that relationship. Nobody would be able to break that relationship because of my relationship with the crown prince and the family. The relationship is really strong. And when you talk about Qatar, the relationship is equal. I mean, it's just like, nobody's going to break that relationship. We've never, we have never had a relationship with Qatar as strong as it is now. You know that better than anybody and they're very happy and we're going to protect you. We're going to protect you. That's the one thing you need, maybe. But I don't think you're going to need too much of that. And I said last night, it was a great meeting, great everything. They brought in Lee Greenwood to sing. It was a beautiful, it was a beautiful evening and I appreciate it.

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