Donald Trump - Wikiwand

Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who has served as the 47th president of the United States of America since January 20, 2025. He previously served as the 45th president from 2017 to 2021.

Quotes

1980s

Rona Barrett: If you lost your fortune today, what would you do tomorrow?
Donald Trump: Maybe I’d run for president. I don’t know.
- An interview with Rona Barrett (1980)

Rona Barrett: Would you like to be the President of the United States?
Donald Trump: I really don't believe I would, Rona. But I would like to see somebody as the president who could do the job, and there are very capable people in this country.
Barrett: Why wouldn't you dedicate yourself to public service?
Trump: Because I think it's a very mean life. I would love, and I would dedicate my life to this country but I see it as being a mean life, and I also see it in somebody with strong views, and somebody with the kind of views that are maybe a little bit unpopular, which may be right, but may be unpopular, wouldn't necessarily have a chance of getting elected against somebody with no great brain but a big smile.
- An interview with Rona Barrett (1980)

Rona Barrett: How would you like to be remembered?
Donald Trump: Well, as somebody that’s contributed something to the United States and to the City of New York, and to the various other places that I’m going, and somebody that’s done a little bit better than other people at what he does.
- An interview with Rona Barrett (1980)

I said, 'I will build you this incredible, gorgeous, gleaming hotel. I will put people to work in the construction trades and save hotel jobs and the Grand Central area will come around.' So the city made the deal.
- Bender, Marilyn (7 August 1983), "The Empire and Ego of Donald Trump", The New York Times

"Give them the old Trump bullshit," he told the architect Der Scutt before a presentation of the Trump Tower design at a press conference in 1980. "Tell them it is going to be a million square feet, sixty-eight stories."
- Marie Brenner "After the Gold Rush", Vanity Fair (September 1, 1990)

Some people have an ability to negotiate. It's an art you're basically born with. You either have it or you don't.
It would take an hour-and-a-half to learn everything there is to learn about missiles. I think I know most of it anyway. You're talking about just getting updated on a situation
- Romano, Lois (15 November 1984), "Donald Trump, Holding All The Cards The Tower! The Team! The Money! The Future!", Washington Post , talking about his desire to be involved in negotiations with the then Soviet Union

I have featured and will always continue to feature my name prominently in all my enterprises.
- Business Week (July 22, 1985)

I look at things for the art sake and the beauty sake and for the deal sake.
- New York (July 11, 1988), p. 24

I'm not big on compromise. I understand compromise. Sometimes compromise is the right answer, but oftentimes compromise is the equivalent of defeat, and I don't like being defeated.
- Life, Vol. 12 (January 1989), p. iii

Mayor Koch has stated that hate and rancor should be removed from our hearts. I do not think so.
- "Bring Back the Death Penalty. Bring Back Our Police!" An advert taken out by Trump in the New York Daily News and other newspapers in the wake of the arrests of the Central Park Five (whose convictions were eventually vacated once the real perpetrator was identified in 2002) (May 1, 1989)

How can our great society tolerate the continued brutalization of its citizens by crazed misfits? Criminals must be told that their CIVIL LIBERTIES END WHEN AN ATTACK ON OUR SAFETY BEGINS!
- "Bring Back the Death Penalty. Bring Back Our Police!" An advert taken out by Trump in the New York Daily News and other newspapers in the wake of the arrests of the Central Park Five (whose convictions were eventually vacated once the real perpetrator was identified in 2002) (May 1, 1989)

Let our politicians give back our police department's power to keep us safe. Unshackle them from the constant chant of "police brutality" which every petty criminal hurls immediately at an officer who has just risked his or her life to save another's.
- "Bring Back the Death Penalty. Bring Back Our Police!" An advert taken out by Trump in the New York Daily News and other newspapers in the wake of the arrests of the Central Park Five (whose convictions were eventually vacated once the real perpetrator was identified in 2002) (May 1, 1989)

Of course I hate these people and let's all hate these people because maybe hate is what we need if we're gonna get something done.
- In 1989 interview with Larry King, about the Central Park Five (who was later found to have been wrongfully convicted)

I like to hire people that I've seen in action. I often hire people that were on the opposing side of a deal that I respect.
- The Washington Post (September 23, 1989), as quoted in The World According to Trump (2005) by Ken Lawrence, p. 25

I think if this country gets any kinder or gentler, it's literally going to cease to exist.
- Playboy (March 1990)

Trump: The Art of the Deal (1987)

From Trump: The Art of the Deal (1987) by Donald J. Trump with Tony Schwartz.

I don't do it for the money. I've got enough, much more than I'll ever need. I do it to do it. Deals are my art form. Other people paint beautifully on canvas or write wonderful poetry. I like making deals, preferably big deals. That's how I get my kicks.
- p. 1

I try to learn from the past, but I plan for the future by focusing exclusively on the present.
- p. 2

Sometimes it pays to be a little wild.
- p. 5

Experience taught me a few things. One is to listen to your gut, no matter how good something sounds on paper. The second is that you're generally better off sticking with what you know. And the third is that sometimes your best investments are the ones you don't make.
- p. 28

My philosophy is always to hire the best from the best.
- p. 31

Deal-making is an ability you're born with. It's in the genes.
- p. 45

I like thinking big. I always have. To me it's very simple: if you're going to be thinking anyway, you might as well think big. Most people think small, because most people are afraid of success, afraid of making decisions, afraid of winning. And that gives people like me a great advantage.
- p. 46

I wasn't satisfied just to earn a good living. I was looking to make a statement.
- p. 47

People think I'm a gambler. I've never gambled in my life. To me, a gambler is someone who plays slot machines. I prefer to own slot machines. It's a very good business being the house.
- p. 48

The point is that you can't be too greedy.
- p. 48

I'm a great believer in asking everyone for an opinion before I make a decision. ... I ask and I ask and I ask, until I begin to get a gut feeling about something. And that's when I make a decision. I have learned much more from conducting my own random surveys than I could ever have learned from the greatest of consulting firms.
- pp. 51–52

The worst thing you can possibly do in a deal is seem desperate to make it. That makes the other guy smell blood, and then you're dead. The best thing you can do is deal from strength, and leverage is the biggest strength you can have. Leverage is having something the other guy wants. Or better yet, needs. Or best of all, simply can't do without. Unfortunately, that isn't always the case, which is why leverage often requires imagination, and salesmanship.
- p. 53

The final key to the way I promote is bravado. I play to people's fantasies. People may not always think big themselves, but they can still get very excited by those who do. That's why a little hyperbole never hurts. People want to believe that something is the biggest and the greatest and the most spectacular. I call it truthful hyperbole. It's an innocent form of exaggeration—and a very effective form of promotion.
- p. 58

My experience is that if you're fighting for something you believe in—even if it means alienating some people along the way—things usually work out for the best in the end.
- p. 59

One of the problems when you become successful is that jealousy and envy inevitably follow. There are people—I categorize them as life's losers—who get their sense of accomplishment and achievement from trying to stop others. As far as I'm concerned, if they had any real ability they wouldn't be fighting me, they'd be doing something constructive themselves.
- p. 59

You can't con people, at least not for long. You can create excitement, you can do wonderful promotion and get all kinds of press, and you can throw in a little hyperbole. But if you don't deliver the goods, people will eventually catch on.
- p. 60

Money was never a big motivation for me, except as a way to keep score. The real excitement is playing the game.
- p. 63

Get in, get it done, get it done right, and get out.
- p. 65

The most important thing in life is to love what you're doing, because that's the only way you'll ever be really good at it.
- p. 67

You can't be scared. You do your thing, you hold your ground, you stand up tall, and whatever happens, happens.
- p. 89

My own mother was a housewife all her life. And yet it's turned out that I've hired a lot of women for top jobs, and they've been among my best people. Often, in fact, they are far more effective than the men around them.
- p. 173

In the end, you're measured not by how much you undertake but by what you finally accomplish.
- p. 355

What I admire most are people who put themselves directly on the line.
- p. 367

In my life, there are two things I've found I'm very good at: overcoming obstacles and motivating good people to do their best work.
- p. 367

1990

What separates the winners from the losers is how a person reacts to each new twist of fate.
- Trump: Surviving at the Top (1990), p. 3

She turned out to be the wife of a man who was then the prime minister of a major country. I'd heard stories about this lady, but I never thought much of them until that night. We met at the house of the friend who'd phoned me. After we'd all chatted for a while in the living room, the four of us who already knew each other drifted out to the kitchen, leaving Ben and Madame X in the living room to get better acquainted. Which they did. In fact, when we drifted back in, about ten minutes later, she and Ben were involved in an incredibly torrid scene on the couch. I remember standing there and thinking to myself, "Well, Donald, you're not in Queens anymore."
- Trump: Surviving at the Top (1990), p. 52

"When a man leaves a woman, especially when it was perceived that he has left for a piece of ass—a good one!—there are 50 percent of the population who will love the woman who was left," he told me.
- "After the Gold Rush", Vanity Fair, 1 September 1990 by Marie Brenner

"I want five children, like in my own family, because with five, then I will know that one will be guaranteed to turn out like me," Donald told a close friend.
- Marie Brenner (1 September 1990), "After the Gold Rush", Vanity Fair

Very good question. (pause) I don't think it's a sin but I don't think it should be done.
- in response to the question, "Is adultery a sin."
- in the New York Post (February 23, 1990), as archived at the Daily Beast

Leona Helmsley is a truly evil human being. She treated employees worse than any human being I've ever witnessed and I've dealt with some of the toughest human beings alive.
- Glenn Plaskin (March 1990), "The Playboy Interview with Donald Trump", Playboy

When the students poured into Tiananmen Square, the Chinese government almost blew it. Then they were vicious, they were horrible, but they put it down with strength. That shows you the power of strength.
- Glenn Plaskin (March 1990), "The Playboy Interview with Donald Trump", Playboy , quoted in "Bury Trump in a Landslide", New York Daily News, 20 October 2016

I said to the bankers, "Listen, fellows, if I have a problem, then you have a problem. We have to find a way out or it's going to be a difficult time for both of us."
- Fortune (August 13, 1990), as quoted in The World According to Trump (2005) by Ken Lawrence, p. 44
- Cf. J. Paul Getty: "If you owe the bank $100, that's your problem. If you owe the bank $100 million, that's the bank's problem."

1991

You know, it doesn't really matter what the media writes as long as you've got a young and beautiful piece of ass.
- Esquire Interview (1991)

1992

You have to treat 'em [women] like s--- ^[sic]
- Reported in Baumgold, Julie (1992-11-09). "Fighting Back: Trump Scrambles off the Canvas". New York 25 (44): p. 43. . Bowdlerization in the original.

Wow! Just think — in a couple of years I'll be dating you.
- to two 14-year-old girls in 1992
- from the Chicago Tribune, as archived at Slate

He's a good guy, and he's not going to hurt anybody. . . . He treated his wife well and . . . he will treat Marla well.

Actresses, people that you write about just call to see if they can go out with him and things.

I mean, he's living with Marla and he's got three other girlfriends.

He does things for himself. When he makes a decision, that will be a very lucky woman.

Speaking about himself under the pseudonym of John Miller in a 1991 interview with a People reporter, Donald Trump masqueraded as publicist to brag about himself, Washington Post

I'm gonna be dating her in ten years.
- of a 10-year-old girl, in 1992
- Emily Schultheis (13 October 2016), "More allegations, questionable Trump comments on women surface", CBS News

1993

Howard Stern: So, you treat women with respect?
Donald Trump: Uh, I can't say that either.
Stern: Alright, good.
- An interview on The Howard Stern Show, 1993

You know, if you’re young, and in this era, and if you have any guilt about not having gone to Vietnam, we have our own Vietnam—it’s called the dating game... Dating is like being in Vietnam. You’re the equivalent of a soldier going over to Vietnam.
- An interview on The Howard Stern Show, 1993, archived by People

I am not a law enforcement officer. I am not supposed to be going around checking Indian reservations. That is what you have the FBI for, and they are very capable, the most capable.
- Oversight Hearing Before the Subcommittee on Native American Affairs of the Committee on Natural Resources, House of Representatives, October 5, 1993: In Implementation of Indian Gaming Regulatory Act: Oversight Hearing Before the Subcommittee on Native American Affairs of the Committee on Natural Resources, House of Representatives, One Hundred Third Congress ... Public Law 100-497, the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988, Part 5, page 187

1994

Well, I think that she's got a lot of Marla [Maples, Trump's second wife], she's a really beautiful baby, and she's got Marla's legs. We don't know whether she's got this part yet [gestures toward own chest], but time will tell...
- On his then-one year old daughter Tiffany, Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, 1994

Everybody's always blaming me for everything.
- 16 May 1994 in "For Sale by Owner" s4e24 of "Fresh Prince of Bel-Air", video here

1996

Let's make a deal; if you promise not to get "personal" with me, I will promise not to show you as the crude, fat and obnoxious slob which everyone knows you are. Sincerely, Donald J. Trump.
- Letter to journalist Shannon Donnelly, 1996

1997

“It’s amazing, I can’t even believe it. I’ve been so lucky in terms of that whole world, it is a dangerous world out there. It’s like Vietnam, sort of. It is my personal Vietnam. I feel like a great and very brave solider”
- speaking of having sex and referring to women's genitals as “potential landmines”.
- An interview on The Howard Stern Show, 1997, archived by People

1999

I'm conservative, and even very conservative. But I'm quite liberal and getting much more liberal on health care and other things. I really say: What's the purpose of a country if you're not going to have defensive and health care? If you can't take care of your sick in the country, forget it, it's all over. I mean, it's no good. So I'm very liberal when it comes to health care. I believe in universal health care. I believe in whatever it takes to make people well and better.
- Interview with Larry King CNN (October 1999)

I surround myself with the best people. I know the best people.
- On an interview (1999 November 26)

The part of my life I think I'm most disappointed in is that I have not had the great marriage. And I would have thought that would have happened, because I came from a home—you know, it's not like some of my friends, they get divorced, but their parents were divorced twice or three times. I came from a home where marriage was just incredible. I mean, my parents truly loved each other.
- Good Morning America (2 December 1999), as quoted in The World According to Trump (2005) by Ken Lawrence, p. 46

I'm on the conservative side, but [Pat] Buchanan is Attila the Hun.
- As quoted in Selected Quotes from Newsweek Magazine, 1999 — Richard Watanabe - Newsweek Quotes, 1999. Sph.umich.edu. Retrieved on 2010-06-13.

People want me to [run for president] all the time … I don't like it. Can you imagine how controversial I'd be? You think about him [Bill Clinton] and the women. How about me with the women? Can you imagine?
- On Hardball with Chris Matthews, as quoted in Deborah Orin (12 July 1999), "Trump ‘toys’ with prez run", New York Post

2000

I generally oppose gun control, but I support the ban on assault weapons.
- Trump, Donald; Shiflett, Dave (2000). The America We Deserve. Renaissance Books. ISBN 1580631312. ; Qiu, Linda; Bennett, Kitty (March 12, 2018). "Trump's Evolving Positions on Gun Issues". The New York Times. Retrieved on September 6, 2018.

So the Reform Party now includes a Klansman, Mr. Duke, a neo-Nazi, Mr. Buchanan, and a communist, Ms. Fulani. This is not company I wish to keep.
- As quoted in "QUOTATION OF THE DAY". The New York Times. 14 February 2000.

I judge people based on their capability, honesty, and merit.
- "Trump towers", interview with Paul Alexander, The Advocate (15 February 2000), p. 23

It's very possible that I could be the first presidential candidate to run and make money on it.
- Reported by Jerry Useem, "What Does Donald Trump Really Want?", Fortune, 3 April 2000.

2002

I think the regulations are very tough, but I think they could be made tougher. And where they really have to be made tougher is when somebody is proven to be dishonest, not a mistake, not an honest mistake because look, people make bad business deals all the time. When somebody is proven to be dishonest, really harsh punishment has to take place.
- Hardball with Chris Matthews (15 July 2002), as quoted in The World According to Trump (2005) by Ken Lawrence, p. 23

Howard Stern: Are you for the invasion of Iraq?
Donald Trump: Yeah, I guess so. I wish, uh, I wish the first time it was done correctly.
- Interview on Howard Stern Show (11 September 2002), reported by BuzzFeed (19 February 2016)

I've known Jeff for fifteen years. Terrific guy. He's a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side. No doubt about it — Jeffrey enjoys his social life.
- On Jeffrey Epstein. Quoted in New York, 28 October 2002.

I don't know how you do it. I've put together some really impressive deals, but this thing you've pulled off, it's amazing: a Big N' Tasty for just a dollar. How do you do it? What's your secret? Together Grimace, we could own this town.
- Trump's lines in a McDonald's advert (2002), quoted in Rachel Desantis (15 January 2019), "Donald Trump’s lifelong love of fast food, from his 2002 McDonald’s commercial to ‘hamberders’", New York Daily News

2003

I love beautiful women, and beautiful women love me. It has to be both ways.
- Interview with Norwegian talk show host Fredrik Skavlan in (November 2003).^{[specific citation needed]}

2004

Now, if your boss is a sadist, then you have a big problem. In that case, fire your boss and get a new job.
- Trump: How to Get Rich (2004)

If you don't tell people about your success, they probably won't know about it.
- Trump: How to Get Rich (2004), p. xiii

Get going. Move forward. Aim high. Plan for a takeoff. Don't just sit on the runway and hope someone will come along and push the airplane. It simply won't happen. Change your attitude and gain some altitude. Believe me, you'll love it up here.
- Trump: How to Get Rich (2004), p. 74

In business—every business—the bottom line is understanding the process. If you don't understand the process, you'll never reap the rewards of the process.
- Trump: How to Get Rich (2004), p. 86

Watch, listen, and learn. You can't know it all yourself—anyone who thinks that they do is destined for mediocrity.
- Trump: The Way to the Top: The Best Business Advice I Ever Received (2004), p. 20

I don't like firing people. It's not a pleasant thing and it's sad. ... In some cases, it's a terrible, terrible situation for the person who gets fired, how strongly they take it. So it's not something that any rational or sane person can love doing, but it also happens to be a fact of life in business.
- Boston Herald (7 January 2004), as quoted in The World According to Trump (2005) by Ken Lawrence, p. 16

People say, "Do you have the same opportunity today as you had years ago?" And I said, "Absolutely." You always have an opportunity. There's always an opportunity, especially in this country.
- Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer, CNN (21 March 2004)

All of the women on The Apprentice flirted with me - consciously or unconsciously. That's to be expected.
- Ny Daily News (24 March 2004)

[On "You're fired!":] There's a beauty in those two words. When you utter those words, there's very little that can be said. There's a succinctness to those words.
- Armstrong, David (28 March 2004), "Trump TV / 'The Apprentice' takes realistic inside look at corporate world", San Francisco Chronicle

My life is seeing everything in terms of "How would I handle that?" Look at the war in Iraq and the mess that we're in. I would never have handled it that way. Does anybody really believe that Iraq is going to be a wonderful democracy where people are going to run down to the voting box and gently put in their ballot and the winner is happily going to step up to lead the county? C'mon. Two minutes after we leave, there's going to be a revolution, and the meanest, toughest, smartest, most vicious guy will take over. And he'll have weapons of mass destruction, which Saddam didn't have. What was the purpose of this whole thing? Hundreds and hundreds of young people killed. And what about the people coming back with no arms and legs? Not to mention the other side. All those Iraqi kids who've been blown to pieces. And it turns out that all of the reasons for the war were blatantly wrong. All this for nothing!
- Esquire magazine (August 2004); "Donald Trump: How I'd Run the Country (Better)" (18 August 2015)

Pregnancy is "a wonderful thing for the woman, it's a wonderful thing for the husband, it's certainly an inconvenience for a business."
- About pregnancy (2004)

The concept of shaking hands is absolutely terrible, and statistically I’ve been proven right.
- Playboy, 2004

In many cases, I probably identify more as Democrat. It just seems that the economy does better under the Democrats than the Republicans. Now, it shouldn't be that way. But if you go back, I mean it just seems that the economy does better under the Democrats. ...But certainly we had some very good economies under Democrats, as well as Republicans. But we've had some pretty bad disaster under the Republicans.
- Said in an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer, as quoted by Chris Moody, "Trump in '04: 'I probably identify more as Democrat'", CNN

2005

I'll go backstage, before a show, and everyone's getting dressed and ready and everything else. And you know, no men are anywhere. And I'm allowed to go in because I'm the owner of the pageant and therefore I'm inspecting it. You know I'm inspecting, I want to make sure everything is good, the dresses, "Is everyone OK?", you know they're standing there with no clothes, "Is everybody OK?", and you see these incredible-looking women, and so I sort of get away with things like that.
- Comments about his ownership of Miss Universe on the Howard Stern Show (11 April 2005)

They had a person who was extremely proud that a number of the women had become doctors. And I wasn't interested.
- Comments about his ownership of Miss Universe on the Howard Stern Show (11 April 2005)

I did try and fuck her. She was married. I moved on her like a bitch, but I couldn't get there. And she was married. Then all of a sudden I see her, she's now got the big phony tits and everything. She's totally changed her look. I've gotta use some Tic Tacs, just in case I start kissing her. You know, I'm automatically attracted to beautiful — I just start kissing them. It's like a magnet. Just kiss. I don't even wait. When you're a star, they let you do it. You can do anything... Grab 'em by the pussy. You can do anything.
- To Billy Bush in 2005; "Transcript: Donald Trump's Taped Comments About Women", The New York Times (8 October 2016)

2006

It would be really disappointing — not really — but it would depend on what’s inside the magazine. I don’t think Ivanka would do that, although she does have a very nice figure. I’ve said if Ivanka weren’t my daughter, perhaps I’d be dating her.
- On 7 March 2006 during an appearance on the daytime talk show The View while discussing the possibility of Ivanka Trump’s posing for Playboy magazine. As quoted in Did Donald Trump Say He’d Like to Date His Daughter? by Dan Evon, 10 July 2015, Snopes, and quoted with video clip in Adam Withnall (10 October 2016), "Donald Trump's unsettling record of comments about his daughter Ivanka", The Independent (UK)

I thought today's women were independent and had a lot of sexual freedom. ... Well, I guess they fooled me.
- In April 2006, about women's disaproval of one-night stands. As quoted in Trump on Clinton in 2008: ‘She'd make a good president' (July 11, 2016) by Michael Rothfield and Mark Maremont, MarketWatch.

Jon Ward: There's a lot of talk, which you no doubt heard too, about a sort of real estate bubble. What's your take on that pessimism?
Donald Trump: Well, first of all, I sort of hope that happens because then people like me would go in and buy.
- How to Build a Fortune (2006), Trump University audiobook, quoted in Jeremy Diamond (19 May 2016), "Donald Trump in 2006: I 'sort of hope' real estate market tanks", CNN

No, I have no age — I mean, I have age limit. I don't want to be like Congressman Foley, with, you know, 12-year-olds,
- Donald Trump Howard Stern Tapes Show Him Saying 35 Is 'Check-Out Time' For Women And Agreeing His Daughter Is A 'Piece Of Ass' (2006) When asked if he has an age limit for women he'll sleep with.

2007

Since I love what I do, I do it vigorously and I do it better. Because I inject it with enthusiasm and passion, it doesn't feel like work. My passion spills over to everyone around me and motivates them to do their very best.
- Trump 101 The Way to Success (2007), p. 1

Passion is absolutely necessary to achieve any kind of long-lasting success. I know this from experience. If you don't have passion, everything you do will ultimately fizzle out or, at best, be mediocre.
- Trump 101 The Way to Success (2007), p. 2

The war is total disaster. It's a catastrophe, nothing less. It is such a shame that this took place. In fact, I gained a lot of respect for our current president's father by the fact that he had the sense not to go in to Iraq. He won the war and then said let's not go the rest of the way and he turned out to be right. And Saddam Hussein, whether they like him or didn't like him, he hated terrorists. He'd shoot and kill terrorists. When terrorists came in to his country, which he did control and he did dominate, he would kill terrorists. Now it's a breeding ground for terrorists. So, look, the war is a total catastrophe...and they have a civil war going on.
- Interview on "The Situation Room" with Wolf Blitzer (16 March 2007)

I make that --- twice now, on a Monday I let returning Iraqi injured soldiers come to the premises. The most beautiful people I've ever seen. But they're missing arms and legs, they're with their wives, sometimes they're with their girlfriends. And the tears are coming down the faces of these people. I mean, thousands and maybe hundreds of thousands, and the Iraqis that have been just maimed and killed. This war is a horrible thing. Now, President Bush says he's religious. And yet 400,000 people, the way I count it, have died, and probably millions have been badly maimed and injured. What's going on? What's going on? And the day we pull out it's going to explode. We're keeping the lid on a little bit. It's still a catastrophe, but the day we pull out, because they're in a civil war. Whether we want to admit it or not, they're in a civil war.
- Interview on "The Situation Room" with Wolf Blitzer (16 March 2007)

Hillary Clinton I think is a terrific woman. I am biased because I have known her for years. I live in New York. She lives in New York. I really like her and her husband both a lot. I think she really works hard. And I think, again, she's given an agenda, it is not all of her, but I think she really works hard and I think she does a good job. I like her.
- 2007 CNN interview, reported in Zeke J. Miller, "When Donald Trump Praised Hillary Clinton", Time (July 17, 2015).

Trump Steaks are the world's greatest steaks, and I mean that in every sense of the word. Treat yourself to the very, very best life has to offer you. And as a gift, Trump Steaks are the best you can give. One bite, and you'll know exactly what I'm talking about, and believe me. I understand steaks, it's my favorite food.
- Lines marking the introduction of Trump Steaks by The Sharper Image (2007)

My net worth fluctuates, and it goes up and down with the markets and with attitudes and with feelings, even my own feelings, but I try.
- Claimed in December 2007, quoted in "Trump: I'm worth whatever I feel", CNN (April 21, 2011)

Congratulations on being named Time magazine's 'Man of the Year' — you definitely deserve it. As you have probably heard, I'm a big fan of yours!
- Letter to Russian president Vladimir Putin

2008

They'll walk up, and they'll flip their top, and they'll flip their panties.
- Interview on The Howard Stern Show (2008)

Hillary Clinton said she'd consider naming Barack Obama as her vice president when she gets the nomination, but she's nowhere near a shoo-in.
- About the 2008 Democratic Party presidential primaries in audio released by the Journal. As quoted in Donald Trump Once Said Hillary Clinton Would Make A 'Good President' (July 12, 2016) by Tara John, The Times.

For his part, Obama said he's just focused on winning the nomination although at least one member on his team said Clinton would make a good vice president. Well, I know her and she'd make a good president or good vice president.
- About the 2008 Democratic Party presidential primaries in an audio from "Trumped!", a syndicated radio feature that aired from 2004 to 2008. As quoted in Donald Trump Once Said Hillary Clinton Would Make A 'Good President' (July 12, 2016) by Tara John, The Times.

It's very exciting we have a new president. It would have been nice if he ended with a 500 point up instead of down. It's certainly very exciting. His speech was great last night. I thought it was inspiring in every way. And, hopefully he's going to do a great job. But the way I look at it, he cannot do worse than Bush.
- "Donald Trump on President-Elect Obama: 'He Cannot Do Worse Than Bush'" Interview with Greta Van Susteren Fox News (6 November 2008)

2009

If I'd started in business thinking I knew everything, I'd have been sunk before I started... Never think of learning as being a burden or studying as being boring. It may require some discipline, but it can be an adventure. It can also prepare you for a new beginning.
- Think Like a Champion: An Informal Education In Business and Life (2009), pp. 16–17

Without passion, you don't have energy; without energy, you have nothing. Nothing great in the world has been accomplished without passion.
- As quoted in Social Networking for Authors: Untapped Possibilities for Wealth (2009) by Michael Volkin, p. 60

let's just talk. I'll give you as much time as you want. I'll tell you what you need to know
- 2009 to Bradley Edwards (attorney prosecuting Jeffrey Epstein) as narrated by Edwards in December 2018 interview, according to 7 July 2019 article by Joe Hoft of Gateway Pundit

2010

Well, I think I was born with a drive for success. I had a father who was successful. He was a builder in Brooklyn and Koreans. And he was successful. And, you know, I have a certain gene. I'm a gene believer. Hey, when you connect two race horses, you usually end up with a fast horse. And I really was -- you know, I had a -- a good gene pool from the standpoint of that.
- CNN interview (February 2010)

2011

Part of the beauty of me is that I am very rich.
- Interview with Ashleigh Banfield on ABC's Good Morning America (17 March 2011); also in Neil King Jr. (17 March 2011), "Trump on 2012: ‘Part of Beauty of Me Is I'm Very Rich’", Washington Wire (Wall Street Journal)

They asked John McCain for his birth certificate. They've asked others for their birth certificate. They asked Bush for his birth certificate, by the way. I just found out over the weekend. And they would ask me for my birth certificate and by the way, it's sitting on the top of my desk. They give you a certificate of live birth, which anybody can get, just walk into the hospital, and you get a certificate of live birth. It's not even signed by people. Now, this guy either has a birth certificate or he doesn't. And I didn't think this was such a big deal, but I will tell you, it's turning out to be a very big deal because people now are calling me from all over saying, please don't give up on this issue. If you weren't born in this country, you cannot be president.
- About Barack Obama's birth certificate. Fox & Friends, Fox News, 28 March 2011
- "Fox Goes Birther: Trump Tells Unquestioning Co-hosts, "I'm Starting To Wonder...Whether Or Not [Obama] Was Born In This Country"", Media Matters for America, 28 March 2011, retrieved on 2011-03-30

So he could have come into the country, and they did it for social reasons they put it in! They did it for whatever reason. There are a lot of reasons you could have put an ad in. But he could have been born outside of this country. Why can't he produce a birth certificate and by the way, there is one story that his family doesn't even know what hospital he was born in!
- About Barack Obama's birth certificate. Fox & Friends, Fox News, 28 March 2011
- "Fox Goes Birther: Trump Tells Unquestioning Co-hosts, "I'm Starting To Wonder...Whether Or Not [Obama] Was Born In This Country"", Media Matters for America, 28 March 2011, retrieved on 2011-03-30

I start off every time I talk about the birthers, I start off by saying, and it's very interesting, I was a great student at the best college in the country. You know? I want to let people know. I'm a smart guy. Because what they do to the birthers, and I don't even like the term, the birthers. I think it's unfair to them. These are people that want to see a birth certificate. They want to know that the president was born here!
- About Barack Obama's birth certificate. Fox & Friends, Fox News, 28 March 2011
- "Fox Goes Birther: Trump Tells Unquestioning Co-hosts, "I'm Starting To Wonder...Whether Or Not [Obama] Was Born In This Country"", Media Matters for America, 28 March 2011, retrieved on 2011-03-30

Because if you're not born in the United States, you cannot be president. And, there is a real question. And if this birth certificate exists, you know what I get a kick out of? The Governor of Hawaii says, "I remember when he was born 50 years ago." I doubt it. I think this guy should be investigated. I doubt it. He remembers when Obama was born? Give me a break! He's just trying to do something for his party. The fact is, if you're not born in the United States, you cannot be president. He is having a hard time — he spent millions of dollars trying to get away from this issue, millions of dollars in legal fees trying to get away from this issue. And I'll tell you what, I brought it up just routinely and all of a sudden, a lot of facts are emerging, and I'm starting to wonder myself whether or not he was born in this country.
- About Barack Obama's birth certificate. Fox & Friends, Fox News, 28 March 2011
- "Fox Goes Birther: Trump Tells Unquestioning Co-hosts, "I'm Starting To Wonder...Whether Or Not [Obama] Was Born In This Country"", Media Matters for America, 28 March 2011, retrieved on 2011-03-30

Donald Trump: Meredith, he spent two million dollars in legal fees trying to get away from this issue. And if he weren't lying, why wouldn't he just solve it? And I wish he would, because if he doesn't, it's one of the greatest scams in the history of politics, and in the history period. You are not allowed to be a president if you're not born in this country. He may not be born in this country. And I'll tell you what, three weeks ago I thought he was born in this country. Right now, I have some real doubts. I have people that actually have been studying it and they cannot believe what they're finding.
Meredith Vieira: You have people now, down there searching—
Trump: Absolutely.
Vieira: I mean, in Hawaii?
Trump: Absolutely. And they cannot believe what they're finding. I would like to have him show his birth certificate, and can I be honest with you, I hope he can. Because if he can't, if he can't, if he wasn't born in this country, which is a real possibility, I'm not saying it hap— I'm saying it's a real possibility, much greater than I thought two or three weeks ago, then he has pulled one of the great cons in the history of politics. And beyond politics.
- Today, NBC, 7 April 2011
- regarding Barack Obama
- Two million dollars is the sum of all the Obama presidential campaign's post-election legal expenses.

David Brody: Radical Islam: to Evangelicals, this is a bread and butter issue. You said there's a Muslim problem in this country. What do you mean by that exactly?
Donald Trump: Bill O'Reilly asked me is there a Muslim problem? And I said absolutely, yes. In fact I went a step further. I said I didn't see Swedish people knocking down the World Trade Center. It was very interesting. I thought that was going to be a controversial statement and somebody, I think it was Dennis Miller introduced me, he was doing like an analysis of me, he said, I love it. The guy said what the truth is. He didn't mince his words. He didn't say, 'Oh, gee, no there's not a Muslim problem, everybody's wonderful.' And by the way, many, many, most Muslims are wonderful people, but is there a Muslim problem? Look what's happening. Look what happened right here in my city with the World Trade Center and lots of other places. So I said it and I thought it was going to be very controversial but actually it was very well received. I think people want the truth. I think they're tired of politicians. They're tired of politically correct stuff. I mean I could have said, 'Oh absolutely not Bill, there's no Muslim problem, everything is wonderful, just forget about the World Trade Center.' But you have to speak the truth. We're so politically correct that this country is falling apart.
Brody: With some evangelicals there are some problems with the teachings of the Koran. Do you have concerns about the Koran?
Trump: Well, I'll tell you what. The Koran is very interesting. A lot of people say it teaches love and there is a very big group of people who really understand the Koran far better than I do. I'm certainly not an expert, to put it mildly. But there's something there that teaches some very negative vibe. I mean things are happening, when you look at people blowing up all over the streets that are in some of the countries over in the Middle East, just blowing up a super market with not even soldiers, just people, when 250 people die in a super market that are shopping, where people die in a store or in a street. There's a lot of hatred there that's some place. Now I don't know if that's from the Koran. I don't know if that's from some place else. But there's tremendous hatred out there that I've never seen anything like it. So, you have two views. You have the view that the Koran is all about love and then you have the view that the Koran is, that there's a lot of hate in the Koran.
- On CBN News' "The Brody File" (12 April 2011) (video) (transcript)

I look very much forward to showing my financials. Because they are huge.
- Scherer, Michael (11 April 2011), "In the presence of Donald Trump", Time, retrieved on 2019-10-28

I heard he was a terrible student, terrible. How does a bad student go to Columbia and then to Harvard? I'm thinking about it, I'm certainly looking into it. Let him show his records.
- Associated Press interview, 2011-04-25
- Madison, Lucy (25 April 2011), "Trump: How did Obama get into the Ivy League?", CBS News, Archived from the original on 2013-06-28, retrieved on 2011-05-01
- About Barack Obama's education, who graduated from Columbia University in 1983 and graduated magna cum laude with a Juris doctorate from Harvard Law School in 1991

Today I'm very proud of myself, because I've accomplished something that nobody else has been able to accomplish. I was just informed, while on the helicopter, that our president has finally released a birth certificate. I want to look at it, but I hope it's true, so that we can get on to much more important matters, so the press can stop asking me questions. He should have done it a long time ago. Why he didn't do it when the Clintons asked for it, why he didn't do it when everyone else was asking for it, I don't know. But I am really honored, frankly, to have played such a big role in hopefully, hopefully getting rid of this issue. Now, we have to look at it, we have to see, is it real? Is it proper? What's on it? But I hope it checks out beautifully. I am really proud, I am really honored.
- press conference, 2011-04-27
- "Trump Questions Obama Birth Certificate", TMZ, 27 April 2011, retrieved on 2011-05-01
- Regarding the release of Barack Obama's full birth record from Hawaii that morning

The word is, according to what I've have read, is that he was a terrible student when he went to Occidental. He then gets to Columbia and then gets to Harvard. I heard at Columbia he was not a very good student, and then he then he gets into Harvard. How do you get into Harvard if you are not a good student? Maybe that's right, maybe that's wrong, but I don't know why he doesn't he release his records. Why doesn't he release his Occidental records?
- press conference, New Hampshire, 2011-04-27
- "Schieffer: Racism underlying Trump's assertions", CBS News, 27 April 2011, Archived from the original on 2013-06-28, retrieved on 2011-05-01
- About Barack Obama, who transferred to Columbia from Occidental College in 1981, graduated from Columbia in 1983, and graduated magna cum laude with a Juris doctorate from Harvard Law School in 1991

It's like in golf. A lot of people — I don't want this to sound trivial — but a lot of people are switching to these really long putters, very unattractive. It's weird. You see these great players with these really long putters, because they can't sink three-footers anymore. And, I hate it. I am a traditionalist. I have so many fabulous friends who happen to be gay, but I am a traditionalist.
- Barbaro, Michael (1 May 2011), "After Roasting, Trump Reacts In Character", New York Times, retrieved on 2011-05-06
- on his opposition to same-sex marriage

I know the Chinese. I've made a lot of money with the Chinese. I understand the Chinese mind.
- As quoted in Tony Pierce (3 May 2011), "Donald Trump has read a lot of books on China: 'I understand the Chinese mind'", Los Angeles Times , and in John Mauldin (24 August 2015), "Playing the Chinese Trump Card", Forbes

I dealt with Gaddafi. I rented him a piece of land. He paid me more for one night than the land was worth for two years, and then I didn't let him use the land. That's what we should be doing. I don't want to use the word 'screwed,' but I screwed him. That's what we should be doing.
- As quoted in "Donald Trump: In his own colourful words", BBC News, 22 July 2015

She's a slob, she talks like a truck driver.
If I were running my business, I'd fire Rosie, I mean, I'd look her right in that fat ugly face of hers and say, "Rosie, you're fired."
- On an interview on why he hates Rosie O'Donnell (28 August 2011)

Barney Frank looked disgusting--nipples protruding--in his blue shirt before Congress. Very very disrespectful.
Twitter, quoted by the Washington Post (20 December 2011)

Our president will start a war with Iran because he has absolutely no ability to negotiate. He is weak and he is ineffective. So the only way he figures he is going to be reelected and as sure as you are sitting there, is to start a war with Iran.
- A now-deleted video on his YouTube video blog. Andrew Kaczynski (3 January 2020), "Trump repeatedly claimed in 2011 and 2012 that Obama would start a war with Iran to win reelection", CNN

2012

Mitt is tough. He is smart. He is sharp. He is not going to allow bad things to continue to happen to this country that we all love. So Gov. Romney, go out and get em. You can do it.
- Quoted in Corbett B. Daly (2 February 2012), "Trump endorses Mitt Romney for president", CBS News

No, I've never really changed. Nothing's changed my mind. And by the way, you know, you have a huge group of people — I walk down the street, and people are screaming, "Please don't give that up." A lot of people are questioning his birth certificate. They're questioning the authenticity of his birth certificate. I've been known as being a very smart guy for a long time. I don't consider myself birther or not birther, but there are some major questions here and the press doesn't wanna cover it. The press just refuses to cover it. Now if that were somebody else, they would be covering it, and they'd be throwing people out of office. But they don't want to cover it. So it's interesting.
- Telephone interview, CNBC, 29 May 2012 , quoted in Melissa Jeltsen (29 May 2012), "Donald Trump Goes On Epic Birther Rant", The Huffington Post

Wolf Blitzer: Donald, you're beginning to sound a little ridiculous, I have to tell you.
Donald Trump: No I think you are, Wolf. Now let me tell you something, I think you sound ridiculous, and if you'd ask me a question and let me answer it —
Blitzer: Here's the question, did the conspiracy start in 1961 where the Honolulu Star-Bulletin and the Honolulu Advertiser contemporaneously published announcements that he was born in Hawaii?
Trump: That's right. That's right. And many people put those announcements in because they wanted to get the benefit because of getting so-called born in this country. Many people did it. It was something that was done by many people even though they weren't born in the country. You know and so do I... And so do a lot of your viewers. Although you don't have too many viewers.
Donald Trump (clip): I have people that actually have been studying it and they cannot believe what they're finding.
Meredith Vieira (clip): You have people now, down there searching—
Trump (clip): Absolutely.
Vieira (clip): I mean, in Hawaii?
Trump (clip): Absolutely. And they cannot believe what they're finding.
Wolf Blitzer: All right, tell us what your people who were investigating in Hawaii, what they found.
Trump: Oh, we don't have to go into old news. That's old news.
Blitzer: Well, what did they find?
Trump: There's been plenty found. You can call many people. You can read many, many articles on the authenticity of the certificate. You can read many articles from just recently as to what the publisher printed in a brochure as to what Obama told him, as to where his place of birth is. And that's fine, Wolf.
Now, it's appropriate, I think, that we get to the subject of hand, which is — at hand, which is jobs, which is the economy, which is how our country is not doing well at all under this leadership, which is how are we going to do something about energy, which is really that things that I wanted to talk to you about, but you like to keep going back to the place of birth.
- The Situation Room, CNN, 29 May 2012 , quoted in Elizabeth Flock (29 May 2012), "Wolf Blitzer Spars With Donald Trump Over Obama's Birth Certificate", US News & World Report
- Referring to a 1991 promotional booklet by literary agency Acton & Dystel with bios of 89 authors, that erroneously described Barack Obama as "born in Kenya".

@ariannahuff is unattractive both inside and out. I fully understand why her former husband left her for a man- he made a good decision.
- 28 August 2012 tweet

He [Obama] lost the popular vote by a lot and won the election. We should have a revolution in this country!
The phoney [sic] electoral college made a laughing stock out of our nation. The loser one!
More votes equals a loss... revolution!
This election is a total sham and a travesty. We are not a democracy!
The electoral college is a disaster for a democracy.
- Tweets on November 6 and 7, 2012, some of which were later deleted. Trump falsely believed Barack Obama had lost the popular vote. Trump’s flip-flop on the electoral college: From ‘disaster’ to ‘genius’

Republicans didn't have anything going for them with respect to Latinos and with respect to Asians... The Democrats didn't have a policy for dealing with illegal immigrants, but what they did have going for them is they weren't mean-spirited about it... They didn't know what the policy was, but what they were is they were kind... He had a crazy policy of self deportation which was maniacal... It sounded as bad as it was, and he lost all of the Latino vote... He lost the Asian vote. He lost everybody who is inspired to come into this country... Take care of this incredible problem that we have with respect to immigration, with respect to people wanting to be wonderful productive citizens of this country.
- Interview with Newsmax (November 2012), quoted in Jim Geraghty (10 July 2015), "Trump 2008: Bush Is Evil, Talk to Iran, Obama Cannot Do Worse Than Bush", National Review

[climate change was] "created by and for the Chinese in order to make US manufacturing non-competitive"
- said in 2012 according to What does Trump actually believe on climate change?
"It doesn't matter who you vote for--it matters who is counting the votes." Be careful of voter fraud!. Oct 10 2012

2013

I’m a very compassionate person (with a very high IQ) with strong common sense.
- "Donald Trump's IQ obsession, in 22 quotes" (April 21, 2021)

Sorry losers and haters, but my I.Q. is one of the highest -and you all know it! Please don't feel so stupid or insecure,it's not your fault
- Tweet 9 May 2013

I keep asking, how long will we go on defending South Korea from North Korea without payment? South Korea is a very very rich country. They're rich because of us. They sell us televisions, they sell us cars. They sell us everything. They are making a fortune. We have a huge deficit with South Korea. They're friends of mine. I do deals with them. I've been partners with them, no problem. But they think we're stupid. They can't believe it. We are defending them against North Korea, we're doing it for nothing. We're not in that position. When will they start to pay us for this defense? Isn't it really ridiculous when you think of it? They make a fortune on the United States and then they got some problems, and what happens? They call the United States to defend them, and we get nothing?
- "From the Desk of Donald Trump: South Korea" YouTube (10 April 2013)

Must be a pretty picture you dropping to your knees.
- " to Brande Roderick, From The Apprentice, Season 6, Episode 1" (3 March 2013)

Leadership: whatever happens, you're responsible. If it doesn't happen, you're responsible.
- Tweet (8 November 2013)

I do have a relationship and I can tell you that he's very interested in what we're doing here today, he's probably very interested in what you and I are saying today, and I'm sure he is going to be seeing it in some form. But I do have a relationship with him, and I think, er, it's very interesting to see what's happened. I mean, look, he's done a very brilliant job in terms of what he represents and who he's representing, if you look at what he's done with Syria, if you look at so many of the different things, he has really eaten our president's lunch, let's not kid ourselves.
- Trump responding to a question about whether he had a relationship with Vladimir Putin during an interview with MSNBC's Thomas Roberts while visiting Moscow for the Miss Universe competition (November 2013)

2014

Healthy young child goes to doctor, gets pumped with massive shot of many vaccines, doesn't feel good and changes - AUTISM. Many such cases!
- Twitter, 28 March 2014

If this doctor, who so recklessly flew into New York from West Africa, has Ebola,then Obama should apologize to the American people & resign!
- Snopes fact check: Did Trump Call for Obama to Resign After Ebola Doctor Returned to U.S.? (23 Oct)

2015

May 2015

There is a way of beating ISIS so easily, so quickly, so effectively, and it would be so nice...I know a way that would absolutely give us guaranteed victory...the problem is then everybody will take the idea, run with it and then people will forget where it came from...I ran it past two or three people. [It's] so simple. It's like the paper clip.
- On his plan to defeat ISIS (May 2015)

June 2015

So I said to myself, you know, nobody's ever going to know unless I run, because I'm really proud of my success.
- Announcement speech (June 2015)

I will build a great, great wall on our southern border, and I will have Mexico pay for that wall. Mark my words.
- Campaign launch rally, 15 June 2015

Presidential Bid Announcement (June 16, 2015)

At Trump Tower, 2015-06-16, speech announcing his candidacy for U.S. president — "Full text: Donald Trump announces a presidential bid", The Washington Post, 16 June 2015

Our country is in serious trouble. We don't have victories anymore. We used to have victories, but we don't have them. When was the last time anybody saw us beating, let's say, China in a trade deal? They kill us. I beat China all the time. All the time. When did we beat Japan at anything? They send their cars over by the millions, and what do we do? When was the last time you saw a Chevrolet in Tokyo? It doesn't exist, folks. They beat us all the time. When do we beat Mexico at the border? They're laughing at us, at our stupidity. And now they are beating us economically. They are not our friend, believe me. But they're killing us economically. The U.S. has become a dumping ground for everybody else's problems.
When Mexico sends its people, they're not sending their best. They're not sending you. They're not sending you. They're sending people that have lots of problems, and they're bringing those problems with us. They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists. And some, I assume, are good people. But I speak to border guards and they tell us what we're getting. And it only makes common sense. It only makes common sense. They're sending us not the right people. It's coming from more than Mexico. It's coming from all over South and Latin America, and it's coming probably – probably – from the Middle East. But we don't know. Because we have no protection and we have no competence, we don't know what's happening. And it's got to stop and it's got to stop fast.
Islamic terrorism is eating up large portions of the Middle East. They've become rich. I'm in competition with them. They just built a hotel in Syria. Can you believe this? They built a hotel. When I have to build a hotel, I pay interest. They don't have to pay interest, because they took the oil that, when we left Iraq, I said we should've taken.
I love the military, and I want to have the strongest military that we've ever had, and we need it more now than ever. But I said, "Don't hit Iraq," because you're going to totally destabilize the Middle East. Iran is going to take over the Middle East, Iran and somebody else will get the oil, and it turned out that Iran is now taking over Iraq. Think of it. Iran is taking over Iraq, and they're taking it over big league.
We lost thousands of lives, thousands in Iraq. We have wounded soldiers, who I love, I love — they're great — all over the place, thousands and thousands of wounded soldiers. And we have nothing. We can't even go there. We have nothing. And every time we give Iraq equipment, the first time a bullet goes off in the air, they leave it.
Last quarter, it was just announced our gross domestic product — a sign of strength, right? But not for us. It was below zero. Whoever heard of this? It's never below zero.
A lot of people up there can't get jobs. They can't get jobs, because there are no jobs, because China has our jobs and Mexico has our jobs. They all have jobs.
Our enemies are getting stronger and stronger by the way, and we as a country are getting weaker. Even our nuclear arsenal doesn't work. It came out recently they have equipment that is 30 years old. They don't know if it worked. And I thought it was horrible when it was broadcast on television, because boy, does that send signals to Putin and all of the other people that look at us and they say, "That is a group of people, and that is a nation that truly has no clue. They don't know what they're doing. They don't know what they're doing."
We have a disaster called the big lie: Obamacare. ... We have to repeal Obamacare, and it can be — and — and it can be replaced with something much better for everybody. Let it be for everybody. But much better and much less expensive for people and for the government. And we can do it.
Remember the $5 billion Web site? $5 billion we spent on a Web site, and to this day it doesn't work. A $5 billion Web site. I have so many Web sites, I have them all over the place. I hire people, they do a Web site. It costs me $3.
I watch the speeches of these people, and they say the sun will rise, the moon will set, all sorts of wonderful things will happen. And people are saying, "What's going on? I just want a job. Just get me a job. I don't need the rhetoric. I want a job."
Obama is going to be out playing golf. He might be on one of my courses. I would invite him, I actually would say. I have the best courses in the world, so I'd say, you what, if he wants to — I have one right next to the White House, right on the Potomac. If he'd like to play, that's fine. In fact, I'd love him to leave early and play, that would be a very good thing.
I've watched the politicians. I've dealt with them all my life. If you can't make a good deal with a politician, then there's something wrong with you. You're certainly not very good. And that's what we have representing us. They will never make America great again. They don't even have a chance. They're controlled fully — they're controlled fully by the lobbyists, by the donors, and by the special interests, fully.
I have lobbyists. I have to tell you. I have lobbyists that can produce anything for me. They're great. But you know what? it won't happen. It won't happen. Because we have to stop doing things for some people, but for this country, it's destroying our country. We have to stop, and it has to stop now.
Our country needs a truly great leader, and we need a truly great leader now. We need a leader that wrote "The Art of the Deal." We need a leader that can bring back our jobs, can bring back our manufacturing, can bring back our military, can take care of our vets. Our vets have been abandoned. And we also need a cheerleader. ... We need somebody that can take the brand of the United States and make it great again. It's not great again.
He (Barack Obama) was vibrant. He was young. I really thought that he would be a great cheerleader. ... But he wasn't a cheerleader. He's actually a negative force. He's been a negative force. He wasn't a cheerleader; he was the opposite.
We need somebody that can take the brand of the United States and make it great again. It's not great again.
We need -- we need somebody -- we need somebody that literally will take this country and make it great again. We can do that.
You know, all of my life, I've heard that a truly successful person, a really, really successful person and even modestly successful cannot run for public office. Just can't happen. And yet that's the kind of mindset that you need to make this country great again.
So, ladies and gentlemen, I am officially running for president of the United States, and we are going to make our country great again!
We have people that aren't working. We have people that have no incentive to work. But they're going to have incentive to work, because the greatest social program is a job. And they'll be proud, and they'll love it, and they'll make much more than they would've ever made, and they'll be — they'll be doing so well, and we're going to be thriving as a country, thriving. It can happen. I will be the greatest jobs president that God ever created. I tell you that.
We owe China $1.3 trillion. We owe Japan more than that. So they come in, they take our jobs, they take our money, and then they loan us back the money, and we pay them in interest, and then the dollar goes up so their deal's even better. How stupid are our leaders? How stupid are these politicians to allow this to happen? How stupid are they?
I'm totally against the trade bill for a number of reasons. Number one, the people negotiating don't have a clue. Our president doesn't have a clue. He's a bad negotiator. He's the one that did Bergdahl. We get Bergdahl, they get five killer terrorists that everybody wanted over there. We get Bergdahl. We get a traitor. We get a no-good traitor, and they get the five people that they wanted for years, and those people are now back on the battlefield trying to kill us. That's the negotiator we have.
Israel maybe won't exist very long. It's a disaster, and we have to protect Israel.
I'm a free trader. But the problem with free trade is you need really talented people to negotiate for you. If you don't have talented people, if you don't have great leadership, if you don't have people that know business, not just a political hack that got the job because he made a contribution to a campaign, which is the way all jobs, just about, are gotten, free trade terrible. Free trade can be wonderful if you have smart people, but we have people that are stupid. We have people that aren't smart. And we have people that are controlled by special interests. And it's just not going to work.
I love China. The biggest bank in the world is from China. You know where their United States headquarters is located? In this building, in Trump Tower. I love China. People say, "Oh, you don't like China?" No, I love them. But their leaders are much smarter than our leaders, and we can't sustain ourself with that.
We have all the cards, but we don't know how to use them. We don't even know that we have the cards, because our leaders don't understand the game. We could turn off that spigot by charging them tax until they behave properly.
You have a problem with ISIS. You have a bigger problem with China. And, in my opinion, the new China, believe it or not, in terms of trade, is Mexico.
I know the smartest negotiators in the world. I know the good ones. I know the bad ones. I know the overrated ones.
I love the Saudis. Many are in this building. They make a billion dollars a day. Whenever they have problems, we send over the ships. We say "we're gonna protect." What are we doing? They've got nothing but money.
Saudi Arabia without us is gone. They're gone.
All of these politicians that I'm running against now, they're trying to disassociate. I mean, you looked at Bush, it took him five days to answer the question on Iraq. He couldn't answer the question. He didn't know. I said, "Is he intelligent?" Then I looked at Rubio. He was unable to answer the question, is Iraq a good thing or bad thing? He didn't know. He couldn't answer the question. How are these people gonna lead us? How are we gonna — how are we gonna go back and make it great again? We can't. They don't have a clue. They can't lead us. They can't. They can't even answer simple questions. It was terrible.
Saudi Arabia is in big, big trouble. Now, thanks to fracking and other things, the oil is all over the place. And I used to say it, there are ships at sea, and this was during the worst crisis, that were loaded up with oil, and the cartel kept the price up, because, again, they were smarter than our leaders. They were smarter than our leaders.
I think I am a nice person. People that know me, like me. Does my family like me? I think so, right. Look at my family. I'm proud of my family.
This is going to be an election that's based on competence, because people are tired of these nice people. And they're tired of being ripped off by everybody in the world. And they're tired of spending more money on education than any nation in the world per capita, than any nation in the world, and we are 26th in the world, 25 countries are better than us in education. And some of them are like third world countries. But we're becoming a third word country, because of our infrastructure, our airports, our roads, everything. So one of the things I did, and I said, you know what I'll do. I'll do it. Because a lot of people said, "He'll never run. Number one, he won't want to give up his lifestyle." They're right about that, but I'm doing it.
We have losers. We have people that don't have it. We have people that are morally corrupt. We have people that are selling this country down the drain.
I would build a great wall, and nobody builds walls better than me, believe me, and I'll build them very inexpensively, I will build a great, great wall on our southern border. And I will have Mexico pay for that wall.
I will stop Iran from getting nuclear weapons. And we won't be using a man like Secretary Kerry that has absolutely no concept of negotiation, who's making a horrible and laughable deal, who's just being tapped along as they make weapons right now, and then goes into a bicycle race at 72 years old, and falls and breaks his leg. I won't be doing that. And I promise I will never be in a bicycle race. That I can tell you.
Fully support and back up the Second Amendment.
Bush is totally in favor of Common Core. I don't see how he can possibly get the nomination. He's weak on immigration. He's in favor of Common Core. How the hell can you vote for this guy? You just can't do it. We have to end — education has to be local.
Rebuild the country's infrastructure. Nobody can do that like me. Believe me. It will be done on time, on budget, way below cost, way below what anyone ever thought. I look at the roads being built all over the country, and I say I can build those things for one-third. What they do is unbelievable, how bad.
Save Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security without cuts. Have to do it. Get rid of the fraud. Get rid of the waste and abuse, but save it. People have been paying it for years. And now many of these candidates want to cut it. You save it by making the United States, by making us rich again, by taking back all of the money that's being lost.
We're in a bubble. We have artificially low interest rates. We have a stock market that, frankly, has been good to me, but I still hate to see what's happening. We have a stock market that is so bloated. Be careful of a bubble because what you've seen in the past might be small potatoes compared to what happens. So be very, very careful.
Sadly, the American dream is dead. But if I get elected president, I will bring it back bigger and better and stronger than ever before, and we will make America great again.

July 2015

Donald Trump: Oh, well, if you look at the statistics, of people coming— I didn't say about Mexic— I say the illegal immigrants— if you look at the statistics on rape, on crime, on everything, coming in illegally into this country, they're mind-boggling. If you go to Fusion, you will see a story about 80% of the women coming in– I mean, you have to take a look at these stories. And you know who owns Fusion? Univision. It was in The Huffington Post. I said, let me get some of these articles because I've heard some horrible things. I deal a lot of talking with people on the border patrol. They're incredible people. They help our country.
Don Lemon: But I want some clarification–
Trump: No, but Don, all you have to do is go to Fusion and pick up the stories on rape, and it's unbelievable when you look at what's going on. So all I'm doing is telling the truth.
Lemon: I've read The Washington Post, I read the Fusion, I read The Huffington Post. And that's about women being raped, it's not about criminals coming across the border entering the country.
Trump: Somebody's doing the raping, Don, I mean, you know– I mean, somebody's doing it. You think it's women being raped, well who's doing the raping? Who's doing the raping? I mean how can you say such a thing. So, the problem is you have to stop illegal immigration coming across the border. You have to create a strong border. If you don't, we don't have a country.
- The Situation Room, CNN, 1 July 2015

I can never apologize for the truth. I don't mind apologizing for things but I can't apologize for the truth.
- "TRUMP: 'I use the word rape and all of a sudden everyone goes crazy'", finance.yahoo.com, 2 July 2015

I didn't know it was going to be this severe.
- "Trump stands by statements on Mexican illegal immigrants, surprised by backlash", FoxNews.com, 4 July 2015

I don't know. I really don't know. I don't know why he wouldn't release his records.
- When asked whether he thought Barack Obama was born in the U.S. — as quoted in Nick Gass (10 July 2015), "Trump: I'm still a birther", Politico

The silent majority is back, and we're going to take the country back.
- Speech at a packed Phoenix Convention Cente, as quoted in "Trump: 'We're Going to Take the Country Back'", Fox News Insider, 12 July 2015

The Obama Administration's agreement with Iran is very dangerous. Iran developing a nuclear weapon, either through uranium or nuclear fuel, and defying the world is still a very real possibility. The inspections will not be followed, and Iran will no longer have any sanctions. Iran gets everything and loses nothing. Every promise the Obama Administration made in the beginning of negotiations, including the vow (made at the beginning of the negotiations) to get our great American prisoners returned to the U. S. has been broken. This is a bad deal that sets a dangerous precedent. This deal sets off a nuclear arms race in the Middle East, which is the most-unstable region in the world. It is a horrible and perhaps catastrophic event for Israel. Furthermore, we should have kept the billions of dollars we have agreed to pay them. Any great dealmaker would know this is a perfect example of "tapping along" and because they have been unchecked for so long throughout this extremely lengthy process, I guarantee they are much closer to producing a nuclear weapon than they were at the start of negotiations. The fact is, the US has incompetent leaders and even more incompetent negotiators. We must do better for America and the world. We have to Make America Great Again.
- Statement by Donald J. Trump on the Iran Agreement, American Presidency Project, 14 July 2015

And I had an idea recently. When they send illegals into our country, we charge Mexico $100,000 for every illegal that crosses that border because it's trouble.
- "Fox News "Hannity"- Transcript: Trump On El Chappo And Undocumented Immigration", Fox News, 15 July 2015

It's going to get worse in our country and we better start fighting a lot tougher than we're fighting right now.
- "Trump: 'Absolutely Ridiculous' Marines Not Allowed to Carry Guns at Centers", Fox News Insider, 16 July 2015

Donald Trump: 15,000 people showed up to hear me speak. Bigger than anybody and everybody knows it. A beautiful day with incredible people that were wonderful, great Americans, I will tell you. John McCain goes, "Oh, boy, Trump makes my job difficult. He had 15,000 crazies show up." Crazies. He called them all crazy. I said, they weren't crazy. They were great Americans. These people— if you would have seen these people— you— I know what a crazy is. I know all about crazies. These weren't crazy. So he insulted me and he insulted everybody in that room...
Frank Luntz: He's a war hero.
Donald Trump: He's not a war hero.
Luntz: He's a war hero.
Trump: He is a war hero—
Luntz: Five and a half years in a POW camp.
Trump: He's a war hero 'cause he was captured. I like people that weren't captured, OK? I hate to tell you.
Luntz: Do you agree with that?
Trump: He's a war hero. He's a war hero because he was captured, OK? You can have— and I believe— perhaps he's a war hero, but— but right now he said some very bad things about a lot of people.
- Family Leadership Summit 2015, quoted in Harriet Alexander (18 July 2015), "Donald Trump tells John McCain: 'I like people who weren't captured'", The Telegraph

I see Rick Perry the other day. ... He's doing very poorly in the polls. He put on glasses so people will think he's smart. And it just doesn't work! You know people can see through the glasses!
- "Trump Campaign Statement on Rick Perry", NPR, 21 July 2015

But you look at the nuclear deal, the thing that really bothers me—it would have been so easy, and it's not as important as these lives are (nuclear is powerful; my uncle explained that to me many, many years ago, the power and that was 35 years ago; he would explain the power of what's going to happen and he was right—who would have thought?), but when you look at what's going on with the four prisoners—now it used to be three, now it's four—but when it was three and even now, I would have said it's all in the messenger; fellas, and it is fellas because, you know, they don't, they haven't figured that the women are smarter right now than the men, so, you know, it's gonna take them about another 150 years—but the Persians are great negotiators, the Iranians are great negotiators, so, and they, they just killed, they just killed us.
- "Speech in Sun City, South Carolina", Slate, 21 July 2015

If you can't get rich dealing with politicians, there's something wrong with you.
- Campaign Rally in South Carolina
- YouTube

I'm a Republican, I'm a conservative, I'm in first place, I want to run as a Republican and I think I'll get the nomination... [Hillary Clinton] is easily the worst Secretary of State in the history of the country. She's going to be beaten and I'm the one to beat her.
- "Donald Trump tours Mexican border with Texas", BBC, 23 July 2015

Jose Diaz-Balart: Mr. Trump, you know 53,000 Hispanics turn 18 years of age in this country every month, born in the country of voting age. 54 million plus Hispanics — many feel that what you said when you said that the people who cross the border are rapists and murderers—
Donald Trump: No, no, no! We're talking about illegal immigration and everybody understands that. And you know what? That's a typical case. That's a typical case of the press with misinterpretation. They take a half a sentence, they take a half a sentence, then they take quarter of a sentence and put it all together. It's a typical thing...
Diaz-Balart: I'm not finished with my question.
Trump: No, no! You're finished!
- Oliver Darcy (23 July 2015), "Crowd Erupts in Applause at How Donald Trump Handles MSNBC Host at Presser: 'You're Finished!'", TheBlaze

I think that I would be a great uniter. I think that I would have great diplomatic skills. I think that I would be able to get along with people very well. I've had a great success in my life. I think the world would unite if I were the leader of the United States.
- Jesse Byrnes (30 July 2015), "Trump: 'World would unite if I were the leader'", The Hill

August 2015

I think the big problem this country has is being politically correct.
- Republican Presidential Debate 2015 — "Annotated transcript: The Aug. 6 GOP debate", The Washington Post, 6 August 2015

You could see there was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever.
- On Megyn Kelly (7 August 2015)

I cherish women. I want to help women. I'm going to do things for women that no other candidate will be able to do.
- Gregoy Krieg (9 August 2015), "12 times Donald Trump declared his 'respect' for women", CNN

I will be phenomenal to the women. I mean, I want to help women.
- Face the Nation, 9 August 2015

I think there has to be a trust. There actually has to be a trust. If you don't trust, you're not going to do very well.
- In response to a reporter's line of questioning on what his specific plans will be to achieve the goals of his campaign. "Trump on Specifics of His Proposals: ‘Trust Me'" (12 August 2015), by Melanie Hunter

We have to keep the families together, but they have to go. What if they have no place to go?
- During the Iowa State Fair (2015 August 15)

You know, when you put out policy, like a 14-point plan? A lot of times in the first hour of negotiation, that 14-point plan goes astray, but you may end up with a better deal. That's the way it works. That's the way really life works. When I do a deal, I don't say, "Oh, here's 14 points." I got out and do it. I don't sit down and talk about 14 points.
- Appearance at Iowa State Fair - "Donald Trump's surprisingly savvy analysis of American politics", The Washington Post, 15 August 2015 [paywalled source]

What's the difference between a wet raccoon and Donald J. Trump's hair? A wet raccoon doesn't have seven billion fucking dollars in the bank.
- 20 August 2015 roast on Comedy Central transcribed by Newsweek

Hillary Clinton was the worst Secretary of State in the history of the country. The world came apart under her reign... I will be the one to beat Hillary.
If you start adding it up, our real unemployment rate is 42%.
- "Donald Trump Explains All", Time, 20 August 2015 . For a discussion of this figure, see "The Real Jobless Rate Is 42 Percent? Donald Trump Has a Point, Sort Of" by Neil Irwin, The New York Times (10 February 2016).

You've seen my statements, I do very well, I don't mind paying some taxes. The middle class is getting clobbered in this country. You know the middle class built this country, not the hedge fund guys, but I know people in hedge funds that pay almost nothing and it's ridiculous.
- Interview on Bloomberg's With All Due Respect — David Knowles (26 August 2015), "Donald Trump Says He Wants to Raise Taxes on Himself", Bloomberg

I do whine because I want to win and I’m not happy about not winning and I am a whiner and I keep whining and whining until I win.
- Interview with Chris CuomoJeremy Diamond (11 August 2015), "Donald Trump: ‘I keep whining and whining until I win’", CNN

September 2015

We're a nation that speaks English. I think that, while we're in this nation, we should be speaking English... that's how we assimilate.
- "Donald Trump: "While We're in This Nation, We Should Be Speaking English"", The Hollywood Reporter, 3 September 2015

"Look at that face! [of Carly Fiorina] Would anyone vote for that? Can you imagine that, the face of our next president?!"
- "Trump Seriously: On the Trail With the GOP's Tough Guy", Rolling Stone, 9 September 2015

The fact is all lives matter. That includes black, and it includes white, and it includes everybody else. And we have... Democrats that are afraid to even say that.
- As quoted in Colin Campbell (9 September 2015), "Donald Trump trashes Black Lives Matter: 'I think they're trouble'", Business Insider

This is a country where we speak English, not Spanish.
- Criticizing Jeb Bush for speaking Spanish on the campaign trail during a Republican Presidential Debate on CNN (16 September 2015)

Audience member: We have a problem in this country, it's called Muslims. Our current President is one. We know he's not even an American. We have training camps growing where they want to kill us. That's my question, when can we get rid of them?
Donald Trump: We're going to be looking at a lot of different things. A lot of people are saying that and a lot of people are saying that bad things are happening out there. We're going to be looking at that and a lot of different things.
- At a town hall meeting in New Hampshire — as quoted in Maya Rhodan (17 September 2015), "Here's How Donald Trump Responded to a Person Saying President Obama is Muslim", Time

Am I morally obligated to defend the president every time somebody says something bad or controversial about him? I don't think so!
This is the first time in my life that I have caused controversy by NOT saying something.
- Tweets — quoted in Doina Chiacu (20 September 2015), "Trump defend Obama? 'I don't think so!'", Reuters

You can be politically correct if you want, but are you trying to say we don't have a problem? ... Most Muslims, like most everything, I mean, these are fabulous people... But we certainly do have a problem, I mean, you have a problem throughout the world. ... It wasn't people from Sweden that blew up the World Trade Center.
- On CNN's "State of the Union" with Jake Tapper — as quoted in Timothy Cama (20 September 2015), "Trump: 'We certainly do have a problem' with some Muslims", The Hill

The first thing I'd do in my first day as president is close up our borders so that illegal immigrants cannot come into our country.
- Twitter question and answer session from Twitter's New York office — as quoted in Jesse Byrnes (21 September 2015), "Trump: I'll close US borders 'in my first day'", The Hill

You ever see guys with nothing on their desk? They always fail. I don't know what it is. I've seen it for years.
- Explaining his messy desk, The New York Times Magazine interview. Mark Leibovich (21 September 2015), "Donald Trump is not going anywhere", The New York Times Magazine

Why aren't we letting ISIS go and fight Assad and then we pick up the remnants?
- Interview in 60 Minutes, 2015-09-27
- Cited by Mitt Romney in Business Insider, 2016-03-03

I will tell you in terms of leadership he is getting an 'A,' and our president is not doing so well. They did not look good together.
- Reena Flores (30 September 2015), "Donald Trump gives Russia's Putin an 'A' in leadership", CBS News

October 2015

All my friends who work out all the time, they’re going for knee replacements, hip replacements — they’re a disaster
- 4 October 2015 interview with New York Times

I've always said, if you run for president, you shouldn't be allowed to use teleprompters. Because you don't even know if the guy is smart.
- Norcross, Georgia, 2015-10-10, quoted in Joe Concha (21 July 2016), "Teleprompter Trump: the right temperament or low-energy Donald?", The Hill

He was such a nice guy. And he said, Oh, I'm never going to attack. But then his poll numbers tanked. He's got -- that's why he's on the end -- and he got nasty. And he got nasty. So you know what? You can have him.
- Response to John Kasich "CNBC Republican debate transcript", CNBC, 28 October 2015

November 2015

Trump: I'm Donald Trump, and I'm running for president. Our country is in deep trouble because let's face it: politics are all talk and no action. My opponents have no experience in creating jobs or making deals. The fact is, I'm going to make the greatest trade deals we've ever made in our country. And I'm going to bring jobs and money back to the United States. I'll take care of our veterans and make our military so strong that nobody will ever mess with us. I'll secure our borders, and yes, we will have a wall. You can't have a country without borders. Obamacare is a great plan . It will be repealed and replaced with something much better. If the people of Iowa vote for me, you'll never be disappointed. I don't disappoint people, I produce. Together, we're going to Make America Great Again. I'm Donald Trump, candidate for president, and I hate this message.
Female V/O: Paid for by Donald J. Trump for President, Inc.
- Radio ad aired in Iowa (5 November 2015)

You're going to have a deportation force, and you're going to do it humanely and you're going to bring the country -- and, frankly, the people, because you have some excellent, wonderful people, some fantastic people hat have been here for a long period of time. Don't forget, Mika, that you have millions of people that are waiting in line to come into this country and they're waiting to come in legally. And I always say the wall, we're going to build the wall. It's going to be a real deal. It's going to be a real wall. There was a picture in one of the magazines where they had a wall this tall and they were taking drugs over the wall. They built a ramp over the wall and the truck was going up and down. They were using it like a highway; the wall is like a highway. It's not going to happen. It's going to be a Trump wall. It's going to be a real wall. And it's going to stop people and it's going to be good. But your friend Thomas Friedman called me and said, hah, there should be a big door. I said going to be a big door. I love the expression. There's going to be a big beautiful nice door. People are going to come in and they're going to come in legally. But we have no choice. Otherwise, we don't have a country. We don't even know how many people. We don't know if it's 8 million or if it's 20 million. We have no idea how many people are in our country. And then you see what happened with Kate in San Francisco. You see what happens with all of the things going on, all of the tremendous crime going on. It costs us $200 billion a year for illegal immigration right now. $200 billion a year, maybe $250, maybe $300. They don't even know. We're going to stop it. We're going to run it properly and we're going to stop it.
- On his immigration plan (2015 November 11)

Watch and study the mosques, because a lot of talk is going on at the mosques.
- As quoted in "Donald Trump: 'Strongly consider' shutting mosques" (16 November 2015), by Gregory Krieg, CNN (2015), Atlanta, Georgia: Cable News Network.

[When the government says] 'everybody gets equal pay,' you get away from the whole American Dream.
- An unequal answer about equal pay (19 November 2015)

I would certainly implement that. Absolutely... There should be a lot of systems, beyond databases. We should have a lot of systems... They have to be. They have to be... It's all about management.
- As quoted in "Donald Trump Says He Supports a Database and ID Cards to Track Muslims in the U.S.: 'We're Going to Have to Look at the Mosques'" (20 November 2015), by Char Adams, People.

Somebody said I’m the Ernest Hemingway of 140 characters.
- Quoted by Bradford Richardson (20 November 2015), "Trump says he’s the Hemingway of Twitter", The Hill

Get him the hell out of here.
- As quoted in "Trump supporters, Black Lives Matter protester clash at rally" (21 November 2015), by Reena Flores, CBS News, CBS Interactive, Inc.

I watched when the World Trade Center came tumbling down. And I watched in Jersey City, N.J., where thousands and thousands of people were cheering as that building was coming down. Thousands of people were cheering.
It was on television. I saw it. It was well covered at the time, George. Now, I know they don't like to talk about it, but it was well covered at the time. There were people over in New Jersey that were watching it, a heavy Arab population, that were cheering as the buildings came down. Not good.
- 21 November 2015 speech in Birmingham, Alabama, then next-day reply to George Stephanopoulos, according to 22 November 2015 PolitiFact article

Written by a nice reporter. Now the poor guy - you ought to see the guy: ‘Uhh I don't know what I said. I don't remember!' He's going, ‘I don't remember! Maybe that's what I said.'
- As quoted in "Trump mocks reporter with disability" (25 November 2015 by CNN) and "Donald Trump accused of mocking disabled reporter" (26 November 2015), by Rob Crilly regarding Serge Kovaleski

Crippled America: How to Make America Great Again (November 2015)

published 3 November 2015

The enthusiasm was based on pure love and love of what we were doing.
- Preface, p. xiv

The fact is I give people what they need and deserve to hear - exactly what they don't get from politicians - and that is The Truth. Our country is a mess right now and we don't have time to pretend otherwise. We don't have time to waste on being politically correct.
- p. 8

I use the media the way the media uses me—to attract attention. Once I have that attention, it's up to me to use it to my advantage.
- p. 10

I've seen these so-called journalists flat-out lie. I say that because incompetence doesn't begin to explain the inaccurate stories they have written.
- p. 12

Our country, our people, and our laws have to be our top priority.
- p. 30

Citizenship is not a gift we can afford to keep giving away.
- p. 28

I want good people to come here from all over the world, but I want them to do so legally. We can expedite the process, we can reward achievement and excellence, but we have to respect the legal process. And those people who take advantage of the system and come here illegally should never enjoy the benefits of being a resident--or citizen--of this nation. So I am against any path to citizenship for undocumented workers or anyone else who is in this country illegaly. They should--and need to--go home and get in line.
- p. 30

Depending on the price of oil, Saudi Arabia earns somewhere between half a billion and a billion dollars every day. They wouldn't exist, let alone have that wealth, without our protection. We get nothing from them. Nothing. We defend Germany. We defend Japan. We defend South Korea. These are powerful and wealthy countries. We get nothing from them. It's time to change all that. It's time to win again.
- p. 34

When Kuwait was attacked by Saddam Hussein, all the wealthy Kuwaitis ran to Paris. They didn't just rent suites—they took up whole buildings, entire hotels. They lived like kings while their country was occupied. Who did they turn to for help? Who else? Uncle Sucker. That's us.
- p. 34

We can't be afraid to use our military, but sending our sons and daughters should be the very last resort. I've seen what wars do to our kids. I've seen their broken bodies, know all about the horrors that live in their heads, and the enormous effects of trauma. We cannot commit American troops to battle without a real and tangible objective.
- p. 35

To me, for politicians to claim that we have an answer to every problem is silly. When you listen to some politicians reeling off their prepared answers, you almost fall for it. They're all experts. But nothing ever happens.
- p. 73

I manage to blast through the ridiculous liberal bias of the media and speak right to the hearts of the people - or at least I try.
- p. 80

It's not just jobs that are being lost to other countries. We are seeing whole industries vanish overseas.
- p. 85

A great leader has to be flexible, holding his ground on the major principles but finding room for compromises that can bring people together. A great leader has to be savvy at negotiations so we don't drown every bill in pork barrel bridges to nowhere. I know how to stand my ground — but I also know that Republicans and Democrats need to find common ground to stand on as well.
- p. 96

We look at politicians and think: This one's owned by this millionaire. That one's owned by that millionaire, or lobbyist, or special interest group. Me? I speak for the people. So the establishment attacks me. They can't own me, they can't dictate to me, so they search for ways to dismiss me.
- p. 97

December 2015

My policy has always been the same. We're fighting ISIS and Assad is fighting ISIS, but we're backing rebels to fight Assad. You can't fight everybody, you have to pick who you want to fight. And now you've got Turkey, who like ISIS more than they like others, no one really knows because we don't have people that know what they're doing. So in my opinion, you go along, and Russia does not like ISIS, and people are starting to find out. I mean in all fairness lost an airplane, got blew out of the air. So Russia is not a fan of ISIS. Russia is bombing the hell out of them, starting to bomb them. I say isis is our number one threat. We can't be fighting everybody at the same time. ISIS is our number one threat. I would bomb the hell out of them -- I like to do one thing at a time. I would knock the hell out of ISIS. I would hit them ... so hard like they've never been hit before.
- In an interview with Fox & Friends. (December 2, 2015)

They're using them as shields. It's a horrible thing. They're using them as shields. But we're fighting a very politically correct war. And the other thing is with the terrorists. You have to take out their families. When you get these terrorists, you have to take out their families. They care about their lives. Don't kid yourself. But they say they don't care about their lives. You have to take out their families.
- When asked how he would deal with civilian casualties. In an interview with Fox & Friends. (December 2, 2015)

If you're in the White House, who wants to take a vacation? You're in the White House!… What's better than the White House? Why these vacations?
- Hardball with Chris Matthews, August 4, 2017 December 5, 2015 rally

Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country's representatives can figure out what is going on... According to Pew Research, among others, there is great hatred towards Americans by large segments of the Muslim population. Most recently, a poll from the Center for Security Policy released data showing "25% of those polled agreed that violence against Americans here in the United States is justified as a part of the global jihad" and 51% of those polled, "agreed that Muslims in America should have the choice of being governed according to Shariah." Shariah authorizes such atrocities as murder against non-believers who won't convert, beheadings and more unthinkable acts that pose great harm to Americans, especially women.
- Statement on Preventing Muslim Immigration (December 7, 2015) archived here

We are losing a lot of people to the Internet. We have to do something. We have to go see Bill Gates and a lot of different people that really understand what's happening. We have to talk to them [about], maybe in certain areas, closing that Internet up in some way. Some people will say, ‘Freedom of speech, Freedom of speech'. These are foolish people.
- Google's Eric Schmidt calls for 'spell-checkers for hate and harassment', 8 December 2015, by Alex Hern.

We have places in London and other places that are so radicalised that the police are afraid for their own lives. We have to be very smart and very vigilant.
- As quoted in "Donald Trump claims parts of London are 'so radicalised' police officers are 'afraid for their lives'" by Rose Troup Buchanan, The Independent (8 December 2015); also in "'Trump's not wrong – we can't wear uniform in our OWN cars': Five police officers claim Donald Trump is RIGHT about parts of London being so 'radicalised' they are no-go areas" by Martin Robinson, Daily Mail Online (9 December 2015)

These are people that are outside the country, so we're really not talking about the Constitution. And it's not about religion. This is about safety. This has nothing to do with religion. It's about safety.
- Interview on ABC's "Life with Kelly and Michael", as quoted in "Trump: Muslim ban 'not about religion'" by Jesse Byrnes, The Hill (9 December 2015)

We're doing really well with the evangelicals, and, by the way: And again, I do like Ted Cruz -- but not a lot of evangelicals come out of Cuba, in all fairness. It's true. Not a lot come out. But I like him nevertheless. But I think we're going to do great, and we are doing great with evangelicals.
I'm with you. I'm with everybody. I'm with everybody, look, I'm self-funding. I have no oil company. I have no special interest. I have no lobbyists.
Well look he's from Texas -- to the best of my knowledge, there's a lot of oil in Texas, right? So, he gets a lot of money from the oil companies, and he's against ethanol and everything you're else talking about. And I'm not I'm totally in favor. And you know it's a big industry here, it's a big industry. You know if that industry is upset Iowa's got problems.
I really do, I like Ted Cruz a lot, I would say that we would certainly have things in mind for Ted, to be honest with you. I mean, he's somebody that I could certainly say that [about] because I like him.
- 11 December 2015 during a rally in Iowa, according to Washington Post article by Jenna Johnson, CBS News article by Kylie Atwood, and Reuters article by Emily Stephenson

We're rounding 'em up in a very humane way, in a very nice way. And they're going to be happy because they want to be legalized. And, by the way, I know it doesn't sound nice. But not everything is nice.
- 27 December 2015 on 60 Minutes

I know words. I have the best words.
- 30 December 2015 speech in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina reported by Gawker and The Daily Caller

I'm trying to figure out, let's see, I'm in my room, in New York city, and I want to put a little spray, so I can, you know [mimes spraying] right, right, but I hear they don't want me to use the hairspray, they want me to use the pump, because the other one, which I really like better than going [mimes pumping] bang, bang, bang, and then it comes out in big globs, right, and it's stuck in your hair and you say, "Oh my god I've got to take a shower again, my hair's all screwed up", right, I want to use hairspray, but they say "Don't use hairspray, it's bad for the ozone", so I'm sitting in this concealed [sic] apartment, this concealed unit (you know I do live in a very apartment, right) but it's sealed (it's beautiful) I don't think anything gets out, and I'm not supposed to be using hairspray!
- 30 December 2015 speaking at a rally in Hilton Head, SC

2016

January 2016

The entire world has been upset. The entire world, it's a different place. During Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton's term, she's done a horrible job.
She has caused death. She has caused tremendous death with incompetent decisions. I was against the war in Iraq. I wasn't a politician, but I was against the war in Iraq. She voted for the war in Iraq.
Look at Libya. That was her baby. Look. I mean, I'm not even talking about the ambassador and the people with the ambassador. Young, wonderful people. With messages coming in by the hundreds, and she's not even responding. I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about all of the death that's been caused and not only our side.
There was nothing saved. If we would have never done anything in the Middle East, we would have a much safer world right now. ... All of this has led to the migration. All of this has led to tremendous death and destruction. And she for the most part was in charge of it along with Obama.
She's constantly playing the woman card. It's the only way she may get elected. I mean frankly... Personally, I'm not sure that anybody else other than me is going to beat her. And I think she's a flawed candidate. And you see what's happened recently. And it hasn't been a very pretty picture for her or for Bill. Because I'm the only one that's willing to talk about his problems. I mean, what he did and what he has gone through I think is frankly terrible, especially if she wants to play the woman card.
I have more respect for women by far than Hillary Clinton has. And I will do more for women than Hillary Clinton will. I will do far more including the protection of our country. She caused a lot of the problems that we have right now.
- CBS interview with John Dickerson (taped 1 January 2016) for Face the Nation — as quoted in "Trump: Clinton has ruined the world" by Nick Gass, Politico (3 January 2016)

They've created ISIS. Hillary Clinton created ISIS with Obama; created with Obama. But I love predicting because you know, ultimately, you need somebody with vision.
- At a rally, as quoted in "TRUMP: 'Hillary Clinton created ISIS with Obama'" by Colin Campbell, Business Insider (3 January 2016)

She [Clinton] has a terrible record as secretary of state. I mean, she's literally created ISIS. If you look at her, between her and Obama, they're the ones — we have this big ISIS problem they created with their bad policies and their bad thinking.
- On Fox & Friends, as quoted in "TRUMP: 'Hillary Clinton created ISIS with Obama'" by Colin Campbell, Business Insider (3 January 2016)

Mexico is going to be the new China because what they're doing to us is unbelievable, although they did catch El Chapo. Good? Good? They did catch El Chapo, that's good. I mean I don't know, he better not escape a third time, you know? Those tunnels, bing, boom, right under the toilet, bing boom, right up. It's pretty amazing when you think about it, right? But anyway. I have an idea: Put him on the fourth floor this time, right? No more, no more first floors.
- Speech (9 January 2016), as quoted in "El Chapo on Donald Trump: 'Mi Amigo!", by Rebecca Kaplan, CBS News (10 January 2016).

I'm very angry because our country is being run horribly and I will gladly accept the mantle of anger. Our military is a disaster. Our healthcare is a horror show. Obamacare, we're going to repeal it and replace it. We have no borders. Our vets are being treated horribly. Illegal immigration is beyond belief. Our country is being run by incompetent people. And yes, I am angry. I'm angry because our country is a mess.
- Full Transcript of the Sixth Republican Debate in Charleston, Time (14 January 2016).

And just so — if I could, because he insulted a lot of people. I've had more calls on that statement that Ted made — New York is a great place. It's got great people, it's got loving people, wonderful people. When the World Trade Center came down, I saw something that no place on Earth could have handled more beautifully, more humanely than New York. You had two one hundred, you had two 110-story buildings come crashing down. I saw them come down. Thousands of people killed, and the cleanup started the next day, and it was the most horrific cleanup, probably in the history of doing this, and in construction. I was down there, and I've never seen anything like it. And the people in New York fought and fought and fought, and we saw more death, and even the smell of death — nobody understood it. And it was with us for months, the smell, the air. And we rebuilt downtown Manhattan, and everybody in the world watched and everybody in the world loved New York and loved New Yorkers. And I have to tell you, that was a very insulting statement that Ted made.
- Full Transcript of the Sixth Republican Debate in Charleston, Time (14 January 2016).

The truth is, he's a nasty guy. He was so nice to me. I mean, I knew it. I was watching. I kept saying, 'Come on Ted. Let's go, okay.' But he's a nasty guy. Nobody likes him. Nobody in Congress likes him. Nobody likes him anywhere once they get to know him. He's a very –- he's got an edge that's not good. You can't make deals with people like that and it's not a good thing. It's not a good thing for the country. Very nasty guy.
- About Ted Cruz in an interview on This Week (January 17, 2016)

Tony Perkins wrote that out for me -- he actually wrote out 2, he wrote out the number 2 Corinthians, I took exactly what Tony said, and I said, 'Well Tony has to know better than anybody.
It's a very small deal, but a lot of people in different sections of the world say two, and I've had many, many people say that to me. My mother, as you know, was from Scotland, and they say two.
- In an interview with CNN's Don Lemon, about saying "two Corinthians" instead of "Second Corinthians" during a speech at Liberty University. (January 22, 2016)

Ted Cruz lies. He's a liar. And that's why nobody likes him, that's why his Senate people won't endorse him. That's why he stands on the middle of the Senate floor and can't make a deal with anybody. He looks like a jerk. He's standing all by himself. And you know, there's something to say about having a little bit of ability to get other people to do things. You can't be a lone wolf and stand there. That's sort of what we have right now as a president.
- Morning Joe (26 January 2016)

But you cannot say anymore that the United States is going to pay for the wall. I am just going to say that we are working it out. Believe it or not, this is the least important thing that we are talking about, but politically this might be the most important talk about.
- Full transcripts of Trump's calls with Mexico and Australia By Greg Miller, Julie Vitkovskaya and Reuben Fischer-Baum; Aug. 3, 2017 (Friday, January 27, 2017)

So what I would like to recommend is – if we are going to have continued dialogue – we will work out the wall. They are going to say, "who is going to pay for the wall, Mr. President?" to both of us, and we should both say, "we will work it out." It will work out in the formula somehow. As opposed to you saying, "we will not pay" and me saying, "we will not pay."
- Full transcripts of Trump's calls with Mexico and Australia By Greg Miller, Julie Vitkovskaya and Reuben Fischer-Baum; Aug. 3, 2017 (Friday, January 27, 2017)

Up in New Hampshire – I won New Hampshire because New Hampshire is a drug-infested den – is coming from the southern border.
- Actually, Clinton took NH; Full transcripts of Trump's calls with Mexico and Australia By Greg Miller, Julie Vitkovskaya and Reuben Fischer-Baum; Aug. 3, 2017 (Friday, January 27, 2017)

Speech at Liberty University (18 January 2016)

Presidential Candidate Donald Trump at Liberty University, C-SPAN (18 January 2016)

I have read a lot about it and I watched it and Liberty University, like a rocket ship, a really great rocket ship.
I'm in first place. I said when you're in first place, you discuss polls.
I love Iowa, and I'm going there right after this, going up to New Hampshire, I'm going to Iowa because I want to win Iowa. Everyone says don't say that. Just say you're going to do well. That's the closest, but I can't do that. The safe way is, I think I'll do well. I want to win Iowa.
We've done great with the evangelicals. The evangelicals have been amazing. The Tea Party has been amazing and we're doing really well.
We're going to protect Christianity, and I can say that. I don't have to be politically correct. We're going to protect it. I hear this is a major theme right here, but two Corinthians, 3:17, that's the whole ball game. "Where the Spirit of the Lord", right, "where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty", and here there is Liberty College, but Liberty University, but it is so true. You know, when you think -- and that's really -- is that the one? Is that the one you like? I think that's the one you like because I loved it, and it's so representative of what's taken place. But we are going to protect Christianity. And if you look what's going on throughout the world, you look at Syria where if you're Christian, they're chopping off heads. You look at the different places, and Christianity, it's under siege.
I'm a protestant. I'm very proud of it, Presbyterian to be exact, but I'm proud of it, very, very proud. And we've got to protect because bad things are happening, very bad things are happening, and we don't -- I don't know what it is. We don't band together, maybe. Other religions, frankly, they're banding together.
This is a movement. It is a movement going on. We want to take our country back. Our country is disappearing. You look at the kind of deals we make. You look at what's happening, our country is going in the wrong direction, and so wrong, and it's got to be stopped and it's got to be stopped fast.
And my generals, by the way, they're not going on television, OK? So the enemy can learn all about it. Oh, well, then we attack.
They have totally destabilized the Middle East. It's a disaster.
When our sailors were captured last week, I said that's one of the saddest things that I have seen when those young people were on their hands and knees in a begging position with their hands up and thugs behind them with guns, and then we talk like it's OK. It's not OK. It's lack of respect. We can't let that happen to this country. It's lack of respect.
The Persians, very good negotiators. Great negotiators, legendary negotiators. They're known for it. They're sitting across the table.
I hate to tell this to the woman, they're behind the fact, they're a little behind the fact. They haven't figured out that women may be in certain ways much better than men. But I don't want to say that because I will get myself in trouble with men. But they haven't figured this out yet but that's OK.
We're a debtor nation. We owe $19 trillion. We're not going to give you any money, and you want to be nice. You don't want to put it in their face. Just say, look, we're a poor nation. We've been mismanaged, we've been misrun. We don't know what the hell we're doing, right?
If I'm president, you're going to see 'Merry Christmas' in department stores, believe me.
We spent 5 trillion dollars in the Middle East and our country is going to hell. We gotta bring it back. We gotta knock the hell out of ISIS.
I want to see a woman president soon, but not [Hillary Clinton]. She's a disaster. She's a disaster. She's a disaster. I mean, just think of the corruption and the scandal... We don't want to go through it. We want to see winning. We want to see win, win, win – constant winning. And you'll say – if I'm president... 'Please, Mr. President, we're winning too much. We can't stand it anymore. Can't we have a loss?' And I'll say no, we're going to keep winning, winning, winning... because we're going to make America great again. And you'll say, 'Okay, Mr. President. Okay.'

Speech at Dordt University (23 January 2016)

The people, my people, are so smart, and you know what they say about my people? The polls. They say I have the most loyal people — did you ever see that? Where I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn't lose any voters. It's like incredible. No, they say, "Trump we love you too." Trump's voters are by far, ya know, I'm at sixty-eight and sixty-nine percent, I'm at ninety percent, total, like, "Will you say absolutely?" I think it's sixty-eight and sixty-nine percent. "Will you most likely stay?" That gets into the nineties. Other guys like a ten. A guy like Jeb Bush, he has a nobody, but he's like, they don't have people. They have nothing. Rubio, soft. They're all soft. My people stay, by the way, Cruz, soft. When they heard about this thing with that he was bordering Canada, nobody knew them? He lost a lot of people! He's gone down big in the polls. Ted Cruz has gone down big in the polls. That doesn't mean he's giving us a fight in Iowa, that doesn't mean you can stay home, okay, see, you with the smile? It doesn't mean that. You gotta go out cause we can't take any chances.
- Speech at campaign rally (23 January 2016), Sioux Center, Iowa.

February 2016

To have a crowd like this on our final day, can you believe it, this is the day. This is the day we take our country back. Remember that. This is the day we take our country back. So I got a little notice in case you see it. It's security guys. We have wonderful security guys. They said, "Mr. Trump, there may be somebody with tomatoes in the audience." So if you see somebody getting ready to throw a tomato, knock the crap out of them, would you? Seriously... Okay? Just knock the hell... I promise you I will pay for the legal fees, I promise. I promise. There won't be so much cause the courts agree with us too. What's going on in this country.
- At a rally in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. (1 February 2016)

This has been going if it's not going to happen anymore, folks. We're going to bring businesses back. We're going to have businesses that used to be in New Hampshire, that are now in Mexico, come back to New Hampshire and you can tell them to go f--- themselves...because they let you down, and they left. We want the businesses that stay. I know a lot of businesses up here and I knew a lot of businesses up here. These are great people, they could've left and they wanna stay. They willing to stay, they're fighting to stay. It's hard. With a highest tax nation in the entire world. It's hard for them to stay and they stay. Those are the people we have to cherish and love. These are the people that are great.
- At a rally in New Hampshire. (4 February 2016)

Trump: No, I didn't use the word. I never said the word, Bill. I don't know who told you -- I would never use the word. I didn't say the word. I said, "you can tell them to go [beat of silence] themselves."
O'Reilly: But the lips kind of moved in the --
Trump: Well, they might have. No, I didn't say the word. I wouldn't do that. Even I -- hey Bill, even I wouldn't do that, okay. No, I never said the word.
- On an interview on The O'Reilly Factor (6 February 2016)

It's the Harvard of Terrorists.
- Interview with Charlie Rose (17 February 2016)

Torture works, okay folks? [...] Believe me, it works. [...] Waterboarding is your minor form. Some people say it's not actually torture. Let's assume it is. But they asked me the question. What do you think of waterboarding? Absolutely fine. But we should go much stronger than waterboarding. That's the way I feel.
- Donald Trump: "Torture works". CBS News (17 February 2016). Bluffton, South Carolina.

They were having terrorism problems, just like we do, and he caught 50 terrorists who did tremendous damage and killed many people. And he took the 50 terrorists, and he took 50 men and he dipped 50 bullets in pigs' blood — you heard that, right? He took 50 bullets, and he dipped them in pigs' blood. And he had his men load his rifles, and he lined up the 50 people, and they shot 49 of those people. And the 50th person, he said: You go back to your people, and you tell them what happened. And for 25 years, there wasn't a problem. Okay? Twenty-five years, there wasn't a problem.
- During a campaign stop in Pawley's Island, South Carolina (February 19, 2016) . Referring to a false story about John J. Pershing which has circulated on the Internet.

Bye bye. Look, see? He's smiling. See, he's having a good time. Oh, I love the old days, you know? You know what I hate? There's a guy, totally disruptive, throwing punches, we're not allowed to punch back anymore. I love the old days. You know what they used to do to guys like that when they were in a place like this? They'd be carried out on a stretcher, folks. You know, I love our police, and I really respect our police, and they're not getting enough. They're not. Honestly, I hate to see that. Here's a guy, throwing punches, nasty as hell, screaming at everything else when we're talking, and he's walking out, and we're not allowed -- you know, the guards are very gentle with him, he's walking out, like, big high fives, smiling, laughing -- I'd like to punch him in the face, I'll tell you.
- At a rally in Las Vegas (22 February 2016)

We won with young. We won with old. We won with highly educated. We won with poorly educated. I love the poorly educated.
- Donald Trump declares 'I love the poorly educated' as he storms to victory in Nevada caucus, 24 February 2016

Ted Cruz: Donald, relax.
Donald Trump: I'm relaxed. You're the basket case. Go ahead, don't get nervous.
- CNN-Telemundo Republican debate (25 February 2016)

March 2016

Donald Trump: I think you've become very negative.
Bill O'Reilly: Why would I do that?
Trump: Who knows. You'll have to ask your psychiatrist.
- "Trump to O'Reilly: 'I think you've become very negative'" by Nick Gass, Politico (3 March 2016)

Look at those hands. Are they small hands? And he referred to my hands — if they're small, something else must be small. I guarantee you there's no problem, I guarantee.
- Fox News Republican debate, 2016-03-03, quoted in Gregory Krieg (4 March 2016), "Donald Trump defends size of his penis", CNN

Anderson Cooper: Is Islam at war with the West?
Donald Trump: I think Islam hates us. There is something there, there is a tremendous hatred there, and we have to get to the bottom of it. There is an unbelievable hatred of us.
Cooper: In Islam itself?
Trump: You're going to have to figure that out, but there is a tremendous hatred and we have to be very vigilant, we have to be very careful and we can't allow people coming into this country who have this hatred of the United States and of people that are not Muslim.
Cooper: The question is is there a war between the West and radical Islam or is it between the West and Islam itself?
Trump: Well it's radical but it's very hard to define, it's very hard to separate because you don't know who's who.
- 9 March CNN interview, as quoted in "US Election 2016: Donald Trump tells CNN TV interviewer 'Islam hates us'" by Harriet Sinclair, International Business Times (10 March 2016)

Come on, get 'em out, police, please. Let's go! ... Nobody wants to hurt each other anymore.
- During a St Louis, Mo., rally, as quoted in "‘Get 'em out!' Racial tensions explode at Donald Trump's rallies", by Jose A. DelReal, The Washington Post (12 March 2016), Washington, D.C.

I promise you, I will not be taking very long vacations, if I take them at all. There's no time for vacations. We're not going to be big on vacations.
- Hardball with Chris Matthews, August 4, 2017 March 14, 2016 rally

Iran has already, since the deal is in place, test-fired ballistic missiles three times. Those ballistic missiles, with a range of 1,250 miles, were designed to intimidate not only Israel, which is only 600 miles away, but also intended to frighten Europe and someday maybe hit even the United States. And we're not going to let that happen. We're not letting it happen. And we're not letting it happen to Israel, believe me.
Thank you. Thank you.
Do you want to hear something really shocking? As many of the great people in this room know, painted on those missiles in both Hebrew and Farsi were the words "Israel must be wiped off the face of the earth." You can forget that.
What kind of demented minds write that in Hebrew?
- 21 March 2016 address to AIPAC (America-Israel Public Affairs Committee)

Obama: But you would rule in the possibility to fight against ISIS.
Trump: Well, I'm never gonna rule anything out. And I wouldn't wanna say. Even if I felt -- it wasn't going -- I wouldn't wanna tell you that because, at a minimum, I want them to think maybe that we would use it.
- As part of a conversation with Barack Obama about ruling out the use of nuclear weapons (March 23, 2016) reported 24 March 2016 by CBS

If Saudi Arabia was without the cloak of American protection, I don't think it would be around.
- Interview on foreign policy given on 25 March 2016, published: In Donald Trump's Worldview, America Comes First, and Everybody Else Pays, The New York Times (26 March 2016)

I was angry because they sued.
- explaining why he withdrew the medical benefits to his nephew's infant son who had cerebral palsy, after his nephew claimed that the exclusion from Fred Trump's will was a result of Donald Trump and his siblings unduly influencing the older man
- as quoted in Donald Trump's Cruel Streak, by Conor Friedersdorf, in The Atlantic; published September 26, 2016; retrieved October 24, 2016

Talking about success, most people think success is measured in the form of monetary success. It's not really. I mean to be a successful person is to have a great family, is who loves the family, loves the children and the children love him or her. To me that's a much more successful person than a person that has made a billion dollars or ten billion dollars, and is miserable and doesn't have a good family and nobody likes that person. I think I've seen every type of person there is that God created.
- Donald Trump talks about Success and Happiness - Motivational speech held in Wisconsin on March 30, 2016, Mike Mohamed on YouTube. (2:37 to 3:05)

April 2016

I can be presidential, but if I was presidential I would only have - about 20% of you would be here because it would be boring as hell.
- At a rally in Superior, Wisconsin (4 April 2016)

I love working. I'm not a vacation guy. Right? Like Obama, he plays golf in Hawaii. He flies in a 747.
- Hardball with Chris Matthews, August 4, 2017 April 21, 2016 rally

If you love what you do, you're happy. You don't take vacations.
- Hardball with Chris Matthews, August 4, 2017 April 22, 2016 rally

Foreign Policy Speech (27 April 2016)

No country has ever prospered that failed to put its own interests first.

Transcript: Donald Trump's Foreign Policy Speech, The New York Times (27 April 2016)

It's time to shake the rust off America's foreign policy.

My foreign policy will always put the interests of the American people and American security above all else... That will be the foundation of every single decision that I will make. America First will be the major and overriding theme of my administration.

Our foreign policy is a complete and total disaster. No vision. No purpose. No direction. No strategy.

President Obama has weakened our military by weakening our economy. He's crippled us with wasteful spending, massive debt, low growth, a huge trade deficit and open borders.

Our allies are not paying their fair share... The countries we are defending must pay for the cost of this defense, and if not, the U.S. must be prepared to let these countries defend themselves. We have no choice.

Israel, our great friend and the one true democracy in the Middle East has been snubbed and criticized by an administration that lacks moral clarity... President Obama has not been a friend to Israel. He has treated Iran with tender love and care and made it a great power.

We've let our rivals and challengers think they can get away with anything, and they do... If President Obama's goal had been to weaken America, he could not have done a better job.

We've made the Middle East more unstable and chaotic than ever before. We left Christians subject to intense persecution and even genocide. We have done nothing to help the Christians, nothing, and we should always be ashamed for that lack of action.

Hillary Clinton refuses to say the words radical Islam, even as she pushes for a massive increase in refugees coming into our country. After Secretary Clinton's failed intervention in Libya, Islamic terrorists in Benghazi took down our consulate and killed our ambassador and three brave Americans. Then, instead of taking charge that night, Hillary Clinton decided to go home and sleep. Incredible. Clinton blames it all on a video, an excuse that was a total lie, proven to be absolutely a total lie. Our ambassador was murdered and our secretary of state misled the nation.

We're also going to have to change our trade, immigration and economic policies to make our economy strong again. And to put Americans first again. This will ensure that our own workers, right here in America, get the jobs and higher pay that will grow our tax revenues, increase our economic might as a nation.

I believe an easing of tensions, and improved relations with Russia from a position of strength only is possible.

Americans must know that we're putting the American people first again on trade, on immigration, on foreign policy. The jobs, incomes and security of the American worker will always be my first priority. No country has ever prospered that failed to put its own interests first. Both our friends and our enemies put their countries above ours and we, while being fair to them, must start doing the same. We will no longer surrender this country or its people to the false song of globalism. The nation-state remains the true foundation for happiness and harmony. I am skeptical of international unions that tie us up and bring America down, and will never enter America into any agreement that reduces our ability to control our own affairs.

May 2016

We have a 500 billion dollar deficit, trade deficit with China. We're going to turn it around and we have the cards, don't forget, we're like the piggy bank that's being robbed. We have the cards, we have a lot of power with China. When China doesn't want to fix the problem in North Korea we say "Sorry folks, you've got to fix the problem." Because we can't continue to allow China to rape our country, and that's what they're doing. It's the greatest theft in the history of the world.
- "China accused of trade 'rape' by Donald Trump" BBC (2 May 2016)

You've been hearing me say it's a rigged system, but now I don't say it anymore because I won. It's true. Now I don't care.
- "Trump: GOP 'rigged,' but I don't care because I won" by Ryan Lovelace, Washington Examiner (5 May 2016)

Happy #CincoDeMayo! The best taco bowls are made in Trump Tower Grill. I love Hispanics!
- Twitter, 5 May 2016

June 2016

It's going to be like this. I'm not changing.
- Answer to the question whether the American public could expect a similar dynamic if he would win the presidential elections, quoted in Alan Fisher (1 June 2016), "Donald Trump: Questions on money for war veterans", Al Jazeera

He's a Mexican. We're building a wall between here and Mexico.
- About American judge Gonzalo Curiel (3 June 2016), as quoted in Nina Totenberg (4 June 2016), "Trump Presses Case That 'Mexican' Judge Curiel Is Biased Against Him", National Public Radio

I'm truly honored by your support. Together, we accomplished what nobody thought was absolutely possible and you know what that is and we're only getting started and it's going to be beautiful, remember that. Tonight we close one chapter in history and we begin another. Our campaign received more primary votes than any GOP campaign in history, no matter who it is, no matter who they are, we received more votes. This is a great feeling. That's a great feeling. This is not a testament to me but a testament to all of the people who believed real change, not Obama change, but real change is possible. You've given me the honor to lead the Republican Party to victory this fall.
- Victory speech after winning New Jersey and other states Tuesday night (7 June 2016) – Time transcript

To those who voted for someone else in either party, I will work hard to earn your support and I will work very hard to earn that support. To all of those Bernie Sanders voters who have been left out in the cold by a rigged system of super delegates, we welcome you with open arms. And by the way, the terrible trade deals that Bernie was so vehemently against and he's right on that will be taken care of far better than anyone ever thought possible and that's what I do. We are going to have fantastic trade deals. We're going to start making money and bringing in jobs.
- Victory speech after winning New Jersey and other states Tuesday night (7 June 2016) – Time transcript

My goal is always again to bring people together. But if I'm forced to fight for something I really care about, I will never, ever back down and our country will never, ever back down. Thank you. I've fought for my family. I've fought for my business. I've fought for my employees. And now, I'm going to fight for you, the American people like nobody has ever fought before.
- Victory speech after winning New Jersey and other states Tuesday night (7 June 2016) – Time transcript

We're led by a man that either is not tough, not smart, or he's got something else in mind. And the something else in mind, you know, people can't believe it, people cannot believe that President Obama is acting the way he acts and can't even mention the words 'radical Islamic terrorism. There's something going on — it's inconceivable. There's something going on. He doesn't get it, or he gets it better than anybody understands. It's one or the other, and either one is unacceptable.
- Phone interview on Fox and Friends, as quoted in Jesse Byrnes (13 June 2016), "Trump on Obama and Islam: 'There's something going on'", The Hill

Look, companies now are leaving the United States. Corporate inversion, they're leaving the United States, we have almost $5 trillion sitting out there, where they can't get the money back, they can't bring it in because there's no mechanism to bring it back in and the tax is so high. I'm going to bring tremendous amounts of money, tremendous amounts of jobs, tremendous numbers of companies, and yes the tax is going to be cut from the highest tax nation anywhere in the world to a fairly low tax. Not the lowest in the world, but to a fairly low tax.
Norah O'Donnell: Hillary Clinton called you the king of debt.
Donald Trump: Well, no she didn't call me, I called myself the king of debt. I'm the king of debt. I'm great with debt, nobody knows debt better than me. I made a fortune by using debt. And if things don't work out I renegotiate the debt, I mean that's a smart thing not a stupid thing. And I made a fortune.
O'Donnell: How do you renegotiate the debt?
Trump: Because you go back and you say, hey, guess what, the economy just crashed, I'm going to give you back half. I like debt for me, I don't like debt for the country. I like debt for my company, but I don't like debt for the country. For the country we have $19 trillion in debt, it's going to be very soon $21 trillion, not billion, $21 trillion in debt. And I will tell you we are sitting on a time bomb and Hillary Clinton doesn't have a clue. And President Obama has pretty much doubled the debt since he's been in office and somebody's going to pay a big price. We have to start chopping that debt down.
O'Donnell: Janet Yellen, who you know, the chairman of the Federal Reserve blasted you for saying that the U.S. could load up on debt and then make a deal with creditors if the economy has soured. She said there would be very severe consequences if an elected president tried to renegotiate the nation's debt.
Trump: I wouldn't renegotiate the debt.
- In an interview with CBS This Morning' Norah O'Donnell, 2016-06-22, quoted in "CBS' Norah O'Donnell Challenges Trump On His Economic Plan", Media Matters for America, 22 June 2016

Our enemies probably know every single one [of Clinton's deleted emails]. So they probably now have a blackmail file. . . . We can't hand over our government to someone whose deepest, darkest secrets may be in the hands of our enemies. Can't do it."
- speech, 2016-06-22, quoted in Dana Milbank (22 June 2016), "Nobody brings the crazy quite like Trump", Washington Post

Speech about the Orlando Shooting (June 13, 2016)

Speech after the 2016 Orlando nightclub shooting (transcript)

So many people — it's just hard to believe, but just so many people dead, so many people gravely injured, so much carnage, such a disgrace. The horror is beyond description. The families of these wonderful people are totally devastated, and they will be forever. Likewise, our whole nation and indeed the whole world is devastated.

Our nation stands together in solidarity with the members of Orlando's LGBT community. They have been through something that nobody could ever experience. This is a very dark moment in America's history. A radical Islamic terrorist targeted the nightclub, not only because he wanted to kill Americans, but in order to execute gay and lesbian citizens, because of their sexual orientation.

It's a strike at the heart and soul of who we are as a nation. It's an assault on the ability of free people to live their lives, love who they want, and express their identity. It's an attack on the right of every single American to live in peace and safety in their own country.

We're not acting clearly, we're not talking clearly, we've got problems.

We have a dysfunctional immigration system, which does not permit us to know who we let into our country, and it does not permit us to protect our citizens properly. We have an incompetent administration.

The immigration laws of the United States give the president powers to suspend entry into the country of any class of persons. Now, any class — it really is determined and to be determined by the president for the interests of the United States. And it's as he or she deems appropriate. Hopefully it's he in this case.

When I'm elected I will suspend immigration from areas of the world where there's a proven history of terrorism against the United States, Europe or our allies until we fully understand how to end these threats. ... After a full and partial and long — really long overdue security assessment we will develop a responsible immigration policy that serves the interests and values of America.

We cannot continue to allow thousands upon thousands of people to pour into our country many of whom have the same thought process as this savage killer. Many of the principles of radical Islam are incompatible with Western values and institutions. Remember this, radical Islam is anti-woman, anti-gay and anti- American. I refuse to allow America to become a place where gay people, Christian people, Jewish people are targets of persecution and intimation by radical Islamic preachers of hate and violence. This is not just a national security issue. It's a quality of life issue. If we want to protect the quality of life for all Americans — women and children, gay and straight, Jews and Christians and all people then we need to tell the truth about radical Islam and we need to do it now. We need to tell the truth also about how radical Islam is coming to our shores. And it's coming.

We're importing radical Islamic terrorism into the West through a failed immigration system and through an intelligence community held back by our president.

They share these oppressive views and values. We want to remain a free and open society. Then, and if we do, then we have to control our borders. We have to control, and we have to control them now, not later. Right now.

Hillary Clinton, for months, and despite so many attacks, repeatedly refused to even say the words radical Islam until I challenged her yesterday. And, guess what, she will probably say them. She sort of has said them, but let's see what happens. She really has no choice, but she doesn't want to. However, she's really been forced, and she has been forced to say these words. She supports, and the reason is, she supports so much of what is wrong, and what is wrong with this country, and what's going wrong with our country and our borders. She has no clue, in my opinion, what radical Islam is and she won't speak honestly about it if she does, in fact, know. She's in total denial, and her continuing reluctance to ever name the enemy broadcasts weakness across the entire world — true weakness.

She says the solution is to ban guns. They tried that in France which has among the toughest gun laws anywhere in the world, and 130 people were brutally murdered by Islamic terrorists in cold blood. Her plan is to disarm law abiding Americans, abolishing the Second Amendment, and leaving only the bad guys and terrorists with guns. No good. Not going to happen, folks. ... She wants to take away American's guns and then admit the very people who want to slaughter us. Let them come into the country, we don't have guns. Let them come in, let them have all the fun they want.

Hillary Clinton's catastrophic immigration plan will bring vastly more radical Islamic immigration into this country, threatening not only our society but our entire way of life. When it comes to radical Islamic terrorism, ignorance is not bliss. It's deadly — totally deadly. ... Clinton's State Department was in charge of admissions and the admissions process for people applying to enter from overseas. Having learned nothing from these attacks, she now plans to massively increase admissions without a screening plan including a 500 percent increase in Syrian refugees coming into our country. Tell me, tell me – how stupid is that? This could be a better, bigger, more horrible version than the legendary Trojan Horse ever was. Altogether, under the Clinton plan, you'd be admitting hundreds of thousands of refugees from the Middle East with no system to vet them, or to prevent the radicalization of the children and their children. Not only their children, by the way, they're trying to take over our children and convince them how wonderful ISIS is and how wonderful Islam is and we don't know what's happening. The burden is on Hillary Clinton to tell us why she believes immigration from these dangerous countries should be increased without any effective system to really to screen. We're not screening people.

We have, just, no intelligence gathering information. We need this information so badly. ... We need an intelligence gathering system second to none. Second to none. That includes better cooperation between state, local and federal officials, and with our allies, very importantly. I will have an Attorney General, a Director of National Intelligence and a Secretary of Defense who'll know how to fight a war on radical Islamic terrorism.

They have put political correctness above common sense, above your safety, and above all else. I refuse to be politically correct.

The days of deadly ignorance will end, and they will end soon.

The media talks about home grown terrorism but Islamic radicalism and that's a very, very important term — a term that the president refuses to use and the networks that nurture it are imports from overseas whether you like it or whether you don't like it. Yes, there are many radicalized people already inside our country as a result of poor policies of the past.

Hillary Clinton can never claim to be a friend of the gay community as long as she continues to support immigration policies that bring Islamic extremists to our country and who suppress women, gays and anyone who doesn't share their views or values.

Clinton wants to allow radical Islamic terrorists to pour into our country. They enslave women, and they murder gays. I don't want them in our country.

Immigration is a privilege, and we should not let anyone into this country who doesn't support our communities. All of our communities, every single one of them.

I want every American to succeed including Muslims. But the Muslims have to work with us. They have to work with us. They know what's going on. They know that he was bad. They knew the people in San Bernardino were bad. But you know what? They didn't turn them in. And you know what? We had death, and destruction.

Hillary Clinton wants to empty out the Treasury to bring people into the country that include individuals who preach hate against our citizens. I want to protect our citizens, all of our citizens.

America must do more — much more — to protect its citizens, especially people who are potential victims of crimes based on their backgrounds or sexual orientation, as you just saw in Orlando.

The decision to overthrow the regime in Libya, then pushing for the overthrow of the regime in Syria, among other things, without plans for the day after, have created space for ISIS to expand and grow like nobody has ever seen before. These actions, along with our disastrous Iran deal, have also reduced our ability to work in partnership with our Muslim allies in the region. That is why our new goal must be to defeat Islamic terrorism not nation building. No more nation building. It's never going to work.

The last major NATO mission was Hillary Clinton's war in Libya. That mission helped to unleash ISIS on a new continent.

America must unite the whole civilized world in the fight against Islamic terrorism. Pretty much like we did with communism during the Cold War. We tried it President Obama's way, doesn't work. He gave the world his apology tour. We got ISIS and many other problems in return. That's what we got. Remember the famous apology tour. We're sorry for everything.

July 2016

Saddam Hussein was a bad guy. Right? He was a bad guy, really bad guy. But you know what he did well? He killed terrorists. He did that so good. They didn't read them the rights—they didn't talk, they were a terrorist, it was over. [...] Today, Iraq is Harvard for terrorism. You want to be a terrorist, you go to Iraq. It's like Harvard. Okay? So sad.
- At a campaign rally in Raleigh, North Carolina (July 5, 2016), as cited in "Donald Trump praises Saddam Hussein for killing terrorists ‘so good’" The Washington Post (July 5, 2016).
- Jake Sullivan, then a policy advisor to Hillary Clinton, stated: "Hussein's regime was a sponsor of terrorism — one that paid families of suicide bombers who attacked Israelis, among other crimes."

I'll stand up for Article Two, Article 12, you name it of the Constitution.
- About the U.S. Constitution, which only has seven articles and 27 amendments; as recounted by Mark Sanford, quoted in "Trump Manages To Give Some House GOPers More Heartburn In Hill Meeting" (2016), Talking Points Memo (July 7, 2016).

[Interviewer: You're not known to be a humble man. But I wonder—] I think I am actually humble. I think I'm much more humble than you would understand.
- During an interview by Lesley Stahl on 60 Minutes (17 July 2016)

Look, having nuclear—my uncle was a great professor and scientist and engineer, Dr. John Trump at MIT; good genes, very good genes, OK, very smart, the Wharton School of Finance, very good, very smart—you know, if you're a conservative Republican, if I were a liberal, if, like, OK, if I ran as a liberal Democrat, they would say I'm one of the smartest people anywhere in the world—it's true!—but when you're a conservative Republican they try—oh, do they do a number—that's why I always start off: Went to Wharton, was a good student, went there, went there, did this, built a fortune—you know I have to give my like credentials all the time, because we're a little disadvantaged—but you look at the nuclear deal, the thing that really bothers me—it would have been so easy, and it's not as important as these lives are—nuclear is powerful; my uncle explained that to me many, many years ago, the power and that was 35 years ago; he would explain the power of what's going to happen and he was right, who would have thought?—but when you look at what's going on with the four prisoners—now it used to be three, now it's four—but when it was three and even now, I would have said it's all in the messenger; fellas, and it is fellas because, you know, they don't, they haven't figured that the women are smarter right now than the men, so, you know, it's gonna take them about another 150 years—but the Persians are great negotiators, the Iranians are great negotiators, so, and they, they just killed, they just killed us.
- Speech in South Carolina (19 July 2016)

Russia, if you're listening, I hope you're able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing. I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press.
- Press conference, reported in Ashley Parker and David E. Sanger, "Donald Trump Calls on Russia to Find Hillary Clinton's Missing Emails, The New York Times (July 27, 2016).

Though Bernie is exhausted and has given up on his revolution, many of his voters still want to keep up the fight. I expect that millions of Bernie voters will refuse to vote for Hillary because of her support for the War in Iraq, the invasion of Libya, NAFTA and TPP, and of course because she is totally bought and sold by special interests. She and her husband have been paid millions and millions by global corporations and powerful interests who will control her every decision. She is their puppet, and they pull the strings. We welcome with open arms all voters who want an honest government and to fix our rigged system so it works for the people. This includes fixing one of Bernie's biggest issues, our terrible trade deals that strip our country of its jobs and wealth.
- How Donald Trump Beat Reddit, The Atlantic (July 28, 2016)

The things that were said about me. … You know what, I wanted to hit a couple of those speakers so hard. ... I was gonna hit one guy in particular, a very little guy. I was gonna hit this guy so hard, his head would spin. He wouldn't know what the hell happened.
- Press conference, reported in Jacob Bogage, "‘I wanted to hit a couple of those speakers so hard', Trump says of Democratic convention", The Washington Post (July 29, 2016).

A guy who didn't have the guts to run for president. Little Michael. He doesn't know anything about me. But he never had the guts to run. He probably wished he did but he didn't. He spent millions of dollars on polling but he was missing one thing: guts. Little Michael.
- On Michael Bloomberg's speech about Trump. At an interview with The New York Times' Maureen Dowd. (July 29, 2016)

Obama gave a good speech but not nearly as good as the press would have you believe. Whether it's good or bad, the press will say it's fantastic. In many ways, I like Obama. It's hard to define. There's something about him I do like. I'm embarrassed to admit it. I give him a lot of credit. It's very unique and very hard to do and I give him tremendous credit. He became a two-term president of the United States. He's got some quality going.
- At an interview with The New York Times' Maureen Dowd. (July 29, 2016)

Emails in general are terrible. There's no security. It happens so often. I'm old-fashioned. I put a letter in an envelope and have it hand delivered. My son is 10 years old, and he has grown up computer literate. They start using computers before they can walk. His computer was locked and he unlocked it. And I said, ‘Barron, how did you do that?' And he said, ‘I won't tell you, Dad.
- At an interview with The New York Times' Maureen Dowd. (July 29, 2016)

Putin said I was a genius. I do say this: Wouldn't it be wonderful if we actually could get along with Russia and China and some other countries that we don't get along with, and then we go out and knock the hell out of ISIS? Wouldn't it be nice if we cleaned that mess up? Wouldn't it be smart?
- At an interview with The New York Times' Maureen Dowd. (July 29, 2016)

I think he's a pervert. It's dangerous to allow him on the convention floor.
- About Anthony Weiner on the 2016 Democratic National Convention. At an interview with The New York Times' Maureen Dowd. (July 29, 2016)

Captain Humayun Khan was a hero to our country and we should honor all who have made the ultimate sacrifice to keep our country safe. The real problem here are the radical Islamic terrorists who killed him, and the efforts of these radicals to enter our country to do us further harm. Given the state of the world today, we have to know everything about those looking to enter our country, and given the state of chaos in some of these countries, that is impossible. While I feel deeply for the loss of his son, Mr. Khan who has never met me, has no right to stand in front of millions of people and claim I have never read the Constitution, (which is false) and say many other inaccurate things. If I become President, I will make America safe again.
Hillary Clinton should be held accountable for her central role in destabilizing the Middle East. She voted to send the United States to war against Iraq, helped lead the disastrous withdrawal of American troops years later that created the vacuum allowing the rise of ISIS, and has never met a regime change she didn't like (which have all been disasters) – not to mention her invasion of Libya and her abandonment of American personnel in Benghazi. The loss of these lives in Libya is directly traceable to Clinton, but their families' testimonials were rejected by the media.
Clinton's actions have been reckless and have directly led to the loss of American lives. And her extreme immigration policies, as also laid out by American victims in Cleveland, will cause the preventable deaths of countless more -- while putting all residents, from all places, at greater risk of terrorism. As Bernie Sanders said on numerous occasions, Hillary Clinton suffers from "bad judgement." She is not qualified to serve as Commander in Chief.
- Written statement responding to Khizr M. Khan (July 30, 2016)

2016 Republican National Convention (21 July 2016)

"Full transcript of Donald Trump’s acceptance speech at the RNC", Vox (22 July 2016) · "Donald Trump's entire Republican convention speech", CNN (21 July 2016) · Donald Trump 2016 RNC draft speech transcript, Politico (21 July 2016)

The attacks on our police, and the terrorism in our cities, threaten our very way of life. Any politician who does not grasp this danger is not fit to lead our country.

Americans watching this address tonight have seen the recent images of violence in our streets and the chaos in our communities. Many have witnessed this violence personally. Some have even been its victims.
I have a message for all of you: The crime and violence that today afflicts our nation will soon — and I mean very soon come to an end. Beginning on January 20th 2017, safety will be restored.
The most basic duty of government is to defend the lives of its citizens. Any government that fails to do so is a government unworthy to lead.

It is finally time for a straightforward assessment of the state of our nation. I will present the facts plainly and honestly. We cannot afford to be so politically correct anymore.
So if you want to hear the corporate spin, the carefully-crafted lies, and the media myths — the Democrats are holding their convention next week. Go there.
But here, at our convention, there will be no lies. We will honor the American people with the truth, and nothing else.

Decades of progress made in bringing down crime are now being reversed by this Administration's rollback of criminal enforcement.
America is far less safe – and the world is far less stable – than when Obama made the decision to put Hillary Clinton in charge of America's foreign policy. I am certain it is a decision he truly regrets. Her bad instincts and her bad judgment – something pointed out by Bernie Sanders – are what caused the disasters unfolding today.
This is the legacy of Hillary Clinton: death, destruction and weakness.
The problems we face now – poverty and violence at home, war and destruction abroad – will last only as long as we continue relying on the same politicians who created them. A change in leadership is required to change these outcomes.
There can be no prosperity without law and order
Our plan will put America First. Americanism, not globalism, will be our credo. As long as we are led by politicians who will not put America First, then we can be assured that other nations will not treat America with respect.
Big business, elite media and major donors are lining up behind the campaign of my opponent because they know she will keep our rigged system in place. They are throwing money at her because they have total control over everything she does. She is their puppet, and they pull the strings. That is why Hillary Clinton's message is that things will never change. My message is that things have to change – and they have to change right now.
Every day I wake up determined to deliver for the people I have met all across this nation that have been neglected, ignored, and abandoned. I have visited the laid-off factory workers, and the communities crushed by our horrible and unfair trade deals. These are the forgotten men and women of our country, and they are forgotten, but they're not going to be forgotten long. These are people who work hard but no longer have a voice. I AM YOUR VOICE.
I have no patience for injustice, no tolerance for government incompetence, no sympathy for leaders who fail their citizens.
When innocent people suffer, because our political system lacks the will, or the courage, or the basic decency to enforce our laws – or worse still, has sold out to some corporate lobbyist for cash – I am not able to look the other way.
When a Secretary of State illegally stores her emails on a private server, deletes 33,000 of them so the authorities can't see her crime, puts our country at risk, lies about it in every different form and faces no consequence – I know that corruption has reached a level like never before.
I have joined the political arena so that the powerful can no longer beat up on people that cannot defend themselves. Nobody knows the system better than me, which is why I alone can fix it.
I have seen firsthand how the system is rigged against our citizens, just like it was rigged against Bernie Sanders – he never had a chance.
He (Mike Pence) is a man of character and accomplishment. He is the right man for the job.
An attack on law enforcement is an attack on all Americans. I have a message to every last person threatening the peace on our streets and the safety of our police: when I take the oath of office next year, I will restore law and order our country.
In this race for the White House, I am the Law And Order candidate. ... I will work to ensure that all of our kids are treated equally, and protected equally.
- "I am the law-and-order candidate" was a phrase used by Richard Nixon during his 1968 presidential campaign.
Once again, France is the victim of brutal Islamic terrorism. Men, women and children viciously mowed down. Lives ruined. Families ripped apart. A nation in mourning.
I will do everything in my power to protect our LGBT citizens from the violence and oppression of a hateful foreign ideology.
We must work with all of our allies who share our goal of destroying ISIS and stamping out Islamic terror. This includes working with our greatest ally in the region, the State of Israel.
We must immediately suspend immigration from any nation that has been compromised by terrorism until such time as proven vetting mechanisms have been put in place.
I only want to admit individuals into our country who will support our values and love our people. Anyone who endorses violence, hatred or oppression is not welcome in our country and never will be.
Decades of record immigration have produced lower wages and higher unemployment for our citizens, especially for African-American and Latino workers. We are going to have an immigration system that works, but one that works for the American people.
Of all my travels in this country, nothing has affected me more deeply than the time I have spent with the mothers and fathers who have lost their children to violence spilling across our border.
We are going to build a great border wall to stop illegal immigration, to stop the gangs and the violence, and to stop the drugs from pouring into our communities.
Peace will be restored.
We are going to be considerate and compassionate to everyone. But my greatest compassion will be for our own struggling citizens.
Americans want relief from uncontrolled immigration. Communities want relief.
I'm going to make our country rich again. I am going to turn our bad trade agreements into great ones.
I pledge to never sign any trade agreement that hurts our workers, or that diminishes our freedom and independence. Instead, I will make individual deals with individual countries.
No longer will we enter into these massive deals, with many countries, that are thousands of pages long – and which no one from our country even reads or understands. We are going to enforce all trade violations, including through the use of taxes and tariffs, against any country that cheats.
We'll walk away if we don't get the deal that we want.
Reducing taxes will cause new companies and new jobs to come roaring back into our country.
My Dad, Fred Trump, was the smartest and hardest working man I ever knew.
I have loved my life in business.
We must break free from the petty politics of the past.
America is a nation of believers, dreamers, and strivers that is being led by a group of censors, critics, and cynics.
All of the people telling you that you can't have the country you want, are the same people telling you that I wouldn't be standing here tonight. No longer can we rely on those elites in media, and politics, who will say anything to keep a rigged system in place.
We must choose to Believe In America. History is watching us now.
My opponent asks her supporters to recite a three word loyalty pledge. It reads, "I'm with her." I choose to recite a different pledge. My pledge reads, "I'm with you – the American people." I am your voice. So to every parent who dreams for their child, and every child who dreams for a better future, I say these words to you tonight: I'm with you, and I will fight for you, and I will win for you. To all Americans tonight, in all of our cities and towns, I make this promise: We will make America proud again, we will make America strong again, we will make America safe again, and we will Make America Great Again! God bless you and good night! I love you!

This Week Interview (July 30, 2016)

Interview on ABC News' This Week with George Stephanopoulos. Transcript (31 July 2016)

She's (Hillary Clinton) a very dishonest person. I have one of the great temperaments. I have a winning temperament. She has a bad temperament. She's weak. We need a strong temperament and that's all it is, I have a strong temperament. ... I think I have a great temperament. I beat 16 very talented people in -- and I've never done this before. You don't do that with a bad temperament. ... I'm leading her in the polls, as you probably have noticed. And I think I have a great temperament. I have a temperament where I know how to win. She doesn't know how to win. She's not a winner. She doesn't know how to win. Honestly, she lies a lot and she really -- she should tell the truth. I honestly believe if she told the truth -- because she made some reference to my campaigning, I've had a beautiful -- I've had a -- had a flawless campaign. You'll be writing books about this campaign. And yet she's criticizing my campaign.
If you look at what's going on in terms of unity, the Bernie people are angry. They're angry. He was angry. What was amazing to me is when she was talking about Bernie last night, the camera was on him and he was angry. It almost looks like he has buyer's remorse, like he shouldn't have made the deal.
I have no relationship with Putin. I don't think I've ever met him. I never met him. I don't think I've ever met him. ... I have never spoken to him on the phone, no. I've speak -- I've spoken -- when we had the Miss Universe contest a number of years ago, we had Miss Universe in Moscow, in the Moscow area, he was invited. He wanted to come. He wasn't able to come. That would have been a time when I would have met him. ... I don't know what it means by having a relationship. I mean he was saying very good things about me, but I don't have a relationship with him. I didn't meet him. I haven't spent time with him. I didn't have dinner with him. I didn't go hiking with him. I don't know -- and I wouldn't know him from Adam except I see his picture and I would know what he looks like.
If our country got along with Russia, that would be a great thing. When Putin goes out and tells everybody -- and you talk about a relationship, but he says Donald Trump is going to win and Donald Trump is a genius, and then I have people saying you should disavow. I said, I'm going to disavow that? ... If we can have a good relationship with Russia and if Russia would help us get rid of ISIS, frankly, as far as I'm concerned, you're talking about tremendous amounts of money and lives and everything else, that would be a positive thing, not a negative thing.
NATO is going to be just fine. But NATO countries -- we have 28 countries -- many of them are taking advantage of us because they're not paying. So we're protecting these countries and they're not paying. ... I'm all in favor of NATO. I said NATO is obsolete. I was asked a question by one of your competitors and I said NATO is obsolete, because it's not taking care of terror.
The people of Crimea, from what I've heard, would rather be with Russia than where they were. And you have to look at that, also. Now, that was under -- just so you understand, that was done under Obama's administration. And as far as the Ukraine is concerned, it's a mess. And that's under the Obama's administration, with his strong ties to NATO. So with all of these strong ties to NATO, Ukraine is a mess. Crimea has been taken. Don't blame Donald Trump for that.
No debts. I have very little debt to anybody. I don't need debt. You know, it's very interesting, I'm so liquid, I don't need debt. And if I need debt, if I want debt, I can get it from banks in New York City very easily.
If you want to get a television today -- I buy thousands of television sets. If I want a television, I would love the buy American-made televisions like they used to have where they had GE and Sylvania and all of the different. Today, it's Samsung, it's LG, it's Sony. We don't make televisions anymore.
When I do ties, I bid them out. And I go all over the place. You have companies over in different countries where they devalue their currency and they make it impossible for American companies to compete. The hat, Make America Great Again. I fought like crazy to find a company in this country that could make the hats. And I found one. And they're American-made, but it's -- because I knew the first thing people would do is, where is the hat made. OK, Make America Great.
He (Khizr M. Khan) was, you know, very emotional and probably looked like a nice guy to me. His wife, if you look at his wife, she was standing there. She had nothing to say. She probably, maybe she wasn't allowed to have anything to say. You tell me. But plenty of people have written that. She was extremely quiet. And it looked like she had nothing to say. A lot of people have said that. And personally, I watched him. I wish him the best of luck.
I'd say we've had a lot of problems with radical Islamic terrorism. That's what I'd say. We have a lot of problems. ... I'd say you've got to take a look at that, because something is going on. And it's not good.
Well, that sounds - who wrote that? Did Hillary's scriptwriters write it? Because everybody that went out there, we also had John Allen who failed with ISIS. I mean, he was a general, Allen, General Allen. He went out. And he was ranting and raving. And then I read a report. He was in there for a number of months. And he failed with ISIS.
The generals aren't doing so well right now. Now, I have a feeling it may be Obama's fault. But if you look at ISIS… General MacArthur and General Patton, they're spinning in their graves. The generals certainly aren't doing very well right now.
I think I've made a lot of sacrifices. I work very, very hard. I've created thousands and thousands of jobs, tens of thousands of jobs, built great structures. I've done, I've had tremendous success. I think I've done a lot. ... I think they're sacrifices. I think when I can employ thousands and thousands of people, take care of their education, take care of so many things, even in military. I mean, I was very responsible, along with a group of people, for getting the Vietnam Memorial built in downtown Manhattan, which to this day people thank me for.
I raised, and I have raised, millions of dollars for the vets. I'm helping the vets a lot. I think my popularity with the vets is through the roof, far greater than hers. She's done nothing. All she's done is tell everybody that the vets are in good shape. They're fine. And they're not fine. People are waiting on line for seven days to see a doctor. She thinks it's fine.
Our country's a mess. And that's why when she makes the speech, she doesn't talk about radical Islam. She doesn't talk about the problems that we have in this country and throughout the world. Many of the problems, she caused. I mean, she created ISIS with her stupidity and her lack of knowledge with her bad judgment.

August 2016

He’s not going into Ukraine, OK, just so you understand. He’s not going to go into Ukraine, all right? You can mark it down. You can put it down. You can take it anywhere you want.
- Claimed about the Russian president Vladimir Putin after Putin had invaded Crimea, Ukraine and while fighting a war in Donbass, Ukraine, quoted in "Trump says Putin is ‘not going to go into Ukraine,’ despite Crimea", CNN (August 1, 2016)

Don't worry about that baby. I love babies. I hear that baby crying, I like it. What a baby. What a beautiful baby. Don't worry, don't worry. The mom's running around like—don't worry about it, you know. It's young and beautiful and healthy and that's what we want. [...] Actually, I was only kidding, you can get the baby out of here. That's all right. Don't worry. I, I think she really believed me that I love having a baby crying while I'm speaking. That's OK. People don't understand. That's OK.
- At a rally in Ashburn, Virginia. (August 2, 2016)

He's a terrible president, he'll probably go down as the worst president in the history of our country, he's been a total disaster.
- On Barack Obama during an interview with WJLA. Eric Bradner (2 August 2016), "Trump responds to Obama: 'He's a terrible president'", CNN

Hillary wants to abolish, essentially abolish, the second amendment. If she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks. Although the second amendment people, maybe there is, I don't know. But I'll tell you what, that will be a horrible day.
- Rally in Wilmington, North Carolina on August 9, 2016 (Corasaniti, Nick; Haberman, Maggie (August 9, 2016). "Donald Trump Suggests ‘Second Amendment People' Could Act Against Hillary Clinton". The New York Times. Retrieved on November 15, 2018. ; Smith, David (August 10, 2016). "Donald Trump hints at assassination of Hillary Clinton by gun rights supporters". The Guardian. Retrieved on November 15, 2018. ).
In my administration, I'm going to enforce all laws concerning the protection of classified information. No one will be above the law.
- Statement in a campaign rally in Charlotte, North Carolina (18 August 2016), as quoted in "Yes, Trump Said 'No One Will Be Above the Law' Regarding Protection of Classified Information" (9 June 2023)

ISIS is honoring President Obama. He is the founder of ISIS. He founded ISIS. And I would say the co-founder would be crooked Hillary Clinton.
- During a Florida rally at the BB&T Center in Sunrise, as quoted in "Donald Trump: President Barack Obama 'Is the Founder of ISIS'" by David Caplan, ABC News (August 10, 2016)

I will always tell you the truth.
- "Trump: “I will always tell you the truth” up to 30 percent of the time", Daily Kos (August 19, 2024)

No group in America has been more harmed by Hillary Clinton's policies than African-Americans. If Hillary Clinton's goal was to inflict pain on the African-American community, she could not have done a better job. It's a disgrace. Tonight, I'm asking for the vote of every single African-American citizen in this country who wants to see a better future. The inner cities of our country have been run by the Democratic party for more than fifty years. Their policies have reduced only poverty, joblessness, failing schools and broken homes. It's time to hold Democratic politicians accountable for what they have done to these communities. At what point do we say, "enough?" It's time to hold failed leaders accountable for their results not just their empty words over and over again. Look at what the Democratic party has done to the city as an example and there are many others of Detroit: forty percent of Detroit's residents live in poverty. Half of all Detroit residents do not work and cannot work and can't get a job. Detroit tops the list of most dangerous cities in terms of violent crime. This is the legacy of the Democratic politicians who have run this city. This is the result of the policy agenda embraced by Hillary Clinton: thirty-three thousand emails gone. The only way to change results is to change leadership. We can never fix our problems by relying on the same politicians who created our problems in the first place. A new future requires brand new leadership. Look how much African-American communities suffered under Democratic control. To those I say the following: What do you have to lose by trying something new like Trump. What do you have to lose? I say it again, what do you have to lose. Look, what do you have to lose? You're living your poverty, your schools are no good, you have no jobs. Fifty-eight percent of your youth is unemployed? What the hell do you have to lose? And at the end of four years, I guarantee you, that I will get over ninety-five percent of the African-American vote. I promise you.
- Speech to the African-American community in Dimondale, Michigan (August 19, 2016)

I'm going to be working for you. I'm not going to have time to go play golf.
- Trump used to have a slightly different opinion of presidents playing golf by Phillip Bump, Washington Post, August 8 Virginia rally (August 20, 2016)

Immigration security, we need to protect American jobs. We need to protect American safety. We're going to build a wall folks, don't worry, we're going to build a wall. That wall will go up so fast, your heads will spin. And you'll say, "you know, know he meant it!" And you know what else I mean? Mexico is going to pay for the wall.
- On immigration at a rally in Akron, Ohio (22 August 2016)

It's our right as a sovereign nation to choose immigrants that we think are the likeliest to thrive and flourish and love us.
- Immigration speech (31 August 2016), quoted in "Donald Trump delivers immigration speech after meeting with Mexican president" by CNN Wire, Fox 59.

The fundamental problem with the immigration system in our country is that it serves the needs of wealthy donors, political activists and powerful politicians. Let me tell you who it doesn’t serve: it doesn’t serve you, the American people.
- Immigration speech, Arizona (31 August 2016)

When politicians talk about immigration reform, they usually mean the following: amnesty, open borders, and lower wages. Immigration reform should mean something else entirely: it should mean improvements to our laws and policies to make life better for American citizens. But if we are going to make our immigration system work, then we have to be prepared to talk honestly and without fear about these important and sensitive issues.
- Immigration speech, Arizona (31 August 2016)

To all the politicians, donors and special interests, hear these words from me today: there is only one core issue in the immigration debate and it is this: the well-being of the American people. Nothing even comes a close second.
- Immigration speech, Arizona (31 August 2016)

You’re stealing my money! You’re stealing my fucking money! What the fuck is this? Why are you letting him steal my fucking money?
Fuck the law. I don’t give a fuck about the law. I want my fucking money.
- ??? when informed he was required to fund a transition. 27 September 2018 article in The Guardian by Michael Lewis

Speech at rally in Wilmington, North Carolina (August 9, 2016)

Speech at rally in Wilmington, North Carolina. Transcript (August 9, 2016)

I'm the messenger, but I'll tell you what, the message is the right message.

$400 million in all cash, anybody know what that looks like? That's a lot of cash. That's a lot of case. And honestly, it's so sad. Think of it, going to Iran, a terrorist state. Now I happen to think they have plenty of money, we've given then $150 billion, so the $400 million is just, you know – I happen to think it goes into their accounts in Switzerland personally. Now, a lot of people say, "no, no, it's used for terror," and they use it for terror because it's the number one terror funder – not even close. But I also think that when you have $400 million in cash, different denominations, do you see the size of this? I guess they did release the pictures after all. They released pictures. ... Obama said that he did it because we don't have a working account with Iran. Do you believe that? How long does it take to set up an account? Right? You don't have a working account, you set up an account, right?

What's going on in this country is insane. And we have people running our country that don't know what they're doing, they're grossly incompetent, and it's time. We have to make change, real change. Not Obama change, we have to make change.

We get Bergdahl who was a traitor, and they get five of the greatest killers that they've wanted for eight years. We get Bergdahl — I call it the five for one trade. For the Iran deal, where we get nothing, we get nothing. They get ultimately, they have the path, beautiful path, they'll get way, way earlier than that. They'll get nuclear weapons, so if you get Trump you're going to see a lot of changes to that deal. That'll happen fast.

Remember Obamacare, "you're going to keep your doctor, you're going to keep your plan, over and over again, you're going to keep your doctor." It was a lie. And in fact, if he didn't make the lie, he would have never gotten it approved because most Democrats, many of the Democrats didn't want to do it. It was only that, that got them to sign it and to approve it. And it was a lie.

America first. We get a little tired of these deals where they actually put, and you know why, because of lobbyists and special interests and people representing and people wanting it to happen. It's just not that they want other countries to benefit over us. There are reasons for it and you know, when I raise money, and I'm putting up a lot of money for my own campaign, I'm funding me. And I'm raising for the Republican party. And we're getting a lot of money from the small donors.

Those cameras are not going on the move unless we have a protester. If we had a protester that's the only time they move because they're showing something that in their mind is a bad thing, so then they move. But I like that, I've always liked my protesters because the cameras show these massive crowds and people say wow, was that a big crowd.

She (Hillary Clinton) lacks judgment, she lacks temperament and I'm the one that used unfit many, many months ago. And now they've turned it around, use it on me, unfit? I'm unfit? That's — that's a first. But she lacks the temperament and the moral character to lead this country, its very simple. She really does. She's a dangerous person who doesn't tell the truth which has been proven very loudly. I've never seen a — I don't think we've ever had greater proof of that, of anybody. And she has disregarded the lives of Americans — you see what's happening — with what she has done with her server? And you know why she did that. So, I just look at this, and I said that if she gets elected, she will cause the destruction of this country from within. Remember that. ... She is disdainful of the rules set for everyone else and she hasn't changed a bit. This is — that was the good thing. I couldn't say the bad things. It was too much. Nobody would even — nobody would even believe it. You've got to see this book. Nobody would believe because it's so terrible, so terrible. And she comes across like this woman — nice, easy — but she's not. And — and she's — listen — she's not a leader, not a leader. And she is a liar.

France isn't France anymore. We're not going. And so many people are saying that. Look at what's going on with Germany. Look at what's happening with Germany. Look at the crime; look at the problems. We have enough problems in our country right now. We don't need additional problems, folks. We don't need additional problems. And for all we know, this could be the great Trojan Horse. This could be. We don't know who these people are. ... We have to get smart, folks. We don't need the problems — and we've already got those problems, just so you understand. Because they're coming into the country, they're being put where nobody even knows where they are. It's like, if I were the enemy, I would say, I can't believe they're that stupid. They're taking my people and they're putting them all over the place, because you have great military right here.

33,000 e-mails are missing. And she's so guilty. She's so guilty.

Could you imagine if I said that "I short circuited"? They would be calling for my execution, — electric chair. They'd bring back the electric chair. It would be a whole different ball game if I said it, believe me.

Obama-Clinton economic policies have produced 1.2 percent economic growth, the weakest so-called recovery since the Great Depression. Now, this is, like, unbelievable — 1.2. Do you know China goes to 7 percent or 8 percent, it's like a national catastrophe. Now, what they do is they cut their currency. They devalue their currency, and big league, and then all of our businesses continue to be drained out of the United States. Our money, our jobs. They make our product, they sell our product to us. No tax, no nothing, you devalue — see devaluing is sort of cheating.

I see the carnage that NAFTA has caused, I see the carnage. It's been horrible. ... It's a suicidal pact for our country. And you know I've watched for years.

I like Mexico. And I respect the leaders of Mexico because they're much smarter, they're much street smarter, but they're much smarter and more cunning than our leaders. But you have to see what's going on.

I can't believe I'm saying I'm a politician.

The Bernie ones were — they had a lot more spirit. I think we're going to get a lot of Bernie voters, if you want to know the truth. Because they do understand that trade is killing us. Trade.

The national debt has doubled. And you know the bad part about that? You think if the national debt has doubled, our infrastructure would be great, our country would be in great shape. We'd have beautiful roads, beautiful highways. You see where like 50 percent of the bridges are in danger in this country. And the roadways are a mess.

We have great people. We have the most loyal people. We have the smartest people. You know, so many of my people, they're so smart. They like to say, well, Trump, I don't know if he's got this right — let me tell you, we have the smartest people. We have the people that are the smartest, and the strongest, and the best and the hardest working. We have the smartest people. We'll put I.Q.s among — some of us, we couldn't say all of us, right — against any I.Q.s that we — we have to deal with, that I can tell you. I would love to do that.

Today, homeownership is at its lowest rate in 51 years. ... Lowest that its been in so many years, 51 years. Nearly 12 million people and more Americans are dependent on food stamps and 2 million more Latino Americans live in poverty under Obama and Clinton — under Obama; because Clinton's just gonna carry on.

Hillary wants to raise taxes. It's a comparison. I want to lower them.

If she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks. Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is. I don't know. But — but I'll tell you what. That will be a horrible day. If — if Hillary gets to put her judges — right now, we're tied. You see what's going on.

Hillary essentially wants to abolish the Second Amendment.

Hillary and President Obama refused to use the term radical Islamic terrorism. Big problem. Big problem. Hillary wants to release violent criminals and criminal offenders from prison, that's wonderful, enjoy yourselves. I want to work with our police. Our police are so incredible, they're not getting the respect they deserve.

We have to respect and cherish our police.

We're fighting a political correct war. It's a political correct war. I mean, you know what's going on. You know what's going on. These are people that chop off heads. These are people that, in steel cages, drop steel cages into the waters and drowned large numbers of people. These are people that buried people in the sand. We've got to knock them out. I was against the war in Iraq. We shouldn't have been to the war in Iraq. It destabilized the Middle East and I said that was going to happen. But we shouldn't have gotten out the way we got out. The way we got out was insane. And Obama gave a date, and he — and that's how ISIS happened, folks. Hence, the birth of ISIS.

If I'm ISIS, I call her (Hillary Clinton) up and I give her the most valuable player award. ... And I guarantee you with Libya, which was her baby, and all of the other mistakes she has made. Obama takes now, because obviously, for him, that's the better alternative, all right? But he has been an incompetent president. He has done a horrible job.

Speech in Jackson, Mississippi (August 24, 2016)

Speech in Jackson, Mississippi. As quoted by CBS and The Hindu (August 24, 2016)

Hillary Clinton is a bigot who sees people of color only as votes, not as human beings worthy of a better future. She's going to do nothing for African-Americans. She's going to do nothing for the Hispanics. She's only going to take care of herself, her consultants, her donors, these are the people she cares about. She doesn't care what her policies have done to your communities. She doesn't care. Remember this, you've had her policies — Democrats running some of the inner cities for 50, 70, 80, even over 100 years. And look what you have right now: poverty, no education, crime, you can't walk down the street with your child. We're going to fix it. Hillary Clinton has no remorse. I will fight to create a better future for every American.
Eight years of Obama-Clinton policies have sacrificed our safety and undermined our freedom and independence. ... The Obama-Clinton foreign policy has unleashed ISIS, destabilised the Middle East and put the nation of Iran — which chants Death to America — in a dominant position of regional power and, in fact, aspiring to be a dominant world power.
Our jobs have moved overseas, Islamic terrorism has spread within our shores and an open border has crushed low-income workers and threatened our security. The issues we face here in America are similar to the issues faced in Britain during their referendum on membership in the EU. This is the movement known as Brexit
Hillary wants to surrender America to globalism. She wants a country without borders. She wants trade deals written for the benefit of foreign corporations. She wants a government that ignores the will of the people. She wants to sell out American security to the Clinton Foundation for a pile of cash. It is hard to tell where the Clinton Foundation ends and the State Department begins. ... Hillary Clinton has betrayed her duty to the people.
The job of a public official is to serve and protect the citizens of the United States. Not illegal immigrants, not foreign nationals seeking entry, but the people living here lawfully today — including millions of African-American and Hispanic citizens.
I will fight for their security, I will fight for their jobs, I will fight for their families. One American Nation.
It's time for America to recapture its destiny. Our government, our leaders, and our media have lost touch with the people. You need no better evidence of that than the fact that the media ignores the plight of Americans who have lost their children to illegal immigrants, but spends day after day pushing for amnesty for those here in violation of the law.
This is the legacy of Hillary Clinton: death, destruction, terrorism and weakness. But Hillary Clinton's legacy doesn't have to be America's legacy.
I have a message for the terrorists trying to kill our citizens: we will find you, we will destroy you, and we will win. This is not only a military fight, but we will also require cyberwarfare and financial warfare. It is also an ideological fight. We will confront directly the hateful ideology of Radical Islam — and promote American values, and American culture, and America's system of government.

September 2016

We can't have someone in the Oval Office who doesn't understand the meaning of the word "confidential" or "classified".
- Trump campaign speech in Greenville, North Carolina (6 September 2016)

For the first time in a long while, her true feelings came out, showing bigotry and hatred for millions of Americans. How can she be President of our country when she has such contempt and disdain for so many great Americans?
- Berke, Beremy (10 September 2016). "Clinton walks back 'deplorables' comment: I 'regret' using the term to describe 'half' of Trump's supporters". Business Insider.

While my opponent slanders you as deplorable... I call you hard-working, American patriots.
- Donald Trump Campaign Rally in Ashville, North Carolina, C-SPAN.org (12 September 2016).

OK, what I do is, wash it with Head and Shoulders. I don't dry it, though. I let it dry by itself. It takes about an hour. Then I read papers and things…I also watch TV…OK, so I've done all that. I then comb my hair. Yes, I do use a comb…
Do I comb it forward? No, I don't comb it forward…I actually don't have a bad hairline. When you think about it, it's not bad. I mean, I get a lot of credit for comb-overs. But it's not really a comb-over. It's sort of a little bit forward and back. I've combed it the same way for years. Same thing, every time.
- 15 September 2016 to Jimmy Fallon

Hillary Clinton and her campaign of 2008 started the birther controversy. I finished it. I finished it. You know what I mean. President Barack Obama was born in the United States, period. Now we all want to get back to making America strong and great again.
- "Trump finally says Obama born in U.S., blames Clinton for controversy". USA Today. 16 September 2016.
- Conspiracy theories about Barack Obama's citizenship were not started by Hillary Clinton's 2008 campaign according to PolitiFact.com, and Trump continued to question Obama's citizenship for years after he released his long-form birth certificate in 2011.

People don't know how great you are. People don't know how smart you are. These are the smart people. These are the smart people. These are really the smart people. And they never like to say it, but I say it. And I'm a smart person. These are the smart. We have the smartest people. We have the smartest people. And they know it. Some say it, but they hate to say it. But we have the smartest people.
- Council Bluffs, Iowa, quoted in "Donald Trump's Bizarre Speech: 'You Are The Smartest People'", Leading Britain's Conversation, 29 September 2016

On the question if he would honor the results of the election should he lose:
"We're going to have to see. We're going to see what happens. We're going to have to see."
- In an interview with the New York Times; Trump Appears to Back Off Pledge to Support Clinton If She Wins, NBC News (30 September 2016)

First presidential debate (September 26, 2016)

Transcript, Washington Post

Our jobs are fleeing the country. They're going to Mexico. They're going to many other countries. You look at what China is doing to our country in terms of making our product. They're devaluing their currency, and there's nobody in our government to fight them. And we have a very good fight. And we have a winning fight. Because they're using our country as a piggy bank to rebuild China, and many other countries are doing the same thing. ... We have to stop our jobs from being stolen from us. We have to stop our companies from leaving the United States and, with it, firing all of their people. ... We cannot let it happen. Under my plan, I'll be reducing taxes tremendously, from 35 percent to 15 percent for companies, small and big businesses. That's going to be a job creator like we haven't seen since Ronald Reagan. It's going to be a beautiful thing to watch. Companies will come. They will build. They will expand. New companies will start. And I look very, very much forward to doing it. We have to renegotiate our trade deals, and we have to stop these countries from stealing our companies and our jobs.

Our country's in deep trouble. We don't know what we're doing when it comes to devaluations and all of these countries all over the world, especially China. They're the best, the best ever at it. What they're doing to us is a very, very sad thing.

But in all fairness to Secretary Clinton, when she started talking about this, it was really very recently. She's been doing this for 30 years. And why hasn't she made the agreements better? The NAFTA agreement is defective. Just because of the tax and many other reasons, but just because of the fact Secretary Clinton and others, politicians, should have been doing this for years, not right now, because of the fact that we've created a movement.

The first thing you do is don't let the jobs leave. The companies are leaving. I could name, I mean, there are thousands of them. They're leaving, and they're leaving in bigger numbers than ever. And what you do is you say, fine, you want to go to Mexico or some other country, good luck. We wish you a lot of luck. But if you think you're going to make your air conditioners or your cars or your cookies or whatever you make and bring them into our country without a tax, you're wrong. And once you say you're going to have to tax them coming in, and our politicians never do this, because they have special interests and the special interests want those companies to leave, because in many cases, they own the companies. So what I'm saying is, we can stop them from leaving. We have to stop them from leaving. And that's a big, big factor.

CLINTON: Donald was one of the people who rooted for the housing crisis. He said, back in 2006, "Gee, I hope it does collapse, because then I can go in and buy some and make some money." Well, it did collapse.

TRUMP: That's called business, by the way.

We invested in a solar company, our country. That was a disaster. They lost plenty of money on that one. Now, look, I'm a great believer in all forms of energy, but we're putting a lot of people out of work. Our energy policies are a disaster. Our country is losing so much in terms of energy, in terms of paying off our debt. You can't do what you're looking to do with $20 trillion in debt. The Obama administration, from the time they've come in, is over 230 years' worth of debt, and he's topped it. He's doubled it in a course of almost eight years, seven-and-a-half years, to be semi- exact.

We have to do a much better job at giving companies incentives to build new companies or to expand, because they're not doing it.

NAFTA is the worst trade deal maybe ever signed anywhere, but certainly ever signed in this country. And now you [Hillary Clinton] want to approve Trans-Pacific Partnership. You were totally in favor of it. Then you heard what I was saying, how bad it is, and you said, I can't win that debate. But you know that if you did win, you would approve that, and that will be almost as bad as NAFTA. Nothing will ever top NAFTA.

You are going to approve one of the biggest tax cuts in history. You are going to approve one of the biggest tax increases in history. You are going to drive business out. Your regulations are a disaster, and you're going to increase regulations all over the place. And by the way, my tax cut is the biggest since Ronald Reagan. I'm very proud of it. It will create tremendous numbers of new jobs. But regulations, you are going to regulate these businesses out of existence. ... The things that business as in people like the most is the fact that I'm cutting regulation. You have regulations on top of regulations, and new companies cannot form and old companies are going out of business. And you want to increase the regulations and make them even worse. I'm going to cut regulations. I'm going to cut taxes big league, and you're going to raise taxes big league, end of story.

She's telling us how to fight ISIS. Just go to her website. She tells you how to fight ISIS on her website. I don't think General Douglas MacArthur would like that too much. ... See, you're telling the enemy everything you want to do. No wonder you've been fighting ISIS your entire adult life.

I'm really calling for major jobs, because the wealthy are going create tremendous jobs. They're going to expand their companies. They're going to do a tremendous job. I'm getting rid of the carried interest provision. And if you really look, it's not a tax -- it's really not a great thing for the wealthy. It's a great thing for the middle class. It's a great thing for companies to expand.

We have the worst revival of an economy since the Great Depression. And believe me: We're in a bubble right now. And the only thing that looks good is the stock market, but if you raise interest rates even a little bit, that's going to come crashing down.

I will release them as soon as the audit. Look, I've been under audit almost for 15 years. I know a lot of wealthy people that have never been audited. I said, do you get audited? I get audited almost every year. And in a way, I should be complaining. I'm not even complaining. I don't mind it. It's almost become a way of life. I get audited by the IRS. But other people don't. I will say this. We have a situation in this country that has to be taken care of. I will release my tax returns -- against my lawyer's wishes -- when she [Hillary Clinton] releases her 33,000 e-mails that have been deleted. As soon as she releases them, I will release.
- About releasing his tax returns.

That makes me smart.
- About that Trump didn't pay federal income taxes.

That was more than a mistake. That was done purposely. OK? That was not a mistake. That was done purposely. When you have your staff taking the Fifth Amendment, taking the Fifth so they're not prosecuted, when you have the man that set up the illegal server taking the Fifth, I think it's disgraceful.
- About Hillary Clinton email controversy

As far as my tax returns, you don't learn that much from tax returns. That I can tell you. You learn a lot from financial disclosure. And you should go down and take a look at that.

I am very underleveraged. I have a great company. I have a tremendous income. And the reason I say that is not in a braggadocios way. It's because it's about time that this country had somebody running it that has an idea about money.

Maybe he didn't do a good job and I was unsatisfied with his work ... On occasion, four times, we used certain laws that are there. And when Secretary Clinton talks about people that didn't get paid, first of all, they did get paid a lot, but taken advantage of the laws of the nation. Now, if you want to change the laws, you've been there a long time, change the laws. But I take advantage of the laws of the nation because I'm running a company. My obligation right now is to do well for myself, my family, my employees, for my companies. And that's what I do. ... She [Hillary Clinton] doesn't say is that tens of thousands of people that are unbelievably happy and that love me.
- About not having paid to some of his employees.

We need law and order. If we don't have it, we're not going to have a country. ... We need law and order in our country.

We have a situation where we have our inner cities, African- Americans, Hispanics are living in hell because it's so dangerous. You walk down the street, you get shot.

Now, whether or not in a place like Chicago you do stop and frisk, which worked very well, Mayor Giuliani is here, worked very well in New York. It brought the crime rate way down. But you take the gun away from criminals that shouldn't be having it. We have gangs roaming the street. And in many cases, they're illegally here, illegal immigrants. And they have guns. And they shoot people. And we have to be very strong. And we have to be very vigilant.

Our police, in many cases, are afraid to do anything. We have to protect our inner cities, because African-American communities are being decimated by crime, decimated.

HOLT: Stop-and-frisk was ruled unconstitutional in New York, because it largely singled out black and Hispanic young men.

TRUMP: No, you're wrong. It went before a judge, who was a very against-police judge. It was taken away from her. And our mayor, our new mayor, refused to go forward with the case. They would have won an appeal. If you look at it, throughout the country, there are many places where it's allowed.

HOLT: The argument is that it's a form of racial profiling.

TRUMP: No, the argument is that we have to take the guns away from these people that have them and they are bad people that shouldn't have them.

You need more police. You need a better community, you know, relation. ... You need better relationships between the communities and the police, because in some cases, it's not good.

So when you [Hillary Clinton] tried to act holier than thou, it really doesn't work. It really doesn't.

We should be better than anybody else, and perhaps we're not. I don't think anybody knows it was Russia that broke into the DNC. She's saying Russia, Russia, Russia, but I don't -- maybe it was. I mean, it could be Russia, but it could also be China. It could also be lots of other people. It also could be somebody sitting on their bed that weighs 400 pounds, OK?

We have to get very, very tough on cyber and cyber warfare.

President Obama and Secretary Clinton created a vacuum the way they got out of Iraq, because they got out -- what, they shouldn't have been in, but once they got in, the way they got out was a disaster. And ISIS was formed.

I said it to you once, had we taken the oil -- and we should have taken the oil -- ISIS would not have been able to form either, because the oil was their primary source of income. And now they have the oil all over the place, including the oil -- a lot of the oil in Libya, which was another one of her disasters.

You [Hillary Clinton] look at the Middle East, you started the Iran deal, that's another beauty where you have a country that was ready to fall, I mean, they were doing so badly. They were choking on the sanctions. And now they're going to be actually probably a major power at some point pretty soon, the way they're going.

I think we have to get NATO to go into the Middle East with us, in addition to surrounding nations, and we have to knock the hell out of ISIS, and we have to do it fast, when ISIS formed in this vacuum created by Barack Obama and Secretary Clinton. And believe me, you were the ones that took out the troops. ... When they formed, this is something that never should have happened. It should have never happened. Now, you're talking about taking out ISIS. But you were there, and you were secretary of state when it was a little infant. Now it's in over 30 countries. And you're going to stop them? I don't think so.

I think the best person in her [Clinton's] campaign is mainstream media.

The single greatest problem the world has is nuclear armament, nuclear weapons, not global warming, like you think and your -- your president thinks.

October 2016

I'd never withdraw. I've never withdrawn in my life.
- phone call to the Washington Post (8 October 2016)

So important that you get out and vote. So important that you watch other communities, because we don't want this election stolen from us. We don't want this election stolen from us.
- Transcript of speech at Ambridge, Pennsylvania (October 10, 2016)

Donald Trump: Now, he's supposed to look like Donald Trump, but he's actually much too good looking. [to toddler] You are really handsome... Do you want to go back to [your parents] or do you want to stay with Donald Trump?
Toddler: Trump.
- Little Trump Look-Alike Comes on Stage with Donald in Wilkes-Barre 10/10/16, Right Side Broadcasting, YouTube. Quoted in "Donald Trump Meets His Mini-Me at Pennsylvania Rally" by Dave Quinn, People.com (October 11, 2016).

Hillary Clinton meets in secret with international banks to plot the destruction of U.S. sovereignty in order to enrich these global financial powers, her special interest friends and her donors.
Honestly, she should be locked up. She should be. Should be locked up.
- at a rally in West Palm Beach, Florida (October 13, 2016)

She [Clinton] walks in front of me, she walks in front of me, you know. And when she walked in front of me, believe me I wasn't impressed.
Reporters at The New York Times are not journalists. They're corporate lobbyists for Carlos Slim and Hillary Clinton.
Believe me: She [one of the women accusing him of sexual assault] would not be my first choice, that I can tell you.
- at a rally in Greensboro, N.C. Also quoted in Donald Trump's Barrage of Heated Rhetoric Has Little Precedent (October 14, 2016)

Our movement is about replacing a failed and corrupt - and when I say corrupt, I'm talking about totally corrupt - political establishment [Obamacare] with a new government controlled by you, the American people. There is nothing the political establishment will not do. No lie that they won't tell to hold their prestige and power at your expense and that's what's been happening. The Washington establishment and the financial and media corporations that funded exist for only one reason: to protect and enrich itself. The establishment has trillions of dollars at stake in this election. As an example, just one single trade deal they'd like to pass involves trillions of dollars controlled by many countries, corporations, and lobbyists. For those who controlled the levels of power in Washington, and for the global special interests, they partner with these people that don't have your good in mind. Our campaign represents a true existential threat like they haven't seen before.
- At a campaign rally in Florida (13 October 2016)

No, no, lot of things are going on folks, lot of things. I think she's actually getting pumped up, if you want to know the truth, she's getting pumped up, you understand? In fact we're going to be talking about that in a few minutes. She's getting pumped up for Wednesday night. Let's see. You know, I don't know, maybe, we're like athletes, right? Hey, look, I beat seventeen senators, governors, I beat all these people, we're like athletes. Hillary beat Bernie, although it looks like Bernie got a little bit of a bad deal based on Wikileaks, right? If you look at Wikileaks. But we're like athletes, right? So athletes, they're making them more and more, but athletes, they make them take a drug test, right? I think we should take a drug test prior to the debate, I do. I think we should, why don't we do that? We should take a drug test, prior, because I don't know what's going on with her. But at the beginning of her last debate, she was all pumped up at the beginning, and at the end it was like, "Uh, take me down." She could barely reach her car. So I think we should take a drug test, I'm, er, anyway I'm willing to do it.
- At a rally in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, about his rival Hillary Clinton's performance during the presidential debates (15 October 2016)

Such a nasty woman. [of Hillary Clinton]
- Third Presidential debate (19 October 2016), full transcript at fortune.com.

I would like to promise and pledge to all of my voters and supporters and to all of the people of the United States that I will totally accept the results of this great and historic presidential election, if I win.
- 20 October 2016, quoted in Jeremy Diamond (20 October 2016), "Donald Trump: 'I will totally accept' election results 'if I win'", CNN

These events give not only the candidates a chance to be with each other in a very social setting; it also allows the candidates the opportunity to meet the other candidate's team — good team. I know Hillary met my campaign manager, and I got the chance to meet the people who are working so hard to get her elected. There they are — the heads of NBC, CNN, CBS, ABC — there's the New York Times, right over there, and the Washington Post. They're working overtime. True. True. Oh, this one’s going to get me in trouble.
- Al Smith charity dinner speech, 20 October 2016

Hillary is so corrupt, she got kicked off the Watergate commission.
- Al Smith charity dinner speech, 20 October 2016

I'm going to fight for every American in every last part of this nation. We have a president who doesn't fight. He goes out and plays golf all the time.
- Hardball with Chris Matthews, August 4, 2017 October 23 rally

She didn't know what to do, well how did you get him, uh well uh... they were sent by Russia! You know they're always using Russia
- October 25, 2016 rally in Sanford regarding Donna Brazile

And I have to give the FBI credit, that was so bad, what happened, originally, and it took guts for Director Comey to make the move that he made, in light of the kind of opposition he had, with their trying to protect her from criminal prosecution, you know that. It took a lot of guts, I really disagreed with him, I was not his fan, but I'll tell you what, what he did, he brought back his reputation, he brought it back. He's got to hang tough, because there's a lot of, lotta people, want him to do the wrong thing, what he did was the right thing.
- At a rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan shortly after Comey announced the FBI would investigate further emails relating to Hillary Clinton, but before his statement that no incriminating information was found within them (31 October 2016)

Second presidential debate (October 9, 2016)

Transcript, New York Times

Anderson Cooper: You bragged that you have sexually assaulted women. Do you understand that?
Donald Trump: No, I didn't say that at all. I don't think you understood what was — this was locker room talk.

I have great respect for women. Nobody has more respect for women than I do.

...if I win, I am going to instruct my attorney general to get a special prosecutor to look into your [Hilary Clinton's] situation, because there has never been so many lies, so much deception. There has never been anything like it, and we're going to have a special prosecutor.

Hillary Clinton: ...it's just awfully good that someone with the temperament of Donald Trump is not in charge of the law in our country.
Donald Trump: Because you'd be in jail.

Cooper: Please allow her to respond. She didn't talk while you talked.
Clinton: Yes, that's true, I didn't.
Trump: Because you have nothing to say.

Martha Raddatz: ...you, Secretary Clinton, purportedly say you need both a public and private position on certain issues....
Clinton: As I recall, that was something I said about Abraham Lincoln after having seen the wonderful Steven Spielberg movie ...
Trump: Now she's blaming the lie on the late, great Abraham Lincoln. That's one that I haven't... OK, Honest Abe, Honest Abe never lied. That's the good thing. That's the big difference between Abraham Lincoln and you. That's a big, big difference. We're talking about some difference.

I know nothing about Russia. I know — I know about Russia, but I know nothing about the inner workings of Russia.

Cooper: Did you use that $916 million loss to avoid paying personal federal income taxes for years?
Trump: Of course I do. Of course I do. And so do all of her donors, or most of her donors. ... I pay tremendous numbers of taxes. I absolutely used it. And so did Warren Buffett and so did George Soros and so did many of the other people that Hillary is getting money from.

...NAFTA, signed by her husband, is perhaps the greatest disaster trade deal in the history of the world.

November 2016

I'm also honored to have the greatest temperament that anybody has.
- Quoted by Sam Stein (3 November 2016), "Donald Trump Is Honored To Have The Greatest Temperament, Donald Trump Says", Huffington Post

Our movement is about replacing a failed and corrupt political establishment with a new government controlled by you, the American people. The establishment has trillions of dollars at stake in this election. For those who control the levers of power in Washington and for the global special interests, they partner with these people that don't have your good in mind. The political establishment that is trying to stop us is the same group responsible for our disastrous trade deals, massive illegal immigration and economic and foreign policies that have bled our country dry. The political establishment has brought about the destruction of our factories and our jobs as they flee to Mexico, China and other countries all around the world. It's a global power structure that is responsible for the economic decisions that have robbed our working class, stripped our country of its wealth and put that money into the pockets of a handful of large corporations and political entities. The only thing that can stop this corrupt machine is you. The only force strong enough to save our country is us. The only people brave enough to vote out this corrupt establishment is you, the American people. I'm doing this for the people and the movement and we will take back this country for you and we will make America great again. I'm Donald Trump and I approve this message.
- Closing argument for America (4 November 2016)
  - Lines recycled from Trump's campaign rally in West Palm Beach, FL (10/13/2016)

No dream is too big, no challenge is too great. Nothing we want for our future is beyond our reach. America will no longer settle for anything less than the best.
- Victory Speech (9 November 2016)

I think I'm a sober person. I think the press tries to make you into something a little bit different. In my case, a little bit of a wild man, I'm not, I'm actually not. I'm a very sober person.
- During an interview on 60 Minutes (11 November 2016)

Today, I would like to provide the American people with an update on the White House transition and our policy plans for the first 100 days. Our transition team is working very smoothly, efficiently, and effectively. Truly great and talented men and women, patriots indeed are being brought in and many will soon be a part of our government, helping us to Make America Great Again. My agenda will be based on a simple core principle: putting America First. Whether it's producing steel, building cars, or curing disease, I want the next generation of production and innovation to happen right here, in our great homeland: America – creating wealth and jobs for American workers. As part of this plan, I've asked my transition team to develop a list of executive actions we can take on day one to restore our laws and bring back our jobs. It's about time. These include the following: On trade, I am going to issue our notification of intent to withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a potential disaster for our country. Instead, we will negotiate fair, bilateral trade deals that bring jobs and industry back onto American shores. On energy, I will cancel job-killing restrictions on the production of American energy – including shale energy and clean coal – creating many millions of high-paying jobs. That's what we want, that's what we've been waiting for. On regulation, I will formulate a rule which says that for every one new regulation, two old regulations must be eliminated, it's so important. On national security, I will ask the Department of Defense and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to develop a comprehensive plan to protect America's vital infrastructure from cyber-attacks, and all other form of attacks. On immigration, I will direct the Department of Labor to investigate all abuses of visa programs that undercut the American worker. On ethics reform, as part of our plan to Drain the Swamp, we will impose a five-year ban on executive officials becoming lobbyists after they leave the Administration – and a lifetime ban on executive officials lobbying on behalf of a foreign government. These are just a few of the steps we will take to reform Washington and rebuild our middle class. I will provide more updates in the coming days, as we work together to Make America Great Again for everyone.
- A Message from President-Elect Donald J. Trump (21 November 2016)

We are very blessed to call this nation our home. And that is what America is: it is our home. It's where we raise our families, care for our loved ones, look out for our neighbors, and live out our dreams. It is my prayer, that on this Thanksgiving, we begin to heal our divisions and move forward as one country, strengthened by a shared purpose and very, very common resolve. In declaring this national holiday, President Lincoln called upon Americans to speak with "one voice and one heart." That's just what we have to do. We have just finished a long and bruising political campaign. Emotions are raw and tensions just don't heal overnight. It doesn't go quickly, unfortunately, but we have before us the chance now to make history together to bring real change to Washington, real safety to our cities, and real prosperity to our communities, including our inner cities. So important to me, and so important to our country. But to succeed, we must enlist the effort of our entire nation. This historic political campaign is now over. Now begins a great national campaign to rebuild our country and to restore the full promise of America for all of our people. I am asking you to join me in this effort. It is time to restore the bonds of trust between citizens. Because when America is unified, there is nothing beyond our reach, and I mean absolutely nothing. Let us give thanks for all that we have, and let us boldly face the exciting new frontiers that lie ahead. Thank you. God Bless You and God Bless America.
- A Thanksgiving Message from President-Elect Donald J. Trump (23 November 2016)

New York Times Interview (November 23, 2016)

New York Times Interview, Transcript (November 23, 2016)

People are giving up tremendous careers in order to be subject to you folks and subject to a lot of other folks. But they're giving up a lot. I mean some are giving up tremendous businesses in order to sit for four or maybe eight or whatever the period of time is. But I think we're going to see some tremendous talent, tremendous talent coming in. We have many people for every job. I mean no matter what the job is, we have many incredible people. I think, Reince, you can sort of just confirm that. The quality of the people is very good. ... We're trying very hard to get the best people. Not necessarily people that will be the most politically correct people, because that hasn't been working. So we have really experts in the field. Some are known and some are not known, but they're known within their field as being the best. That's very important to me.
I think the popular vote would have been easier in a true sense because you'd go to a few places. I think that's the genius of the Electoral College. I was never a fan of the Electoral College until now.
What we do want to do is we want to bring the country together, because the country is very, very divided, and that's one thing I did see, big league. It's very, very divided, and I'm going to work very hard to bring the country together.
I want to move forward, I don't want to move back. And I don't want to hurt the Clintons. I really don't. She went through a lot. And suffered greatly in many different ways. And I am not looking to hurt them at all. The campaign was vicious. They say it was the most vicious primary and the most vicious campaign. I guess, added together, it was definitely the most vicious; probably, I assume you sold a lot of newspapers. ... It's just not something that I feel very strongly about. ... I'm not looking to look back and go through this. This was a very painful period. This was a very painful election with all of the email things and all of the foundation things and all of the everything that they went through and the whole country went through. This was a very painful period of time.
- About not prosecuting Hillary Clinton.
Our country's really in bad, big trouble. We have a lot of trouble. A lot of problems. And one of the big problems, I talk about, divisiveness. I think that a lot of people will appreciate … I'm not doing it for that reason. I'm doing it because it's time to go in a different direction.
Clean air is vitally important. Clean water, crystal clean water is vitally important. Safety is vitally important.
Sometimes I'll say I'm actually an environmentalist and people will smile in some cases and other people that know me understand that's true. Open mind.
We're not a competitive nation with other nations anymore. We have to make ourselves competitive. We're not competitive for a lot of reasons. That's becoming more and more of the reason. Because a lot of these countries that we do business with, they make deals with our president, or whoever, and then they don't adhere to the deals, you know that. And it's much less expensive for their companies to produce products. So I'm going to be studying that very hard, and I think I have a very big voice in it. And I think my voice is listened to, especially by people that don't believe in it. And we'll let you know.
As far as the, you know, potential conflict of interests, though, I mean I know that from the standpoint, the law is totally on my side, meaning, the president can't have a conflict of interest. That's been reported very widely. Despite that, I don't want there to be a conflict of interest anyway. And the laws, the president can't. And I understand why the president can't have a conflict of interest now because everything a president does in some ways is like a conflict of interest.
I don't care about my company. ... Because it doesn't matter. The only thing that matters to me is running our country.
It's hard to explain. I don't care about anything having to do with anything having to do with anything other than the country.
In theory I could run my business perfectly, and then run the country perfectly. And there's never been a case like this where somebody's had, like, if you look at other people of wealth, they didn't have this kind of asset and this kind of wealth, frankly. It's just a different thing.
I've known Steve Bannon a long time. If I thought he was a racist, or alt-right, or any of the things that we can, you know, the terms we can use, I wouldn't even think about hiring him. First of all, I'm the one that makes the decision, not Steve Bannon or anybody else.
To me more important is taking care of the people that really have proven to be, to love Donald Trump, as opposed to the political people. And frankly if the political people don't take care of these people, they're not going to win and you're going to end up with maybe a total different kind of government than what you're looking at right now. These people are really angry. They're smart, they're workers, and they're angry. I call them the forgotten men and women. And I use that in speeches, I say they're the forgotten people — they were totally forgotten.
I would love to be able to be the one that made peace with Israel and the Palestinians. I would love that, that would be such a great achievement. Because nobody's been able to do it. ... I've had a lot of, actually, great Israeli businesspeople tell me, you can't do that, it's impossible. I disagree, I think you can make peace. I think people are tired now of being shot, killed. At some point, when do they come? I think we can do that. I have reason to believe I can do that.
The Times is, it's a great, great American jewel. A world jewel.

December 2016

There is no global anthem, no global currency, no certificate of global citizenship, we pledge allegiance to one flag and that flag is the American Flag!
- Thank You Tour - Cincinnati, Ohio (1 December 2016)

Funny how that term caught on, isn't it? I tell everyone, I hated it. Somebody said 'drain the swamp' and I said, 'Oh, that is so hokey. That is so terrible.' I said, all right, I'll try it. So like a month ago I said 'drain the swamp' and the place went crazy. And I said 'Whoa, what's this?' Then I said it again. And then I start saying it like I meant it, right? And then I started to love it, and the place loved it. Drain the swamp. It's true. It's true. Drain the swamp.
- During a rally in Des Moines, Iowa (December 2016)

We will pursue a new foreign policy that finally learns from the mistakes of the past. We will stop looking to topple regimes and overthrow governments. ... Our goal is stability, not chaos, because we want to rebuild our country. It's time.
- Speaking at U.S. Bank Arena, quoted in Anna Giaritelli (1 December 2016), "Trump's new foreign policy: 'We will stop looking to topple regimes'", Washington Examiner

2017

20 January 2017

- Donald Trump's presidency began

January 2017

Reporter: Would a reasonable observer say that you are potentially vulnerable to blackmail by Russia or by its intelligence agencies?
Trump: Lemme just tell you what I do. When I leave our country, I'm a very high-profile person, would you say? I am extremely careful. I'm surrounded by bodyguards. I'm surrounded by people. And I always tell them—anywhere, but I always tell them if I'm leaving this country, "Be very careful, because in your hotel rooms and no matter where you go, you're gonna probably have cameras." I'm not referring just to Russia, but I would certainly put them in that category. And number one, "I hope you're gonna be good anyway. But in those rooms, you have cameras in the strangest places. Cameras that are so small with modern technology, you can't see them and you won't know. You better be careful, or you'll be watching yourself on nightly television." I tell this to people all the time. I was in Russia years ago, with the Miss Universe contest, which did very well—Moscow, the Moscow area did very, very well. And I told many people, "Be careful, because you don't wanna see yourself on television. Cameras all over the place."
And again, not just Russia, all over. Does anyone really believe that story? I'm also very much of a germaphobe, by the way, believe me.
- Donald Trump Press Conference at Trump Tower (11 January 2017)

I looked out, the field was, looked like million, million and a half people. They showed a field where there was practically nobody standing there. And they said, "Donald Trump did not draw well." I said, "It was almost raining!" The rain should've scared them away but God looked down and said we're not going to let it rain on your speech.
- Trump speaking at the CIA Headquarters about his inauguration crowd and the press coverage, FOX 10 Phoenix (21 January 2017)

The old expression, ‘to the victor belong the spoils’—you remember. I always used to say, keep the oil. I wasn’t a fan of Iraq. I didn’t want to go into Iraq. But I will tell you, when we were in, we got out wrong. And I always said, in addition to that, keep the oil. Now, I said it for economic reasons. But if you think about it, Mike, if we kept the oil you probably wouldn’t have ISIS because that’s where they made their money in the first place. So we should have kept the oil. But okay. Maybe you’ll have another chance. But the fact is, should have kept the oil.
- Speech to the CIA, 23 January 2017

But when you look at this tremendous sea of love — I call it a "sea of love" — it's really something special.
- Trump describing a framed photograph of his inauguration crowd during an interview with David Muir, ABC (25 January 2017)

[About David Becker] He's grovelling again. You know, I always talk about the reporters that grovel when they want to write something that you want to hear but not necessarily millions of people want to hear or have to hear.
- "Trump's voter fraud talk has liberals worried", BBC (27 January 2017)

We want to ensure that we are not admitting into our country the very threats our soldiers are fighting overseas.
- "Trump signs executive order to keep out 'radical Islamic terrorists'", CNN (27 January 2017)

I've always felt the need to pray...I would say that the office is so powerful that you need God even more.
- Trump's interview with David Brody, CBN News (29 January 2017)

Inaugural address, (January 20, 2017)

Transcript (January 20, 2017)

Chief Justice Roberts, President Carter, President Clinton, President Bush, President Obama, fellow Americans, and people of the world: Thank you. We, the citizens of America, are now joined in a great national effort to rebuild our country and restore its promise for all of our people. Together, we will determine the course of America and the world for many, many years to come. We will face challenges, we will confront hardships, but we will get the job done. Every 4 years, we gather on these steps to carry out the orderly and peaceful transfer of power, and we are grateful to President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama for their gracious aid throughout this transition. They have been magnificent. Thank you.
Today's ceremony, however, has very special meaning. Because today we are not merely transferring power from one administration to another or from one party to another, but we are transferring power from Washington, DC, and giving it back to you, the people. For too long, a small group in our Nation's Capital has reaped the rewards of Government while the people have borne the cost. Washington flourished, but the people did not share in its wealth. Politicians prospered, but the jobs left, and the factories closed. The establishment protected itself, but not the citizens of our country. Their victories have not been your victories; their triumphs have not been your triumphs; and while they celebrated in our Nation's Capital, there was little to celebrate for struggling families all across our land. That all changes, starting right here and right now, because this moment is your moment: It belongs to you. It belongs to everyone gathered here today and everyone watching all across America. This is your day. This is your celebration. And this, the United States of America, is your country. What truly matters is not which party controls our Government, but whether our Government is controlled by the people. January 20, 2017, will be remembered as the day the people became the rulers of this Nation again. The forgotten men and women of our country will be forgotten no longer. Everyone is listening to you now.
You came by the tens of millions to become part of a historic movement the likes of which the world has never seen before. At the center of this movement is a crucial conviction: that a nation exists to serve its citizens. Americans want great schools for their children, safe neighborhoods for their families, and good jobs for themselves. These are just and reasonable demands of righteous people and a righteous public. But for too many of our citizens, a different reality exists: Mothers and children trapped in poverty in our inner cities; rusted-out factories scattered like tombstones across the landscape of our Nation; an education system, flush with cash, but which leaves our young and beautiful students deprived of all knowledge; and the crime and the gangs and the drugs that have stolen too many lives and robbed our country of so much unrealized potential. This American carnage stops right here and stops right now. We are one Nation, and their pain is our pain, their dreams are our dreams, and their success will be our success. We share one heart, one home, and one glorious destiny. The oath of office I take today is an oath of allegiance to all Americans.
For many decades, we've enriched foreign industry at the expense of American industry, subsidized the armies of other countries while allowing for the very sad depletion of our military. We've defended other nations' borders while refusing to defend our own and spent trillions and trillions of dollars overseas while America's infrastructure has fallen into disrepair and decay. We've made other countries rich while the wealth, strength, and confidence of our country has dissipated over the horizon. One by one, the factories shuttered and left our shores, with not even a thought about the millions and millions of American workers that were left behind. The wealth of our middle class has been ripped from their homes and then redistributed all across the world. But that is the past. And now we are looking only to the future. We, assembled here today, are issuing a new decree to be heard in every city, in every foreign capital, and in every hall of power. From this day forward, a new vision will govern our land. From this this day forward, it's going to be only America first. America first. Every decision on trade, on taxes, on immigration, on foreign affairs, will be made to benefit American workers and American families.
We must protect our borders from the ravages of other countries making our products, stealing our companies, and destroying our jobs. Protection will lead to great prosperity and strength. I will fight for you with every breath in my body, and I will never, ever let you down. America will start winning again, winning like never before. We will bring back our jobs. We will bring back our borders. We will bring back our wealth. And we will bring back our dreams. We will build new roads and highways and bridges and airports and tunnels and railways all across our wonderful Nation. We will get our people off of welfare and back to work, rebuilding our country with American hands and American labor. We will follow two simple rules: Buy American and hire American. We will seek friendship and good will with the nations of the world, but we do so with the understanding that it is the right of all nations to put their own interests first. We do not seek to impose our way of life on anyone, but rather to let it shine as an example—we will shine—for everyone to follow. We will reinforce old alliances and form new ones and unite the civilized world against radical Islamic terrorism, which we will eradicate completely from the face of the Earth. At the bedrock of our politics will be a total allegiance to the United States of America, and through our loyalty to our country, we will rediscover our loyalty to each other. When you open your heart to patriotism, there is no room for prejudice. The Bible tells us, "How good and pleasant it is when God's people live together in unity." We must speak our minds openly, debate our disagreements honestly, but always pursue solidarity. When America is united, America is totally unstoppable. There should be no fear: We are protected, and we will always be protected. We will be protected by the great men and women of our military and law enforcement, and most importantly, we will be protected by God.
Finally, we must think big and dream even bigger. In America, we understand that a nation is only living as long as it is striving. We will no longer accept politicians who are all talk and no action, constantly complaining, but never doing anything about it. The time for empty talk is over. Now arrives the hour of action. Do not allow anyone to tell you that it cannot be done. No challenge can match the heart and fight and spirit of America. We will not fail. Our country will thrive and prosper again. We stand at the birth of a new millennium, ready to unlock the mysteries of space, to free the Earth from the miseries of disease, and to harness the energies, industries, and technologies of tomorrow. A new national pride will stir our souls, lift our sights, and heal our divisions.
It's time to remember that old wisdom our soldiers will never forget: that whether we are Black or Brown or White, we all bleed the same red blood of patriots, we all enjoy the same glorious freedoms, and we all salute the same great American flag. And whether a child is born in the urban sprawl of Detroit or the windswept plains of Nebraska, they look up at the same night sky, they fill their heart with the same dreams, and they are infused with the breath of life by the same almighty Creator. So to all Americans in every city near and far, small and large, from mountain to mountain, from ocean to ocean, hear these words: You will never be ignored again. Your voice, your hopes, and your dreams will define our American destiny. And your courage and goodness and love will forever guide us along the way. Together, we will make America strong again. We will make America wealthy again. We will make America proud again. We will make America safe again. And, yes, together, we will make America great again. Thank you. God bless you, and God bless America. Thank you. God bless America.

February 2017

I am very proud now that we have a museum on the National Mall where people can learn about Reverend King, so many other things, Frederick Douglass is an example of somebody who’s done an amazing job and is getting recognized more and more, I notice. Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks, and millions more black Americans who made [[America] what it is today. Big impact
- Donald Trump's Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass February 1, 2017

As we celebrate National African American History Month, we recognize the heritage and achievements of African Americans. The contributions African Americans have made and continue to make are an integral part of our society, and the history of African Americans exemplifies the resilience and innovative spirit that continue to make our Nation great
- 2 February 2017

For us here in Washington, we must never ever stop asking God for the wisdom to serve the public according to His will. But we had tremendous success on The Apprentice and, when I ran for President, I had to leave the show, that's when I knew for sure I was doing it, and they hired a big, big movie star, Arnold Schwarzenegger, to take my place, and we know how that turned out. The ratings went right down the tubes, it's been a total disaster, and Mark [Burnett] will never, ever bet against Trump again, and I want to just pray for Arnold, if we can, for those rating, OK?
- Trump's "National Prayer Breakfast" speech (2 February 2017)

We have to be tough. It's time we're going to be a little bit tough, folks. We're taken advantage by every nation in the world, virtually. It's not going to happen anymore.
- White House suggests US may still accept Australia refugees despite clash (2 February 2017)

It's gotten to a point where it's not even being reported, and in many cases the very, very dishonest press doesn't want to report it. They have their reasons and you understand that.
- Trump on the reporting of terrorist attacks during a speech given at MacDill Air Force Base (6 February 2017)

Who is the state senator? Do you want to give me his name? We'll destroy his career.
- Trump responding to Sheriff Harold Eavenson's statement about a Texas state senator proposing legislation to require convictions before sheriffs could receive forfeiture money. (7 February 2017)

I listened to a panel of judges and I'll comment on that — I will not comment on the statements made by, um, certainly one judge — but I have to be honest that if these judges wanted to, in my opinion, help the court, in terms of respect for the court, they'd do what they should be doing. I mean it's so sad, they should be, you know, when you read something so simple, and so beautifully written, and so perfectly written — other than the one statement, of course, having to do with "he" or "she" — but when you read something so perfectly written, and so clear to anybody, and then you have lawyers and you watched, I watched last night in amazement, and I heard things that I couldn't believe, things that really had nothing to do with what I just read, and I don't ever want to call a court biased, so I won't call it biased, and we haven't had a decision yet, but courts seem to be so political, and it would be so great for our justice system if they would be able to read a statement and do what's right.
Every child in America should be able to play outside without fear, walk home without danger, and attend a school without being worried about drugs or gangs or violence.
- Remarks by President Trump at MCCA Winter Conference (8 February 2017)

Well I just want to say that we are, you know, very honored by the victory that we had, 306 electoral college votes, we were not supposed to crack 220, you [turning to the Israeli PM] know that right? There was no way to 221, but then they said there's no way to 270 [Netanyahu tries to respond, but Trump continues, so then mouths "I thought he was talking to me"] and there's tremendous enthusiasm out there. I will say that, um, we are going to have peace, in this country, we are going to stop crime, in this country, we are going to do everything within our power to stop long-simmering racism, and every other thing that's going on, because a lot of bad things have been taking place over a long period of time. I think one of the reasons I won the election is we have a very, very divided nation, very divided, and hopefully I'll be able to do something about that, and I, you know, it's something that was very important to me. As far as people, Jewish people, so many friends, a daughter who happens to be here right now, a son-in-law, and three beautiful grandchildren, I think that you're going to see a lot different United States of America over the next three, four, or eight years, er, I think a lot of good things are happening, and you're going to see a lot of love, you're going to see a lot of love.
- Trump responding to a reporter's question about rising anti-Semitic incidents and a perception of xenophobia in his administration, during a joint press conference with Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel (15 February 2017)

The press has become so dishonest that if we don't talk about, we are doing a tremendous disservice to the American people. Tremendous disservice. We have to talk to find out what's going on, because the press honestly is out of control. The level of dishonesty is out of control.
I guess it was the biggest Electoral College win since Ronald Reagan.
This administration is running like a fine-tuned machine.

Mike Flynn is a fine person, and I asked for his resignation. He respectfully gave it. He is a man who there was a certain amount of information given to Vice President Pence, who is with us today. And I was not happy with the way that information was given. He didn't have to do that, because what he did wasn't wrong. What he did in terms of the information he saw. What was wrong was the way that other people, including yourselves in this room, were given that information, because that was classified information that was given illegally. That's the real problem.
Look, when I go to rallies, they turn around, they start screaming at CNN. They want to throw their placards at CNN. You know. I think you would do much better by being different.
Tomorrow, they will say, "Donald Trump rants and raves at the press." I'm not ranting and raving. I'm just telling you. You know, you're dishonest people. But, but I'm not ranting and raving. I love this. I'm having a good time doing it. But tomorrow, the headlines are going to be, "Donald Trump rants and raves." I'm not ranting and raving.

You know what uranium is, right? It's a thing called nuclear weapons and other things like lots of things are done with uranium including some bad things.

You know what uranium is, right? It's a thing called nuclear weapons and other things like lots of things are done with uranium including some bad things.
In the meantime, Mosul is very, very difficult. Do you know why? Because I don't talk about military, and I don't talk about certain other things, you're going to be surprised to hear that. And by the way, my whole campaign, I'd say that. So I don't have to tell you. I don't want to be one of these guys that say, "Yes, here's what we're going to do." I don't have to do that. I don't have to tell you what I'm going to do in North Korea. Wait a minute. I don't have to tell you what I'm going to do in North Korea. And I don't have to tell you what I'm going to do with Iran. You know why? Because they shouldn't know. And eventually, you guys are going to get tired of asking that question.
Where are you from? [The reporter responds that he is from the BBC] Here's another beauty.
Do you want to set up the meeting? Are they friends of yours? [Addressing an African-American reporter and referring to the Congressional Black Caucus]
- Comments made during a news conference at the White House (16 February 2017)

I am the least anti-Semitic person that you’ve ever seen in your entire life
- 17 February 2017 per CNBC

You look at what's happening last night in Sweden. Sweden! Who would believe this, Sweden! They took in large numbers, they're having problems like they never thought possible.
- Trump speaking at mass rally of his supporters in Melbourne, Florida (18 February 2017)

And I want you all to know that we are fighting the fake news. It's fake, phony, fake. A few days ago I called the fake news the enemy of the people, and they are, they are the enemy of the people.
They shouldn't be allowed to use sources unless they use somebody's name. Let their name be put out there. Let their name be put out.
I love Sweden, great country, great people, I love Sweden. But they understand, the people over there understand I'm right. Take a look at what's happening in Sweden.
I have a friend, he's a very, very substantial guy. He loves the city of lights, he loves Paris. For years, every year during the summer, he would go to Paris, was automatic with his wife and his family. Hadn't seen him in a while and I said, Jim, let me ask you a question, how's Paris doing? "Paris? I don't go there anymore, Paris is no longer Paris."
- Trump speaking at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (24 February 2017)

It's an unbelievably complex subject. Nobody knew healthcare could be so complicated.
- Speaking at the National Governors Association meeting at the White House (27 February 2017)

Nations around the world, like Canada, Australia and many others – have a merit-based immigration system. It is a basic principle that those seeking to enter a country ought to be able to support themselves financially,
Yet, in America, we do not enforce this rule, straining the very public resources that our poorest citizens rely upon.
..
With the help of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, we have formed a Council with our neighbors in Canada to help ensure that women entrepreneurs have access to the networks, markets and capital they need to start a business and live out their financial dreams
..
America respects the right of all nations to chart their own path. My job is not to represent the world. My job is to represent the United States of America
..
It is not compassionate, but reckless, to allow uncontrolled entry from places where proper vetting cannot occur,
We cannot allow a beachhead of terrorism to form inside America -- we cannot allow our nation to become a sanctuary for extremists.
- 28 February 2017, per Globe and Mail

March 2017

As we stand together with our Irish friends, I'm reminded of that proverb – and this is a good one, this is one I like, I've heard it for many many years and I love it – "Always remember to forget the friends that proved untrue, but never forget to remember those that have stuck by you." We know that, politically speaking, a lot of us know that, we know it well, it's a great phrase.
- Trump speaking during a visit of Enda Kenny, the then Irish head of government (17 March 2017)

April 2017

Let's fucking kill him! Let's go in. Let's kill the fucking lot of them.
- About Bashar al-Assad, as quoted in "Bob Woodward's new book reveals a ‘nervous breakdown' of Trump's presidency" (4 September 2018), by Philip Rucker and Robert Costa, The Washington Post
Today's chemical attack in Syria against innocent people, including women and children, is reprehensible and cannot be ignored by the civilized world. These heinous actions by the Bashar al-Assad regime are a consequence of the past administration's weakness and irresolution. President Obama said in 2012 that he would establish a "red line" against the use of chemical weapons and then did nothing. The United States stands with our allies across the globe to condemn this intolerable attack.
- Statement on the Chemical Weapons Attack in Khan Sheikhoun, Syria, American Presidency Project, (6 September 2017)

It was a slow and brutal death for so many…Even beautiful babies were cruelly murdered in this very barbaric attack.
- President Trump on Syria's chemical weapons attack, "President Trump blasts Syria for 'cruelly murdering' its own people as U.S. fires at least 50 missiles at airfield", 6 April 2017.

We had finished dinner. We're now having dessert. And we had the most beautiful piece of chocolate cake that you've ever seen and President Xi was enjoying it.
So what happens is, I said we've just launched 59 missiles heading to Iraq. [Interviewer interrupts to correct him] Yes, heading toward Syria.
- President Trump explaining his decision to launch a missile strike while dining with Chinese President Xi Jinping, "Trump, Xi talked Syria strike over 'beautiful' chocolate cake", 12 April 2017.

So this is promoting agriculture and rural prosperity in America. And, now, there's a lot of words I won't bother reading everything.
- Remarks by President Trump in Farmers Roundtable and Executive Order Signing Promoting Agriculture and Rural Prosperity in America (April 25, 2017)

I thought it would be easier.
- Trump discussing his first 100 days in interview with Reuters (April 27, 2017)

I think we've done more than perhaps any president in the first 100 days.... Not since [President] Harry Truman has anybody done so much.
- Interview with President Trump, "Full interview with President Trump on his first 100 days", 28 April 2017.

May 2017

People don't realize, you know, the Civil War, if you think about it, why?
- Trump: Why Couldn't the Civil War Have Been Avoided? (May 1, 2017)
No American should be forced to choose between the dictates of the federal government and the tenets of their faith.
- What Trump understands about religious liberty in America? (May 4, 2017)

I just fired the head of the F.B.I. He was crazy, a real nut job.
..
I faced great pressure because of Russia. That's taken off.
..
I'm not under investigation.
- Part of Trump's conversation with Russian officials invited to the White House, according to the official account of the meeting (10 May 2017)
Have you heard that expression used before? Because I haven't heard it. I mean, I just... I came up with it a couple of days ago and I thought it was good. It's what you have to do.
- Trump claiming to have invented the term "prime the pump" in the context of economic stimulus during an interview published in The Economist (11 May 2017)
And in fact, when I decided to just do it, I said to myself, I said, "You know, this Russia thing, with Trump and Russia, is a made-up story, it's an excuse by the Democrats for having lost an election."
- Trump admitting in an interview with NBC's Lester Holt that annoyance at federal investigations was a motivation for firing FBI Director James Comey (11 May 2017)
Nothing is easier or more pathetic than being a critic. Because they're people that can't get the job done. But the future belongs to the dreamers, not to the critics. The future belongs to the people who follow their heart no matter what the critics say.
- Liberty University commencement speech (13 May 2017)
Look at the way I have been treated lately, especially by the media. No politician in history, and I say this with great surety, has been treated worse, or more unfairly.
- Trump being a critic of the media during his speech at the US Coast Guard Academy commencement ceremony (17 May 2017)
Oh my God. This is terrible. This is the end of my Presidency. I'm fucked.
- On the appointment of a special counsel in the Russia investigation. As quoted in "Report On The Investigation Into Russian Interference In The 2016 Presidential Election" by Robert S. Mueller III, Volume II, page 78.
So many young, beautiful, innocent people living and enjoying their lives murdered by evil losers in life, I won't call them monsters because they would like that term. They would think that's a great name. I will call them from now on losers because that's what they are. They're losers. And we'll have more of them. But they're losers—just remember that.

June 2017

I was elected represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris.
- Statement by President Trump on the Paris Climate Accord, announcing his intention to withdraw the US from the Paris Agreement (1 June 2017)

History is written by the dreamers, not the doubters.

I love all people, rich or poor, but in those particular positions I just don't want a poor person.
We're thinking about building the wall as a solar wall, so it creates energy, and pays for itself. And this way Mexico will have to pay much less money, and that's good, right, is that good? You're the first group I've told that to, a solar wall, makes sense, let's see, we're working it out, we'll see, solar wall, panels, beautiful. I mean actually think of it, the higher it goes the more valuable it is, it's like... pretty good imagination [points to his own head], right, good? My idea.
- President Trump Holds a Rally in Cedar Rapids, Iowa (21 June 2017)
Well I didn't tape him — you never know what's happening, when you see that the Obama administration, and perhaps longer than that, was doing all of this unmasking and, er, surveillance, and you read all about it, and I've been reading about for the last couple of months about the seriousness of the, and horrible situation, with surveillance all over the place, and you've been hearing the word 'unmasking', a word you probably never heard before, so you never know what's out there — but I didn't tape, and I don't have any tape, and I didn't tape.
Well, er, it wasn't, er, it wasn't very stupid, I can tell you that. [In response to the interviewer suggesting that his tweeting that there were tapes was a smart tactic]
- Trump interviewed by Ainsley Earhardt on Fox & Friends (23 June 2017)
I heard poorly rated @Morning_Joe speaks badly of me (don't watch anymore). Then how come low I.Q. Crazy Mika, along with Psycho Joe, came to Mar-a-Lago 3 nights in a row around New Year's Eve, and insisted on joining me. She was bleeding badly from a face-lift. I said no!
- Trump Mocks Mika Brzezinski (29 June 2017)

The human soul yearns for discovery. By unlocking the mysteries of the universe, we unlock truths within ourselves. That's true. Our journey into space will not only make us stronger and more prosperous, but will unite us behind grand ambitions and bring us all closer together. Wouldn't that be nice? Can you believe that space is going to do that? I thought politics would do that. (Laughter.) Well, we'll have to rely on space instead.
Every launch into the skies is another step forward toward a future where our differences seem small against the vast expanse of our common humanity. Sometimes you have to view things from a distance in order to see the real truth. It is America's destiny to be at the forefront of humanity's eternal quest for knowledge and to be the leader amongst nations on our adventure into the great unknown.
Space. A lotta room out there, right? [Buzz Aldrin interjects: To infinity and beyond!] This is infinity, it could be infinity, we don't really don't know, but it could be, there's gotta be something, but it could be infinity, right?
- Trump speaking while signing an Executive Order on the National Space Council (30 June 2017)

July 2017

The fundamental question of our time is whether the West has the will to survive. Do we have the confidence in our values to defend them at any cost? Do we have enough respect for our citizens to protect our borders? Do we have the desire and the courage to preserve our civilization in the face of those who would subvert and destroy it?
- Remarks by President Trump to the People of Poland (6 July 2017)

...let Obamacare fail, it will be a lot easier. And I think we're probably in that position where we'll let Obamacare fail. We're not going to own it. I'm not going to own it. I can tell you the Republicans are not going to own it. We'll let Obamacare fail, and then the Democrats are going to come to us.
- White House press conference, 2017-07-18, quoted in Thomas Kaplan (18 July 2017), "‘Let Obamacare Fail,’ Trump Says as G.O.P. Health Bill Collapses", New York Times

I am disappointed in the Attorney General, he should not have recused himself, almost immediately after he took office, and if he was going to recuse himself he should have told me prior to taking office, and I would have quite simply picked somebody else, so I think that's a bad thing, not for the President but for the presidency, I think it's unfair to the presidency, and that's the way I feel.
- Trump responding to a question about Jeff Sessions in a White House press briefing (25 July 2017)

I said please don't be too nice. Like when you guys put somebody in the car, and you're protecting their head, you know, the way you put the hand over, like, don't hit their head, and they've just killed somebody, don't hit their head? I said, you can take the hand away, OK.
- Speaking to police officers at Suffolk County Community College, Long Island (28 July 2017)

2017 National Scout Jamboree (July 24, 2017)

Trump inspiring young people at the 2017 National Scout Jamboree (24 July 2017)

I said, who the hell wants to speak about politics when I'm in front of the boy scouts, right?

You know, I go to Washington and I see all these politicians, and I see the swamp, and it's not a good place, in fact, today I said we ought to change it from the word 'swamp' to the word 'cesspool' or perhaps to the word 'sewer'. But it's not good, not good.

Secretary Tom Price is also here. Today Dr. Price still lives the scout oath, helping to keep millions of Americans strong and healthy as our Secretary of Health and Human Services, and he's doing a great job. And, hopefully, he's going to get the votes tomorrow to start our path toward killing this horrible thing known as Obamacare that's really hurting us, folks. By the way, you going to get the votes? He better get them. He better get them. Oh, he better, otherwise I'll say, "Tom, you're fired."

Turn those cameras back there, please, that is so incredible. By the way, what do you think the chances are that this incredible, massive crowd, record-setting is going to be shown on television tonight? 1% or zero? The fake media will say, "President Trump", and you know what this is, "President Trump spoke before a small crowd of boy scouts today."

By the way, just a question, did President Obama ever come to a jamboree?

And you know we have a tremendous disadvantage in the electoral college, popular vote is much easier.

August 2017

North Korea best not make any more threats to the United States. They will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen. He has been very threatening beyond a normal state. They will be met with fire, fury, and frankly power the likes of which this world has never seen before.
- Comment on North Korean nuclear tests, made during a public meeting on the opioid epidemic.
- Trump's 'fire and fury' remark was improvised but familiar, CNN. August 9, 2017.

We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides, on many sides [repeat intentional]. This had been going on for a long time in our country. Not Donald Trump, not Barack Obama. A long, long time.
- First statement regarding White Nationalist Rally terrorism in Charlottesville, VA. . The Guardian. (12 August 2017)

Racism is evil -- and those who cause violence in its name are criminals and thugs, including KKK, neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and other hate groups are repugnant to everything we hold dear as Americans. Those who spread violence in the name of bigotry strike at the very core of America. As a candidate I promised to restore law and order to our country and our federal law enforcement agencies are following through on that pledge. We will spare no resource in fighting so that every American child can grow up free from violence and fear. We will defend and protect the sacred rights of all Americans and we will work together so that every citizen in this blessed land is free to follow their dreams, in their hearts, and to express the love and joy in our souls.
- Subsequent statement regarding the violence at a far-right Charlottesville, VA rally held on August 11-12, 2017; Trump calls KKK, neo-Nazis, white supremacists 'repugnant' (14 August 2017)

Yes, I think there's blame on both sides, you look at, you look at both sides, I think there's blame on both sides, and I have no doubt about it, and you don't have any doubt about it either. And if you reported it accurately, you would say...[Reporter: The neo-Nazis started this thing. They showed up in Charlottesville. They... (Reporters crosstalk)] Excuse me. Excuse me. They didn't put themselves down as neo-Nazis. And you had some very bad people in that group. But you also had people that were very fine people, on both sides. You had people in that group — excuse me, excuse me — I saw the same pictures as you did. You had people in that group that were there to protest the taking down of, to them, a very, very important statue and the renaming of a park from Robert E. Lee to another name. [Reporters crosstalk] George Washington was a slave owner. Was George Washington a slave owner? So will George Washington now lose his status? Are we going to take down — excuse me — are we going to take down, are we going to take down statues to George Washington? How about Thomas Jefferson? What do you think of Thomas Jefferson? You like him. Good. Are we going to take down his statue, because he was a major slave-owner? Are we going to take down his statue? So you know what, it's fine. You are changing history, you are changing culture. You had people — and I'm not talking about the neo-Nazis and the white nationalists, because they should be condemned totally — but you had many people in that group other than neo-Nazis and white nationalists, OK? And the press has treated them absolutely unfairly. Now, in the other group also, you had some fine people but you also had troublemakers and you see them come with the black outfits and with the helmets and with the baseball bats. You had a lot of bad people in the other group too.
The statement I made on Saturday, the first statement, was a fine statement.
- Trump, again, casts blame on both sides for deadly violence in Virginia at a press briefing in Trump Tower, New York (15 August 2017) Transcripts:

September 2017

The problem in Venezuela is not that socialism has been poorly implemented. It's that socialism has been faithfully implemented.
- In his first address to the United Nations. (19 September 2017)

The only thing you could do better is if you see it, even if it's one player, leave the stadium, I guarantee things will stop. Things will stop. Just pick up and leave. Pick up and leave. Not the same game anymore anyway. Wouldn't you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, you'd say, 'Get that son of a bitch off the field right now. Out! He's fired. He's fired!
- Referring at a rally in Huntsville, AL to protests by NFL players against the U.S. flag.
- Aric Jenkins (22 September 2017), "Donald Trump Called for NFL Players to Be Fired for National Anthem Kneeling — And They Responded", Fortune

All appropriate departments of our government from Homeland Security to Defense are engaged fully in the disaster and the response and recovery effort probably has never been seen for something like this. This is an island surrounded by water, big water, ocean water.
- Regarding Hurricane Maria
- Emily Shugerman (29 September 2017), "Donald Trump says Puerto Rico is 'an island surrounded by big water'", The Independent (UK)

October 2017

You guys know what this represents? Maybe it's the calm before the storm. [Reporter: What's the storm?] Could be the calm, the calm, before the storm. [Reporter: What storm Mr. President?] We have the world's great military people in this room, I'll tell you that, and we're going to have a great evening. [Reporter: What storm Mr. President?] You'll find out.
- Speaking during a photo op at the White House (6 October 2017)
The media is — really, the word, I think one of the greatest of all terms I've come up with is "fake". I guess other people have used it, perhaps, over the years, but I've never noticed it.
- Daniel Dale (8 October 2017), "Donald Trump defends paper towels in Puerto Rico, says Stephen Paddock was ‘probably smart' in bizarre TV interview: Analysis", TheStar.com
Chain migration is one of the disasters. You allow one person and in that one person brings in 10 or 12 people
- 11 October 2017 being interviewed by Sean Hannity
And we see it in the mothers and the fathers who get up at the crack of dawn; they work two jobs and sometimes three jobs. They sacrifice every day for the furniture and — future of their children.
- Remarks by President Trump at the 2017 Values Voter Summit (13 October 2017)
Just out report: "United Kingdom crime rises 13% annually amid spread of Radical Islamic terror." Not good, we must keep America safe!
- Tweet by @realDonaldTrump (20 October 2017)
We have a very good relationship. People say we have the best relationship of any President-President, because he's called President also. Now some people might call him the King of China, but he's called President.
- Interviewed by Lou Dobbs on Fox Business on the subject of Xi Jinping (25 October 2017)

November 2017

Why would Kim Jong-un insult me by calling me "old," when I would NEVER call him "short and fat?" Oh well, I try so hard to be his friend - and maybe someday that will happen!
- Corey Charlton (8 November 2017), "Donald Trump calls Kim Jong-un ‘short and fat’ and says he’s ‘trying hard to be his friend’", The Sun

India has a true friend in the White House.
- Donald Trump, November 28, 2017 Indian Express India has true friends in White House, says Ivanka Trump at Global Entrepreneurship Summit

December 2017

He killed many people, ran them over. Chain migration. According to chain migration, he may have as many as 22 to 24 people that came in with him. His grandfather, his grandmother, his mother, his father, his brother, his sisters. We have to end chain migration. We have to end chain migration.
- 8 December 2017

2018

January 2018

The United States has foolishly given Pakistan more than 33 billion dollars in aid over the last 15 years, they have given us nothing but lies and deceit, thinking of our leaders as fools. They give safe haven to the terrorists we hunt in Afghanistan, with little help. No more!
- CNN: Trump's first 2018 tweet: Pakistan has 'given us nothing but lies & deceit' , The Independent

The libel laws are very weak in this country. If they were strong, it would be very helpful. You wouldn't have things like that happen where you can say whatever comes to your head.
- Response to a question regarding Michael Wolff's Fire and Fury, Camp David speech (6 January 2018)

I get exercise. I mean I walk, I this, I that. I run over to a building next door. I get more exercise than people think.
A lot of people go to the gym and they’ll work out for two hours and all. I’ve seen people ... then they get their new knees when they’re 55 years old and they get their new hips and they do all those things. I don’t have those problems.
I guess they all realized they’re going to have to leave it to a president that scored the highest on tests. What can I tell you?
I was on a treadmill for the first time actually in quite a while, and it was at a very steep angle, and I was there for a very long time.
They were surprised. And they said, ‘Well you can stop now, that’s amazing.’ And I said, ‘I can go much longer than this if you want me to.
I’ve always been more of a believer in diet ‘cause I’m strong, you know? I hit the ball far. I mean, I’m strong, physically.
The people that do the food at the White House are extraordinary, but I think they can maybe make the portions a little bit smaller and maybe we’ll cut out some of the more fattening ingredients, and I’m okay with that.
- 17 January 2018 interview with Reuters

Right now, in a number of states, the laws allow a baby to be born from his or her mother's womb in the ninth month. It is wrong, it has to change.
- As quoted in "Trump just basically said he's anti-childbirth" (19 January 2018), by Rachel Kraus, Mashable

If you're telling me they're horrible people, horrible racist people, I would certainly apologize, if you'd like me to do that.
- Interviewed on Good Morning Britain about his retweeting of inflammatory and unverified anti-Muslim videos from Britain First the previous November (26 January 2018)

[Interviewer: Do you believe in climate change? Do you think it exists?] Er, there is a cooling and there is a heating, and I mean, look, it used to not be climate change, it used to be global warming. [Interviewer: Right.] Right? That wasn't working too well, because it was getting too cold all over the place. The ice caps were going to melt, they were going to be gone by now, but now they're setting records, OK, they're at a record level.
- Interviewed on British TV (28 January 2018)

in recent weeks, two terrorist attacks in New York were made possible by the visa lottery and chain migration
- 30 January 2018

we celebrate National African American History Month to honor the significant contributions African Americans have made to our great Nation
- 31 January 2018
  - reposted on Twitter 1 Feb 2018 by @StateDept and 2 Feb 2018 by @WhiteHouse

February 2018

You've got half the room going totally crazy, wild, they loved everything, they wanna do something great for our country, and you have the other side, even on positive news, really positive news, like that, they were like death, and un-American, un-American. Somebody said treasonous, I mean, yeah I guess, why not? Can we call that treason, why not?
- Speaking in Cincinnati about Democrats did not clap during his State of the Union Address (5 February 2018)

My administration has identified three major priorities for creating a safe, modern, and lawful immigration system: fully securing the border, ending chain migration, and canceling the visa lottery. Chain migration is a disaster, and very unfair to our country. The visa lottery is something that should have never been allowed in the first place. People enter a lottery to come into our country. What kind of a system is that? It is time for Congress to act and to protect Americans.
- 10 February 2018

I never said "give teachers guns" like was stated on Fake News @CNN & @NBC. What I said was to look at the possibility of giving "concealed guns to gun adept teachers with military or special training experience - only the best. 20% of teachers, a lot, would now be able to...
... immediately fire back if a savage sicko came to a school with bad intentions. Highly trained teachers would also serve as a deterrent to the cowards that do this. Far more assets at much less cost than guards. A "gun free" school is a magnet for bad people. ATTACKS WOULD END!
- Tweets (February 22, 2018), as cited in "Trump defends arming teachers, applauds NRA" NBC News (February 22, 2018)

Because in America people don't worship government. They worship God.
- CPAC conference (23 February 2018)

Or, Mike, take the firearms first and then go to court, because that’s another system. Because a lot of times, by the time you go to court, it takes so long to go to court, to get the due process procedures. I like taking the guns early. Like in this crazy man’s case that just took place in Florida, he had a lot of firearms – they saw everything – to go to court would have taken a long time, so you could do exactly what you’re saying, but take the guns first, go through due process second.
- meeting on gun violence Feb. 28, 2018

March 2018

Don't forget China's great, and Xi is a great gentleman. He's now president for life. President for life. And he's great. And look, he was able to do that. I think it’s great. Maybe we'll have to give that a shot someday.
- Fundraiser, Mar-a-Lago, quoted in Kevin Liptak (3 March 2018), "Trump on China's Xi consolidating power: 'Maybe we'll give that a shot some day'", CNN

April 2018

I want to thank the White House Historical Association and all of the people that work so hard with Melania, with everybody, to keep this incredible house or building, or whatever you want to call it — because there really is no name for it; it is special — and we keep it in tip-top shape. We call it sometimes tippy-top shape. And it's a great, great place.
- Referring to the White House, during a speech given for Easter (April 2, 2018)

And chain migration -- think of that. So you come in, and now you can bring your family, and then you can bring your mother and your father. You can bring your grandmother. You can bring your this; you can bring -- we had somebody on the West Side Highway, which I know very well -- in Manhattan -- he ran over -- I think he killed about eight people
- 5 April 2018

May 2018

America will not be held hostage to nuclear blackmail. We will not allow American cities to be threatened with destruction. And we will not allow a regime that chants "Death to America" to gain access to the most deadly weapons on Earth.
- statement on the Iran nuclear deal on May 8, 2018 vox.com

June 2018

So funny to watch the Fake News, especially NBC and CNN. They are fighting hard to downplay the deal with North Korea. 500 days ago they would have “begged” for this deal-looked like war would break out. Our Country’s biggest enemy is the Fake News so easily promulgated by fools!
- Post (6:30 AM · Jun 13, 2018) by President Trump originally on Twitter now available on X
In the meantime, people are suffering because of the Democrats. So we've created, and they've created, and they've let it happen — a massive child-smuggling industry. That's exactly what it's become. Traffickers — if you think about this — human traffickers are making a fortune. It's a disgrace. These loopholes force the release of alien families and minors into the country when they illegally cross the border.
- Remarks by President Trump at Cabinet Meeting Issued on: June 21, 2018

July 2018

but we have to do it gently because we're in the #MeToo generation, so we have to be very gentle.
we will very gently take that kit, and we will slowly toss it, hoping it doesn't hit her and injure her arm.
- 5 July 2018 per Washington Post
Allowing the immigration to take place in Europe is a shame. I think it changed the fabric of Europe and, unless you act very quickly, it's never going to be what it was and I don't mean that in a positive way. So I think allowing millions and millions of people to come into Europe is very, very sad. I think you are losing your culture.
- Interview with The Sun (13 July 2018)
The border with the Sahara can't be bigger than ours with Mexico.
- In a phone call to Spain's foreign minister, Josep Borrell, in the context of Trump's idea for Spain to build a border wall across Sahara dessert to stem Spain's Mediterranean migrant crisis.Foreign minister: Trump advised Spain to build wall across Sahara to stop migrants

To Iranian President Rouhani: NEVER, EVER THREATEN THE UNITED STATES AGAIN OR YOU WILL SUFFER CONSEQUENCES THE LIKES OF WHICH FEW THROUGHOUT HISTORY HAVE EVER SUFFERED BEFORE. WE ARE NO LONGER A COUNTRY THAT WILL STAND FOR YOUR DEMENTED WORDS OF VIOLENCE & DEATH. BE CAUTIOUS!
- The Atlantic: "Six Hours and Three Minutes of Internet Chaos"

What you're seeing and what you're reading is not what's happening
- Quoted by Mahita Gajanan (24 July 2018), "'What You're Seeing... Is Not What's Happening.' People Are Comparing This Trump Quote to George Orwell", Time

We're ordering 147 new F-35 Lightning fighters. This is an incredible plane. It's stealth; you can't see it. So when I talk to even people from the other side, they're trying to order our plane. They like the fact that you can't see it. I said, 'How would it do in battle with your plane?' They say, 'Well, we have one problem: We can't see your plane.'
- Quoted by Kyle Mizokami (24 July 2018), "Trump Keeps Saying the F-35 Is Invisible", Popular Mechanics

August 2018

You know, if you go out and you want to buy groceries, you need a picture on a card, you need ID. You go out and you want to buy anything, you need ID and you need your picture. The only time you don’t need it in many cases is when you want to vote for a president, when you want to vote for a senator, when you want to vote for a governor or a congressman. It’s crazy.
- "Trump claims you need ID to buy groceries. You do not.", CNN (August 21, 2018)

We have the worst laws! How about chain migration? One person comes in and you end up with 32 people. The person that ran down 18 people on the West Side Highway, he's allowed to have -- and I think eight died. He has 22 members of his family in the United States because of chain migration. So we have to change this stuff, Rush,
- 1 August 2018 interview with Rush Limbaugh

How about chain migration? How about that? Somebody comes in, he brings his mother, and his father, and his aunt and uncle, 15 times removed. He brings them all
- August 8 campaign rally in Ohio

September 2018

They haven't seen anything like what's coming at us in 25, 30 years. Maybe ever. It's tremendously big and tremendously wet. Tremendous amounts of water.
- Trump Says Hurricane Florence Is 'Tremendously Big And Tremendously Wet'

I just wanna thank all of the incredible men and women who have done such a great job in helping with Florence. This is a tough hurricane. One of the wettest we've ever seen from a standpoint of water.
- Trump Describes Hurricane Florence "Wettest We've Seen From Standpoint Of Water"

And you know the interesting? When I did it, and I was really being tough, and so was he, and we were going back and forth, and then we fell in love. OK? No, really. He wrote me beautiful letters. And they're great letters. We fell in love.
- "Trump says he and Kim Jong-un ‘fell in love’ after sending each other ‘beautiful letters’", The Independent (UK), 30 September 2018

Reliance on a single foreign supplier can leave nations vulnerable to extortion and intimidation and that is why we congratulate European states such as Poland for leading construction of a Baltic pipeline so that nations are not dependent on Russia to meet their energy needs. Germany will become totally dependent on Russian energy if it does not immediately change course.
- Address to the UN General Assembly, quoted in Reuters Staff (25 September 2018), "At U.N., Trump hails Poland, slams Germany over Russian energy reliance", Reuters

Today I stand before the United Nations General Assembly to share the extraordinary progress we've made. In less than two years, my administration has accomplished more than almost any administration in the history of our country. America's— so true. [assembly laughs] I didn't expect that reaction, but that's OK.
- Address to UN General Assembly, quoted in Daniel Shapiro (26 September 2018), "Trump's U.N. speech pitting globalism against patriotism proves the president has no idea what patriotism means", NBC News

America is governed by Americans. We reject the ideology of globalism and we embrace the doctrine of patriotism.
- Address to UN General Assembly, quoted in Robin Wright (25 September 2018), "Trump’s Speech at the U.N. Triggers Laughter—and Disbelief", The New Yorker

October 2018

I know you're not thinking. You never do.
- Donald Trump to a reporter who was going to ask a question. President Donald Trump To Reporter: ‘I Know You’re Not Thinking. You Never Do’, 2 October 2018

Only do it if I can test her personally. That will not be something I enjoy doing either.
- regarding acknowledging Elizabeth Warren as Native American
- Amy B Wang and Deanna Paul (15 October 2018), "Trump promised $1 million to charity if Warren proved her Native American DNA. Now he’s waffling.", Washington Post

I have a natural instinct for science
- Quoted in Jonathan Chait (15 October 2018), "Trump: My ‘Natural Instinct for Science’ Tells Me Climate Science Is Wrong", New York Intelligencer

You know they have a word, it sort of became old-fashioned, it's called a nationalist,
And I say 'really, we're not supposed to use that word?' Do you know what I am? I'm a nationalist.
- 22 October 2018, quoted in John Walsh (23 October 2018), "Trump declares himself a 'nationalist' while stumping for Ted Cruz", Business Insider

Now how ridiculous: we're the only country in the world where a person comes in, has a baby, and the baby is essentially a citizen of the United States for 85 years with all of those benefits
- Associated Press (30 October 2018), "Trump wants to end birthright citizenship in the U.S.", CBC

It was always told to me that you needed a constitutional amendment. Guess what? You don't,
Number one, you don't need that. Number two, you can definitely do it with an act of Congress. But now they're saying I can do it just with an executive order.
It's in the process,
It'll happen, with an executive order.
- Robert Farley (30 October 2018), "Can Trump End Birthright Citizenship by Executive Order?", FactCheck.org

November 2018

You gotta take care of the floors. You know, the floors of the forest. It's very important. You look at other countries where they do it differently, and it's a whole different story. I was with the president of Finland, and he said, "We have a much different— we're a forest nation." He called it a forest nation. And they spend a lot of time on raking and cleaning and doing things, and they don't have any problem.
- Paradise, California, 2018-11-17, quoted in Ashley Hoffman (20 November 2018), "#RakeNews: People in Finland Mock Trump With Leaf-Raking Photos After He Said the Country 'Rakes the Forest'", Time , and with video in Patrick Kingsley (18 November 2018), "Trump Says California Can Learn From Finland on Fires. Is He Right?", New York Times
- Finnish President Sauli Niinistö said he didn't recall anything being said about raking.

Reporter: Have you read the climate report yet?
Trump: I've seen it. I've read some of it and — it's fine.
Reporter: They say the economic impact could be devastating.
Trump: Yeah. I don't believe it.
Reporter: You don't believe it?
Trump: No, no. I don't believe it. And here's the other thing: You're going to have to have China and Japan and all of Asia and all of these other countries — you know, it addresses our country. Right now, we're at the cleanest we've ever been, and that's very important to me. But if we're clean but every other place on Earth is dirty, that's not so good.
- November 26, 2018, on the Fourth National Climate Assessment (Bump, Philip (November 26, 2018). "Trump responds to his administration's report indicating a huge cost from climate change: ‘I don't believe it'". The Washington Post. Retrieved on December 1, 2018. ; "'I don't believe it' - Trump on climate report". BBC News. November 26, 2018. Retrieved on December 1, 2018. ; "‘Yeah, I don't believe it': Trump on his administration's own climate report". The Guardian. Associated Press. ).

One of the problems that a lot of people like myself we have very high levels of intelligence, but we're not necessarily such believers. You look at our air and our water, and it's now at a record clean. But when you look at China and you look at parts of Asia and when you look at South America, and when you look at many other places in this world, including Russia, including just many other places, the air is incredibly dirty and when you're talking about an atmosphere, oceans are very small and it blows over and it sails over. I mean, we take thousands of tons of garbage off our beaches all the time that comes over from Asia. It just flows right down the Pacific, if flows, and we say where does this come from. And it takes many people to start off with.
- 28th November, Washington Post interview, Donald Trump on whether he believes in global warming reports of the 13 of agencies of his administration.

December 2018

I want to thank Vice President Mike Pence,
A tremendous supporter, a tremendous supporter of yours. And Karen. And they go there and they love your country. They love your country. And they love this country. That's a good combination, right?
- 7 December 2018

I am proud to shut down the government for border security, Chuck. People in this country don't want criminals and people that have lots of problems and drugs pouring into our country. I will take the mantle. I will be the one to shut it down. I won't blame you for it. The last time, you shut it down. It didn't work. I will take the mantle of shutting it down.
- Oval Office meeting with Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer, leading to the 2018–19 United States federal government shutdown. "Trump 'proud' to shut down government in wall talks with Democrats", United Press International (December 12, 2018)

Are you still a believer in Santa? Because at 7, it's marginal, right?
- To a 7-year-old child, 24 December 2018

Well, I don't see it. I spoke with Bibi, I told Bibi.
And, you know, we give Israel $4.5 billion a year.
And they're doing very well defending themselves, if you take a look.
So that's the way it is.
The United States cannot continue to be the policeman of the world,
We don't want to do that.
- 27 December 2018 re Benjamin Netanyahu

2019

January 2019

we're getting out and we're getting out smart and we're winning, we're winning. OK. But just to answer your question, Over a period of time. I never said I'm getting out tomorrow I said I'm pulling our soldiers out and they will be pulled back in Syria, that we're getting out of Syria. Yeah absolutely. But we're getting out very powerfully.
- 2 January 2019

Iran is no longer the same country
Iran is pulling people out of Syria.
They can do what they want there, frankly, but they're pulling people out.
They're pulling people out of Yemen.
Iran wants to survive now.
- Eric Cortellessa (2 January 2019), "Trump: Iran ‘can do what they want’ in Syria", Times of Israel

I know more about drones than anybody. I know about every form of safety that you can have. (January 2019)
I think nobody knows more about campaign finance than I do, because I'm the biggest contributor. (1999)
I know more about people who get [TV] ratings than anyone. (October 2012)
I know more about ISIS than the generals do. (November 2015)
I understand social media. I understand the power of Twitter. I understand the power of Facebook maybe better than almost anybody, based on my results, right? (November 2015)
I know more about courts than any human being on Earth. (November 2015)
[W]ho knows more about lawsuits than I do? I'm the king. (January 2016)
I understand politicians better than anybody.
[N]obody knows the [visa] system better than me. I know the H1B. I know the H2B. ... Nobody else on this dais knows how to change it like I do, believe me. (March 2016)
Nobody knows more about trade than me. (March 2016)
[N]obody knows the [U.S. government] system better than I do. (April 2016)
I know more about renewables than any human being on Earth. (April 2016)
I think nobody knows more about taxes than I do, maybe in the history of the world. (May 2016)
I’m the king of debt. I’m great with debt. Nobody knows debt better than me. (June 2016)
I understand money better than anybody. (June 2016)
[L]ook, as a builder, nobody in the history of this country has ever known so much about infrastructure as Donald Trump. (July 2016)
I know more about [senator] Cory [Booker] than he knows about himself. (July 2016)
I think I know more about the other side [Democrats] than almost anybody. (November 2016)
[N]obody knows more about construction than I do. (May 2018)
I think I know about [the economy] better than [the Federal Reserve]. (October 2018)
Technology — nobody knows more about technology than me. (December 2018)
I know more about drones than anybody. I know about every form of safety that you can have." (January 2019)
Having a drone fly overhead — and I think nobody knows much more about technology, this type of technology certainly, than I do. (January 2019)
- "Everything Trump says he knows "more about than anybody"", Axios (January 5, 2019)

We are born free, and we will stay free. Tonight, we renew our resolve that America will never be a socialist country.
- Joel Gehrke (5 January 2019), "Trump to Ocasio-Cortez: 'America will never be a socialist country'", Washington Examiner

Q: Does the buck stop with you over this shutdown?
Donald Trump: The buck stops with everybody.
- White House press conference, 2019-01-10, quoted in Steve Benen (10 January 2019), "Rejecting responsibility, Trump declares, ‘The buck stops with everybody’", MSNBC , and with video in Oliver Willis (10 January 2019), "Trump: 'Buck stops with everybody' for shutdown he was proud to own", American Independent

We have pizzas, we have three-hundred hamburgers, many, many French fries, all of our favourite foods.
I want to see what's here when we leave, because I don't think it's going to be much.
If it's American, I like it. It's all American stuff.
- 14 January 2019 quote mentioned in article by BBC

Do we give you some little quick salads that the first lady will make, along with the second lady — they’ll make some salads.
I said you guys aren’t into salads.
Or do I go out and send out for about one-thousand hamburgers?
Big Macs.
So we actually did.
We bought one-thousand Burger King.
All American companies.
Burger King, Wendy’s and McDonald’s.
- 14 January 2019 quote mentioned in article by Rolling Stone

Great being with the National Champion Clemson Tigers lat night at the White House.
Because of the Shutdown I served them massive amounts of Fast Food (I paid),
over 1000 hamberders etc.
Within one hour, it was all gone.
Great guys and big eaters!
- 15 January 2019 tweet

National African American History Month
is an occasion to rediscover the enduring stories of African Americans and the
gifts of freedom, purpose, and opportunity they have bestowed on future
generations.
- early 31 January 2019 proclamation on WhiteHouse.gov regarding black history month
  - reposted 1 February 2019 on Twitter

February 2019

They're starting to, as we gain the remainder, the final remainder of the caliphate of the area, they'll be going to our base in Iraq, and ultimately some will be coming home. But we're going to be there and we're going to be staying--
We have to protect Israel. We have to protect other things that we have. But we're- yeah, they'll be coming back in a matter of time. Look, we're protecting the world. We're spending more money than anybody's ever spent in history, by a lot. We spent, over the last five years, close to 50 billion dollars a year in Afghanistan. That's more than most countries spend for everything including education, medical, and everything else, other than a few countries.
- 1 February 2019 broadcast 3 February 2019

We stand with the Venezuelan people in their noble quest for freedom—and we condemn the brutality of the Maduro regime, whose socialist policies have turned that nation from being the wealthiest in South America into a state of abject poverty and despair
- "The Media Myth of ‘Once Prosperous’ and Democratic Venezuela Before Chávez" (February 6, 2019)

Since the founding of our nation, many of our greatest strides — from gaining our independence to abolition of civil rights to extending the vote for women — have been led by people of faith
- 08 February 2019

In fact, I think I can say this, Prime Minister Abe of Japan gave me the most beautiful copy of a letter that he sent to the people who give out a thing called the Nobel Prize. He said: "I have nominated you, respectfully, on behalf of Japan. I am asking them to give you the Nobel Peace Prize." I said, 'Thank you.'
We do a lot of good work. This administration does a tremendous job and we don't get credit for it. So Prime Minister Abe gave me — I mean it's the most beautiful five-page letter, Nobel Prize, he sent it to them. You know why? Because he had rocket ships and he had missiles flying over Japan, and they had alarms going off — you know that. Now all of the sudden they feel good, they feel safe. I did that.
- 15 February 2019 (Gregorian, Dareh. "You won't believe what Trump just said: 6 eye-popping moments". NBC News. )

Spring 2019

there will be some people in the room that don't like this. We're down to 3.7 percent unemployment — the lowest number in a long time. But think of this: I got all these companies moving in. They need workers. We have to bring people into our country to work these great plants that are opening up all over the place. This was not necessarily what I was saying during the campaign because I never knew we would be as successful as we've been. Companies are roaring back into our country, and now we want people to come in. We need workers to come in, but they've got to come in legally, and they've got to come in through merit, merit, merit.
- 3 March 2019

Hello, everybody. The economic numbers just came out; they're very, very good. Our country is doing unbelievably well, economically. Most of you don't report that, because it doesn't sound good from your perspective. But the country is doing really, really well. We have a lot of very exciting things going on. A lot of companies will be announcing shortly they're moving back into the United States. They're all coming back. They want to be where the action is.
- 5 April 2019

If you have a windmill anywhere near your house, congratulations, your house just went down 75 percent in value. And they say the noise causes cancer. You told me that one, OK. [makes circles with his hands and a noise with his mouth] You know the thing makes so... and of course it's like a graveyard for birds.
- Speech to Republican National Congressional Committee, 2019-04-02, quoted in Zachary B. Wolf (2019-04-03). "Trump's war on windmills now includes wild cancer claim". CNN. and in Jon Greenberg (2019-04-08). Donald Trump's ridiculous link between cancer, wind turbines. Politifact. Retrieved on 2019-08-18.

They have to get the shots. The vaccinations are so important. This is really going around now. They have to get their shots.
- Reported in Maegan Vazquez, "Trump now says parents must vaccinate children in face of measles outbreak", CNN (April 26, 2019).

The Jews always flip.
- attested to by Michael Wolff 28 May 2019

June 2019

There is no basis whatsoever for impeachment. None. There was no collusion. There was no obstruction. There was no crime. The crime was by the Democrats. The crime was by the Democrats. There is no legal basis for impeachment. It's a big witch hunt. Everybody knows it, including the Democrats.
- 2 June 2019

This week, we commemorate a mighty endeavor of righteous nations and one of the greatest undertakings in all of history. Seventy-five years ago, more than 150,000 Allied troops were preparing on this island to parachute into France, storm the beaches of Normandy, and win back our civilization. As Her Majesty remembers, the British people had hoped and prayed and fought for this day for nearly 5 years. When Britain stood alone during the Blitz of 1940 and 1941, the Nazi war machine dropped thousands of bombs on this country and right on this magnificent city. Buckingham Palace alone was bombed on 16 separate occasions. In that dark hour, the people of this nation showed the world what it means to be British. They cleared wreckage from the streets, displayed the Union Jack from their shattered homes, and kept fighting on to victory. They only wanted victory. The courage of the United Kingdom's sons and daughters ensured that your destiny would always remain in your own hands. Through it all, the royal family was the resolute face of the Commonwealth's unwavering solidarity.
- 3 June 2019

This evening we thank God for the brave sons of the United Kingdom and the United States who defeated the Nazis and the Nazi regime and liberated millions from tyranny. The bond between our nations was forever sealed in that "Great Crusade." As we honor our shared victory and heritage, we affirm the common values that will unite us long into the future: freedom, sovereignty, self-determination, the rule of law, and reverence for the rights given to us by Almighty God. From the Second World War to today, Her Majesty has stood as a constant symbol of these priceless traditions. She has embodied the spirit of dignity, duty, and patriotism that beats proudly in every British heart. On behalf of all Americans, I offer a toast to the eternal friendship of our people, the vitality of our nations, and to the long, cherished, and truly remarkable reign of Her Majesty the Queen. Thank you.
- 3 June 2019

You’re talking about Vietnam and at that time nobody had ever heard of the country
- Trump was describing the US knowledge about Vietnam in 1968, when about one half million US troops were stationed in Vietnam, as quoted in "Trump says was 'never a fan' of Vietnam War, and that Americans hadn't heard of country in 1968". Japan Times. 2019-06-05.

I think a lot of progress was made yesterday, but we have to make a lot of progress. Mexico has been making, for many, many years, hundreds of billions of dollars. And then, they've been making an absolute fortune on the United States. They have to step up, and they have to step up to the plate, and perhaps they will. We're going to see. They can solve the problem. The Democrats—Congress has been a disaster. They won't change. They won't do anything. They want free immigration—immigration to pour into our country. They don't care who it is. They don't care what kind of a record they have. It doesn't make any difference. They're not going to be changing anything. We go to them, we say, "Let's fix the immigration laws." They just want it to do badly. The worse it does, the happier they are. So that's the way it is, and I guess that's the way it will be until after the election. It's just a disgrace. Because, frankly, we could solve this problem so easy if the Democrats in Congress were willing to make some changes, but they're not. And that's the way it is. They want to just ride it out. They want to have a real bad time. They don't care about crime. They don't care about drugs pouring into our country. They couldn't care less. It's all politics. It's a vicious business. So that's the way it is. But we're having a great talk with Mexico. We'll see what happens. But something pretty dramatic could happen. We've told Mexico the tariffs go on. And I mean it too. And I'm very happy with it. And lot of people, Senators included, they have no idea what they're talking about when it comes to tariffs. They have no—absolutely no idea. When you have the money, when you have the product, when you have the thing that everybody wants, you're in a position to do very well with tariffs, and that's where we are. We're the piggybank. The United States is the piggybank. It has all the money that others want to take from us, but they're not taking it so easy anymore. It's a lot different. Our talks with China—a lot of interesting things are happening. We'll see what happens.
- 6 June 2019

Reporter: Are you willing to go to war with Iran?
Trump: You'll find out. You'll find out.
- "Trump tells public 'you'll find out' when asked about a war with Iran". The Washington Post. 2019-06-20.

For some reason we have a certain chemistry — or whatever. Let's see what happens. We have a long way to go. But I'm in no rush... So, I just want to say that we are going to be heading out to the DMZ and it's something I planned long ago but had the idea yesterday to maybe say hello, just shake hands quickly and say hello.
- press conference, Blue House, Seoul, South Korea, quoted in "Trump: Kim and I "have a certain chemistry"", CNN, 30 June 2019

Remarks on the 75th Anniversary of D-Day in Colleville-sur-Mer, France

Transcript (June 6, 2016)

Here with you are over 60 veterans who landed on D-day. Our debt to you is everlasting. Today we express our undying gratitude. When you were young, these men enlisted their lives in a great crusade, one of the greatest of all times. Their mission is the story of an epic battle and the ferocious, eternal struggle between good and evil. On the 6th of June, 1944, they joined a liberation force of awesome power and breathtaking scale. After months of planning, the Allies had chosen this ancient coastline to mount their campaign to vanquish the wicked tyranny of the Nazi empire from the face of the Earth. The battle began in the skies above us. In those first tense midnight hours, 1,000 aircraft roared overhead, with 17,000 Allied airborne troops preparing to leap into the darkness beyond these trees. Then came dawn. The enemy who had occupied these heights saw the largest naval armada in the history of the world. Just a few miles offshore were 7,000 vessels bearing 130,000 warriors.
They were the citizens of free and independent nations, united by their duty to their compatriots and to millions yet unborn. There were the British, whose nobility and fortitude saw them through the worst of Dunkirk and the London Blitz. The full violence of Nazi fury was no match for the full grandeur of British pride. Thank you. There were the Canadians, whose robust sense of honor and loyalty compelled them to take up arms alongside Britain from the very, very beginning. There were the fighting Poles, the tough Norwegians, and the intrepid Aussies. There were the gallant French commandos, soon to be met by thousands of their brave countrymen ready to write a new chapter in the long history of French valor. And finally, there were the Americans. They came from the farms of a vast heartland, the streets of glowing cities and the forges of mighty industrial towns. Before the war, many had never ventured beyond their own community. Now they had come to offer their lives half a world from home.
This beach, codenamed Omaha, was defended by the Nazis with monstrous firepower, thousands and thousands of mines and spikes driven into the sand, so deeply. It was here that tens of thousands of the Americans came. The GIs who boarded the landing craft that morning knew that they carried on their shoulders not just the pack of a soldier, but the fate of the world. Colonel George Taylor, whose 16th Infantry Regiment would join in the first wave, was asked: What would happen if the Germans stopped right then and there, cold on the beach, just stopped them? What would happen? This great American replied: "Why, the 18th Infantry is coming in right behind us. The 26th Infantry will come on too. Then, there is the 2nd Infantry Division already afloat. And the 9th Division. And the 2d Armored. And the 3d Armored. And all the rest. Maybe the 16th won't make it, but someone will."
Nine thousand three hundred and eighty-eight young Americans rest beneath the white crosses and Stars of David arrayed on these beautiful grounds. Each one has been adopted by a French family that thinks of him as their own. They come from all over France to look after our boys. They kneel. They cry. They pray. They place flowers. And they never forget. Today America embraces the French people and thanks you for honoring our beloved dead. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
To all of our friends and partners: Our cherished alliance was forged in the heat of battle, tested in the trials of war, and proven in the blessings of peace. Our bond is unbreakable.
From across the Earth, Americans are drawn to this place as though it were a part of our very soul. We come not only because of what they did here, we come because of who they were. They were young men with their entire lives before them. They were husbands who said goodbye to their young brides and took their duty as their fate. They were fathers who would never meet their infant sons and daughters because they had a job to do. And with God as their witness, they were going to get it done. They came wave after wave, without question, without hesitation, and without complaint.
More powerful than the strength of American arms was the strength of American hearts. These men ran through the fires of hell moved by a force no weapon could destroy: the fierce patriotism of a free, proud, and sovereign people. They battled not for control and domination, but for liberty, democracy, and self-rule. They pressed on for love in home and country, the main streets, the schoolyards, the churches and neighbors, the families and communities that gave us men such as these. They were sustained by the confidence that America can do anything because we are a noble nation, with a virtuous people, praying to a righteous God. The exceptional might came from a truly exceptional spirit. The abundance of courage came from an abundance of faith. The great deeds of an Army came from the great depths of their love. As they confronted their fate, the Americans and the Allies placed themselves into the palm of God's hand.
The men behind me will tell you that they are just the lucky ones. As one of them recently put it, "All the heroes are buried here." But we know what these men did. We knew how brave they were. They came here and saved freedom, and then, they went home and showed us all what freedom is all about. The American sons and daughters who saw us to victory were no less extraordinary in peace. They built families. They built industries. They built a national culture that inspired the entire world. In the decades that followed, America defeated communism, secured civil rights, revolutionized science, launched a man to the Moon, and then kept on pushing to new frontiers. And today, America is stronger than ever before.
Seven decades ago, the warriors of D-day fought a sinister enemy who spoke of a thousand-year empire. In defeating that evil, they left a legacy that will last not only for a thousand years, but for all time—for as long as the soul knows of duty and honor; for as long as freedom keeps its hold on the human heart. To the men who sit behind me, and to the boys who rest in the field before me, your example will never, ever grow old. Your legend will never tire. Your spirit—brave, unyielding, and true—will never die. The blood that they spilled, the tears that they shed, the lives that they gave, the sacrifice that they made, did not just win a battle. It did not just win a war. Those who fought here won a future for our Nation. They won the survival of our civilization. And they showed us the way to love, cherish, and defend our way of life for many centuries to come. Today, as we stand together upon this sacred Earth, we pledge that our nations will forever be strong and united. We will forever be together. Our people will forever be bold. Our hearts will forever be loyal. And our children, and their children, will forever and always be free. May God bless our great veterans, may God bless our Allies, may God bless the heroes of D-day, and may God bless America. Thank you. Thank you very much.

July 2019

Our army manned the air, it rammed the ramparts, it took over the airports, it did everything it had to do.
- Trump was describing battles in 1775, as quoted in Trump blames 'airports' gaffe on teleprompter

The kidney has a very special place in the heart.
- 11 July 2019

"I said, you know, you don't like me and I don't like you. I never have liked you and you never liked me but you're going to support me because you're a rich guy. And if you don't support me, you're going to be so goddamn poor you're not going to believe it."
- Trump was referring to an unnamed businessperson, as quoted by Chris Cillizza (17 July 2019), "Analysis: The 51 most outrageous lines from Donald Trump's NC rally", WLOS.com

Everybody calls me Mr. President. It's true. It's a funny thing.
- Quoted by Chris Cillizza (17 July 2019), "Analysis: The 51 most outrageous lines from Donald Trump's NC rally", WLOS.com

Then, I have an Article II, where I have to the right to do whatever I want as president [...] But I don’t even talk about that.
- Speech at the Turning Point USA Teen Student Action Summit, Washington DC (July 23, 2019), as cited in "While bemoaning Mueller probe, Trump falsely says the Constitution gives him 'the right to do whatever I want'", The Washington Post (July 23, 2019)

Boris Johnson, good man he is tough but he is smart. They call him Brittain Trump..They like me over there
- [www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0wO89TT9vI Trump on Johnson: 'They call him Britain Trump' - BBC News] July 24, 2019

These people [Democrats] are clowns
- from the White House on July 26 (video)

I am the least racist person there is anywhere in the world
- 30 July 2019 per The Guardian

August 2019

I think my rhetoric is a very – it brings people together.
- Quoted by Steve Benen (7 August 2019), "While slamming critics, Trump says his words ‘bring people together’", MSNBC

I think any Jewish people that vote for a Democrat -- it shows either a total lack of knowledge or great disloyalty.
- Quoted by Maegan Vazquez, Jim Acosta (21 August 2019), "Jewish leaders outraged by Trump saying Jews disloyal if they vote for Democrats", CNN

I am the chosen one. Somebody had to do it, so I'm taking on China... and you know what we're winning.
- Quoted by Tola Mbakwe (21 August 2019), "Donald Trump: 'I am the chosen one'", CNN

September 2019

Where’s my favorite dictator?
- Trump was looking for Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, as quoted by By Nancy A. Youssef, Vivian Salama and Michael C. Bender (13 September 2019), Trump, Awaiting Egyptian Counterpart at Summit, Called Out for ‘My Favorite Dictator’

I always look orange. And so do you. The light is the worst.
- Trump complained about energy-saving light bulbs, quoted by Elliot Hannon (24 September 2019), Trump on Why He Doesn’t Like Energy-Efficient Lightbulbs: “I Always Look Orange”

The truth is plain to see — if you want freedom, take pride in your country; if you want democracy, hold onto your sovereignty, and if you want peace, love your nation. Wise leaders always put the good of their own people and their own country first. The future does not belong to globalists. The future belongs to patriots. The future belongs to sovereign and independent nations who protect their citizens, respect their neighbours, and honor the differences that make each country special and unique.
- Address to United Nations General Assembly, quoted in Tim Pearce (13 September 2019), "Trump UN speech knocks globalism: The future belongs to nationalism", Washington Examiner

October 2019

Statement on the Death of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi

Offiical release at Whitehouse.gov (27 October 2019) · Transcript of delivered remarks at The New York Times (27 October 2019) · "President Trump's full announcement on the death of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi", The Washington Post YouTube channel (27 October 2019)

Last night, the United States brought the world's number one terrorist leader to justice. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is dead. He was the founder and leader of ISIS, the most ruthless and violent terror organization in the World. The United States has been searching for Baghdadi for many years. Capturing or killing Baghdadi has been the top national security priority of my Administration. U.S. Special Operations forces executed a dangerous and daring nighttime raid into Northwestern Syria to accomplish this mission.

Terrorists who oppress and murder innocent people should never sleep soundly, knowing that we will completely destroy them. These savage monsters will not escape their fate – and they will not escape the final judgement of God.

This raid was impeccable, and could only have taken place with the acknowledgement and help of certain other nations and people.
I want to thank the nations of Russia, Turkey, Syria and Iraq, and I also want to thank the Syrian Kurds for certain support they were able to give us. Thank you as well to the great intelligence professionals who helped make this very successful journey possible.

Last night was a great night for the United States and for the World. A brutal killer, one who has caused so much hardship and death, was violently eliminated – he will never again harm another innocent man, woman or child. He died like a dog. He died like a coward. The world is now a much safer place.

I don't want to say how, but we had absolutely perfect -- as though you were watching a movie. It was -- that -- that in -- the technology there alone is -- is really great.
- 27 October 2019

November 2019

I WANT NOTHING I WANT NOTHING I WANT NO QUID PRO QUO. TELL ZELLINSKY TO DO THE RIGHT THING. THIS IS THE FINAL WORD FROM THE PRES. OF THE U.S.
- Remarks on a notepad, White House lawn, November 20, after Ambassador Gordon Sondland's testimony.

December 2019

We have a situation where we're looking very strongly at sinks and showers, and other elements of bathrooms.
You turn on the faucet and you don't get any water..
People are flushing toilets 10 times, 15 times.
They have so much water that it comes down. It's called rain.
- Quoted in Matthew Cantor (6 December 2019), "Trump says people 'flush the toilet 10 times' and seeks solution", The Guardian

So ridiculous. Greta must work on her Anger Management problem, then go to a good old fashioned movie with a friend! Chill Greta, Chill!
- Trump was commenting on the Swedish school pupil and climate activist Greta Thunberg after she was named Time’s Person of the Year for 2019, as quoted by Reuters staff (6 December 2019), "Climate activist Thunberg hits back at Trump over anger management taunt", Reuters

I never understood wind. I know windmills very much, I have studied it better than anybody. I know it is very expensive. They are made in China and Germany mostly, very few made here, almost none, but they are manufactured, tremendous—if you are into this—tremendous fumes and gases are spewing into the atmosphere. You know we have a world, right?
So the world is tiny compared to the universe. So tremendous, tremendous amount of fumes and everything. You talk about the carbon footprint, fumes are spewing into the air, right spewing, whether it is China or Germany, is going into the air.
You see all those [windmills]. They’re all different shades of color. They’re like sort of white, but one is like an orange-white. It’s my favorite color, orange.
- Turning Point USA conference, 2019-12-21, quoted in Connor Mannion (22 December 2019), "Trump Attacks Windmills in Speech to Conservative Group: ‘I Never Understood Wind’", Mediaite

2020

My administration will never stop fighting for Americans of faith
- At a rally for evangelicals earlier in 2020 according to Trump Secretly Mocks His Christian Supporters September 29, 2020

January 2020

Well, you have to give him credit. I spoke to him very recently, and he's also doing the rockets, he likes rockets, and he does good at rockets too, by the way. I never saw… where the engines come down with no wings, no anything, and they're landing. I've said I've never seen that before. And I was worried about him, because he's one of our great geniuses, and we have to protect our genius. We have to protect Thomas Edison, we have to protect all of these people that came up originally with the light bulb, and the wheel, and all of these things. And he's one of our very smart people, and we want to cherish those people, that's very important. But he's done a very good job. Shocking, how well, …how it's come so fast. You go back a year, and they were talking about the end of the company and all of a sudden they're talking about these great things. He's going to be building a very big plant in the United States. He has to. Because we help him, so he has to help us.
- on Elon Musk, Tesla, and SpaceX after Tesla stock valuation beat General Motors and Ford combined
- Trump on Elon Musk: I was worried about him, because he's one of our great geniuses, World Economic Forum, Davos, Switzerland, 22 January 2020

Joe Kernen: It was a couple of years ago. Before we get started-- with- we're going talk about the economy and a lot of other things--the CDC-- has identified a case of coronavirus-- in Washington state. The Wuhan strain of this. If you remember SARS, that affected GDP. Travel-related effects. Do you-- have you been briefed by the CDC? And--

Donald Trump: I have, and--

Joe Kernen: --are there worries about a pandemic at this point?

Donald Trump: No. Not at all. And-- we're-- we have it totally under control. It's one person coming in from China, and we have it under control. It's—going to be just fine.

Joe Kernen: Okay. And President Xi-- there's just some-- talk in China that maybe the transparency isn't everything that it's going to be. Do you trust that we're going to know everything we need to know from China?

Donald Trump: I do. I do. I have a great relationship with President Xi. We just signed probably the biggest deal ever made. It certainly has the potential to be the biggest deal ever made. And-- it was a very interesting period of time time ^[sic].

Joe Kernen: Yeah. Let’s get into that--

Donald Trump: But we got it done, and-- no, I do. I think-- the relationship is very, very good.

Interview with CNBC's Joe Kernen at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, January 22, 2020. Transcript online at CNBC

China has been working very hard to contain the Coronavirus. The United States greatly appreciates their efforts and transparency.
- Cited by Adam Serwer (24 January 2020), "Trump Is Inciting a Coronavirus Culture War to Save Himself", The Atlantic

During National African American History Month, we honor the extraordinary contributions made by African Americans throughout the history of our Republic
- 31 January 2020
  - reposted 28 February 2020 by CFTC

February 2020

And by the way, the virus. They're working hard. Looks like by April, you know, in theory, when it gets a little warmer, it miraculously goes away. I hope that's true.
- Regarding coronavirus
- Rally in Manchester, New Hampshire, 2020-02-10, quoted in Doyle McManus (26 February 2020), "Trump’s dangerous message on coronavirus", LA Times

There are a lot of dishonest slimeballs out there. Dishonest scum. Dirty cops, lot of dirty cops … the ones on top, they were absolute scum.
- Trump described former senior law enforcement officials who were involved in the FBI probes into his campaign, as quoted in Tom Embury-Dennis (20 February 2020), "Trump repeatedly struggles to pronounce words during conspiracy-laden rally, before suggesting he'll pardon Roger Stone in late-night tweet", Independent

And again, when you have 15 people, and the 15 within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero, that's a pretty good job we've done.
- Regarding known coronavirus cases.
- White House press conference, 2020-02-26, quoted in Chris Riotta (11 March 2020), "Coronavirus: US passes 1,000 cases – two weeks after Trump said number would soon be 'close to zero'", The Independent (UK)

We know all the people. We know all the good people. It's a question I asked the doctors before. Some of the people we cut, they haven't been used for many, many years, and if we ever need them, we can get them very quickly. And rather than spending the money — I'm a businessperson, I don't like having thousands of people around when you don't need 'em, when we need 'em, we can get them back very quickly.
- Asked about his consistent budget cuts to the CDC, the NIH, and the WHO.
- White House press conference, 2020-02-26, quoted in Jonathan Chait (28 February 2020), "As the World Reaches for Face Masks, Trump Buries His Head in the Sand", New York

Can we get like Gone with the Wind back, please? Sunset Boulevard, so many great movies.
- Trump slams Oscar-winning South Korean film 'Parasite', praises 'Gone with the Wind'video posted February 22, 2020

It's going to disappear. One day it's like a miracle, it will disappear. And from our shores, we — you know, it could get worse before it gets better. It could maybe go away. We'll see what happens. Nobody really knows.
- Regarding coronavirus
- African American History Month reception, White House, 2020-02-27, quoted in Yasmeen Abutaleb, Ashley Parker and Josh Dawsey (29 February 2020), "Inside Trump’s frantic attempts to minimize the coronavirus crisis", Washington Post . Video of the event available at cspan

Donald Trump Charleston, South Carolina Rally (February 28, 2020)

Donald Trump Charleston, South Carolina Rally (February 28, 2020), transcript online at Rev.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. All I can say is that the fake news just doesn't get it, do they? They don't get it. [inaudible 00:02:54] They just don't get it. Hello Charleston, and I'm thrilled to be back in the great state of South Carolina with thousands of hardworking American Patriots who believe in faith, family, God, and country. Thank you. It's a phenomenal crowd, only topped by the number of people outside that didn't get in. If anybody would like to give up where you're standing or your seat, please raise your hand. All right. Then let's begin, right? Thank you all very much though. This is great. No, they don't get it. Down the road, they have a rally for one of the people that are going to be running tomorrow. They're trying to get to a hundred, but they're not going to make it. So I think they're going to set up a round table. Well, that's what they do. So people want to go to a rally, they end up sitting at a round table talking about their definition of impeachment. Crazy.

No, it's crazy. Crazy! It's a crazy deal. No, the fake news media, they've been trying to figure this out for years. They still don't get it though. They don't get it. Look at all of those cameras. Look at all of those cameras. That's a lot of cameras. That's a lot of cameras, Lindsey and Tim, that's a lot of... They heard you guys were here. They heard Tim was here and that Lindsey was here and that... And they said, "We're not going to attend that rally," but when we heard those two guys plus our great congressmen, they're here, great congressmen. But this is an incredible time for our nation. We're thrilled to be in the midst of what we call the Great American Comeback and that's what it is. Jobs are booming, incomes are soaring, factories are returning, poverty is plummeting, confidence is surging, and we have completely rebuilt the awesome power of the United States military. Our country is stronger than ever before.

We are stronger, we are better, but while we are building a great future, the radical left Democrats in Washington are trying to burn it all down. They have spent the last three years, and I can even go further than that, three years since the election, but we go before the election, working to erase your ballots and overthrow our democracy. But with your help, we have exposed the far left's corruption and defeated their sinister schemes and let's see what happens in the coming months. Let's watch. Let's just watch. Very dishonest people. Now the Democrats are politicizing the coronavirus, you know that right? Coronavirus, they're politicizing it. We did one of the great jobs. You say, "How's President Trump doing?" They go, "Oh, not good, not good." They have no clue. They don't have any clue. They can't even count their votes in Iowa. They can't even count. No, they can't. They can't count their votes.

One of my people came up to me and said, "Mr. President, they tried to beat you on Russia, Russia, Russia." That didn't work out too well. They couldn't do it. They tried the impeachment hoax. That was on a perfect conversation. They tried anything. They tried it over and over. They'd been doing it since you got in. It's all turning. They lost. It's all turning. Think of it. Think of it. And this is their new hoax. But we did something that's been pretty amazing. We have 15 people in this massive country and because of the fact that we went early. We went early, we could have had a lot more than that. We're doing great. Our country is doing so great. We are so unified. We are so unified. The Republican party has never ever been unified like it is now. There has never been a movement in the history of our country like we have now. Never been a movement. So a statistic that we want to talk about, go ahead. Say USA. It's okay. USA. So a number that nobody heard of, that I heard of recently and I was shocked to hear it, 35,000 people on average die each year from the flu. Did anyone know that? 35,000, that's a lot of people. It could go to 100,000, it could be 27,000. They say usually a minimum of 27, goes up to 100,000 people a year die. And so far we have lost nobody to coronavirus in the United States. Nobody. And it doesn't mean we won't and we are totally prepared. It doesn't mean we won't, but think of it. You hear 35 and 40,000 people and we've lost nobody and you wonder the press is in hysteria mode. CNN fake news and the camera just went off, the camera. The camera just went off. Turn it back on. Hey, by the way, hold it. Look at this, and honestly, all events are like this. It's about us. It's all about us. I wish they'd take the camera, show the arena please. They never do. They never do. They never do it. They never show the arena. You can hear it because when you hear it, that's not 200 people. That's not a hundred people. That's thousands and thousands of people including people outside. You can hear it. They always show my face. See that face? They show my face. I want them to show the arena, not my face, right? [...] While the extreme left has been wasting America's time with these vile hoaxes, we've been killing terrorists, creating jobs, raising wages, enacting fair trade deals, securing our border, and lifting up citizens of every race, religion, color, and creed. We added another 225,000 jobs last month alone. And that makes seven million jobs since our election, seven million. The unemployment rate in the great state of South Carolina. You ever hear of that place?

Practically every one. Can you believe it? I'm sure your husbands are thrilled, right? They're thrilled. Where are you going tonight? I'm going to another Trump rally. Cool. Number 114. What do your husbands say about that? This group up here. She said, "We don't care." Thank you. Thank you. Democrats will only say horrible things even though they know we're doing a great job. We're doing a great job with what we have to work with. It's incredible. The Democrats want us to fail so badly. Even if their actions, and you take a look, hurt the people of this country, they'll hurt the people themselves, their wealth, their everything. They're willing to hurt our country in order to say bad, even if they know it's not so. We made an unbelievable deal with Mexico, with Canada, with China, with South Korea, with Japan. And if you put a microphone with these people back there like the Academy Awards used to be, not anymore. Best movie of the year. It's made in South Korea. What's that all about? I'm waiting to see the best movie of the year-

And it's made... He said, "It's garbage." Only in South Carolina can you say that. Only in South Carolina. You're going to get us in trouble. No, I'm just repeating what he said for the fake news. No, but seriously the Academy Awards has gone way, way down in ratings. Do you know why? Because they started attacking us and we don't believe in it anymore. That's why. No, but they had the best movie of the year made in South Korea. They make enough stuff for us, right? And they're good. They're our friends. Take advantage of us, that's okay. Not so much anymore. We are really, you take a look, magnificently organized with the best professionals in the world. We're prepared for the absolute worst. You have to be prepared for the worst, but hopefully it will all amount to very little. That's why I tell you when we have the flu with 35,000 people and this one we have to take it very, very seriously. That's what we're doing. We are preparing for the worst.

My administration has taken the most aggressive action in modern history to prevent the spread of this illness in the United States. We are ready. We are ready. Totally ready. On January 31st, I ordered the suspension of foreign nationals who have recently been in China from entering the United States. An action which the Democrats loudly criticized and protested and now everybody's complimenting me saying, "Thank you very much. You were 100% correct." Could've been a whole different story. But I say, so let's get this right. A virus starts in China, bleeds its way into various countries all around the world, doesn't spread widely at all in the United States because of the early actions that myself and my administration took against a lot of other wishes, and the Democrats' single talking point, and you see it, is that it's Donald Trump's fault, right? It's Donald Trump's fault. No, just things that happened.

But you know what this does show you? Things happen. Whoever thought of this two weeks ago? Who would've thought this could be going on four weeks ago? You wouldn't. But things happen in life and you have to be prepared and you have to be flexible and you have to be able to go out and get it. And my guys that we have the best professionals in the world, the best in the world and we are so ready. At the same time that I initiated the first federally mandated quarantine in over 50 years. We had a quarantine some people. They weren't happy, they weren't happy about it. I want to tell you there are a lot of people that not so happy, but after two weeks they got happy. You know who got happy? The people around them got happy. That's who got happy.
- Note: Luciana Borio, former director of Medical and Biodefense Preparedness Policy at the National Security Council, said at a symposium at Emory University in Atlanta in 2018, marking the 100th anniversary of 1918 flu pandemic: "The threat of pandemic flu is the number one health security concern, are we ready to respond? I fear the answer is no." As quoted in Contrary to Trump's Claim, A Pandemic Was Widely Expected at Some Point (March 20, 2020) by Rem Rieder, FactCheck.org.

I also created a White House virus task force. It's a big thing, a virus task force. I requested 2.5 billion dollars to ensure we have the resources we need. The Democrats said, "That's terrible. He's doing the wrong thing. He needs eight and a half billion, not two and a half." I've never had that before. I ask for two and a half, they want to give me eight and a half, so I said, "I'll take it." Does that make me a bad... I'll take it. I'll take it. I never had that before. I never had it. We want two and a half million. That's plenty. We demand you take eight and a half. He doesn't know what he's doing. We want eight and a half. These people are crazy. We must understand that border security is also health security. And you've all seen the wall has gone up like magic. It's gone up like magic. You think that was an easy one? That was not an easy one. It's going up great and we're up now 132 miles and this is the exact wall that border security, water, everything.

So I don't know what the record attendance is in this arena, but I was told that we broke it by a lot. And you got the people outside. Are we allowed to tell them who we would like them to vote for? Because you're allowed to skip. All right, so wait a minute, let's do a poll. We do this for the fake news back there. Ready? Who would be the best candidate for us? Not for them. We're ready. Ready? So let's go through them just quickly. We won't include Steyer because he's a loser. He's out, okay? We won't include him. Who would be the best? This is a real poll. This isn't one of those fake polls taken by ... In all fairness, I love you, Fox, taken by Fox, the worst pollster. This guy ... this pollster hates Trump's guts. I was losing the last election by a fortune. They said, "He did great with women." Everything was wrong. And they never replaced this guy. But watch this. You ready?

We had a great event yesterday, an event that was so beautiful, young African American leaders. One of the things I asked them, and I’ve been thinking about this for a long time… And great people, great people. Some of them are here tonight. Do you like the name African American or Black? And they said, “Black!” all at the same time. No, true. I tell you. Because you say, “African American or Black?” And they said almost immediately, “Black.” But we had an incredible group of people and what happened is NBC… It was such a love fest. It was so incredible. It went on for 45 minutes. It was a love fest. It was incredible. NBC turned down… There they are right there. They turned down… Comcast, which owns NBC… Actually NBC, I think, we call it MSDNC, right? MSDNC. But NBC I think is worse than CNN. I actually do. And Comcast, a company that spends millions and millions of dollars on their image… I’ll do everything possible to destroy their image because they are terrible. They are terrible. They’re a terrible group of people. And they paid me a fortune for years for the Apprentice. They paid me a fortune. And when I left the show, it was doing great. When I left the show, 14 seasons, think of that, they got a big movie star. I won’t tell you his name. Nobody would know. Actually nobody will know his name because he was on for such a short period of time. But the show went down the tubes very quickly after they had Trump. But the country in five years from now, of course you want to upset them, five years or nine years or 13 years. Or 18 years! 10 more years. Nah. Oh, they go crazy when you say it. When you say to them five more years, so it’s five, but you then say maybe nine, maybe 13, maybe 17, maybe 21, or not, maybe 21. Let’s do this. Let’s term limit ourselves at 25 years. No more than 25 years. No more. Okay. They’ll pass something in the Senate. Tim, pass it in the Senate with Lindsey, a 25 year term limit please.

March 2020

Well, I think the 3.4% is really a false number. Now, and this is just my hunch, and — but based on a lot of conversations with a lot of people that do this. Because a lot people will have this and it's very mild. They'll get better very rapidly. They don't even see a doctor. They don't even call a doctor. You never hear about those people. So you can't put them down in the category of the overall population in terms of this corona flu and/or virus. So you just can't do that. So, if, you know, we have thousands or hundreds of thousands of people that get better just by, you know, sitting around and even going to work. Some of them go to work, but they get better.
- Hannity, Fox News, 2020-03-04, quoted in Inae Oh (5 March 2020), "Trump Unleashes More Coronavirus Misinformation on National Television", Mother Jones

But as of right now and yesterday, anybody that needs a test — That's the important thing. And the tests are all perfect. Like, the letter was perfect. The transcription was perfect. Right? This was not as perfect as that but pretty good.
- Comparing coronavirus tests to his Ukraine phone call that led to his impeachment
- during tour of Center for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, 2020-03-06, quoted in Chas Danner (6 March 2020), "Trump Says Coronavirus Testing Is as ‘Perfect’ as His Ukraine Call", New York

They would like to have the people come off. I'd rather have the people stay, but I'd go with them. I told them to make the final decision. I would rather — because I like the numbers being where they are. I don't need to have the numbers double because of one ship that wasn't our fault.
- regarding Grand Princess cruise ship with 21 diagnosed cases of coronavirus
- during tour of Center for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, 2020-03-06, quoted in Peter Baker (6 March 2020), "Trump Says ‘People Have to Remain Calm’ Amid Coronavirus Outbreak", New York Times

You know, my uncle was a great person. He was at MIT. He taught at MIT for, I think, like a record number of years. He was a great super genius. Dr. John Trump. I like this stuff. I really get it. People are surprised that I understand it. Every one of these doctors said, "How do you know so much about this?" Maybe I have a natural ability. Maybe I should have done that instead of running for President.
- during tour of Center for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, 2020-03-06, quoted in David Nakamura (6 March 2020), "‘Maybe I have a natural ability’: Trump plays medical expert on coronavirus by second-guessing the professionals", Washington Post

I've been briefed on every contingency you can possibly imagine. Many contingencies. A lot of—a lot of positive. Different numbers. All different numbers. Very large numbers. And some small numbers too, by the way.
- Regarding coronavirus. Posed question: "Mr. President, have you been briefed that up to 100 million Americans would ultimately be exposed to the virus?"
- Briefing at the White House (2020-03-10)

No, I don't take responsibility at all, because we were given a set of circumstances and we were given rules, regulations and specifications from a different time.
- Asked if he took responsibility for the lag in coronavirus testing
- White House press conference, 2020-03-13, quoted in Zachary Halaschak (13 March 2020), "'I don't take responsibility at all': Trump pushes back on complaints about coronavirus testing", Washington Examiner

They're trying to scare everybody, from meetings, cancel the meetings, close the schools—you know, destroy the country. And that's okay, as long as we can win the election.
- Fundraiser, Mar-a-Lago, quoted in Daniel Chaitin (15 March 2020), "Trump says media 'scare' coverage of coronavirus response OK 'as long as we can win the election': Report", Washington Examiner

It's a very contagious virus. It's incredible. But it's something we have tremendous control of. I think very important the young people, people of good health and groups of people just are not strongly affected.
- In a White House briefing, as quoted in Daniel Dale (15 March 2020), "Fact check: Trump falsely claims US has 'tremendous control' of the coronavirus", CNN

Respirators, ventilators, all of the equipment—try getting it yourselves. We will be backing you, but try getting it yourselves. Point of sales, much better, much more direct if you can get it yourself.
- Call with governors, quoted in The New York Times staff (16 March 2020), "Trump tells governors to seek out respirators and other vital equipment on their own.", The New York Times

We have an invisible enemy. We have a problem a month ago nobody ever thought about. [...] This is a bad one, this is a very bad one. This is bad in the sense that it's so contagious. It's just so contagious. Sort of record-setting type contagion.
- Coronavirus task force press briefing, 2020-03-16, quoted in Jarrett Stepman (17 March 2020), "The Last Great Pandemic", The Daily Signal

Q: Very simple question; does the buck stop with you? And on a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate your response to this crisis?
Donald Trump: I'd rate it a 10. I think we've done a great job. And it started with the fact that we kept a very highly infected country, despite all of the—even the professionals saying no, it's too early to do that, we were very, very early with respect to China. And we would have a whole different situation in this country if we didn't do that. I would rate it a very, very—I would rate ourselves and—and the professionals—I think the professionals have done a fantastic job.
- Coronavirus task force press briefing, 2020-03-16, quoted in Ian Schwartz (16 March 2020), "Trump: I'd Rate My Response To Coronavirus a 10", RealClearPolitics

Q: Does the buck stop with you, Mr. President? Does the buck stop with you?
Donald Trump: Yeah, normally. But I think when you hear the—you know, this has never been done before in this country.
- Coronavirus task force press briefing, 2020-03-16, quoted in Oliver Willis (16 March 2020), "Trump says buck 'normally' stops with him — but not for coronavirus", American Independent

Peter Alexander: How are non-symptomatic professional athletes getting tests while others are waiting in line and can't get them?
Donald Trump: No, I wouldn’t say so, but perhaps that’s been the story of life. That does happen on occasion and I’ve noticed where some people have been tested fairly quickly.
- Coronavirus task force press briefing, 2020-03-18, quoted in Janelle Griffith (18 March 2020), "Coronavirus: Trump says it may be 'the story of life' that well-connected get testing first", NBC News

Peter Alexander: What do you say to Americans who are scared though? I guess, nearly 200 dead, 14,000 who are sick, millions, as you witnessed, who are scared right now? What do you say to Americans who are watching you right now who are scared?
Donald Trump: I say that you're a terrible reporter, that's what I say. I think that's a very nasty question.
- Coronavirus task force press briefing, 2020-03-20, quoted in Adam Edelman (20 March 2020), "Trump launches into tirade against media, insults NBC reporter at coronavirus briefing", NBC News

We're opening up this incredible country. Because we have to do that. I'd love to have it open by Easter. I would love to have it opened by Easter. It's such an important day for other reasons, but I will make it an important day for this, too. I would love to have the country opened up and just rarin' to go by Easter.
- Fox News town hall, 2020-03-24

Look, Easter's a very special day for me. And I see it's sort of in that timeline that I'm thinking about. And I say, "Wouldn't it be great to have all of the churches full?" – you know the churches aren't allowed, essentially, to have much of a congregation there. And most of 'em, I watched on Sunday, online. And it was terrific, by the way, but online is never going to be like being there. So I think Easter Sunday, and you'll have packed churches all over our country. I think it would be a beautiful time. And it's just about the timeline that I think is right.
- Fox News interview, 2020-03-24, quoted in John T Bennett (24 March 2020), "Coronavirus: Trump says Easter with ‘packed churches’ would be ‘beautiful time’ to reopen US", The Independent (UK)

I have a feeling that a lot of the numbers that are being said in some areas are just bigger than they’re going to be, I don't believe you need 40,000 or 30,000 ventilators. You go into major hospitals sometimes, and they’ll have two ventilators. And now all of a sudden they’re saying, 'Can we order 30,000 ventilators?'
- Speaking with Sean Hannity on Fox News on 26 March 2020. As quoted in Trump: I don't believe you really need that many ventilators, 27 March 2020, Politico.

Don't be a cutie pie, okay?
- Trump responding to the question “But everybody who needs one will be able to get a ventilator?” from reporter Jonathan Karl. As quoted by Tal Axelrod (27 March 2020), "Trump to reporter pressing him about ventilators: 'Don't be a cutie pie'", The Hill

...young people are really, this is an incredible phenomenon, but they are attacked, successfully attacked to a much lesser extent by this pandemic, by this disease. This whatever they want to call it. You call it a germ, you can call it a flu, you can call it a virus. You know, you can call it many different names. I'm not sure anybody even knows what it is, but the children do very well.
- Coronavirus task force press briefing, 2020-03-27, quoted in Ian Schwartz (27 March 2020), "Trump on Coronavirus: "I'm Not Sure Anybody Even Knows What It Is"; "You Can Call It A Germ, You Can Call It A Flu"", RealClearPolitics

Just finished a very good conversation with President Xi of China. Discussed in great detail the CoronaVirus that is ravaging large parts of our Planet. China has been through much & has developed a strong understanding of the Virus. We are working closely together. Much respect!
- Quoted in Kimmy Yam (27 March 2020), "Trump claims Asian Americans are angry at 'what China has done' to U.S.", Yahoo News / NBC News

Nobody could have imagined a thing like this — a tragedy like this would have happened: the invisible enemy.
- As quoted in Remarks by President Trump in a Meeting with Supply Chain Distributors on COVID-19 (March 29, 2020), whitehouse.gov.

The federal government has done something that nobody has done anything like this other than perhaps wartime. And that’s what we’re in: We’re in a war.
- As quoted in Remarks by President Trump in a Meeting with Supply Chain Distributors on COVID-19 (March 29, 2020), whitehouse.gov.

My administration has done a job on really working across government and with the private sector, and it’s been incredible. It’s a beautiful thing to watch, I have to say. Unfortunately, the end result of the group we’re fighting — which are hundreds of billions and trillions of germs, or whatever you want to call them — they are bad news. This virus is bad news and it moves quickly, and it spreads as easily as anything anyone has ever seen.
- As quoted in Remarks by President Trump in a Meeting with Supply Chain Distributors on COVID-19 (March 29, 2020), whitehouse.gov.

I just want to reiterate, because a lot of people have been asking, well, what would have happened if we did nothing? Did nothing, we just rode it out, and I’ve been asking that question to Tony and Deborah, and they’ve been talking to me about it for a long time, other people have been asking that question, and I think we got our most accurate study today, or certainly most comprehensive. Think of the number, potentially, 2.2 million people if we did nothing. If we didn’t do the distancing, if we didn’t do all of the things that we’re doing. When you hear those numbers, you start to realize that, with the kind of work we went through last week, with the $2.2 trillion, it no longer sounds like a lot, right? You’re talking about, when I heard the number today, first time I’ve heard that number, because I’ve been asking the same question that some people have been asking, I felt even better about what we did last week with the $2.2 trillion, because you’re talking about a potential of up to 2.2 million, and some people said it could even be higher than that. So you’re talking about 2.2 million deaths. 2.2 million people from this. If we can hold that down as we’re saying, to 100,000, it’s a horrible number. Maybe even less, but to 100,000, so we have between 100 and 200,000, we altogether have done a very good job. 2.2, up to 2.2 million deaths and maybe even beyond that? I’m feeling very good about what we did last week.
- Coronavirus Task Force Briefing, March 29, 2020, transcript online at Rev

I know South Korea better than anybody, it's a very tight — do you know how many people are in Seoul? Do you know how big the city of Seoul is? 38 million people. That's bigger than anything we have.
- Trump talking about Seoul, which is a city with 10 million people according to the city government's English language website. As quoted by Jake Lahut (30 March 2020), "Trump tried to flex by asking a reporter about the population of Seoul. Then he got it wrong by 28 million.", Business Insider

April 2020

It's called "social media." It's social media. It gets out. I have, you know, hundreds of millions of people. Number one on Facebook. Did you know I was number one on Facebook? I mean, I just found out I'm number one on Facebook. I thought that was very nice for whatever it means. No, it represents something. And when I can explain to people: Just don't do it. You know, it's going to be bad if you do it. It's going to be really bad. And they don't need to do it. They have enough problems. Iran has enough problems without doing that. But we’ve been pulling back very substantially over the last year, in Iraq. And so, you know, that's the way it is.
- Coronavirus task force press briefing, 2020-04-01, quoted in James S. Brady (1 April 2020), "Remarks by President Trump, Vice President Pence, and Members of the Coronavirus Task Force in Press Briefing", White House .
- Note: At April 1, Trump's official page, with 26.8 million likes and 28.5 million followers, was not among the most-followed Facebook pages. At January 6, speaking on Rush Limbaugh's radio show Trump stated that Mark Zuckerberg told him that he was "number one on Facebook", claim that was not refuted by Facebook as reported in Trump Claims Mark Zuckerberg Told Him He's 'Number One On Facebook' (January 8, 2020) by Josephine Harvey, HuffPost Australia

We’re working to ensure that the supplies are delivered where and when they’re needed, and in some cases, we’re telling governors we can’t go there because we don’t think you need it and we think someplace else needs it. And pretty much, so far, we’ve been right about that. And we’ll continue to do it. As it really gets — this will be probably the toughest week between this week and next week. And there’ll be a lot of death, unfortunately, but a lot less death than if this wasn’t done. But there will be death.
- As quoted in Remarks by President Trump, Vice President Pence, and Members of the Coronavirus Task Force in Press Briefing (April 4, 2020), whitehouse.gov

So we’ve done 1,670,000 tests. Think of that 1,670,000 tests. And we have a great system. Now we’re working with the states in almost all instances, but we have a great system. And the other thing that we bought a tremendous amount of is the hydroxy chloroquine. Hydroxy chloroquine, which I think is, you know, it’s a great malaria drug. It’s worked unbelievably. It’s a powerful drug on malaria and there are signs that it works on this, some very strong signs and in the meantime it’s been around a long time. It also works very powerfully on lupus, so there are some very strong powerful signs and we’ll have to see because again, it’s tested.
- Coronavirus Task Force Briefing, April 5. Transcript at Rev.

Now this is a new thing that just happened to as the invisible enemy we call it. And if you can, if you have a no signs of heart problems, the azithromycin, which will kill certain things that you don’t want living within your body. It’s a powerful drug. If you don’t have a problem, a heart problem, we would say, let your doctor think about it, but as a combination, I think they’re going to be, I think there’s two things that should be looked at very strongly. Now, we have purchased and we have stockpiled 29 million pills of the hydroxy chloroquine, 29 million. A lot of drug stores have them by prescription and also, and they’re not expensive. Also, we’re sending them to various labs. Our military, we’re sending them to the hospitals, we’re sending them all over. I just think it’s something, you know the expression, I’ve used it for certain reasons.
- Coronavirus Task Force Briefing, April 5. Transcript at Rev.

What do you have to lose? What do you have to lose? And a lot of people are saying that when … and are taking it, if you’re a doctor, a nurse, a first responder, a medical person going into hospitals, they say taking it before the fact is good, but what do you have to lose? They say, take it, I’m not looking at it one way or the other, but we want to get out of this. If it does work, it would be a shame if we didn’t do it early. But we have some very good signs. So that’s hydroxy chloroquine and as azithromycin, and again, you have to go through your medical people get the approval. But I’ve seen things that I sort of like, so what do I know? I’m not a doctor, I’m not a doctor, but I have common sense.
- Coronavirus Task Force Briefing, April 5. Transcript at Rev.

The FDA feels good about it. They’ve, as you know, they’ve approved it. They gave it a rapid approved approval. And the reason because it’s been out there for a long time and they know the side effects and they also know the potential. So based on that, we have sent it throughout the country. We have it stockpiled about 29 million doses, 29 million doses. We have a lot of it. We hope it works. Driven by the goal of the brightest minds in science. We have the brightest minds in science, but we were driven by the goal of getting rid of this plague, getting rid of this scourge, getting rid of this virus. These brilliant minds are working on the most effective antiviral therapies and vaccines. We are working very, very hard. I have met many of the doctors that are doing it. These are doctors that are working so hard on vanquishing the virus.
- Coronavirus Task Force Briefing, April 5. Transcript at Rev.
- Note: Hydroxychloroquine use is not approved by the FDA for COVID-19 as of 7 April 2020.

I want them to try it. It may work, and it may not work. But if it doesn’t work, it’s nothing lost by doing it. Nothing. Because we know long-term what I want. I want to save lives, and I don’t want it to be in a lab for the next year-and-a-half as people are dying all over the place. In France, they had a very good test. They’re continuing. But we don’t have time to go and say, gee, let’s take a couple of years and test it out, and let’s go and test with the test tubes and the laboratories. We don’t have time. I’d love to do that, but we have people dying today. As we speak, there are people dying. If it works, that’d be great. If it doesn’t work, we know for many years malaria, it’s incredible what it’s done for malaria. It’s incredible what it’s done for lupus, but it doesn’t kill people.
- On using the drug as treatment for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Coronavirus Task Force Briefing (April 5, 2020). Transcript at Rev.

Speaker to Anthony Fauci: And would you also weigh in on this issue of hydroxychloroquine? What do you think about this and what is the medical evidence?

Donald Trump: You know how many times he’s answered that question?

Speaker: I’d love to hear from the doctor.

Donald Trump: Maybe 15. 15 times. You don’t have to ask the question.

Speaker: He’s your medical expert, correct?

Donald Trump: He answered that question 15 times.

On using the drug as treatment for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Coronavirus Task Force Briefing (April 5, 2020). Transcript at Rev

She created over 15 million jobs.
- Donald Trump talking about his daughter Ivanka Trump in a call with business leaders. No explanation or supporting evidence was provided. Ian Millhiser (7 April 2020), "Trump claims that his daughter created 10 percent of all the jobs in the United States", Vox

This is a very brilliant enemy. You know, it's a brilliant enemy. They develop drugs like the antibiotics, you see it. Antibiotics used to solve every problem. Now one of the biggest problems the world has is the germ has gotten so brilliant, that the antibiotic can't keep up with it. And they're constantly trying to come up with a new— People go to a hospital and they catch– They go for a heart operation, that's no problem, but they end up dying from, from... problems. You know the problems I'm talking about.
- Coronavirus task force press briefing, 2020-04-10, quoted in Jake Thomas (10 April 2020), "Watch: Trump Appears To Believe That Coronavirus Is A Bacteria, Not A Virus", The Intellectualist
When someone is president of the United States the authority is total.
- Coronavirus task force press briefing, 2020-04-13, quoted by Cody Fenwick (13 April 2020), "CNN reporter flat-out contradicts Trump to his face when he claims king-like authority", RawStory

The delays the WHO experienced in declaring a public health emergency cost valuable time tremendous amounts of time; more time was lost in the delay it took to get a team of international experts and to examine the outbreak which we wanted to do which they should have done. The inability of the WHO to obtain virus samples to this date has deprived the scientific community of essential data. New data that emerges across the world on a daily basis points to the unreliability of the initial reports and the world received all sorts of false information about transmission and mortality. The silence of the WHO on the disappearance of scientific researchers and doctors and new restrictions on the sharing of research into the origins of COVID-19 in the country of origin is deeply concerning especially when we put up by far the largest amount of money, not even close. Had the WHO done its job to get medical experts into China to objectively assess the situation on the ground and to call out China's lack of transparency, the outbreak could have been contained as a source with very little death, very little death, and certainly very little death by comparison. This would have saved thousands of lives and avoided worldwide economic damage. Instead the WHO willingly took China's assurances to face value, and they took it just at face value and defended the actions of the Chinese government, even praising China for its so-called transparency. I don't think so. The WHO pushed China's misinformation about the virus, saying it was not communicable, and there was no need for travel bans. They told us when we put on our travel ban a very strong travel ban, there was no need to do it. Don't do it; they actually fought us. The WHO's reliance on China's disclosures likely caused a 20-fold increase in cases worldwide, and it may be much more than that.
- White House coronavirus task force briefing (April 14, 2020), transcript online at RealClearPolitics

Look, I could tell you about — and I’m not going to do it, because I didn’t want to bring it up — but I could tell you about events that took place. And I said things like, “You’ll never do that again” or “You’ll never do this again” or — I don’t even want to mention the events. I don’t want to mention what you’re supposed to be doing because — and you know one of them was so horrible. I said, “A certain industry will be out of business — never happen again.” Two weeks later, it was like nothing ever happened. Hopefully, we get rid of this. We have tremendous talent up here and all over, including governors, including local governments, state governments.
- Remarks by President Trump, Vice President Pence, and Members of the Coronavirus Task Force in Press Briefing | April 17, 2020

That’s why your ratings are so bad because you’re pathetic. Go ahead. Let’s go. Your ratings are terrible. You got to get back to real news. Go ahead.
- Trump interrupting a reporter who started a question with "The first of the month is next week ... " White House coronavirus task force briefing (April 19, 2020), Donald Trump Coronavirus Press Conference Transcript April 19

I think I read yesterday a report that we’ve done more than everybody — every other country — combined,
We’ve tested more than every other country in the world even put together.
- Quoted by Aaron Rupar (21 April 2020), "Trump just said the US has done more coronavirus testing than the rest of the world. Not even close.", Vox
- Note: At that time, the US had done just above 4 million tests, while worldwide more than 20 million tests had been done.

And then I see the disinfectant where it knocks it out in a minute. One minute.
And is there a way we can do something like that, by injection inside or almost a cleaning?
Because, you see, it gets on the lungs, and it does a tremendous number on the lungs.
So it'd be interesting to check that.
So that you're going to have to use medical doctors, but it sounds — it sounds interesting to me.
- Quoted by Jan C. Timm (23 April 2020), "'It's irresponsible and it's dangerous': Experts rip Trump's idea of injecting disinfectant to treat COVID-19", NBC News
- Note: Trump's Food and Drug Administration specifically warned against drinking the chemicals in disinfectants, noting that consumption of such products "can cause nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and symptoms of severe dehydration."
  - despite this, Biden in July 2020 misquoted Trump as advocating drinking bleach

So supposing we hit the body with a tremendous, whether it’s ultraviolet or just very powerful light and I think you said that hasn't been checked but you’re going to test it. And then I said supposing you brought the light inside the body, which you can do either through the skin or in some other way.
- Trump, suggesting a way to cure COVID-19, as quoted by Hunter Woodall (23 April 2020), "'Jaw-Dropping’: Trump Slammed for Touting Dangerous New Virus Treatments After Favored Drug Is Discredited", Daily Beast

And we’re — really, I’m very happy the governors have been — the governors, really, have been doing a really good job working with us, and it’s — it’s, really, pretty impressive to see. I’ve spoken to numerous leaders of countries over the last 48 hours, and they are saying we’re leading the way. We’re really leading the way in so many different ways.
- White House coronavirus task force briefing (April 23, 2020), Donald Trump Coronavirus Press Conference Transcript April 23

I work from early in the morning until late at night, haven’t left the White House in many months (except to launch Hospital Ship Comfort) in order to take care of Trade Deals, Military Rebuilding etc., and then I read a phony story in the failing @nytimes about my work schedule and eating habits, written by a third rate reporter who knows nothing about me. I will often be in the Oval Office late into the night & read & see that I am angrily eating a hamberger & Diet Coke in my bedroom. People with me are always stunned. Anything to demean!
- As quoted by Alex Woodward (26 April 2020), "'Hambergers' and 'Noble prizes': Trump attacks press in furious Twitter rant riddled with spelling errors", Independent

When will all of the 'reporters' who have received Noble Prizes for their work on Russia, Russia, Russia, only to have been proven totally wrong (and, in fact, it was the other side who committed the crimes) be turning back their cherished 'Nobles' so that they can be given to the REAL REPORTERS & JOURNALISTS who got it right.
- Tweet, as quoted by James Pasley (26 April 2020), "Trump calls for journalists who covered the Russia investigation to return their 'Noble Prizes' in Twitter rant before deleting it", Business Insider

What is the purpose of having White House News Conferences when the Lamestream Media asks nothing but hostile questions, & then refuses to report the truth or facts accurately. They get record ratings, & the American people get nothing but Fake News. Not worth the time & effort!
- Tweet, as quoted by Lauren Aratani (26 April 2020), "Trump says briefings 'not worth the effort' amid fallout from disinfectant comments", The Guardian

I can't imagine why.
- Trump was answering a question from a journalist about rise in misuse of disinfectants the last few days, as quoted by Lydia O'Connor (27 April 2020), "Trump Says He Takes No Responsibility For People Ingesting Disinfectant", Huffpost

The only reason the U.S. has reported one million cases of CoronaVirus is that our Testing is sooo much better than any other country in the World.
- Quoted by Stephen Collinson (29 April 2020), "Trump still seems to not understand how bad the coronavirus crisis is", CNN

Donald Trump: And you have to understand: When we took over, the cupboards were bare. And the thing that — frankly, it’s not as tough as the ventilator situation. We’re the king of ventilators. But what we have done is — on testing, we’re doing numbers the likes of which nobody has ever seen before. And I told you, the President of South Korea, President Moon, called me to congratulate me on testing. And we did more tests than any other country anywhere in the world. And I think they told me yesterday a number — if you add up the rest of the world, we’ve done more testing. And it’s a higher quality test. So I think we’ve done a — I think the whole team, federal government — we built hospitals for you and others.

Phil Murphy: You bet.

Donald Trump: We built medical centers. And I’m talking about thousands and thousands of beds. Many, many medical centers. We had — as you know, we had the governor of Florida and the governor of Louisiana over the last two days. They could not have been — and one was a Democrat, and this gentleman happens to be a proud Democrat. They could not have been more supportive of the effort of the federal government. And I’ll tell you, Jim —

James Acosta: But aren’t you seeing massive lines for food?

Donald Trump: Let me just tell you, we have — we started off with empty cupboards. The last administration left us nothing. We started off with bad, broken tests and obsolete tests. What we’ve come up with, between the Abbott Laboratories, where you have the five-minute test. Did they test you today?

Phil Murphy: They did test me.

Donald Trump: Good. Now I feel better. (Laughter.)

Phil Murphy: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I’m negative.

Donald Trump: You did the five-minute — the Abbott test.

Phil Murphy: I did the quick turnaround.

Donald Trump: It’s so great.

Phil Murphy: I feel like a new man.

Donald Trump: That’s a brand — you know what? That’s a brand-new test. That didn’t exist eight weeks ago, and now it’s like the rage. Everybody wants that test. No, I think we’ve done — I think we’ve done a really great job.

About the lack of tests for the novel coronavirus, Remarks by President Trump in a Meeting with Governor Murphy of New Jersey (April 30, 2020), whitehouse.gov. Quoted in Did Trump Blame Obama for ‘Bad’ COVID-19 Tests? by Bethania Palma, 1 May 2020, Snopes
Note: No previous administration could have prepared a test for a disease which had yet to emerge. COVID-19 emerged during Trump's presidency, the test was designed in 2020 by the Centers for Disease Control under the Trump administration. See Misinformation related to the COVID-19 pandemic#Presidential

These are very good people, but they are angry.
- Trump described armed demonstrators who stormed the state Capitol in Michigan, as quoted by Travis Gettys (1 May 2020), "Trump urges Michigan governor to give in to ‘very good people’ who stormed statehouse with guns", Rawstory

May 2020

I have not touched my face in a week.
I can't tell you that. I'm not allowed to tell you that.
- Trump was answering what his basis was for claiming that the coronavirus emerged from a virology lab in the Wuhan city of China, as quoted by PTI (1 May 2020), "'It Came Out Of China, Could Have Been Stopped': Prez Donald Trump On Coronavirus", Outlook

We will be AIDS-free within 8 years. We started, 10 years. Should've started in the previous administration. They did nothing. It started at my administration.
- As quoted by Daniel Dale (3 May 2020), "Fact check: Trump peppers Fox News town hall with false claims on coronavirus and other topics", CNN

With all of that unity we have, in one sense, we have great unity, in another sense, I think they're going to come along, I mean, you know, I certainly hope so, but the main thing I have to do is bring our country back, and I want to get it back to where it was or maybe beyond where it was, you know, we have tremendous stimulus, all the money we've been talking about so far tonight.
- As quoted by Chris Cillizza (4 May 2020), "The 45 most shocking lines from Donald Trump's Lincoln Memorial Fox town hall", CNN

So in California, the Democrats, who fought like crazy to get all mail in only ballots, and succeeded, have just opened a voting booth in the most Democrat area in the State. They are trying to steal another election. It’s all rigged out there. These votes must not count. SCAM!
- As quoted by Mark NC (9 May 2020), "In Deranged Tweets Trump Says that All California Votes ‘Must Not Count’", News Corpse

We are getting great marks for the handling of the CoronaVirus pandemic, especially the very early BAN of people from China, the infectious source, entering the USA. Compare that to the Obama/Sleepy Joe disaster known as H1N1 Swine Flu. Poor marks, bad polls - didn’t have a clue!
- As quoted by Richard Hall (10 May 2020), "Trump claims he is ‘getting great marks’ for coronavirus response as US death toll nears 80,000", Independent

If people want to get tested, they get tested.
- Quoted in By Daniel Dale, David Wright, Arman Azad, Holmes Lybrand (11 May 2020), "Fact check: Trump falsely claims, again, that anybody who wants a test can get one", CNN

Coronavirus numbers are looking MUCH better, going down almost everywhere.
- Quoted in Steve Benen (11 May 2020), "Trump points to 'the numbers,' which don't say what he thinks they say", MSNBC

We have to close the country. And I said, say it again. They said, sir, you have to close the country. Nobody ever heard of a thing like this but they were right because if I didn't we would have lost two million, two and a half million, maybe more than that people.
- Quoted by Chris Cillizza (11 May 2020), "Why Donald Trump's idea that he saved millions of lives is laughable", CNN

Asian Americans are VERY angry at what China has done to our Country, and the World. Chinese Americans are the most angry of all. I don’t blame them!
- Quoted in Kimmy Yam (12 May 2020), "Trump claims Asian Americans are angry at 'what China has done' to U.S.", Yahoo News / NBC News

To me it's not an acceptable answer, especially when it comes to schools
- Trump was commenting on a statement from infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci, warning that getting businesses and schools back open too quickly would lead to unnecessary suffering and death, as quoted in Stephen Collinson (13 May 2020), "Trump's rebuke of Fauci encapsulates rejection of science in virus fight", CNN

If we didn’t do any testing, we would have very few cases
- As quoted in Aaron Rupar (16 May 2020), "Trump seems to think there’d be no coronavirus if there was no testing. It doesn’t work like that.", VOX

A lot of doctors take it. I take it.
I would have told you that three or four days ago, but we never had a chance, because you never asked me the question.
- Trump, about taking the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine to prevent Covid-19 disease, as quoted in Justin Paragona, Adam Rawnsley (18 May 2020), "FDA: This Drug Could Kill You. Trump: I’m Taking It!", The Daily Beast

When we have a lot of cases, I don’t look at that as a bad thing — I look at that in a certain respect as being a good thing because it means our testing is much better. ... So I view it as a badge of honour, really,
- Trump talked about the 1.59 million confirmed cases of Covid-19, as quoted in Oliver O'Connell (19 May 2020), "Coronavirus: Trump says it’s ‘badge of honour’ for US to lead world in Covid-19 cases", Independent

Breaking: Michigan sends absentee ballots to 7.7 million people ahead of Primaries and the General Election. This was done illegally and without authorization by a rogue Secretary of State. I will ask to hold up funding to Michigan if they want to go down this Voter Fraud path!
- As quoted in D'Angelo Gore (20 May 2020), "Trump’s False Tweet About Michigan Absentee Ballot Applications", FactCheck.org

And, you know, when you say “per capita,” there’s many per capitas. It’s, like, per capita relative to what? But you can look at just about any category, and we’re really at the top, meaning positive on a per capita basis, too. They’ve done a great job.
- Quoted in Kim LaCapria (20 May 2020), "Did Trump Say There Are ‘Many Per Capitas’ During a COVID-19 Discussion?", TruthOrFiction.com

I didn’t want to give the press the pleasure of seeing it.
- Trump commented on why he didn't wear a face mask as a protection against the coronavirus at a visit to a factory, as quoted in Madeleine Carlisle (21 May 2020), "Trump Goes Without Mask For Public Tour of Michigan Factory, Says He ‘Didn’t Want to Give the Press the Pleasure’ of Seeing Him Wearing One", Time

Yeah. I tested positively toward negative, right? So, no, I tested perfectly this morning, meaning—meaning I tested negative... But that’s a way of saying it: positively toward the negative.
- On having had a coronavirus test, spoken to reporters on the White House lawn, 2020-05-21. Bethania Palma (22 May 2020), Did Trump Say He ‘Tested Very Positively’ for COVID-19, Meaning Negative?, Snopes, retrieved on May 22, 2020

I was honored five years ago, ‘man of the year’ in Michigan.
- Robert Farley (22 May 2020), "Trump’s Dubious Michigan ‘Man of the Year’ Boast", FactCheck.org

There is NO WAY (ZERO!) that Mail-In Ballots will be anything less than substantially fraudulent. Mail boxes will be robbed, ballots will be forged & even illegally printed out & fraudulently signed. The Governor of California is sending Ballots to millions of people, anyone living in the state, no matter who they are or how they got there, will get one. That will be followed up with professionals telling all of these people, many of whom have never even thought of voting before, how, and for whom, to vote. This will be a Rigged Election. No way!
- Twitter (26 May 2020)

Imagine if your local phone companies tried to edit or censor what you said. Social media companies have far more power.
- Chris Cillizza (28 May 2020), "Donald Trump just used a ridiculous comparison to justify his social media crackdown", CNN

June 2020

You have to dominate or you'll look like a bunch of jerks, you have to arrest and try people.
You don't have to be too careful.
- Trump ordering US governors on how to react against people protesting against police violence following the murder of George Floyd, as quoted by Kevin Liptak, Ryan Nobles, Sarah Westwood (1 June 2020), "An agitated Trump encourages governors to use aggressive tactics on protesters", CNN

Washington, D.C., was the safest place on earth last night!
- 2 June 2020 tweet quoted 8 June 2020 by US News

It’s a great day for him. It’s a great day for everybody. This is a great, great day in terms of quality.
- Trump claimed that the US economy was "back on track", and connected this with George Floyd, who had been murdered by the police some days earlier, as quoted by by Emma Rosemurgey (5 June 2020), "Trump Criticised For Saying George Floyd Is Looking Down And Calling It ‘A Great Day’", UNILAD

Buffalo protester shoved by Police could be an ANTIFA provocateur. 75 year old Martin Gugino was pushed away after appearing to scan police communications in order to black out the equipment. @OANN I watched, he fell harder than was pushed. Was aiming scanner. Could be a set up?
- Trump repeated suggestions, without providing evidence, regarding the peaceful protester Martin Gugino who suffered brain damage after being handled brutally by the police. Quoted by Cameron Frew (9 June 2020), "Trump Accuses 75-Year-Old Knocked Down By Buffalo Police Of Faking Fall", UNILAD

I think I’ve done more for the black community than any other President and let’s take a pass on Abraham Lincoln because he did good but although it’s always questionable, you know in other words the end result.
- Trump discussing his leadership and relationship with the African-American community during the George Floyd protests, spoken on a Fox News interview, archived at "What Was Trump Trying to Say About Abraham Lincoln?" by Jeremy Stahl (June 12, 2020), published in Slate.

He is a liar ... everybody in the White House hated John Bolton.
- Trump described John Bolton, who was picked by Trump to be Security Adviser, as quoted by Nicole Darrah (15 June 2020), "Trump brands John Bolton a ‘LIAR’ and says ‘everybody in the White House hated him’ after bombshell book extracts", The Sun

These are the people – the best, the smartest, the most brilliant anywhere, and they’ve come up with the AIDS vaccine. They’ve come up with ... various things.
- Claimed about scientists, as quoted by Calvin Woodward, Hope Yen (16 June 2020), "AP FACT CHECK: Trump on an AIDS vaccine that doesn’t exist", News 12

I did something good: I made Juneteenth very famous.
It’s actually an important event, an important time. But nobody had ever heard of it.
- Wednesday 17 June 2020 interview in the Oval Office according to 19 June 2020 article by Michael Bender of Wall Street Journal, highlighted 21 June 2020 by Richard Wolffe of The Guardian

I said, 'General, there's no way I can make it down that ramp without falling on my ass, general. I have no railing.'
- As quoted by Chris Cillizza (20 June 2020), "1,798 words that prove how obsessed Donald Trump is with the West Point ramp story", CNN

Your 401(k)s and money itself will be worthless.
- Claimed about what will happen if Joe Biden wins the next president election, as quoted by Daniel Dale, Tara Subramaniam (20 June 2020), "Lying again about the pandemic, Trump made 200 false claims from early June to early July", CNN

By the way, it’s a disease, without question [that] has more names than any disease in history. I can name “kung flu.” I can name 19 different versions of names. Many call it a virus, which it is. Many call it a flu. What difference? I think we have 19 or 20 different versions of the name.
- Discussing the COVID-19 pandemic at a campaign rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma on June 21, as quoted by Osita Nwanevu (21 June 2020), "This Is How Trump Plans to Beat Biden", The New Republic

RIGGED 2020 ELECTION: MILLIONS OF MAIL-IN BALLOTS WILL BE PRINTED BY FOREIGN COUNTRIES, AND OTHERS. IT WILL BE THE SCANDAL OF OUR TIMES!
- Claim quoted by Miles Parks (22 June 2020), "FACT CHECK: Trump Spreads Unfounded Claims About Voting By Mail", NPR

Cases up only because of our big number testing. Mortality rate way down!!!
It’s fading away, it’s going to fade away.
We have got the greatest testing program anywhere in the world.
We’ve done too good a job.
You know testing is a double-edged sword. ... Here’s the bad part. When you test to that extent, you are going to find more people, find more cases. So I said to my people, ‘Slow the testing down please.’
- Claimed about the Covid-19 pandemic, as quoted by Calvin Woodward, Hope Yen (23 June 2020), "AP FACT CHECK: Sober science weighs in on Trump’s virus take", AP
I said to my people slow the testing down please
- referring to COVID-19 testing during a Jun 21, 2020 campaign ralley in w:Tulsa, Oklahoma

Well, one of the things that will be really great, you know the word experience is still good. I always say talent is more important than experience. I’ve always said that. But the word experience is a very important word. It’s an — a very important meaning. I never did this before. I never slept over in Washington. I was in Washington, I think, 17 times. All of a sudden, I’m president of the United States. You know the story. I’m riding down Pennsylvania Avenue with our First Lady and I say, ‘This is great. But I didn’t know very many people in Washington. It wasn’t my thing. I was from Manhattan, from New York. Now I know everybody, and I have great people in the administration. You make some mistakes. Like, you know, an idiot like Bolton. All he wanted to do was drop bombs on everybody. You don’t have to drop bombs on everybody. You don’t have to kill people.
- Trump was responding to the question "What are your top priorities for a second term?", as quoted by Adam K Raymond (17 July 2019), "Trump Rambles Unintelligibly About Plan for Second Term", NY Mag

Nobody briefed or told me, @VP Pence, or Chief of Staff @MarkMeadows about the so-called attacks on our troops in Afghanistan by Russians
- Trump commented on a news report saying that Russian spies are paying Taliban for killing US soldiers in Afghanistan, as quoted by Kyle Balluck (28 June 2020), "Trump denies he was briefed on reported bounties on US troops", The Hill

Can't you just shoot them? Just shoot them in the legs or something?
- Said in June 2020, about demonstrators in the streets around the White House following the murder of George Floyd, according to former Defense Secretary Mark Esper, quoted in "Scoop: Esper says Trump wanted to shoot protesters", Axios, 2 May 2022

July 2020

I think we’re gonna be very good with the coronavirus. I think that at some point that’s going to, sort of, just disappear—I hope.
- Spoken on a morning news talk show regarding the COVID-19 pandemic; at the time, the United States had over 120,000 deaths from the virus and over 2.5 million infections. As quoted by Richard Hall (1 July 2020), "Trump again claims coronavirus is ‘going to just disappear’ as US sees record number of new cases", The Independent

Against every law of society and nature, our children are taught in school to hate their own country and to believe that the men and women who built it were not heroes but that were villains. The radical view of American history is a web of lies, all perspective is removed, every virtue is obscured, every motive is twisted, every fact is distorted, and every flaw is magnified until the history is purged and the record is disfigured beyond all recognition.
- As quoted by Valerie Strauss (3 July 2020), "Biden tells teachers they have ‘the most important’ job on same day Trump says they teach children to ‘hate their country’", Independent

In our schools, our newsrooms, even our corporate boardrooms, there is a new far left fascism that demands absolute allegiance.
- As quoted by Valerie Strauss (3 July 2020), "The 28 most outrageous lines from Donald Trump's Mount Rushmore speech", CNN

We got hit by the virus that came from China. We’ve made a lot of progress. Our strategy is moving along well.
We’ve learned how to put out the flame.
Now we have tested almost 40m people. By so doing, we show cases, 99% of which are totally harmless.
- Trump was describing the situation with Covid-19, where more than 128 000 had died out of around 2,800,000 found cases at that time, a death rate of more than 4 %, and around 40,000 to 50,000 new cases were found per day, as quoted by David Smith (4 July 2020), "Trump claims 99% of US Covid-19 cases are 'totally harmless' as infections surge", The Guardian

We’re very much going to put pressure on governors and everybody else to open the schools.
- As quoted by Rex Huppke (7 July 2020), "Column: Trump demands schools reopen or funds might be cut — our (expendable) kids must face the virus!", Chicago Tribune

We have -- consumer confidence has risen 12 points since April, an all-time high. Think of that.
- Untrue claim, quoted by Daniel Dale (9 July 2020), "Fact check: Exaggerating again, Trump claims four non-record economic figures are records", CNN

Too many Universities and School Systems are about Radical Left Indoctrination, not Education. Therefore, I am telling the Treasury Department to re-examine their Tax-Exempt Status and/or Funding, which will be taken away if this Propaganda or Act Against Public Policy continues. Our children must be Educated, not Indoctrinated!
- As quoted by Susan Heavey (11 July 2020), "Doctors, teachers reject Trump's pressure to reopen U.S. schools", Reuters

Deaths in the U.S. are way down.
For the 1/100th time, the reason we show so many Cases, compared to other countries that haven’t done nearly as well as we have, is that our TESTING is much bigger and better. We have tested 40,000,000 people. If we did 20,000,000 instead, Cases would be half, etc. NOT REPORTED!
We have the lowest Mortality Rate in the World.
Job growth is biggest in history.
Economy and Jobs are growing MUCH faster than anyone (except me!) expected.
- As quoted by Calvin Woodward, Hope Yen, and Christopher Rugaber (11 July 2020), "AP FACT CHECK: Trump keeps repeating false pandemic information", Sentinel Colorado

I disagreed with doing this very small (tiny) section of wall, in a tricky area, by a private group which raised money by ads. It was only done to make me look bad, and perhsps it now doesn't even work. Should have been built like rest of Wall, 500 plus miles.
- As quoted by Catherine Garcia (12 July 2020), "Trump says possibly unstable section of border wall funded by supporters was 'only done to make me look bad'", The Week

I know people that like the Confederate flag and they're not thinking about slavery.
- As quoted by Tina Nguyen (18 July 2020), "Trump keeps fighting a Confederate flag battle many supporters have conceded", Politico

Look, I take responsibility always for everything because it's ultimately my job, too. I have to get everybody in line.
- As quoted by Ronn Blitzer (19 July 2020), "Trump pushes back against critics on coronavirus, addresses whether he will accept election results in exclusive interview", Fox News

I’m not a big fan of Fox, I’ll be honest with you.
We’re signing a healthcare plan within two weeks, a full and complete healthcare plan that the supreme court decision on DACA gave me the right to do. So we’re going to solve – we’re going to sign an immigration plan, a healthcare plan, and various other plans. And nobody will have done what I’m doing in the next four weeks.
- As quoted by Amanda Holpuch (19 July 2020), "Donald Trump v Fox News Sunday: extraordinary moments from a wild interview", The Guardian

We've done much better than most. And with the fatality rate at a lower rate than most, it's something that we can talk about.
- As quoted by "AP FACT CHECK: A More Measured Trump Doesn't Mean Accurate", VOA, 21 July 2020

Well, you see something that looks good and you don’t investigate it.
- Trump was describing his habit of retweeting content that has sometimes been odd, as quoted by Ariel Zilber (22 July 2020), "Donald Trump admits he regrets his tweets 'too often', says his retweets 'get him in trouble' and reminisces about the 'old days when you could write a letter and let it sit for a day'", DailyMail

So it sort of is curious. A man works for us, with us, very closely, Dr. Fauci and Dr. Birx also, very highly thought of -- and yet, they're highly thought of, but nobody likes me? It can only be my personality, that's all.
- As quoted by Kevin Liptak (28 July 2020), "'Nobody likes me': Trump ponders pandemic popularity of Fauci and Birx", CNN

If it reached my desk I would have done something about it.
- Trump was commenting on a U.S. intelligence assessment that Russia was paying a bounty to militants in Afghanistan to kill Americans there, as quoted by Hope Yen and Calvin Woodward (28 July 2020), "AP FACT CHECK: Trump hype on drug costs, hydroxychloroquine", Star Tribune

You can look at large portions of our country, it's corona-free.
- As quoted by Holmes Lybrand, Tara Subramaniam, Nathan McDermott and Em Steck (28 July 2020), "Fact check: Trump falsely says 'large portions' of the US are 'corona-free,' repeats claim that protests are leading to rising cases", CNN

Anarchists, Agitators or Protestors who vandalize or damage our Federal Courthouse in Portland, or any Federal Buildings in any of our Cities or States, will be prosecuted under our recently re-enacted Statues & Monuments Act. MINIMUM TEN YEARS IN PRISON. Don’t do it!
- Tweet 28 July 2020

I think she'd be a fine choice, Kamala Harris. She'd be a fine choice.
- Trump commented on the possibility of Kamala Harris becoming vice president candidate, according to a White House transcript.

With Universal Mail-In Voting (not Absentee Voting, which is good), 2020 will be the most INACCURATE & FRAUDULENT Election in history. It will be a great embarrassment to the USA. Delay the Election until people can properly, securely and safely vote???
- A tweet (Donald Trump (30 July 2020), With Universal Mail-In Voting (not Absentee Voting, which is good), 2020 will be the most INACCURATE & FRAUDULENT Election in history. It will be a great embarrassment to the USA. Delay the Election until people can properly, securely and safely vote???, Twitter, retrieved on 2020-07-30 ) that received substantial attention with many further sources quoting it, such as Republicans to Trump: You can't delay 2020 election, BBC, 30 July 2020, retrieved on 2020-07-30

Must know Election results on the night of the Election, not days, months, or even years later!
- As quoted by Calvin Woodward (29 July 2020), "AP FACT CHECK: Trump’s election agitations and distortions", Seattle Times

Young people are almost immune to this disease.
- As quoted by Jessie Hellman (30 July 2020), "Trump says he can't assure school safety amid pandemic: 'Can you assure anybody of anything?'", The Hill

The first questions are very easy. The last questions are much more difficult, like a memory question. It's like you go, "Person, woman, man, camera, TV". So, they say, "Could you repeat that?" So I said, "Yeah. So it's person, woman, man, camera, TV." Okay. That's very good. If you get it in order, you get extra points.
- As quoted by Peter Wade (23 July 2020), "President Trump Stars in Cognitive Test Part Deux: Person, Woman, Man, Camera, TV", Rolling Stone , on having been given the Montreal Cognitive Assessment.

August 2020

When you see the Drug Companies taking massive television ads against me, forget what they say (which is false), YOU KNOW THAT DRUG PRICES ARE COMING DOWN, BIG.
- As quoted by Hope Yen and Calvin Woodward (2 August 2020), "AP FACT CHECK: Trump hype on drug costs, hydroxychloroquine", APNEWS

They are dying. That's true. And you -- it is what it is. But that doesn't mean we aren't doing everything we can. It's under control as much as you can control it. This is a horrible plague that beset us.
- As quoted by Stephen Collinson (3 August 2020), "Trump spinning virus failure as a win again by celebrating 'encouraging' progress", CNN

You can take the number of cases and look we're last, meaning we're first.
- Trump was explaining the virus situation, as quoted by James Walker (3 August 2020), "5 Takeaways From Trump's Axios Interview", Newsweek

In an illegal late night coup, Nevada’s clubhouse Governor made it impossible for Republicans to win the state. Post Office could never handle the Traffic of Mail-In Votes without preparation. Using Covid to steal the state. See you in Court!
- As quoted by Quint Forgey (3 August 2020), "Trump threatens lawsuit to block mail-in voting in Nevada", Politico

Whether you call it Vote by Mail or Absentee Voting, in Florida the election system is Safe and Secure, Tried and True. Florida's Voting system has been cleaned up (we defeated Democrats attempts at change), so in Florida I encourage all to request a Ballot & Vote by Mail! #MAGA,
- As quoted by Betsy Klein (3 August 2020), "In apparent reversal, Trump encourages Floridians to vote by mail", CNN

There is no way you can go through a mail-in vote without massive cheating.
- As quoted by Daniel Dale (3 August 2020), "Jonathan Swan reveals the simple secret to exposing Trump's lies: basic follow-up questions", CNN

I read a lot. I comprehend extraordinarily well. Probably better than anybody you’ve interviewed in a long time,
- As quoted by Aaron Rupar (3 August 2020), "“They are dying. That’s true. It is what it is.” Trump’s Axios interview was a disaster.", VOX

I don't know. I really don't know. I don't know. I don't know John Lewis. He chose not to come to my inauguration. He chose -- I don't -- I never met John Lewis actually, I don't believe.
- Trump was responding to how civil rights icon John Lewis will be remembered, as quoted by Tyler Olson (3 August 2020), "Trump withholds praise for John Lewis, notes he 'didn't come to my inauguration'", Fox News

When I took over we didn't even have a test.
- Trump pointed out that in 2017, there was no test for the coronavirus that emerged in 2019, as quoted by Steve Benen (3 August 2020), "Trump points to imagined 'manuals' to argue against virus tests", MSNBC

we have done an incredible job, everything is under control [referring to the United states handling of the Covid Pandemic ]
- interview by w:Jonathan Swan of Axios on w:HBO

It would seem like it based on the explosion. I met with some of our great generals and they just seem to feel that it was. This was not a — some kind of a manufacturing explosion type of a event. … They seem to think it was a attack. It was a bomb of some kind, yes.
- When asked why he called an explosion in Beirut an attack and not an accident, as quoted by Darlene Superville/AP (4 August 2020), "[time.com/5875784/trump-explosion-beirut-attack/ Trump Says Massive Explosion in Beirut Likely an 'Attack']", Time

Q: (Inaudible) if 160,000 people had died on President Obama's watch, do you think you would have called for his resignation?

Trump: No, I wouldn’t have done that. I think it’s — I think it’s been amazing what we’ve been able to do. If we didn’t close up our country, we would have had one and a half or two million people already dead. We’ve called it right; now we don’t have to close it. We understand the disease. Nobody understood it because nobody has ever seen anything like this. The closest thing is, in 1917, they say — right? The great — the great pandemic certainly was a terrible thing, where they lost, anywhere from 50- to 100 million people. Probably ended the Second World War; all the soldiers were sick. That was a — that was a terrible situation. And this is highly contagious. This one is highly, highly contagious. No, if I would have listened to a lot of people, we would have kept it open. And, by the way, we keep it open now, all the way. We keep it open. But we would have kept it open and you could be up to a million and a half or two million people right now — one and a half to two million people. Our people have done a fantastic job — our consultants and our doctors. You know, and with disagreements and with a lot of things happening.

Remarks by President Trump in Press Briefing | August 10, 2020, issued on: August 11, 2020, whitehouse.gov
Note: In October 2014, Donald Trump tweeted that U.S. President Barack Obama should resign because a doctor who had treated Ebola patients in Guinea returned to the U.S, reported in Did Trump Call for Obama to Resign After Ebola Doctor Returned to U.S.? by David Mikkelson, 15 May 2020, Snopes. And the 1918 flu pandemic lasted from February 1918 to April 1920, years before the World War II which started in 1939.

If Biden would win, he's going to double, triple, everybody's taxes.
- Quoted by Daniel Dale, Holmes Lybrand and Tara Subramaniam (4 August 2020), "Fact Check: At briefings, Trump is settling into a routine of false claims and exaggeration", CNN

Nasty
Horrible
Person who has told many many stories that weren't true
Extraordinarily nasty
Nasty to a level that was just a horrible thing
Very very nasty to Joe Biden
Probably nastier even than Pocahontas
Meanest, most horrible, most disrespectful of anybody in the U.S. Senate.
- On Kamala Harris, as quoted by Andrew Solender (11 August 2020), "Trump Repeatedly Calls Kamala Harris ‘Nasty’ And ‘Horrible’ In White House Briefing", Forbes

Europe has experienced a nearly 40% higher excess mortality rate than the United States
- Claimed about the coronavirus, as quoted by Jessica McDonald (11 August 2020), "Trump Touts Misleading and Flawed Excess Mortality Statistic", FactCheck.org

If I don’t win the election, China will own the United States — you will have to learn to speak Chinese!
- Quoted by Justin Paragona (12 August 2020), "Trump: If I Lose to Biden, Get Ready to ‘Have to Learn to Speak Chinese’", Daily Beast

So showerheads — you take a shower, the water doesn’t come out. You want to wash your hands, the water doesn’t come out. So what do you do? You just stand there longer or you take a shower longer? Because my hair — I don’t know about you, but it has to be perfect. Perfect.
- Quoted by Debbie White, Jon Rogers, Fionnuala O'Leary (12 August 2020), "US proposes change to shower rules after President’s hair-washing complaint", The SUN

Now, they need that money in order to make the post office work, so it can take all of these millions and millions of ballots. Now, if we don’t make a deal, that means they don’t get the money. That means they can’t have universal mail-in voting, they just can’t have it.
- (August 13, 2020) Trump suggests he'd oppose USPS funding to hurt mail-in voting, then says he won't ABC News

Leave Democrat cities. Let them rot.
- Retweeted by Trump, as quoted by James Gordon (16 August 2020), "'Let them rot!': Trump retweets supporter's message calling for Democrat-led cities such as NYC and Chicago to be abandoned - along with a video of protesters threatening drivers in Manhattan", CNN

New Zealand, by the way, had a big outbreak
- Said about the Covid-19 virus, which at that time had caused the death of a total of 22 persons in New Zealand. Quoted by Daniel Dale (18 August 2020), "Fact check: Trump says New Zealand has had a 'big outbreak.' It reported 5 new cases on Thursday", CNN

Don't buy GOODYEAR TIRES - They announced a BAN ON MAGA HATS. Get better tires for far less! (This is what the Radical Left Democrats do. Two can play the same game, and we have to start playing it now!)
- Quoted by Betsy Klein (19 August 2020), "Trump 'cancels' Goodyear tires as he campaigns against 'cancel culture'", CNN

I don't know much about the movement other than I understand they like me very much, which I appreciate
- Said about the QAnon group, as quoted by Kevin Liptak (20 August 2020), "Trump embraces QAnon conspiracy because 'they like me'", CNN

I see again the forest fires are starting. They’re starting again in California. I said, you gotta clean your floors, you gotta clean your forests — there are many, many years of leaves and broken trees and they’re like, like, so flammable, you touch them and it goes up. Maybe we’re just going to have to make them pay for it because they don’t listen to us.
- Quoted by Jeremy B. White (19 August 2020), "Trump blames California for wildfires, tells state 'you gotta clean your floors'", Politico

I know nothing about the project other than I didn't like when I read about it, I didn't like it.
I think it's a very sad thing for Mr. Bannon. I didn't know any of the other people, either.
- Trump talked about the private "We build the wall" project, as quoted by Andrew Kaczynski, Em Steck (20 August 2020), "Fact check: Trump knows most people involved in private border wall project, despite claiming not to", CNN

The only way they're gonna win is by a rigged election. I really believe that. I saw the crowd outside.
- Said about Democrats, as quoted by Daniel Dale (20 August 2020), "Fact check: Trump delivers blizzard of false claims in Pennsylvania speech attacking Biden", CNN

We're going to have sheriffs, and we're going to have law enforcement, and we're going to have, hopefully, US attorneys, and we're going to have everybody and attorney generals [sic]
- Trump told about his plan for monitoring and preventing voter fraud, as quoted by Tara Subramariam (21 August 2020), "Fact Check: Can the President send law enforcement officers to polling places?", CNN

The deep state, or whoever, over at the FDA is making it very difficult for drug companies to get people in order to test the vaccines and therapeutics. Obviously, they are hoping to delay the answer until after November 3rd. Must focus on speed, and saving lives
- As quoted by Hope Yen, Calvin Woodward (24 August 2020), "AP FACT CHECK: Trump's baseless claim of 'deep state' at FDA", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

September 2020

The entire city is ablaze all the time.
- Claimed about Portland, as quoted by By Daniel Dale, Tara Subramaniam, Holmes Lybrand (1 September 2020), "Fact check: Trump makes more false claims about Biden and protests", CNN

CNN reported that I had a heart attack.
- Claimed as quoted by Brian Stelter (3 September 2020), "Even Fox News is choosing not to cover Trump's rallies in full, but his falsehoods are still eye-popping", CNN

Hospitalizations and deaths have declined radically over the past week.
- Claimed about the Covid-19 pandemic, as quoted by Brian Stelter (3 September 2020), "Even Fox News is choosing not to cover Trump's rallies in full, but his falsehoods are still eye-popping", CNN

The Dow Jones Industrial just closed above 29,000! You are so lucky to have me as your President. With Joe Hiden’ it would crash.
- Tweet

Did you ever see a man who likes a mask as much as him? He has it hanging down. Because it gives him a feeling of security. If I were a psychiatrist, right, you know I'd say: 'This guy's got some big issues. Hanging down. Hanging down'.
- Said about President candidate Joe Biden wearing a face mask for protection against Covid-19, as quoted in "Donald Trump mocks Joe Biden for manner of wearing mask", Independent.ie, 4 September 2020

If it has not been counted, vote -- which is every citizen's right to do -- you go and vote. You press the lever and vote. So if it hasn't been counted, if it doesn't show up, go and vote, and then, if your mail-in ballot arrives after you vote, which it shouldn't but possibly it could perhaps, that ballot will not be used or counted in that your vote has already been cast and tabulated, so this way you're guaranteed to have your vote count.
- Trump suggested voting twice, which is a federal crime, as quoted in Dianne Gallagher, Caroline Kelly, Marshall Cohen, Brian Rokus (4 September 2020), "Ignoring warnings from election officials, Trump again suggests supporters should try to vote twice", CNN

The top people in the Pentagon... want to do nothing but fight wars so all of those wonderful companies that make the bombs and make the planes and make everything else stay happy
- In front of the White House at a US Labor Day news conference on September 7, 2020

Under Operation Warp Speed, we've pioneered groundbreaking therapies, reducing the fatality rate 85% since April.
We're way ahead on the nuclear front. We've upgraded our nuclear.
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.
- Quoted in Chris Cillizza (8 September 2020), "The 37 most absurd lines from Donald Trump's Labor Day 'news conference'", CNN

The president of the United States calls the shots (Trump says in ~second 50 of video)
If Bob Woodward thought what I said was bad then he should have immediately, right after I said it, gone out to the authorities so they can prepare,
- Trump was talking about what he told Bob Woodward regarding downplaying the coronavirus threat, as quoted in Chris Cillizza (10 September 2020), "Someone needs to remind Donald Trump that Bob Woodward isn't president of the United States", CNN

I think there’s probably – possibly – drugs involved
- Claimed about President Candidate Joe Biden, as quoted in Martin Pengelly (10 September 2020), "Trump uses Fox News interview to accuse Biden of taking drugs", The Guardian

Tell your governor to open up your state
- On September 14, 2020, in front of hundreds of supporters packed together, according to Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak says Trump took 'reckless and selfish actions' by holding indoor rally

I don't think science knows, actually.
It'll start getting cooler. You just watch.
- Trump described his stance on climate science and global warming, as quoted in Maegan Vazquez (14 September 2020), "Trump baselessly questions climate science during California wildfire briefing", CNN

Nobody knew the seniors are susceptible
- Claimed about the coronavirus, as quoted in Daniel Dale (16 September 2020), "Fact check: Trump made at least 22 false or misleading claims at ABC town hall", CNN

We’re on track to deliver and distribute the vaccine in a very, very safe and effective manner. We think we can start sometime in October. So as soon as it is announced, we’ll be able to start. That’ll be from mid-October on. It may be a little bit later than that, but we’ll be all set.
- Quoted in Jessica McDonald (16 September 2020), "Trump Again Overstates Speed of COVID-19 Vaccine Rollout", FactCheck.org

As soon as the FDA approves the vaccine... we’ll be able to distribute 100 million doses by the end of 2020 and a large number much sooner than that
- Quoted in Reuters staff (16 September 2020), "Trump says U.S. could distribute at least 100 million COVID vaccine doses by end of 2020", Reuters

You saw what happened in Pennsylvania. Some state Supreme Court justice just ruled that they can take as long as they want to count the ballots. That means I’ll be leading and winning Pennsylvania like we did last time. Yeah, yeah. We’ll be leading, we’ll be winning Pennsylvania. We’re going to win it easy.
- Quoted in Rem Rieder (16 September 2020), "Trump’s False Statement About Counting Ballots in Pennsylvania", FactCheck.org

Left-wing mobs have torn down statues of our founders, desecrated our memorials, and carried out a campaign of violence and anarchy. Far-left demonstrators have chanted the words “America was never great.” The left has launched a vicious and violent assault on law enforcement — the universal symbol of the rule of law in America. These radicals have been aided and abetted by liberal politicians, establishment media, and even large corporations. Whether it is the mob on the street, or the cancel culture in the boardroom, the goal is the same: to silence dissent, to scare you out of speaking the truth, and to bully Americans into abandoning their values, their heritage, and their very way of life.
- Remarks by President Trump at the White House Conference on American History (17 September 2020)

The radicals burning American flags want to burn down the principles enshrined in our founding documents, including the bedrock principle of equal justice under law. In order to radically transform America, they must first cause Americans to lose confidence in who we are, where we came from, and what we believe. As I said at Mount Rushmore — which they would love to rip down and it rip it down fast, and that’s never going to happen — two months ago, the left-wing cultural revolution is designed to overthrow the American Revolution.
- Remarks by President Trump at the White House Conference on American History (17 September 2020)

The left has warped, distorted, and defiled the American story with deceptions, falsehoods, and lies. There is no better example than the New York Times’ totally discredited 1619 Project. This project rewrites American history to teach our children that we were founded on the principle of oppression, not freedom. Nothing could be further from the truth. America’s founding set in motion the unstoppable chain of events that abolished slavery, secured civil rights, defeated communism and fascism, and built the most fair, equal, and prosperous nation in human history.
- Remarks by President Trump at the White House Conference on American History (17 September 2020)

Critical race theory, the 1619 Project, and the crusade against American history is toxic propaganda, ideological poison that, if not removed, will dissolve the civic bonds that tie us together. It will destroy our country.
- Remarks by President Trump at the White House Conference on American History (17 September 2020)

She just died? Wow. I didn't know that. You are telling me now for the first time. She led an amazing life. What else can you say? Whether you agreed or not, she was an amazing woman who led an amazing life. I am actually sad to hear that.
- On the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg (18 September 2020)

Can you believe it, in one week they nominated me, not for one, but for two Nobel prizes. But you know, you have a president, you love your president, and your president gets honored, because I’m not being honored, you’re being honored with the Nobel Peace Prize, for Israel, what we did with Israel.
- Quoted in Robert Farley (19 September 2020), "Trump’s Nobel Nonsense", FactCheck.org

I’m the only man that got nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize and I didn’t get any press. They wouldn’t. For two of them. Last week, I’m not bragging about it.
- Quoted in Robert Farley (21 September 2020), "Trump’s Nobel Nonsense", FactCheck.org

I said, ‘Shinzo, please do me a favor, we need more car companies. ... We want them built here, not in Japan, please.’ He said, ‘But we cannot do that, this is a free enterprise system.’ I said, ‘... Please, I need some car companies.’ ... I said, ‘Shinzo, you have to do it.’ Next day, it was the story: ‘Five car companies opened up in Michigan.‘
- Claimed as quoted in Hope Yen, Calvin Woodward, Tom Krisher (21 September 2020), "AP FACT CHECK: Trump’s made-up car plants, court revisionism", AP

I saved it. I put our miners back to work.
- Claimed about the US coal mining industry, as quoted in Daniel Dale (21 September 2020), "Fact check: Trump makes false claims about his record on manufacturing and coal jobs", CNN

Now we know it. It [the coronavirus] affects elderly people, elderly people with heart problems and other problems. If they have other problems. That's what it really affects. That's it. You know, In some states, thousands of people—nobody young. Below the age of 18, like, nobody. They have a strong immune system, who knows? You look...Take your hat off to the young, because they have a hell of an immune system. But it affects virtually nobody. It's an amazing thing.
- Quoted in Kashmira Gander (22 September 2020), "Trump Says Coronavirus 'Affects Virtually Nobody,' As U.S. Has World's Highest Death Toll", Newsweek

The stated goal of BLM people is to achieve the destruction of the nuclear family, abolish the police, abolish prisons, abolish border security, abolish capitalism and abolish school choice.
- Claimed about the Black Lives Matter movement, as quoted in Graeme Massie (25 September 2020), "Donald Trump launches blistering attack on the Black Lives Matter movement", Independent.co.uk

Totally fake news
- responding to the NYT report on the alleged tax avoidance by Donald Trump

We’re leading in Pennsylvania. We’re leading in Florida. I think we’re leading everywhere.
- Claimed as quoted in Lori Robertson, Robert Farley, Rem Rieder, Eugene Kiely, Jessica McDonald, D'Angelo Gore (28 September 2020), "FactChecking Trump’s Weekend Claims", FactCheck.org

Drug prices will be coming down 80 or 90 percent.
It's a rigged election.
- Claimed as quoted in AP staff (30 September 2020), "Fact check: False claims flood Trump-Biden debate", MPR news

I read today where at least 1% of the ballots for 2016 were invalidated. They take 'em. 'We don't like 'em. We don't like 'em.' They throw them out, left and right
Take a look at West Virginia, mailmen selling the ballots. They're being sold.
Number two, they cheat. They cheat. Hey, they found ballots in a wastepaper basket three days ago, and they all had the name military ballots -- there were military -- they all had the name Trump on 'em.
- Quoted in Daniel Dale, Marshall Cohen (30 September 2020), "Fact check: Almost every single one of Trump's debate claims about mail-in voting was wrong", CNN

Steve Jobs would not be happy that his wife is wasting money he left her on a failing Radical Left Magazine that is run by a con man (Goldberg) and spews FAKE NEWS & HATE. Call her, write her, let her know how you feel!!!
- Trump in Trump attacks the sixth-richest woman in the world for her ties to The Atlantic on September 6, 2020

October 2020

Tonight, @FLOTUS and I tested positive for COVID-19. We will begin our quarantine and recovery process immediately. We will get through this TOGETHER!
- through twitter on October 1, 2020

OUR GREAT USA WANTS & NEEDS STIMULUS. WORK TOGETHER AND GET IT DONE. Thank you!
- via tweet on October 3, 2020

If you look at the therapeutics, which I’m taking right now, some of them, and others are coming out soon that are looking like, frankly, they’re miracles, if you want to know the truth, they’re miracles. People criticize me when I say that, but we have things happening that look like they’re miracles, coming down from God.
- Quoted by Jessica McDonald, Eugene Kiely, Lori Robertson (3 October 2020), "Trump’s COVID-19 Misinformation Since Testing Positive", FactCheck.org

I learned a lot about COVID. I learned it by really going to school. This is the real school, this isn’t the let’s-read-a-book school. And I get it and I understand it and it’s a very interesting thing and I’m gonna be letting you know about it.
- Said while being treated in hospital for Covid-19, as quoted by LA Times Editorial Board (5 October 2020), "Editorial: President Trump’s learn-by-doing approach to COVID-19", LA Times

I will be leaving the great Walter Reed Medical Center today at 6:30 P.M. Feeling really good! Don’t be afraid of Covid. Don’t let it dominate your life. We have developed, under the Trump Administration, some really great drugs & knowledge. I feel better than I did 20 years ago!
- Via twitter posted 11:37 AM · Oct 5, 2020

Flu season is coming up! Many people every year, sometimes over 100,000, and despite the Vaccine, die from the Flu. Are we going to close down our Country? No, we have learned to live with it, just like we are learning to live with Covid, in most populations far less lethal!!!
- Claimed in a tweet that was later labeled as misleading and in a Facebook posting that was later deleted by Facebook, as quoted by Jessica Bursztynsky (6 October 2020), "Facebook, Twitter block Trump post that falsely claims coronavirus is less deadly than flu", CNBC

REPEAL SECTION 230!!!
- 6 October 2020 tweet about Section 230 of the United States Communications Decency Act, which allows online platforms to moderate and remove harmful content without being penalized. Quoted by Jessica Bursztynsky (6 October 2020), "Facebook, Twitter block Trump post that falsely claims coronavirus is less deadly than flu", CNBC

I have instructed my representatives to stop negotiating until after the election when, immediately after I win, we will pass a major Stimulus Bill that focuses on hardworking Americans and Small Business.
- According to Trump says he will not negotiate on COVID relief until after election

We should have the small remaining number of our BRAVE Men and Women serving in Afghanistan home by Christmas!
- Via tweet October 7, 2020

I think this was a blessing from God that I caught it. It was a blessing in disguise.
- Quoted by Kevin Liptak (8 October 2020), "Trump returns to Oval Office and says coronavirus diagnosis was 'blessing from God'", CNN

I don’t think I’m contagious at all.
- Quoted by Will Feuer (8 October 2020), "President Trump says he’s not ‘contagious at all’ days after leaving hospital with coronavirus", CNBC

I'm not going to do a virtual debate. I’m not going to waste my time at a virtual debate.
- Trump commented on the initiative of having the presidential candidates participating from remote locations for the second presidential debate, in view of his Covid-19 infection, as quoted by Brooke Singman (8 October 2020), "Trump says he will 'not waste my time' with a 'virtual debate' after CPD announces changes", Fox News

Monster .. Communist .. Horrible .. Totally unlikeable
- Trump was referring to Vice President candidate Kamala Harris, as quoted by Elizabeth Thomas (8 October 2020), "Trump insults Harris as 'a monster' morning after vice presidential debate", ABC News

We want to do a rally in Florida, probably in Florida on Saturday night, might come back and do one in Pennsylvania on the following night. I feel so good!
Well, what we’re doing is probably, the test will be tomorrow, and the actual test, because there’s no reason to test all the time, but they found very little infection or virus, if any. I don’t know if they found any, I didn’t go into it greatly with the doctors.
- Quoted by Justin Baragona (8 October 2020), "Coughing Through Hannity Interview, Trump Says He Wants to Do Saturday Rally", Daily Beast

Nobody ever even heard of tariffs. They never even heard of tariffs. Nobody. In fact, when I first started doing it, they didn't even know what it meant.
- Claimed about tariffs on imports from China, as quoted by Daniel Dale (11 October 2020), "Fact check: Trump makes at least 14 false claims in first post-hospital interview on Fox Business", CNN

I'll walk into that audience. I'll walk in there, I'll kiss everyone in that audience. I'll kiss the guys and the beautiful women and the -- everybody. I'll just give everybody a big, fat kiss.
- Quoted by Stephen Collinson (12 October 2020), "Trump mocks virus as he launches potential superspreader sprint to win reelection", CNN

They say he was born in Scranton, but he left, he left. He abandoned you.
- Trump referred back to when Joe Biden was 10 years old and the family moved from Pennsylvania to Delaware because his father started in a new job, as quoted by Daniel Dale (14 October 2020), "Fact check: Trump continues dishonesty bombardment at Pennsylvania rally", CNN

My plan: we’re gonna crush the virus very quickly. It’s happening already. It’s happening.
And Mexico is paying for the wall, by the way. You know that. I’ve been saying it. They hate to hear that. But they’re paying.
We passed VA Choice.
- Claimed as quoted by Aldous Pennyfarthing (14 October 2020), "Trump’s lies are getting sillier, stupider, and staler. Last night’s superspreader rally was a doozy", Daily sound and fury

I’m OK with masks. I tell people, wear a mask. But just the other day they came out with a statement that 85% of the people that wear masks catch it.
- Claimed about the coronavirus, as quoted by Brooks Jackson, Lori Robertson, Robert Farley, Angelo Fichera, Jessica McDonald, Rem Rieder, Katie Busch, Eugene Kiely (16 October 2020), "FactChecking Trump’s Town Hall", FactCheck.org

That was an opinion of somebody and that was a retweet. I’ll put it out there. People can decide for themselves.
- Trump explained why he retweeted a claim that Osama bin Laden’s killing was staged and that members of Navy SEAL Team 6 had been killed to cover it up. Quoted by Rex Huppke (16 October 2020), "Column: Trump and Biden town halls showed us two worlds, and only one of them is terrifying", Chicago Tribune

When I see thousands of ballots dumped in a garbage can and they happen to have my name on it? I’m not happy about it.
- Claimed as quoted by Calvin Woodward, Hope Yen (17 October 2020), "AP FACT CHECK: Trump sees what others do not in the pandemic", AP News

Would you like a nice low-income housing project next to your suburban beautiful ranch style house? Generally speaking, no. I saved your suburbs -- women -- suburban women, you're supposed to love Trump.
- Quoted by Maeve Reston (17 October 2020), "Trump continues bizarre appeals to suburban women as he campaigns in Covid hotspots", CNN

Fauci is a disaster. People are tired of coronavirus. People are tired of hearing Fauci and all these idiots.
- Quoted by Joan E Greve (17 October 2020), "Trump says Americans 'tired of hearing Fauci and all these idiots' discuss Covid", The Guardian

Did you see they found 50,000 ballots in like a river?
Even without the vaccine, the pandemic's going to end. It's gonna run its course. It's gonna end. They'll go crazy. He said 'without the vaccine' -- watch, it'll be a headline tomorrow. These people are crazy. No, it's running its course. We're rounding the turn. You see the numbers, and we're rounding the turn.
The United States shows more CASES than other countries, which the Lamestream Fake News Media pounces on daily, because it TESTS at such a high (and costly) level.
Since the China virus, we have created --- a record in the history of our country -- 11.4 million jobs over just a short period of months.
We're now setting records for employment, unemployment. We're setting all sorts of records economically
I signed a bill that gives you 10 years in jail if you rip down any federal statue.
Mexico is paying for the wall.
We gave the greatest -- the biggest tax cut in history.
- Claimed as quoted by Daniel Dale (20 October 2020), "Fact-checking Trump's dishonest weekend: The President made at least 66 false or misleading claims in three days", CNN

(About “phony fake ballots":) How about the ones that were printed without my name on it, right? They had everything on it. They had every race, they had everything. You had the Senate, you had everything, they forgot to put me down.
- Claimed as quoted by Lori Robertson (20 October 2020), "Trump Misleads on Ballots Again", FactCheck.org

We're not entering a dark winter, we are entering the final turn and the light at the end of the tunnel
- Said on October 23, 2020 According to Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace

We're not supposed to have a socialist — look we're not going to be a socialist nation. We're not going to have a socialist president, especially a female socialist president, we're not gonna have it, we're not gonna put up with it.
- Quoted by Sarah Al-Arshani (24 October 2020), "Trump targets Kamala Harris in sexist rant against the Democratic vice-presidential nominee", Business Insider

We won’t have a president that threatens people with jail for just criticizing him
- On the campaign trail for Joe Biden in [Obama Hits Campaign Trail In South Florida, Criticizing Trump's Behavior As Worse Than Florida Man October 25, 2020

Lock'em all up.
- Said about an undefined group of people, as quoted by Daniel Dale (26 October 2020), "Fact check: Trump makes at least 16 false or misleading claims to '60 Minutes'", CNN

If I didn’t have social media, I’d have no way of getting out my voice.
- Martin Melam (26 October 2020), "CBS releases footage of Trump walking out of 60 Minutes interview", The Guardian

Big problems and discrepancies with Mail In Ballots all over the USA. Must have final total on November 3rd
- Tweet, labelled as "Misleading", as quoted by Isobel Asher Hamilton (26 October 2020), "Twitter slapped yet another Trump tweet about mail-in voting with a 'misleading' label and stopped other users from retweeting it", Business Insider

We’re rounding the turn,our numbers are incredible.
- at a rally on October 26, 2020 according to 89,000 new Covid-19 cases per day. And the worst may be yet to come.

COVID COVID COVID.. we are rounding the turn all they want to talk about is COVID by the way on Nov 4 you won't be hearing much more about it..Cases are up because we TEST TEST TEST
- During election campaign in Allentown Trump calls U.S. coronavirus case spike a media ‘conspiracy’ video

The only thing you can do in Pennsylvania is a protest. You can't go to church. You can't pray to your God. You can't be with your pastors, your priests, your rabbis. You can't be -- none of that. You can't do anything
- Claimed as quoted by Daniel Dale (27 October 2020), "Fact check: Trump falsely claims Pennsylvanians 'can't go to church'", CNN

He’ll bury you in regulations, dismantle your police departments, dissolve our borders, confiscate your guns, terminate religious liberty, destroy your suburbs.
If you vote for Biden, it means no kids in school, no graduations, no weddings, no Thanksgiving, no Christmas and no Fourth of July together
- Claimed about Democrat President Candidate Joe Biden, as quoted by Darlene Superville (29 October 2020), "With typical hyperbole, Trump paints apocalyptic portrait of life under Biden", The Times of Israel

You know in Germany, if you have a bad heart and you’re ready to die, or if you have cancer and you’re going to be dying soon and you catch Covid, that happens: we mark it down to Covid.
You know, our doctors get more money if somebody dies from Covid. You know that, right?
I mean our doctors are very smart people. So what they do is, they say, "I’m sorry, but you know everybody dies of Covid."
But in Germany and other places, if you have a heart attack, or if you have cancer, you’re terminally ill, you catch Covid, they say you died of cancer, you died of a heart attack.
With us? When in doubt, choose Covid.
Now, it’s true. Now, they’ll say ‘oh, it’s terrible what he said’, but that’s true. It’s like $2,000 more.
- 30 October 2020
  - Trump's estimate is too high, as Ashish Ja states, the bump for documenting Covid ranges from $1600-$2200 which is an average of only $1900 more.

November 2020

We were getting ready to win this election. Frankly, we did win this election. This is a major fraud on our nation. We want the law to be used in a proper manner. So we’ll be going to the U.S. Supreme Court. We want all voting to stop.
- Claimed as quoted by Trevor Hunnicutt, Jeff Mason (3 November 2020), "U.S. presidency still undecided; Biden opens leads in key Midwestern states", Reuters

I WON THIS ELECTION, BY A LOT!
- 7 November 2020

REPORT: DOMINION DELETED 2.7 MILLION TRUMP VOTES NATIONWIDE. DATA ANALYSIS FINDS 221,000 PENNSYLVANIA VOTES SWITCHED FROM PRESIDENT TRUMP TO BIDEN. 941,000 TRUMP VOTES DELETED. STATES USING DOMINION VOTING SYSTEMS SWITCHED 435,000 VOTES FROM TRUMP TO BIDEN.
- Disputed tweet, as quoted by Ali Swenson, Amanda Seitz (13 November 2020), "AP fact check: Trump tweets a tall tale of 'deleted' votes", AP News

FoxNews and the Fake News Networks aren’t showing these massive gatherings. Instead they have their reporters standing in almost empty streets. We now have SUPPRESSION BY THE PRESS
- 14 November 2020

The vaccine will be available to the entire general population with the exception of places like New York state where for political reasons the governor decided to say — and I don’t think it’s good politically, I think it’s very bad from a health standpoint — but he wants to take his time with a vaccine. We can’t be delivering it to a state that won’t be giving it to its people immediately.
- Quoted by Hope Yen, Laura Neergard, Candice Choi (30 November 2020), "AP FACT CHECK: Trump distorts on vaccine, state distribution", AP

Big victory moments ago in the State of Nevada. The all Democrat County Commissioner race, on same ballot as President, just thrown out because of large scale voter discrepancy. Clark County officials do not have confidence in their own election security. Major impact!
- Tweet dated November 16, 2020

I won the Election!
- Tweet November 16, 2020, with the warning by twitter: "Multiple sources called this election differently"

The recent statement by / Chris Krebs on the security of the 2020 Election was highly inaccurate... Therefore, effective immediately, Chris Krebs has been terminated as Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.
- Trump fires his Director of the Cybersecurity via twitter according to Trump ousts Homeland Security cyber chief Chris Krebs, who called election secure published November 18, 2020

You wouldn’t have vaccine if it weren’t for me, for another four years.
- Claimed, without evidence, as quoted by Rachel Olding (20 November 2020), "Trump Suggests Vaccine Companies Orchestrated Revenge-Filled Conspiracy to Make Him Lose", Daily Beast

Don't talk to me that way, you are lightweight. I'm the president of the United States. Don't ever talk to the president that way.
- Responding to a reporter's questions at a Thanksgiving press conference in Trump news – live: President promises to leave White House before erupting at #DiaperDon Twitter trend (video) published November 27, 2020
Big Tech and the Fake News Media have partnered to Suppress. Freedom of the Press is gone, a thing of the past. That’s why they refuse to report the real facts and figures of the 2020 Election...
- Tweet posted November 27, 2020 which Twitter tagged with "This claim about election fraud is disputed"

Biden can only enter the White House as President if he can prove that his ridiculous '80,000,000 votes' were not fraudulently or illegally obtained. When you see what happened in Detroit, Atlanta, Philadelphia & Milwaukee, massive voter fraud, he's got a big unsolvable problem.
- Claimed, without evidence, as quoted by Grace Panetta (28 November 2020), "Trump implies he won't leave the White House unless Biden 'can prove' he won 80 million votes, as the president continues to tweet lies and conspiracy theories about the election", Business Insider

Specific allegations were made, and we have massive proof, in the Pennsylvania case. Some people just don’t want to see it. They want nothing to do with saving our Country. Sad!!!
- Tweet posted November 28, 2020

@FoxNews daytime is virtually unwatchable, especially during the weekends.
- Tweet, quoted by Yelena Dzhanova (29 November 2020), "Trump tells viewers to watch 'anything else' but Fox News ahead of his 1st interview since Election Day", Business Insider

We don't have freedom of the press in this country, we have suppression of the press
- In a phone interview with Maria Bartiromo on Fox News November 29, 2020

I came up with vaccines that people didn't think we'd have for five years
We had glitches where they moved thousands of votes from my account to Biden's account
(About the handling of the coronavirus in the US:) We're doing better than the rest of the world
- Claimed, without evidence, as quoted by Alexis Benveniste (29 November 2020), "Fox News' Maria Bartiromo gave Trump his first TV interview since the election. It was filled with lies", CNN Business

Who needs Democrats when you have Republicans like Brian Kemp and Doug Ducey?
- Quoted by Caroline Kelly, Alison Main (30 November 2020), "Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey defends election process after Trump attack", CNN

December 2020

Actually, I won Wisconsin.
- Claimed, without evidence, as quoted by D.L. Davis, Politifact (5 December 2020), "Fact check: Among baseless claims of rigged election, Trump says he won Wisconsin", Houston Cronicle

You know we won Georgia, just so you understand.
- Claimed, without evidence, as quoted by Eugene Kiely (5 December 2020), "Fact Check: Trump Makes Bogus Swing State Claim During Campaign Stop In Georgia", GA Today

If I lost, I’d be a very gracious loser.
- Quoted by Calvin Woodward (6 December 2020), "AP FACT CHECK: Trump floods rally with audacious falsehoods", AP News

RINOS @BrianKempGA, @GeoffDuncanGA, & Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, will be solely responsible for the potential loss of our two GREAT Senators from Georgia, @sendavidperdue & @KLoeffler. Won’t call a Special Session or check for Signature Verification! People are ANGRY!
- Quoted by Jeffery Martin (7 December 2020), "Trump Says 'RINOS' Kemp, Raffensperger 'Solely Responsible' If Loeffler, Perdue Lose Election", Newsweek

The Supreme Court really let us down. No Wisdom, No Courage!
- Quoted by Kelsey Vlamis (11 December 2020), "'No Wisdom, No Courage!': Trump lashes out at the Supreme Court after it rejected a Texas bid to overturn the election results", MSN News

WE HAVE JUST BEGUN TO FIGHT!!!
- Tweeted about contesting the 2020 Presidential election result, as quoted by Maeve Reston (11 December 2020), "Trump engages in self-sabotage ahead of historic vaccine rollout", CNN

It's not over. We keep going and we're going to continue to go forward.
- Quoted by Ronn Blitzner (12 December 2020), "Trump tells 'Fox & Friends' election challenges 'not over' ahead of Electoral College vote", Fox News

Wow! Thousands of people forming in Washington (D.C.) for Stop the Steal. Didn't know about this, but I'll be seeing them! #MAGA
- Conservative groups hold rally in Washington D.C. claiming U.S. elections were stolen from President TrumpDecember 15, 2020

I saved at least 8 Republican Senators, including Mitch, from losing in the last Rigged (for President) Election. Now they (almost all) sit back and watch me fight against a crooked and vicious foe, the Radical Left Democrats. I will NEVER FORGET!
- Disputed Tweet, 25 December 2020.

The U.S. Supreme Court has been totally incompetent and weak on the massive Election Fraud that took place in the 2020 Presidential Election. We have absolute PROOF, but they don't want to see it - No 'standing', they say. If we have corrupt elections, we have no country!
- Disputed tweet, quoted by Connor Perrett (26 December 2020), "With less than a month left in office, Trump lashes out at 'totally incompetent' Supreme Court for refusing to overturn his election loss", Business Insider

Weak and tired Republican “leadership” will allow the bad Defense Bill to pass.
- Tweet, 29 December 2020.

Republican leadership only wants the path of least resistance. Our leaders (not me, of course!) are pathetic.
- Tweet, quoted by Zachary B. Wolfe (29 December 2020), "Trump lashes out at Republicans after they override his veto", CNN

2021

20 January 2021

- End of presidency

January 2021

So, look, all I wanna do, is I wanna find 11,780 votes.
- Spoken to Georgia election officials (including Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger) on January 2, pressuring Secretary of State Brian Kemp to recalculate the 2020 United States presidential election vote in his favor. Audio: Trump berates Ga. secretary of state, urges him to ‘find’ votes, The Washington Post, 3 January 2020
  - full transcript on CNN

So dead people voted. And I think the number is close to 5,000 people [in Georgia] .. [There] were thousands and thousands of ballots in a box that was not an official or a sealed box.
They ran out because of a water-main break. And there was no water main, there was nothing. There was no break.
You had out-of-state voters - they voted in Georgia but they were from out of state - of 4,925
They're shredding ballots. And you should look at that very carefully. Because that's so illegal.
We have not gone through your Dominion [voting machines], so we can't give them blessing. I mean, in other states, we think we found tremendous corruption with Dominion machines...
- BBC News Reality Check Team (3 January 2020), Georgia election: Donald Trump's phone call fact-checked, BBC News

One thing we know is you, Rosen, aren't going to do anything to overturn the election
- "Senate report details Trump's efforts to use DOJ to overturn election results" (January 3, 2021)

Rudy, you did a great job. He's got guts. You know what? He's got guts, unlike a lot of people in the Republican Party. He's got guts. He fights, he fights.
..
Our brightest days are before us, our greatest achievements still wait. I think one of our great achievements will be election security because nobody until I came along, had any idea how corrupt our elections were. And again, most people would stand there at 9:00 in the evening and say, “I want to thank you very much,” and they go off to some other life, but I said, “Something’s wrong here. Something’s really wrong. Can’t have happened.” And we fight. We fight like Hell and if you don’t fight like Hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore.
..
After this, we’re going to walk down and I’ll be there with you. We’re going to walk down. We’re going to walk down any one you want, but I think right here. We’re going walk down to the Capitol, and we’re going to cheer on our brave senators, and congressmen and women. We’re probably not going to be cheering so much for some of them because you’ll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength, and you have to be strong. We have come to demand that Congress do the right thing and only count the electors who have been lawfully slated, lawfully slated. I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard. Today we will see whether Republicans stand strong for integrity of our elections, but whether or not they stand strong for our country, our country. Our country has been under siege for a long time, far longer than this four-year period.
we’re going to walk down Pennsylvania Avenue, I love Pennsylvania Avenue, and we’re going to the Capitol and we’re going to try and give…
our Republicans, the weak ones, because the strong ones don’t need any of our help,
we’re going to try and give them the kind of pride and boldness that they need to take back our country.
So let’s walk down Pennsylvania Avenue.
- Save America Rally Speech on 6 January 2021

Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution, giving States a chance to certify a corrected set of facts, not the fraudulent or inaccurate ones which they were asked to previously certify. USA demands the truth!
- 11:24am tweet on 6 January 2021

So what?
- January 6, 2021, while watching television news coverage of the 2021 United States Capitol attack in the dining room off of the Oval Office, upon being informed Vice President Mike Pence had been moved to a secure location (Feuer, Alan; Savage, Charlie (October 2, 2024). "Judge Unseals New Evidence in Federal Election Case Against Trump". The New York Times. Goudsward, Andrew (October 2, 2024). "US prosecutors show new details of Trump's bid to overturn election loss". Reuters. )

I am asking for everyone at the U.S. Capitol to remain peaceful. No violence! Remember, WE are the Party of law and order – respect the law and our great men and women in blue. Thank you!
- 12:13pm tweet on 6 January 2021

We love you. You are very special.
- In video in tweet (later deleted) aimed at protestors who entered into the United States Capitol. Quoted by Eliza Relman, Oma Seddiq, Jake Lahut (6 January 2020), Trump tells his violent supporters who stormed the Capitol 'you're very special,' but asks them 'to go home', Business Insider

To all of my wonderful supporters, I know you are disappointed, but I also want you to know that our incredible journey is just beginning
- video (2;28) from 4:28pm tweet posted by Ivanka Trump on 7 January 2020

I would like to begin by addressing the heinous attack on the United States Capitol. Like all Americans, I am outraged by the violence, lawlessness, and mayhem. I immediately deployed the National Guard and Federal law enforcement to secure the building and expel the intruders. America is and must always be a nation of law and order. The demonstrators who infiltrated the Capitol have defiled the seat of American democracy. To those who engage in the acts of violence and destruction, you do not represent our country. And to those who broke the law, you will pay.
We have just been through an intense election, and emotions are high. But now tempers must be cooled and calm restored. We must get on with the business of America. My campaign vigorously pursued every legal avenue to contest the election results. My only goal was to ensure the integrity of the vote. In so doing, I was fighting to defend American democracy. I continue to strongly believe that we must reform our election laws to verify the identity and eligibility of all voters and to ensure faith and confidence in all future elections.
- post-January 6 speech Videotaped Remarks on the Attack on the United States Capitol, the Certification of the Electoral College Results, and the Transition to a New Administration on January 7

To all of those who have asked, I will not be going to the Inauguration on January 20th.
- 7:44am tweet on 8 January 2021

His ingenuity, genius, and creativity earned him immense wealth, but his character and philanthropic generosity his great name. Sheldon was also a staunch supporter of our great ally the State of Israel
- President Trump in Sheldon Adelson, Conservative Donor And Casino Titan, Dies At 87 January 12, 2021

We will be back in some form
- Quoted by Kevin Liptak (20 January 2020), Trump departs Washington a pariah as his era in power ends, CNN

February 2021

The Republican Party can never again be respected or strong with political “leaders” like Sen. Mitch McConnell at its helm. McConnell’s dedication to business as usual, status quo policies, together with his lack of political insight, wisdom, skill, and personality, has rapidly driven him from Majority Leader to Minority Leader, and it will only get worse. The Democrats and Chuck Schumer play McConnell like a fiddle—they’ve never had it so good—and they want to keep it that way! We know our America First agenda is a winner, not McConnell’s Beltway First agenda or Biden’s America Last.
It was a complete election disaster in Georgia, and certain other swing states. McConnell did nothing, and will never do what needs to be done in order to secure a fair and just electoral system into the future. He doesn’t have what it takes, never did, and never will.
Mitch is a dour, sullen, and unsmiling political hack, and if Republican Senators are going to stay with him, they will not win again. He will never do what needs to be done, or what is right for our Country.
- Statement by Donald J. Trump, February 16, 2021

March 2021

Do you miss me yet? Do you miss me?
Mr. McLaughlin just gave me numbers that nobody's ever heard of before, more popular than anybody. That's all of us. It's all of us.
We won the election twice. I mean, you know, think about it ...
But who knows? Who knows? I may even decide to beat them for a third time, OK? For a third time.
This election was rigged. And the Supreme Court and other courts didn't want to do anything about it.
And the only people that should be allowed to vote by mail are people that can be proven to be either very sick or out of the country or military where they can't do it. One day.
And then a Republican president will make a triumphant return to the White House. And I wonder who that will be. I wonder who that will be. Who, who, who will that be, I wonder?
- Quoted by Chris Cillizza (1 March 2021), The 50 most ridiculous lines from Donald Trump's CPAC speech, CNN

Karl Rove has been losing for years, except for himself.
He's a RINO of the highest order, who came to the Oval Office lobbying for 5G for him and a group.
He's a pompous fool with bad advice and always has an agenda.
If the Republican Party is going to be successful, they're going to have to stop dealing with the likes of Karl Rove and just let him float away, or retire, like Liddle' Bob Corker, Jeff 'Flakey' Flake, and others like Toomey of Pennsylvania, who will soon follow.
31 million people listened to my CPAC speech online, and it had among the largest television audience of the week, even though it was on cable at 4pm on Sunday afternoon.
- Quoted by Chris Cillizza (5 March 2021), The 17 most outlandish lines from Donald Trump's attack on Karl Rove, CNN

I will not be endorsing, under any circumstances, the failed candidate from the great State of Alaska, Lisa Murkowski. She represents her state badly and her country even worse. I do not know where other people will be next year, but I know where I will be — in Alaska campaigning against a disloyal and very bad Senator.
- Quoted by Alex Isenstadt (6 March 2021), Trump vows to campaign against 'disloyal' Murkowski, Politico

No more money for RINOS. They do nothing but hurt the Republican Party and our great voting base--they will never lead us to Greatness. Send your donation to Save America PAC at DonaldJTrump.com.
- Quoted by Michael Warren, Fredreka Schouten, Eric Bradner (10 March 2021), Trump's clash with GOP over using his name in fundraising ignites midterm worries, CNN

I would recommend it, and I would recommend it to a lot of people that don't want to get it and a lot of those people voted for me, frankly. But again, we have our freedoms and we have to live by that and I agree with that also. But it is a great vaccine. It is a safe vaccine and it is something that works.
- On the COVID-19 vaccine. Quoted by Meredith McGraw (16 March 2021), Trump encourages Americans to get the Covid vaccine, Politico

About the 2021 storming of the United States Capitol: It was zero threat, right from the start, it was zero threat. Look, they went in, they shouldn't have done it. Some of them went in, and they are hugging and kissing the police and the guards, you know, they had great relationships. A lot of the people were waved in, and then they walked in and they walked out.
- Quoted by Veronica Stracqualursi (26 March 2021), Trump lies about Capitol riot by claiming his supporters were 'hugging and kissing' cops, CNN

And China, the same thing, they never treated us that way, right? You saw what happened a few days ago, was terrible, and uh, the border is not good, the border is the worst anybody’s ever seen it, and what you see now, multiply it times 10, Jim — he’s the only one I know who would handle the border tougher than me. We have to, and the tough is…in the most humanitarian way, because that’s what it is. What’s happening to the kids, they’re living in squalor, they are living like nobody has ever seen anybody, there’s never been anything like what’s, and you’re gonna have hundreds, and you have it now, they have the airplane photos, the shocks, and they call ’em shocks, and these things are showing thousands and thousands of people coming up from South America and it’s gonna be, it’s just uh, look, it’s a disaster. It’s a humanitarian disaster from their standpoint, and it’s gonna destroy the country, and frankly, the country can’t afford it because you’re talking about massive, just incredibly massive amounts. Our school systems, our hospital systems, everything.
- Wedding toast, quoted by Bess Levin (29 March 2021), Of course Donald Trump crashed a wedding a gave a rambling, incoherent speech about Biden, Iran and China, Vanity Fair

Based on their interviews, I felt it was time to speak up about Dr. Fauci and Dr. Birx, two self-promoters trying to reinvent history to cover for their bad instincts and faulty recommendations, which I fortunately almost always overturned. They had bad policy decisions that would have left our country open to China and others, closed to reopening our economy, and years away from an approved vaccine — putting millions of lives at risk
Dr. Birx was a terrible medical advisor, which is why I seldom followed her advice.
I only kept Dr. Fauci and Dr. Birx on because they worked for the U.S. government for so long — they are like a bad habit!
- Quoted by Benjamin Din (29 March 2021), Trump lashes out at Fauci and Birx after CNN documentary, Politico
Dr. Birx is a proven liar with very little credibility left.
- Quoted by Brett Samuels (29 March 2021), Trump targets Fauci, Birx in lengthy diatribe, The Hill

April 2021

Happy Easter to ALL, including the Radical Left CRAZIES who rigged our Presidential Election, and want to destroy our Country!
- Quoted by Martin Pengelly (5 April 2021), Who needs Twitter? Trump wishes happy Easter to 'radical left crazies', The Guardian

I'll give you a little breaking news, Pfizer is in with the FDA. What the FDA did with Johnson and Johnson is so stupid
- TV interview with Sean Hannity

Getting out of Afghanistan is a wonderful and positive thing to do. I planned to withdraw on May 1st, and we should keep as close to that schedule as possible.
- "Trump says Biden's plan to withdraw US troops from Afghanistan is a 'wonderful and positive thing to do'", Business Insider, 19 April 2021

May 2021

If a thief robs a jewelry store of all of its diamonds (the 2020 Presidential Election), the diamonds must be returned.
- 10 May 2021

The entire Database of Maricopa County in Arizona has been DELETED! This is illegal and the Arizona State Senate, who is leading the Forensic Audit, is up in arms. Additionally, seals were broken on the boxes that hold the votes, ballots are missing, and worse. Mark Brnovich, the Attorney General of Arizona, will now be forced to look into this unbelievable Election crime.
- 15 May 2021

June 2021

Congratulations to the country of Nigeria, who just banned Twitter because they banned their President. More COUNTRIES should ban Twitter and Facebook for not allowing free and open speech — all voices should be heard. Zuckerberg kept calling me and coming to the White House for dinner telling me how great I was.

They may allow me back in two years. We got to stop that. We can’t let it happen. So unfair. They are shutting down an entire group of people. Not just me. They are shutting down the voice of a much more powerful and a much larger group.
- about Facebook banning him, in rally speech

July 2021

The American people’s birthright of freedom must prevail against Big Tech and other forces that seek to destroy it.
- 7 July 2021 Politico, Trump plans class action suit against Twitter, Facebook
The de facto censorship arm of the US government.
- 7 July 2021 Russia Today
Many say I am the greatest star-maker of all time. But some of the stars I produced are actually made of garbage.
- 15 July 2021 on DonaldJTrump.com

August 2021

There is massive and unconditional evidence that the election was shattered with fraud and irregularities at a level that our Country has never seen before. Much of it is already public, and a great deal more is coming out in the very near future. Every time you read a statement that there is “no evidence of election fraud,” about the 2020 election scam, just attribute that statement to a crooked and collusive media (they work closely together with the Radical Left Democrats) that will do anything to hide the real facts of this election fiasco.
- 1 August 2021

If I were President right now, with COVID raging back, people being shot and killed in record numbers all over our cities, and the Border totally open with criminals and heavily infected COVID people pouring through our Southern Border and into our communities, the Fake News Media would be having an absolute field day.
- 2 August 2021

If our soccer team, headed by a radical group of Leftist Maniacs, wasn’t woke, they would have won the Gold Medal instead of the Bronze.
Woke means you lose, everything that is woke goes bad, and our soccer team certainly has.
They should replace the wokesters with Patriots and start winning again. The woman with the purple hair played terribly and spends too much time thinking about Radical Left politics and not doing her job!
- Said about the US women's national soccer team after winning a bronze medal in the Olympic Games in Tokyo, as quoted in "‘Woke means you lose’: Donald Trump rails at USWNT after Olympic bronze", The Guardian, 5 August 2021

I have quietly said for years that Mitch McConnell is the most overrated man in politics— now I don't have to be quiet anymore.
- Quoted in "Trump Calls Mitch McConnell 'Most Overrated Man in Politics' Ahead of Infrastructure Vote", Newsweek, 10 August 2021

I recommend: take the vaccines. I did it. It’s good. Take the vaccines.
- "Trump booed at Alabama rally after telling supporters to get vaccinated", CNBC, 22 August 2021

September 2021

If they let you do your job you wouldn’t have crime in New York!
I’ve been given so much support by the people who do what you do.
We love the blue. I’ll say it loud. You know, you’re not supposed to say that. We love the blue.
- Trump makes surprise visit to New York police and firefighters on 9/11

We’re not going to have a country left in three years, I’ll tell you that.
- "Donald Trump Predicts America Will End Within 3 Years", quoted by David Moye, Yahoo News, 15 September 2021

1 down, 9 to go!
- "Trump celebrates Gonzalez’s exit: ‘1 down, 9 to go!’" (September 17, 2021)

Everybody will be watching Arizona tomorrow to see what the highly respected auditors and Arizona State Senate found out regarding the so-called Election!
- "GOP-led Arizona election review closely matches Biden's winning margin" (September 23)

They want to go after me because I have, they think, a big mouth. I don't have a big mouth, you know what I have, I have a mouth that tells the truth.
- "Trump says he has 'a mouth that tells the truth' while making false statements at Georgia rally", Insider, 26 September 2021

October 2021 “I wanted to have people be ready because we were put on alert that they were going to do fruit,” Trump said in the October 2021 deposition, according to a transcript of the proceedings.

October 2021

Nobody has done more for Christianity or for evangelicals — or for religion itself — than I have.
- Quoted in "Donald Trump Claims Nobody Has Done More 'for Religion Itself' Than Him", Newsweek, 2 October 2021

the real insurrection happened on November 3rd, the Presidential Election, not on January 6th—which was a day of protesting the Fake Election results
- Trump continues to lie, says 'real insurrection' happened when he lost election" (October 6, 2021)
Republican Senators, do not vote for this terrible deal (debt limit) being pushed by folding Mitch McConnell. Stand strong for our Country.
The American people are with you!
- In an emailed statement "Trump urges GOP senators to vote against McConnell debt deal" (October 7,2021)

If we don't solve the Presidential Election Fraud of 2020 (which we have thoroughly and conclusively documented), Republicans will not be voting in '22 or '24. It is the single most important thing for Republicans to do.
- According to an MSNBC article and a short video "Democrats finally have reason to celebrate one of Trump's threats" (October 13, 2021)

It’s so sad when you see that they are approving these windmills — worst form of energy, the most expensive. You talk about carbon emissions, well they are making them. More goes into the air than if you ran something for 30 years.
I’m not into golden showers.
- "Trump Touts Putin Relationship, Rails About Wind Energy's 'Carbon Emissions' In Speech", Yahoo News (October 16 2021)

After years of litigation, I was pleased to have had the opportunity to tell my side of this ridiculous story — Just one more example of baseless harassment of your favorite president
- "Trump faces a pile of civil lawsuits as depositions begin" (October 18, 2021)

Wonderful to see Colin Powell, who made big mistakes on Iraq and famously, so-called weapons of mass destruction, be treated in death so beautifully by the Fake News Media. Hope that happens to me someday. He was a classic RINO, if even that, always being the first to attack other Republicans. He made plenty of mistakes, but anyway, may he rest in peace!
- Chris Cillizza (October 19, 2021). "Donald Trump (yet again) proves there's no bottom". cnn.com. Retrieved on October 19, 2021.

We live in a world where the Taliban has a huge presence on Twitter, yet your favorite American president has been silenced
- "Trump announces social media platform launch plan, SPAC deal" (October 20, 2021)

Israel doesn’t even control Congress anymore.
- 29 October 2021 per https://thepostmillennial.com/exclusive-president-donald-j-trump-speaks-to-the-post-millennial

November 2021

RINOs who supported infrastructure bill should be ashamed of themselves
- on Sky News Australia Youtube channel video (November 7, 2021)

December 2021

He was very early. Like earlier than most. I haven’t spoken to him since. Fuck him,
- 10 December 2021 interview with Barak Ravid about Benjamin Netanyahu per Times of Israel
I thought the Palestinians were impossible, and the Israelis would do anything to make peace and a deal. I found that not to be true.
- Donald Trump, Trump: I thought Israelis would do anything for peace, but found that not to be true, Times of Israel (11 December 2021)
Bibi did not want to make a deal. Even most recently, when we came up with the maps. Now I don’t know if he didn’t want to make it for political reasons, or for other reasons. I wish he would have said he didn’t want to make a deal, instead of…. Because a lot of people devoted a lot of work. But I don’t think Bibi would have ever made a deal. That’s my opinion. I think the general [Gantz] wanted to make a deal.
- 11 December 2021 quoted by Times of Israel

There’s people in this country that are Jewish that no longer love Israel.
I’ll tell you the Evangelical Christians love Israel more than the Jews in this country.
It used to be that Israel had absolute power over Congress and today I think it’s the exact opposite, and I think Obama and Biden did that.
And yet in the election, they still get a lot of votes from Jewish people…which tells you that the Jewish people, and I’ve said this for a long time.
The Jewish people in the United States either don’t like Israel or don’t care about Israel.
I mean, you look at The New York Times, The New York Times hates Israel, hates them, and they’re Jewish people that run The New York Times, I mean the Sulzberger family.
- 17 December 2021 per Vanity Fair

I think the origins are so obvious. They came out of the Wuhan lab. And I think if anybody thinks anything differently, they’re just kidding themselves. So, you can ask — China has to pay. They have to do something. They have to pay reparations. And China doesn’t have the money to pay those reparations. I believe that worldwide — I’m not just talking United States — worldwide, $60 trillion of damage, $60 trillion. China doesn’t have $60 trillion. But they have to do something to make up for what they’ve done. What they’ve done to the world is so horrible. It’s been horrible, all over the world. And it doesn’t stop.
- 19 December 2021

About developing vaccines against Covid-19: Look, we did something that was historic, we saved tens of millions of lives worldwide. We, together, all of us, not me.
- "Trump met with boos after revealing he received Covid-19 booster", CNN, 21 December 2021

I came up with a vaccine, with three vaccines.
- "Trump pushes back on Candace Owens: 'People aren't dying when they take the vaccine'", The Hill, 23 December 2021

2022

January 2022

If you take the vaccine, you're protected. Look, the results of the vaccine are very good, and if you do get it, it's a very minor form. People aren't dying when they take the vaccine.
- 6 January 2022, interviewed by Candace Owens, discussing the COVID-19 vaccine; reported in Bruce Y. Lee, "Trump Tells Candace Owens That Covid-19 Vaccines Work: 'One Of The Greatest Achievements Of Mankind'", Forbes (Jan 6, 2022)

I ran twice and we won twice.
This crowd is a massive symbol of what took place, because people are hungry for the truth. They want their country back.
- 15 January 2022 via Elaine Godfrey of The Atlantic

If I run and if I win, we will treat those people from January sixth fairly. We will treat them fairly.
And if it requires pardons, we will give them pardons. Because they are being treated so unfairly.
- 30 January 2022 reported by TGP

Actually, what they are saying, is that Mike Pence did have the right to change the outcome, and they now want to take that right away. Unfortunately, he didn’t exercise that power. He could have overturned the election!
- 31 January 2022, at a rally in Conroe Texas, as quoted in “Quiet part loud: Trump says Pence ‘could have overturned the election’”, by Martin Pengelly, for The Guardian.

February 2022

I was right and everyone knows it. If there is fraud or large scale irregularities, it would have been appropriate to send those votes back to the legislatures to figure it out.
- 4 February 2022 per 7 February 2022 report by Reuters Pence says Trump was wrong that he could have overturned 2020 election by Alexandra Ulmer

I went in yesterday and there was a television screen, and I said, 'This is genius.' Putin declares a big portion of the Ukraine, of Ukraine, Putin declares it as independent. Oh, that's wonderful. So Putin is now saying, 'It's independent,' a large section of Ukraine. I said, 'How smart is that?' And he's going to go in and be a peacekeeper. That's the strongest peace force. We could use that on our southern border. That's the strongest peace force I've ever seen. ... Here's a guy who's very savvy. ... I know him very well. Very, very well.
- Said about the Russian invasion of Ukraine, in an interview at The Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show, as quoted in "Trump sides with Putin as Biden tries to stop a war", CNN, 23 February 2022.

They say, 'Trump said Putin's smart.' I mean, he's taking over a country for two dollars' worth of sanctions. I'd say that's pretty smart. He's taking over a country — really a vast, vast location, a great piece of land with a lot of people, and just walking right in.
- "Why Donald Trump can't stop praising Vladimir Putin", CNN, 24 February 2022

March 2022

They laid down the welcome mat and gave Russia the opening, now Putin may be getting everything he wanted, with Ukraine and the rest of the World suffering the consequences. It’s terrible, but this is what you get with Biden, the Democrats, and RINO warmongers! 03/01/22
The vote counter is often more important than the candidate.
- "Trump says the GOP needs to get 'tougher' at the ballot box: 'The vote counter is often more important than the candidate'", yahoo news, 6 March 2022
Whatever happened to free speech in our Country? Incredibly, but not surprisingly, the Big Tech lunatics have taken down my interview with the very popular NELK Boys so that nobody can watch it or in any way listen to it....In Russia, the people are not allowed to know that they’re fighting a war with Ukraine, that’s where our media is going, and that’s where our Country is going because it quickly follows—just study history.We need freedom of speech again, we don’t have it and it’s getting worse every day!
- Statement by Donald J. Trump, 45th President of the United States of America 03/11/22
She owes me nearly $300,000, Now all I have to do is wait for all of the money she owes me.
- Trump crows as liberal 9th Circuit seals victory over Stormy Daniels, Michael Avenatti
I listen to him constantly using the n-word, that’s the n-word, and he’s constantly using it, the nuclear word. They didn’t attack any other countries under us. I’m the only one where that didn’t happen. And with Bush, they took Georgia, and they took Crimea with Biden and Obama. And now he said ‘to hell with it. Let’s take the whole thing'.
- Trump says Putin keeps using the ‘n-word’ meaning ‘nuclear’ as he claims Russian leader is ‘different’ man to one he dealt with
Single most dangerous time for our country in history... yet you have people like John Kerry worrying about the climate! The climate! Oh, I heard that the other day. Here we are, [Russian President Vladimir Putin is] threatening us [and] he’s worried about the ocean will rise one-hundredth of one percent over the next 300 fucking’ years.
- Two stark reminders about the political challenge of tackling climate change
The Left has become so extreme that we now have a justice being nominated to the Supreme Court who testified under oath that she could not say what a woman is, And a party that's unwilling to admit that men and women are biologically different in defiance of all scientific and human history, is a party that should not be anywhere near the levers of power in the United States of America.
- ‘Single most dangerous time’: Trump blasts climate change, CRT, and KBJ

April 2022

Happy Easter to all including the Radical Left Maniacs who are trying everything to destroy our country May they not succeed, but let them, nevertheless, be happy, healthy, wealthy and well!
- Yahoo!
He went out of his way to deceptively edit an interview and got caught. That is a big story, isn’t it?
- Donald Trump, mediaite

I think I’m the most honest human being perhaps that god ever created.
- Claimed at an an event in Selma, North Carolina, on April 10, 2022, referred to in "Donald Trump Just Described Himself In A Very Unexpected Way", The List (April 12, 2022)

But when I didn’t win the election ..
- Marjorie Taylor Greene & Matt Gaetz NOT HAPPY with Jimmy & Trump FINALLY Admits Defeat (Apr 11, 2022) (video)

Which would you rather be, a dumb person or a dictator? Perhaps a dictator would be better. I don't want to be a dumb person.
- Trump says he'd rather be 'a dictator' than 'a dumb person' after bragging about the cognitive test he took in 2018, Business Insider, 22 April 2022

April 2022 Dictor: Okay. And you said that, ‘If you see someone getting ready to throw a tomato, just knock the crap out of them would you.’ That was your statement?

Trump: Oh, yeah. It was very dangerous.

Dictor: What was very dangerous?

Trump: We were threatened.

Dictor: With what?

Trump: They were going to throw fruit. We were threatened. We had a threat.

Dictor: How did you become aware that there was a threat that people were going to throw fruit?

Trump: We were told. I thought Secret Service was involved in that, actually. And you get hit with fruit, it’s – no – it’s very violent stuff. We were on alert for that.Trump attorney Jeffrey Goldman: A tomato is a fruit after all, I guess. … It has seeds.

Trump: It’s worse than a tomato, it’s other things also. But tomato, when they start doing that stuff, it’s very dangerous. There was an alert out that day.

Dictor: Who were you speaking to when you said …

Trump: The audience.

Dictor: So you were speaking to the audience when you said if they saw someone getting ready to throw a tomato, just knock the crap out of them, would you?

Trump: That was to the audience. It was said sort of in jest. Buy maybe, you know, a little truth to it. It’s very dangerous stuff. You can get killed with those things. … I wanted to have people be ready because we were put on alert that they were going to do fruit. And some fruit is a lot worse than – tomatoes are bad by the way. But it’s very dangerous … they were going to hit – they were going to hit very hard.

“So I got a little notice, in case you’re seeing these security guys — we have wonderful security guys,” Trump said at the Iowa rally. “They said, ‘Mr. Trump, there may be somebody with tomatoes in the audience.’ So if you see somebody getting ready to throw a tomato, knock the crap out of them, would you? Seriously. Okay?”

May 2022

With rampant and record setting crime, a 42.8% increase over last year was just announced, and every other unimaginable problem, no wonder everyone is leaving the New York State, including businesses left and right.
- Save America

I am not currently in possession of any Trump Organization-issued phones, computers or similar devices.

I believe the last phone or device I was issued by the Trump Organization was a cellphone in 2015. I no longer have the cellphone in my possession and I am not aware of its current location.

Since January 1, 2010, I previously owned two flip phones and a Samsung mobile phone. I do not have the two flips [sic] phones in my possession and I do not know their current whereabouts.”

[Samsung] it was taken from me at some point while I was president. I do not have the Samsung in my possession and I do not know its current whereabouts.

Trump must pay $110,000 fine to purge contempt, judge says (Wed 11 May 2022 18.53 BST)

Kathy Barnette will never be able to win the general election against the radical left democrats. She has many things in her past which have not been properly explained or vetted, but if she is able to do so, she will have a wonderful future in the Republican Party — and I will be behind her all the way
- Trump according to Pennsylvania: My Primary Concern (May 14)

NRA convention speech (May 27, 2022)

The existence of evil in our world is not a reason to disarm law-abiding citizens. The existence of evil is one of the very best reasons to arm law-abiding citizens.
Every time a disturbed or demented person commits a hideous crime there is always a grotesque effort by some in our society to advance their own extreme political agenda.
- Speech at the NRA convention, Houston (May 27, 2022), as cited in "School shooting strengthens case for guns, Donald Trump tells NRA" The Guardian (May 28, 2022)

We need a top-to-bottom security overhaul of schools [...] Every building should have a single entry point. No one should ever be able to get near a classroom until they have been checked, scanned and screened ... Above all, from this day forward, every school in America should have an armed police officer or an armed resources officer on duty at all times. [...] Clearly, we need to make it far easier to confine the violent and mentally deranged into mental institutions.
- Speech at the NRA convention, Houston (May 27, 2022), as cited in "After horror, failure of Uvalde massacre, business as usual at NRA meeting in Houston" The Sydney Morning Herald (May 28, 2022)

July 2022

Warmongering and despicable human being Liz Cheney, who is hated by the great people of Wyoming (down 35!), keeps saying, over and over again, that HER Fake Unselect Committee may recommend CRIMINAL CHARGES against a President of the United States who got more votes than any sitting President in history,
- Said about Republican Congress Member Liz Cheney after she mentioned the possibility of raising criminal charges against Trump for his role in connection with the January 6 attack on the Congress of the United States, quoted in "Trump rips ‘despicable’ Liz Cheney after she suggests Jan. 6 charges for ex-president", New York Post, 4 July 2022

Leon’s, I’ll tell you what, Elon, Elon, is not going to buy Twitter. … He’s got himself a mess. He said the other day, ‘Oh, I’ve never voted for a Republican.’ I said, ‘I didn’t know that. He told me he voted for me.’ So, he’s another bullshit artist. But he’s not going to be buying it.
- Claimed about Elon Musk, who later bought Twitter. Quoted in "Trump Bashes Elon Musk as ‘Bullshit Artist’ at Alaska Rally", Rolling Stone (July 9, 2022)

I feel very confident that, if I decide to run, I’ll win.
In my own mind, I’ve already made that decision, so nothing factors in anymore. In my own mind, I’ve already made that decision.
I made America great again, and I may have to do it again.
- "Donald Trump on 2024: ‘I’ve Already Made That Decision’ The only question left in the former president’s mind is when he’ll announce", Intelligencer, 14 July 2022

September 2022

J.D. is kissing my ass he wants my support so bad.
- Said about James David Vance, Republican Senate candidate for Ohio, quoted in "Donald Trump humiliated J.D. Vance for fun", CNN, 20 September 2022

If you're the president of the United States, you can declassify just by saying it's declassified, even by thinking about it, because you're sending it to Mar-a-Lago or to wherever you're sending it. And there doesn't have to be a process. There can be a process, but it doesn't have to be.
- "Trump: Presidents can declassify files by 'thinking about it'", Bay News 9, 22 September 2022

October 2022

They actually taunted him, if you really look at it. Our country, and our so-called leadership, taunted Putin. I said, you know, they're almost forcing him to go in with what they're saying. The rhetoric was so dumb.
- Trump Blames U.S. for 'Almost Forcing' Putin to Invade Ukraine, Newsweek, 8 October 2022

November 2022

We're winning big, big, big in the Republican Party for the nomination like nobody's ever seen before

There it is, Trump at 71 [percent]. Ron DeSanctimonious at 10 percent. Mike Pence at 7 — oh, Mike Pence doing better than I thought.

Pompeo jumps to defend DeSantis after Trump's 'Ron DeSanctimonious' comments (By Mark Moore November 6, 2022 1:41pm Updated)

The Absentee Ballot situation in Detroit is REALLY BAD.
People are showing up to Vote only to be told 'sorry, you have already voted.'
This is happening in large numbers, elsewhere as well.
Protest, Protest, Protest!
- 8 November 2022 post on TruthSocia later quoted via screenshot in tweet by Jocelyn Benson which was quoted by Yahoo News

Well, I think if they win, I should get all the credit. And if they lose, I should not be blamed at all, OK, but it’ll probably be just the opposite.

Trump Hoped for a Celebration but Did Not Have Much to Cheer (By By Michael C. Bender and Maggie Haberman November 9, 2022, 2:33 a.m. ET)

Ron DeSanctimonious is playing games! The Fake News asks him if he's going to run if President Trump runs, and he says, 'I'm only focused on the Governor's race, I'm not looking into the future.' Well, in terms of loyalty and class, that's really not the right answer.
- Adam Carlson, Jay O'Brien, and Katherine Faulders, Trump takes aim at Ron DeSantis, suggesting he's a 2024 rival, ABC News (November 10, 2022).

He shows up with 3 people, two of which I didn’t know, the other a political person who I haven’t seen in years,” the former president wrote on Truth Social. “Fake News went CRAZY!”
- 29 November 2022 on Truth Social (per this article by Charisma Madarang of Rolling Stone) after Kanye West showed up for dinner with Boeing employee Jamal and Nick Fuentes (the two unknowns) and Karen Giorno (an aide from Trump's 2016 campaign) in a meeting arranged by Milo Yiannopoulos (who did not attend) via Karen

December 2022

People have been treated unconstitutionally in my opinion and very, very unfairly, and we’re going to get to the bottom of it.
- Comments made concerning rioters involved in the 2021 United States Capitol attack during a fund raising speech cited in "Trump expresses support for Capitol rioters as he continues to embrace extremist groups" CNN Politics (December 2, 2022)

Do you throw the Presidential Election Results of 2020 OUT and declare the RIGHTFUL WINNER, or do you have a NEW ELECTION? A Massive Fraud of this type and magnitude allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution.
- cited in "Trump calls for the termination of the Constitution in Truth Social post" CNN Politics (December 4, 2022)

Merry Christmas to EVERYONE, including the Radical Left Marxists that are trying to destroy our Country, the Federal Bureau of Investigation that is illegally coercing & paying Social and LameStream Media to push for a mentally disabled Democrat over the Brilliant, Clairvoyant, and USA LOVING Donald J. Trump, and, of course, the Department of Injustice, which appointed a Special "Prosecutor", who, together with his wife and family, HATES "Trump" more than any other person on Earth.
I had almost nothing to do with January 6th.
- "Donald Trump's 'Merry Christmas' Message Is A Grievance-Filled Lump Of Coal", Yahoo News, 25 December 2022

2023

January 2023

So an out-of-control wild man kills beautiful Ashli Babbitt, a true Patriot, who was the only one killed on January 6th.
Her mother goes to protest her death and memory, and they arrest her mother.
Something has to be done about these Communists and Marxists that are taking over and destroying our Country.
Pray for Ashli, and her wonderful, brave mother!
- 8 January 2023 gab

The left-wing gender insanity being pushed on our children is an act of child abuse—very simple.
- 31 January 2023 per Rolling Stone

February 2023

Rihanna gave, without question, the single worst Halftime Show in Super Bowl history—This after insulting far more than half of our Nation, which is already in serious DECLINE, with her foul and insulting language. Also, so much for her ‘Stylist!’
- "Donald Trump Calls Rihanna's Super Bowl Halftime Performance an 'Epic Fail'", Vanity Fair, 13 February 2023

March 2023

CPAC keynote speech (March 4, 2023)

CPAC keynote address in National Harbor, Maryland, on March 4, 2023, reported in Five Key Moments from Donald Trump's Crucial CPAC Speech. Newsweek (March 5, 2023).

I'm the only candidate who can make this promise: I will prevent, and very easily, World War III.

We are never going back to a party that wants to give unlimited money to fight foreign endless wars but demands we cut veteran benefits and retirement benefits at home.

We’re not going back to people that want to destroy our great Social Security system – even some in our own party; I wonder who that might be – who want to raise the minimum age of Social Security to 70, 75 or even 80 in some cases, and who are out to cut Medicare to a level that will be unrecognizable

In 2016, I declared: I am your voice. Today, I add: I am your warrior. I am your justice. And for those who have been wronged and betrayed: I am your retribution.

I will totally obliterate the deep state. I will fire the unelected bureaucrats and shadow forces who have weaponized our justice system like it has never been weaponized before. And I will put the people back in charge of this country again.

This is the final battle – they know it, I know it, you know it, everybody knows it. Either they win, or we win. And I promise you this: If you put me back in the White House, their reign will be over, and America will be a free nation once again.

Before I even arrive at the Oval Office, I will have the disastrous war between Russia and Ukraine settled.
I will get the problem solved.
And I will get it solved in rapid order and 'it will take me no longer than one day, I know exactly what to say to each of them, I got along very well with Putin.
- the March 4th speech was referenced when this was quoted March 7th by Stephen Collinson in a CNN analysis
  - Trump later reuses the phrase "before I even arrive at the Oval Office" in #June 2024 in Philadelphia

April 2023

Republicans in Congress should defund the DOJ and FBI until they come to their senses. The Democrats have totally weaponized law enforcement in our country and are viciously using this abuse of power to interfere with our already under siege elections!
- Donald Trump calls for defunding federal police after his arrest in New York Truth Social (April 5, 2023)

NRA convention speech (April 14, 2023)

Our country has been chock full of guns for centuries, and there was no talk of massacres of schoolchildren until around the year 2000. That's what it really started. They started talking about it. This is not a gun problem. This is a mental health problem. This is a social problem. This is a cultural problem. This is a spiritual problem.
I will ask Congress to repeal totally ineffective legislation that makes it harder to protect our schools and easier for criminals to face absolutely no opposition when they go in. I will also create a new tax credit to reimburse any teacher for the full costs of a concealed carry firearm and training from highly qualified experts. Who's better? Who's better? If even 5% of teachers, people that are skilled with arms, we want that. 5% were voluntarily armed and trained to stop active shooters. We would achieve effective deterrence and the problem would cease to exist.
- From a NRA convention speech in Indianapolis (April 14, 2023), cited in "Trump calls for arming teachers at NRA convention" AP Newsroom (April 15, 2023)

[T]he only way to stop these wicked actions is to ensure that any sicko who would shoot up a school knows that within seconds, not minutes, they will face certain death.
- Speech at the NRA convention, Indianapolis (April 14, 2023), cited in "Trump, in legal peril, draws cheers at NRA convention; Pence draws boos" The Washington Post (April 14, 2023)

May 2023

They’re dying, Russians and Ukrainians. I want them to stop dying. And I’ll have that done — I’ll have that done in 24 hours
- May 2023 at a CNN Town Hall, quoted in 2 July 2024 article by Edith M. Lederer for AP News

June 2023

I have been summoned to appear at the Federal Courthouse in Miami on Tuesday, at 3 PM. I never thought it possible that such a thing could happen to a former President of the United States, who received far more votes than any sitting President in the History of our Country, and is currently leading, by far, all Candidates, both Democrat and Republican, in Polls of the 2024 Presidential Election. I AM AN INNOCENT MAN!
- Web posting, reported in "Trump told to appear in Miami after indictment by federal grand jury, ABC reporting" in WPLG Local 10 (8 June 2023)

This is the final battle. With you at my side, we will demolish the deep state. expel the warmongers from our government. We will drive out the globalists. We will cast out the Communists, Marxists, and Fascists, and we will throw off the sick political class that hates our country. We will rout the fake news media, and we will defeat crooked Joe Biden. We will liberate America from these villains once and for all.
- Trump told the audience at the Oakland County Republican Party’s Lincoln Day Dinner

For three years, Biden and his radical left allies have waged war on American auto workers in his ridiculous crusade to force everyone into electric cars, ridiculous regulations kill more than half of US auto jobs and decimate the suppliers that they decimated already, decimate the suppliers and it’s going to decimate your jobs.
- Telegraph , Trump headlines Oakland County Republican Party Lincoln Day Dinner

July 2023

“Is it Crooked Joe and his wonderful son, Hunter? Release the findings, release the tapes. We can’t have a crackhead in charge of our Nuclear Arsenal!!
… He’s totally compromised...I don’t like doing the same word for two people. We’re using the word crooked for Joe Biden because Joe Biden is the most crooked president in the history.
- republicworld
We have potential for a war outside of Ukraine - Russia. We should have kept Bagram because Bagram is one of the largest military bases in the world cost us billions of dollars to build forget about Afghanistan, it's one hour away from where China is building their nuclear weapons.
If China takes Taiwan they will turn the world off potentially.
Millions of illegal aliens have stormed across our borders. It is an invasion, like a military invasion. Our rights and liberties are being torn to shreds,Your country is being turned into a third-world hellhole, run by censors, perverts, criminals, and thugs.”
- criminals and perverts

America is tired of being ruled by radical bureaucrats in Washington the Bidens, the Clintons, the Obamas, the Radical Left Democrats, the Marxists – guys like Paul Ryan and Karl Rove. Their reign will be over, and it will be over quickly, and America will be a free nation once again.
- speech
Think of this. We give them everything, including military protection and trade, and now we have to pay them to go there. As President I will not allow this, will end very quickly.
- “U.S. CITIZENS WILL HAVE TO PAY FOR A VISA TO TRAVEL TO EUROPE STARTING IN 2024.”
Gloves are off.Under crooked Joe Biden. I never called him that. I took the name away from Hillary Clinton. We call her beautiful Hillary now.Now it's crooked Joe, because it's a much more appropriate name right now for this man who's just destroying our country.
- rally
As part of my plan to obtain total independence from China, we will phase in tariffs and import restrictions to bring back production of all essential medicines to the United States of America where they belong. I signed an executive order to begin this process in 2020 but Biden has shamefully failed to follow through. He wants it ended. He wants to take care of China.

They don’t go after the people who cheated in the election, they only go after the people who report on, or question the cheating if you don't have strong borders you don't have a country, right now we don't have a country.

Trumpism or America first is very simple low taxes and regulations , the most powerful military , tariffs on countries taking advantage, protection of section amendment , great healthcare , low energy prices, parental power on school boards, life , strong borders.

I expect nothing from the meeting with my lawyers and the lunatics in the DOJ regarding January 6th. They just want to interfere with the Presidential Election on 2024. It is their new form of cheating, but we will win !!! How can deranged Jack Smith bring a case on January 6th., as ridiculous as it is anyway, when I have already won such a case, and been fully acquitted, in the U.S. Senate? In other words, I was Impeached on this, and won!!!

August 2023

These monsters, all controlled and coordinated by the DOJ and Radical Left Lunatics, are Criminalizing Political Speech, a total SHUTDOWN OF DEMOCRACY!
- Truth Social Post 6:28 PM on August 15, 2023.

CROOKED JOE BIDEN IS TOTALLY CONTROLLED BY CHINA, UKRAINE, & VARIOUS OTHER COUNTRIES. THEY KNOW EVERYTHING ABOUT HIM - ALL OF HIS MISDEEDS. HE IS A COMPROMISED PRESIDENT WHO IS LEADING OUR COUNTRY TO HELL. HE IS A MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE!
- Truth Social Post 6:20 PM on August 15, 2023.

I believe we have a compromised president. He was bribed, and now he’s being blackmailed. He’s a Manchurian Candidate. That’s why Crooked Joe is letting other countries walk all over the United States.
- Truth Social Post on August 15, 2023.

IMPOSSIBLE to get a fair trial in Washington, D.C., which is over 95% anti-Trump, & for which I have called for a Federal TAKEOVER in order to bring our Capital back to Greatness. It is now a high crime embarrassment to our Nation and, indeed, the World
- https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/110823476578708544
I AM NOW GOING TO WASHINGTON, D.C., TO BE ARRESTED FOR HAVING CHALLENGED A CORRUPT, RIGGED, & STOLEN ELECTION. IT IS A GREAT HONOR, BECAUSE I AM BEING ARRESTED FOR YOU. Biden and his family steal Millions and Millions of Dollars, including BRIBES from foreign countries, and I’m headed to D.C. to be ARRESTED for protesting a CROOKED ELECTION. UNFAIR VENUE, UNFAIR JUDGE. We are a Nation in Decline.
- https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/110826519469646840 https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/110826840688757163
CONSIDERING THE FACT THAT I HAD TO FLY TO A FILTHY, DIRTY, FALLING APART, & VERY UNSAFE WASHINGTON, D.C., TODAY, & THAT I WAS THEN ARRESTED BY MY POLITICAL OPPONENT, WHO IS LOSING BADLY TO ME IN THE POLLS, CROOKED JOE BIDEN, IT WAS A VERY GOOD DAY!
- https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/110828062805817649
A very sad day for America, and it was also very sad driving through Washington, D.C., and seeing the filth and decay and all of the broken buildings and walls and the graffiti. This is not the place that I left. It’s a very sad thing to see it.
- https://www.rsbnetwork.com/news/trump-tells-reporters-if-you-cant-beat-him-you-persecute-him-or-you-prosecute-him/
They’re trying to make it illegal to question the results of a bad election…But only a party that cheats in elections would try to make it illegal, on Election Day 2024, we’re going to evict Crooked Joe Biden from the White House…We’re going to expel the criminals and thugs from the halls of power in Washington, D.C.
- Alabama

We are NOT a free nation, We don’t have a free press. We have a corrupt press.
Alabama
OUR HIGHLY PARTISAN, AND VERY CORRUPT, DEPARTMENT OF INJUSTICE, COULD HAVE BROUGHT THIS BIDIN “OPPONENT” CASE YEARS AGO, BUT CHOSE TO WAIT AND BRING IT RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF MY ELECTION CAMPAIGN. NO WAY!!! I HOPE YOU ARE WATCHING AMERICA. OUR COUNTRY IS BEING DESTROYED.
- https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/110842856814664717
This will be the single biggest and most important election in the history of our country - maybe in the history of the WORLD.
- https://truthsocial.com/@RSBN/posts/110840001623943794

The “shocking and totally unexpected” loss by the U.S. Women’s Soccer Team to Sweden is fully emblematic of what is happening to the our once great Nation under Crooked Joe Biden. Many of our players were openly hostile to America - No other country behaved in such a manner, or even close. WOKE EQUALS FAILURE. Nice shot Megan, the USA is going to Hell!!
https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/110845290114601452

WHAT THE DEPARTMENT OF INJUSTICE IS DOING TO ME IS THE SAME THING DONE BY THIRD WORLD COUNTRIES ALL OVER THE WORLD, BUT IT WILL NOT WORK.
- https://www.rsbnetwork.com/news/trump-explains-why-he-should-not-have-a-protective-order-placed-on-him-by-deranged-jack-smith/

Let’s see! My political Opponent, Crooked Joe Biden, tells Merrick Garland and the DOJ to indict and arrest me on bogus charges and accusations, trying desperately to steal the Election. But that wasn’t enough! He now wants Thug Prosecutor, Deranged Jack Smith, to file for a Court Order taking away my first amendment rights, SPEECH. So, based on yet another Radical Left Hoax, I’ll be the only “Politician” in American history not allowed to SPEAK. THE NEVER ENDING WITCH HUNT CONTINUES.
- https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/110852063479466833

They just found a letter from Crooked Joe Biden directly to Keven Archer. Oh well, so much for “Joe” not knowing anything about all of the money he extorted. At some point the LameStream Media will have to cover this story, perhaps the biggest scandal in U.S. history. When they do, our Country will start to heal!
- https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/110850107581995665

HOW CAN MY CORRUPT POLITICAL OPPONENT PUT ME ON TRIAL(S) DURING A CAMPAIGN THAT I AM WINNING (BY A LOT!), BUT FORCING ME TO SPEND TIME AND MONEY AWAY FROM THE “CAMPAIGN TRAIL” IN ORDER TO FIGHT BOGUS ACCUSATIONS & CHARGES? IS THIS GOING TO BE THE FUTURE OF ELECTIONS IN AMERICA? CAN A PRESIDENT ORDER HIS DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE TO INDICT AN OPPONENT JUST PRIOR TO AN ELECTION?
- https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/110849582956879248

Just found out that Crooked Joe Biden’s DOJ secretly attacked my Twitter account, making it a point not to let me know about this major “hit” on my civil rights. My Political Opponent is going CRAZY trying to infringe on my Campaign for President. Nothing like this has ever happened before. Does the First Amendment still exist? Did Deranged Jack Smith tell the Unselects to DESTROY & DELETE all evidence?
- https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/110860965885418709

It’s not like the State or Country is coming down on me. It’s a dishonest politician and his gang of Thugs breaking the law in order to get re-elected.
- https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/110859441854770499

So now that I have full Subpoena Power because of the Freedom of Speech Sham Indictment by Crooked Joe Biden, Deranged Jack Smith, and the DOJ, it has just been reported that the Unselect January 6th Committee of Political Hacks and Thugs has illegally destroyed their Records and Documents. This is unthinkable, and the Fake Political Indictment against me must be immediately withdrawn. The system is Rigged & Corrupt, very much like the Presidential Election of 2020. We are a Nation in Decline.
- https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/110857162338915853
Thousands of veterans were put on secret medial wait lists and many of them were left to die, All of that changed when WE arrived at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
- https://www.rsbnetwork.com/news/trump-lays-out-exemplary-agenda-that-will-restore-hope-and-care-to-americas-veterans/

Whenever more Biden corruption is exposed his henchmen charge me with a crime.
- https://truthsocial.com/@RSBN/posts/110855681234356104
I think that Crooked Joe Biden is not only dumb and incompetent, I believe he has gone MAD, a stark raving Lunatic, with his HORRIBLE AND COUNTRY THREATENING ENVIRONMENTAL, OPEN BORDERS, & DOJ/FBI WEAPONIZATION POLICIES. HE IS A MENTAL CATASTROPHE THAT IS LEADING OUR COUNTRY TO HELL!What Crooked Joe Biden, who can’t string two sentences together, has done to our once great Country through his Open Borders CATASTROPHE, may go down as the greatest and most damaging mistake ever made in USA HISTORY. It is not even believable that such incompetence and stupidity could have been allowed to happen. OUR COUNTRY IS BEING DESTROYED BY A MAN WITH THE MIND, IDEAS, AND I.Q. OF A FIRST GRADER. THIS INVASION OF OUR COUNTRY MUST STOP IMMEDIATELY. IT CANNOT BE ALLOWED TO CONTINUE!
- https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/110865224814637476 https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/110865185229848140

The Fake Indictments against me didn’t come down from heaven, they came from the most corrupt President in the history of the United States, Crooked Joe Biden, in order to Rig & Steal another Election.

Why is “Phoney” (Like in PERFECT “PHONE” CALL, get it?) Fani Willis, the severely underperforming D.A. of Fulton County who is being accused of having an “affair” with a Gang Member of a group that she is prosecuting, leaking my name in regard to a Grand Jury pertaining to Election Fraud & Irregularities that I say took place in Georgia. I made a PERFECT PHONE CALL OF PROTEST. What does Phoney Fani have to do with me? She should instead focus on the record number of murders in Atlanta!
- https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/110882230702522121

The only Election Interference that took place in Fulton County, Georgia, was done by those that Rigged and Stole the Election, not by me, who simply complained that the Election was Rigged and Stolen. We have Massive and Conclusive Proof, if the Grand Jury would like to see it. Unfortunately, the publicity seeking D.A. isn’t interested in Justice, or this evidence. Also, as in Manhattan, the corrupt DOJ is pushing hard trying to keep Biden in Office. The whole system is dishonest and broken!
- https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/110882321735123573

To say no comment is oftentimes fine, but to be smiling when you say it, especially again such a tragedy as this, is absolutely horrible and unacceptable, Our government was not prepared. And very importantly, the aftermath is going very poorly with the governor of the island wanting to do nothing but blame it on global warming, and other things that just happen to pop into his head.
- https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4152554-trump-bidens-response-to-maui-fires-disgraceful/

“Hey, I’m running against a guy, I’m going to Indict him 3 or 4 times to keep him busy.” Does anyone think that Crooked Joe Biden would have said something like this???
- https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/110914172490735501

David Rivkin, a highly respected Constitutional law scholar, just clearly stated that I have “Constitutionally-based immunity” and “absolute immunity!
- https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/110918895000463495

Why should Crooked Joe Biden be able to force me into the time and expense of trials, especially before the Election, on bogus claims pushed by his chief political supporter, The Department of Injustice? What a horrible precedent this sets for future Presidential campaigns. Crooked Joe Biden’s only campaign strategy is Indicting me, going on extended vacations, and Sleep, Sleep, Sleep!!!
- https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/110918860464876718 https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/110918173717605996

I easily won the Great State of Georgia in 2016, did a fantastic job, as President, for Georgia and the entire USA, received 10 Million more votes than I got, nationwide, in 2016, got by far the most votes in history for a sitting President, but shockingly, “LOST” Georgia. All this despite winning nearby Alabama and South Carolina in Record Setting Landslides. Why did Georgia officials agree to, and sign, the one sided Consent Decree? Does anybody really believe I lost Georgia? I DON’T!
- https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/110916681777676824

September 2023

MINORITY VOTERS ARE ABANDONING CROOKED JOE BIDEN & THE DEMOCRAT PARTY FOR “TRUMP.” THANK YOU, A VERY WISE DECISION!
- https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/1110151303435539041

It is all a shadow of its former self. Ukraine, Inflation, Bad Economy, Woke Military, No World Standing, No Respect, and today, 6 Billion Dollars for hostages. Where is the call from Republicans for the 25th Amendment.
- Truth social

Can you believe that Crooked Joe Biden is giving $6 Billion to the terrorist regime in Iran? That money be used for terrorism all over the Middle East, and, indeed, the World. This incompetent FOOL is absolutely destroying America He had the audacity to announce this terrible deal today, September 11th. To pay for hostages will lead to kidnapping, ransom, and blackmail against Americans across the globe So, lets get this straight! We did a hostage TRADE with Iran. We gave them 5 very tough, smart people that they desperately wanted. We likewise got back 5 people BUT, we also gave them 6 BILLION DOLLARS! How much of a kickback does Crooked Joe Biden get Does anyone realize how much money 6 Billion Dollars is? When I was President, I got back 58 hostages for ZERO money. Remember Pastor Brunson? It sets a TERRIBLE precedent. Republicans, call out the 25th Amendment, NOW! Biden is INCOMPETENT
- https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/4199317-trump-rips-biden-for-release-of-6b-in-iranian-funds/

Early in the administration Education department will be closing . we spend more money on education than any other country yet we are bottom of every list.
- Truth social

Biden’s job killing EV mandate has dictated that nearly seven percent of all cars sold in the US must be fully electric in less than 10 years. Crooked Joe Biden is back like a wretched old vulture.

Mark Milley, who led perhaps the most embarrassing moment in American history with his grossly incompetent implementation of the withdrawal from Afghanistan, costing many lives, leaving behind hundreds of American citizens, and handing over BILLIONS of dollars of the finest military equipment ever made, will be leaving the military next week. This will be a time for all citizens of the USA to celebrate! This guy turned out to be a Woke train wreck who, if the Fake News reporting is correct, was actually dealing with China to give them a heads up on the thinking of the President of the United States. This is an act so egregious that, in times gone by, the punishment would have been DEATH! A war between China and the United States could have been the result of this treasonous act. To be continued!!!
- Truth social

Nobody has any idea where these people are coming from. And we know they come from prisons. We know they come from mental institutions, insane asylums. We know they're terrorists. Nobody has seen anything like we're witnessing right now. It is a very sad thing for our country. It's poisoning the blood of our country. It's so bad.
- The National Pulse interview, quoted in Trump - "Migrants Poisoning the Blood of Our Country". Meidas Touch (2023-10-17).

October 2023

We will immediately stop all of the pillaging and theft. Very simply: If you rob a store, you can fully expect to be shot as you are leaving that store... Shot! The word that they shoot you will get out within minutes and our nation, in one day, will be an entirely different place. There must be retribution for theft and destruction and the ruination of our country
- 2 October 2023 in NY Post

I had a wonderful life before all this stuff. I didn't know what a grand jury was, I didn't know what a subpoena, what is a subpoena? I had a wonderful life.
- 5 October 2023 in spoken interview

lowlife with a very small brain and a very big mouth
by far the dumbest of my military people
incapable of doing a good job
It was too much for him, and I couldn’t stand the guy, so I fired him like a ‘dog’
- Claimed about John Kelly, retired U.S. Marine Corps general, former Chief of Staff for Donald Trump, and before that US Homeland Security Secretary, quoted in "‘Lowlife with small brain and big mouth’: Trump hits out at ex-aide Kelly", The Guardian (October 5, 2023)

There’s a man, Viktor Orbán, did anyone ever hear of him? He’s probably, like, one of the strongest leaders anywhere in the world. He’s the leader of Turkey.
- 24 October 2023 in "Trump praises Hungary’s ‘Viktor Orbán’ as great ‘leader of Turkey’", Politico

November 2023

We pledge to you that we will root out the Communists, Marxists, Fascists, and Radical Left Thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our Country, lie, steal, and cheat on Elections, and will do anything possible, whether legally or illegally, to destroy America, and the American Dream. The threat from outside forces is far less sinister, dangerous, and grave, than the threat from within. Despite the hatred and anger of the Radical Left Lunatics who want to destroy our Country, we will MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!
- "The “Is Donald Trump a Fascist?” Debate Has Been Ended—by Donald Trump", The Nation (November 14, 2023)

December 2023

Sean Hannity: Under no circumstances, you are promising America tonight, you would never abuse power as retribution against anybody?

Donald Trump: Except for day one.

Sean Hannity: Except for—

Donald Trump: [aside to audience, pointing at Sean] He's doing great. [to Sean] Except for day one. I want to close the border and I want to drill, drill, drill.

We love this guy. He says, "You’re not going to be a dictator, are ya?" I said: "No, no, no, other than day one. We're closing the border, and we're drilling, drilling, drilling. After that, I'm not a dictator."
- 5 December 2023 in Davenport, Iowa town hall, quoted in "Trump to Hannity on Whether He’ll Abuse Power as President: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯". Rolling Stone. 2023-12-05.

They let — I think the real number is 15, 16 million people into our country. When they do that, we got a lot of work to do.
They're poisoning the blood of our country, that's what they've done.
They poison mental institutions and prisons all over the world, not just in South America, not just to three or four countries that we think about, but all over the world. They're coming into our country from Africa, from Asia, all over the world.
- 16 December 2023 in Durham, New Hampshire rally, quoted in "Trump says immigrants are 'poisoning the blood of our country.' Biden campaign likens comments to Hitler.". NBC News. 2023-12-17.

ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION IS POISONING THE BLOOD OF OUR NATION
- 17 December 2023 per Alex Woodward article in The Independent on Trumps TruthSocial account after leaving New Hampshire

2024

January 2024

Even if you vote and then pass away, it's worth it.
- 14 January 2024 per Business Insider and CNN

“We’re going to place strong protections to stop banks and regulators from trying to debank you from your—our political beliefs what they do. They want to debank you. We’re going to debank—think of this. They want to take away your country. Electric cars... They wanna take away your rights. They wanna take away your country. The things they’re doing. All electric cars. Give me a break. If you want an electric car, great. But they don’t go far. They’re very expensive. They gotta be made in China. That’s why I think I’m gonna get the autoworkers to vote for Trump. You know, we’re having great, great talks. But think of what they wanna do. They wanna take away your rights.”
- 17 January 2024 at a campaign rally in New Hampshire, reported by several sources.^[1]^[2]

There is a great man, a great leader in Europe — Viktor Orban [...] He is the Prime Minister of Hungary. He is a very great leader, a very strong man. Some people don't like him because he's too strong.
- 20 January 2024 at a rally in Manchester, New Hampshire, as cited in "Trump hails Hungarian PM Orban as 'great leader' and 'strong man', Yahoo! News, reproduced from The New Voice of Ukraine (21 January 2024)

We have become a drug infested, crime ridden nation which is incapable of solvin’ even the sollest smallest problem. The simplest of problems, we can no longer solve. We can’t do anything. We are an institute in a powerful death penalty. We will put this on.
- "Trump utter's incoherent sentence about US not solving 'sollest smallest problem'", Indy 100 (January 23, 2024)

You know, I had an uncle. He's the longest-serving professor, Doctor John Trump, in the history of MIT, with same genes—we have genes, we're smart people, we're smart people... We're like race—Mr. Lieutenant Governor—we're like racehorses, too. You know, the fast ones produce the fast ones, and the slow ones doesn't work out so well, right? But we're no different in that sense.
- January 2024

March 2024

There's a lot of good and there's a lot of bad with TikTok, but the thing I don't like is that without TikTok, you're going to make Facebook bigger, and I consider Facebook to be an enemy of the people, along with a lot of the media. I'm not looking to make Facebook double the size. I think Facebook has been very bad for our country.
- 11 March 2024 per CBS article by Jacob Rosen

They call it BleachBit, but it’s essentially acid that will destroy everything, you know, within ten miles.
- 13 March 2024 about a computer software program, quoted in "Trump STILL Seems to Think Hillary Clinton Used Acid to Delete Emails", The Daily Beast

People who are coming from parts unknown, countries that you’ve never heard of. Languages that nobody in this country speaks. We don’t even have teachers of some of these languages. Who would think that we have languages that are like from the planet Mars? Nobody, nobody, knows how to, you know, speak it.
- 25 March 2024 "Donald Trump Dragged To The Moon Over New Interplanetary Dog Whistle", Huffington Post

April 2024

I called [Bill Bar] him ‘Weak, Slow Moving, Lethargic, Gutless, and Lazy,Based on the fact that I greatly appreciate his wholehearted Endorsement, I am removing the word ‘Lethargic’ from my statement.
- 25 April 2024 per archive of The Gazette

May 2024

These people are running a Gestapo administration,And it’s the only thing they have. And it’s the only way they’re going to win in their opinion. Once I got indicted, I said well, now the gloves have to come off,If you care too much, you tend to choke. And in a way, I don’t care. It’s just you know, life is life.
- 4 May 2024 per NBC writers Burns/Brooks/Sonnier/Gomez/Terkel

We will make America powerful again.
We will make America wealthy again.
We will make America strong again.
We will make America proud again.
We will make America safe again.
We will make America great again!
- Presidential campaign slogans, Bronx, NY (25 May 2024)

If he wins, our country is going to be destroyed.
He’s a demented tyrant.
- Claimed about President of the United States of America Joe Biden, quoted in "The Politics of Fear Itself", The Atlantic (May 7, 2024)

Our cities are choking to death. Our states are dying. And frankly, our country is dying.
- "The Politics of Fear Itself", The Atlantic (May 7, 2024)

I have been indicted more than the great Al Capone, on bullshit.
- 11 May 2024 per InsiderNJ writer Max Pizarro

Has anyone ever seen The Silence of the Lambs? The late, great Hannibal Lecter. He's a wonderful man. He oftentimes would have a friend for dinner.
- 11 May 2024 from a speech in Wildwood, N.J. per Washington Post, as cited 16 May 2024 in "When Donald Trump Met Hannibal Lecter", The New York Times

I know we won (Minnesota) in 2020. We've got to be careful. We've got to watch those votes.
- 17 May 2024 during an address to the Minnesota Republican Party's annual Lincoln-Reagan Dinner in St. Paul per Donald Trump falsely tells supporters he won Minnesota in 2020, USA Today

Before I even arrive at the Oval Office, shortly after we win the presidency, I will have the horrible war between Russia and Ukraine settled, and we will restore, as we had just four years ago, peace through strength. They respected our country and they respected your President.
- 18 May 2024 in Dallas, Texas in speech to NRA aired on Fox, transcribed 20 May 2024
  - Trump had previously used the "before I even arrive at the Oval Office" phrase in #May 2023 and would again use it in Philadelphia the following month in #June 2024

And if you vote for me, on Day One, I will commute the sentence of Ross Ulbricht
- 20 May 2024 (Saturday night) at Libertarian National Convention, reported in 25 May 2024 article by Peter Shaefer of Politico

It boiled down to something that was very beautiful, the way it happened, and I got along with him very well.
He respected me, I respected him.
Very smart guy, very strong guy
- 28 May 2024 about Kim Jong-Un, dictator in North Korea, cited in "Watch: Trump’s Disgusting Praise for “Beautiful” Bond with Kim Jong Un", New Republic

We have a country that’s in big trouble, but this was a rigged decision right from day one, with a conflicted judge who should have never been allowed to try this case, And we’ll keep fighting we’ll fight till the end and we’ll win because our country has gone to hell. We don’t have the same country anymore. We have a divided mess. We’re a nation in decline, serious decline, millions and millions of people pouring into our country right now, from prisons and from mental institutions terrorists, and they’re taking over our country, real verdict would come in November.
- 30 May 2024 from Melissa Quinn of CBS and Ariana Baio of The Independent

Our witnesses were literally crucified by this man who looks like an angel, but he is really a devil.
- 31 May 2024 tweet by Acyn shows footage of Trump saying this about Judge Juan Merchan, after Trump was found guilty in concealing payment of hush money to adult film performer Stormy Daniels, cited in "Social Media Mocks Trump's Claim That Trial Witnesses Were 'Literally Crucified'", Huffington Post (June 02, 2024)

June 2024

Don’t forget, if it weren’t me, they’d be going after somebody else. And I know a lot of the competition, They wouldn’t be doing so well right now. They’d be saying, ‘Mommy, take me home, I want to go home.
- 2 June 2024 cited in Politico article by Mia McCarthy

Wouldn't it be terrible to throw the President's wife and the former Secretary of State into jail? Wouldn't that be a terrible thing? But they wanna do it! It's a terrible, terrible, path that they're leading us to & it's very possible that it's going to have to happen to them.
- 5 June 2024 per NewsNationNow article by Brett Samuels of The Hill

Those J6 warriors — they were warriors — but they were really, more than anything else, they’re victims of what happened... All they were doing is protesting a rigged election. That’s what they were doing.
- 9 June 2024 "Trump calls Jan. 6 defendants ‘warriors’"

I don't care about you. I just want your vote.
- 10 June 2024 "Trump to Nevada: ’I Don't Care About You... I Just Want Your Vote’", Los Angeles Magazine

So I said, ‘Let me ask you a question. Nobody ever asked this question. And it must be because of MIT. My relationship to MIT. Very smart. I say, What would happen if the boat sank from its weight? And you’re in the boat and you have this tremendously powerful battery, and the battery is now underwater, and there’s a shark that’s approximately 10 yards over there. By the way, a lot of shark attacks lately. You notice that? A lot of shark. I watch some guys justifying it today. ‘Well, they weren’t really that angry. They bit off the young lady’s leg because of the fact that they were — they were not hungry, but they misunderstood what - who she was.’ These people are crazy. ‘There’s no problem with sharks. They just didn’t really understand a young woman swimming. No really got decimated and other people too, a lot of shark attacks. So I said, ‘So there’s a shark 10 yards away from the boat, 10 yards or here. Do I get electrocuted? If the boat is sinking, water goes over the battery, the boat is sinking. Do I stay on top of the boat and get electrocuted? Or do I jump over by the shark and not get electrocuted? ‘You know, nobody’s ever asked me that question.’ I said, ‘I think it’s a good question. I think there’s a lot of electric current coming through that water.’ But you know what I’d do if there was a shark or you get electrocuted? I’ll take electrocution every single time. I’m not getting near the shark!
- 10 June 2024 "Cognitive Decline? Trump Short-Circuits During Bonkers Rant", The New Republic
before I even arrive at the Oval Office, shortly after we win the presidency
- 22 June 2024 rally in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, quoted in a 2 July 2024 Politico article by Michael Hirsh
  - Trump had previously used the phrase "before I even arrive at the Oval Office" in #March 2023, and also used it in a May 2024 speech to the NRA the previous month

I'm not rambling.
- 23 June 2024 "'His brains are pudding': Internet mocks Trump for 'incoherent' defense of 'rambling' rant", MSN

But I will tell you that would have never happened [if I was president]. Ukraine would have never happened. The israeli attack would have never happened and inflation would have never happened. Those are three big things. Inflation would have never happened.
No, I wouldn't support a national ban [on abortion]. No, I would not.
- 20 June 2024 "In conversation with President Trump", on All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg, found on DeepCast

I want you to remember what they did to me. They tortured me in the Fulton County Jail, and TOOK MY MUGSHOT. So guess what? I put it on a mug for the WHOLE WORLD TO SEE!
- 24 June 2024 "Trump Fundraising Email: I Was 'Tortured' in Jail", Newsmax

If I took this shirt off, you would see a beautiful beautiful person. But you would see wounds all over. I’ve taken a lot of wounds I can tell you. More than I suspect any president ever.
- 24 June 2024 "Donald Trump Talks About Taking Off His Shirt To Show 'Wounds.' Internet Can't Even.", Yahoo News

Israel is the one. And you should let them go and let them go finish the job. He doesn’t want to do it. He’s become like a Palestinian, but hey, don’t like him because he’s a very bad Palestinian. He’s a weak one.
- 27 June 2024 per The Hill article by Brett Samuels

If we had a real president, a president that knew -- that was respected by Putin ... he would have never invaded Ukraine.
- 27 June 2024 debate with Joe Biden, cited 1 July 2024 by Edith Lederer

I really don't know what he said at the end of that sentence. I don't think he knows what he said either.
- About Joe Biden. Presidential debate, June 27, 2024

July 2024

I know nothing about project 2025.
I disagree with some of the things they’re saying and some of the things they’re saying are absolutely ridiculous and abysmal.
- Claimed on July 5, 2024, quoted in:

"Trump claims not to know who is behind Project 2025. A CNN review found at least 140 people who worked for him are involved", CNN (July 11, 2024)
"Project 2025 Co-Author Says Donald Trump ‘Very Supportive Of What We Do’", Huffington Post (August 15, 2024)

It was God alone who prevented the unthinkable from happening...In this moment, it is more important than ever that we stand United, and show our True Character as Americans, remaining Strong and Determined, and not allowing Evil to Win
- 14 July 2024 per NDTV

By luck or by God, many people are saying it’s by God I’m still here.
The agents hit me so hard that my shoes fell off, and my shoes are tight.
I had all prepared an extremely tough speech, really good, all about the corrupt, horrible administration. But I threw it away. I want to try to unite our country.
- 14 July 2024 cited by NY Post writer Michael Goodwin and Politico writer Isabella Ramirez

Kamala even wants to pass laws to outlaw RED MEAT to stop climate change.
You know what that means? That means no more cows.
I guess eventually she’s gonna mean no more people. Right? No more people.
- Claimed on July 25, 2024, without providing evidence, quoted in "Fact check: Kamala Harris does not want to ban red meat as Trump keeps falsely claiming", Yahoo News (August 1, 2024)

And then the [Kamala Harris] campaign says, 'I'm the prosecutor and he is the convicted felon.'
- 25 July 2024 "Kamala Harris Uses 6-Second Clip Of Trump Telling The Truth About Her Campaign In New Ad—And It's Gold", Comic Sands

They say something happened to me when I got shot. I became nice.
If you don't mind, I'm not going to be nice. Is that okay?
If border czar Harris is in charge, every week they'll bring in a neverending stream of illegal aliens, rapists, blood thirsty killers, child murderers to go after our sons and our daughters.
Everything Kamala touches turns into a total disaster.
- 25 July 2024 claims about US Vice President Kamala Harris at a sports arena in Charlotte, cited in "Donald Trump turns his attention to 'radical left lunatic' Kamala Harris in first rally since Biden dropped out", Daily Mail

We have a new victim now, Kamala. A brand new victim, and honestly she’s a radical left lunatic. When you find out about her, all I have to say is defund the police,Three months ago, she was thought of so badly, [the media] were just killing her. And now they’re trying to make her into a, let’s say, Margaret Thatcher. I don’t think so. It’s not going to happen. Margaret Thatcher didn’t laugh like that. Did she?
- 27 July 2024 in Politico article by Myah Ward

I pledge to the bitcoin community, that the day I take the oath of office, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’ anti-crypto crusade will be over. On day one, I will fire Gary Gensler.
- date unknown, Financial Times article

You won't have to do it anymore. Four more years, you know what, it will be fixed, it will be fine, you won't have to vote anymore, my beautiful Christians...I love you Christians. I'm a Christian. I love you, get out, you gotta get out and vote. In four years, you don't have to vote again, we'll have it fixed so good you're not going to have to vote.
- 27 July 2024 in a speech to Turning Point Action in West Palm Beach, Florida, quote from the Reuters article "Trump tells Christians they won't have to vote after this election" by Tim Reid

I thought she was a little younger, but she's 60
- 29 July 2024 about Kamala Harris, cited in "She'll 'destroy the country': Trump rambles about Kamala Harris in new Fox News interview", RawStory
  - Kamala Harris was born 20 October 1964 so would not turn sixty until 20 October 2024, two weeks prior to the upcoming election - she was actually 59 years 9 months old when he said this

I’m not so sure which is better. But she either likes or loves me. And that’s nice.
- 30 July 2024 about his wife Melania Trump, cited in "Trump thinks Melania ‘either likes or loves’ him following assassination attempt", Mercury News

Perverts and losers
- 30 July 2024 describing members of the Lincoln Project, an organisation of moderate conservatives who oppose Trump and trumpism. Quoted in "Donald Trump Rages at Republicans Campaigning Against Him", Newsweek

She doesn’t like Jewish people. You know it, I know it and everybody knows it and nobody wants to say it.
- 30 July 2024 claimed about US Vice President Kamala Harris, who is married to a Jewish husband. Quoted in "Trump claims Harris ‘doesn’t like Jews,’ seems to agree with calling her husband ‘a crappy Jew’", Times of Israel

If you are Jewish, regardless of Israel, if you’re Jewish, if you vote for a Democrat, you’re a fool, an absolute fool.
- 30 July 2024 "Trump Agrees With Radio Host Who Calls Emhoff a ‘Crappy Jew’", The Daily Beast

So I've known her a long time - indirectly, not directly very much - and she was always of Indian heritage. And she was only promoting Indian heritage. I didn't know she was Black until a number of years ago when she happened to turn Black. And now she wants to be known as Black. So I don't know, is she Indian or is she Black?
- 31 July 2024 about Kamala Harris, whose mother was a biologist from India and father is an emeritus professor of economics at Stanford University, originating from Jamaica. Quoted in "‘All of a sudden': Trump tells Black journalists in Chicago Kamala Harris ‘turned Black'", NBC Chicago

I don't want pronouns.
- 31 July 2024 "Donald Trump Gets Basic English Lesson After Ridiculous Comment About His ‘Pronouns’", Huffington Post / Yahoo Entertainment

A Black job is anybody that has a job.
- 31 July 2024 "Trump questions if Harris is Black, downplays Vance pick at Black journalists convention", CNBC

August 2024

That’s a weird deal going on there. They’re the weird ones. Nobody’s ever called me weird. I’m a lot of things, but weird I’m not.
You notice the evening news, every one of them, you know, they introduced the word ‘weird’, and all of a sudden they’re talking about ‘weird’. No, we’re not weird people. We’re actually just the opposite. We’re right down the middle.
No, we're not weird. We're very solid people. We want to have strong borders. We want to have good elections. They’re the weird ones.
- 1 August 2024 Time and "Donald Trump: Stop Calling Me and J.D. Vance ‘Weird’", The Daily Beast

24 HOURS UNTIL WE UNLEASH HELL. At this time tomorrow, Crooked Kamala’s worst nightmares come true.
Tomorrow I step on stage and deliver Open Border Czar Kamala Harris the WORST defeat of her failed political career.
- 2 August 2024 campaign e-mail from Trump, cited in "Trump vows to ‘unleash hell’ on Harris at Atlanta rally", The Hill

This one is so smart, so sharp. She grabbed me. She gave me a kiss. I said "I think I'm never going back home to the first lady." See now for the average politician, that's death. For me, I don't care.
- 4 August 2024 about Michaelah Montgomery at a rally in Georgia about an incident earlier in 2024, cited in "Trump's risqué remark to young activist who went viral for hugging him at Chick-fil-A after he invited her on stage at rally - as she makes VERY personal dig at Kamala", Daily Mail

I’m for electric cars. I have to be, you know, because Elon endorsed me very strongly. So I have no choice.
- 5 August 2024 "Trump Says Electric Cars Are 'Fantastic' After Tesla CEO Elon Musk's Endorsement: 'I Have To Be, You Know… I Have No Choice'", Benzinga

Kamabla Harris is afraid to Debate me on FoxNews
- 6 August 2024 cited in "Donald Trump’s ‘Pathetic’ New Way Of Attacking Kamala Harris Is Slammed Online", Yahoo News / Huffington Post

What are the chances that Crooked Joe Biden, the WORST President in the history of the U.S., whose Presidency was Unconstitutionally STOLEN from him by Kamabla, Barrack HUSSEIN Obama, Crazy Nancy Pelosi, Shifty Adam Schiff, Cryin' Chuck Schumer, and others on the Lunatic Left, CRASHES the Democrat National Convention and tries to take back the Nomination, beginning with challenging me to another DEBATE. He feels that he made a historically tragic mistake by handing over the U.S. Presidency, a COUP, to the people in the World he most hates, and he wants it back, NOW!!!
- 6 August 2024 Cited in "Donald Trump Suggests Biden May Try to 'Take Back The Nomination'", Newsweek

Crazy Kamabla is, indeed, CRAZY. I HEAR THERE IS A BIG MOVEMENT TO “BRING BACK CROOKED JOE".
- 6 August 2024 Cited in "Trump shares outrageous Biden prediction in baffling Truth Social rant", Indy100

If you look at Caracas, it was known for being a very dangerous city and now it's very safe. In fact, the next interview we do, we'll do it in Caracas, Venezuela, because it's safer than many of our cities.
- 6 August 2024 "Trump Says Caracas Is 'Safer Than Many of Our Cities'", Miami New Times

I heard she's sort of a nasty person.
She doesn't do interviews 'cause she can't answer questions.
- 7 August 2024 about Vice President of the United States of America, Kamala Harris, cited in "Trump’s Latest Desperate Kamala Attacks Fall Hilariously Flat", The New Republic

A ticket that would want this country to go communist immediately, if not sooner.
We’re gonna be living like dogs. Our whole country, our whole system, is gonna collapse.
- 7 August 2024 about Tim Walz, cited in "Trump, on the selection of Walz: 'A ticket that would want this country to go communist immediately, if not sooner'", Voz (August 7, 2024)

Kim Jong Un liked me a lot. He doesn't like this group [the Harris campaign]
- 8 August 2024 cited in "Trump Agrees to Debate Harris at Rambling Press Conference: How It Happened", New York Magazine

I’ve spoken to the biggest crowds. Nobody’s spoken to crowds bigger than me. If you look at Martin Luther King when he did his speech, his great speech, and you look at ours, same real estate, same everything, same number of people, if not we had more. And they said he had a million people, but I had 25,000 people.
Nobody was killed on Jan. 6.
The presidency was taken away from Joe Biden, and I’m no Biden fan, but I tell you what, from a constitutional standpoint, from any standpoint you look at, they took the presidency away.
Twenty million people came over the border during the Biden-Harris administration — 20 million people — and it could be very much higher than that. Nobody really knows.
- 9 August 2024 quoted in "FACT FOCUS: A look at claims made by Trump at news conference", AP News

Christie, he’s eating right now. He can’t be bothered.
Sir, please do not call him a fat pig, that’s very disrespect.
See, I’m trying to be nice. Don’t call him a fat pig. You can’t do that.
I was extremely respectful of Sloppy Chris Christie today in New Hampshire. During a speech in front of a large crowd of Patriots, somebody shouted out that "Chris Christie is a fat pig." Rather than acknowleding that, which many speakers would have done, I said "No, No, he is not a fat pig." I'm sure Chris would have been very happy with my defense of him!
- 10 August 2024 Chris Christie, cited in "Trump Is Pretending He Didn’t Call Christie a ‘Fat Pig’", Intelligencer (August 10, 2024)

Has anyone noticed that Kamala CHEATED at the airport? There was nobody at the plane, and she ‘A.I.’d’ it, and showed a massive ‘crowd’ of so-called followers, BUT THEY DIDN’T EXIST!
- 10 August 2024 cited in "Trump’s Latest Falsehood Is a Huge Tell", The Atlantic

She’s a CHEATER. She had NOBODY waiting, and the ‘crowd’ looked like 10,000 people! Same thing is happening with her fake ‘crowds’ at her speeches. This is the way the Democrats win Elections, by CHEATING ‒ And they’re even worse at the Ballot Box. She should be disqualified because the creation of a fake image is ELECTION INTERFERENCE. Anyone who does that will cheat at ANYTHING!
EVERYTHING ABOUT KAMALA IS FAKE!
- 12 August 2024, cited in "Trump blames Harris' crowds on AI, so let's all assume everything we don't like is fake!", USA Today

The worst president in history. And one of the reasons he was so bad, first of all, the Israeli attack would have never happened. Russia would never have attacked Ukraine and we'd have no inflation. And we wouldn't have had the Afghanistan mess if you think of it.
Now she's looking like she wants to be more Trump than Trump if that's possible.She wants to have open borders. And now she's going like she's tough on the border. It's such a lie.
- 12 August 2024 in TurboScribe article

The ocean is going to rise one-eighth of an inch over the next 400 years.
- 13 August 2024 about sea level rise, which is currently at 4 mm (5/32") per year with an accelerating trend. Quoted in "Trump revisits most divisive talking points in rambling interview with Musk", The Guardian

The biggest threat is nuclear warming.
- 13 August 2024 quoted in "Trump revisits most divisive talking points in rambling interview with Musk", The Guardian

"I said to Vladimir Putin, I said, 'Don't do it. You can't do it, Vladimir, you do it, it's going to be a bad day. You cannot do it.' And I told him things that what I do. And he said, 'No way.' And I said, 'way.' And, you know, it's the last time we ever had the conversation.
- 13 August 2024 in Politco article

You’re the greatest cutter,...I need an Elon Musk — I need somebody that has a lot of strength and courage and smarts. I want to close up the Department of Education, move education back to the states.
- 13 August 2024 in AP News article

Iran is no friend of mine, a lot of bad signals get sent.The reason is because I was strong on Iran and I was protecting people in the Middle East that maybe they aren’t so happy about that.
- 14 August 2024 per political article

Kamala has declared that tackling inflation will be a Day One priority, but Day One for Kamala was 3½ years ago. Why hasn’t she done it? .‌‌.‌‌She's a critic. That's all she is.
- 14 August 2024 per NBC News article

Can I hang our picture together in Mar-a-Lago?
I’VE ALWAYS WANTED TO MEET YOU! Chris, can we take a picture during our all-expenses-paid trip together? I already have the PERFECT spot picked out in Mar-a-Lago to show it off!
MEET TRUMP! ENTER TO WIN
- 14 August 2024 mass E-mail sent out to a large number of people. "Can I hang our picture together in Mar-a-Lago?", PoliticalEmails.com (August 14, 2024) "Trump Goes TOTALLY NUTS as his ENTIRE LIFE COLLAPSES", MeidasTouch (August 14, 2024)

Miriam, I watched (Sheldon Adelson, her late husband) sitting so proud in the White House when we gave Miriam the Presidential Medal of Freedom. That’s the highest award you can get as a civilian, it’s the equivalent of the Congressional Medal of Honor, but civilian version. It’s actually much better, because everyone gets the Congressional Medal of Honor – that’s soldiers. They’re either in very bad shape because they’ve been hit so many times by bullets, or they’re dead. She gets it and she’s a healthy, beautiful woman, and they’re rated equal.
- 15 August 2024 Trump says civilian award is ‘much better’ than Medal of Honor

We’re talking about a thing called the economy.
We’re doing this as an intellectual speech.
We literally are a third world nation, we literally are a third-world nation. We’re a banana republic in so many ways, and we’re not going to let that happen because we’re starting a free fall.
For nearly four years Kamala has crackled as the American economy has burned.
What happened to her laugh? I haven’t heard that laugh in about a week. That’s why they keep her off the stage, that’s why she has disappeared.
That’s the laugh of a crazy person, I will tell you. She’s crazy.
Incompetent socialist lunatic.
Kamabla.
Rape and murder, rape and beatings, rape and something else, and sometimes just immediate killing. These people are brutal. These are people that came out of the toughest jails anywhere in the world from all over the world, and we can’t take them.
- 16 August 2024 per "Trump's North Carolina speech went predictably off the rails. Can he even spell 'economy'?", USA today

I think I’m entitled to personal attacks.
Now you’ll say he ranted and raved […] I’m a very calm person, believe it or not.
- 16 August 2024 from "Trump’s fury over Harris’ switch with Biden is increasingly driving his campaign", CNN

She actually called me ‘weird. And she called JD and I ‘weird.’ He’s not weird, he was a great student at Yale.
We have this guy that’s running a failed, really a very failed state who’s had a terrible career. I mean you have him saying, ‘They’re weird.’ No, he’s a weird guy, and she’s weird in her policy.
- 16 August 2024 claim about Vice President of the USA Kamala Harris and Governor of Minnesota Tim Walz, quoted in "Trump Denies He And JD Vance Are Weird In The Weirdest Way Possible", Yahoo News / Huffington Post

I watched Sheldon sitting so proud in the White House when we gave Miriam the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
That's the highest award you can get as a civilian.
It's the equivalent of the Congressional Medal of Honor, but civilian version.
It's actually much better because everyone gets the Congressional Medal of Honor, they're soldiers.
They're either in very bad shape because they've been hit so many times by bullets or they are dead.
She gets it and she's a healthy, beautiful woman.
And they're rated equal, but she got the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
- "Trump says Medal of Freedom "equivalent" to and "much better" than Medal of Honor, sparking backlash from veterans" CBS News (August 16, 2024)

Kamala will implement SOVIET Style Price Controls. EVERY American will be taxed up to 80% of their income!
If Kamala is elected and implements her Communist Price Caps, there will be famine, starvation, and poverty, the likes of which we have never seen. America will NEVER recover!
Kamala Harris wants to raise your taxes and make you pay for free healthcare and free housing in luxury hotels for her millions of illegal aliens.
- 16 August 2024 quoted in "Donald Trump rants that 'famine' will come to America if Kamala Harris is elected", RawStory

I am much better looking than her. I’m a better looking person than Kamala.
I say that I’m much better looking than her. I had never heard that one. They said her biggest advantage was that she’s a beautiful-looking woman. Ha. I’d never thought of that.
I said, who am I running against, Harris? I said, ‘Who the hell is Harris?'
Joe Biden hates her.
They will say he’s rambling. I don’t ramble. I’m a really smart guy,
- 18 August 2024 per "Trump: ‘I’m Better Looking than Kamala—and Don’t Say I Ramble’", The Daily Beast

You know, he said we’re weird. That J.D. and I are weird. I think we’re extremely normal people. We’re like you, we’re exactly like you.
He [Tim Walz] is weird. Did you ever see him go on the stage and go, like, crazy? Between his movement and her laugh, there’s a lot of crazy. I’d say a step further than weird, weird is a nice word by comparison.
- 19 August 2024 to a small crowd in York, Pennsylvania, quoted in "Trump Insists He’s “Extremely Normal” During Incredibly Weird Speech", Yahoo News / The New Republic

You can’t walk across the street to get a loaf of bread. You get shot, you get mugged, you get raped, you get whatever it may be.
- 21 August 2024 at a rally in Howell, Michigan, quoted in "Trump's Latest Claim About Crime Is A Real Doozy", Yahoo News / Huffington Post

That was a coup, it was a vicious violent overthrow of a president of the United States.
- 20 August 2024 about Joe Biden pulling out of the 2024 presidential election, quoted in "Trump Counters DNC With Rally In Michigan - "That Was A Coup"", KTRH Local Houston and Texas News

We have a fool as a president.
- 20 August 2024 cited in "Trump Counters DNC With Rally In Michigan - "That Was A Coup"", KTRH Local Houston and Texas News

I think that women living in the suburbs—I keep hearing about ‘the suburban woman doesn’t like Trump,’ well, I think it’s a fake poll because why wouldn’t they like me? I keep the suburbs safe.
- 202 August 2024 during a rally in a garage in Howell, Michigan, quoted in "Trump Derails Weird Speech on Crime to Complain Women Hate Him", New Republic

We're going to bring up electronics too. Electronics. We buy everything away. When you see the sophistication of the product I just saw at this place, electronics is peanuts.
- 20 August 2024 in "Thanks, Joe. We won't forget who was POTUS in 2020", Daily Kos

Our primary focus is not to get out the vote, it is to make sure they don’t cheat. We have all the votes we’ll need. You can see it ... every house along the way has signs: Trump, Trump, Trump, Vance, Trump, Vance.
- 20 August 2024 in "Trump says his focus is ensuring Democrats 'don't cheat,' not voter turnout — echoing efforts to undermine election", NBC News

There will be no future under Comrade Kamala Harris, because she will take us into a Nuclear World War III , She will never be respected by the Tyrants of the World!
- 23 August 2024 in "Harris’s convention speech sparks live rant from outraged Trump", The Guardian

My Administration will be great for women and their reproductive rights.
- 23 August 2024 Truth Social

Kamala Harris is the weakest presidential candidate in history on crime.
She’s allowed millions of people to pour through our borders, many from prisons, mental institutions and, indeed, terrorists, coming in at levels never seen before.
What gives her the right to run for president?
She got no votes to Biden’s fourteen million.
She failed in her previous attempt, was the first one out of twenty-two people to quit, never made it to Iowa, and now she’s a presidential candidate?
This is a threat to democracy!
- "'What gives her the right to run?' Trump launches overnight tirade at Kamala Harris", RawStory (August 24, 2024)

The truth is, they’re trying to get out of it because she doesn’t want to debate. She’s not a good debater, she’s not a smart person. She doesn’t want to debate.
- 26 August 2024 in response to the Harris campaign‘s demand that their September 10th debate occur without muted microphones; in "Trump says Harris ‘trying to get out of’ debate over unmuted microphones demand"

15 stunning all-new digital trading cards, it's really something. These cards show me dancing, even holding some BitCoins!
- "Trump revives widely mocked digital trading cards as Harris gains in polls", RawStory (August 27, 2024)

The Harris/Biden administration has been caught fraudulently manipulating job statistics to hide the true extent of the economic ruin that they’ve inflicted on America, Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that the administration padded the numbers with an extra, listen to this one, 818,000 jobs that don’t exist.
- "Donald Trump falsely claimed that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris manipulated job data", Poynter (August 27, 2024)

I think to a certain extent it’s Biden’s fault and Harris’s fault. And I’m the opponent. Look, they were weaponizing government against me, they brought in the whole DOJ to try and get me, they weren’t too interested in my health and safety,They’re saying I’m a threat to democracy,They would say that, that was standard line, just keep saying it, and you know that can get assassins or potential assassins going. That’s a terrible thing … Maybe that bullet is because of their rhetoric.
- With "dr Phil" "Trump, without evidence, in part faults Biden, Harris for assassination attempt", Washington Post (August 28, 2024)

Well, I think the six-week (ban) is too short. It has to be more time. So…and I’ve told them that, I want more weeks. I am going to be voting that we need more than six weeks…. I believe in exceptions for life of the mother, —if you look— incest, rape.
- 29 August 2024 when asked how he was going to vote on the Florida amendment to overturn the six-week ban on abortion; in "Trump says he wants to make IVF treatments paid for by government or insurance companies if elected"

I’m announcing today in a major statement that under the Trump administration, your government will pay for — or your insurance company will be mandated to pay for — all costs associated with IVF treatment. Because we want more babies, to put it nicely.
- 30 August 2024 in 'We want more babies': Trump promises free IVF treatments amid abortion rights debate, says 'US government will pay' - But how?

I’ll be voting ’no’ for that reason
“’No’ on (Florida) Amendment 4?”
For that reason because it‘s radical. You talk about radical. Doing an abortion in the ninth month is unacceptable to anybody…. There‘s something in between, but the six (weeks) is too short, it‘s just too short a period and the nine months is unacceptable…. But for that reason, for the radicalization on the Democrats side, we‘re voting ’no’.
“…Would you veto a federal abortion ban?”
I‘m not going to have to think about it because it‘s working out so well right now. The states are doing it. It‘s a states issue…. Well, what‘s happening is you‘re never going to have to do it because it‘s being done by the states. The states are voting. And the people are now getting a chance to vote and this is the way everybody wanted it.
- 30 August 2024 when asked about how he would vote on the Florida abortion amendment in the upcoming election in Pro-lifers blast Trump 'betrayal' with shifting abortion stance, answer on Florida Amendment 4

It’s crazy. Our country is being poisoned, and your schools and your children are suffering greatly because they’re going into the classrooms, they’re taking the seats and they don’t even speak English.
- 30 Aug 2024 quoted in Washington Times article by Ali Swenson and Will Weissert

If you look at Kamala and you look at what she’s done to every place she’s touched has turned to s**t. Every single place she’s touched. I have to say, it. Every place she’s touched, you know?
- "Melania’s plea for Trump to control his swearing flops as he tears into Harris at rally", Yahoo News / Independent (August 31, 2024)

I don’t need publicity. I get a lot of publicity. I would like to get a lot less publicity.
I would hire a public relations agent to get less publicity.
- "Trump denies exploiting visit to US soldiers’ graves: ‘I don’t need publicity’", The Guardian (August 31, 2024)

Now, they have Kamala who has many deficiencies, but she's a nasty person. The way she treated Mike Pence was horrible. The way she treats people is horrible.
- 31 August 2024 Donald Trump Saying Kamala Harris Was 'Horrible' to Mike Pence Mocked

September 2024

you take a look at Venezuela as an example, the crime is down 72% because they've taken their criminals from Caracas, they've taken their drug dealers. They're emptying their prisons into our country
- "Crime Drop in Venezuela Does Not Prove Trump’s Claim the Country Is Sending Criminals to U.S.", FactCheck.org (June 14, 2024)

I think you believe [in God] more, because when you speak to experts, like my sons who are shooting experts. But when you speak to experts, they said there was no chance that he could have missed from that distance....
I think you think like, if you believe in God, you believe in God more. And somebody said like, why? And I’d like to think that God thinks that I’m going to straighten out our country. Our country is so sick and it’s so broken. Our country is just broken. And maybe that was the reason, I don’t know. I don’t know, a lot of people have said that.
- Speaking about assassination attempt on July 14, 2024, in interview on Fox News “Life, Liberty & Levin”, quoted in "Trump: ‘I’d like to think that God thinks that I’m going to straighten out our country’", The Hill YouTube interview (September 1, 2024)

You just cannot let them have a nuclear weapon. But I will say this: If they do have a nuclear weapon, Israel is gone.
- "Trump says if Iran gets a nuke, 'Israel will be gone'", Iran International (September 1, 2024)

Whoever heard you get indicted for interfering with a presidential election where you have every right to do it?
- "Trump says he had 'every right' to interfere in 2020 election", CNN (September 2, 2024)

You know, I do the weave. You know what the weave is? I’ll talk about like nine different things, and they all come back brilliantly together and it’s like, and friends of mine that are, like, English professors, they say, ‘It’s the most brilliant thing I’ve ever seen.’ But the fake news, you know what they say? ‘He rambled.’
- "Critics Call Hilarious BS On Donald Trump's New Brag About His Speeches", Yahoo News / Huffington Post (September 2, 2024)

[About Project 2025:] I know nothing about it, and they know that, too. Democrats know that, and I purposely haven't read it because I want to say to you I don't, I have no idea what it's all about.
It's easier than saying I read it and you know, all of the things. No, I purposely haven't read it, and I've heard about it.
I've heard about things that are in there that I don't like, and there's some things in there that everybody would like, but there are things that I don't like at all.
- "Trump says ‘purposefully’ hasn’t read Project 2025 — but everybody would like parts of it", RawStory (September 3, 2024)

But I’ve done well with debates. I became president, and then the second time I got millions more votes than I got the first time. I was told if I got 63 million … you would win. You can’t not win. And I got millions of more votes than that and lost by a whisker but— and look at what happened with the world.
- Trump admits he lost 2020 election ‘by a whisker’ during Lex Fridman podcast, Independent (September 3, 2024) "Donald Trump Interview - Lex Fridman Podcast #442" (at 10m51s), Lex Fridman, 3 September 2024.

I am proud to represent our Failing Nation in fighting the GREATEST POLITICAL WITCH HUNT IN HISTORY. REMOVE THE GAG ORDER SO THAT I CAN SHOW HOW CORRUPT OUR COURT SYSTEM IS. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES ARE NOT TO BE GAGGED!
- Claimed about a court order to stop repeatedly intimidating witnesses and attacking family members of a judge in a felony court case, quoted in "'I am proud to represent our failing nation': Trump melts down in early morning court rant", MSN / Raw Story (September 4, 2024)

I’ve been preparing all my life for this debate.
- Referring to his upcoming September 10th debate with Kamala Harris, in Harris and Trump court voters ahead of first debate, News13 WBTW (September 4, 2024)

[Asked about what specific legislation Trump would advance to make child care affordable:] Well, I would do that, and we’re sitting down, and I was, somebody, we had Senator Marco Rubio, and my daughter Ivanka was so impactful on that issue. It’s a very important issue. But I think when you talk about the kind of numbers that I’m talking about, that, because, look, child care is child care is. It’s, couldn’t, you know, there’s something, you have to have it. In this country you have to have it. But when you talk about those numbers compared to the kind of numbers that I’m talking about by taxing foreign nations at levels that they’re not used to — but they’ll get used to it very quickly – and it’s not gonna stop them from doing business with us, but they’ll have a very substantial tax when they send product into our country. Those numbers are so much bigger than any numbers that we’re talking about, including child care, that it’s going to take care. We’re gonna have — I, I look forward to having no deficits within a fairly short period of time, coupled with the reductions that I told you about on waste and fraud and all of the other things that are going on in our country, because I have to stay with child care. I want to stay with child care, but those numbers are small relative to the kind of economic numbers that I’m talking about, including growth, but growth also headed up by what the plan is that I just, that I just told you about. We’re gonna be taking in trillions of dollars, and as much as child care is talked about as being expensive, it’s relatively speaking not very expensive compared to the kind of numbers we’ll be taking in. We’re going to make this into an incredible country that can afford to take care of its people, and then we’ll worry about the rest of the world. Let’s help other people. But we’re going to take care of our country first. This is about America first. It’s about Make America Great Again. We have to do it because right now we’re a failing nation, so we’ll take care of it.
- "Trump tried to explain how he plans to make childcare more affordable. It was a word salad", Independent (September 6, 2024)

But the transgender thing is incredible. Think of it. Your kid goes to school and comes home a few days later with an operation. The school decides what's going to happen with your child. And you know, many of these childs [sic] 15 years later say, 'What the hell happened? Who did this to me?' They say, 'Who did this to me?' It's incredible.
- "Trump's Claim That Children Received Gender-Affirming Surgeries at School Is False", Snopes (September 5, 2024)

As the first order of business, this commission will develop an action plan to totally eliminate fraud and improper payments within six months, saving trillions of dollars
- How Elon Musk Is Influencing Donald Trump, New York Times (September 6, 2024)

[On the likelihood of him sexually abusing a woman in 1979:] She said I was making out with her and then I grabbed her in a certain part. Think of the impracticality of this. I'm famous in a plane, people are coming into the plane and I grab a woman - what are the chances of that happening? Frankly, I know you're going to say it's a terrible thing to say but it couldn't have happened, it didn't happen because she would not have been the chosen one.
- Trump declares E. Jean Carroll 'not the chosen one' in bizarre rant following court appeal, Daily Express US Trump mocks his sexual assault accuser: ‘She would not have been the chosen one’, MSNBC YouTube (September 6, 2024)

I am the Peace President, and only I will stop World War III!
- Trump Loses It on the Cheneys After They Endorse Harris: ‘Irrelevant RINO, Along with His Daughter!’ Mediaite (September 6, 2024)

I better win, I better win, or you're going to have problems like we've never had. We may have no country left. It may be our last election.
- "Trump claims Israel will be 'gone' within two years if Harris is elected president: video", Fox News (September 7, 2024)

WHEN I WIN, those people that CHEATED will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the Law, which will include long term prison sentences so that this Depravity of Justice does not happen again.
Please beware that this legal exposure extends to Lawyers, Political Operatives, Donors, Illegal Voters, & Corrupt Election Officials. Those involved in unscrupulous behavior will be sought out, caught, and prosecuted at levels, unfortunately, never seen before in our Country.
- Trump threatens long prison sentences for those who ‘cheat’ in the election if he wins, PBS News (September 8, 2024)

The moment we win, we will rapidly review the cases of every political prisoner unjustly victimized by the Harris regime, and I will sign their pardons on day one. With your vote this election, their lying, cheating, thieving, hoaxing, and plotting will come to an end. We got to stop the cheating. If we stop that cheating, if we don't let them cheat, I don't even have to campaign anymore. We're going to win by so much.
- At a rally in Wisconsin on Saturday, CNN News Central Transcripts (September 9, 2024)

Can you imagine you’re a parent and your son leaves the house and you say, ‘Jimmy, I love you so much. Go have a good day in school’ and your son comes back with a brutal operation. Can you even imagine this? What the hell is wrong with our country?
- "Trump falsely claims children being forced into gender transition ops at school in rambling fantasy-filled rally speech", Yahoo News / Independent (September 9, 2024)

I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT!
- "Trump says ‘I hate Taylor Swift’ after pop star endorses Kamala Harris", CNBC (September 15, 2024)

Latin music superstar Nicky Jam. Do you know Nicky? She’s hot.
- Claimed about the singer after he endorsed Trump, quoted in "Donald Trump misgenders reggaeton star Nicky Jam at rally: 'She's hot'", USA Today (September 16, 2024)

We have to call it Covid. What the hell does Covid mean. The China virus. A lot of people think they did that because they were not happy with me as president.
- Trump pushes theory that 'China created Covid-19 because they didn't like his presidency' (September 17, 2024)

I don't know what happened. With the bomb threats. I know that it's been taken over by illegal migrants, and that's a terrible thing that happened. Springfield was this beautiful town, and now they're going through hell.
- How life in Springfield has been disrupted by lies about its Haitian community, PBS News (17 September, 2024)

Nobody can draw crowds like me... I’m the greatest of all time. Maybe greater even than Elvis. Elvis had a guitar, I don’t have a guitar. I don’t have the privilege of a guitar.
- "Donald Trump boasts he is ‘greater than Elvis’", MSN (September 19, 2024)

She doesn’t like doing interviews. And she’s not knowledgeable about economy and various things, and I think it would be a problem. But you know what? [Biden] was pretty much gone. They said, 'Joe, it’s over. You're getting out.' And they put her in, and she somehow — a woman — somehow she's doing better than he did. But I can't imagine it can last.
- During an appearance on Fox News’ Gutfeld!, Donald Trump Just Made An Eyebrow-Raising Observation About Kamala Harris, Yahoo News (September 19, 2024)

This is Martin Luther King on steroids. I told that to Mark. I said, 'I think you're better than Martin Luther King. I think you are Martin Luther King times two.'
- Said about candidate for North Carolina governor Mark Robinson, quoted in "Robinson not expected to attend Trump's North Carolina rally amid scandal: Sources", ABC News (September 21, 2024)

Anybody that thinks crime is going down is a serious brain problem.
- "Murder, other violent crime rates dropped across US last year, new FBI data shows", Scripps News (September 23, 2024)

She had the other interview with the other guy who was a nice guy I think from Philadelphia from Pennsylvania, he was a nice guy, he was asking her all these (scrambles words) – the daily take – they don’t take like I do! Anybody wants to go, go what the hell differences they make – they have – and how dishonest was ABC.
I'm cognitively very strong.
- "Trump teased over rambling ‘word salad’ at rally as he insists he is 'cognitively very strong'", Yahoo News / The Independent (September 24, 2024)

If any senior doesn't vote for Trump, we're gonna have to send you to a psychiatrist to have your head examined.
- "Trump Tells ANOTHER Group of Voters to 'Have Your Head Examined'", Mediaite (September 25, 2024)

If I were the president, I would inform the threatening country, in this case, Iran, that if you do anything to harm this person, we are going to blow your largest cities and the country itself to smithereens. We're going to blow it to smithereens. There would be no more threats.
- "Trump suggests Iran tied to assassination attempts, issues blunt warning", ABC News (September 26, 2024)

It has been determined that Google has illegally used a system of only revealing and displaying bad stories about Donald J Trump, some made up for this purpose while, at the same time, only revealing good stories about Comrade Kamala Harris. This is an ILLEGAL ACTIVITY, and hopefully the Justice Department will criminally prosecute them for this blatant Interference of Elections. If not, and subject to the Laws of our Country, I will request their prosecution, when I win the Election and become President of the United States.
- From a post on Truth Social, cited in Trump vows to seek criminal charges against Google if re-elected president, The Guardian (September 28, 2024)
Crooked Joe Biden became mentally impaired, Sad. But lying Kamala Harris, honestly, I believe she was born that way. There’s something wrong with Kamala. And I just don’t know what it is but there is definitely something missing. And you know what, everybody knows it.

1st Debate with Kamala Harris (September 10, 2024)

in response to Kamala Harris bringing up Project 2025:
…she knows better than anyone, I have nothing to do with Project 2025. That's out there. I haven't read it. I don't want to read it, purposely. I'm not going to read it. This was a group of people that got together, they came up with some ideas. I guess some good, some bad. But it makes no difference. I have nothing to do -- everybody knows I'm an open book. Everybody knows what I'm going to do. Cut taxes very substantially. And create a great economy like I did before.
- Harris-Trump presidential debate transcript, ABC News (September 10, 2024)

regarding inflation during the Biden presidency:
I had no inflation, virtually no inflation, they had the highest inflation, perhaps in the history of our country because I've never seen a worse period of time. People can't go out and buy cereal bacon or eggs or anything else. These the people of our country are absolutely dying with what they've done. They've destroyed the economy and all you have to do it look at a poll. The polls say 80 and 85 and even 90% that the Trump economy was great that their economy was terrible.
- Harris-Trump presidential debate transcript, ABC News (September 10, 2024)

We hardly make chips anymore because of philosophies like they have and policies like they have. I don't say her because she has no policy. Everything that she believed three years ago and four years ago is out the window. She's going to my philosophy now. In fact, I was going to send her a MAGA hat. She's gone to my philosophy. But if she ever got elected, she'd change it. And it will be the end of our country. She's a Marxist. Everybody knows she's a Marxist.
- Harris-Trump presidential debate transcript, ABC News (September 10, 2024)

But when you look at what she's done to our country and when you look at these millions and millions of people that are pouring into our country monthly where it's I believe 21 million people, not the 15 that people say, and I think it's a lot higher than the 21. That's bigger than New York state. Pouring in. And just look at what they're doing to our country. They're criminals. Many of these people coming in are criminals. And that's bad for our economy too.
- Harris-Trump presidential debate transcript, ABC News (September 10, 2024)

LINSEY DAVIS: …Vice President Harris says that women shouldn't trust you on the issue of abortion because you've changed your position so many times. Therefore, why should they trust you?
Well, the reason I'm doing that vote [voting “no” on the Florida abortion ban] is because the plan is, as you know, the vote is, they have abortion in the ninth month. They even have, and you can look at the governor of West Virginia, the previous governor of West Virginia, not the current governor, who's doing an excellent job, but the governor before. He said the baby will be born and we will decide what to do with the baby. In other words, we'll execute the baby.
- Harris-Trump presidential debate transcript, ABC News (September 10, 2024)

But her vice presidential pick [Tim Walz] says abortion in the ninth month is absolutely fine. He also says execution after birth, it's execution, no longer abortion, because the baby is born, is okay. And that's not okay with me. Hence the vote. But what I did is something for 52 years they've been trying to get Roe v. Wade into the states.
- Harris-Trump presidential debate transcript, ABC News (September 10, 2024)

And now states are voting on it. And for the first time you're going to see -- look, this is an issue that's torn our country apart for 52 years. Every legal scholar, every Democrat, every Republican, liberal, conservative, they all wanted this issue to be brought back to the states where the people could vote. And that's what happened, happened.
- Harris-Trump presidential debate transcript, ABC News (September 10, 2024)

KAMALA HARRIS: …But understand, if Donald Trump were to be re-elected, he will sign a national abortion ban….
I’m not signing a ban. And there's no reason to sign a ban. Because we've gotten what everybody wanted. Democrats, Republicans and everybody else and every legal scholar wanted it to be brought back into the states. And the states are voting. And it may take a little time, but for 52 years this issue has torn our country apart. And they've wanted it back in the states. And I did something that nobody thought was possible. The states are now voting. What she says is an absolute lie. And as far as the abortion ban, no, I'm not in favor of abortion ban. But it doesn't matter because this issue has now been taken over by the states.
- Harris-Trump presidential debate transcript, ABC News (September 10, 2024)

KAMALA HARRIS: …You will see during the course of his rallies he talks about fictional characters like Hannibal Lecter. He will talk about windmills cause cancer. And what you will also notice is that people start leaving his rallies early out of exhaustion and boredom….
First let me respond as to the rallies. She said people start leaving. People don't go to her rallies. There's no reason to go. And the people that do go, she's busing them in and paying them to be there. And then showing them in a different light. So, she can't talk about that. People don't leave my rallies. We have the biggest rallies, the most incredible rallies in the history of politics. That's because people want to take their country back. Our country is being lost. We're a failing nation. And it happened three and a half years ago. And what, what's going on here, you're going to end up in World War 3, just to go into another subject. What they have done to our country by allowing these millions and millions of people to come into our country. And look at what's happening to the towns all over the United States. And a lot of towns don't want to talk -- not going to be Aurora or Springfield. A lot of towns don't want to talk about it because they're so embarrassed by it. In Springfield, they're eating the dogs. The people that came in. They're eating the cats. They're eating -- they're eating the pets of the people that live there. And this is what's happening in our country. And it's a shame….
DAVID MUIR: I just want to clarify here, you bring up Springfield, Ohio. And ABC News did reach out to the city manager there. He told us there have been no credible reports of specific claims of pets being harmed, injured or abused by individuals within the immigrant community --
Well, I've seen people on television
DAVID MUIR: Let me just say here this ...
The people on television say my dog was taken and used for food. So maybe he said that and maybe that's a good thing to say for a city manager.
DAVID MUIR: I'm not taking this from television. I'm taking it from the city manager.
But the people on television say their dog was eaten by the people that went there.
DAVID MUIR: Again, the Springfield city manager says there's no evidence of that.
*We'll find out.
- Harris-Trump presidential debate transcript, ABC News (September 10, 2024)

But just to finish, I got more votes than any Republican in history by far. In fact, I got more votes than any president, sitting president in history by far.
- Harris-Trump presidential debate transcript, ABC News (September 10, 2024)

DAVID MUIR: You also said you would use local police. How would you deport 11 million undocumented immigrants? I know you believe that number is much higher….
Yeah. It is much higher because of them. They allowed criminals. Many, many, millions of criminals. They allowed terrorists. They allowed common street criminals. They allowed people to come in, drug dealers, to come into our country, and they're now in the United States. And told by their countries like Venezuela don't ever come back or we're going to kill you. Do you know that crime in Venezuela and crime in countries all over the world is way down? You know why? Because they've taken their criminals off the street and they've given them to her to put into our country. And this will be one of the greatest mistakes in history for them to allow -- and I think they probably did it because they think they're going to get votes. But it's not worth it. Because they're destroying the fabric of our country by what they've done. There's never been anything done like this at all. They've destroyed the fabric of our country. Millions of people let in. And all over the world crime is down. All over the world except here. Crime here is up and through the roof. Despite their fraudulent statements that they made. Crime in this country is through the roof. And we have a new form of crime. It's called migrant crime. And it's happening at levels that nobody thought possible.
DAVID MUIR: President Trump, as you know, the FBI says overall violent crime is actually coming down in this country, but Vice President the...
Excuse me, the FBI -- they were defrauding statements. They didn't include the worst cities. They didn't include the cities with the worst crime. It was a fraud. Just like their number of 818,000 jobs that they said they created turned out to be a fraud.
- Harris-Trump presidential debate transcript, ABC News (September 10, 2024)

Responding to Harris listing the criminal cases against Trump:
Excuse me. Every one of those cases was started by them against their political opponent. And I'm winning most of them and I'll win the rest on appeal. And you saw that with the decision that came down just recently from the Supreme Court. I'm winning most of them. But those are cases, it's called weaponization. Never happened in this country. They weaponized the justice department. Every one of those cases was involved with the DOJ, from Atlanta and Fani Willis -- to the attorney general of New York and the D.A. In New York. Every one of those cases. And then they say oh, he was -- he's a criminal. They're the ones that made them go after me. By the way, Joe Biden was found essentially guilty on the documents case. And what happened in my documents case? They said oh, that's the toughest of them all. A complete and total victory. Two months ago it was thrown out. It's weaponization. And they used it. And it's never happened in this country. They used it to try and win an election. They're fake cases….
…This is the one that weaponized. Not me. She weaponized. I probably took a bullet to the head because of the things that they say about me. They talk about democracy. I'm a threat to democracy. They're the threat to democracy – With the fake Russia Russia Russia investigation that went nowhere.
- Harris-Trump presidential debate transcript, ABC News (September 10, 2024)

Responding to Harris‘ statement that he inherited $400 million:
Well, first of all, I wasn't given $400 million. I wish I was. My father was a Brooklyn builder. Brooklyn, Queens. And a great father and I learned a lot from him. But I was given a fraction of that, a tiny fraction, and I built it into many, many billions of dollars. Many, many billions. And when people see it, they are even surprised. So, we don't have to talk about that.
- Harris-Trump presidential debate transcript, ABC News (September 10, 2024)

She went out -- she went out in Minnesota and wanted to let criminals that killed people, that burned down Minneapolis, she went out and raised money to get them out of jail. She did things that nobody would ever think of. Now she wants to do transgender operations on illegal aliens that are in prison. This is a radical left liberal that would do this. She wants to confiscate your guns and she will never allow fracking in Pennsylvania. If she won the election, fracking in Pennsylvania will end on day one.
- Harris-Trump presidential debate transcript, ABC News (September 10, 2024)

Because the prices of energy were quadrupling and doubling. You saw what happened to gasoline. So, they said let’s go back to Trump. But if she won the election, the day after that election, they’ll go back to destroying our country and oil will be dead, fossil fuel will be dead. We’ll go back to windmills and we’ll go back to solar, where they need a whole desert to get some energy to come out. You ever see a solar plant? By the way, I’m a big fan of solar. But they take 400, 500 acres of desert soil— These are not good things for the environment that she understands.
- Harris-Trump presidential debate transcript, ABC News (September 10, 2024)

DAVID MUIR: You were the president. You were watching [the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol] unfold on television. It’s a very simple question as we move forward toward another election. Is there anything you regret about what you did on that day? Yes or no.
I had nothing to do with that other than they asked me to make a speech. I showed up for a speech. I said, I think it’s going to be big. I went to Nancy Pelosi and the mayor of Washington, D.C. And the mayor put it back in writing, as you know. I said, you know, this is going to be a very big rally or whatever you want to call it. And again, it wasn’t done by me. It was done by others. I said I’d like to give you 10,000 National Guard or soldiers. They rejected me. Nancy Pelosi rejected me. It was just two weeks ago, her daughter has a tape of her saying she is fully responsible for what happened. They want to get rid of that tape. It would have never happened if Nancy Pelosi and the mayor of Washington did their jobs. I wasn’t responsible for security. Nancy Pelosi was responsible. She didn’t do her job.
- Harris-Trump presidential debate transcript, ABC News (September 10, 2024)

DAVID MUIR: Are you now acknowledging that you lost in 2020?
No, I don’t acknowledge that at all.
DAVID MUIR: But you did say that.
I said that sarcastically. You know that. It was said, oh we lost by a whisker. That was said sarcastically. Look, there’s so much proof. All you have to do is look at it. And they should have sent it back to the legislatures for approval. I got almost 75 million votes. The most votes any sitting president has ever gotten. I was told if I got 63, which was what I got in 2016, you can’t be beaten. The election, people should never be thinking about an election as fraudulent. We need two things. We need walls. We need — and we have to have it. We have to have borders. And we have to have good elections.
Our elections are bad. And a lot of these illegal immigrants coming in, they’re trying to get them to vote. They can’t even speak English. They don’t even know what country they’re in practically. And these people are trying to get them to vote. And that’s why they’re allowing them to come into our country.
- Harris-Trump presidential debate transcript, ABC News (September 10, 2024)

DAVID MUIR: And [many judges] said there was no widespread [election] fraud.
No judge looked at it. They said we didn’t have standing. That’s the other thing. They said we didn’t have standing. A technicality. Can you imagine a system where a person in an election doesn’t have standing, the President of the United States doesn’t have standing? That’s how we lost. If you look at the facts, and I’d love to have you — you’ll do a special on it. I’ll show you Georgia and I’ll show you Wisconsin and I’ll show you Pennsylvania and I’ll show you — we have so many facts and statistics. But you know what? That doesn’t matter. Because we have to solve the problem that we have right now. That’s old news. And the problem that we have right now is we have a nation in decline and they have put it into decline. We have a nation that is dying, David
- Harris-Trump presidential debate transcript, ABC News (September 10, 2024)

KAMALA HARRIS: …And world leaders are laughing at Donald Trump. I have talked with military leaders, some of whom worked with you. And they say you’re a disgrace….
DAVID MUIR: I’ll give you one minute to respond, Mr. President.
Let me just tell you about world leaders. Viktor Orban, one of the most respected men — they call him a strong man. He’s a tough person. Smart. Prime Minister of Hungary. They said why is the whole world blowing up? Three years ago it wasn’t. Why is it blowing up? He said because you need Trump back as president. They were afraid of him. China was afraid. And I don’t like to use the word afraid but I’m just quoting him. China was afraid of him. North Korea was afraid of him. Look at what’s going on with North Korea, by the way. He said Russia was afraid of him….
Look, Viktor Orban said it. He said the most respected, most feared person is Donald Trump. We had no problems when Trump was president. But when this weak pathetic man that you saw at a debate just a few months ago that if he weren’t in that debate he’d be running instead of her, she got no votes, he got 14 million votes, what you did, you talk about a threat to democracy. He got 14 million votes [in the primaries] and they threw him out of office. And you know what? I’ll give you a little secret. He hates her. He can’t stand her…. But he had 14 million votes. They threw them out. She got zero votes. And when she ran, she was the first one to leave because she failed. And now she’s running. I don’t understand it but I’m okay with it – because I think we’re going to do pretty well.
- Harris-Trump presidential debate transcript, ABC News (September 10, 2024)

LINSEY DAVIS: President Trump, how would you negotiate with Netanyahu and also Hamas in order to get the hostages out and prevent the killing of more innocent civilians in Gaza?
If I were president it would have never started. If I were president Russia would have never, ever -- I know Putin very well. He would have never -- and there was no threat of it either, by the way, for four years. Have gone into Ukraine and killed millions of people when you add it up.
- Harris-Trump presidential debate transcript, ABC News (September 10, 2024)

She hates Israel. If she's president, I believe that Israel will not exist within two years from now. And I've been pretty good at predictions. And I hope I'm wrong about that one. She hates Israel. At the same time in her own way she hates the Arab population because the whole place is going to get blown up, Arabs, Jewish people, Israel. Israel will be gone. It would have never happened. Iran was broke under Donald Trump. Now Iran has $300 billion because they took off all the sanctions that I had. Iran had no money for Hamas or Hezbollah or any of the 28 different spheres of terror.
- Harris-Trump presidential debate transcript, ABC News (September 10, 2024)

And I'll get the war with Ukraine and Russia ended. If I'm President-Elect, I'll get it done before even becoming president.
- Harris-Trump presidential debate transcript, ABC News (September 10, 2024)

KAMALA HARRIS: …It is well known that he said of Putin that he can do whatever the hell he wants and go into Ukraine. It is well known when that he said when Russia went into Ukraine it was brilliant….
They're the ones -- and she's the one that caused it, that's weak on national security by allowing every nation last month for the year, 168 different countries sending people into our country. Their crime rates are way down. Putin endorsed her last week. Said I hope she wins. And I think he meant it. Because what he's gotten away with is absolutely incredible. It wouldn't have happened with me.
- Harris-Trump presidential debate transcript, ABC News (September 10, 2024)

DAVID MUIR: …You have said you would solve this war [in Ukraine] in 24 hours. How exactly would you do that? And I want to ask you a very simple question tonight. Do you want Ukraine to win this war?
I want to get the war settled. I know Zelenskyy very well and I know Putin very well. I have a good relationship. And they respect your president. Okay? They respect me. They don't respect Biden….
If I win, when I'm President-Elect, and what I'll do is I'll speak to one, I'll speak to the other, I'll get them together. That war would have never happened. And in fact when I saw Putin after I left, unfortunately left because our country has gone to hell, but after I left when I saw him building up soldiers, he did it after I left, I said oh, he must be negotiating. It must be a good strong point of negotiation. Well, it wasn't because Biden had no idea how to talk to him. He had no idea how to stop it. And now you have millions of people dead and it's only getting worse and it could lead to World War 3. Don't kid yourself, David. We're playing with World War 3.
- Harris-Trump presidential debate transcript, ABC News (September 10, 2024)

And we have a president that we don't even know if he's -- where is our president? We don't even know if he's a president.
DAVID MUIR: And just to clarify here.
They threw him out of a campaign like a dog. We don't even know, is he our president? But we have a president…
DAVID MUIR: Mr. President,--
…that doesn't know he's alive.
- Harris-Trump presidential debate transcript, ABC News (September 10, 2024)

KAMALA HARRIS: …If Donald Trump were president, Putin would be sitting in Kyiv right now….
Putin would be sitting in Moscow and he wouldn't have lost 300,000 men and women. But he would have been sitting in Moscow… But eventually, you know, he's got a thing that other people don't have. He's got nuclear weapons. They don't ever talk about that. He's got nuclear weapons. Nobody ever thinks about that. And eventually uh maybe he'll use them. Maybe he hasn't been that threatening. But he does have that. Something we don't even like to talk about.
- Harris-Trump presidential debate transcript, ABC News (September 10, 2024)

And that's the kind of talent we have with her. She's worse than Biden. In my opinion, I think he's the worst president in the history of our country. She goes down as the worst vice president in the history of our country. But let me tell you something. She is a horrible negotiator. They sent her in to negotiate. As soon as they left Putin did the invasion.
- Harris-Trump presidential debate transcript, ABC News (September 10, 2024)

KAMALA HARRIS: [Regarding a peace deal Trump negotiated to end the Afghan War:] He bypassed the Afghan government. He negotiated directly with a terrorist organization called the Taliban. The negotiation involved the Taliban getting 5,000 terrorists, Taliban terrorists released.
So if you take a look at that period of time, the Taliban was killing our soldiers, a lot of them, with snipers. And I got involved with the Taliban because the Taliban was doing the killing. That's the fighting force within Afghanistan. They don't bother doing that because you know, they deal with the wrong people all the time. But I got involved. And Abdul is the head of the Taliban. He is still the head of the Taliban. And I told Abdul don't do it anymore, you do it anymore you're going to have problems. And he said why do you send me a picture of my house? I said you're going to have to figure that out, Abdul. And for 18 months we had nobody killed. We did have an agreement negotiated by Mike Pompeo. It was a very good agreement. The reason it was good, it was -- we were getting out. We would have been out faster than them, but we wouldn't have lost the soldiers. We wouldn't have left many Americans behind. And we wouldn't have left -- we wouldn't have left $85 billion worth of brand new beautiful military equipment behind. And just to finish, they blew it. The agreement said you have to do this, this, this, this, this, and they didn't do it. They didn't do it. The agreement was, was terminated by us because they didn't do what they were supposed to do.
- Harris-Trump presidential debate transcript, ABC News (September 10, 2024)

DAVID MUIR: …Why do you believe it's appropriate to weigh in on the racial identity of your opponent?
I don't. And I don't care. I don't care what she is. I don't care. You make a big deal out of something. I couldn't care less. Whatever she wants to be is okay with me.
DAVID MUIR: But those were your words. So, I'm asking --
I don't know. I don't know. All I can say is I read where she was not Black, that she put out. And, I'll say that. And then I read that she was black. And that's okay. Either one was okay with me. That's up to her. That's up to her.
- Harris-Trump presidential debate transcript, ABC News (September 10, 2024)

KAMALA HARRIS: …Let's remember, this is the same individual who took out a full-page ad in The New York Times calling for the execution of five young Black and Latino boys who were innocent, the Central Park Five. Took out a full-page ad calling for their execution….
This is the most divisive presidency in the history of our country. There's never been anything like it. They're destroying our country. And they come up with things like what she just said going back many, many years when a lot of people including Mayor Bloomberg agreed with me on the Central Park Five. They admitted -- they said, they pled guilty. And I said, well, if they pled guilty they badly hurt a person, killed a person ultimately. And if they pled guilty -- then they pled we're not guilty.
- Harris-Trump presidential debate transcript, ABC News (September 10, 2024)

I built one of the greatest economies in the history of the world and I'm going to build it again. It's going to be bigger, better and stronger. But they're destroying our economy. They have no idea what a good economy is. Their oil policies -- every single policy -- and remember this. She is Biden. She's trying to get away from Biden. I don't know the gentleman, she says. She is Biden. The worst inflation we've ever had. A horrible economy because inflation has made it so bad and she can't get away with that.
- Harris-Trump presidential debate transcript, ABC News (September 10, 2024)

She is destroying our country. She has a plan to defund the police. She has a plan to confiscate everybody's gun. She has a plan to not allow fracking in Pennsylvania or anywhere else. That's what her plan is until just recently.
- Harris-Trump presidential debate transcript, ABC News (September 10, 2024)

LINSEY DAVIS: …So tonight, nine years after you first started running, do you have a [healthcare] plan and can you tell us what it is?
Obamacare was lousy health care. Always was. It's not very good today. And what I said, that if we come up with something, we are working on things, we're going to do it and we're going to replace it…. And what we will do is we're looking at different plans. If we can come up with a plan that's going to cost our people, our population less money and be better health care than Obamacare, then I would absolutely do it. But until then I'd run it as good as it can be run.
LINSEY DAVIS: So just a yes or no, you still do not have a plan?
I have concepts of a plan. I'm not president right now. But if we come up with something I would only change it if we come up with something better and less expensive. And there are concepts and options we have to do that. And you'll be hearing about it in the not-too-distant future.
- Harris-Trump presidential debate transcript, ABC News (September 10, 2024)

Closing Statement:
…We're a failing nation. We're a nation that's in serious decline. We're being laughed at all over the world. All over the world, they laugh, I know the leaders very well. They're coming to see me. They call me. We're laughed at all over the world. They don't understand what happened to us as a nation. We're not a leader. We don't have any idea what's going on. We have wars going on in the Middle East. We have wars going on with Russia and Ukraine. We're going to end up in a third World War. And it will be a war like no other because of nuclear weapons, the power of weaponry. I rebuilt our entire military. She gave a lot of it away to the Taliban. She gave it to Afghanistan. What these people have done to our country, and maybe toughest of all is allowing millions of people to come into our country, many of them are criminals, and they're destroying our country. The worst president, the worst vice president in the history of our country.
- Harris-Trump presidential debate transcript, ABC News (September 10, 2024)

It was 3 on 1, but they were mentally challenged people, against one person of extraordinary genius.

They didn't correct her [Harris] once and they corrected me. Everything I said, practically, I think 9 times or 11 times. And the audience was absolutely, they went crazy. And the real, I thought, I walked off and I said, 'that was a great debate, I loved it.'
- Regarding the debate audience (which there wasn‘t one), Donald Trump's Debate Crowd Comment Sparks Confusion: 'They Went Crazy', Newsweek (September 19, 2024)

October 2024

We do a lot of these beautiful rallies, and it's so great. We never have an empty seat, never have. Look at it.
- "Donald Trump Rally Videos Show Hundreds of Empty Seats", Newsweek (October 10, 2024)

We have two enemies: We have the outside enemy, and then we have the enemy from within. And the enemy from within, in my opinion, is more dangerous than China, Russia and all these countries… But the thing that's tougher to handle are these lunatics that we have inside, like Adam Schiff — Adam 'Shifty' Schiff… I call him the enemy from within. When you look at the danger he put our country in potentially with Russia — with a phony, made-up deal that he made up with Hillary and some bad people.
- Former President Trump calls the 'enemy from within' more dangerous than any foreign entity FoxNews (October 13, 2024)

So we’re gonna take care of it, you and me. I’ll tell you, if everything works out and everybody gets out on January 5th, or before. You know, it used to be, you’d have a date. Today, you can vote two months before, probably three months after. They don’t know what the hell they’re doing. But we’re gonna straighten it all out. We’re gonna straighten that out, too. We’re gonna straighten out our election process, too. That’s gotta be important also.
- Whoops! Trump Tells Supporters to Get Out and Vote on ‘January 5th’ Mediaite (October 14, 2024)

Let’s not do any more questions. Let’s just listen to music. Let’s make it into a music. Who the hell wants to hear questions, right?
- Trump sways and bops to music for 39 minutes in bizarre town hall episode The Washington Post (October 14, 2024)

I’m the father of IVF.
- "Fact check: Trump makes at least 19 false claims in one-hour Fox town hall with women", CNN (October 16, 2024)

Ashli Babbitt was killed, nobody was killed.
- Claimed about the January 6, 2020 United States Capitol attack. Quoted in "Univision Audience Reaction to Donald Trump Answer in Town Hall Goes Viral", Newsweek (October 17, 2024)

Very importantly, you had hundreds of thousands of people come to Washington [on January 6th]. They didn’t come because of me. They came because of the election. They thought the election was a rigged election and that’s why they came. Some of those people went down to the Capitol, I said, peacefully and patriotically, nothing done wrong at all. Nothing done wrong. And action was taken, strong action. Ashli Babbitt was killed. Nobody was killed. There were no guns down there. We didn’t have guns. The others had guns, but we didn’t have guns. And when I say “we” these are people that walk down, this was a tiny percentage of the overall, which nobody sees and nobody shows.
But that was a day of love from the standpoint of the millions, it’s like hundreds of thousands. It could have been the largest group I’ve ever spoken before. They asked me to speak. I went and I spoke and I used the term peacefully and patriotically. If you look at the Democrats, what they say, you look at Maxine Waters, and you look at Hillary Clinton and you look at what they say and they don’t put that on. They only put Republicans on, but they couldn’t get me because of the fact that I said, everything’s got to be peaceful and patriotic and we’ll see how it all works out.
- In response to a question about why a voter should support Trump after his role on January 6th Trump Town Hall on Univision (October 17, 2024)

Kamala should be investigated and forced off the Campaign, and Joe Biden allowed to take back his rightful place (He got 14 Million Primary Votes, she got none!). THIS WHOLE SORDID AND FRAUDULENT EVENT IS A THREAT TO DEMOCRACY!
- As it appeared on Truth Social, reported in Trump Melts Down In Wild Post Claiming Kamala Harris ‘Should Be Investigated’ And Biden Should Be His Opponent Again Mediaite (October 17, 2024)

We have another former New York City mayor with us. Frankly, easily the worst in our history. And it's not Michael, that I can tell you. I'm surprised that Bill de Blasio was actually able to make it tonight, to be honest. He was a terrible mayor. I don't give a shit if this is comedy or not. He was a terrible mayor. He did a horrible job. That's not comedy, by the way. That's fact.
- Al Smith dinner (October 17, 2024)

If we go with Kamala, you won’t have any cows anymore.
They want to do things like no more cows and no windows in buildings.
- "Trump tells child there will be no cows under Harris", The Hill (October 18, 2024)

Howard Kurtz: But when you said, you know, it's gone viral, they're eating the dogs, they're eating the cats. But why not say now, well, look, that turned out not to be true.
Trump: I don't know if it's true or not true.
Kurtz: You don't know if it's true or not true. It's been debunked by the officials.
Trump: What about the goose? The geese? They're all missing. It was one guy with two geese. I have no idea. I said something. The big problem is that you can't put 30,000 people into a 50,000-person town or city and expect this city to even survive or do well. What they've done to Springfield, Ohio, is very, very unfair. And I mean, there are a lot of stories. There are a lot of other stories that I've heard that are horrible stories... Don't don't, you know, blame me.
Kurtz: Well, I think it's been debunked by local officials.
Trump: I don't think it's been debunked at all. I think nobody talks about it except you.
If radical left lunatics disrupt the election, it should be very easily handled by — if necessary, by National Guard, or if really necessary, by the military.
- Interview with Fox New host Howard Kurtz in 'It's been debunked': Fox News host fact checks Trump to his face on Springfield Haitians RawStory (October 20, 2024)

Comrade Kamala Harris sees that she is losing, and losing badly, especially after stealing the Race from Crooked Joe Biden, so now she is increasingly raising her rhetoric, going so far as to call me Adolf Hitler, and anything else that comes to her warped mind. She is a Threat to Democracy

I NEED THE KIND OF GENERALS THAT HITLER HAD
When Kamala came in, she dismantled our border and threw open the gates to an invasion of criminal migrants. We're a dumping ground. We're like a garbage can for the world. That's what's happened. That's what's happened to our ... We're like a garbage can

He’d take all the candy away very quickly. She wouldn’t have any idea what happened. It would be like a grand chess master playing a beginner. We would lose our country or be in World War III,because she’d get exasperated. She’s in no way able to handle him. He’s a fierce individual.
Now we have income taxes, and we have people that are dying. They're paying tax, and they don't have the money to pay the tax. In the old days … we had so much money, they had to set up committees, blue-ribbon committees, [on] how to spend our wealth. We had no idea how to spend it with so much money. Then we went to the income tax system and the rest is sort of history. But no, there is a way

And my people told me about four weeks ago, I was saying, ‘No, I want to protect the people. I want to protect the women of our country. I want to protect the women.’
“‘Sir, please don’t say that.’
“They said, ‘We think it’s, it’s very inappropriate for you to say.’
“I pay these guys a lot of money. Can you believe it? Well, I’m going to do it whether the women like it or not. I’m going to protect them.
- Trump Says He Will Protect Women ‘Whether The Women Like It Or Not’ HuffPost (October 30, 2024)

She's a radical war hawk. Let's put her with a rifle standing there, with nine barrels shooting at her, okay? Let's see how she feels about it, you know, when the guns are trained on her face.
- Referring to Liz Cheney, reported in Arizona prosecutor investigating Trump for saying Cheney should face gunfire Reuters (October 31, 2024)

November 2024

I could’ve been anywhere I wanted to be. I could’ve had those waves smacking me in the face. That white, beautiful white skin that I have would be nice and tan. I got the whitest skin ’cause I never have time to go out in the sun. But I have that beautiful white, and you know what? It could’ve been beautiful, tanned, beautiful.
- Trump Boasts He Has ‘Beautiful White Skin’ Right After Slamming Kamala Harris MSN (November 2, 2024)

I shouldn’t have left. I mean, honestly, because we did so, we did so well.
- Trump says he ‘shouldn’t have left’ the White House as he closes campaign with increasingly dark message CNN (November 3, 2024)

In many cases, our allies are worse than our so-called enemies.
- Claimed about allied NATO members and Russia, quoted in "Trump claims US is being exploited by allies, calls them ‘worse than enemies’", TVP World (November 3, 2024)

Now I want to take this opportunity to give you some advice. Over the course of your life, you will find that things are not always fair, you will find that things happen to you that you do not deserve, and that are not always warranted, but you have to put your head down, and FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! Never ever ever give up, things will work out just fine. Look at the way I've been treated lately, especially by the media. No politician in history, and I say this is great surety, has been treated worse, more unfairly. You can't let them get you down, you can't let the critics, and the naysayers get in the way of your dream. I guess that's why I won, thank you. I guess that's why we won. Adversity makes you stronger, don't give in, don't back down, and never stop doing what you know is right. Nothing worth doing, ever ever ever came easy, and the more righteous you fight, the more opposition that you will face. I've accomplished a tremendous amount, in a very short time as president.
- Speech (November 6, 2024)^{[citation needed]}

Any Republican Senator seeking the coveted LEADERSHIP position in the United States Senate must agree to Recess Appointments (in the Senate!), without which we will not be able to get people confirmed in a timely manner. Sometimes the votes can take two years, or more. This is what they did four years ago, and we cannot let it happen again. We need positions filled IMMEDIATELY!
- Trump declares Senate majority candidates should allow him to make recess appointments NBC News (November 10, 2024)

December 2024

I spoke to over 100 countries. You wouldn’t believe how many countries there are.
- 16 December 2024, Politico and CNN

2025

January 2025

Just a few months ago, in a beautiful Pennsylvania field, an assassin’s bullet ripped through my ear. But I felt then and believe even more so now that my life was saved for a reason. I was saved by God to Make America Great Again.
I stand before you now as proof that you should never believe that something is impossible to do. In America, the impossible is what we do best.
We will stand bravely, we will live proudly, we will dream boldly, and nothing will stand in our way because we are Americans. The future is ours, and our golden age has just begun.
- Second inaugural address, 20 January 2025

Disputed

These people should be executed. They are scumbags.
- About whistleblowers and journalists. Attributed by John Bolton in The Room Where It Happened, Simon & Schuster, 2020, p. 290 . ISBN 978-1-9821-4805-8.

Do you still like having sex with your wife? How often? You must have had a better fuck than your wife? Tell me about it. I have girls coming in from Los Angeles at three o'clock. We can go upstairs and have a great time. I promise.
- Reported by Michael Wolff in Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House (5 January 2018)

I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go. He is a good guy. I hope you can let this go.
- Reported as being the words of President Trump recorded in a memo that James Comey, FBI Director at the time, wrote shortly after a meeting held in the Oval Office on 14 February 2017, referring to the federal investigation into links to the Russian government of national security adviser, Michael T. Flynn, who had resigned the day before. In a statement, the White House has denied the version of events in the memo. — New York Times (16 May 2017)
- Comey confirmed under oath his account of Trump's words while appearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee (8 June 2017)
- When asked about Comey's testimony during a press conference on 9 June 2017, Trump said, "I didn't say that. I will tell you I didn't say that. And there'd be nothing wrong if I did say it according to everybody that I've read today, but I did not say that."

Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?
- Reportedly said in a meeting with lawmakers on immigration, as quoted in "Trump criticized immigration from 's---hole' countries: report" (11 January 2018), by Avery Anapol, The Hill. Variant: "Why do we want all these people from shithole countries coming here?" As quoted in Trump's 'shithole' comment is his new rock bottom, CNN, 12 January 2018. Trump denied making this comment.
  - "The language used by me at the DACA meeting was tough, but this was not the language used." Tweet by @realDonaldTrump (12 January 2018)

Why do we want all these people from Africa here? They're shithole countries ... We should have more people from Norway.
- 12 January 2018, per Reuters' source

Why do we need more Haitians? Take them out.
- Reportedly said in a meeting with lawmakers on immigration, as quoted in "'Sh*thole countries' respond to Trump's rhetoric", CBS News. Trump denied making this comment.
- "Never said anything derogatory about Haitians other than Haiti is, obviously, a very poor and troubled country. Never said "take them out." Made up by Dems. I have a wonderful relationship with Haitians. Probably should record future meetings - unfortunately, no trust!" Tweet by @realDonaldTrump (12 January 2018)

[B]lack people are too stupid to vote for me.
- As quoted in "Michael Cohen Says Trump Repeatedly Used Racist Language in Private" (2 November 2018), by Emily Jane Fox, Vanity Fair. In a post-2018 midterm press conference, Trump denied making the comment and dismissed Cohen's claims: "That's false" — as quoted in "President Trump says he has 'never used racist remarks'" (7 November 2018), by Hunter Walker, Yahoo News.

Name one country run by a black person that's not a shithole... Name one city.
- As quoted in "Michael Cohen Says Trump Repeatedly Used Racist Language in Private" (2 November 2018), by Emily Jane Fox, Vanity Fair. "White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders denied those comments at the time."

Why should I go to that cemetery? It’s filled with losers .. suckers .. Who were the good guys in this war?
- Saturday 10 November 2018 two hours before a scheduled 30-minute helicopter ride from Paris to the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery, the visit was cancelled with White House stating a rainy forecast made it too dangerous
- 3 September 2020 TheAtlantic.com writer Jeffrey Goldberg stated that "four people with firsthand knowledge of the discussion that day" (Goldberg did not provide any names) that "Trump rejected the idea of the visit because he feared his hair would become disheveled in the rain, and because he did not believe it important to honor American war dead", and described the two-sentence quote above as part of "a conversation with senior staff members on the morning of the scheduled visit".
  - Goldberg also stated that during the trip (in a separate conversation) that Trump used the term "suckers" to collectively describe the 1800+ marines who died at Belleau Wood, but did not provide any surrounding words (the purported quote was the only word in quotation marks)
  - the sentence about "good guys" Goldberg says was stated towards aides (not senior staff members)
    - Goldberg did state a number regarding witness count of the other two statements, only for the "losers" one
- 4 September 2020 Trump responded to Goldberg's piece "It’s a total lie. It’s fake news".
- Trump also tweeted that day: "The Atlantic Magazine is dying, like most magazines, so they make up a fake story in order to gain some relevance. Story already refuted, but this is what we are up against."
- press secretary Kayleigh McEnany also on September 4th stated "The story in the Atlantic has been categorically debunked by eyewitnesses and contemporaneous documents", quoting two service members:
  - ""I was with the president the morning after the scheduled visit. He was extremely disappointed that arrangements could not be made to get him to the site and that the trip had been cancelled. I have worked with the president for his entire administration .. I have never heard him utter a disparaging remark of any kind about our troops." - Derek Lyons
  - "there was a bad weather called in France and that the helicopters were unable to safely make the flight. Overall, the president's support and respect for our American troops past and present is unquestionable" - Dan Walsh
- following Goldberg's piece that same day, James LaPorta wrote on AP "A senior Defense Department official with firsthand knowledge of events and a senior U.S. Marine Corps officer who was told about Trump’s comments confirmed some of the remarks to The Associated Press, including the 2018 cemetery comments."

Misattributed

I have a really high IQ, Phil. I mean, c'mon. It's impossible for me to not be atheist.
- Attributed by photo meme to an appearance on The Phil Donahue Show in 1989. According to Snopes.com, there is no evidence he ever said this, nor that he even appeared on The Phil Donahue Show in 1989.

This has been the worst trade deal in the history of trade deals, maybe ever.
- Actual quote was "NAFTA is the worst trade deal maybe ever signed anywhere, but certainly ever signed in this country."

If I were to run, I'd run as a Republican. They're the dumbest group of voters in the country. They believe anything on Fox News. I could lie and they'd still eat it up. I bet my numbers would be terrific.
- There is no record of Trump ever saying this; sometimes "People magazine, 1998" is incorrectly given as the "source" of this quotation — snopes.com; truthorfiction.com

The harder I work, the luckier I get.
- Originated with Samuel Goldwyn as a paraphrase of a proverb from a collection by Coleman Cox, but similar proverbs have existed since the 16th century.

Life is what you do while you're waiting to die.
- Fred Ebb, Zorba (1968)

People are dying today that have never died before.
- According to Snopes.com, there is no record of Trump saying this.

The doctors said they've never seen a body kill the Coronavirus like my body. They tested my DNA and it wasn't DNA. It was USA.
- Reportedly said by Trump after he was hospitalized with COVID-19, following an outbreak of the disease in the White House; the quote actually originates from an image featuring a fabricated subtitle overlaid on a video released by the President while he was in Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.

My blood IS the vaccine!!!!!
- Originates from a fabricated screenshot of a tweet allegedly posted on October 5, 2020, the same day Trump was released from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center after his diagnosis of COVID-19. The fictitious quote likely refers to the donation of the blood plasma of COVID-19 survivors as a treatment method against catching the disease, a treatment of which Trump has been a vocal supporter. Trump has, however, suggested that he would consider donating his own plasma for this purpose.

Quotes about Trump

Alphabetized by surname.

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The neutrality of this article is disputed.
Please see the relevant discussion on the talk page.

A

We have a commander-in-chief who has never failed to signal his xenophobia, his racism, his bigotry and his hatred. And that will absolutely filter down to the youngest and most impressionable members of our communities.
- Stacey Abrams Interview with Democracy Now (January 2019)

The meta-impact of President Trump routinely doing the "impossible" is that it changes how all of us view our world. If Trump can keep doing the impossible, time and time again, why can't we? [...] [D]on't be surprised if 2018 is the year when people all over the world shed their mental prisons and take on the "impossibles" in ways we have never seen. Thanks to President Trump, people everywhere are beginning to recognize the difference between real impossibilities and simple failures of imagination.
- Scott Adams, "How President Trump Changed Your Imagination" (2 January 2018)

Trump gives about four months for Syria troop pull-out: NYT
- Aljazeera, 1 January 2019 in response to 31 December 2019 article by Eric Schmitt and Maggie Haberman of New York Times titled "Trump to Allow Months for Troop Withdrawal in Syria, Officials Say" that says "Trump has agreed to give the military about four months to withdraw the 2,000 United States troops in Syria, administration officials said on Monday"

I think it's funny because Donald Trump is kind of in the spirit of old Greek tyrants where they used to vote in a guy that had no encumbrances. So the smartest thing about him, which is probably most overlooked, to me, is that he doesn't owe anybody anything and if he would just stick to fixing the bridges, roads and infrastructures that's what he knows how to do...just keep him doing that.
- Tim Allen, as quoted in "Tim Allen says he leans left, leans right, and ends up 'center right'" by Blanche Johnson, FoxNews.com (13 January 2016)

I think Trump failed to pull off his coup because of three enduring weaknesses in his character. First, many high school students know more about how the American government works than he does. He particularly does not understand the way the Constitution’s division of powers, even after all the growth in executive power over the decades, still can check an overreaching president. Thus he seems to have assumed that Republican judges would agree the election had been rigged simply because they were Republicans, when actually they were foremost judges in an independent judiciary bound by precedent, by a duty to see that justice is done, and by a demand for evidence. Similarly, Congress has many ties to executive agencies such as the FBI and the Department of Defense, especially the ties that bind with purse strings, that give it considerable influence in these agencies.
Second, organizing something as complicated as a coup d’etat takes some serious cognitive chops, and by 2020 Donald Trump had trouble “staying on topic” for even a minute. If he were huddling with a conspirator over, say, control of the U.S. Marshalls during a takeover, he would soon be talking about how windmills kill eagles or the steam catapults on aircraft carriers. His thinking processes were too chaotic to orchestrate a coup.
Third, even though Donald Trump convinced millions that he was a self-assured, super-confident, take-charge individualist, he has long lacked resolve. He always had the courage of his convictions, which meant he had almost none. He frequently changed positions on important issues, notoriously being swayed by whoever spoke to him last, and his decision-making could be fairly characterized as “Charge ahead impulsively, then quickly retreat.” For example, two days after the networks declared Joe Biden had won the election, Trump signed an executive order commanding the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan and elsewhere by inauguration day. This surprised everyone at the Pentagon, whose officials immediately pointed out the dangers of precipitate withdrawals. Trump almost never went toe-to-toe with advisors who stood up to him. Instead he just sulked and complained about having “too many lawyers.” Like the executive order Trump signed curtailing military aid to South Korea that an aide simply took off his desk and deep-sixed, the order about Afghanistan was ignored.
Harry Truman famously said, “If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen,” and he had a sign on his desk that read, “The buck stops here.” Trump can’t stand the heat, and accordingly he always makes sure the buck stops somewhere else. Like most bullies, he usually gets another person to do his dirty work and face all the danger. The mob who attacked the Capitol on January 6th were the latest version of the throngs who bought Trump’s junk bonds in earlier days, taking all the risks, for his benefit, while he watched.
- Bob Altemeyer, "Lessons of the 2020 American Election, January 6th, and Beyond", October 20, 2021.

What's more appalling is that huge numbers of those left behind in the wealth transfer genuflected to the new plutocratic class, celebrating the most vicious of the uber- CEOs. This craven CEO-worshipping is still going on today- middle Americans drag themselves home after work in order to gather around the television and watch billionaire assholes like Donald Trump deliver his "You're fired!" line to some desperate, stressed-out Smithers-abee.
- Mark Ames, Going Postal: Rage, Murder and Rebellion: From Reagan's Workplaces to Clinton's Columbine and Beyond (2005), p. 87-88

He really does remind you of the original Narcissus, the frigid pretty boy of Greek myth who was mortally smitten by his own reflection. Narcissus is autoerotic; he is self-aroused.
- Martin Amis "Don the Realtor" Harper's Magazine (August 2016)

We support Trump because he is the savior of the White race, sent by God to free us from the shackles of the Jew occupation and establish a 1000 Reich.
- Andrew Anglin, as quoted in "Trump's Neo-Nazi And Jewish Backers Are Both Convinced He's Secretly On Their Side" (26 May 2016), by Jessica Schulberg, The Huffington Post

Yes, Trump is worse than imperfect. So what? We can lament until we choke the lack of a great statesman to address the fundamental issues of our time—or, more importantly, to connect them. Since Pat Buchanan's three failures, occasionally a candidate arose who saw one piece: Dick Gephardt on trade, Ron Paul on war, Tom Tancredo on immigration. Yet, among recent political figures—great statesmen, dangerous demagogues, and mewling gnats alike—only Trump-the-alleged-buffoon not merely saw all three and their essential connectivity, but was able to win on them. The alleged buffoon is thus more prudent—more practically wise—than all of our wise-and-good who so bitterly oppose him. This should embarrass them. That their failures instead embolden them is only further proof of their foolishness and hubris.
- Michael Anton (as "Publius Decius Mus"), "The Flight 93 Election", The Claremont Institute (September 5, 2016)

Trump is not the only president in the modern era to have switched sides. Ronald Reagan famously changed from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party, but the change was driven by principle, and the change stuck. He didn't sway back and forth, again and again. It would be tough for anyone to claim Donald Trump flipped parties on "principle" like Reagan. Some have sought to dig into Trump's ideological evolution, figuring out what changed or who inspired him to become a Republican. I'll spare them the needless waste of effort. Donald Trump became a conservative when it became politically convenient for him. I have no doubt he would have become the raucous rising star of the Democratic Party, too, if that looked like a shorter path to the Oval Office. Either way, he did with his belief system what he did with any Trump product. He outsourced it for low-cost manufacturing to someone else, then slapped his name on it. A handful of hired minions gave him the bare-bones requirements of a "conservative" platform. And he covered it with gaudy gold plating to make it his own.
- Anonymous, A Warning (2019), p. 97

Donald Trump has America back on the road to bankruptcy, an area where he has unparalleled expertise for a president of the United States. The small band of fiscal conservatives who remain in the Trump administration warned the president about the eventual dangers of his out-of-control spending addiction. In one such meeting, Trump reportedly said, "Yeah, but I won't be here." I never heard him say those words, but it doesn't come as a surprise. That's how he thinks. What does he care if the federal government goes belly-up? By then it won't be his problem.
- Anonymous, A Warning (2019), p. 101

The president's denial-turned-apathy to Moscow's actions is why America responded with the diplomatic equivalent of a whimper to one of the biggest foreign affronts to our democracy. Of all the failures of Trump's foreign policy, letting Russia off the hook is perhaps the most frustrating. The outgoing Obama administration imposed modest sanctions on Moscow, including expelling several dozen alleged Russian agents from the United States, but it left the rest to the incoming White House. Trump was reluctant to take further action that might offend Putin, with whom he hoped to develop a close working relationship. He hesitated to even raise the subject in conversations with the Russian leader, dumbfounding people on the inside. I remember when Congress sanctioned Russia in summer 2017. Representatives vented their anger over how little the administration had done to hold Russia accountable, so they took matters into their own hands and passed legislation punishing the country. Though he would later take credit for the sanctions in order to claim our administration had been unusually tough on Moscow, Trump in fact was furious. He felt Congress was getting in the way of his goal of a warm friendship with the Kremlin. Russia responded to the sanctions by kicking out hundreds of US embassy staff from their country and seizing US diplomatic compounds. President Trump's response was startling. "I want to thank him because we're trying to cut down on payroll," Trump told reporters about Putin's move, without a hint of irony. "And as far as I'm concerned, I'm very thankful that he let go a large number of people, because now we have a smaller payroll. There's no real reason for them to go back. So I greatly appreciate the fact that we've been able to cut our payroll of the United States. We'll save a lot of money."
- Anonymous, A Warning (2019), p. 164-165

Trump's cavalier attitude toward the Russian security threat has had a predictable yet devastating consequence. Moscow has not been deterred from attacking American interests. It has been emboldened. They continue to take advantage of the United States, around the world and on our own soil. Former director of National Intelligence Dan Coats testified in January 2019 that Russia was still sowing social, racial, and political discord in the United States through influence operations, and several months later, Robert Mueller said the same. "It wasn't a single attempt," he testified to Congress. "They're doing it as we sit here. And they expect to do it during the next campaign." This should be a national scandal, a cause for outrage and action against the Russian government. Instead, it's being ignored where it should matter most- in the Oval Office. Reporters asked Trump about Mueller's assessment days later and quizzed him again on whether he'd pressed Putin on the topic. "You don't really believe this," he shot back. "Do you believe this? Okay, fine. We didn't talk about it." Then he boarded Marine One.
- Anonymous, A Warning (2019), p. 167

As we tried to make sense of Donald Trump's positions or when one of us tried to argue against them, we first had to ask: Why is the president so attracted to autocrats? After a contentious meeting about the president's engagement with a foreign dictator, a top national security aide offered me his take. "The president sees in these guys what he wishes he had: total power, no term limits, enforced popularity, and the ability to silence critics for good." He was spot on. It was the simplest explanation.
- Anonymous, A Warning (2019), p. 171

Mr. Trump is a wild card, but he is likely to sign pro-life measures, and he is seeking advice now from the right people to appoint a plausible successor to Justice Scalia. In this Guide for the Perplexed, we may find reason to bite our lips and take the Wild Card over the brutal Sure Thing on the other side.
- Hadley Arkes, "A Guide for the Perplexed", The Catholic Thing (4 May 2016)

I don't know him, when I sit with him face-to-face, I can judge him. But I only look at the person on the TV, you know, on the TV you can manipulate everything, you can...rehearse, you can prepare yourself...
- Bashar al-Assad, Interview with Bill Neely (July 2016) on "NBC: Exclusive Interview with Bashar al-Assad"

My analysis is that Trump would not be permitted to win. Why do I say that? Because he has had every establishment off his side. Trump does not have one establishment, maybe with the exception of the Evangelicals, if you can call them an establishment. Banks, intelligence, arms companies, foreign money, etc. are all united behind Hillary Clinton. And the media as well. Media owners, and the journalists themselves.
- Julian Assange, interview with John Pilger; "Assange: Clinton & ISIS funded by same money, Trump won't be allowed to win", RT.com (4 November 2016)

[Trump] is consistent. He is the same person that you see behind the scenes as he is in the public or through the media.
- Jacinda Ardern in A brief history of Donald Trump v Jacinda Ardern

There is no greater sacrifice than to lay down one's life for their country, and that's the sacrifice that Captain Humayum Khan made fighting to defend our freedom and our constitutional rights. He was a true American hero. The Khan family deserves nothing less than our deepest support, respect, and gratitude, and they have every right to express themselves in any way they choose. I am appalled that Donald Trump would disparage them and that he had the gall to compare his own sacrifices to those of a Gold Star family.
- Kelly Ayotte, statement regarding Donald Trump's comments about Khizr and Ghazala Khan (July 31, 2016)

B

Attached hereto is a copy of Mr. Trump's birth certificate, demonstrating that he is the son of Fred Trump, not an orangutan.
- Scott Balber, Donald Trump's lawyer, to comedian Bill Maher (2013), in response to Maher's facetious assertion that he'd pay Trump $5 million dollars upon release of Trump's birth certificate to prove he was not sired by an orangutan.

Mr Khan, shame on you & #CrookedHillary (Hillary Clinton) for not being truthful to all in attacks at @realDonaldTrump (Donald Trump).
- Al Baldasaro, Twitter, August 1, 2016

Come on. You know it's only socialism when it helps the working class. Farm bailout will primarily help big Ag. (referring to Los Angeles Times article: Rich farmers, not mom-and-pop farms, will collect most of Trump's tariff bailout (31 May 2019)
- Krystal Ball in Twitter Post, (26 June 2019)

Interesting nugget here as well. @tparsi had been informed by a Hill staffer in touch with the Pentagon that military strikes were imminent. Apparently everyone thought these strikes were really happening right up until the last moment. @esaagar ... @tparsi also warns that any military strike could easily lead to full blown conflict. "The Idea that there's such a thing as a limited strike on Iran is frankly preposterous." ... Interview with Head of the National Iranian American Council @tparsi . He told us it would be "political suicide" for any Iranian politician to meet with Trump as long as Bolton/Pompeo are around. @esaagar ... #rising #sanctions #Iran #iranwar
- Krystal Ball in Twitter Post, (24 June 2019)

Wait... you only thought to ask about how many people would die 10 minutes before the strike??? That's a rather important piece of info to nearly overlook.
- Krystal Ball in Twitter Post, (21 June 2019)

As Democrats jeer that Trump has merely laid bare the true soul of the GOP, some Republicans wonder, with considerable anguish, whether they're right.
- Molly Ball, Can the Republican Party Survive Trump?, The Atlantic (August 24, 2015)

Viewed through any conventional lens, President-elect Donald Trump's candidacy was improbable from start to finish. Today, two things about his victory seem to be in sharper focus: one, that Trump's victory might best be understood as the success of the country's first independent president, and second, that the Trump coalition may be even more uniquely his than President Obama's has turned out to be.
Trump owes his success in part to the fact that he ran for president in an environment that favored change over the status quo. But his luck or genius goes beyond that. It has long been noted that the conditions have existed for an independent candidate to run a serious campaign for president.
Trump took the elements of an independent candidacy — the lack of clear ideology, the name recognition of a national celebrity and the personal fortune needed to fund a presidential campaign — and then did what no one seemed to have thought of before. He staged a hostile takeover of an existing major party. He had the best of both worlds, an outsider candidacy with crosscutting ideological appeal and the platform of a major party to wage the general election. By the time he had finished, he had taken down two political dynasties: the Bush dynasty in the primaries and the Clinton dynasty in the general election.
- Dan Balz, Donald Trump, America's first independent president (November 19, 2016)

It should not have taken a pandemic to raise these resources. In June 2019, we presented a Poor People’s Moral Budget to the House Budget Committee, showing that we can meet these needs for this entire country. If you had taken up this Moral Budget, we would have already moved towards infusing more than $1.2 trillion into the economy to invest in health care, good jobs, living wages, housing, water and sanitation services and more.
This is not the time for trickle-down solutions. We know that when you lift from the bottom, everybody rises. There are concrete solutions to this immediate crisis and the longer term illnesses we have been battling for months, years and decades before. We will continue to organize and build power until you meet these demands. Many millions of us have been hurting for far too long. We will not be silent anymore.
With its broad sweep, the COVID-19 pandemic has forced us into an unprecedented national emergency. This emergency, however, results from a deeper and much longer term crisis — that of poverty and inequality, and of a society that ignores the needs of 140 million people who are poor or a $400 emergency away from being poor.
- Rev William Barber II in Letter to President Donald Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and Members of the 116th Congress, Poverty Amidst Pandemic: A Moral Response to COVID-19 (March 19, 2020), co-written with Liz Theoharis, Poor People's Campaign: A National Call for a Moral Revival

On the issue of the economy, I think there couldn’t be a more fundamental difference between Donald Trump and Joe Biden. Joe Biden believes you measure the health and the strength of America’s economy based on the health and the strength of the American worker and the American family. On the other hand, you have Donald Trump, who measures the strength of the economy based on how rich people are doing, which is why he passed a tax bill benefiting the top 1% and the biggest corporations of America, leading to a $2 trillion deficit that the American people are going to have to pay for
Not only will Pence and Trump not acknowledge racism when it comes to police violence, they are not even acknowledging the disparate racism in economics and in healthcare, and... wanting to only secure the wealthy and the greedy...
The Trump-Pence plan is talking about giving more money to the wealthy. In fact, the Trump-Pence-McConnell plan, they refuse to pass a stimulus because they want another $200 billion in tax cuts, they want money for a fighter jet, and they want to protect corporations from liability when those corporations didn’t protect their people from coronavirus.
- Rev William Barber II, quoted in Rev. William Barber: Millions Are Struggling. So Why Do the Debates Ignore Poverty?, DemocracyNow, (8 October 2020)

What I saw in North Carolina, what we defeated in North Carolina, what we filed suit against in North Carolina, is now what Trump and Pence are talking about doing on the national level: surgical racism with surgical precision... Pence and Trump don’t believe in the Voting Rights Act... They know they cannot win if everybody votes. They are terribly afraid of poor and low-wealth Black and Brown people voting.
And then stop saying Trump won the last time. He was elected by the Electoral College because of 80,000 votes. We have to end this mythology that he had some kind of superpower. The fact of the matter is, 100 million people did not vote. .. I couldn’t help but go to the Book of Exodus, where it talked about where God said, “If you don’t let my people go, I’m going to cause flies to come as a sign of what’s wrong. But I won’t let the flies be on the people, but the fly will be a symbol that you’re just wrong. You’re lying. Let my people go.” And Trump and Pence need to let the people go. They’ve been holding poor and low-wealth people hostage, essential workers hostage. It’s time for a change in this country.
- Rev. William Barber II in Rev. William Barber on Voter Suppression: Republicans Know They Can’t Win If Everyone Casts a Ballot', Democracy Now!, (8 October 2020)

Donald Trump's voice is resonating with average Americans who feel their voice has been lost by their party. I believe this will become a new Republican Party, one that we should embrace. We should be the party of working men and women, the party of America first.
- Lou Barletta, as quoted in "Lou Barletta, an immigration hard-liner in Congress, endorses Trump" by Robert Costa, The Washington Post (22 March 2016)

Orchestrating a mob to pressure Congress is inexcusable.
- William Barr, Former Attorney General, as quoted in "Barr says Trump's conduct is a 'betrayal' of the presidency" January 7 2021 NBC News

You can’t trust him.
He has no principles. None. None.
His goddamned tweet and the lying, oh, my God.
The change of stories. The lack of preparation. The lying. Holy shit.
- Maryanne Trump Barry, sister of Donald Trump, as quoted in Trump’s Sister Says He Is a Liar With “No Principles” in Secret Recordings: “You Can’t Trust Him” by Daniel Politi, Slate (22 August 2020)

Iran's actions can hardly be said to have occurred in a vacuum... it has been the recent policy of "maximum pressure" on Tehran under the incoherent foreign policy of the Trump administration that has exacerbated the current tensions... the Trump administration has withdrawn unilaterally from the internationally agreed – and successful – Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) of 2015... It is not hard, then, to see how these moves might be viewed in Tehran: as part of an escalating offensive from multiple sources threatening its own home front in a campaign of economic warfare designed to weaken the regime....The depth of the US stake in this increasingly dangerous game is far harder to judge, given the usual confusion of Trump's flip-flopping and the machinations of Bolton... All of which leaves us to contemplate the most frightening element of all in a complex crisis: that the current occupant of the White House lacks any of the skills required to successfully defuse it.
- Peter Beaumont in Trump's fanned the flames in Iran, now the fire risks getting out of control, The Guardian, (14 June 2019)

When conservatives desperately needed allies in the fight against big government, Donald Trump didn't stand on the sidelines. He consistently advocated that your money be spent, that your government grow, and that your Constitution be ignored... Trump's potential primary victory would provide Hillary Clinton with the easiest imaginable path to the White House. But it's far worse than that. If Donald Trump wins the Republican nomination, there will once again be no opposition to an ever-expanding government. This is a crisis for conservatism. And, once again, this crisis will not go to waste.
- Glenn Beck, "Conservatives Against Trump" (21 January 2016), National Review

Donald Trump, I really truly believe is a very dangerous man. If you listen to the things he said this weekend... 'I could go onto Fifth Avenue and shoot people and I wouldn't lose a vote'. He has joked about killing reporters — and 'not' killing reporters like Putin does... We don't change with the mood of the country. That is the problem with our country right now. The Constitution is to anchor us in principles that help temper the mood of the country... The mood of the country is very angry, but you never make a good decision when you are angry... The worst thing we can do is to now start looking at, who is going to get revenge? One of the things that Donald Trump does, when you have a guy who is angry and then has an enemies list and starts to just take people down over and over and over again — if you disagree with him, he destroys you. If that is the mood of the country, we are in more trouble than I thought.
- Glenn Beck, interview on New Day (January 2016), CNN, Georgia: Cable News Network

Trump may be vulgar, Trump may be abrasive, but in terms of racism, corruption, and destruction, he is MrReagan's true heir. Trump's Republican Party is what it has been at least since the 1980s, only more so.
- Larry Beinhart Donald and Ronald, 12 August 2019, Al Jazeera English.

"The words from his mouths begin in foolishness, and his talk ends in wicked madness, yet Trump talks on and on."
- Shlomo Ben-David on Ro'im Olam, May 12, 2018.

He does not seem to be able to differentiate between fact and fiction.
- Ben Berzin jr., Midatlantic Bank, quoted by Steven Malanga in Donald Trump: The Art of the Tease (06 April 2011), Manhattan Institute

The evidence shows: Donald Trump cannot retain an ally, keep a promise, uphold a principle, maintain a story, change a mind or show a heart.
- Preet Bharara on Twitter (8 October 2017)

When it comes to COVID-19, after months of doing nothing, other than predicting the virus would disappear or maybe, if you drank bleach, you may be okay, Trump has simply given up.
- Joe Biden on 9 July 2020 regarding Trump's April 2020 citation of William Bryan's research regarding disinfectants: Trump never specified using bleach or ingesting it

In an age of pussified political correctness, you have to respect the people who remain unfiltered.
- Dan Bilzerian, as quoted in "'King of Instagram' praises 'unfiltered' Trump" by Jesse Byrnes, The Hill (16 December 2015)

Donald found out about [Cohn's HIV diagnosis] and just dropped him like a hot potato. It was like night and day.
- Susan Bell, longtime secretary of Trump's lawyer Roy Cohn, as quoted in Donald Trump turned his back on his closest friend when he heard he had AIDS, at The Week, published April 8, 2016

Donald Trump was a joke until nominated, unelectable until elected, incompetent until he succeeded on most fronts, and about to be impeached until he debunked the collusion nonsense; he has had a very successful year. His enemies have been weighed in the balance and they have been found wanting. They shall have their reward.
- Conrad Black, "Trump's Whirlwind Year", National Review (December 19, 2017)

...it is merely Marxist drivel to think that employers have more power than employees (tell that to Michael Jordan and Jerry Reinsdorf) or landlords than tenants (tell that to the landlord of Bill Gates or Donald Trump).
- Walter E. Block, The Case for Discrimination (2010, Ludwig von Mises Institute) p. 404

Americans think it would be better to have a businessman than a politician as president, and I sympathize with them. Alas, the only businessmen crazy enough to run for president seem to be, well, crazy. At least Ross Perot kept his craziness confined mostly to private matters, such as the looming disruption of his daughter's wedding. Donald Trump puts it front and center. From a libertarian point of view, and I think serious conservatives and liberals would share this view, Trump's greatest offenses against American tradition and our founding principles are his nativism and his promise of one-man rule. Not since George Wallace has there been a presidential candidate who made racial and religious scapegoating so central to his campaign. Trump launched his campaign talking about Mexican rapists and has gone on to rant about mass deportation, bans on Muslim immigration, shutting down mosques, and building a wall around America. America is an exceptional nation in large part because we've aspired to rise above such prejudices and guarantee life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness to everyone.
- David Boaz, "Conservatives Against Trump" (21 January 2016), National Review

Where Washington and New York-based GOP leaders pledge outreach to immigrants, moderate Muslims and other minorities, the reality TV star plays more overt racial politics than any national candidate since George Wallace. Trump's brand of nativist, nationalist isolationism marked the path to victory.
- Igor Bobic and Ryan Grim, "What Donald Trump's Win In South Carolina Says About The Republican Party" (20 February 2016), The Huffington Post.

Trump spoke with Xi Jinping by phone on June 18, ahead of 2019's Osaka G20 summit, when they would next meet. Trump began by telling Xi he missed him and then said that the most popular thing he had ever been involved with was making a trade deal with China, which would be a big plus politically. They agreed their economic teams could continue meeting. The G20 bilateral arrived, and during the usual media mayhem at the start, Trump said, "we've become friends. My trip to Beijing with my family was one of the most incredible of my life." With the press gone, Xi said this is the most important bilateral relationship in the world. He said that some (unnamed) political figures in the United States were making erroneous judgments by calling for a new cold war, this time between China and the United States. Whether Xi meant to finger the Democrats, or some of us sitting on the US side of the table, I don't know, but Trump immediately assumed Xi meant the Democrats. Trump said approvingly that there was great hostility among the Democrats. He then, stunningly, turned the conversation to the coming US presidential election, alluding to China's economic capability to affect the ongoing campaigns, pleading with Xi to ensure he'd win. He stressed the importance of farmers, and increased Chinese purchases of soybeans and wheat in the electoral outcome. I would print Trump's exact words, but the government's prepublication review process has decided otherwise.
- John Bolton, The Room Where It Happened, Simon & Schuster, 2020, p. 202 . ISBN 978-1-9821-4805-8.

Trump... though representing the most reactionary US government in recent memory, paradoxically has also led to an opening to challenge US power. The first reason is that he and his administration are much less disciplined about obscuring their true intentions behind insincere proclamations of benevolent motives. Whereas the George W. Bush administration in the run up to the Iraq War successfully manufactured consent amongst a large swath of the US public by scaring them over false claims about "weapons of mass destruction," the Trump administration doesn't even hide the fact that its foreign policy is motivated by advancing the US economic interests.
- Peter Bolton of CounterPunch, The Failed Venezuelan Coup and the Decline of US Hegemony, (27 June 2019)

Trump is a fascist. And that's not a term I use loosely or often. But he's earned it.
- Max Boot, Twitter (2015)

Republican Party is dead. ... It has been killed by Donald Trump.
Trump is an ignorant demagogue who traffics in racist and misogynistic slurs and crazy conspiracy theories. He champions protectionism and isolationism — the policies that brought us the Great Depression and World War II. He wants to undertake a police-state roundup of undocumented immigrants and to bar Muslims from coming to this country. He encourages his followers to assault protesters and threatens to sue or smear critics. He would abandon Japan and South Korea and break up the most successful alliance in history — NATO. But he has kind words for tyrants such as Vladimir Putin. There has never been a major party nominee in U.S. history as unqualified for the presidency. The risk of Trump winning, however remote, represents the biggest national security threat that the United States faces today.
I only know one thing for sure: I won't vote for Trump. My hope is that he will lose by a landslide, and the Republican Party will come to its senses, rejecting both his ugly, nativist populism and the extreme, holier-than-thou conservatism represented by Ted Cruz.
- Max Boot The Republican Party is dead. Los Angeles Times (May 8, 2016).

If an unapologetic ignoramus wins the presidency, the consequences will be no laughing matter.
Donald J. Trump, a presidential candidate who truly is the know-nothing his Republican predecessors only pretended to be ... It is genuinely terrifying that someone who advances such offensive and ridiculous proposals could win the nomination of a party once led by Teddy Roosevelt, who wrote more books than Mr. Trump has probably read. It's one thing to appeal to voters by pretending to be an average guy. It's another to be an average guy who doesn't know the first thing about governing or public policy. The Trump acolytes claim it doesn't matter; he can hire experts to advise him. But experts always disagree with one another and it is the president alone who must make the most difficult decisions in the world. That's not something he can do since he lacks the most basic grounding in the issues and is prey to fundamental misconceptions.
- Max Boot How the ‘Stupid Party' Created Trump. The New York Times (August 2, 2016).

As media scramble to figure out Trump's evolving position on immigration, remember he cares *only* about feeding his ego. Policy irrelevant.
- Max Boot, Twitter, August 20, 2016

The GOP base is clearly disgusted and looking for new leadership. Enter Donald Trump, not just with policy prescriptions that challenge the cynical GOP leadership but with an attitude of disdain for that leadership—precisely in line with the sentiment of the base. Many conservatives are relishing this, but ah, the rub. Trump might be the greatest charlatan of them all.
- L. Brent Bozell III, "Conservatives Against Trump" (21 January 2016), National Review

It was spring, four years ago. Donald and Ivana Trump were seated at opposite ends of their long Sheraton table in Mrs. Marjorie Merriweather Post's former dining room. They were posed in imperial style, as if they were a king and queen. They were at the height of their ride, and it was plenty glorious. Trump was seen on the news shows offering his services to negotiate with the Russians. There was talk that he might make a run for president. Ivana had had so much publicity that she now offered interviewers a press kit of flattering clips. Anything seemed possible, the Trumps had grown to such stature in the golden city of New York.
- Marie Brenner, "After the Gold Rush" (1 September, 1990), Vanity Fair

The religious Right is the latest version of an old model of American politics, variously incarnated by Puritans, abolitionists, and William Jennings Bryan. It, like its predecessors, has argued that America and individual Americans need to have a godly or at least moral character to thrive. Now the religious Right adores a thrice-married cad and casual liar. But it is not alone. Historians and psychologists of the martial virtues salute the bone-spurred draft-dodger whose Khe Sanh was not catching the clap. Cultural critics who deplored academic fads and slipshod aesthetics explicate a man who has never read a book, not even the ones he has signed. Followers of Harry Jaffa, the most important Lincoln scholar of the last 60 years, rally round a Republican who does not know why the Civil War happened. Straussians, after leaving the cave, find themselves in Mar-a-Lago. Econocons put their money on a serial bankrupt.
- Richard Brookhiser, "WFB Today" (16 February 2018), National Review

Donald Trump betrays. It can start with Trump University, where Trump betrayed schoolteachers and others who dreamed of building a better life for themselves.
- David Brooks, "Donald Trump, the Great Betrayer" (4 March 2016), The New York Times

Donald Trump just has more courage. Whatever you might think of him, and I don't think much of him, but he has more courage than his opponents... He's a marketing genius who offers no substance. And people either got pushed into subprime loans by Trump Mortgage, or they got suckered into racking up huge credit card debt to buy courses on Trump University, and they were left high and dry when those things went belly up. And so that's a story that I think can be told. In a country which is feeling betrayed, he is a mass and serial betrayer... Given the numbers now, it's very hard to see he could win, given the huge numbers of Americans, the vast majority of Americans who say they could not support the guy. And I still find it hard to believe that somebody as policy-thin and as knowledge-thin would very well — he might be able to wear well with the electorate that we have.
- David Brooks, as quoted in "Shields and Brooks on the GOP push to stop Trump" (4 March 2016), PBS NewsHour

Are we really here? Is this really happening? Is this America? Are we a great country talking about trying to straddle the world and create opportunity in this country? It's just mind-boggling. And we have sort of become acculturated, because this campaign has been so ugly. We have become acculturated to sleaze and unhappiness that you just want to shower from every 15 minutes. The Trump comparison of the looks of the wives, he does have, over the course of his life, a consistent misogynistic view of women as arm candy, as pieces of meat. It's a consistent attitude toward women which is the stuff of a diseased adolescent. And so we have seen a bit of that show up again. But if you go back over his past, calling into radio shows bragging about his affairs, talking about his sex life in public, he is childish in his immaturity. And his — even his misogyny is a childish misogyny. And that's why I do not think Republicans, standard Republicans, can say, yes, I'm going to vote for this guy because he's our nominee. He's of a different order than your normal candidate. And this whole week is just another reminder of that... The odd thing about his whole career and his whole language, his whole world view is there is no room for love in it. You get a sense of a man who received no love, can give no love, so his relationship with women, it has no love in it. It's trophy. And his relationship toward the world is one of competition and beating, and as if he's going to win by competition what other people get by love. And so you really are seeing someone who just has an odd psychology unleavened by kindness and charity, but where it's all winners and losers, beating and being beat. And that's part of the authoritarian personality, but it comes out in his attitude towards women.
- David Brooks, as quoted in "Shields and Brooks on Trump-Cruz wife feud, ISIS terror in Brussels" (25 March 2016), PBS NewsHour

You need to be an outsider to be a change agent. There's only one person who can do that. And that is Donald Trump.
- Scott Brown endorsing Donald Trump, as quoted in "Brown: Trump is the ‘agent of change' to fix Washington" by Elliot Smilowitz, The Hill (2 February 2016)

a wartime president, with blue states, rather than any foreign nation, as the enemy.
- Ron Brownstein attributed in The Cruelty is the Point by Adam Serwer (2021), p 228

Trump is sui generis, unlike any candidate of recent times. And his success is attributable not only to his stance on issues, but to his persona, his defiance of political correctness, his relish of political combat with all comers, his "damn the torpedos" charging in frontally where others refuse to tread...
- Pat Buchanan — "Pat Buchanan says Donald Trump is the future of the Republican Party", The Washington Post (12 January 2016)

When he looks at a glass, he is mesmerized by its reflection. If Donald Trump were shaped a little differently, he would compete for Miss America.
- William F. Buckley, as quoted in "WFB Today" (16 February 2018), by Richard Brookhiser, National Review

I do not support Trump, and believe he would be a disastrous president and commander in chief.
Trump has no coherent organizing economic philosophy, spent decades acting like and supporting traditional liberal Democrats, has repeatedly shifted his positions on major issues and has little more trust from economists than he has earned among the general electorate.
Trump is that he is a crony capitalist, who now states that he supported the Clintons and other liberals with donations for so long because he wanted to obtain influence with them while they were in power. He has led several businesses to bankruptcy. He has called himself the "king of debt," a description that Johnson or Paul and other leading libertarians would never use to describe themselves. ... The viewpoints offered by Trump seem to change like the leaves that change their colors when summer gives way to fall. ... Can anyone suggest we know what Trump will believe tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow?
- Brent Budowsky, Why Libertarian Gary Johnson must be included in debates, The Hill (August 11, 2016)

He is his own art installation he is his own performance of himself, I don't know what else I can spin other than wonder, you know, who that 5-year old boy was and what his dad was telling him
- Bo Burnham on video (4:30) (Writers Roundtable: John Krasinski, Bo Burnham, Tamara Jenkins, Peter Farrelly, Eric Roth | Close Up) posted February 11, 2019

The President bears responsibility for today’s events by promoting the unfounded conspiracy theories that have led to this point. It is past time to accept the will of American voters and to allow our nation to move forward.
- Richard Burr, quoted in "GOP senator says Trump 'bears responsibility' for Capitol riot" 7 January 2021 The Hill

And we, all of us, the Jews, helped them get there.
- Bradley Burston, Trump's Win, the Greatest Victory for anti-Semitism in America Since 1941, Haaretz (10-11-2016)

It’s difficult to say that the prosperity gospel itself led to Donald Trump’s inauguration. Again, only 17 percent of American Christians identify with it explicitly. It’s far more true, however, to say that the same cultural forces that led to the prosperity gospel’s proliferation in America — individualism, an affinity for ostentatious and charismatic leaders, the Protestant work ethic, and a cultural obsession with the power of “positive thinking” — shape how we, as a nation, approach politics.
- Tara Isabella Burton, “The prosperity gospel, explained: Why Joel Osteen believes that prayer can make you rich”, Vox, (Sep 1, 2017)

two years into the Trump administration it was obvious to people why we needed unapologetic progressives in the House. The vile, white supremacist, sexist, bigoted Trump administration spewed lies, targeted Black and brown women elected officials, made a mockery of our democracy, and emboldened fascists.
- Cori Bush The Forerunner: A Story of Pain and Perseverance in America (2022) p 227

He's an ass.
- George H. W. Bush in 2011 interviewed by Maureen Dowd of The New York Times (Dowd, Maureen (December 2, 2018). "The Patrician President and the Reporterette: A Screwball Story". The New York Times. Retrieved on December 10, 2018. ; Liptak, Kevin; Zeleny, Jeff (December 5, 2018). "Uneasy presidents club convenes at Bush funeral". CNN. Retrieved on December 10, 2018. ; "George W. Bush Eulogizes 'Best Father' at Solemn State Funeral". Fortune. Bloomberg News. December 5, 2018. Retrieved on December 10, 2018. ; Epstein, Jennifer (December 5, 2018). "George W. Bush Eulogizes ‘Best Father' at Solemn State Funeral". Bloomberg News. Retrieved on December 10, 2018. ; Dowd, Maureen (2016). The Year of Voting Dangerously: The Derangement of American Politics. Grand Central Publishing. ISBN 9781455539246. ; Goldschlag, William; Janison, Dan (December 3, 2018). "Trump breaks character in show of respect for George H.W. Bush". Newsday. Retrieved on December 10, 2018. )

We've seen nationalism distorted into nativism – forgotten the dynamism that immigration has always brought to America. We see a fading confidence in the value of free markets and international trade – forgetting that conflict, instability, and poverty follow in the wake of protectionism.
- George W. Bush, indirectly referencing Trump, "George W. Bush Slams 'Bigotry,' Politics Of Populism That Led To Trump, Sanders", NPR, (October 19, 2017)

Whatever his views are this morning, they might change this afternoon, and they were different than they were last night, and they'll be different tomorrow. ... They seem to be ever, ever-changing, depending on what crowd he's in front of. Sounds like a typical politician, by the way, where you get in front of one crowd and say one thing, and then say something else to another crowd that may want to hear a different view. All the things that Donald Trump railed against, he seems to be morphing into — it's kind of disturbing. ... He doesn't believe in things, this is all a game.
- Jeb Bush, about Trump's views — Jeb Bush Says He's Not Buying The Trump Immigration Shift, BuzzFeed (August 25, 2016)

Donald Trump Is Bad for Israel via @NYTimes. Hopefully our President will reverse his decision to abandon Syria.
- Jeb Bush on 26 December 2018

Donald Trump destroyed the Reagan Republican paradigm in 2016, but he didn’t exactly elucidate a new set of ideas, policies, and alliances. Trump’s devastation of the old order produced a grand struggle on the right to build a new one on Trumpian populist lines.
The NatCons are wrong to think there is a unified thing called “the left” that hates America. This is just the apocalyptic menace many of them had to invent in order to justify their decision to vote for Donald Trump.
They are wrong, too, to think there is a wokeist Anschluss taking over all the institutions of American life. For people who spend so much time railing about the evils of social media, they sure seem to spend an awful lot of their lives on Twitter. Ninety percent of their discourse is about the discourse. Anecdotalism was also rampant at the conference—generalizing from three anecdotes about people who got canceled to conclude that all of American life is a woke hellscape. They need to get out more. ** David Brooks, as quoted in The Terrifying Future of the American Right (18 November 2021), The Atlantic

In 1995, when he offered this company, if a monkey had thrown a dart, at the stock page, the monkey on average would've made 150 percent. But the people that believed in him, who listened to his siren song, ended up losing well over 90 cents in the dollar. They got back less than a dime.
- Warren Buffett

C

Hillary is stealing America, whereas Donald Trump is trying to save our society.
- Herman Cain, on "Hannity" (29 July 2016) transcript

If this guy pretends that closing the borders to anywhere either for trade (or) for people is going to provide prosperity to the United States, he is completely crazy... He is not very well informed.
- Felipe Calderón, interview with CNBC (6 February 2016).

If he came to visit our country, I think he would unite us all against him.
- David Cameron, as quoted in "Donald Trump debate: Could UK really ban him?" (18 January 2016), by Max Foster, CNN, Georgia: Cable News Network

He's a talker, a boaster, a booster, a compulsive self-promoter. At times, he's a full-blown BS artist.
- Tucker Carlson, as quoted in Fox News host Tucker Carlson admits media is right about Trump's lying: 'He's a full-blown BS artist' by Conrad Duncan, 28 November 2019, The Independent

You can regularly say embarrassing things on television, you can hire Omarosa to work at the White House. All of that will be forgiven if you protect your people. But if you do not protect them... then you’re done.
- Tucker Carlson, as quoted in Tucker Carlson Blames Jared Kushner for Trump’s Protest Catastrophe by Justin Baragona, Daily Beast (June 1, 2020)

Millions of Americans sincerely love Donald Trump. They love him in spite of everything they've heard. They love him, often, in spite of himself. They're not deluded. They know exactly who Trump is. They love him anyway. They love Donald Trump because no one else loves them. The country they built, the country their ancestors fought for over hundreds of years, has left them to die in unfashionable little towns, mocked and despised by the sneering halfwits with finance degrees -- but no actual skills -- who seem to run everything all of a sudden. Whatever Donald Trump's faults, he is better than the rest of the people in charge. At least he doesn't hate them for their weakness. Donald Trump, in other words, is and has always been a living indictment of the people who run this country. That was true four years ago when he came out of nowhere to win the presidency. And it's every bit as true right now, maybe even more true than it's ever been. It will remain true regardless of whether Donald Trump wins reelection.
- Tucker Carlson, as quoted in Carlson, Tucker (2 November 2020), "Tucker Carlson: Why Donald Trump's supporters love him so much", Fox News ; Zhao, Christina (2 November 2020), "Tucker Carlson Says Millions of Americans Love Donald Trump 'Because No One Else Loves Them'", Newsweek

I've come to know Donald Trump, he is actually a very intelligent man who cares deeply about America.
- Ben Carson endorsing Donald Trump, as quoted in "'He is actually a very intelligent man'; Former candidate Ben Carson endorses Donald Trump" by Alain Tolhurst, The Sun (11 March 2016)

The American people are smart enough to pick a new administration if they don’t like the old one. And they just did.
He was removed by the voters.
- Bruce Castor, lawyer for Trump, said after Trump lost the 2020 election, as quoted by "WATCH: Lawyer for Trump concedes he lost election during impeachment trial", PBS News Hour, 9 February 2021

Trump hit the established world of American politics like a rogue wave, obliterating almost all political precedent. He'd begun his campaign by suggesting that most undocumented Mexican immigrants were rapists and murderers, then later accused an American-born federal judge who was presiding over fraud claims against Trump University of being unable to do his job because of his Mexican heritage.
- Julian Castro An Unlikely Journey: Waking Up from My American Dream (2018)

what I think is important for folks to realize out there — and now I’m speaking, you know, directly to the Latinx community — is that it’s night and day with Joe Biden versus Donald Trump. Donald Trump has been the cruelest, most ill-intentioned president when it comes to not only immigrants, migrants, but the broader Latino community, scapegoated the community, otherized the community, uses it as a political piñata. And Joe Biden is somebody who brings compassion, who brings understanding, and, most importantly — because what you want to judge politicians on is, OK, what are you going to do, and what is your track record — has a track record of expanding opportunity, with Barack Obama. The Affordable Care Act expanded healthcare to 4 million — more than 4 million Latinx folks in this country. On educational opportunity, on violence against women, on housing opportunity. I remember going to Delaware with him — I think it was Veterans Day of 2016 — and marking the effective end of veteran homelessness there in Wilmington, and seeing how much that meant to him. So, this is somebody that is going to work to make life better for everybody in this country, in a way that Donald Trump — as Michelle Obama pointed out, Donald Trump just isn’t up to it and doesn’t want to do it.
- Julian Castro Interview with Democracy Now (August 2020)

Okay, look, this is weird. Because a lot of people on both sides are saying there's nothing funny about Trump being hospitalized with coronavirus. And those people are obviously wrong. There's a lot funny about this. Maybe not from a moral standpoint. But mathematically, if you were constructing a joke, this has all the ingredients you need. The problem is, it’s almost too funny. Like, it’s so on the nose. It would be like if I were making fun of people who wear belts and my pants just immediately fell down.
- Michael Che on Saturday Night Live, October 3, 2020, quoted in "SNL premiere does not hold back on jokes about Trump’s coronavirus diagnosis: ‘It’s almost too funny’", The Washington Post.

Trump probably met discharge requirements Sunday
- Dr Sean Conley (Physician to the President) via cnbc videoon October 5, 2020

The myriad vulgarities of Donald Trump—examples of which are retailed daily on Web sites and front pages these days—are not news to those of us who have been living downwind of him for any period of time. I first encountered Trump more than 30 years ago. Back then he was a flashy go-getter from an outer borough eager to make his name in Manhattan real estate. Which he succeeded in doing in the only way he knew how: by putting his name in oversize type on anything he was associated with—buildings, yes, but also vodka, golf courses, starchy ties, and even a sham of a real-estate school... Just to drive him a little bit crazy, I took to referring to him as a "short-fingered vulgarian" in the pages of Spy magazine. That was more than a quarter of a century ago. To this day, I receive the occasional envelope from Trump. There is always a photo of him—generally a tear sheet from a magazine. On all of them he has circled his hand in gold Sharpie in a valiant effort to highlight the length of his fingers.
- Graydon Carter, "Why Donald Trump Will Always Be a "Short-Fingered Vulgarian", Vanity Fair (November 2015)

I think I would choose Trump, which may surprise some of you, but the reason is Trump has proven already that he's completely malleable. I don't think he has any fixed opinions that he would really go to the White House and fight for. Ted Cruz is not malleable. He has far right-wing policies, in my opinion, that would be pursued aggressively if and when he would become president.
- Jimmy Carter to the House of Lords, when asked about the 2016 United States presidential election. As quoted in Jimmy Carter: I would choose Donald Trump over Ted Cruz (February 3, 2016) by Stephanie Condon, CBS News

I think the media have been harder on Trump than any other president certainly that I’ve known about, I think they feel free to claim that Trump is mentally deranged and everything else without hesitation.
- Jimmy Carter, as quoted in "Jimmy Carter: The media has been harder on Trump than predecessors" by David Jackson, USA Today, (October 22, 2017)

At times he is extremely abrasive. I know that's kind of his campaign, but I think time will tell, he's already locked up in some controversial business and it certainly doesn't speak proudly for America that the person who sits in the Oval Office is involved in controversy, so that's never a good thing, but time will tell, a man's legacy is defined by time.
- John Cena, as quoted in "If John Cena 'got in the ring' with Donald Trump" by Alex Michael, Daily Mail (27 June 2017)

I can no longer in good conscience endorse this person for president. It is some of the most abhorrent and offensive comments that you can possibly imagine. My wife and I, we have a 15-year-old daughter, and if I can't look her in the eye and tell her these things, I can't endorse this person.
- Jason Chaffetz, Jason Chaffetz Pulls Trump Endorsement Because He Has a 15-Year-Old Daughter (October 2016)

We're all tying ourselves in knots about what Donald Trump said about Mexicans... Just as Dylann Roof doesn't represent white people, Mexican rapists don't represent anyone other than themselves either... While I like a good brawl as much as the next person, it seems that Trump is the answer only if the question is: Why can't we get more oafish egomaniacs into politics? Just when the Republican Party needs finesse and sensitivity when discussing immigration; just when it needs to focus on issues that unite all sectors of the electorate, including Hispanic and Asian voters; it gets a blowhard with all the nuance of a grenade... Trump's smear about Mexican immigrants was about as far away as you can get from Ronald Reagan... He tarred most Mexican immigrants as drug dealers, criminals, and rapists, allowing only as an afterthought that some may be good people. He claimed to have discussed the matter with border guards. Would those officers please step forward? In any case, crude and vulgar people always preen that they are brave truth tellers.
- Mona Charen, "The Trump Sideshow Plays Right into Democrats' Hands" (10 July 2015), National Review

Put aside for a moment Trump's countless past departures from conservative principle on defense, racial quotas, abortion, taxes, single-payer health care, and immigration. That's right. In 2012, he derided Mitt Romney for being too aggressive on the question, and he's made extensive use of illegal-immigrant labor in his serially bankrupt businesses. The man has demonstrated an emotional immaturity bordering on personality disorder, and it ought to disqualify him from being a mayor, to say nothing of a commander-in-chief. Trump has made a career out of egotism, while conservatism implies a certain modesty about government. The two cannot mix... When a con man swindles you, you can sue—as many embittered former Trump associates who thought themselves ill used have done. When you elect a con man, there's no recourse.
- Mona Charen, "Conservatives Against Trump" (21 January 2016), National Review.

It seems, at times, as though your administration’s approach has more in common with Obama’s foreign policy than traditional Republican foreign policy.
- Dick Cheney, speaking to Mike Pence, "Cheney grills Pence on Trump's foreign policy", Politico, (March 11, 2019)

In our nation’s 248-year history, there has never been an individual who is a greater threat to our republic than Donald Trump. He tried to steal the last election using lies and violence to keep himself in power after the voters had rejected him. He can never be trusted with power again.
As citizens, we each have a duty to put country above partisanship to defend our Constitution. That is why I will be casting my vote for Vice President Kamala Harris.
- Dick Cheney, quoted in "Dick Cheney Is Voting For Kamala Harris", Huffington Post (September 6, 2024)

I don't believe that he should be playing a role in the future of the party or the country.
- Liz Cheney, House GOP Conference Chair, R-Wyo., the third-ranking House Republican, as quoted in "Awkward moment as House Republican leaders clash over Trump speaking at CPAC", Benjamin Siegel, ABC News (24 February 2021)

President Trump has built the most powerful and most professional team in political history and, under his leadership, has overcome every single obstacle in his way. From the illegal witch-hunts to the weaponization of the justice system to an assassination attempt to the political coup of replacing Biden, the enemies of America will stop at nothing to prevent President Trump from returning to the White House.
- Steven Cheung, Trump campaign spokesman, as quoted in Trump and his campaign enter turbulent phase in final weeks, The Washington Post (September 21, 2024)

It's pretty easy to tell if a picture of Donald Trump is AI-Generated, okay? Here's the trick: If Donald Trump is in a picture and looks completely insane, then it's a real picture.
- Ronny Chieng, The Daily Show (5 March 2024)

[President Trump] is perfectly right when he says we should have better relations with Russia. Being dragged through the mud for that is outlandish...
- Noam Chomsky, Noam Chomsky on Mass Media Obsession with Russia & the Stories Not Being Covered in the Trump Era, Democracy Now! (27 July 2018)

The scale of the plague is surprising, indeed shocking, but not its appearance...Trump has reacted during his years in office in the manner to which we have become accustomed: by defunding and dismantling every relevant part of government and assiduously implementing the instructions of his corporate masters to eliminate the regulations that impede profits while saving lives — and leading the race to the abyss of environmental catastrophe, by far his greatest crime — in fact, the greatest crime in history when we consider the consequences.
- Noam Chomsky, in an interview with C.J. Polychroniou, Chomsky: Ventilator Shortage Exposes the Cruelty of Neoliberal Capitalism (April 1, 2020), Truthout

Trump was not silent, however. He issued a stream of confident pronouncements informing the public that it was just a cough; he has everything under control; he gets a 10 out of 10 for his handling of the crisis; it’s very serious but he knew it was a pandemic before anyone else; and the rest of the sorry performance. The technique is well-designed, much like the practice of reeling out lies so fast that the very concept of truth vanishes. Whatever happens, Trump is sure to be vindicated among his loyal followers.
- Noam Chomsky, in an interview with C.J. Polychroniou, Chomsky: Ventilator Shortage Exposes the Cruelty of Neoliberal Capitalism (April 1, 2020), Truthout

Donald is a leader. He is a successful person that, like me, isn't afraid to tell it like it is. Our system is broken and it won't be fixed from the inside. I am proud to offer my endorsement of his candidacy for President.
- Chris Christie, endorsing Donald Trump for President, at a campaign rally in Fort Worth, TX (2016)

Please stop it with voting for Trump. It was funny for a little while. But the guy is Hitler. And by that I mean that we are being Germany in the 30s. Do you think they saw the shit coming? Hitler was just some hilarious and refreshing dude with a weird comb over.
Trump is not your best. He's the worst of all of us. He's a symptom to a problem that is very real. But don't vote for your own cancer. You're better than that.
- Louis C.K. in an email to fans, quoted in Louis C.K. Compares Donald Trump to Hitler: ‘He's an Insane Bigot' (2016)

Using Aiden as a political tool is, to say the least, reprehensible for any political purpose. They make it seem as though our wonderful Aiden appreciates your hate that we should follow their hate. Morally bankrupt politicians – Bernie Moreno, Chip Roy, J.D. Vance and Donald Trump – they have spoken my son’s name and used his death for political gain.
They can vomit all the hate they want about illegal immigrants, the Border crisis and even untrue claims about fluffy pets being ravaged and eaten by community members. However they are not allowed nor have they ever been allowed to mention Aiden Clark from Springfield Ohio.
Please stop the hate.
- Nathan Clark, father of Aiden Clark, boy killed in a car accident involving a Haitian driver in Springfield, Ohio, speaking on the night of the first debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, quoted in Haitian families in Ohio under attack as racist claims spread, The Haitian Times (September 10, 2024)

A Trump supporter, a middle-aged woman, was asked how she felt about Trump's comments that being a celebrity meant women could expect him to grope their private parts. The woman said he would never have said it if Trump had known he was being recorded. That made me laugh.
- John Cleese, as quoted in "John Cleese on How Donald Trump Is Stealing Comedians' Best Lines" by Nick Holdsworth, The Hollywood Reporter, (August 17, 2017)

Donald Trump has been uncommonly nice to Hillary and me. We're all New Yorkers. And I like him. And I love playing golf with him.
- Bill Clinton, as quoted in "Bill Clinton Said What?", Salon (4 June 2012)

He mostly talks about himself. So the next time you hear him, don't count the lies. Count the I's.
- Bill Clinton, as quoted in "5 takeaways from the Democratic convention and Tim Walz on Day 3", The Washington Post (August 22, 2024)

He's a master brander, and he's the most interesting character out there. And...he says something that overrides the ideological differences. There is a macho appeal to saying, 'I'm just sick of nothing happening. I'll make things – vote for me.'
- Bill Clinton on CBS 'Late Show' — Ryan Gajewski (6 October 2015), "Bill Clinton to Stephen Colbert: Donald Trump Has a "Macho Appeal"", The Hollywood Reporter

Despite what you hear, we don't need to make America great again. America has never stopped being great. But we do need to make America whole again. Instead of building walls, we need to be tearing down barriers.
- Hillary Clinton, speech (February 2016)

We cannot let him roll the dice with America.
- Hillary Clinton during an election speech, as quoted on boston.com, 2 June 2016

It is insufficient to state the obvious of Donald Trump: that he is a white man who would not be president were it not for this fact. With one immediate exception, Trump's predecessors made their way to high office through the passive power of whiteness—that bloody heirloom which cannot ensure mastery of all events but can conjure a tailwind for most of them. Land theft and human plunder cleared the grounds for Trump's forefathers and barred others from it. Once upon the field, these men became soldiers, statesmen, and scholars; held court in Paris; presided at Princeton; advanced into the Wilderness and then into the White House. Their individual triumphs made this exclusive party seem above America's founding sins, and it was forgotten that the former was in fact bound to the latter, that all their victories had transpired on cleared grounds. No such elegant detachment can be attributed to Donald Trump—a president who, more than any other, has made the awful inheritance explicit.
Any empirical evaluation of the relationship between Trump and the white working class would reveal that one adjective in that phrase is doing more work than the other. In 2016, Trump enjoyed majority or plurality support among every economic branch of whites. It is true that his strongest support among whites came from those making $50,000 to $99,999. This would be something more than working-class in many nonwhite neighborhoods, but even if one accepts that branch as the working class, the difference between how various groups in this income bracket voted is revealing. Sixty-one percent of whites in this "working class" supported Trump. Only 24 percent of Hispanics and 11 percent of blacks did. Indeed, the plurality of all voters making less than $100,000 and the majority making less than $50,000 voted for the Democratic candidate. So when [George] Packer laments [in the New Yorker] the fact that "Democrats can no longer really claim to be the party of working people—not white ones, anyway," he commits a kind of category error. The real problem is that Democrats aren't the party of white people—working or otherwise. White workers are not divided by the fact of labor from other white demographics; they are divided from all other laborers by the fact of their whiteness.
Obama himself, underestimating Trump and thus underestimating the power of whiteness, believed the Republican nominee too objectionable to actually win. In this Obama was, tragically, wrong. And so the most powerful country in the world has handed over all its affairs—the prosperity of its entire economy; the security of its 300 million citizens; the purity of its water, the viability of its air, the safety of its food; the future of its vast system of education; the soundness of its national highways, airways, and railways; the apocalyptic potential of its nuclear arsenal—to a carnival barker who introduced the phrase "grab 'em by the pussy" into the national lexicon. It is as if the white tribe united in demonstration to say, "If a black man can be president, then any white man—no matter how fallen—can be president."
- Ta-Nehisi Coates, "The First White President," The Atlantic, October 2017 issue.

I would never trust him to follow the law. We're dealing with a dangerous egomaniac who has no control of himself, recognizes no limits, no bounds and does not recognize the constraints of law or anything else.
- Eliot A. Cohen, in Analysis: The Vengeful World of Donald Trump, and Why It Matters, at NBC News; published October 31, 2016

Donald Trump never thought he was going to win this election, he actually did not want to win this election, this was supposed to be the greatest infomercial in the history of politics. If you take that line, and you add the to it the Trump a la Moscow project, you'll understand that this was a branding deal, that's all the presidential campaign started out as.. there only one problem, one problem, he won.
- Michael Cohen on the [[Rachel Maddow] Show on September 8, 2020

Apart from his wife and children, I knew Trump better than anyone else did. In some ways, I knew him better than even his family did because I bore witness to the real man, in strip clubs, shady business meetings, and in the unguarded moments when he revealed who he really was: a cheat, a liar, a fraud, a bully, a racist, a predator, a con man... He has no one he trusts to keep his secrets. For ten years, he certainly had me, and I was always there for him, and look what happened to me. I urge you to really consider that fact: Trump has no true friends. He has lived his entire life avoiding and evading taking responsibility for his actions. He crushed or cheated all who stood in his way, but I know where the skeletons are buried because I was the one who buried them
- Michael Cohen, as quoted by Joseph A Wulfsohn (13 August 2020), "Michael Cohen offers preview of tell-all Trump book: 'I know where the skeletons are buried'", Fox News

A warning label should be affixed to Trump's forehead.
- Richard Cohen, "Reince Priebus, fool" (16 May 2016), The Washington Post, Washington, D.C.

I can't believe he's doing this to me. Donald pisses ice water.
- Roy Cohn, upon being ostracized by Trump for having contracted HIV. (from Wayne Barrett's 1992 Trump: The Deals and the Downfall, as quoted in Donald Trump Is The 'Red' Sanders Candidate: 'Winning Isn't Everything; It's The Only Thing.' at Forbes.com)

A war crimes complaint has been filed against President Donald Trump, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Trump adviser Jared Kushner in the International Criminal Court (ICC).... The complaint, filed by Middlesex University law professor William Schabas on June 30 on behalf of four Palestinians who live in the West Bank, states “there is credible evidence” that Trump, Netanyahu and Kushner “are complicit in acts that may amount to war crimes relating to the transfer of populations into occupied territory and the annexation of the sovereign territory of the State of Palestine.” Under article 15 of the ICC’s Rome Statute, any individual, group or organization can bring a complaint to the Office of the Prosecutor. ... Schabas’ complaint comes on the heels of unusual moves last month from the Trump administration, which declared a “national emergency” in June in an effort to shield U.S. and Israeli officials from ICC accountability for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
- Marjorie Cohn in Trump Is Trying to Hide US & Israeli War Crimes by Attacking the International Criminal Court, TruthOut, (8 July 2020)

There's a populism to Trump that I found very appealing. The party elders would like him to go away, but the people have decided that he is not going to... [T]here is something really hopeful about the fact that, well, 36 percent of the likely voters want him to win, so the people in the machine don't get to say otherwise.
- Stephen Colbert, as quoted in "Colbert: Trump's populism 'very appealing'" by Bradford Richardson, The Hill (23 December 2015)

John Dickerson has way too much dignity to trade insults with the President of the United States to his face. But I, sir, am no John Dickerson. Let me introduce you to something we call the Tiffany Way. When you insult one member of the CBS family, you insult us all. Bazinga. All right. Here we go. All right. Mr. Trump, your presidency, I love your presidency, I call it "Disgrace the Nation". You're not the POTUS, you're the BLOATUS. You're the glutton with the button. You're a regular Gorge Washington. You're the presi-dunce, but you're turning into a real prick-tator. Sir, you attract more skinheads than free Rogaine. You have more people marching against you than cancer. You talk like a sign-language gorilla who got hit in the head. In fact the only thing your mouth is good for is being Vladimir Putin's cock holster. Your presidential library is going to be a kids' menu and a couple of Juggs magazines. The only thing smaller than your hands is your "tax returns" [holds up little finger] and you can take that any way you want.
- Stephen Colbert, during his opening monologue of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, after showing a clip of Trump calling the CBS reporter part of the "fake media" and referring to his show as "Deface the Nation". The Trump-designated chairman of the FCC, Ajit Pai, has since stated he would investigate the comedian for broadcasting this material (1 May 2017)

There once was a man in Nantucket
Whose poll numbers really did suck it;
At least he is not
That orange pol pot
Who ate all his meals from a bucket.
- Stephen Colbert; limerick from his opening monologue of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert of 25 November 2021, after reading about President Biden's revival of his family's tradition of visiting Nantucket at Thanksgiving.

Do you know how bad of a job you have to be doing to get fired while you're getting fired?
- Steve Colbert, quoted by Frank Pallotta (14 January 2021), "Late night hosts mock Trump's second impeachment: 'I wonder if he's tired of all the winning yet?'", CNN Business

Trump denied knowing that Serge (Kovaleski) was disabled, and demanded an apology, saying that anyone could see his imitation was of a flustered, frightened reporter, not a disabled person. It's true that Trump was not mimicking any mannerisms that Serge has. He doesn't jerk around or flail his arms. He's not retarded. He sits calmly, but if you look at his wrists, you'll see they are curved in. That's not the imitation Trump was doing—he was doing a standard retard, waving his arms and sounding stupid: "'Ahhh, I don't know what I said—ahhh, I don't remember!' He's going, ‘Ahhh, I don't remember, maybe that's what I said!'"
There's nothing Trump can do that won't be forgiven, except change his immigration policies.
- In Trump We Trust (2016)

Trump is an unreflective beneficiary of every sort of white privilege on offer, from his inherited fortune to his mass-media celebrity to his ability to lie with utter impunity about his career, his finances, and his easily documented record of public statements. If Barack Obama had committed but one of the transgressions Trump reveled in during his 2016 presidential run—deriding John McCain's war record, to take a comparatively minor instance—he would have suffered a torrent of righteous white moralizing that would have been unprecedented even in a country renowned for its righteous white moralizing. And if he'd been caught on tape bragging about a celebrity-enabled history of sexual assault—well, suffice it to say that it would have been a high-tech lynching on a scale that Clarence Thomas could scarcely begin to imagine.
- Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw, Race to the Bottom: How the post-racial revolution became a whitewash

President Trump doubled down Sunday on his push for the use of an anti-malarial drug against the coronavirus, issuing medical advice that goes well beyond scant evidence of the drug’s effectiveness as well as the advice of doctors and public health experts. Mr. Trump’s recommendation of hydroxychloroquine, for the second day in a row at a White House briefing, was a striking example of his brazen willingness to distort and outright defy expert opinion and scientific evidence when it does not suit his agenda.
- Michael Crowley, Katie Thomas and Maggie Haberman, Ignoring Expert Opinion, Trump Again Promotes Use of Hydroxychloroquine (April 5, 2020), The New York Times.

Standing alongside two top public health officials who have declined to endorse his call for widely administering the drug, Mr. Trump suggested that he was speaking on gut instinct and acknowledged that he had no expertise on the subject. Saying that the drug is “being tested now,” Mr. Trump said that “there are some very strong, powerful signs” of its potential, although health experts say that the data is extremely limited and that more study of the drug’s effectiveness against the coronavirus is needed. [...] Mr. Trump, who once predicted that the virus might “miraculously” disappear by April because of warm weather, and who has rejected scientific consensus on issues like climate change, was undaunted by skeptical questioning. “What do you have to lose?” Mr. Trump asked, for the second day in a row, saying that terminally ill patients should be willing to try any treatment that has shown some promise.
- Michael Crowley, Katie Thomas and Maggie Haberman, Ignoring Expert Opinion, Trump Again Promotes Use of Hydroxychloroquine (April 5, 2020), The New York Times.

Even as Mr. Trump has promoted the drug, which is also often prescribed for patients with lupus, it has created rifts within his own coronavirus task force. And while many hospitals have chosen to use hydroxychloroquine in a desperate attempt to treat dying patients who have few other options, others have noted that it carries serious risks. In particular, the drug can cause a heart arrhythmia that can lead to cardiac arrest.
- Michael Crowley, Katie Thomas and Maggie Haberman, Ignoring Expert Opinion, Trump Again Promotes Use of Hydroxychloroquine (April 5, 2020), The New York Times.

Hydroxychloroquine has not been proved to work against Covid-19 in any significant clinical trials. A small trial by Chinese researchers made public last week found that it helped speed the recovery in moderately ill patients, but the study was not peer-reviewed and had significant limitations. Earlier reports from France and China have drawn criticism because they did not include control groups to compare treated patients with untreated ones, and researchers have called the reports anecdotal. Without controls, they said, it is impossible to determine whether the drugs worked. But Mr. Trump on Sunday dismissed the notion that doctors should wait for further study.
- Michael Crowley, Katie Thomas and Maggie Haberman, Ignoring Expert Opinion, Trump Again Promotes Use of Hydroxychloroquine (April 5, 2020), The New York Times.

I have been pointing out, and I have been screaming to the rooftops, that Donald Trump is the Charlie Sheen of politics. [...] I have to tell you, I love Charlie Sheen, I loved working with him when he was sober, but he was, he's full of shit. He has been full of shit, you know, he has serious addiction. You know, his addiction is obviously serious, drugs, and, but, Trump is just addicted to feeling important. You know, and I think if anybody is under the delusion that he cares about, uh, uh, anybody in America besides himself, they are, they are stoned and need to rethink their priorities, 'cause he's, you know, 'cause it's just ridiculous that's he's gotten as far as he has.
- Jon Cryer on the May 5, 2016, episode of the podcast Never Not Funny.

When the voters examine Donald, they'll discover he actually embodies Washington corruption, the Washington deal-making that they're so angry about.
- Ted Cruz, interview with Charlie Rose (1 March 2016), CBS This Morning

People are asking themselves, 'How would we feel if our children came in repeating the words of the president of the United States if that president was Donald Trump?' And if it would embarrass you to have your children repeat the words of the president, that's not a good thing... A president should unify us, should appeal to our better angels, should appeal to our shared values that make America who we are.
- Ted Cruz, interview with John Dickerson (March 2016), Face the Nation

It's not easy to tick me off... I don't get angry often. But you mess with my wife, you mess with my kids; that'll do it every time. Donald, you're a sniveling coward and leave Heidi the hell alone.
- Ted Cruz, as quoted in "Cruz calls Trump "sniveling coward" and says 'leave Heidi the hell alone'" (24 March 2016), by Reena Flores, CBS News

Let me be clear: Donald Trump may be a rat, but I have no desire to copulate with him.
- Ted Cruz, as quoted in Ted Cruz Will Do Anything for Love, But He Won't Do Rats [25 March 2016], by Matt Miller, Esquire

The best thing to happen to politics in a long long time. I don't care what his actual positions are. I don't care if he says the wrong thing. He says what's on his mind. He gives honest answers rather than prepared answers. This is more important than anything any candidate has done in years.
- Mark Cuban, as quoted in "Mark Cuban: Congrats, Donald: You're best thing to happen to politics in a long time", Dallas Mavericks Blog, 27 July 2015

The Trump that stole Christmas
- Mark Cuban according to From the 'Shark Tank' to the campaign trail: Mark Cuban teams up with Kamala Harris (October 17, 2024)

Hillary Clinton, speech in Warren, Michigan (August 11, 2016)

Speech in Warren, Michigan. Transcript by Newsweek (August 11, 2016)

He's made a career out of stiffing small businesses from Atlantic City to Las Vegas. There are companies that were left hanging because he refused to pay their bills. A lot of those companies scraped together what the could [sic] to pay their employees, and many of them put their businesses at risk and some of them ended up taking bankruptcy. It wasn't because Trump couldn't pay them, it was because he wouldn't pay them.

It's just not right that Donald Trump can ignore his debts, but students and families can't refinance their debt.

Mr. Trump may talk a big game on trade, but his approach is based on fear, not strength. Fear that we can't compete with the rest of the world even when the rules are fair. Fear that our country has no choice but to hide behind walls.

Let's remember where Trump makes many of his own products. Because it sure is not America. ... One positive thing Trump could do to make America great again is actually make great things in America again.

Trump would roll back the tough rules that we have imposed on the Financial Industry. I'll do the opposite – I think we should strengthen those rules so that Wall Street can never wreck Main Street again.

He called for a new tax loophole – let's call it the Trump Loophole – because it would allow him to pay less than half the current tax rate on income from many of his companies. He'd pay a lower rate than millions of middle class families.

He's making a big promise. But his advisors have said, his own advisors have said, he may not stand by them. ... One of the differences between Donald Trump and me is I'm telling you what I will do, I'm laying out my plans, and I will stand by them, and I want you to hold me accountable for delivering results. This all reminds me of that old saying, ‘if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.'

Guaranteeing equal pay won't just increase paychecks for women – it will boost family budgets and get incomes rising across the board. And I don't understand why Trump's against that. Paid family leave won't only make life easier for Moms and Dads – it will also keep skilled, talented Americans in the workforce and grow our economy. That's why every other advanced country already has it. Again, he's against it. Raising the federal minimum wage won't just put more money in the pockets of low-income families – it also means they will spend more at the businesses in their neighborhoods. Trump's against that as well.

Based on what we know from the Trump campaign, he wants America to work for him and his friends, at the expense of everyone else.

Hillary Clinton, speech in Reno, Nevada (August 25, 2016)

Speech in Reno, Nevada. Transcript by Vox (August 25, 2016)

Donald Trump has built his campaign on prejudice and paranoia. He's taking hate groups mainstream and helping a radical fringe take over one of America's two major political parties. His disregard for the values that make our country great is profoundly dangerous. In just the past week, under the guise of "outreach" to African Americans, Trump has stood up in front of largely white audiences and described black communities in insulting and ignorant terms.

Donald Trump misses so much. He doesn't see the success of black leaders in every field… The vibrancy of black-owned businesses…Or the strength of the black church… He doesn't see the excellence of historically black colleges and universities or the pride of black parents watching their children thrive… And he certainly doesn't have any solutions to take on the reality of systemic racism and create more equity and opportunity in communities of color. It takes a lot of nerve to ask people he's ignored and mistreated for decades, "What do you have to lose?" The answer is everything!

Trump's lack of knowledge or experience or solutions would be bad enough. But what he's doing here is more sinister. Trump is reinforcing harmful stereotypes and offering a dog whistle to his most hateful supporters. It's a disturbing preview of what kind of President he'd be.

A man with a long history of racial discrimination, who traffics in dark conspiracy theories drawn from the pages of supermarket tabloids and the far reaches of the internet, should never run our government or command our military. If he doesn't respect respect all Americans, he can't serve all Americans! ... There's no other Donald Trump. This is it.

Well, throughout his career and this campaign, Donald Trump has shown us exactly who he is. We should believe him. When Trump was getting his start in business, he was sued by the Justice Department for refusing to rent apartments to black and Latino tenants. Three years later, the Justice Department took Trump back to court because he hadn't changed. The pattern continued through the decades.

Someone detached from reality should never be in charge of making decisions that are as real as they come.

He'd abolish the bedrock constitutional principle that says if you're born in the United States, you're an American citizen. He says that children born in America to undocumented parents are, quote, "anchor babies" and should be deported. Millions of them.

He'd ban Muslims around the world – 1.5 billion men, women, and children –from entering our country just because of their religion.

Ever since the Pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock, America has distinguished itself as a haven for people fleeing religious persecution. Under Donald Trump, America would distinguish itself as the only country in the world to impose a religious test at the border.

Trump likes to say he only hires the "best people." But he's had to fire so many campaign managers it's like an episode of the Apprentice.

D

he’s spewing white supremacist views that have real consequences in the lives of ordinary people...I think he needs to realize that what he’s saying, from the biggest bully pulpit in the whole world, is affecting individual people. I don’t know that he cares, because I think he’s just spewing these things, and I think, in part, this was also—you know, this is what he believes.
- Edwidge Danticat Interview with Democracy Now (2018)

The [Trump] family subscribes to a racehorse theory of human development... They believe that there are superior people and that if you put together the genes of a superior woman and a superior man, you get a superior offspring.
- Michael D'Antonio, The Choice (PBS documentary), 2016

Donald Trump...is the last hope for America. I don't want nuance, I want bold colors: red, white, and blue... When I saw those guys on the boats on their knees, I mean, that sends a picture about America that I haven't seen ever before. And I think we need Donald Trump right now. The country needs him.
- Robert Davi, as quoted in "‘Die Hard' Actor Robert Davi: Donald Trump Is The ‘Last Hope For America'" by Steve Guest, The Daily Caller (14 January 2016)

Let's say five years ago, someone wanted to tell an end-of-the-world story. Governments have broken down, diplomacy has gone out the window, and lunatic nutbags are running things. If the storyteller wanted to provide a shorthand to establish how things could have possibly gone so wrong, all he would have to do is have a newscaster talking about "President Trump." Because five years ago, the audience would have snorted and said, "Well, sure, I totally believe that if this country was stupid enough to put Trump into office, then it makes sense that the entire world is falling apart."
- Peter David, Freak Out Friday, August 4 2017

Loser of the year German: "Der Verlierer des Jahres
- Der Spiegel, quoted by Celine Castronuovo (11 December 2020), "German magazine Der Spiegel names Trump 'Loser of the Year'", The Hill

Trump has been said to have extended his initial 30-day deadline to four months
- Karen DeYoun of Washington Post, 4 January 2019

The case for constitutional limited government is the case against Donald Trump. To the degree we take him at his word — understanding that Trump is a negotiator whose positions are often purposefully deceptive — what he advocates is a rejection of our Madisonian inheritance and an embrace of Barack Obama's authoritarianism. Trump assures voters that he will use authoritarian power for good, to help those who feel — with good reason — ignored by both parties. But the American experiment in self-government was the work of a generation that risked all to defeat a tyrannical monarch and establish a government of laws, not men. A government of the people, by the people, and for the people is precisely what the Constitution offers, and what is most threatened by "great men" impatient to impose their will on the nation. Conservatives should reject Trump's hollow, Euro-style identity politics.
- Ben Domenech, "Conservatives Against Trump" (21 January 2016), National Review.

If your claim to fame is that you’ve taken money from other people and haven’t delivered what you promised, that doesn’t make you a genius businessman, that makes you a thief.
- Kathy Duva, as quoted in "Donald Trump was awful at boxing, too" by Paul Gagno, The Boxing Tribune (January 19, 2017)

E

In his State of the Union address on February 6, 2019, Donald Trump said: ...we condemn the brutality of the Maduro regime, whose socialist policies have turned that nation from being the wealthiest in South America into a state of abject poverty and despair. Trump’s ridiculous comment was not considered controversial, because the Western media, including the anti-Trump outlets like the New York Times, have spent many years conveying a lie: that Venezuela had been very prosperous and democratic until Hugo Chávez, and then his successor Nicolás Maduro, came along and ruined everything. If readers believe that, then they may indeed wonder, “Why shouldn’t the US government help Venezuelans return to that prosperous state?”
- The Media Myth of ‘Once Prosperous’ and Democratic Venezuela Before Chávez, Joe Emersberger and Justin Podur, Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR), (26 August 2021)

People are looking for somebody who is outspoken and who isn't afraid. And [Trump] seems to have kind of a fearless attitude.
- Clint Eastwood, as quoted in "Clint Eastwood Praises Trump, Carson: 'Really Good People'" by Todd Beamon, Newsmax (25 December 2015)

I'd have to go for Trump ... you know, [because] she's declared that she's gonna follow in [President] Obama's footsteps. I mean, it's a tough voice to listen to for four years. It could be a tough one. If she's just gonna follow what we've been doing, then I wouldn't be for her. She's made a lot of dough out of a being a politician. I gave up dough to be a politician. I'm sure that [former President] Ronald Reagan gave up dough to be a politician. ... [Trump]'s onto something, because secretly everybody's getting tired of political correctness, kissing up. That's the kiss-ass generation we're in right now. We're really in a p-ssy generation.
- Clint Eastwood, interview with Esquire as quoted in "Clint Eastwood: 'I'd have to go for Trump' over Clinton" by Mark Hensch, The Hill (3 August 2016)

The only thing that I can say about President Trump is that he is the only person who, in 2009 when I served a lot of subpoenas on a lot of people, or at least gave notice to some pretty connected people, that I want to talk to them, is the only person who picked up the phone and said, let's just talk. I'll give you as much time as you want. I'll tell you what you need to know, and was very helpful, in the information that he gave, and gave no indication whatsoever that he was involved in anything untoward whatsoever, but had good information. That checked out and that helped us and we didn't have to take a deposition of him in 2009.
- Bradley Edwards (attorney prosecuting Jeffrey Epstein) in December 2018, according to 7 July 2019 article by Joe Hoft of Gateway Pundit

(Said in 2016) [Narcissistic] idiot,bully, [and someone who] really cannot be trusted to be consistent or accurate in anything
- Jenna Ellis, senior legal adviser to the Trump 2020 campaign and the president, constitutional law attorney and former law professor from Colorado according to lawyer once called him an ‘idiot’ who ‘really cannot be trusted’ to tell truth published November 18, 2020

I will not be voting for Donald Trump in the primary. I take my conservatism seriously, and I also take Saint Paul seriously. In setting out the qualifications for overseers, or bishops, Saint Paul admonished Timothy... We should not put a new conservative in charge of conservatism or the country, so that he does not become puffed up with conceit and fall into condemnation. Republicans have wandered in the wilderness already by letting leaders define conservatism in their own image. Donald Trump needs more time and more testing of his new conservative convictions.
- Erick Erickson, "Conservatives Against Trump" (21 January 2016), National Review

Hitler is not Hillary Clinton either. The neo-nazis and white supremacists backing Donald Trump fetishize Hitler too. Trump dog whistles to them.
- Erick Erickson, "Republicans for Hitler" (17 May 2016), The Resurgent

F

You got to give it up for Colorado — they’re the first state to legalize weed and illegalize Trump.
- Jimmy Fallon, as quoted in "Jimmy Fallon Cheers Colorado for ‘Illegalizing’ Trump" (21 December 2023), By Trish Bendix, New York Times

I was trying to let science guide our policy, but he was putting as much stock in anecdotal things that turned out not to be true as he was in what scientists like myself were saying. That caused unnecessary and uncomfortable conflict where I had to essentially correct what he was saying, and put me at great odds with his people.
- Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, as quoted in "Dr Fauci Says Trump Would Do ‘Terrible Things’ Anytime He Disagreed With Him Publicly", Cameron Frew, Unila, 20 February 2021.
In the United States, Trump’s diversionary theatrics and early failures in Congress kept off the front pages a bonfire of social and environmental regulations as well as a purge of liberal judges from the federal bench that continued in the background with little resistance and that promised to play out for decades. When thwarted by Congress, Trump resorted to executive orders and emergency powers, as had presidents before him, though with a radical, institution-shaking appeal in justification “to the people” rarely heard since the New Deal. Internationally, the unconservative revisionism of the hard right was evident in Trump’s questioning or pulling back from previous American commitments— the Iran nuclear deal, world climate accords, the Western alliance itself. Rather than standing up for liberal democracy and universal values, he praised authoritarians: China’s Xi, Russia’s Putin, Saudi princes, the Philippines’ Duterte. Rather than follow every administration, Democrat or Republic, since 1945 and align Americanism, Westernism, and universalism in an avowedly virtuous trinity, the Trump right detached Americanism as justified and defendable on its own.
- Edmund Fawcett, Conservatism: The Fight for a Tradition (2020), p. 348

Trump is Hillary Clinton's Christmas gift wrapped up under a tree.
- Carly Fiorina, Twitter (8 December 2015)

I think Trump says a lot of things that are crazy... [repeating what a 10-year-old girl said] Trump's a moron.
- Carly Fiorina, as quoted in "Carly Fiorina Repeats After Girl: 'Donald Trump's a Moron'" (16 January 2016), by Ben Gittleson, ABC News

He reminds me of Hitler.
- Vicente Fox, interview with Anderson Cooper (February 2016)

Most amateur diagnosticians have mislabeled President Trump with the diagnosis of narcissistic personality disorder. I wrote the criteria that define this disorder, and Mr. Trump doesn't meet them. He may be a world-class narcissist, but this doesn't make him mentally ill, because he does not suffer from the distress and impairment required to diagnose mental disorder.

Mr. Trump causes severe distress rather than experiencing it and has been richly rewarded, rather than punished, for his grandiosity, self-absorption and lack of empathy. It is a stigmatizing insult to the mentally ill (who are mostly well behaved and well meaning) to be lumped with Mr. Trump (who is neither).

Allen Frances, "An Eminent Psychiatrist Demurs on Trump's Mental State," The New York Times, February 14, 2017.

A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not of building bridges, is not Christian. This is not the gospel... I say only that this man is not Christian if he has said things like that. We must see if he said things in that way and I will give him the benefit of the doubt.
- Pope Francis, as quoted in "Pope Francis: Donald Trump 'is not Christian'" (18 February 2016), by Rebecca Kaplan, CBS News

I was wrong. Weeks ago I said on a number of radio interviews that while I opposed Trump in the primary, I'd back him if he won the GOP nomination. I hadn't yet seen, or had been unwilling to believe, the full extent of his contempt for the truth, his fondness for far-left conspiracy theories, and his sheer malice. When I saw Trump in full, my decision was easy. Never Trump... I cannot abide the notion of voting for a man whose 'war strategy' is a child-killing war crime.
- David French, "Why I Changed My Mind and Joined the #NeverTrump Movement" (2 March 2016), National Review

There is an Ivy League grad who has spent most of his life in Manhattan, where he is chauffeured around in limousines. He frequently brags to strangers about his massive personal wealth. In public statements, he has advocated government healthcare, a woman's right to an abortion, an assault weapons ban, and paying off the national debt by forcing rich people to forfeit 14.25 percent of their total wealth. When the man married his third wife, he invited Bill and Hillary Clinton to the wedding, and he has given many thousands to their political campaigns and their foundation. He's donated many thousands more that helped elect Democrats to the Senate and the House. And George W. Bush was "maybe the worst president in the history of this country," the man said in 2008. "He was so incompetent, so bad, so evil." On paper, this is not someone you'd expect to excel in the 2016 Republican Party primary. But Donald Trump is excelling. Thanks to his celebrity, a few epic flip-flops, and his willingness to pander to the most xenophobic element of the GOP's base, the real-estate developer and reality-TV star is polling near the top of the field.
- Conor Friedersdorf, "Donald Trump Is No Conservative" (13 July 2015), The Atlantic

Trump has made it clear that he would rule as a dictator. His plans include destroying government as we know it, while acting on his desires without guardrails or accountability. He has vowed to use the power of the state to punish political opponents. In short, another Trump presidency would end American democracy as we know it.
- Dan Froomkin, Some Rules for Journalists Reporting on Fascism and Fascists in 2024. Common Dreams (26 January 2024).

G

Donald Trump is a serial liar.
- Neal Gabler, "Donald Trump is a serial liar. More upsetting is that no one seems to care" (15 May 2016), Salon

We thought about it when we made the movie! Are you kidding? You watch Part II again and there's a scene where Marty confronts Biff in his office and there's a huge portrait of Biff on the wall behind Biff, and there's one moment where Biff kind of stands up and he takes exactly the same pose as the portrait? Yeah.
- Bob Gale, ‘Back to the Future' Writer: Biff Tannen Is Based on Donald Trump, The Daily Beast (October 15, 2015)

Donald Trump rightly criticized the Khan parents. Clearly, Trump does not oppose Muslim soldiers serving in the military. Nonsense. Trump opposes Muslim immigration from jihad-hot regions. We know Islamic terror groups are plotting attacks on the West and using the migration to import their soldiers.
- Pamela Geller, DNC, Mainstream Media's New SPOX — Muslim Parents of Fallen Soldier WHO OPPOSE TRUMP BUT NOT JIHAD TERROR @chucktodd @meetthepress (July 31, 2016)

I remain a skeptic about Donald Trump. Trump fans look at us skeptics with incredulity that we could possibly object to their man... Yet I see people comparing Trump to Reagan. Donald Trump has been a conservative for about ten minutes.
- Jim Geraghty, "The Corner", National Review

@realdonaldtrump you are full of shit!
- Chrysler executive Ralph Gilles
- Chrysler Exec Calls Donald Trump "Full Of Shit" On Twitter, at Jalopnik (2012)

[W]e have to learn something from history here. Fascism begins with the rhetoric of dehumanization, humiliation, and reification, right? It starts with the language of brutality, which it normalizes. It legitimates hatred and racism and violence. It views certain groups through rhetoric as enemies of the American people. It operates off of the rhetoric of war, anti-intellectualism, and white supremacy. It operates off of the language of disposability. That language doesn’t just simply normalize increasingly the notions of white nationalism, white supremacy, racism, and xenophobia; it also enacts policies and it creates a culture of utter stupidity, a culture of ignorance. And, unfortunately, it functions so as to enable violence against groups labeled as dangerous, other, excess, and a threat to the whitewashed notion of citizenship.
With respect to the latter, when people can’t tell the difference between fact and fiction, they can’t tell the difference between good and evil. They can’t recognize a crime when they see one or what lawlessness looks like. All standards of truth go out the window. It’s a very dangerous moment because it means that people become more susceptible to demagogues, to people like Trump, and I think that the media has played an enormous role in creating a formative culture that at its worst legitimates and at its best enables what we see happening in the United States today.
- Henry Giroux, Henry Giroux on His Latest Book — The Terror of the Unforeseen — and How Neoliberal Capitalism Sets the Stage for Fascism (August 19, 2019), Media For Us interview.

I can’t really speak to what is in other people’s minds or why they make the decisions that they make. I think power is very alluring, but I think the more important question is why he’s caused such division among so many families in this country.
This is so relatable, having this chasm in your family over Trump, and the reason for that is because he spews this toxic cruelty. And when you are a woman or a person of color or a gay person or trans person, and someone that you love supports a man like that, it is really hard to reconcile that support with their love for you.
So I want healing for our country, and I do want us to find the common humanity in one another, even when we disagree about politics. But if Trump becomes the president again, that will not be possible. Kamala Harris is our only path to healing. She presents a really beautiful path to healing for us.
…I view Trump as a disease, and I think it’s really important to remember that with every disease, prevention is a much more effective strategy than treatment. ... I thought we had cured ourselves of it the first time, but it doesn’t seem like we have. And I think if he becomes the president again, we may have a terminal illness in our country. And that really, really scares me.
- Caroline Giuliani, daughter of Rudy Giuliani, regarding Trump’s influence over her father in Rudy Giuliani’s daughter explains why families have been split wide open by Trump NJ.com (4 October 2024)

President Trump made history Sunday when he became the first sitting U.S. president to step foot in North Korea. Trump was there to visit North Korean leader Kim Jong-un at the military demarcation line at the Korean Demilitarized Zone. Kim then invited Trump to cross the line, which has divided North and South Korea since 1953. Trump then took about 20 steps into North Korea. Following the meeting at the DMZ, Trump and Kim held a three-way gathering with South Korean President Moon Jae-in. Sunday marked Trump and Kim's first meeting since nuclear talks broke down in February... It appears another round of nuclear talks could begin in the coming weeks.
- Amy Goodman in Trump Makes History by Walking into North Korea. Could This Help to Finally End the Korean War? DemocracyNow! (1 July 2019)

As a party, we are better to risk losing without Donald Trump than trying to win with him. Enough already with Mister Trump.
- Lindsey Graham, Twitter post (August 2015)

If we nominate Trump, we will get destroyed.......and we will deserve it.
- Lindsey Graham, Twitter post, (May 2016)

Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke told radio show listeners that ‍'‍Jewish tribal nature‍'‍ is to blame for the media's harsh treatment of Trump and compared Jews to ‍'‍a pack of wild dogs.‍'‍ The white supremacist is a vocal supporter of Trump.
- Shanika Gunaratna, "Neo-Nazis Tag Jews on Twitter: Harassment, Hate Speech, Politics" (10 June 2016), CBS News, CBS Interactive, Inc.

Last week, the New York Times reported that the FBI, in 2017, launched an investigation of President Trump "to consider whether the president's own actions constituted a possible threat to national security" and specifically "whether he had been working on behalf of Russia against American interests." ...As usual – this melodrama was accomplished by steadfastly ignoring the now-standard, always-buried paragraph pointing out the boring fact that no actual evidence of guilt has yet emerged.
The FBI's counterintelligence investigation of Trump is far from the first time that the FBI has monitored, surveilled and investigated U.S. elected officials.... It is not difficult to understand what is so ominous and even tyrannical about the FBI investigating domestic political figures whose loyalties they regard as "suspicious," and whose political career they regard as a "national security threat," simply because those politicians express policy positions about U.S. adversaries that the FBI dislikes... If a politician adopts policy views... which is unduly accommodating to America's adversaries or "enemies," that's not a crime and the FBI thus has no business using its vast investigative powers against...[them]...the FBI investigation... clearly based, at least in part, on the FBI's disagreements with Trump's foreign policy views and the agency's assessment that such policies fail to safeguard "U.S. interests" as the FBI defines them.
- Glenn Greenwald, The FBI's Investigation of Trump as a "National Security Threat" is Itself a Serious Danger. But J. Edgar Hoover Pioneered the Tactic The Intercept (14 January 2019)

We've seen nationalism distorted into nativism – forgotten the dynamism that immigration has always brought to America. We see a fading confidence in the value of free markets and international trade – forgetting that conflict, instability, and poverty follow in the wake of protectionism. ~ George W. Bush

H

When I tell you I’m angry, it’s an understatement. Mike has been nothing but loyal to that man. He’s been nothing but a good friend of that man... I am so disappointed in the fact that [despite] the loyalty and friendship he had with Mike Pence, that he would do that to him. Like, I’m disgusted by it.
- Nikki Haley in Nikki Haley’s Time for Choosing The 2024 hopeful can’t decide February 12, 2021

This is a dangerous world. I don't want to hear from him how great Hezbollah is. I don't want to see him congratulate the Communist Party anymore. I don't want him hitting Netanyahu. … We can't have someone who is so clouded with the past that they can't see the future.
- Nikki Haley in Trump's GOP opponents bristle at his response to Hamas' assault on Israel (October 13, 2023)

I think he could be a great leader, because he's inspiring a lot of people, and especially people, including me, who are tired of Republicans being weak. I'm so sick of it.
- Sean Hannity — "Hannity on Trump: 'That Boldness Needs to Be There If Republicans Want to Win'", Fox News Insider, 30 July 2015

The conservative president we desperately need requires a paradoxical combination of boldness and restraint. The president will need to be bold in challenging the runaway power and reach of his own branch, against the fury of the bureaucracy itself, its client groups, and the media. This boldness is necessary to restore the restraint that a republican executive should have in our constitutional order. Trump exhibits no awareness of this supreme constitutional task.
- Steven F. Hayward, "Conservatives Against Trump" (21 January 2016), National Review

Donald Trump is the result of a long process of political, cultural and social decay. He is a product of our failed democracy. The longer we perpetuate the fiction that we live in a functioning democracy, that Trump and the political mutations around him are somehow an aberrant deviation that can be vanquished in the next election, the more we will hurtle toward tyranny. The problem is not Trump. It is a political system, dominated by corporate power and the mandarins of the two major political parties, in which we don’t count. We will wrest back political control by dismantling the corporate state, and this means massive and sustained civil disobedience, like that demonstrated by teachers around the country this year...
As a foreign correspondent I covered collapsed societies... It is impossible for any doomed population to grasp how fragile the decayed financial, social and political system is on the eve of implosion. All the harbingers of collapse are visible... We suffer the usual pathologies of impending death. I would be happy to be wrong. But I have seen this before. I know the warning signs. All I can say is get ready.
- Chris Hedges in The Coming Collapse, Common Dreams, (21 May 2018)

He doesn't know the Constitution, history, law, political philosophy, nuclear strategy, diplomacy, defense, economics beyond real estate, or even, despite his low-level-mafioso comportment, how ordinary people live. But trumping all this is a greater flaw presented as his chief strength. Governing a great nation in parlous times is far more than making "deals." Compared with the weight of the office he seeks, his deals are microscopic in scale, and as he faced far deeper complexities he would lead the country into continual Russian roulette. If despite his poor judgment he could engage talented advisers, as they presented him with contending and fateful options the buck would stop with a man who simply grasps anything that floats by. Following Obama's, a Trump presidency would be yet more adventure tourism for a formerly serious republic.
- Mark Helprin, "Conservatives Against Trump" (21 January 2016), National Review

What bitch is Donald Trump hanging his dick inside of today?
- Doug Henderson, guitarist/singer/lyricist of Spongehead in the song "Nothing" from Curb Your Dogma (Triple X Records, 1993)

There’s no question that America would be better off if the president would resign or be removed from office. If that’s going to happen or how that should happen, I don’t know. But we need leadership right now, and we need to stop all of this craziness.
- Larry Hogan, Republican Governor, as quoted in "Maryland Gov. Hogan: ‘America would be better off’ if Trump resigns or is removed from office", 7 January 2021, The Baltimore Sun

It's unacceptable and abhorrent to attack Vice President Harris or anyone’s racial identity. The American people deserve better.
- Larry Hogan, Republican Governor, as quoted in "GOP Senate candidate Larry Hogan slams Trump's NABJ Convention remarks", ABC News (July 31, 2024)

Trump undermines the free press because he wants to be the only legitimate source of information in society. He lies all the time to break down the processes by which we discern the truth about the world around us, and compile the observations and facts which make up the tapestry of reality. He has exposed the paper-thin vulnerability of our democratic society, which depends mightily on observing social norms—like yielding to shame—and a shared acceptance of some common set of truths.
The American president is determined to bulldoze this architecture of social structures, and usher in an era where force, not deliberation and cooperation, determines the path our society will take. If he never acknowledges any truth besides his own, he never has to do anything outside his own direct interests. He does not have to actually respond to any kind of criticism, or ever reconsider his course of action. Relentless lying, after all, is a form of coercion, in which you bend others to your will by forcing them to accept the infrastructure of your false reality—or to give up caring whether anything is true or false in the first place. Don't believe your eyes and ears. Everybody was cheering for me.
- Jack Holmes, Politics editor at Esquire.com, "Donald Trump's Press Conference With Theresa May Would Not Be Complete Without an Assault on Truth", Esquire.com (June 4, 2019)

White tears, as Damon Young explains in The Root, are why defeated Southerners refused to accept the freedom of black slaves and formed the Ku Klux Klan. And white tears are why 63 percent of white men and 53 percent of white women elected a malignant man-child as their leader.
- Cathy Park Hong Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning (2020)

Donald Trump regularly incites political violence and is a serial liar, rampant xenophobe, racist, misogynist and birther who has repeatedly pledged to ban all Muslims — 1.6 billion members of an entire religion — from entering the U.S.
- Note appended to every article about Trump published by the Huffington Post as of January 2016, but removed after Trump's presidential victory.
- HuffPost to publish anti-Trump kicker with all Trump coverage, at Politico, published January 28, 2016

[The] agency's ability to manage the former President's conflicts of interest during his term in office when he was effectively on both sides of the contract, as landlord and tenant
- House Oversight Committee in "Trump DC hotel incurred more than $70 million in losses while Trump was president, documents show" (October 8, 2021)

Casting the Trump administration's credibility gap into sharp relief, allies like Japan and Germany have demanded more "credible" evidence to support the U.S. claim. While President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo have been unequivocal in their assertion that Iran was responsible for the attacks on two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman last week, some of America's closest allies are demanding more proof.
Both Japan and Germany have requested more concrete evidence... Jeremy Corbyn, Britain's opposition leader, said more "credible evidence" was needed to support Trump's allegation.... According to The New York Times, other European leaders have also been hesitant to lay the blame on Iran ― a doubt fueled in part by their "distrust of the Trump administration and its hawkish policy toward Tehran," the paper said.
- Huffington Post, Pompeo Claims There's ‘No Doubt' Iran Attacked Tankers, But U.S. Allies Want Proof, Huffington Post, Dominique Mosbergen (17 June 2019)

We do not need to have a president that undermines our rule of law, that goes in the courtroom as he did today in New York and acts like a child, a petulant child. We don't need that in America. We need adults in the room.
- Asa Hutchinson, Hutchinson calls Trump a 'petulant child' after courtroom dispute with judge, WMUR-9 (6 November 2023)

I

Donald Trump is a clear and present danger to the republic. He’s disqualified based on character and rationality, so I’ll be voting for Kamala Harris.
I feel sorry for him. He’s really quite a sick puppy. He needs some help.
He’s been unfaithful to three wives. Why would we, at the altar with him as the fourth, think that he’s going to be faithful to us? Talk about irrationality.
If Donald Trump loses, that would be a good thing for the Republican Party. Because then we could have a Republican rethink and get a correction.
- Bob Inglis, Former six-term S.C. Republican Congressman, quoted in "Inglis endorses Harris, calling Trump ‘a clear and present danger’", Charleston City Paper (September 17, 2024)

J

It was an honor to visit with President Donald Trump. He was friendly, remarkably kind, and incredibly generous with his time.
- 6 June 2023 tweet by Glenn Jacobs, the mayor of Knox County

Mr. Trump has crossed the line. More than one line. Captain Khan died in battle trying valiantly to save others. There is no place for criticism, stated or implied, of this brave soldier. He served our country. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery along with those of many ethnic backgrounds and religious denominations. They served our country. Mr. Trump did not. Criticizing Mrs. Khan for not speaking on stage is vile beyond words. No Gold Star Mother should ever be treated like that. Mr. Trump, you owe Mrs. Khan and all Gold Star families a huge apology.
- Jewish War Veterans of the United States of America, about Trump's statements on the Khan family Jewish War Veterans Condemns Remarks of Donald Trump (2016)

Of course, I recognize the president’s unique relationship with the press and how it compares with past presidents. I am curious myself how it will impact the future, if at all. But the tension between the press and the president is nothing new. President Trump expresses it more frequently and more … colorfully than others.
- Weijia Jiang, as quoted in in "CBS News' Weijia Jiang on Newsroom Diversity, COVID-19 Racism, and Covering President Trump" in Asia Society (27 May 2020)

The problem is, I know Trump, so my optimism has been squashed like a baby bird ... Everything bad I had to say about him, I said to his face. ... I think he's very good, very compelling on that show [Celebrity Apprentice] ... I really like him because of his absence of filters. I really like the glimpse we get into the human heart we get when someone loses their filters ... "A genius is the one most like himself." In a really weird way, Donald Trump has achieved that. If he weren't running for president, you'd be seeing essays from me about how much I learned from Donald Trump and how much I loved being on the show ... I'm feeling so, so, so guilty, because I feel like, along with millions of other people, I played right into this. The cynicism of the Clintons, the careful, tightrope walk of all politicians, forced me, as an atheist, to get down on my knees and pray that someone would come along with some kind of authenticity. Well, someone called my bluff, goddamn it. ... The stuff [Trump] is saying on immigration, the stuff he saying on torture, the stuff he is saying on war, is absolutely unforgivable ... He is coming out directly against the Statue of Liberty. I'm a pure and utter peacenik. I want a president who sings the praises of people, sings the praises of peace and sings the praises of working together for a great country ... Abraham Lincoln wouldn't have laughed about waterboarding ... I want a president that is kinder, smarter and more measured than me. ... I disagree with Hillary Clinton on just about everything there is to disagree with a person about. If it comes down to Trump and Hillary, I will put a Hillary Clinton sticker on my fucking car. ... Someone who is paying attention can do the same thing that Trump is doing with hate, and do it with love, and become president ... That's kind of beautiful. There's nothing more optimistic than that. ... Donald Trump does, when it comes right down to it, fuck up everything ... He fucks up his casinos. He fucks up his buildings.... Maybe he'll fuck up his campaign before he fucks up the country.
- Penn Jillette, as quoted in "Why Penn Jillette is Terrified of a President Trump" by Grant Burningham, in Newsweek (1 March 2016)

I did two tours of duty on Celebrity Apprentice and I referred to someone who I knew was a dipshit, who I knew was a loser and a liar, as "Mr. Trump." And I didn't laugh out loud when they said he was a billionaire. And I didn’t laugh out loud when they said he was a good businessman. I knew he was a terrible businessman. I knew he wasn't really rich. I knew he was a liar. I knew all of that. And I sat there in a suit. What harm does it do to be on a TV show? To pretend that someone is a successful businessman? Turns out it matters a lot.
- Penn Jillette, as quoted in Penn & Teller on Giving Up Guns and Why Trump Is ‘The End of America’, by Brenna Ehrlich, in Rolling Stone (1 October 2023)

The only reason I wouldn't go to some parts of New York is the real risk of meeting Donald Trump.
- Boris Johnson, as quoted in Boris Johnson: 'The only reason I wouldn't visit some parts of New York is the real risk of meeting Donald Trump' by Helena Horton, The Telegraph (8 December 2015)

Donald Trump's a pussy.
- Gary Johnson, in U.S. Libertarian Party debate (2016)

K

I'm rooting for him to do well for the same reason I root for a pilot on my airplane to do well.
- John Kasich, Kasich: ‘I don't know what I'm going to do' in 2020, The Hill, May 6 2017

The Trump phenomenon is better understood as an amalgam of three different, largely pathological strains in American history and culture... The first and perhaps most obvious strain is hostility toward immigrants... In the 1850s, the American Party, labeled the 'Know-Nothings' by its opponents, accused Irish and German Catholics of being agents of the pope and a threat... Later in the century, white workers on the Pacific coast led a mass campaign against Chinese newcomers, whom they blamed for undercutting wages... Federal lawmakers affirmed their bigotry by excluding any Chinese laborers... In the 1920s, fears of Slavs, Jews, Italians, and others suspected of being hostile to America's white 'Nordic' heritage persuaded Congress to impose quotas that all but banned immigrants... Trump's attacks on 'rapists and murderers' crossing the southern border and on potential Muslim terrorists jetting across the Atlantic belong to this long and ignominious tradition.
- Michael Kazin, "Trump in Context" (14 December 2015), Dissent

His vow to 'Make America Great Again' lacks any explanation of what or who made it so wonderful before. Searching his website for clues turns up no proposals that might credibly bring about a national revival, unless one believes that a simplified tax code and a stern crackdown on illegal immigration amount to a sufficient blueprint for major change.
- Michael Kazin, "Trump in Context" (14 December 2015), Dissent

The allure of Trump's candidacy and the dread it provokes at home and abroad stem from the same impulses, which run deep in U.S. political culture. A rich man whose name is familiar to everyone bashes people whom many citizens either fear or mistrust and makes vague promises to fix whatever ails the nation. And he does all this with a smirk, a threat, and yet also with a yearning for respect, even from those he routinely assaults in speeches. Trump probably will not be elected president, and it would be a disaster if he was. But his act is hardly as novel as he, and many of his fans and his critics, believe. After he leaves the stage, another wealthy performer with a talent for bombast and no political record to defend may well take his place.
- Michael Kazin, "Trump in Context" (14 December 2015), Dissent

Trump is no true conservative. He's not even a reactionary in the best sense of the word. He's a self-aggrandizing opportunist. His policies go no further than his catchphrase, 'you're fired'. Listening to his first television ad is like a preview for a bad movie; an empty supercut of the highlights, or lowlights, without the plot being revealed because it's so thin. Trump is no everyman. He built his empire with $100 million from his wealthy father. Far from born into working or middle class, Trump never struggled a day in his life except by his own failings in business and the resulting repeated bankruptcies. His privileged background enabled him to make money off money; not exactly high on the hierarchy of middle-class values. As for being incorruptible, Trump gave big to politicians. He admitted that was meant to buy favors. His policy positions are similarly ephemeral; he supported the Big Government policies of Democrats and slippery values of the Clintons when it suited him. Steadfast, he is not.
- Sean Kennedy, "Donald Trump must be destroyed" (8 January 2016), CNN, Georgia: Cable News Network

Donald Trump is convincingly playing the role of a pandering demagogue. He seeks to stir up a passionate reaction that serves the purposes of his ambition. America's founders repeatedly warned against such demagoguery, because it sets people up for tyranny. Given his background, it's advisable to assume Donald Trump is being used by the enemies of rightful liberty to lead otherwise sincerely conservative people down a blind canyon into the withering fire of their elitist foes... Given this track record, before following Trump's lead, shouldn't people sincerely anxious to restore America's constitutional liberty carefully examine the nature of his purported advocacy? With much fanfare, Trump is being attacked by his erstwhile elitist faction buddies. But has he attacked them for treacherous betrayal of the security and sovereignty of the American people?
- Alan Keyes, "Is Donald the Elitist Faction's Trump?" (16 July 2015), WND

Every president lies at some point, for diplomatic or national security reasons or to sell a policy. But Trump is not known for one big lie — just a constant stream of exaggerated, invented, inconsistent, dubious and false claims. In the nine years I have run The Fact Checker, I have never encountered a politician so cavalier about the facts, so unconcerned with accuracy, so willing to attack people for made-up reasons and so determined to falsely depict his achievements.
- Glenn Kessler, editor and chief writer of The Washington Post Fact Checker, in Fact-checking Trump: He's on a dangerous path that must be documented and discouraged (June 2, 2020)

Donald Trump has asked why I did not speak at the Democratic convention. He said he would like to hear from me. Here is my answer to Donald Trump: Because without saying a thing, all the world, all America, felt my pain. I am a Gold Star mother. Whoever saw me felt me in their heart.
Donald Trump said I had nothing to say. I do. My son Humayun Khan, an Army captain, died 12 years ago in Iraq. He loved America, where we moved when he was 2 years old. He had volunteered to help his country, signing up for the ROTC at the University of Virginia. This was before the attack of Sept. 11, 2001. He didn't have to do this, but he wanted to.
I cannot walk into a room with pictures of Humayun. For all these years, I haven't been able to clean the closet where his things are — I had to ask my daughter-in-law to do it. Walking onto the convention stage, with a huge picture of my son behind me, I could hardly control myself. What mother could? Donald Trump has children whom he loves. Does he really need to wonder why I did not speak?
Donald Trump said that maybe I wasn't allowed to say anything. That is not true. My husband asked me if I wanted to speak, but I told him I could not. My religion teaches me that all human beings are equal in God's eyes. Husband and wife are part of each other; you should love and respect each other so you can take care of the family. When Donald Trump is talking about Islam, he is ignorant. If he studied the real Islam and Koran, all the ideas he gets from terrorists would change, because terrorism is a different religion. Donald Trump said he has made a lot of sacrifices. He doesn't know what the word sacrifice means.
- Ghazala Khan, mother of fallen U.S. Army Captain Humayun S. M. Khan. Ghazala Khan: Trump criticized my silence. He knows nothing about true sacrifice., The Washington Post (July 31, 2016)

Muslims are American, Muslims are citizens, Muslims participate in the well-being of this country as American citizens. We are proud American citizens. It's the values of this country that brought us here, not our religion. Trump's position on these issues do not represent those values.
- Khizr M. Khan in an interview with Vocativ. (December 08, 2015)

If it was up to Donald Trump, he never would have been in America. Donald Trump consistently smears the character of Muslims. He disrespects other minorities, women, judges, even his own party leadership. He vows to build walls and ban us from this country. Donald Trump, you are asking Americans to trust you with our future. Let me ask you: Have you even read the U.S. Constitution? I will gladly lend you my copy. In this document, look for the words "liberty" and "equal protection of law." Have you ever been to Arlington Cemetery? Go look at the graves of the brave patriots who died defending America — you will see all faiths, genders, and ethnicities. You have sacrificed nothing and no one. We can't solve our problems by building walls and sowing division. We are Stronger Together.
- Khizr M. Khan, speech during the final day of the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (29 July 2016)

His policies, his practices, do not reflect that he has any understanding of the basic, fundamental constitutional principles of this country, what makes this country exceptional, what makes this country exceptional in the history of the mankind. There are principles of equal dignity, principle of liberty. He talks about excluding people, disrespecting judges, the entire judicial system, immigrants, Muslim immigrants. These are divisive rhetoric that is totally against the basic constitutional principle. If you read the Constitution, you will either deliberately would be violating those principles or you have not read. That is why I have watched whole ear and rest of the world has watched, and the love and affection and support that we have received after my statement, at every corner of the street, at every place. The affection, the support, the love that I have received, that we continue to receive is a testament that he is talking about ignorance. He is not fully aware of these principles.
Two things are absolutely necessary in any leader or any person that aspires, wishes, to be a leader. That is moral compass and second is empathy. This candidate is void of both traits that are necessary for the stewardship of this country.
I do not believe his whole year-long rhetoric, division, excluding people, talking about them derogatorily, has prepared him. He promised to the Republican leadership that he will change his manner, he will not be as ignorant as he had been. But he had continued. Those two traits of moral compass and empathy are absolutely necessary for the leader of a free world leader of nation like United States.
This candidate for presidency to not be aware of the respect of a gold star mother standing there, and he had to take that shot at her, this is height of ignorance. This is why I showed him that Constitution. Had he read that, he would know what status a gold star mother holds in that nation. This country holds such a person in the highest regard. And he has no knowledge, no awareness. That is height of his ignorance. She is ill. She had high blood pressure. People that know her, looked at her face, and she said, "I may fall off the stage." And I told her that, you have to assemble yourself and stand for the beauty of this tribute that is being paid. This person is total incapable of empathy. I want his family to counsel him, teach him some empathy. He will be a better person if he could become -- but he is a black soul. And this is totally unfit for the leadership of this beautiful country, the love and affection that we have received affirms that our beliefs, our experience in this country had been correct and positive. The world is receiving us like we have never seen. They have seen the blackness of his character, of his soul, that he is void of recognizing, empathizing with people.
- Khizr M. Khan, on an interview with CNN about Donald Trump saying that Khan's wife didn't speak because she was forbidden. (July 31, 2016)

I have exactly the same rights as he does. He had been abusing, disrespecting women, judges, all decent Americans. He had been so abusive of them. I exercise exactly the same rights. That, again, proves his ignorance. He wants to have one set of rights for himself, and he wants to have another set of rights for others. No, somebody should tell him that there is equal dignity, equal protection of law in this country. That is why that Constitution came to play. I keep that in my pocket, because I cherish this document. I wish somebody would read it to him. Certain fundamental values that enshrine in this document.
Donald Trump needs to sit with his advisers and portray to this world that he is empathetic. You solve the problems with empathy, putting people together. There are bad people among us, but there are good people among us, as well. You gather good people to get rid of bad people, but you do not malign the whole religion -- the whole culture.
We are the solution to the dealing with the terrorism in the United States. Join hands with good Muslims. Only war is not the solution. It is one of the solutions. Communities coming together is the solution. We are as concerned as Donald Trump is about the safety of this country. We are testament to the goodness of this country. We need to stop fighting with one another, but we need a leader that will unite us, not disrespect, not by derogatory remarks. I feel bad about the discourse that this campaign -- this election campaign has taken. We need to join hands. We have a very serious problem of this for the safety of the citizens of this country. We are solution. Look, the treatment of Muslims in France and other places, there is much worse security issues than United States does.
- Khizr M. Khan, in an interview in New Day on CNN Monday (August 1, 2016)

When a person becomes Commander-in- Chief, president, you are president and Commander-in-Chief of everybody that has supported you and that has not supported you.
- Khizr M. Khan, in an interview in Anderson Cooper 360° Transcript (August 2, 2016)

But, far from making remarks of any persuasive power that can be viewed to be helpful to defusing tension, he made unprecedented rude nonsense one has never heard from any of his predecessors. A frightened dog barks louder. [...] He is unfit to hold the prerogative of supreme command of a country, and he is surely a rogue and a gangster fond of playing with fire, rather than a politician. [...] Action is the best option in treating the dotard who, hard of hearing, is uttering only what he wants to say. [...] I will surely and definitely tame the mentally deranged U.S. dotard with fire.
- Kim Jong-un, quoted in Seun Oyedele (22 September 2018), "Trump Is A Rogue And Gangster Playing With Fire- North Korean Leader, Kim Jong", Odua Voice

Donald Trump is a fascist. ... Not in the sense of an all-purpose bad guy, but in the sense of somebody who sincerely believes that the toxic combination of strong government and strong corporations should run the nation and the world. He spent his previous career negotiating with the government on behalf of corporations; now he has switched teams. But it's the same game.
- Michael Kinsley, Donald Trump is actually a fascist, The Washington Post (December 9, 2016)

If instead of having ten fingers, I had ten combs for fingers, I'd love to meet Donald Trump, just so I could run my fingers through his hair.
- Jarod Kintz (18 May 2011), This Book is Not For Sale

We want every vote counted, yes every legal vote (of course). But, if you have legit concerns about fraud present EVIDENCE and take it to court. STOP Spreading debunked misinformation... This is getting insane.
- Adam Kinzinger, Republican Congress member (2020-11-06) to Donald Trump about the 2020 election, Tweet

Yesterday, it became evident that not only has the president abdicated his duty to protect the people and the people’s house, he invoked and inflamed passions that only gave fuel to the insurrection that we saw here. When pressed to move and denounce the violence, he barely did so while of course victimizing himself and seeming to give a wink and a nod to those doing it. All indications are that the president has become unmoored, not just from his duty or even his oath but reality, itself. It is for this reason that I call on the vice president and members of the Cabinet to ensure the next few weeks are safe for the American people and that we have a sane captain of the ship.
- Adam Kinzinger, quoted by Rick Pearson, Lisa Donovan (7 January 2020), Republican US Rep. Adam Kinzinger calls for 25th Amendment to remove President Trump from office

The worst president the USA ever had. He was a liar and a charlatan. And he was a man with a most fragile ego I ever met.
- Adam Kinzinger, quoted by Bradley Cortright (7 February 2022), Kinzinger Ramps Up Criticism of Trump: I Will Tell My Son He Was the 'Worst President'

I have spent my life building bridges and tearing down barriers — not building walls. That’s why I find Donald Trump’s belief that an American-born judge of Mexican descent is incapable of fairly presiding over his case is not only dead wrong, it is un-American. As the Presidential campaign progressed, I was hoping the rhetoric would tone down and reflect a campaign that was inclusive, thoughtful and principled. While I oppose the Democratic nominee, Donald Trump’s latest statements, in context with past attacks on Hispanics, women and the disabled like me, make it certain that I cannot and will not support my party’s nominee for President regardless of the political impact on my candidacy or the Republican Party. It is absolutely essential that we are guided by a commander-in-chief with a responsible and proper temperament, discretion and judgment. Our President must be fit to command the most powerful military the world has ever seen, including an arsenal of thousands of nuclear weapons. After much consideration, I have concluded that Donald Trump has not demonstrated the temperament necessary to assume the greatest office in the world.
- Mark Kirk, quoted in Sen. Mark Kirk withdraws support for Trump by Lynn Sweet, 7 June 2016, Chicago Sun-Times.

Donald Trump — a political neophyte, a New York loudmouth who plays fast and loose with the truth, a massive egotist and a not altogether pleasant human being — has delivered conservatives one of the greatest years in living memory and has made our government more moral in the process. The left and many on the right didn't see it coming because they hate the man. And because they didn't see it coming, they won't see that it's come.
- Andrew Klavan, "Trump Has Made Our Government More Moral", PJ Media (December 15, 2017)

these children are ready to deliver their moral verdict on the people and institutions who knew all about the dangerous, depleted world they would inherit and yet chose not to act. They know what they think of Donald Trump in the United States and Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil and Scott Morrison in Australia and all the other leaders who torch the planet with defiant glee while denying science so basic that these kids could grasp it easily at age eight.
- Naomi Klein On Fire: The (Burning) Case for a Green New Deal (2019)

President Trump has violated many of the norms and laws on which our democracy depends. He circumvents Congress by declaring the “crisis” at the border a national emergency. He orders his staff to ignore subpoenas. He uses his presidential status to enhance his family’s wealth. He demands absolute loyalty from his appointees. He treats truth like a despot and jokes with Vladimir Putin about his “fake news” problem. He boasts about his misogyny and spews racist insults. Trump is not a despot. But neither were Mussolini and Hitler early on. No black or brown shirts march in our streets. President Trump’s enablers wear white shirts and black robes. They are unified. Democrats are not.
- Claudia Koonz, Autocrats do not need a majority to destroy democracy. A divided opposition helps them. (September 15, 2019), History News Network.

Look, Trump has been elected, he will be our president and he has the right to choose conservatives. But instead of turning to the many principled Republicans available, he seems drawn to hotheads and bigots, embarrassing himself and our nation.
- Nicholas D. Kristof, Trump Embarrasses Himself and Our Country, The New York Times (November 19, 2016)

Isn't Donald Trump the very epitome of vulgarity? In sum... Isn't Trumpism a two-bit Caesarism of a kind that American conservatives have always disdained? Isn't the task of conservatives today to stand athwart Trumpism, yelling Stop?
- William Kristol, "Conservatives Against Trump" (21 January 2016), National Review.

What do African-Americans have to lose, asks Donald Trump.
- Paul Krugman, about the comments of Trump on African Americans in the United States. Twitter, August 20, 2016

L

There is nothing like a common adversary to make people recognize what they have in common. Once there was consensus that civility, compassion, immigration, equal opportunity and foreign allies were good; that racism, misogyny, discrimination, voter suppression and foreign autocrats were bad; that respect for the U.S. military, intelligence community, political leaders, science, the Constitution and the rule of law was a given; that the American promise was based on good faith, compromise and checks and balances; and that presidents should be role models.
- Jill Lawren (19 October 2020), "Trump’s COVID-19 Misinformation Since Testing Positive", USA Today

On January 20, 2017, Donald John Trump became president, unskilled in the machinery of government and unmoved morally by the calling of the position, but aglow in his unmatched power. The first three years of Trump's term revealed a presidency of one, in which the universal value was loyalty- not to the country, but to the president himself. Scandal, bluster, and uninhibited chaos reigned. Decisions were driven by a reflexive logic of self-preservation and self-aggrandizement. Delusions born of narcissism and insecurity overtook reality.
- Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker, I Alone Can Fix It: Donald J. Trump's Catastrophic Final Year (2021), p. 1

The year 2020 will be remembered in the American epoch as one of anguish and abject failure. The coronavirus pandemic killed more than half a million people in the United States and infected tens of millions more, the deadliest health crisis in a century. Through the administration's Operation Warp Speed helped produce vaccines in record time, its overall coronavirus response was mismanaged by the president and marred by ineptitude and backbiting. The virus was only one of the crises Trump confronted in 2020. The pandemic paralyzed the economy, plunging the nation into a recession during which low-wage workers, many of them minorities, suffered the most. The May 25 killing of George Floyd, a Black man, under the knee of a white police officer ignited protests for racial justice and an end to police discrimination and brutality. Yet Trump sought to exploit the simmering divisions for personal political gain, quickly declared himself "your president of law and order" and relentlessly pressured Pentagon leaders to deploy active-duty troops against Black Lives Matter protestors. The worsening climate crisis, meanwhile, was almost entirely ignored Trump, who earlier in his term had rolled back environmental regulations and withdrawn the United States from the Paris Agreement. The president was instead preoccupied with stoking doubts about the legitimacy of the election. After he lost to Joe Biden, Trump fanned the flames of conspiracies and howled about fraud that did not exist. His false claims of a "rigged election" inspired thousands of people to storm the Capitol in a violent and ultimately failed insurrection on January 6, 2021.
- Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker, I Alone Can Fix It: Donald J. Trump's Catastrophic Final Year (2021), p. 2

Most of Trump's failings can be explained by a simple truth: He cared more about himself than the country. Whether managing the coronavirus or reacting to his election defeat, Trump prioritized what he thought to be his political and personal interests over the common good.
- Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker, I Alone Can Fix It: Donald J. Trump's Catastrophic Final Year (2021), p. 4

...shrewdness, coupled with shamelessness and unnatural political stamina, allowed Trump to deliver on many of his political promises. He pleased his conservative base by remaking the federal judiciary, including with three nominations to the Supreme Court; cutting taxes on corporations and the wealthy; expanding the military; toughening border enforcement; and weakening the regulatory state. Trump also forged new bilateral trade agreements, negotiated peace accords in the Middle East, and won concessions from European allies he had argued were taking advantage of the United States. Trump nearly won a second term. More than 74 million people voted to reelect him- the second-highest total ever recorded, the highest being Biden's 81 million. Were it not for Biden's victories in a handful of swing states, Trump would have won the electoral college and secured four more years in office. It would be foolhardy then to dismiss his presidency as a failure and to turn the page on this period. Rather, we must try to understand what made him so appealing to so many, and what that reveals about the country.
- Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker, I Alone Can Fix It: Donald J. Trump's Catastrophic Final Year (2021), p. 6-7

Deserate people do desperate things in desperate times, unfortunately the American people are facing desperate times of COVID-19, but this president is in desperate times... as he speaks ill about senator Harris he speaks ill about women, and we hear it and it is a loud siren across this nation
- Sheila Jackson Lee on Anderson Cooper 360 (video) on October 26, 2020

Sadism has even found a prominent position in popular culture. Many prime-time television series now owe their staying power to the sadistic impulses they exploit on the tube. Audience members find tremendous enjoyment in viewing horrified contestants who devour worms and insects on NBC's Fear Factor; Donald Trump who exclaims without nuance, "You're fired" on his wildly popular series, The Apprentice...
- Jack Levin and James Alan Fox, "Normalcy in Behavioral Characteristics of the Sadistic Serial Killer", Chapter 1 in Serial Murder and the Psychology of Violent Crimes, edited by Richard N. Kocsis, 2008 Humana Press; p. 12-13

Donald Trump is no conservative. That's not a crime, it's just a reason to vote against him. Many fine people are not conservatives. But the reason Trump's candidacy should worry the Right runs much deeper than that. He poses a direct challenge to conservatism, because he embodies the empty promise of managerial leadership outside of politics.
- Yuval Levin, "Conservatives Against Trump" (21 January 2016), National Review.

Trump...is an unstable, reckless and irrational extremist who is not bound by the rule of any law, and is eager to dismantle all constraints on the looting of the planet. If he wins again, he will be even less constrained. Some of his actions will be catastrophically irreversible.
- Aurora Levins Morales "Midnight in the Latrines" (2020)

We have now arrived at a point where what is being spouted by Donald Trump, and others, amounts to a shallow, vulgar, uncompassionate conservatism. Sadly, to many Republicans, Bush is now a punchline, and Trump is the fad of the moment.
- Matt Lewis, "You Guys, I'm Starting to Miss Dubya" (25 November 2015), The Daily Beast

President Trump’s order to take out Qasem Soleimani was morally, constitutionally and strategically correct. It deserves more bipartisan support than the begrudging or negative reactions it has received thus far from my fellow Democrats.
- Joe Lieberman, "The Democrats and Iran", The Wall Street Journal (January 5, 2020)

I know Donald Trump. He's been a frequent guest on my radio and television programs, and I introduced him at the Conservative Political Action Conference in 2015. He has always been amiable and complimentary. I genuinely like him. But not as my presidential pick.
- Dana Loesch, "Conservatives Against Trump" (21 January 2016), National Review.

Trump's time in the White House is finally over. His presidency can be summarized as chaos, division, threats and hate. It's a wake up call for what can happen when hate and extremism are let in.
- Stefan Löfven, Prime Minister of Sweden, on FaceBook, January 20 2021 (in Swedish).

While Trump's appeal to various groups may be understandable, he makes a terrible champion for Republicans, and especially for conservatives. By the standards we typically use to evaluate candidates — their records, their views, their popularity with the general public, their experience, their temperament, their character — Trump should be dismissed out of hand. No candidate is perfect, but large numbers of conservatives have never before supported any candidate so obviously deficient in all of these respects. That Trump has a long history of liberal positions that extends even into the fairly recent past should not by itself be disqualifying. Conservatism has always welcomed converts. But conservatives have also expected some demonstrated commitment to their principles, some action that advanced their causes, before seeking to elevate a convert to high office. When Mitt Romney ran for the Senate in 1994, for example, he tried to distance himself from Reagan-era conservatism. He later moved right. But even on his least conservative day, Romney was arguing for a smaller government and lower taxes (and for an end to Ted Kennedy's career). Trump, by contrast, has done essentially nothing for any conservative cause prior to deciding to run for the Republican presidential nomination.
- Rich Lowry and Ramesh Ponnuru, "Trump Wrongs The Right" (19 October 2015), National Review.

Trump obviously never meant to impose a wealth test on his administration, or he would have failed it himself. He is proof that a fortune isn't necessarily an obstacle to being a champion of an agenda of populist reform.
- Rich Lowry, No, the Swamp Won't Be Drained, Politico (December 01, 2016)

He wouldn't drain the swamp, but merely feed different alligators.
- Rich Lowry, No, the Swamp Won't Be Drained, Politico (December 01, 2016)

No participant in an administration that caged children, performed involuntary surgeries on captive women, and scoffed at science as millions were infected with a deadly virus should be enriched by the almost rote largesse of a big book deal. And no one who incited, suborned, instigated, or otherwise supported the January 6, 2021 coup attempt should have their philosophies remunerated and disseminated through our beloved publishing houses.
- Barry Lyga, novelist, in a letter signed by more than 250 authors, editors, agents, professors and others in the American literary community, as quoted in Dorany Pineda (15 January 2021), "Hundreds in publishing sign letter objecting to book deals for the Trump administration", Los Angeles Times

When you get up there and try to say you want to see Hillary Clinton win, that wouldn't go over so big. Trump has sold me. What more can I say? I just think he's the only one who's going to turn this country around.
- Loretta Lynn, as quoted in "This Huge Country Star Just Revealed The Republican She's Supporting For President" by Kaitlan Collins, The Daily Caller (13 January 2016)

M

[Trump ... alpha male] they’re overcompensating for how insecure they feel — a man who is secure with himself, a human who is secure with themselves, doesn’t have to go around bullying people all the time.
- Madonna stating it was not true that she had ever asked Donald Trump for a date according to Madonna at Sixty published June 5, 2019

Donald Trump, for all of his bluster, is at least authentically stupid... All these other guys are clown posers. Trump is the genuine article. And, God help me, I think I'd rather have him sitting in the Oval Office, getting stupidly out-maneuvered by the politicians under him, than bringing in a guy like Carson who is willing to shred every last bit of his intellectual credibility in order to lord over a citizenry he doesn't seem to have much respect for.
- Drew Magary, "F*ck Ben Carson", GQ (8 October 2015)

New Rule: Whenever you think the Tea Party can't get any dumber, they get dumber. Now they're in love with Donald Trump. Because nothing says "We're serious about fiscal responsibility" quite like a billionaire whose corporations have filed for bankruptcy three times.
- Bill Maher (2011), The New New Rules: A Funny Look At How Everybody But Me Has Their Head Up Their Ass, New York: Blue Rider Press, ISBN 978-0399158414

Here's the thing about Donald Trump: He never apologizes. He's never wrong, no matter what crazy thing he says. He's totally— he's the white Kanye. And they are gonna love him. For a party whose base adores belligerence, this is the guy.
- Bill Maher, Real Time with Bill Maher, 26 June 2015

Did you know that of the 14 states with the highest number of painkiller prescriptions per person, they all went for Trump?
- Bill Maher Real Time with Bill Maher, January 20th 2017

His behavior defies the traditional definition of what it means to be "manly." He wears bronzer, loves gold and gossip, is obsessed with his physical appearance, whines constantly, can't control his emotions, watches daytime television, enjoys parades and interior decorating, and used to sell perfume.
- Windsor Mann, The least macho president, The Week, 18 February 2019

He set us back like 10 years. We have worked so hard to promote our values, values that made him president when he hawked them, and now he does this, leaving everything in shambles? Nah, destroy him. Let it be a lesson to every other 'populist'.
- Frances Martel, international news editor at Breitbart News, as quoted by Will Sommer (15 January 2021), ‘Destroy Trump’: Breitbart Staffers Seethe After Capitol Riot, Daily Beast

I think even during the campaign I said that Trump reminded me most of Joffrey. They have the same level of emotional maturity. And Joffrey likes to remind everyone that he's king. And he thinks that gives him the ability to do anything. And we're not an absolute monarchy, like Westeros is. We're a constitutional republic. And yet, Trump doesn't seem to know what that means. He thinks the presidency gives him the power to do anything. And so, yeah, Joffrey is Trump.
- George R. R. Martin, interviewed by Jamie Sims in the T: The New York Times Style Magazine, "George R. R. Martin Answers Times Staffers’ Burning Questions," October 16, 2018.

Today's violent assault on our Capitol, an effort to subjugate American democracy by mob rule, was fomented by Mr. Trump. His use of the Presidency to destroy trust in our election and to poison our respect for fellow citizens has been enabled by pseudo political leaders whose names will live in infamy as profiles in cowardice. Our Constitution and our Republic will overcome this stain and We the People will come together again in our never-ending effort to form a more perfect Union, while Mr. Trump will deservedly be left a man without a country.
- James Mattis Former Defense Secretary Mattis says Trump 'fomented' the security breach at the US Capitol, abc NEWS, 7 January 2020

Trump is a potential disaster as commander-in-chief—uninformed, volatile, poor judgment. Hard to believe this is the candidate of a major political party.
- Barry McCaffrey, retired four-star U.S. Army general, as quoted in "What Does the Military Think of Donald Trump?" (15 June 2016), Time

In recent days, Donald Trump disparaged a fallen soldier's parents. He has suggested that the likes of their son should not be allowed in the United States — to say nothing of entering its service. I cannot emphasize enough how deeply I disagree with Mr. Trump's statement. I hope Americans understand that the remarks do not represent the views of our Republican Party, its officers, or candidates.
- John McCain, statement regarding Donald Trump's comments about Khizr and Ghazala Khan (transcript by CNN) (August 1, 2016)

I claim no moral superiority over Donald Trump. I have a long and well-known public and private record for which I will have to answer at the Final Judgment, and I repose my hope in the promise of mercy and the moderation of age. I challenge the nominee to set the example for what our country can and should represent.
- John McCain, statement regarding Donald Trump's comments about Khizr and Ghazala Khan (transcript by CNN) (August 1, 2016)

Arizona is watching. It is time for Donald Trump to set the example for our country and the future of the Republican Party. While our Party has bestowed upon him the nomination, it is not accompanied by unfettered license to defame those who are the best among us.
- John McCain, statement regarding Donald Trump's comments about Khizr and Ghazala Khan (transcript by CNN) (August 1, 2016)

Today's press conference in Helsinki was one of the most disgraceful performances by an American president in memory. The damage inflicted by President Trump's naiveté, egotism, false equivalence, and sympathy for autocrats is difficult to calculate. … President Trump proved not only unable, but unwilling to stand up to Putin. He and Putin seemed to be speaking from the same script as the president made a conscious choice to defend a tyrant against the fair questions of a free press, and to grant Putin an uncontested platform to spew propaganda and lies to the world. … No prior president has ever abased himself more abjectly before a tyrant. Not only did President Trump fail to speak the truth about an adversary; but speaking for America to the world, our president failed to defend all that makes us who we are — a republic of free people dedicated to the cause of liberty at home and abroad. American presidents must be the champions of that cause if it is to succeed. Americans are waiting and hoping for President Trump to embrace that sacred responsibility. One can only hope they are not waiting totally in vain.
- John McCain, official statement: "SASC Chairman John Mccain on Trump-Putin Meeting" (16 July 2018)

The presidency's most crucial duty is the protection of American national security. Yet, interviewed by Hugh Hewitt months into his campaign, Donald Trump did not know the key leaders of the global jihad. The man who would be commander-in-chief was unfamiliar with Hassan Nasrallah, the Hezbollah leader who has been murdering Americans for over 30 years; Ayman al-Zawahiri, Osama bin Laden's longtime deputy who has quite notoriously commanded al-Qaeda since the network's leader was killed by U.S. forces in 2011; and Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, self-proclaimed caliph of the Islamic State (ISIS) and a jihadist so globally notorious that many teenagers are aware of him. Of course a man who wants to be president should make it his business to know such things.
- Andrew C. McCarthy, "Conservatives Against Trump" (21 January 2016), National Review.

About the attack on US Capitol:

The mob was fed lies. They were provoked by the President and other powerful people.
- Mitch McConnell, Senate Majority Leader, Republican, quoted by Alex Rogers, Clare Foran (19 January 2021), Mitch McConnell: Capitol Hill mob was 'provoked' by Trump, CNN

About the attack on US Capitol:

Former President Trump's actions that preceded the riot were a disgraceful, disgraceful dereliction of duty. Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day.
Impeachment was never meant to be the final forum for American justice
We have a criminal justice system in this country. We have civil litigation. And former Presidents are not immune from being held accountable by either one.
He did not do his job. He didn't take steps so federal law could be faithfully executed and order restored. No. Instead, according to public reports, he watched television happily -- happily -- as the chaos unfolded.
- Mitch McConnell, as quoted by Alex Rogers and Manu Raju (13 February 2021), McConnell blames Trump but voted not guilty anyway, CNN

When you think of how far we have come, and at what cost, and with what faith, to just turn it all over to this monstrous clown with a monstrous ego, with no experience, never served his country in any way — it's just crazy. We can't stand by and let it happen. The Republican Party shouldn't stand by and let it happen.
- David McCullough, quoted by Jim Dwyer in The New York Times, "Scholars Steeped in Dead Politicians Take On a Live One: Donald Trump," July 12 2016.

Trump had been calling for better relations with Russia during his presidential campaign... Stooping to a new low, Friday's (New York) Times headline screamed: "F.B.I. Opened Inquiry Into Whether Trump Was Secretly Working on Behalf of Russia." For those interested in evidence — or the lack of it— regarding collusion between Russia and the presidential campaign of Donald Trump, we can thank the usual Russia-gate promoters at The New York Times and CNN for inadvertently filling in some gaps in recent days... NYT readers had to get down to paragraph 9 to read: "No evidence has emerged..."
- Ray McGovern in Ray McGovern: Russia-gate Evidence, Please, (15 January 2019)

Donald Trump is no conservative. He's a populist whose theme is: Our government is broken, and I'll fix it. He's right on point one: Both parties have failed to lead. Obama and congressional Democrats manipulate the levers of power to push America farther toward European socialism; Republicans promise free-market alternatives but end up caving in to pressure or carrying water for the GOP's own big-government special interests. The American people have signaled in recent elections that they've had enough of business as usual, and now they want to clean house. Yet Trump is no better than what we already have. He'll say anything to get a vote but give us more of the same if he gets into office. Trump beguiles us, defies the politically correct media, and bullies anyone who points out that the emperor has no clothes. None of that makes him a conservative who cherishes liberty... For decades, Trump has argued for big government.
- David McIntosh, "Conservatives Against Trump" (21 January 2016), National Review.

Trump himself thought it was a good idea in the recent past to support Hillary Clinton, including to be President.
- Dan McLaughlin, "The Never Trump Movement Is Neither Anti-American Nor Hypocritical" (17 May 2016), Red State

Trump is unexpectedly increasing my enthusiasm for Hillary. What he is saying is not based on facts: it's based on immaturity, bad judgment and ignorance, and I think it's going to be hard for people in uniform who are thoughtful about this, to vote for him.
- Merrill McPeak, retired U.S. Air Force chief of staff, as quoted in "What Does the Military Think of Donald Trump?" (15 June 2016), Time

Donald Trump is an original
- John McWhorter Language Expert: Donald Trump's Way Of Speaking Is 'Oddly Adolescent' | The 11th Hour | MSNBC (September 15, 2017)

Trump's brawling, blustery, mean-spirited public persona serves to associate conservatives with all the negative stereotypes that liberals have for decades attached to their opponents on the right. According to conventional caricature, conservatives are selfish, greedy, materialistic, bullying, misogynistic, angry, and intolerant. They are, we're told, privileged and pampered elitists who revel in the advantages of inherited wealth while displaying only cruel contempt for the less fortunate and the less powerful. The Left tried to smear Ronald Reagan in such terms but failed miserably because he displayed none of the stereotypical traits... Trump is the living, breathing, bellowing personification of all the nasty characteristics Democrats routinely ascribe to Republicans.
- Michael Medved, "Conservatives Against Trump" (21 January 2016), National Review.

There are two tactical approaches for candidates seeking their party's nomination in election campaigns. One is to strongly debate the issues and firmly advocate your positions, but to avoid personal attacks on your opponents or needless divisiveness. The other is to vigorously attack your fellow candidates, disparaging them personally and seeking to raise yourself up by dragging them down. Ronald Reagan was famous for epitomizing the former path. Donald Trump, unfortunately, has chosen to follow the latter course... At a time when the nation is suffering under one of the most divisive and incompetent presidents in history, our people need positive, unifying leadership, not negative, destructive political rhetoric.
- Edwin Meese, "Conservatives Against Trump" (21 January 2016), National Review.

Trump owes less to Willkie's tradition than to Benito Mussolini's, and not only because of the superficial: Trump's chin-out toughness, sweeping right-hand gestures and talk of his "huge" successes and his "stupid" opponents all evoke the Italian dictator's style. Monday's breathtaking announcement that he would block all Muslims from entering the United States has many pointing out the obvious fascist overtones... Trump uses many of the fascist's tools: a contempt for facts, spreading a pervasive sense of fear and overwhelming crisis, portraying his backers as victims, assigning blame to foreign or alien actors and suggesting only his powerful personality can transcend the crisis. He endorsed the violence done to a dissenter at one of his rallies, and he now floats the idea of making entry to the United States contingent on religion.
- Dana Milbank, "Donald Trump, America's modern Mussolini" (8 December 2015), The Washington Post.

For all the promises Trump is breaking, there is one he has kept without wavering: his vow to be unpredictable. ... Some suggest that there is a method to Trump's madness, that he is trying to make would-be adversaries think he is irrational and capricious, thereby making foes and rivals wary of pushing him too far. ... But in Trump's application of the Madman Theory there seems to be less theory than madman. There may be advantages to keeping foes and opponents off guard, but Trump is baffling friends and allies, too. In foreign affairs, unpredictability spooks allies and spreads instability. And unpredictable policy at home has long been seen as toxic for business. ... The widespread chaos suggests Trump isn't signaling new policies as much as he's winging it. His unpredictability is not a theory. It's the absence of one.
- Dana Milbank, Trump's one consistent policy: Chaos, The Washington Post (December 6, 2016)

You never know where the president's trigger point is
- Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley according to "Milley took top-secret action to limit Trump's ability to order military strike, book says" (January8, 2021)

He needs no introduction. His name is familiar to every person on the planet Earth. His name comes up in almost every conversation in the world on global politics. His every word is followed by tens of millions. He has left a deep and lasting impact everywhere.
- Narendra Modi, speaking at the "Howdy Modi" rally at NRG Stadium in Houston, United States, ETV Andhra Pradesh (22 September 2019)

President Trump should win the Nobel Peace Prize.
- Moon Jae-in, as quoted in "South Korea president says Trump deserves Nobel Peace Prize" by Hyonhee Shin, Reuters (30 April 2018)

The three primary goals of religious conservatives: to protect all human life, including that of the unborn; to reinforce the sanctity of marriage and the family; and to conserve the religious freedom of all persons. All three goals would be in jeopardy under a Trump presidency. Yes, Trump says that he is pro-life now, despite having supported partial-birth abortion in the past. The problem is not whether he can check a box. Pro-life voters expect leaders to have a coherent vision of human dignity and to be able to defend against assaults on human life in the future—some of which may be unimaginable today and will present themselves only as new technologies develop.
- Russell Moore, "Conservatives Against Trump" (21 January 2016), National Review.

Trump's proposal would assure the enmity of all Muslims, including those whose support we need if we are to prevail. Even assuming an infallible way to identify who is Muslim, the proposal is both under- and over-inclusive. It is under-inclusive because it does not address potential terrorists who have U.S. passports or residence permits, or are already here, or may threaten us abroad; it is over-inclusive because it bars the huge majority of Muslims who are not potential terrorists. Trump says he would order the military to kill the families of terrorists. That would be a direct violation of the most basic laws of armed conflict, which require that deadly force be used only when required by military necessity, under circumstances that allow distinction between military and civilian targets, and when incidental damage to non-military targets is proportional to the military advantage gained. A military that adhered to the laws of armed conflict would necessarily disobey such an order; if it followed the order, both the person who gave it and those who followed it would be subject to prosecution for war crimes.
- Michael B. Mukasey, "Conservatives Against Trump" (21 January 2016), National Review.

What a fucking idiot.
- Rupert Murdoch, as quoted in "Donald Trump Didn't Want to Be President" (January 2017), by Michael Wolff, NY Mag

I want him out. He has caused enough damage.
- Lisa Murkovski, Republican senator, quoted by Kate Sullivan, Nicky Robertson (10 January 2021), Republican Sen. Pat Toomey says he thinks Trump 'committed impeachable offenses', CNN

Trump has gotten six or seven stories in his presidency so far, that if they happened in 1981, there would have been serious talk about the president needing to resign. And that's gone now, that ray gun of, "We don't do this. You can't get away with that" is pretty much gone... Everything is a racial stereotype with him half the time. We've got to admit that about Trump.
- Mike Murphy, interview with Bill Kristol (20 June 2017)

A Moscow loving grifter is on the loose in the White House. Shame on the Vichy Republicans who constantly enable him.
- Mike Murphy, interview with Daniel Lippman (2018)

Yes, I’m supporting Donald Trump; I’m doing so as enthusiastically as I can do. In fact, I think he’s a terrible human being.
- Mick Mulvaney according to Debate between Mulvaney and the Democrat Fran Person in York, South Carolina (15 Dec 2018)

I don't hate the man, but it's time for Trump to hang up his hat & sail into the sunset.
Do we really want a bull in a china shop situation every single day!? Also, I think the legal maximum age for start of Presidential term should be 69.
- Elon Musk, quoted in "Elon Musk: Time for Trump to ‘hang up his hat & sail into the sunset’", 7 July 2022

What kind of son have I created?
- Mary Trump (Trump's mother), is said to have asked Ivana Trump

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When Trump came for the Mexicans, I did not speak out — as I was not a Mexican. When he came for the Muslims I did not speak out — as I was not a Muslim. Then he came for me.
- The Daily News, variant of First they came ... by Martin Niemöller, as quoted in Daily News cover shows Donald Trump cutting off the Statue of Liberty's head (December 09, 2015) by Colin Campbell, Business Insider

I love Donald, and he would make a great president. Number one, he tells the truth. Number two, he's been where most of these guys want to be, in terms of riding on his own plane. He doesn't have to worry about what hotels he stays in, he doesn't have to worry about how his family gets to Hawaii, so on and so forth. I could give you so many reasons. But most of all, most important I think for Mr. Trump, is he tells it like it is. Look, we can talk about these radicals all we want, but it's my opinion, and I heard [Trump] say this too: They're only going to be as radical as we let them be.
- Wayne Newton on Fox & Friends, 6 October 2015 — as quoted in "Wayne Newton all in on Trump" by Judy Kurtz, The Hill (6 October 2015)

Mr President... STOP THE INSANITY You lost the election - here's how to save your legacy
- New York Post, quoted in "New York Post to Donald Trump: Stop the insanity", David Goldman, CNN (29 December 2020)

Trump has chosen to identify himself as a Republican as a matter of egotistical convenience.
- Tom Nichols, "I'll Take Hillary Clinton Over Donald Trump" (24 February 2016), The Federalist

Donald Trump is the most willfully ignorant man ever to hold the presidency. He does not understand even basic concepts of … well, almost anything. (Yesterday, he explained to a woman in Michigan that he would lower food prices by limiting food imports—in other words, by reducing the supply of food. Trump went to the Wharton School, where I assume “supply and demand” was part of the first-year curriculum.) He is insensate to anything that conflicts with his needs or beliefs, and briefing him on any topic is virtually impossible.
- Tom Nichols, Scientific American Didn’t Need to Endorse Anybody (18 September 2024)

As you can imagine, [Pat] is an expert on politics and she predicts whenever you decide to run for office you will be a winner!
- Richard Nixon, crediting his wife Pat Nixon in a letter to Trump in 1987, FACT CHECK: Did Richard Nixon Write a Letter Predicting Donald Trump’s Success in Politics?, Snopes, (May 18, 2017)

Have you ever argued with a toddler? Because if you have, you probably lost that argument, or you killed the toddler. Either way, you didn't win the argument, because you can't win an argument against a toddler. Toddlers will say the most outlandish shit. [...] Over the course of this election season, we've come to realize that president-elect Donald Trump might have the mind of a toddler. And if you think about it, it makes sense. He loves the same things that toddlers do. They like building things. They love attention, always grabbing things they're not supposed to. [...] You don't argue with a child if you want to win. Don't amplify the toddler's voice, because you'll just get trapped in the toddler's world. Rather, just keep asking the toddler to elaborate. Because logic is the downfall of every toddler. The point is to gently demoralize the toddler and smother his tantrums. And, as a bonus, stop him from delegitimizing the press.
- Trevor Noah, The Daily Show, November 30, 2016. Quoted in Trevor Noah: How journalists really need to deal with Trump (November 30, 2016) by Paul Schrodt, Business Insider

Donald Trump should be given the Medal of Freedom for speaking his mind in such a bold, honest and straight-forward manner.
- Ted Nugent, Give Trump the Medal of Freedom, WorldNetDaily (August 7, 2015). Quoted in Shaq Didn’t Call Trump the 'Best President' (September 17, 2018) by Catherine Monk, FactCheck.org

Donald Trump comes closer than anyone else to being the archetype of the species; crossing genres, he exemplifies all the ways an asshole can capture our attention.
- Geoffrey Nunberg (14 August 2012), Ascent of the A-Word: Assholism, the First Sixty Years, New York: PublicAffairs, pp. 164-165, ISBN 978-1610391757

I'd like to take Donald Trump to Palestine,/set him free in the streets of Ramallah or Nablus/amidst all the winners who never gave up in sixty-/nine years./They'd like to make their country great again too,/if only their hands weren't tied by the weapons/our country donates.
- Naomi Shihab Nye Voices in the Air (2018)

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[Americans have] a continuing normative commitment to the ideals of individual freedom and mobility, values that extend far beyond the issue of race in the American mind. The depth of this commitment may be summarily dismissed as the unfounded optimism of the average American—I may not be Donald Trump now, but just you wait; if I don't make it, my children will.
- Barack Obama, in a 1991 law school paper called "Race and Rights Rhetoric", as quoted in Rising Star: The Making of Barack Obama (2017) by David Garrow, and reported in "Young Obama Said the American Dream Is to Be Donald Trump", Vice (12 May 2017)

We've got a debate inside the other party that is fantasy and schoolyard taunts and selling stuff like it's the Home Shopping Network. And then you've got the Republican establishment -- they're very exercised: We're shocked that somebody would be saying these things. We're shocked that somebody is fanning anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-Muslim sentiment. We're shocked! We're shocked that somebody could be loose with the facts. Or distort someone's record -- shocked... This is the guy, remember, who was sure that I was born in Kenya. Who just wouldn't let it go. And all this same Republican establishment, they weren't saying nothing. As long as it was directed at me, they were fine with it. They thought it was a hoot. Wanted to get his endorsement... What is happening in this primary is just a distillation of what's been happening inside their party for more than a decade. I mean, the reason that many of their voters are responding is because this is what's been fed through the messages they've been sending for a long time -- that you just make flat assertions that don't comport with the facts. That you just deny the evidence of science. That compromise is a betrayal. That the other side isn't simply wrong, or we just disagree, we want to take a different approach, but the other side is destroying the country, or treasonous. I mean, that's - look it up. That's what they've been saying. So they can't be surprised when somebody suddenly looks and says, you know what, I can do that even better. I can make stuff up better than that. I can be more outrageous than that. I can insult people even better than that. I can be even more uncivil.
- Barack Obama on Trump, March 2016

I did hope, for the sake of our country, that Donald Trump might show some interest in taking the job seriously … But he never did. For close to four years now, he’s shown no interest in putting in the work; no interest in finding common ground; no interest in using the awesome power of his office to help anyone but himself and his friends; no interest in treating the presidency as anything but one more reality show that he can use to get the attention he craves. … Trump hasn’t grown into the job because he can’t.
- Barack Obama on Trump, 20 August 2020

I like Donald Trump because he speaks from the heart. Make America Great Again is a great slogan. I would like to meet him.
- Malik Obama, President Obama's half-brother, as quoted in "Why Obama's half-brother says he'll be voting for Donald Trump" by Isabel Vincent, New York Post (24 July 2016)

Let's take a page from Donald Trump's book and ignore political correctness for a moment. If you support Trump, you support his sexist, bigoted and racist views. There are no ifs, ands or buts about it, and this is especially true for GOP party leaders, elected officials and even community leaders. Some have said things such as, 'I don't like Trump's history of demeaning women, but I think he will be good for the economy'. Sorry, you don't get a pass because you like one of his policy proposals. It's akin to saying, 'I supported Hitler for his tax plan'. And no, I'm absolutely not comparing Trump to Hitler. But Anne Frank's 86-year-old stepsister, Eva Schloss, who survived Auschwitz, did just that a few weeks ago, telling Newsweek that Trump 'is acting like another Hitler by inciting racism'.
- Dean Obeidallah, "A Vote For Trump Is A Vote" (24 February 2016), CNN, State of Georgia: Cable News Network

He’s not all that. And much less impressive in person than on television, as well.
- Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Interview with Democracy Now (2020)

He said to me, "if you're ever caught cheating, you deny, deny, deny, and wear them out, and they will believe you eventually because you've denied so long."
- Jack O'Donnell, former president of the Trump Plaza casino in Atlantic City, Believing Him: For Trump, Sticking With Men Like Stephen Moore Is Nothing New (26 April 2019), New York Times

This young girl, Tara Conner, how old is she? 20? 21. She went out and she was partying. She's from Kentucky. She went to New York and she was hanging out at all the parties, and doing what Paris and Lindsay do — you know, dancing, whatever. And so he held a press conference to announce whether or not she was going to retain her crown. And then she started to cry, going, "I just want to thank Donald for giving me a second chance." And there he is, hair looping, going [flipping hair over top of her head, imitating Trump] "Everyone deserves a second chance. I'm going to give her a second chance."
He annoys me on a multitude of levels. He's the moral authority? Left the first wife, had an affair. Left the second wife, had an affair. Had kids both times, but he's the moral compass for 20-year-olds in America. Donald, sit and spin, my friend! I don't enjoy him. No. No, no, no.
He inherited a lot of money — wait a minute — and he's been bankrupt so many times where he didn't have to pay. But the people beneath him who he owed money to got shorted out of the money, but he got to again, try again and again. And you know what saved him the second time? After his father died, with that money, he paid off all his bankruptcy. This is not a self-made man.
I just think that this man is sort of like one of those, you know, snake oil salesmen in Little House on the Prairie.
- Rosie O'Donnell, The View (2006), quoted in "Rosie O'Donnell Hits Back at Donald Trump After Debate Bashing - and Calls Him an 'Orange Anus'", People (2016-09-27)
- Referring to Trump's announcement that he would give Miss USA 2006 a "second chance" after her substance abuse scandal.

This man just can't be president. They've got this button — this briefcase. He's going to find it.
- P. J. O'Rourke, alluding to the nuclear codes the commander-in-chief takes control of upon assuming office, May 7, 2016 on NPR

The Founding Fathers created a system of checks and balances to limit the power of the President, but it only works if someone fucking checks or balances. And if you don't, it's no longer on Trump, it's on you. Because when you've got the presidential equivalent of a five-year-old shitting on the salad bar of a Ruby Tuesdays, at some point you stop blaming the five-year-old, and you start blaming the people who are not stopping him. Stop that boy, that's what I am saying. Stop that boy, now.
- John Oliver during a piece on the aftermath of Trump's firing of FBI Director James Comey on his Last Week Tonight show (14 May 2017)

in 2019, President Trump repeated the baseless conspiracy theory that I had committed immigration fraud, nearly three years after I thought I had answered it once and for all.
- Ilhan Omar This is What America Looks Like (2021)

Now that he’s president-elect, you just hope that he can make the world a better place. He won fair and square. We have to give him a chance. There’s no need talking about recounts and this and that.
- Shaquille O'Neal, as quoted in Shaq Didn’t Call Trump the 'Best President' (September 17, 2018) by Catherine Monk, FactCheck.org

to me, Trump is more like [former Italian prime minister [Silvio] Berlusconi than like Hitler. Trump is many things. He is pampered, he is an immature man, he is a teenager craving unconditional, endless love from everybody. I don’t think he is fanatic. I’m not sure I would say about his vice president that he is not a fanatic, he probably is, but I don’t think Donald Trump strikes me as a fanatic.
- Amos Oz interview with Forward (2018)

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I'm happy with what Trump has done, because he's totally blown up the media! All of a sudden, ‘BOOM!' That lack of caution and shooting from the hip. He's not a president, of course. He's not remotely a president. He has no political skills of any kind. He's simply an American citizen who is creating his own bully pulpit.
- Camille Paglia, as quoted by Luke Morgan Britan, "Before Calling Taylor Swift A ‘Nazi Barbie', Camille Paglia Laid Into Plenty Of Other Celebrities", NME.com, Dec 11, 2015; retrieved 15 September 2017

Had Hillary won, everyone would have expected disappointed Trump voters to show a modicum of respect for the electoral results as well as for the historic ceremony of the inauguration, during which former combatants momentarily unite to pay homage to the peaceful transition of power in our democracy. But that was not the reaction of a vast cadre of Democrats shocked by Trump's win. In an abject failure of leadership that may be one of the most disgraceful episodes in the history of the modern Democratic party, Chuck Schumer, who had risen to become the Senate Democratic leader after the retirement of Harry Reid, asserted absolutely no moral authority as the party spun out of control in a nationwide orgy of rage and spite. Nor were there statesmanlike words of caution and restraint from two seasoned politicians whom I have admired for decades and believe should have run for president long ago—Senator Dianne Feinstein and Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi. How do Democrats imagine they can ever expand their electoral support if they go on and on in this self-destructive way, impugning half the nation as vile racists and homophobes?
All of which brings us to the issue of Trump's performance to date. The initial conundrum was: could he shift from being the slashing, caustic ex-reality show star of the campaign to a more measured, presidential persona? Perhaps to the dismay of his diehard critics, Trump did indeed make that transition at the Capitol on inauguration morning, when he appeared grave and focused, palpably conveying a sense of the awesome burdens of the highest office. As for his particular actions as president, I am no fan of executive orders, which usurp congressional prerogatives and which I was already denouncing when Obama was constantly signing them (with very little protest, one might add, from the mainstream media).
- Camille Paglia, as quoted by Johnathan V. Last, "Camille Paglia: On Trump, Democrats, Transgenderism, and Islamist Terror", The Weekly Standard, June 15, 2017

Only one candidate's record of success proves he is the master of the art of the deal... I'm here to support the next president of the United States, Donald Trump.
- Sarah Palin, "Sarah Palin's speech endorsing Donald Trump in full", Independent (20 January 2016)

With Donald Trump as the presumptive presidential nominee, we are witnessing a populist hijacking of one of the United States' great political parties... [R]ooted in ignorance, prejudice, fear and isolationism... This troubles me deeply as a Republican, but it troubles me even more as an American... Enough is enough... It's time to put country before party and say it together: Never Trump.
- Henry Paulson, "Choose country over party" (24 June 2016), The Washington Post, Washington, D.C., as quoted in CBS News (June 2016)

Trump has made a living out of preying on and bullying society's most vulnerable, with the help of government. He isn't an outsider, but rather an unelected politician of the worst kind. He admits that he's bought off elected officials in order get his way and to openly abuse the system. The rabid defense he gets from some quarters is astonishing. Trump's liberal positions aren't in the distant past—he has openly promoted them on the campaign trail. Trump isn't fighting for anyone but himself, which has been his pattern for decades. Conservatives have a serious decision. Do we truly believe in our long-held principles and insist that politicians have records demonstrating fealty to them? Or are we willing to throw these principles away because an entertainer who has been a liberal Democrat for decades simply says some of the right things?
- Katie Pavlich, "Conservatives Against Trump" (21 January 2016), National Review

Observing his behavior, I have concluded that he is like the man who refuses to ask for directions.
All of the answers are there. And yet the president continues to go down the wrong path and refuses to ask for directions from scientists who know better than any of us.
- Nancy Pelosi, talking about the need for testing, contact tracing, treatment, social distancing, masking and equipment for handling the Coronavirus pandemic, as quoted by Marisa Schultz, "Pelosi compares Trump to 'the man who refuses to ask for directions'", July 17 2020, CNN

We might get somebody of his ilk who's sane, and that would really be dangerous, because it could be who's smart, who's strategic, and the rest. This is a slob. He doesn't believe in science. He's a snake-oil salesman. And he's shrewd. Give him credit for his shrewdness.
- Nancy Pelosi, as quoted by Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker, I Alone Can Fix It: Donald J. Trump's Catastrophic Final Year (2021), p. 6

Donald Trump and I believe that Captain Humayun Khan is an American hero and his family, like all Gold Star families, should be cherished by every American. Captain Khan gave his life to defend our country in the global war on terror. Due to the disastrous decisions of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, a once stable Middle East has now been overrun by ISIS. This must not stand. By suspending immigration from countries that have been compromised by terrorism, rebuilding our military, defeating ISIS at its source and projecting strength on the global stage, we will reduce the likelihood that other American families will face the enduring heartbreak of the Khan family.
- Mike Pence, about the statements of Donald Trump on the fallen Captain Humayun S. M. Khan's family — Facebook, July 31, 2016

It really is remarkable to think about the progress the American people have made over the last several months. When the president tapped me to lead the White House Coronavirus Task Force, he gave us the first objective is to save lives. And to focus on slowing the spread, bending the curve. [...] Secondly, the president made it clear to us that we were to make sure the hospitals in impacted areas had the resources and the equipment that they needed to be able to save as many lives as possible.
- Mike Pence, in an interview with Chuck Todd at Meet the Press (April 19, 2020). Transcript online at NBCNews.com

The president has made it clear that we want the governors to implement testing and deploy testing where they deem it's most appropriate in their state, we're going to continue to fully partner with states around the country to increase the supply, to make sure that they have the reagents and the test kits necessary to perform those tests. But I want to say again, it is truly -- it's a tribute to the president's leadership that early on in this process he brought in the top commercial labs in the country. They formed an alliance. And we went from one month ago to 80,000 tests being done to four million tests being completed as of yesterday. We'll continue to increase that. We'll continue to make governors aware of that.
- Mike Pence, in an interview with Chuck Todd at Meet the Press (April 19, 2020). Transcript online at NBCNews.com

I've seen that report in the papers this morning. And I know that HHS is making inquiries. But we believe those issues were resolved on that particular test by early February. But it's important for your viewers to know that that test, the slow lab-based test that is typical for CDC and public health labs would never have been able to meet the needs of testing in this coronavirus epidemic. That's why President Trump was so right when he brought together these commercial labs and formed a consortium. And literally took us from -- at that time in February we had done some 20,000 tests total across the country. Now we've done more than four million and we believe we'll have done more than five million tests before the end of this month. None of that would have been possible without the president's leadership, without the innovation, without the incredible efforts of companies like Roche and Avid Laboratories.
- Mike Pence on a FDA's report stating that CDC's initial test was faulty, in an interview with Chuck Todd at Meet the Press (April 19, 2020). Transcript online at NBCNews.com

The American people can be confident that this president wants to reopen the American economy as soon as we can safely and responsibly do it.
- Mike Pence, in an interview with Chuck Todd at Meet the Press (April 19, 2020). Transcript online at NBCNews.com

I wrote the scripture reference, which is 2 Corinthians 3:17, which is how it's written, I'm guilty as charged. That's exactly what I did. I sent him a couple of suggestions of some things he could talk about as a connection point.
It shows that he's not familiar with Bible, Donald Trump's a very interesting guy. There are some things about him that I find fascinating, that I like about him, as well as other evangelicals.
- Tony Perkins, in an interview with CNN's Erin Burnett on OutFront, about Trump saying "two Corinthians" instead of "Second Corinthians" during a speech at Liberty University. (January 22, 2016)

He offers a barking carnival act that can be best described as Trumpism: a toxic mix of demagoguery, mean-spiritedness and nonsense that will lead the Republican Party to perdition if pursued... Let no one be mistaken: Donald Trump's candidacy is a cancer on conservatism, and it must be clearly diagnosed, excised and discarded. ... Donald Trump is the modern-day incarnation of the Know Nothing movement.
- Rick Perry, campaign event, Willard Hotel, 2015-07-22, quoted in DelReal, Jose A. (22 July 2015), "Perry: Trump's campaign ‘a barking carnival act' and ‘a cancer on conservatism'", The Washington Post

I don't know how far Trump will go. But in giving confidence to the American people and exposing establishment hypocrisy, he has already done a great service for our country.
- Jesse Lee Peterson, "Cowards join forces to attack the 'bully'", WND (21 September 2015)

To most of us, the American presidential campaign is a media freak show, in which Donald Trump is the arch villain. But Trump is loathed by those with power in the United States for reasons that have little to do with his obnoxious behaviour and opinions. To the invisible government in Washington, the unpredictable Trump is an obstacle to America’s design for the 21st century...To the militarists in Washington, the real problem with Trump is that, in his lucid moments, he seems not to want a war with Russia; he wants to talk with the Russian president, not fight him; he says he wants to talk with the president of China. In the first debate with Hillary Clinton, Trump promised not to be the first to introduce nuclear weapons into a conflict. He said, “I would certainly not do first strike. Once the nuclear alternative happens, it’s over.” That was not news... what is clear is that Trump is considered a serious threat to the status quo maintained by the vast national security machine that runs the United States, regardless of who is in the White House. The CIA wants him beaten. The Pentagon wants him beaten. The media wants him beaten. Even his own party wants him beaten. He is a threat to the rulers of the world – unlike Clinton who has left no doubt she is prepared to go to war with nuclear-armed Russia and China... Without a shred of evidence, she has accused Russia of supporting Trump and hacking her emails.
- John Pilger, Inside the Invisible Government: War, Propaganda, Clinton & Trump, Information Clearing House, October 28, 2016

The coming war on China is likely to happen by mistake or accident as a result of deliberate provocations by the US and its echoes. Under cover of the pandemic, the Trump regime is sending strategic bombers and spy drones within sight of China itself. Our silence is our peril.
- John Pilger, Twitter (17 June 2020)

Trump is an unbalanced force. He is the politicized American id. Should his election results match his polls, he would be, unquestionably, the worst thing to happen to the American common culture in my lifetime.
- John Podhoretz, "Conservatives Against Trump" (21 January 2016), National Review.

Donald Trump was so awful, so horrible, so disgusting... His lies, his distortions, his deceits, and his libels thicker and fouler than they've yet been... Since he began running he has demonstrated he knows things we don't know about the emotions roiling in the American underbelly. Maybe he knows this too... He interrupts, he yells over them, he insults them, he goes over his allotted time, and the whirlwind he creates turns into a vacuum that sucks all the air out of the place and right into his attention-whore lungs.
- John Podhoretz, "Trump was out of control in South Carolina debate" (13 February 2016), New York Post.

There is no comparison between the stance of Vietnam’s Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and U.S. President Donald Trump: the former had a sober, science-based attitude, while the latter has consistently laughed off the coronavirus as a simple flu as recently as June 24.
- Vijay Prashad in COVID-19: Why Laos, Vietnam & China Have Beaten the Virus and India, Brazil and the US Have Not, Consortium News (16 July 2020)

It’s not surprising that a criminal like Trump pardons other criminals. But apparently to get a pardon, one has to be either a Republican, a convicted child murderer or a turkey.
- Senior US District Judge Robert Pratt of the Southern District of Iowa, as quoted by Ryan J. Foley (30 December 2020), "'A criminal like Trump': Federal judge ridicules President's pardons", The Sydney Morning Herald

Donald Trump and his top Republican allies in Congress are fighting a war, and the battle lines have begun to clarify themselves. Their war is not being waged against COVID-19, the pandemic that has killed tens of thousands in this nation alone. Their war is being waged against the nation itself, and specifically against areas of the nation that are heavy on population but light on Trump supporters. In other words, the big-city blue states, whose governors have refused to fawn over Trump's gibberish-flecked "leadership" during this crisis.
- William Rivers Pitt, Trump and McConnell Aren’t Waging War on COVID. They’re Waging War on Us. (April 28, 2020), Truthout

Trump has been treating the delivery of federal aid to the states like his own personal spoils system: rewarding loyalty, punishing critics, and demanding to be praised for doing his job whenever he actually does it, but especially when he doesn't.
- William Rivers Pitt, Trump and McConnell Aren’t Waging War on COVID. They’re Waging War on Us. (April 28, 2020), Truthout

If you don’t pay your bills, your bank account stays full. It’s a trick Trump learned a long time ago.
- William Rivers Pitt, Trump and McConnell Aren’t Waging War on COVID. They’re Waging War on Us. (April 28, 2020), Truthout

Trump and McConnell know these states are reopening too soon, but they don’t care, because they need to make the money happy. [...] The utter cruelty of these tactics, the nihilistic self-destruction of it in the face of more than 55,000 dead and thousands more to follow, has scarce precedent in the annals of U.S. politics. Instead of helping the entire country in this time of grievous crisis, Trump and McConnell are putting their boots to the neck of every state they deem ideologically unfit. It will be a damn miracle if the nation survives this, and them.
- William Rivers Pitt, Trump and McConnell Aren’t Waging War on COVID. They’re Waging War on Us. (April 28, 2020), Truthout

Mr. Trump, I know you take your business seriously, and I take mine seriously. I hereby hold you in civil contempt
- Presiding judge Donald Trump found in contempt of court in New York civil case (Apr 25, 2022)

People imnitate Autistic hand flapping when they want to imply a disabled person is stupid, annoying, or out of control. Donald Trump famously did a cruel imitation of hand flapping during his 2016 campaign, while criticizing a physically disabled reporter.
- Devon Price Unmasking Autism: Discovering the New Faces of Neurodiversity (2022)

He's a really brilliant and talented person, without any doubt. It's not our job to judge his qualities, that's a job for American voters, but he's the absolute leader in the presidential race.
- Vladimir Putin, as quoted in "Putin praises Trump: 'He's a really brilliant and talented person'" by Neetzan Zimmerman, The Hill (17 December 2015)

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Donald Trump lost the election fair and square.
- Brad Raffensperger, Republican and top voting official in Georgia, quoted in "‘He knows he lost’: Georgia Republican braces for Trump rally in Perry", the Guardian, 25 sept 2021

There are side effects to hydroxychloroquine. It causes psychiatric symptoms, cardiac problems and a host of other bad side effects. [...] There may be a role for it for some people, but to tell Americans ‘you don’t have anything to lose,’ that’s not true. People certainly have something to lose by taking it indiscriminately.
- Megan Ranney, in response to Trump's statement on using the drug as treatment for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19. Quoted in Ignoring Expert Opinion, Trump Again Promotes Use of Hydroxychloroquine (April 5, 2020) by Michael Crowley, Katie Thomas and Maggie Haberman, The New York Times.

Your reminder that America's richest 1 percent now own half the value of the U.S. stock market. The richest 10 percent own 92 percent. So when Trump says the stock market is the economy, know who he's really talking about.
- Robert Reich, Twitter, (5 Jul 2020)

As the pandemic surges back, Trump and his lackeys have:

—Tried to dismantle the Affordable Care Act

—Rallied to pass a $740,000,000,000 defense spending bill

—Declined extending additional unemployment benefits to out-of-work Americans

Their priorities are crystal clear.

Robert Reich, Twitter, (5 Jul 2020)

You may not agree with his authenticity but he's authentic. People like that. He speaks his mind, which reminds me of me once in a while. I think that's something that's refreshing.
- Harry Reid, as quoted in "Reid praises Trump for being 'authentic'" by Rebecca Savransky, The Hill (11 February 2016)

He presents himself as a Strong Man who promises to knock heads and make things right again. In this, he has a lot more in common with South American populist demagogues than with our tradition of political leaders... The middle-class consensus in America has collapsed. This is the most important political and social earthquake since World War II. The conservative movement's leadership isn't up to the challenge, and a good number of voters are willing to gamble on Trump's bluster. Bad bet. Our nation's solidarity is being tested. It will only make things worse if we go Trumpster diving.
- R.R. Reno, "Conservatives Against Trump" (21 January 2016), National Review.

For anyone to compare their 'sacrifice' to a Gold Star family member is insulting, foolish and ignorant. Especially someone who has never served himself and has no children serving, our county has been at war for a decade and a half and the truth is most Americans have sacrificed nothing. Most of them are smart and grounded enough to admit it.
- Paul Rieckoff, in response to Trump's comparison of his sacrifices with those of someone like Khizr M. Khan — Donald Trump to Father of Fallen Soldier: 'I've Made a Lot of Sacrifices', ABC News (July 30, 2016)

The most mentally ill human being in America right now seems to be the president.
- Rihanna, pop singer, quoted in "Donald Trump Calls Rihanna's Super Bowl Halftime Performance an 'Epic Fail'", Vanity Fiar, 13 February 2023

He is a successful man for a reason. He's actually created a dialogue [and] forced conversations. He has gotten more people engaged in the political process and current events and what's going on in the world than anyone else has for a long time. More people are engaged than ever before. I think whether you agree with Donald or you don't agree with Donald, he starts conversations. That's what democracy is — you've got to get people engaged to make this country run.
- Melissa Rivers, as quoted in "Melissa Rivers: Trump is ‘a successful man for a reason'" by Mark Hensch, The Hill (9 December 2015)

With all his talent, and the ability to raise money and draw large crowds, the President still lives in an alternate reality. He really does. People say, 'Well he lies about this, that and the other.' But he isn't lying. To him, that's the truth.
- Pat Robertson, televangelist, as quoted in "Televangelist Pat Robertson says Trump lives in an 'alternate reality' and should move on from election loss" by Veronica Stracqualursi and Jason Hoffman, CNN (22 December 2020)

He has by far the largest voice and a big impact in my party. I don't know if he's planning to run in 2024 or not, but if he does, I'm pretty sure he would win the nomination.
- Mitt Romney, as quoted in "What Mitt Romney gets *exactly* right about Donald Trump", Chris Cillizza, CNN, 25 February 2021

It's impossible to ignore the conspicuous regularity with which Donald Trump issues intentionally provocative, news-cycle-dominating comments. It's equally difficult to look past their timing, which tends to often coincide with scandalous revelations that reflect poorly on Democratic politicians... This is far from an isolated event; it's a pattern. First, a Democrat becomes embroiled in a controversy or an external event reflects negatively on the party. Donald Trump then makes an outrageous comment calculated for maximum political impact. Like clockwork, the press abandons their critical examination of Democratic policies, and Republicans are back at each other's throats. This is a measurable phenomenon. In just the last six months, there are almost too many examples to count.
- Noah Rothman, "The Many Times Trump Rescued Dems" (8 December 2015), Commentary

Mr. Trump lacks the focus or self-discipline to do the basic work required of a president. His chronic impulsiveness is apparently unstoppable and clearly self-defeating.
- Karl Rove, Republican strategist, Political Death by 1,000 Tweets, in the Wall Street Journal, June 7, 2017

Donald Trump, champion and avatar of the shallow state, has won power because his supporters are threatened by what they don't understand, and what they don't understand is almost everything. Indeed, from evolution to data about our economy to the science of vaccines to the threats we face in the world, they reject vast subjects rooted in fact in order to have reality conform to their worldviews. They don't dig for truth; they skim the media for anything that makes them feel better about themselves. To many of them, knowledge is not a useful tool but a cunning barrier elites have created to keep power from the average man and woman. The same is true for experience, skills, and know-how. These things require time and work and study and often challenge our systems of belief. Truth is hard; shallowness is easy.
- David Rothkopf, "The Shallow State," Foreign Policy, February 22, 2017.

I think it's time for a war president. Republicans, conservatives and Christians, and capitalist, any who love capitalism, any who loves America, patriots, I think we need a war president and I think God sent us someone named Donald Trump, I think he's perfect for this election. We needed someone who is a bit coarse and foul-mouthed and vicious and fights with a gun in a gunfight, not with a knife in a gun fight.
- Wayne Allyn Root (August 8, 2016)

Voldemort was nowhere near as bad.
- J. K. Rowling, Twitter post (December 8, 2015), as cited in "JK Rowling on Donald Trump: 'Voldemort was nowhere as bad'", The Guardian (December 8, 2015)

Dishonesty is Trump's hallmark: He claimed that he had spoken clearly and boldly against going into Iraq. Wrong, he spoke in favor of invading Iraq. He said he saw thousands of Muslims in New Jersey celebrating 9/11. Wrong, he saw no such thing. He imagined it. His is not the temperament of a stable, thoughtful leader. His imagination must not be married to real power.
We have long referred to him as "The Donald." He is the only person in America to whom we have added an article before his name. It wasn't because he had attributes we admired.
- Mitt Romney, remarks on Donald Trump and the 2016 race at the University of Utah. (March 3, 2016)

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What [Donald Trump] is doing and this is his entire political strategy is to divide the American people up based on where we came...So you have a president who gives tax breaks to billionaires and wants to cut Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. That's not what he's going to run on. You've got a president who tried to throw 32 million people off health care. He ain't gonna run on that one. You got a president who gave 83 percent of the tax benefits to the top one percent, not going to run on that one. So how do you win an election? What do you say — You see those undocumented people, they all your enemy. 'Stand with me. Hate them. Let's divide this country up.' I think that is an incredibly ugly and dangerous thing to be done. And I will do everything I can to stop that."
- Stand With Me. Hate Them: Bernie Sanders says Trump's Relection Plan is Based on Dividing the Country, Newsweek, Chris Morran (23 June 2019)

Attacks on oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman are unacceptable and must be fully investigated... but this incident must not be used as a pretext for a war with Iran, a war which would be an unmitigated disaster for the United States, Iran, the region, and the world... The time is now for the United States to exert international leadership,... and bring the countries in the region together to forge a diplomatic solution to the growing tensions...I would also remind President Trump that there is no congressional authorization for a war with Iran... A unilateral U.S. attack on Iran would be illegal and unconstitutional.
- Bernie Sanders, Trump Must Not Be Allowed to Use Gulf of Oman Incidents as 'Pretext for Illegal War With Iran': Bernie Sanders, Common Dreams, Andrea Germanos, (14 June 2019)

I think that the American people are never going to elect a president who insults Mexicans, who insults Muslims, who insults women, who insults African-Americans. And let us not forget that several years ago, Trump was in the middle of the so- called birther movement, trying to delegitimize the president of the United States of America. You know, I find it very interesting, Karen, my dad was born in Poland. I know a little bit about the immigrant experience. Nobody has ever asked me for my birth certificate. Maybe it has something to do with the color of my skin.
In this country, immigration reform is a very hot debate. It's divided the country. But I would hope very much, that as we have that debate, we do not, as Donald Trump and others have done, resort to racism and xenophobia and bigotry. This idea of suddenly, one day or maybe a night, rounding up 11 million people and taking them outside of this country is a vulgar, absurd idea that I would hope very few people in America support.
When you have Republican candidates for president and in Congress telling you that climate change is a hoax, which is Donald Trump and other candidates' position, what they are really saying is, we don't have the guts to take on the fossil fuel industry. ... You know what happens to that Republican who listens to the scientists? On that day, that Republican loses his campaign funding from the Koch brothers and the fossil fuel industry.
- Bernie Sanders, Democratic Presidential Debate in Miami. transcript by The New York Times (March 9, 2016)

Donald Trump is a pathological liar.
- Bernie Sanders, (September 24, 2016)

America you were never great./Are you fake news?/America this is the impression I get after feeding from Trump's/Twitter trough.
- Craig Santos Perez "This Changes Everything" in habitat threshold (2020)

Yes, we must donate and volunteer and protest and vote, all while reminding ourselves daily that Hillary Clinton won the popular vote. And we must commit to defending our friends, neighbors, and coworkers who are immigrants (documented or not), Muslims (American born, immigrants, or refugees), people of color, women seeking reproductive health care, trans men and women seeking safety, lesbian and gay men seeking to protect their families, and everyone and everything else Trump has threatened to harm, up to and including the planet we all live on.

But we must make time for joy and pleasure and laughter and friends and food and art and music and sex. During the darkest days of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, when Republicans and religious conservatives controlled the federal government and were doing everything in their power to harm the sick and dying, queers organized and protested and volunteered and mourned. We also made music and theater and art. We took care of each other, and we danced and loved and fucked. Embracing joy and art and sex in the face of fear and uncertainty made us feel better—it kept us sane—and it had the added benefit of driving our enemies crazy. They couldn't understand how we could be anything but miserable, given the challenges we faced—their greed, their indifference, their bigotry—but we created and experienced joy despite their hatred and despite this awful disease. We turned to each other—we turned to our lovers and friends and sometimes strangers—and said, "Fuck them. Now fuck me."

[...] We may never eradicate racism and sexism and hatred. But fight it we will. And don't listen to anyone who tells you that music and dance and art and sex and joy are a distraction from the fight. They are a part of the fight.

Dan Savage, Mourning in America, Savage Love column, The Stranger, 15 November 2016

Winston Churchill of our time.
- Michael Savage — "Savage: Trump is 'Winston Churchill of our time'", WND, 29 July 2015

I found that when I was briefing him, I had to put pictures of him in the briefing. When I put the pictures in, it was a good sign, and when I didn’t put the pictures in, you couldn’t get him to focus on it.
Here’s the bad news, though. Even if you got him to focus on it, he wouldn’t listen to you anyway because he’s so maniacally narcissistic.
- Anthony Scaramucci, former White House Communications Director serving under Trump, as quoted by David Smith, "'The guy stinks and he’s a racist': Anthony Scaramucci on Donald Trump", the Guardian, 17 July 2020

No two people on this planet seem less concerned with criticism, more content with themselves, or more oblivious to the obscenity of the words they speak.
- Dave Schilling on Donald Trump and Sarah Palin, "Apocalypse now: Sarah Palin's bizarre Trump endorsement analyzed" (20 January 2016), The Guardian.

He does look like he's the last hope [for America]. We don't hear anybody saying what he's saying. In fact, most of the people who ought to be lining up with him are attacking him. They're probably jealous of the amount of press coverage he gets. But the reason he gets so much press coverage is the grassroots are fed up with people who are running things, and they do want a change. They do want people to stand up for America. It really resonates when he says he wants to 'Make America Great Again.'
- Phyllis Schlafly, as quoted in "Phyllis Schlafly: Trump is 'last hope for America'", WND (21 December 2015)

It [Trump University] was a classic bait-and-switch scheme
- State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman in Trump University controversy ... in 2 minutes March 8, 2016

If Donald Trump becomes the next president of the U.S. it would be a complete disaster... I think he is acting like another Hitler by inciting racism... I remember how upset the world was when the Berlin Wall was erected in 1961 and now everybody is building walls again to keep people out. It's absurd.
- Eva Schloss, Anne Frank's step-sister, interview with Newsweek (January 2016)

When that trial ends senators will have to decide if they believe Donald John Trump incited the erection
- Chuck Schumer on 22 January 2021 (also quoted by The Wrap)

I put lipstick on a pig. I feel a deep sense of remorse that I contributed to presenting Trump in a way that brought him wider attention and made him more appealing than he is. I genuinely believe that if Trump wins and gets the nuclear codes, there is an excellent possibility it will lead to the end of civilization.
- Tony Schwartz, as quoted in Donald Trump's Ghostwriter Tells All (July 25, 2016) by Jane Mayer, The New Yorker.

There are two Trumps. The one he presents to the world is all bluster, bullying and certainty. The other, which I have long felt haunts his inner world, is the frightened child of a relentlessly critical and bullying father and a distant and disengaged mother who couldn't or wouldn't protect him.
Trump's temperament and his habits have hardened with age. He was always cartoonish, but compared with the man for whom I wrote The Art of the Deal 30 years ago, he is significantly angrier today: more reactive, deceitful, distracted, vindictive, impulsive and, above all, self-absorbed – assuming the last is possible.
Fear is the hidden through-line in Trump's life – fear of weakness, of inadequacy, of failure, of criticism and of insignificance. He has spent his life trying to outrun these fears by "winning" – as he puts it – and by redefining reality whenever the facts don't serve the narrative he seeks to create. It hasn't worked, but not for lack of effort.
Whatever happens, may the worst of Trump inspire the best in us.
- Tony Schwartz (author), I wrote The Art of the Deal with Trump. He's still a scared child (18 January 2018), The Guardian.

Lying is second nature to him. More than anyone else I have ever met, Trump has the ability to convince himself that whatever he is saying at any given moment is true, or sort of true, or at least ought to be true.
- Tony Schwartz (author), 'Lying is second nature to him': Trump's ghostwriter regrets penning Art of the Deal (19 July 2016), TheJournal.ie.

President Trump sought to overturn the results of an election, of a fair election. He sought a coup by misleading people with lies.
President Trump is a failed leader. He will go down in history as the worst President ever.
- Arnold Schwarzenegger, former Republican governor, quoted by "Arnold Schwarzenegger calls Trump 'worst president' ever, 'failed leader' after Capitol riot", abc7, 11 January 2021 ^{[dead link]}

He is neither a strategist, nor is he schooled in the operational art, nor is he a tactician, nor is he a general, nor is he a soldier. Other than that, he's a great military man.
- Norman Schwarzkopf, Jr., in The New York Times, February 28, 2017.

Trump wants to institute a ban that will keep all Muslims out of America... Of course such a ban will not come to pass. The Constitution forbids it. Republicans and Democrats oppose it. Even Israeli politicians, who have a far longer history of confronting terrorism, have chided him for equating Islam with terrorism... Republicans support Trump because he appears to be authentic, isn't afraid to tell it like it is and is not worried about being politically correct. I see the opposite. He isn't authentic, he is cynically opportunistic.
- Khosrow Semnani, "My view: Trump's Fear-Mongering Threatens Republican Party" (17 December 2015), Deseret News

Their cruelty made them feel good, it made them feel proud, it made them feel happy. And it made them feel closer to one another…Their shared laughter at the suffering of others is an adhesive that binds them to one another, and to Trump.
Donald Trump, whose uncritical support for Israel and belief that America is fundamentally a nation for white Christians exacerbates a divide between the two largest Jewish populations in the world.
- Adam Serwer, The Cruelty Is the Point: The Past, Present, and Future of Trump's America (2021)

Trump and Barr let the biggest drug dealers in America off with a slap on the wrist. Law and Order indeed.
- Adam Serwer 11/18/2020 on Twitter, responding to story about "the $8.3 billion settlement between the Justice Dept. and Purdue Pharma over its marketing of Oxycontin and other addictive opioids. Under the deal, the Sackler family will admit no wrongdoing and face no criminal charges."

And [then] you end up in idiocies like Donald Trump on stage waiving around a Bible, pretending he gives a damn what's in it. Right, after two marriages, and several adulterous affairs, and all that and bragging about having his experiences with married women; standing up there with a Bible and going 'this is an even better book than the odd of the deals'."
- Ben Shapiro, Ben Shapiro on Gay Marriage, Gun Control, and Piers Morgan, The Rubin Report on YouTube. (12:39 to 13:07) (February 18, 2016)

We know Hillary will be a terrible, hard-core ideological leftist; there is probably a 75 percent chance that Trump would govern less badly than Hillary. There is also a 25 percent chance that Trump would do something so catastrophically awful that he seriously harmed the country in ways Hillary wouldn't dream of. His trade policy alone could cast America back into recession; his foreign policy is a shambles. Any talk of him listening to advisers must be based on conjecture — so far, Trump hasn't just been a bull in a china shop, he's been a tank in a glass factory.
- Ben Shapiro, Conservatism's Sad and Ugly Transformation into Trumpism, National Review (August 3, 2016)

We have predicted nine of his last eight stumbles, and they have yet to all materialize... I think it's more than childish and juvenile and adolescent. There is something creepy about this, his attitude toward women. Take Megyn Kelly of FOX News, who he just has an absolute obsession about, and he's constantly writing about, you know, how awful she is and no talent and this and that. It's an obsession. And I don't know if he's just never had women — strong, independent women in his life who have spoken to him. It doesn't seem that way. His daughter... But there is something really creepy about this that's beyond locker room. It's almost like a stalker, and I just — I thought this was — it actually did the impossible. It made Ted Cruz look like an honorable, tough guy on the right side of an issue.
- Mark Shields, as quoted in "Shields and Brooks on Trump-Cruz wife feud, ISIS terror in Brussels" (25 March 2016), PBS NewsHour

The 2017 World Environment Day was dominated by US President Donald Trump walking out of the Paris agreement. What does Trump's arrogance imply for international obligations to protect the earth, for a future based on ecological justice, for sowing the seeds of earth democracy?
- Vandana Shiva Oneness vs. the 1%: Shattering Illusions, Seeding Freedom (2018)

I've known Donald for a few decades, and what you can say without argument is that he's a good father. His kids have turned out really well. There's nothing bad you can say about that.
- Gene Simmons, Interview with Radio.com (July 6, 2016)

[Trump] is not someone who would rule justly or wisely. His track record shows that he is a man of coveting and self-serving – a liar and a cheat should not hold that position.
- Art Sisneros, Republican member of the Electoral College who resigned rather than vote for Trump.Teen becomes seventh 'faithless elector' to protest Trump as president-elect at the Guardian, November 30 2016

Quite simply: there never would have been a president Donald Trump without talkshow host Rush Limbaugh paving the way
- Michael Smerconish on CNN "" (February 20, 2021)

Before the 2016 election I dreaded a return to the Jim Crow era signaled by the slogan “Make America Great Again”, which obviously meant white. Tragically that is exactly what happened. Four more years is unthinkable. That is why I am working to elect President Bernie Sanders.
- Barbara Smith article in The Guardian

For the first time in our Nation’s history, a grand jury has charged a former President with committing crimes while in office to overturn an election that he lost. In response, the defendant claims that to protect the institution of the Presidency, he must be cloaked with absolute immunity from criminal prosecution unless the House impeached and the Senate convicted him for the same conduct. He is wrong.
- Jack Smith, filing with United States Court of Appeals quoted in RawStory December 30, 2023

A great leader treats people with respect even when they present different opinions. Without a variety of views and opinions, we would have no innovation or creativity in our nation. Being a bully and being strong are not the same thing. Being strong is standing up for your convictions. Being a bully is trying to intimidate those who are perceived to be weaker or a threat. As a proud nerd, I had to deal with bullies over many years; it is tragedy watching our world suffer from one. In addition, President Trump lacks a moral compass. He ignores the truth.
- Rick Snyder, Republican governor of Michigan from 2011 to 2018. Former Michigan governor Rick Snyder: I am a Republican vote for Biden at USA Today, September 3 2020

It's very difficult to respond in a serious way to any statement that's made by Donald Trump.
- Edward Snowden in response to Trump calling Snowden "a total traitor" and "a bad guy" and saying "there is still a thing called execution."
- "Edward Snowden says Hillary Clinton 'ridiculous' to think emails were secure", The Guardian (3 September 2015)

Donald Trump is a thin-skinned reality TV star with an authoritarian streak.
- Robby Soave, "Don't fall for 'lesser of two evils' argument" (1 June 2016), CNN, State of Georgia: Cable News Network

He is, as of this writing, the most mocked man in the world. (...) He is the old fisherman's wife who wished for everything and sooner or later he will end up with nothing.
- Rebecca Solnit, The Loneliness of Donald Trump, May 30, 2017

Let me put this in language Donald Trump understands... You're a loser. You're a third-rate politician, who clearly doesn't understand issues, and is so scared of Megyn Kelly exposing it, that you're looking to use veterans to protect you from facing her questions.
- Jon Soltz, VoteVets (January 2016)

Trump (and Bannon and other right-wing authoritarian leaders around the world) is often referred to as a "populist" because he displays faux concern for the working class and a resentment of science and education, but his policies are in fact grotesquely elitist. If by "populist" we mean whipping up resentment against immigrants and people of color, then we should say that. Otherwise, "populism" is just a lazy euphemism for racism.
- Jen Sorensen Greetings from the Wasteland (2020)

Donald Trump is the son of a rich father, who was raised on money since he was a child. I grew up in wealth too. My father would jokingly warn me when I was a child, "Don’t be like Trump."
- Alexander Soros, interviewed by Nahum Barnea for YNet, "Why they hate George Soros".

Today’s decision to grant former Presidents criminal immunity reshapes the institution of the Presidency. It makes a mockery of the principle, foundational to our Constitution and system of Government, that no man is above the law. Relying on little more than its own misguided wisdom about the need for “bold and unhesitating action” by the President, ante, at 3, 13, the Court gives former President Trump all the immunity he asked for and more. Because our Constitution does not shield a former President from answering for criminal and treasonous acts, I dissent.
- Justice Sotomayor in Trump v. United States (July 2024)

In a country with more than 300 million people, it is remarkable how obsessed the media have become with just one—Donald Trump. What is even more remarkable is that, after seven years of repeated disasters, both domestically and internationally, under a glib egomaniac in the White House, so many potential voters are turning to another glib egomaniac to be his successor.
- Thomas Sowell, "Conservatives Against Trump" (21 January 2016), National Review.

I had some friends over for dinner and we were of course talking about Trump. People are saying, we don't think Trump's going to be the nominee. I said, I'll tell you what: I think he is. I'll tell you why I think he's going to be the nominee: he's proven that no matter what he says, people dig him. ... I think more or less, people are super tired of politicians, meaning that they like the idea of a successful businessman running the country who might actually be able to get shit done.
- Howard Stern — as quoted in Matt Wilstein (24 August 2015), "Howard Stern Predicts Trump Will Be GOP Nominee: He 'Gets Sh*t Done'", Mediaite.com

His stance on Muslim immigration, which he would cease until the terror threat is brought under control, is racist. Trump does not care about the things that regular conservatives have dedicated their lives to fighting for: controls on abortion, protection of marriage, reform of the healthcare market. His inclination towards expanding the government and putting it on the side of his people isn't terribly constitutional. And his claim in a debate that the purpose of conservatism is to conserve wealth is spiritually impoverished. The Republican Party needs to stop him; and sooner rather than later.
- Timothy Stanley, "Donald Trump can win – and he must be stopped" (10 February 2016), CNN, State of Georgia: Cable News Network

In the past few months, a Republican front-runner has emerged who has praised Planned Parenthood, pushed elements of a big spending agenda and questioned the neoconservative agenda. There's a case for saying that some or all of these were in need of analysis and revision. But Trump has taken a wrecking ball to the American conservative movement that threatens to leave it in pieces. It's a revolutionary moment and, unless I'm very much mistaken, conservatives are not supposed to be the revolutionaries. They exist to bring order to chaos, rationality over passion. Trump seems to exist to "mix things up." He is "nasty" and "fun" - although more the former than the latter. His enthusiasm for torture is unpleasant to say the least.
- Timothy Stanley, "Trump is blowing up conservatism - can he be stopped?" (21 February 2016), CNN, State of Georgia: Cable News Network

In January 2018, the experts at the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists moved the hands of the Doomsday Clock to two minutes before midnight, where it had stood during the darkest days of the Cold War, from 1953 to 1960. The latest move of the hands was precipitated by the recklessness in Trump's nuclear thinking... Trump wondered aloud about the point of having nuclear weapons if he couldn't use them.
His answer was to make them more usable, which he did with his new Nuclear Posture Review (NPR), the first since Obama's 2010 NPR, which had reduced the role of nuclear weapons in the US defense posture. The 2018 NPR significantly elevated their role, permitting use in response to vaguely defined "extreme circumstances," such as cyberattacks or attacks on the infrastructure of both the United States and its "allies and partners." The review doubled down on Obama's unconscionable 30-year trillion-dollar modernization of all parts of the nuclear arsenal. The actual cost looks to be closer to $1.7 trillion and climbing. To make matters worse, all eight other nuclear powers are undertaking their own modernizations, though on a far more modest scale. Russia, it should be noted, actually cut its defense spending this past year.
On top of this, we have the rapid and accelerating drift toward planetary disaster exacerbated by the climate change–denying troglodytes in the Trump administration.
- 2 Minutes and Counting, Crises that seemed contained not long ago have now spiraled out of control—and the prospects for resolving them peacefully look depressingly bleak, the Nation, Oliver Stone and Peter Kuznick, (April 2019)

Trump is not just a wacky politician of the far right, or a riveting television spectacle, or a Twitter phenom and bizarre working-class hero. He is not just another candidate to be parsed and analyzed by TV pundits in the same breath as all the others. In terms of our liberal democracy and constitutional order, Trump is an extinction-level event. It's long past time we started treating him as such.
- Andrew Sullivan, in "America Has Never Been So Ripe for Tyranny" in New York (2 May 2016)

No one claimed fraud. No one derided the lopsided unfairness of the parliamentary results, where Labour got 34 percent of the vote and a whopping 63 percent of the seats, and where the new rightist Reform Party won 14 percent of the vote and got only 5 seats. Those were the rules ahead of the game, and they were the rules everyone had agreed to.
There is one reason and one reason only why this kind of conciliatory exchange cannot happen any time soon in America, and that is Donald J. Trump. With a mind warped by pathological and malignant narcissism, incapable of generosity or grace or fairness, Trump has dominated this country’s politics for almost a decade now. He has systematically corroded every democratic norm and institution: the rule of law, the process of elections, the integrity of the Supreme Court, the independence of the Justice Department, the peaceful nature of the transfer of power, and the reliability of our alliances around the world. And none of this damage has been done to advance any broad policy or meaningful agenda, but merely and solely to advance the narcissism and corruption of the president himself.
- Andrew Sullivan, in "Wanted: An American Starmer" in The Weekly Dish (July 12, 2024)

But we do know for a fact that Trump is criminally inclined, driven by vengeance and rage, and has now been granted vague and unprecedented immunity powers by SCOTUS whose limits he will doubtless exploit. We know he will delegitimize any institution that gets in his way; and we know that electing a convicted felon who has already once tried to stop the peaceful transfer of power will be a watershed for a purported republic.
- Andrew Sullivan, in "Wanted: An American Starmer" in The Weekly Dish (July 12, 2024)

Trump is, of course, a master of distraction and media manipulation. It's possible to resist being his chump, but it takes continued self-regulation.
- Margaret Sullivan, Journalists in the age of Trump: Lose the smugness, keep the mission., The Washington Post (November 29, 2016)

The press often will ask me if I think Donald Trump is crazy. And I’ll say it this way: I don't think he’s so crazy that you could put him in a mental institution. But I think if he were in one, he ain’t getting out!
- Chris Sununu, Republican, governor in New Hampshire, quoted in "POLITICO Playbook: A night of laughter and cringe at the Gridiron", Politico, 4 April 2022

Like many of you, I watched the [September 9, 2024 presidential candidate] debate tonight. If you haven’t already, now is a great time to do your research on the issues at hand and the stances these candidates take on the topics that matter to you the most. As a voter, I make sure to watch and read everything I can about their proposed policies and plans for this country.
Recently I was made aware that AI of ‘me’ falsely endorsing Donald Trump’s presidential run was posted to his site. It really conjured up my fears around AI, and the dangers of spreading misinformation. It brought me to the conclusion that I need to be very transparent about my actual plans for this election as a voter. The simplest way to combat misinformation is with the truth.
I will be casting my vote for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz in the 2024 Presidential Election. I’m voting for @kamalaharris because she fights for the rights and causes I believe need a warrior to champion them. I think she is a steady-handed, gifted leader and I believe we can accomplish so much more in this country if we are led by calm and not chaos. I was so heartened and impressed by her selection of running mate @timwalz, who has been standing up for LGBTQ+ rights, IVF, and a woman’s right to her own body for decades.
I’ve done my research, and I’ve made my choice. Your research is all yours to do, and the choice is yours to make. I also want to say, especially to first time voters: Remember that in order to vote, you have to be registered! I also find it’s much easier to vote early. I’ll link where to register and find early voting dates and info in my story.
With love and hope,
Taylor Swiftz
Childless Cat Lady
- Taylor Swift in "Taylor Swift endorses Kamala Harris for president after debate ends", AP News (September 10, 2024)

But at some point—if you understand, and this is not just ideological, it's not just the fact that he's abandoned one position after another or that he has the penchant for internet hoaxes or conspiracy theories. I mean a week ago tonight, remember, he was peddling the notion that Ted Cruz's dad had something do with the JFK assassination. So there are people who say that just because of party loyalty we're supposed to forget all of that. I just don't buy that. Because I've cautioned my fellow conservatives, you embrace Donald Trump, you embrace it all. You embrace every slur, every insult, every outrage, every falsehood. You're going to spend the next six months defending, rationalizing, evading all that. And afterwards, you come back to women, to minorities, to young people and say, that wasn't us. That's not what we're about. The reality is, if you support him to be president of the United States, that is who you are, and you own it.
- Charlie Sykes, on The Kelly File (2016), FOX News

T

All of Trump's constant bragging about his money and his poll numbers and his virility speak directly to this surprisingly vibrant middle American fantasy about a castrated white America struggling to re-grow its mojo... as basketball star turned pundit Kareem Abdul-Jabbar pointed out earlier this week, PC isn’t a new thing, or even a thing at all. It’s just an “emotional challenge every generation has had to go through.” We get older, our kids correct our bad habits, it happens. Not to Trump’s supporters. They’ve turned some minor cultural changes into a vast conspiracy of white victimhood. They're eating up Trump's Make America Great Again theme, which one supporter hilariously explained must be his true goal, because 'it's on his hat', because it's a fantasy tale of a once-great culture ruined by an invasion of mongrel criminals.
- Matt Taibbi, "The Republicans Are Now Officially the Party of White Paranoia", Rolling Stone.

The Biden team is trying to go on with business as usual, but at some point, barring Trump getting a personality transplant, this is going to come to a head. The President is refusing to concede, he is refusing to allow the transition process to begin...
- Jake Tapper on CNN's The lead with Jake Tapper (video) November 18, 2020 at 4:22et

What we saw week in and week out, for me, after two and a half years in that administration, was terrifying. We would go in to try to talk to him about a pressing national security issue -- cyberattack, terrorism threat -- he wasn't interested in those things. To him, they weren't priorities.
Given what I have experienced in the administration, I have to support Joe Biden for president and even though I am not a Democrat, even though I disagree on key issues, I'm confident that Joe Biden will protect the country and I'm confident that he won't make the same mistakes as this President.
I saw firsthand how dangerous Trump is for America.
- Miles Taylor, who served as chief of staff to Department of Homeland Security Secretary in the Trump administration from 2017 to 2019. Quoted by Gillian Turner, Paul Steinhauser (17 August 2020), "Former senior Trump administration official backs Biden", Fox News

What we saw week in and week out and for me after two and a half years in that administration was terrifying
- Miles Taylor, former DHS chief of staff on CBS News

[T]he media always is taking Trump literally. It never takes him seriously, but it always takes him literally. I think a lot of the voters who vote for Trump take Trump seriously, but not literally.
- Peter Thiel, Speech at the National Press Club (October 31, 2016)

Trump has given more than $100,000 to the Democratic House and Senate campaign committees. In 2006, the year Democrats took back Congress, he gave $25,000 to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee... Trump wanted Nancy Pelosi to be speaker of the House and Harry Reid the Senate majority leader. Which is not surprising. At the time he made those contributions, from August 2001 to September 2009, Trump was a registered Democrat... Trump continued to support Reid as majority leader in the election immediately after the passage of Obamacare... With all his past support for Democrats, Trump ought to be asked: Will he commit to supporting whoever is the eventual Republican nominee? After all, why should he be welcomed into the Republican fold if he is going to end up throwing his support to Clinton? The fact is, Trump isn't a Democrat or a Republican; he is an opportunist... He's less a candidate than a brand. And running for president is great for the Trump brand, an opportunity for Donald Trump to take the national stage and tell us all how great he is. He pretty much admitted as much during his announcement speech, when he pointed out that some questioned whether he was really as successful as he claimed.
- Marc A. Thiessen, "How Donald Trump helped Democrats pass Obamacare" (22 June 2015), The Washington Post

I wanted to like Donald Trump, much as I wanted to like Richard Nixon's vice president, Spiro Agnew. Both men have said many things with which I agree. Agnew attacked media bias, and Trump attacks the establishment's failure to "make America great," as he nonspecifically puts it. But a proper diagnosis does not equal competence in administering a cure. If I developed a brain tumor, I would want Ben Carson to operate on me, but do I want Donald Trump "operating" on America? Everyone has a temperament. The dictionary defines it as "the combination of mental, physical, and emotional traits of a person." Would Trump's "combination" make him a good president? I think not.
- Cal Thomas, "Conservatives Against Trump" (21 January 2016), National Review.

I do think the President committed impeachable offenses.
- Pat Toomey, Republican senator, quoted by Kate Sullivan, Nicky Robertson (10 January 2021), "Republican Sen. Pat Toomey says he thinks Trump 'committed impeachable offenses'", CNN

There was a strange aftertaste to many of the calls for grand social reform in 2020. As the coronavirus crisis overtook us, the left wing on both sides of the Atlantic, at least that part that had been fired up Jeremy Corbyn and Bernie Sanders, was going down to defeat. The promise of a radicalized and reenergized left, organized around the idea of the Green New Deal, seemed to dissipate amidst the pandemic. It fell to governments mainly of the center and the right to meet the crisis. They were a strange assortment. Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil and Donald Trump in the United States experimented with denial. For them climate skepticism and virus skepticism went hand in hand. In Mexico, the notionally left-wing government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador also pursued a maverick path, refusing to take drastic action. Nationalist strongmen like Rodrigo Duterte in the Philippines, Narendra Modi in India, Vladimir Putin in Russia, and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Turkey did not deny the virus, but relied on their patriotic appeal and bullying tactics to see them through. It was the managerial centrist types who were under most pressure. Figures like Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer in the United States, or Sebastián Piñera in Chile, or Cyril Ramaphosa in South Africa, Emmanuel Macron, Angela Merkel, Ursula von der Leyen, and their ilk in Europe. They accepted the science. Denial was not an option. They were desperate to demonstrate that they were better than the 'populists.' To meet the crisis, very middle-of-the-road politicians ended up doing very radical things. Most of it was improvisation and compromise, but insofar as they managed to put a programmatic gloss on their responses—whether in the form of the EU's Next Generation program or Biden's Build Back Better program in 2020—it came from the repertoire of green modernization, sustainable development, and the Green New Deal.
- Adam Tooze, Shutdown: How Covid Shook the World Economy (2021)

The governments that have been negligent from the beginning [...] are afraid of demonstrating their ineptitude in the face of such a health crisis. At the last minute, Trump declared a "national emergency" and agreed with the Democrats in Congress on a special package for sick leave and rapid testing. If he appears incompetent in the face of a crisis and thousands of people die, he could lose the U.S. presidency, even to Biden.
- Trotskyist Fraction – Fourth International, Coronavirus and the Healthcare Crisis: Our Lives Are Worth More than Their Profits! (March 14, 2020), Left Voice.

He's got to condemn this sh*t ASAP.
We need an Oval office address. He has to lead now. It has gone too far and gotten out of hand.
- Donald Trump Jr. writing text messages to White House chief of staff Mark Meadows on January 6 2021, urging Meadows to make Donald Trump stop the attack on the Congress Building.

Every family has their crazy uncle. My Uncle Donald is atomic crazy.
- Fred Trump III, nephew of Donald Trump, cited in "Fred Trump III calls uncle Donald Trump 'atomic crazy,' says he used racial slur decades ago", ABC News (July 30, 2024)

I think he would be a great president... He is one of the most dynamic people in the world. He looks presidential, and he talks presidential, and he would make the changes he promises.
- Ivana Trump, as quoted in Eddie Roche (11 February 2016), "Daily Exclusive: Ivana Trump Uncensored", Daily Front Row

My father is an unbelievable listener, and I don't think people realize that until they actually know him. And he ultimately makes his own decisions and that's what any leader needs to do.
- Ivanka Trump, as quoted in Judy Kurtz (14 October 2015), "Ivanka Trump: Dad's conflict with Megyn Kelly 'very sensationalized'", The Hill

Today, Donald is much as he was at three years old: incapable of growing, learning, or evolving, unable to regulate his emotions, moderate his responses, or take in & synthesize information.
- Mary Trump (niece of Donald Trump) (7 July 2020), "The explosive tell-all book by Trump's niece is coming out two weeks earlier than expected", CNN

Donald's pathologies are so complex and his behaviors so often inexplicable that coming up with an accurate and comprehensive diagnosis would require a full battery of psychological and neurophysical tests that he'll never sit for
- William Goldschlag, Dan Janison (8 July 2020), "Donald Trump's niece: He lies, cheats, is cruel, incompetent and cheap", Newsday

I have no problem calling Donald a narcissist — he meets all nine criteria.
- Mary Trump, as quoted by Kurt Andersen (14 July 2020), "Review: The most devastating thing about Mary Trump’s portrait is her empathy for Donald Trump", Los Angeles Times

In order to understand what brought Donald- and all of us- to this point, we need to start with my grandfather and his own need for recognition, a need that propelled him to encourage Donald's reckless hyperbole and unearned confidence that hid Donald's pathological weaknesses and insecurities. As Donald grew up, he was forced to become his own cheerleader, first, because he needed his father to believe he was a better and more confident son than Freddy was; then because Fred required it of him; and finally because he began to believe his own hype, even as he paradoxically suspected on a very deep level that nobody else did. By the time of the election, Donald met any challenges to his sense of superiority with anger, his fear and vulnerabilities so effectively buried that he didn't even have to acknowledge they existed. And he never would.
- Mary L. Trump, Too Much And Never Enough: How My Family Created The World's Most Dangerous Man (2020), p. 11

In the 1970s, after my grandfather had already been preferring and promoting Donald for years, the New York media picked up the baton and began disseminating Donald's unsubstantiated hype. In the 1980s, the banks joined in when they began to fund his ventures. Their willingness (and then their need) to foster his increasingly unfounded claims to success hung on the hopes of recouping their losses. After a decade during which Donald floundered, dragged down by bankruptcies and reduced to fronting for a series of failed products from steaks to vodka, the television producer Mark Burnett gave him yet another chance. The Apprentice traded on Donald's image as the brash, self-made dealmaker, a myth that had been the creation of my grandfather five decades earlier and astonishingly, considering the vast trove of evidence disproving it, had survived into the new millennium almost entirely unaltered. By the time Donald announced his run for the Republican Party nomination in 2015, a significant percentage of the American population had been primed to believe that myth.
- Mary L. Trump, Too Much And Never Enough: How My Family Created The World's Most Dangerous Man (2020), p. 11

To this day, the lies, misrepresentations, and fabrications that are the sum total of who my uncle is are perpetuated by the Republican Party and white evangelical Christians. People who know better, such as Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell; true believers, such as Representative Kevin McCarthy, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and Attorney General William Barr; and others too numerous to name, have become, unwittingly or not, complicit in their perpetuation.
- Mary L. Trump, Too Much And Never Enough: How My Family Created The World's Most Dangerous Man (2020), p. 11-12

The fact is, Donald's pathologies are so complex and his behaviors so often inexplicable that coming up with an accurate and comprehensive diagnosis would require a full battery of psychological and neuropsychological tests that he'll never sit for. At this point, we can't evaluate his day-to-day functioning because he is, in the West Wing, essentially institutionalized. Donald has been institutionalized for most of his adult life, so there is no way to know how he would thrive, or even survive, on his own in the real world. At the end of my aunt's birthday party in 2017, as we lined up for our pictures, I could see that Donald was already under a kind of stress he'd never experienced before. As the pressures upon him have continued to mount over the course of the last three years, the disparity between the level of competence required for running a country and his incompetence has widened, revealing his delusions more starkly than ever before. Many, but by no means all of us, have been shielded until now from the worst effects of his pathologies by a stable economy and a lack of serious crises. But the out-of-control COVID-19 pandemic, the possibility of an economic depression, deepening social divides along political lines thanks to Donald's penchant for division, and devastating uncertainty about our country's future have created a perfect storm of catastrophes that no one is less equipped than my uncle to manage. Doing so would require courage, strength of character, deference to experts, and the confidence to take responsibility and to course correct after admitting mistakes. His ability to control unfavorable situations by lying, spinning, and obfuscating has diminished to the point of impotence in the midst of the tragedies we are currently facing. His egregious and arguably intentional mishandling of the current catastrophe has led to a level of scrutiny and pushback that he's never experienced before, increasing his belligerence and need for petty revenge as he withholds vital funding, personal protective equipment, and ventilators that your tax dollars have paid for from states whose governors don't kiss his ass sufficiently.
- Mary L. Trump, Too Much And Never Enough: How My Family Created The World's Most Dangerous Man (2020), p. 13-14

After the election, Donald called his big sister, ostensibly to find out how he was doing. Of course, he thought he already knew the answer; otherwise he wouldn't have made the call in the first place. He merely wanted her to confirm very strongly that he was doing a fantastic job. When she said, "Not that good," Donald immediately went on offense. "That's nasty," he said. She could see the sneer on his face. Then, seemingly apropos of nothing, he asked her, "Maryanne, where would you be without me?" It was a smug reference to the fact that Maryanne owed her first federal judgeship to Donald because Roy Cohn had done him (and her) a favor all those years ago. My aunt has always insisted that she earned her position on the bench entirely on her own merits, and she shot back at him, "If you say that one more time, I will level you." But it was an empty threat. Although Maryanne had prided herself on being the only person on the planet Donald ever listened to, those days were long past, which was illustrated not long after, in June 2018. On the eve of Donald's first summit with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un, Maryanne called the White House and left a message with his secretary: "Tell him his older sister called with a little sisterly advice. Prepare. Learn from those who know what they are doing. Stay away from Dennis Rodman. And leave his Twitter alone." He ignored all of it. The Politico headline the following day read "Trump Says Kim Meeting Will Be About 'Attitude,' Not Prep Work." If Maryanne had ever had any sway over her little brother, it was gone now. Aside from the requisite birthday call, they didn't speak much after that.
- Mary L. Trump, Too Much And Never Enough: How My Family Created The World's Most Dangerous Man (2020), p. 188-189

Donald was to my grandfather what the border wall as been for Donald: a vanity project funded at the expense of more worthy pursuits.
- Mary L. Trump, Too Much And Never Enough: How My Family Created The World's Most Dangerous Man (2020), p. 194

He's smart, he's tough, he knows what he's doing. He's speaking from his heart. He's the best.
- Melania Trump, as quoted in "Melania Trump not nervous for husband" by Judy Kurtz, The Hill (16 December 2015)

Trump's entire personal and professional history is Obama-esque. When it serves his interests, Trump lies. He has lied to business associates, employees, friends, spouses, and now to millions of prospective voters. Anyone who thinks that Trump will not lie to them, or that he will at least tell the truth about 'important things', immigration or ISIS or whatever, is deluding himself. When it becomes expedient for Trump to lie, he will.
- Ian Tuttle, "Donald Trump's Huge Lies", National Review

After close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence.
- Twitter, as quoted by Brian Fung (8 January 2021), "Twitter bans President Trump permanently", CNN Business

Right now, I’m not sure whether he should stay in place for a week or step down immediately.
- Christian Tybring-Gjedde, quoted in "Trump 'scares' Norwegian politician who nominated him for Nobel Peace Prize" 7 January 2021

We're really good friends, we go back to '86, '87. Most of my successful and best fights were at Trump's hotels. He didn't manage me, though. He was just helping me with my court case. We're the same guy, a thrust for power, a drive for power. Whatever field we're in, we need power in that field. That's just who we are. Balls of energy. We're not even who we think we are. We're fire. We're made of this crap—water, motion, dirt, diamonds, emeralds. We're made out of that stuff, can you believe it?
That shit is the real deal. Listen: I'm a black motherfucker from the poorest town in the country. I've been through a lot in life. And I know him. When I see him, he shakes my hand and respects my family. None of them—Barack, whoever—nobody else does that. They're gonna be who they are and disregard me, my family. So I'm voting for him. If I can get 20,000 people or more to vote for him, I'm gonna do it.
- Mike Tyson, in an interview with The Daily Caller. (January 21, 2016)

U

President Trump gravely endangered the security of the United States and its institutions of Government. He threatened the integrity of the democratic system, interfered with the peaceful transition of power, and imperiled a coequal branch of Government. He thereby betrayed his trust as President, to the manifest injury of the people of the United States.
Wherefore, Donald John Trump, by such conduct, has demonstrated that he will remain a threat to national security, democracy, and the Constitution if allowed to remain in office, and has acted in a manner grossly incompatible with self-governance and the rule of law. Donald John Trump thus warrants impeachment and trial, removal from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust, or profit under the United States.
- United States House of Representatives; the concluding lines of "H.Res.24 - Impeaching Donald John Trump, President of the United States, for high crimes and misdemeanors", introduced 11 January 2021, and approved 13 January 2021

V

you have to remember that Trump has no shame. There’s nothing that we can say to him, or nothing that he can say, that will make him blush. However, he’s only in power because of all these seemingly normal people supporting him. If we can make all of them radioactive, beyond radioactive, then we can take some steps towards hopefully neutralizing this larger threat.
- Eli Valley Interview (2018)

I wrote about him as a buffoon, a dangerous buffoon, someone who wouldn’t actually become president. And so I spoke about him in terms of what it revealed about Jewish leaders who were supporting him despite his being a hero of American naziism — this was clear long before Charlottesville...I call Trump Netanyahu with smaller hands in the introduction. Netanyahu shares a lot in common with Trump. Including demagoguery, bigotry, attacks on the press, attacks on institutions of democracy, attacks on human rights organizations. I don’t know if Trump has gone that far yet, but he will. It’s a similar method of autocrats.
- Eli Valley about Donald Trump Interview (2017)

Mr. Trump is unfit for our nation’s highest office.
- J.D. Vance "Why Trump’s Antiwar Message Resonates with White America", The New York Times (April 4, 2016)

People no longer trust the career politicians, no longer trust the status-quo because they screwed it up so bad. I loved listening to you talk to those other talking heads about 'Donald Trump could be the destruction of the whole Republican party.' I throw my hands up in the air and cheer. I hope it happens! And I hope Bernie Sanders is the destruction of the Democratic Party. It's time to break up the two party dictatorship.
- Jesse Ventura on CNN with Don Lemon, as quoted in Chris Enloe (7 October 2015), "Jesse Ventura Wants to Destroy the Political Establishment and He's Named Two Guys to Do It", IJ Review

We believe your final decision yesterday was the right one — given the so-called "fog of war" and against the background of a long list of intelligence mistakes, not to mention "cooking" shenanigans. We... think Tucker Carlson had it right yesterday evening: "The very people — in some cases, literally the same people who lured us into the Iraq quagmire 16 years ago — are demanding a new war — this one with Iran. Carlson described you as "skeptical." We believe ample skepticism is warranted.
- Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity, in VIPS Memo to the President: Is Pompeo's Iran Agenda the Same As Yours? (21 June 2019)

After the close call yesterday when you called off the planned military strike on Iran, we remain concerned that you are about to be mousetrapped into war with Iran. You have said you do not want such a war (no sane person would), and our comments below are based on that premise. There are troubling signs that Secretary Pompeo is not likely to jettison his more warlike approach, More importantly, we know from personal experience with Pompeo's dismissive attitude to instructions from you that his agenda can deviate from yours on issues of major consequence... Pompeo's behavior betrays a strong desire to resort to military action — perhaps even without your approval — to Iranian provocations (real or imagined), with no discernible strategic goal other than to advance the interests of Israel, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
- Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity, in VIPS Memo to the President: Is Pompeo's Iran Agenda the Same As Yours? (21 June 2019)

If Pompeo failed to report back to you on the conversation you instructed him to have with Binney, you might ask him about it now (even though the flimsy evidence of Russia hacking the DNC has now evaporated, with Binney vindicated). There were two note-takers present at the October 24, 2017 meeting at CIA headquarters. There is also a good chance the session was also recorded. You might ask Pompeo about that... Binney had the impression Pompeo was simply going through the motions — and disingenuously, at that. If he "really wanted to know about Russian hacking," he would have acquainted himself with the conclusions that VIPS, with Binney in the lead, had reached in mid-2017, and which apparently caught your eye.... Had he pursued the matter seriously with Binney, we might not have had to wait until the Justice Department itself put nails in the coffin of Russiagate, CrowdStrike, and Comey. In sum, Pompeo could have prevented two additional years of "everyone knows that the Russians hacked into the DNC." Why did he not?
- Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity, in VIPS Memo to the President: Is Pompeo's Iran Agenda the Same As Yours? (21 June 2019)

We are all Gold Star Families, who have lost those we love the most in war. Ours is a sacrifice you will never know. Ours is a sacrifice we would never want you to know.
Your recent comments regarding the Khan family were repugnant, and personally offensive to us. When you question a mother's pain, by implying that her religion, not her grief, kept her from addressing an arena of people, you are attacking us. When you say your job building buildings is akin to our sacrifice, you are attacking our sacrifice. You are not just attacking us, you are cheapening the sacrifice made by those we lost. You are minimizing the risk our service members make for all of us. This goes beyond politics. It is about a sense of decency. That kind decency you mock as "political correctness."
- VoteVets' Gold Star Family Members, open letter to Trump (August 1, 2016)

W

We've never had a president whose business created as many potential conflicts of interest as Donald Trump, and at the same time we've never had a president who cared less about conflicts of interest as Donald Trump. Indeed, he and his children are making it quite clear that they will use the presidency as a tool to make as much money as they can. And Republicans, particularly Congress, have apparently decided that if Trump does it, it's okay.
- Paul Waldman, Republicans are already making it clear: Trump can do whatever he wants, The Washington Post (December 5, 2016)

The political triumph of Donald Trump is a symbol and symptom—not cause or origin—of our imperial meltdown. Trump is neither alien nor extraneous to American culture and history. In fact, he is as American as apple pie. Yet he is a sign of our spiritual bankruptcy—all spectacle and no substance, all narcissism and no empathy, all appetite and greed and no wisdom and maturity.
- Cornel West Race Matters (2017 edition)

Can we get Trump to prove he's a good citizen or we'll deport him?
- Shannon Wheeler, cartoonist, twitted 10.10

Trump actually faces unique obstacles as he courts black voters. The mogul has a long history of using racially charged rhetoric and his real estate company was sued for allegedly discriminating against black renters in the 1970s. His stance on Muslims, which has drawn praise from white supremacists, could also prove problematic, since over 25 percent of American Muslims are black.
- Hunter Walker, "Donald Trump has a plan to win ‘100 percent' of the black vote and prove he's not a racist" (10 December 2015), Yahoo! News

America has lost more than 12 million jobs in the last six months. An estimated 12 million people have lost their employer-sponsored health insurance during the worst pandemic in a century. Tens of millions report not having enough to eat. But one month ago, tens of millions of unemployed Americans lost... a $600 weekly federal unemployment insurance benefit that Congress failed to renew... How can this happen in a democracy? This is a question that everyone who works for a living... might want to consider on this Labor Day... If the facts of this political disaster were more widely known and understood, Republicans could lose not only the presidency but also the Senate in November. After all, millions of unemployed Republicans lost most of their income as a result of what their political party...did... Who would want to be forcing layoffs — potentially totaling millions at the state and local level — during a depression and pandemic? Ask Sen. McConnell and Donald Trump.
- Mark Weisbrot, What is our government doing to labor?, Times Free Press, (6 September 2020)

You will never hear me say a negative thing about Donald Trump. Me and Donald are cool. ... Donald will get my vote.
- Dana White, as quoted in "UFC head Dana White endorses Trump" by Sylvan Lane, The Hill (12 December 2015)

He will be a real American leader, who might not always be the best one from Europe's perspective but defends the interests of his own people. I wish we had political leaders like this in the Netherlands who defend their own country... and forget the rest.
- Geert Wilders, on BNR radio, as quoted in "Geert Wilders says the Netherlands needs a leader like Donald Trump" (18 July 2016), DutchNews.nl.

I'd vote for a bowling ball covered in dog shit and pubic hair before I vote for Trump.
- bestselling author Chuck Wendig, "I'm With Her", June 8, 2016

The cost of appearing with a bloviating ignoramus is obvious, it seems to me. Donald Trump is redundant evidence that if your net worth is high enough, your IQ can be very low and you can still intrude into American politics.
- George Will on This Week, ABC, 27 May 2012 , quoted in Tapper, Jake (27 May 2012), "George Will Calls Donald Trump a ‘Bloviating Ignoramus'", ABC News

It has come to this. The GOP, formerly the party of Lincoln and ostensibly the party of liberty and limited government, is being defined by clamors for a mass roundup and deportation of millions of human beings. To will an end is to will the means for the end, so the Republican clamors are also for the requisite expansion of government's size and coercive powers... Trump evidently plans to deport almost 10 percent of California's workers, and 13 percent of that state's K–12 students. He is, however, at his most Republican when he honors family values: He proposes to deport intact families, including children who are citizens... Trump proposes seizing money that illegal immigrants from Mexico try to send home. This might involve sacrificing mail privacy, but desperate times require desperate measures. He would vastly enlarge the federal government's enforcement apparatus, but he who praises single-payer health care systems and favors vast eminent domain powers has never made a fetish of small government.
- George Will, "Trump Should Have No Place in the Party of Liberty and Limited Government" (22 August 2015), National Review

If Donald Trump were a Democratic mole placed in the Republican Party to disrupt things, how would his behavior be any different? I don't think it would be.
- George Will, as quoted in "Is Donald Trump a Democratic secret agent?" (11 December 2015), by Anthony Zurcher, BBC News, United Kingdom: British Broadcasting Corporation

What you saw was the real Trump, unbound by facts, reason, logic, the law, or the Constitution
- Conservative campaign consultant Rick Wilson, commenting on a coronavirus press briefing "Rick Wilson: Trump’s press conference meltdown was a ‘manic ragefest by America’s Worst President’" (14 April 2020), Rawstory

Shortly after 8pm on Election Night, when the unexpected trend - Trump might actually win - seemed confirmed, Don Jr told a friend that his father, or DJT, as he calls him, looked as if he had seen a ghost. Melania was in tears - and not of joy. There was, in the space of little more than an hour, in Steve Bannon's not unamused observation, a befuddled Trump morphing into a disbelieving Trump and then into a horrified Trump. But still to come was the final transformation: Suddenly, Donald Trump became a man who believed that he deserved to be, and was wholly capable of being, the president of the United States.
- p. 18
Trump did not enjoy his own inauguration. He was angry that A-level stars had snubbed the event, disgruntled with the accommodations at Blair House, and visibly fighting with his wife, who seemed on the verge of tears. Throughout the day, he wore what some around him had taken to calling his golf face: angry and pissed off, shoulders hunched, arms swinging, brow furled, lips pursed.
In pursuing a friend's wife, he would try to persuade the wife that her husband was perhaps not what she thought.
- p. 23
Trump, in fact, found the White House to be vexing and even a little scary. He retreated to his own bedroom - the first time since the Kennedy White House that a presidential couple had maintained separate rooms. In the first days, he ordered two television screens in addition to the one already there, and a lock on the door, precipitating a brief standoff with the Secret Service, who insisted they have access to the room.
She [Ivanka Trump] treated her father with a degree of detachment, even irony, going so far as to make fun of his comb-over to others. She often described the mechanics behind it to friends: an absolutely clean pate - a contained island after scalp-reduction -surgery - surrounded by a furry circle of hair around the sides and front, from which all ends are drawn up to meet in the center and then swept back and secured by a stiffening spray. The color, she would point out to comical effect, was from a product called Just for Men - the longer it was left on, the darker it got. Impatience resulted in Trump's orange-blond hair color.
Rupert Murdoch, heretofore doubtlessly certain Trump was a charlatan and a fool, said he and his new wife, Jerry Hall, would pay a call on the president-elect. But Murdoch was late- quite late. Trump kept assuring his guests that Rupert was on his way, coming soon. When some of the guests made a move to leave, Trump cajoled them to stay a little longer. You'll want to stay to see Rupert. (Or, one of the guests interpreted, you'll want to stay to see Trump with Rupert.) It was a matched set of odd reversals- an ironic symmetry. Trump, perhaps not yet appreciating the difference between becoming president and elevating his social standing, was trying mightily to curry favor with the previously disdainful media mogul. And Murdoch, finally arriving at the party he was in more than one way sorely late to, was as subdued and thrown as everyone else, and struggling to adjust his view of a man who, for more than a generation, had been at best a clown prince among the rich and famous.
- p. 20
Murdoch suggested that taking a liberal approach to H-1B visas, which open America's doors to select immigrants, might be hard to square with his promises to build a wall and close the borders. But Trump seemed unconcerned, assuring Murdoch, 'We'll figure it out.' "What a fucking idiot," said Murdoch, shrugging, as he got off the phone.
- p. 36
The unique problem here was partly how to get information to someone who did not (or could not or would not) read, and who at best listened only selectively. But the other part of the problem was how best to qualify the information that he liked to get... The information he did not get was formal information. The data. The details. The options. The analysis. He didn't do PowerPoint. For anything that smacked of a classroom or of being lectured to- "professor" was one of his bad words, and he was proud of never going to class, never buying a textbook, never taking a note- he got up and left the room.
- p. 188
The president liked generals. The more fruit salad they wore, the better. The president was very pleased with the compliments he got for appointing generals who commanded the respect that Mattis and Kelly and McMaster were accorded (pay no attention to Michael Flynn). What the president did not like was listening to generals, who, for the most part, were skilled in the new Army jargon of PowerPoint, data dumps, McKinsey-like presentations. One of the things that endeared Flynn to the president was the fact that Flynn, quite the conspiracist and drama queen, had good storytelling sense.
- p. 188
- Michael Wolff, Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House (2018)

Let's begin with [Trump's] the simplest assertion: we are doing "great" economically... over the last 20 years the United States has had a hard time achieving economic growth. The last year or two are slightly better... because the government gave an enormous boost... not private capitalist corporations, the government gave... The 2017 tax cut... gave corporations... hundreds of billions of dollars in taxes they don't have to pay anymore... and they mostly used it to increase salaries of executives... very good for the top one percent, but not for the rest of the American people.
Chinese workers, the average amount of money they get adjusted for inflation, has quadrupled in the last 12, 15 years. What happened to the average wage in America, adjusted for inflation? It hardly budged... Excluding that from the conversation - prancing around as if the economy here is the envy of the world - that's not just nonsense.
...he spent more time... demonizing immigrants than on any other topic.... the United States is an economy of three hundred and twenty five million people; the number of undocumented immigrants in the United States is estimated between 10 and 12 million [~3.4]% ...Focusing on immigrants is pure scapegoating; it's focusing people on something that doesn't matter because you don't want them to focus on what does matter.
- Richard Wolffe in Wolff responds to Trump's "State of the Union" address, (6 February 2019)

I still call myself a conservative, but only in full knowledge that there is a blot on the escutcheon, and many a writer who claims that title is an open traitor to all I in truth uphold and he in word only. Because, honestly, a conservative who opposes Trump on the grounds of ideals, despite what this administration has already done in deregulating and defanging the bureaucracy, reversing foreign policy mistakes, and appointing originalist judges, falls into the same error of being a cultist and not a political thinker.
- John C. Wright, "Objectivism and Alt-Right" (2017)

Y

He's the classic demagogue described well in the Federalist Papers that our system is designed to stop.
- John Yoo, Analysis: the Vengeful World of Donald Trump and Why It Matters, at NBC News, published October 31, 2016
Donald Trump is also a coward. For all of his tough talk and bluster, the president of the United States is a punk ass bitch. And this has also been apparent for as long as we've known who he is.
He slipped out of draft duty because of ... bone spurs. Bone spurs don't even get you on the NFL injury report, but he used it to stay the fuck away from actually having to fight. We know his history of bullying and insulting women. And, since he's been in office, we've seen him cower to Kim Jong Un and literally get Deeboed by Vladimir Putin — two men who, for all of their faults, would definitely whoop Trump's ass.
We've had racist presidents before. We've had malignant misogynists in office before. But never has our president been such a fucking wimp.
- Damon Young, Just Remember That Your Punk-Ass President Would Never, Ever, Ever Call LeBron James Dumb to His Face, in The Root, published August 4, 2018.

Z

Donald Trump would be an awesome GOP nominee if he was remotely conservative, suited to beat Hillary, or had the temperament of a good POTUS.
- John Ziegler, Twitter post (February 2016)

His decision to use his platform to condone rather than condemn the actions of his supporters at the Capitol building has rightly disturbed people in the US and around the world. We removed these statements yesterday because we judged that their effect — and likely their intent — would be to provoke further violence.
We believe the risks of allowing the President to continue to use our service during this period are simply too great. Therefore, we are extending the block we have placed on his Facebook and Instagram accounts indefinitely and for at least the next two weeks until the peaceful transition of power is complete.
- Mark Zuckerberg, CEO Facebook, quoted in "Mark Zuckerberg announces Trump banned from facebook and instagram for 'at least the next two weeks'" (January 7 2021) Tech Crunch

Could Donald Trump be a secret double-agent, sent by Democrats to destroy their party from within? Former Florida governor Jeb Bush, who has borne the brunt of more than a few Trump barbs, seems to think there's a possibility... He's belittling his Republican colleagues. He's pulling the party to the nativist right in direct conflict with the goal set by strategists in 2013 to appeal to a more ethnically diverse nation. And he's generally sucking up all the political oxygen, making it harder for other candidates to get their message out. All in all, many experts say he's making it much more difficult for a Republican to win the general election next fall. Maybe he's doing it on purpose... But as the saying goes, even paranoids have enemies. And, at least for the moment, there are some Republicans who see Donald Trump much more of an enemy than a friend.
- Anthony Zurcher, "Is Donald Trump a Democratic secret agent?" (11 December 2015), BBC News, United Kingdom: British Broadcasting Corporation

Trump has forged a coalition between the workers and the patriotic elite. I strongly believe in the coalition that has brought Trump together. Just like Boris Johnson. That, I think, is the political axis of the future.
- How the 'French Trump' Éric Zemmour is turning politics upside down.

External links

Donald Trump at Wikiquote's sister projects:
	Article at Wikipedia
	Media from Commons
	News stories from Wikinews
	Source texts from Wikisource
	Database entry #Q22686 on Wikidata

Official website
"Trump's Lies" by David Leonhardt and Stuart A. Thompson - a catalog of "nearly every outright lie he has told publicly" in his first five months in office, in The New York Times (23 June 2017)