Trump's remarks at holiday celebration

He's working. He's too big. Come on up here, Erin. You think Dan is bad taste? You won't believe this. Mickey Gallagher, another great golfer, is here. He's the head pro at Bedminster, and he's-- come on up here, Erin. Do you know the first lady? How are you.

Nice to see you. How are you? Good, thank you. Want to say a couple of words?

Sure. And she's a great hostess. She hosts professionally everything, and she's the best. But now she's probably going to-- let's see. Is she going to choke? Is she going to be the opposite of Bryson? Go ahead. Great, great. Thank you, Mr. President, First lady. And to everyone, Merry Christmas. Thank you so much for having me. It's an absolute honor. I got to fly here today with Vanessa and all of the kids. And you just have such a wonderful family. Everyone is amazing and polite and smart and athletic and talented. So you guys have done a truly amazing job, and it's a testament to your family. And I think this party is really special because my son is here, my sister is here. And the holidays and Christmas are truly about family. And thank God that we have a president and a first lady who puts our families first, who puts America first. And that's why we get to have this special, amazing, beautiful Christmas season the way that it is. And I thank God every day that President Trump won November 5 of last year. And I think we keep making America great again for all of these people here today, our children, our families. So thank you so much for having me. And thank you, President, First Lady. Thank you. Great. Now you know what I'm talking about. You did a good job. I don't know. Scavino is great, but without that big power, do you think that she would have been interested in him? James, I don't know. I think the power is the thing that did it, right? Oh, he's charming. He's a great guy. You got a great guy, the best. He looks great these days. He's a handsome guy, right? Look at her. She's defending him. Thank you. Erin, thank you very much. Thank you, darling. Great job. I appreciate it. So Mickey Gallagher, where's Mickey? Mickey from one of the-- now, he's a great player, too. Probably Mickey would agree that he's not quite as good as Bryson. [LAUGHTER] He's the head pro at Bedminster, one of the most respected professionals, the most. Like in New Jersey, I forget he's like a king. And he's a really good golfer. But we've given up on the tours stuff, right, Mickey? We gave up. When you see somebody's 100 yards longer, you say, let's go back to hiring golf pros all over the place. Thank you, Mickey, for being here. And he is a great golfer. Really terrific lawyer. He's been with me for a long time. I think he's got his family with him, and his family's great. Alan Garten. Where's Alan? Alan, nice to see you, Alan. Boy, are we winning cases or losing? I think we're winning. I guess we're winning because here we are. That's good. Well, you've done a great job. And look at that beautiful baby. He's not a baby anymore. Good, good. Thank you, Alan. Is your wife here? Who he happened to meet on the job. He met on the job. We're not supposed to do that stuff, but they got along very well. I said, to hell with it. We have very flexible rules in the Trump Organization. I said, those two seem to be-- she's a great lawyer. I don't know. She may be a better lawyer than you, Alan. I hate to tell you. But I noticed they came into my office, and they were extraordinarily friendly. They'd walk in two separate lawyers, and it's strange when they walk into my office and they're holding hands. I said, what the hell's going on over here? So, Alan, I just want to thank you for doing a great job, both of you for doing a great job. And congratulations on the family and everything. A man who's really fantastic-- he started off as a speechwriter. And my problem is I didn't stick to his speech that much, but whenever I stuck to his speech, I would never get myself into trouble. But he's one of the greatest speechwriters in the world. And together with his partner, Ross, they form a team that-- they've been with me right from the beginning. Vince, are you here, Vince? Oh, there you are, Vince. It's amazing the way you blended in. He wants to blend in. And now he's doing something, I think, that's going to be the most exciting job of all. And Ross is doing really well. They split up probably the first time. They've always been a team. They love each other. They got along so well for so many years. And I said, we have a couple of jobs. Vince is unbelievable on policy. And we have a policy thing that's going to be unbelievable happening. Should I announce it, or should I keep it quiet? I put Vince in charge of the triumphal arc. We're building an arc, like the Arc de Triomphe, and we're building it by the Arlington Bridge, the Arlington Cemetery, opposite the Lincoln Memorial. You could say Jefferson, Washington, everything, because they're all right there. And it's something that is so special. It will be like the one in Paris, but to be honest with you, it blows it away. It blows it away in every way. And Vince came in one day, and his eyes were teeming. I mean, he couldn't believe how beautiful it was. He saw it, and he wanted to do that. That's your primary thing. There is nothing that can compete with that. It's the only city in the world that's of great importance that doesn't have a triumphal arc. You know what that is. And this one is going to blow them all away. The one that people know mostly is the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, France. And we're going to top it by, I think, a lot. The only thing they have is history, 1860s, something. I always say, the one thing you can't compete with-- but eventually, we'll have that history too. But we're going to have something the likes of which has never been done before. And it's been waiting for 200 years, literally. I think the Civil War got in the way of it. The opening, they actually have the four-- they have four columns, four small columns, with the eagles on top. And they have the circle on the other side from the Lincoln. And it's so unbelievable. It's so unbelievable. It's been waiting for hundreds of years. And they were going to build on it a couple of times. It never happened. But it's a circle that's been waiting to have the arc built on it. And I think we're very far along. I think you might want to show it to the National Trust, if you'd like. You might want to show it to a couple of people to take a look at it because I've always gotten really along well with the National Trust. So take a look and show it to them and start. Maybe they give you some good ideas, too. But I'm proud of you, and I'm really especially proud of the job you've done. From day one, he and his partner, Ross, have been writing really great speeches. And I just wish I'd stuck with them a little bit more often. But we go on and off those speeches. And I think ultimately, that's the best combination. So one of the greatest in the world, the two of those guys, the greatest. Then we have a man who-- to me, this is the most interesting story. Boy, do you look like Ivanka? Has anyone ever told you that. I'm looking. I'm saying, is that-- could you just turn around for the camera? Does she look like Ivanka? It's the most unbelievable thing. So I didn't want to take a chance and say, is that Ivanka? You look just like Ivanka, which is a great compliment, actually. So we have a doctor in the White House named Dr. James Jones. Can I tell the story? And he's a great doctor, highly respected by so many people. He's helped so many people. I've had people come to the White House, and they were so sick. I've had people come to the White House-- along with your partner. You have a lot of partners. You have Walter Reed Medical Center, which I think is the best in the world. They've seen things that nobody wants to see. Doctors have told me, if you can get out of here, you've seen it all. And that's why they produce some of the best doctors in the world. Well, Dr. James Jones is a great doctor. He was the White House doctor during the Obama administration and during the Trump administration and I guess during a little bit of maybe-- no? Those two? Because we had somebody else named Doc Ronny who actually got a glimpse of Obama in there, too. Is that Doc Ronny back there? No. Doc Ronny did all three. And he said, Trump is in the best health of all. He had Bush. He had Obama. He had Trump. He didn't have Biden. He didn't have Biden. But Dr. James went on a trip to Peru with the two Obama girls. They wanted to go hiking in Peru. Was it Peru? In Peru. And it's known for being a rather rough place in terms of physical creatures crawling around. 28,000 people die a year from a snakebite, a certain snake. It's a viper. It's said to be the most poisonous snake in the world. And he made a comment, and somebody else told him, it's very dangerous in that area to go hiking. And the guide said, oh, don't worry. We never see that snake. It's overexaggerated, even though 27,000, 28,000 people a year die. That's not overexaggerated because when they lift the rice and this and that out of the water, they get hit. And if you get hit, it's automatic death. So he goes out, and he's-- in your last day, you're getting ready to come back. For two weeks, they're traipsing around in Peru. And he's got to follow them because he's the White House doctor. He's with the two young ladies, who I'll bet are nice. You actually said they were very nice young ladies, too. I bet they are. And final day, final two hours, he gets hit by a viper, right? This is a terrible Christmas story, but it's a hell of a story because I'll tell you what happened. He gets hit with a viper. And the viper missed him. It hit his jacket, a very thick jacket, and spread all of the venom all over the place. It went all over. But that wasn't good enough for the viper. The viper hit him a second time, and this time, it got him on the arm. And so I think probably the only reason you made it-- even though making it took them two years to make it. But they read him the last rites. He was gone. On three different occasions, they thought he was dead. And it takes only a minute. And because of Doc Ronny Jackson, he knew-- they called in. And he was at the White House. And he knew from the description and the location what kind of a snake it was. And they had the venom just in case. But the venom rarely works. It's so powerful, this thing. It's said to be the most poison-- The black mamba, the brown mamba, and the viper from Peru, you do not want to play games, OK? And I'm telling this story because my son, Don, this is a hell of a-- did you hear this story, Don? And so he's being read his rites and his-- they thought he was dead three different times. They carried him out, feeding him the antivenom. And over a period of months, he was unconscious for a long time, many weeks. And he made it. I asked him, how are you doing today? He said, is it perfect? Look how quiet everybody is. It's funny. When you talk about snakes and things like that, people find it interesting. Would anybody like to go and go to Peru and walk around the forests with-- he's just like, no, thank you. No, thank you. I'll say, no, thank you. But this was a real-- did they ever find the snake, by the way?

They did. Oh, they did find it? What did they do?

They took care of it. Normally, the environmentalists and the animal rights people would say, oh, leave it alone. It's such a wonderful-- usually, they say, leave it alone. It's such a wonderful-- leave the sharks alone. Don't touch the sharks. They're wonderful. I love the sharks. I don't feel that way, but that's OK. Just lost about one vote. That's all. So he got better. And here's the purpose of the story, is that he wrote a book nine years ago, would you say? This was nine years ago?

Three years. Three years. The book is three years old. And it was OK. It sold about two copies. [LAUGHTER] But it had a hell of a cover. And it has a cover of the White House and this vicious snake, and it is vicious, teeth like this, those fangs. These are not fangs you want sucking on your arm, as you had. By the way, what did you do? When that snake was on your arm, you tried to get it off your arm, I guess, naturally. What was happening?

I rolled off. I don't remember it. You mean it hit you that hard that it knocked you out immediately? It's unbelievable. So he wrote a book three years ago, and the book was fun. It's like every other book. It didn't sell too much, but it was interesting. But I heard the story, and I'm fascinated by stories of wildlife because I have a theory. Wildlife always wins. That's what my theory is. We can play games. I'm saying this for my son, by the way, because I have a son who would rather be in the jungle than any place on Earth. When I kick the bucket someday, he'll be-- I figure, Patina, I think he'll be here for about two days. He'll go and pay his respects, and we'll say, where's Don? He'd rather be in some jungle or some-- and he's a really good hunter. But remember this. Wildlife always wins, unfortunately, in this case. So what happened, Dr. Jones wrote a book, and the book was amazing. I said, I want to get that book. I got it. And the cover is unbelievable. You'll see it on Truth Social. It's on Truth Social. I put out a statement that this book is great. The story is incredible. It took him like two years to recover. He said he's lost something, but not up here. I don't care if you've lost something physically, but as long as the head is good. Did you lose anything from the brain?

No, sir. Good. OK, then that's all I care about. I don't give a damn about the use of your arm.

My wife might disagree. Your wife is-- oh, where is his-- oh, look at that. Wow. Where is the wife of Dr. Jones? I just want to know, did he lose anything mentally? Because if he did, I no longer want him as my doctor. No, he's an unbelievable doctor. Now, here's the bottom line. So he had this book. He gets a call two days ago. I put out a Truth Social yesterday. I've sold a lot of bestsellers when I like people. I put it out. Great book, blah, blah, blah, picture of this viper coming like boom from the White House. And his publisher calls him, said, Doctor, what happened? What's going on? He said, we're being-- did they sell 100,000? What's the number?

100,000. They sold 100,000 books. It's the number one bestseller. Can you believe it? [APPLAUSE] Did you know? It's the number one bestselling book. Can you believe that? So now you're a bestselling author. Now he can quit the White House. But anyway, he's a great doctor with a terrible-- that was a terrible experience. I mean, you went through hell for years, right? And the power is incredible of animals. Power is incredible. You got hit. And we tell you, a lot of respect. The chances of living from that snake are substantially less than 1%, and that's only if you have the venom. Even if you have the venom, you don't live. And this guy's living. But I have a feeling that first blow missing, I assume there was a lot less going in. But it's just-- he said the good Lord saved him. I can maybe say that, too. Every once in a while, I get that throbbing feeling. I say, thank you very much. So we're in maybe a similar position. But you're a great doctor, and I appreciate it. I just think it's an incredible story. Go buy his book. But it's an incredible story. 100,000 books sold in a day and a half. That's incredible, right? It's an amazing story. I want to just explain a couple of things, and then I'm going to just lead by saying, have a great Christmas. But our country is doing really well. We inherited a mess from Biden and the Biden administration. We had the worst inflation in the history of our country, the worst inflation in the history of our country. Prices were the highest they ever were. And what we're doing is bringing them down. Inflation is totally neutralized. We may get it a little bit lower. You don't want to get it to-- you don't want deflation. Deflation is, in many ways, worse than inflation. But we have a record setting-- we had more people working on Friday than at any time in the history of our country. Think of that. Wages have gone up by more than inflation. First time that's happened in many years. We are doing great, and prices are coming down. And the Democrats use this word called affordability. They look at the camera, and they say, what are you going to do for affordability? They keep saying affordability. Well, they're the ones that caused the problem. They're the ones that caused the problem. That's all they did. They're good at cheating in elections, very good at cheating. They're professionals at cheating because we won in 2016 by a lot. The election was rigged in 2020. We have all the ammunition, all the stuff, and you'll see it come out. It's coming out in truckloads. But then we won again in 2024 with an election that we called too big to rig. And we were leading big in the polls, but I said, go out and vote. You got to go out and vote. Make it too big to rig. And that's exactly-- they tried to rig it, but they couldn't do it. It was too big to rig, too many votes. And we won every swing state. We won by millions of votes. We won the popular vote. We won the Electoral College. We won something else by a lot. We won something else that was amazing, and that's called districts. So the country is divided up into thousands of districts. We won 2,750 to 525. That's why when you look at a map of the election, the entire map is red, other than two little blue stripes along the outer edge. One is California. One is New York. And California's election, New York also, but California more than any other place, is so rigged. It's such a rigged election. We won the Hispanic vote. So a lot of people say a Republican wouldn't win California, but I won the Hispanic vote. I won in Miami. Think of that. In Miami, I won the Hispanic vote. Along the Texas border, I won every single city or town touching the Texas border, and they're 85% to 90% Hispanic. We won the Hispanic vote. If the vote in California was legitimate, which it's not-- they have 38 million ballots. Everything is mail-in voting. They mail out 38 million ballots. And they come in-- where the hell do they go? And where do they come from? It's a rigged election in California because we would win California by a lot. And again, they feel they have the advantage with Hispanic. They don't because I won the Hispanic vote. So we did something that was amazing. We made a comeback, and we got the most Republican votes in the history of elections. We won Texas by more votes than anybody's ever gotten to this. Well, I did number one, number two, and three. All three I did in Texas and Alabama and many other states. In many states, we have the all-time record for votes. And it was just a great election. This was a great election. And you had long since recovered from the viper bites, so you acknowledge that this was a great-- because I said, I want that guy as my doctor. And it's true. And your partner is so great. He's such a great guy. So I just want to say, this was an amazing period of time. Our country has been turned around much faster than I thought. If you would have told me that 10 months in, we would have over $18 trillion with a T, not billion, but $18 trillion coming in-- and they're coming in. They're building car plants. They're building AI plants. They're building everything at a level that we've never seen, that no country has ever seen before. Now, I assume that's going to start-- it's already showing up, but I assume that it's going to start showing up. I'll be picking a new head of the Fed soon. Our Fed person is absolutely-- despite him, we have numbers that really nobody's ever seen. Vince, right? Despite him, we have numbers that nobody's ever seen before. We're fighting through him. And we'll soon have a good head of the Fed who's going to want to see interest rates go down. But we're fighting through higher interest rates. But the interest rates are coming down despite him. He's incompetent. He's an incompetent person who suffers from Trump derangement syndrome. It's one of those little problems. We have many of them. But we're fighting through that stuff. And we have a country that potentially is geared to have the most incredible golden years ever. We're going to have-- it's the golden age. I say it's the golden age of America when these factories and plants open up by the thousands. Toyota just announced they're going to spend $10 billion building plants to make Toyotas. So they're coming from Germany. They're coming from Japan. They're coming from Canada. Many factories are coming in because they don't want to pay tariffs. Very simple. They're coming in, and they're spending a tremendous-- they're spending hundreds of billions of dollars. Our car industry lost 58% of their capacity over the years. They went to Europe. They went to Mexico, Japan. They went all over. They went to South Korea. And now it's just the opposite. They're all coming back. We have an age that's coming up the likes of which I don't think this country has-- this country has never seen. And I just look so forward to the results. You're going to see results in six months to a year. I think you'll see results-- we've never had anything like it. Again, there's never been any country-- China, wonderful. I have a great relationship with President Xi. China has never seen it. Nobody's ever seen it. And by the way, we're leading in AI by a lot. AI is a big deal, and we're leading in AI by a lot. And the big problem was electricity. But I allow our plants-- in other words, all of these geniuses that are building a $60-billion, billion, $60-billion plant, I allowed them to build their own electric capacity as part of the plant. And that solved the problem with the old grid. So they're able to do things that nobody thought they'd be able to do. We're getting them very fast approvals. And many of those plants are right now being built. So we have things happening like nobody's ever seen before. We have a great country. It's a great time to have Christmas. And I just want to introduce a person who's very outstanding. She is a great person, a highly respected woman. Every time I make a speech, I see signs, we love our first lady. We love our first lady. They love our first lady. What can I do? I don't like it because I think they like her more than they like me, and I am not happy about it. I am not happy about-- we're going to have to have a discussion about this. But they love our first lady. And Melania did all of these decorations, and she's gotten great reviews. The first year she did the trees, they were-- [APPLAUSE] That's right. The first year, year one, she did the trees. They were white And they were so-- snow, beautiful. And the fake news hit her hard. The next year, they were red, gorgeous red. They hit her hard. The next year, they were another color. They hit her. I said, baby, do me a favor. Do me a favor. Make the trees green. Let them just be green. They're so beautiful. Let them be green. Anyway, she has gotten the greatest reviews I've ever seen. And nobody has ever gotten reviews like this for the White House. I actually like the white ones better, but what am I going to? She has done a great job. And maybe I'll ask her to say a few words. She loves you all. Thank you very much. [APPLAUSE] Thank you. Good afternoon. Welcome to the White House. It's nice to see familiar faces. First of all, my thoughts and prayers go to the families of people who lost their loved ones around the world in this difficult time. We are celebrating here Christmas, and I'm thinking about them, what they're going through. So my heart is with them. I would like that you enjoy today the White House. It's a special place. And we have a Santa visiting today. I hope you saw him. And if not, go to visit him in the green room, the family's room, a game room. He's waiting for you. You could take pictures and maybe whisper to him what you would like to have as a present for Christmas. So enjoy the time. Wishing you a Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year. And all the best to your families. Thank you. Thank you. [APPLAUSE] And I just want to say go-- you're here for a reason. It's to celebrate Christmas and all of the holidays and the success of America. But we have the best chefs here. You are going to love that food, so go and get the food. Everybody wants to come to the Christmas party. I have made so many enemies because you can only have so many. And I've made so many enemies because I'm saying, I'm sorry, we're just not able to accommodate you. I don't necessarily say it myself, but our people do. And I think it's 10 to 1, Vince, 10 to 1. The 1 gets in, and the 10 don't. This is not a good-- Politically, this is not a good thing, but you're here. The food is phenomenal. Go eat. Merry Christmas. Happy Hanukkah. And really have a fantastic year. We're going to have a great year. Thank you very much, everybody. Thank you. [APPLAUSE] [MUSIC PLAYING]