Remarks by Donald Trump at the "African American History Month Listening Session" at the White House, Feb. 1, 2017.
Well, the election, it came out really
well. Next time we’ll triple the number or quadruple it. We want to get it over
51, right? At least 51.
Well
this is Black History Month, so this is our little breakfast, our little
get-together. Hi Lynn,
how are you? Just a few notes. During this month, we honor the tremendous history of
African-Americans throughout our country. Throughout the world, if you really
think about it, right? And their story is one of unimaginable sacrifice, hard
work, and faith in America. I’ve gotten a real glimpse—during the campaign, I’d go around with Ben to
a lot of different places I wasn’t so familiar with. They’re incredible people.
And I want to thank Ben
Carson, who’s gonna be heading up HUD. That’s a big job. That’s a job that’s
not only housing, but it’s mind and spirit. Right, Ben? And you understand,
nobody’s gonna be better than Ben.
Last month, we celebrated the life of
Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., whose incredible example is unique in
American history. You read all about Dr. Martin Luther King a week ago when somebody said I
took the statue out of my office. It turned out that that was fake news. Fake
news. The statue is cherished, it’s one of the favorite things in the—and we
have some good ones. We have Lincoln, and we have Jefferson, and we have Dr.
Martin Luther King. But they said the statue, the bust of Martin Luther King,
was taken out of the office. And it was never even touched. So I think it was a
disgrace, but that’s the way the press is. Very unfortunate.
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 being recognized more and more, I noticed. Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks,
and millions more black Americans who made America what it is today. Big
impact.
I’m
proud to honor this heritage and will be honoring it more and more. The folks at the table in
almost all cases have been great friends and supporters. Darrell—I met Darrell when he was
defending me on television. And the people that were on the other side of the
argument didn’t have a chance, right? And Paris has done an amazing job in a
very hostile CNN community. He’s all by himself. You’ll have seven people, and
Paris. And I’ll take Paris over the seven. But I don’t watch CNN, so I don’t
get to see you as much as I used to. I don’t like watching fake news. But Fox
has treated me very nice. Wherever Fox is, thank you.
We’re gonna need better schools and we need
them soon. We need more jobs, we need better wages, a lot better wages. We’re
gonna work very hard on the inner city. Ben is gonna be doing that, big league.
That’s one of the big things that you’re gonna be looking at. We need safer
communities and we’re going to do that with law enforcement. We’re gonna make
it safe. We’re gonna make it much better than it is right now. Right now it’s
terrible, and I saw you talking about it the other night, Paris, on something
else that was really—you did a fantastic job the other night on a very
unrelated show.
I’m
ready to do my part, and I will say this: We’re gonna work together. This is a great group, this is
a group that’s been so special to me. You really helped me a lot. If you remember I wasn’t going to do
well with the African-American community, and after they heard me speaking and
talking about the inner city and lots of other things, we ended up getting—and
I won’t go into details—but we ended up getting substantially more than other
candidates who had run in the past years. And now we’re gonna take that to new
levels. I want to
thank my television star over here—Omarosa’s actually a very nice person,
nobody knows that. I don’t want to destroy her reputation but she’s a very good
person, and she’s been helpful right from the beginning of the campaign, and I
appreciate it. I really do. Very special.
Green –
campaign and election
Purple –
African-Americans who supported Trump and are in the room
Dark gray –
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Light gray – all other
African-Americans, past and present
Light blue – his feud
with the media
Pink – policy prescriptions for “the inner city”
Pink – policy prescriptions for “the inner city”