How great thou art.
President Trump said God is “very proud” of the job he has done as president, pointing to his record on foreign affairs, border security and the economy while addressing reporters at the White House on the first anniversary of his second term in office.
“I think God is very proud of the job I’ve done, and that includes for religion,” Trump said in a rare briefing room appearance — after holding up a Bible-length printed-out listing his achievements, which he dropped on the ground with a thud.
“We’re protecting a lot of people that are being killed — Christians, Jewish people, lots of people are being protected by me that wouldn’t be protected by another type of president.”
The president argued he brought prosperity back to America, peace to world conflicts and safety to the country’s streets.
“I think a lot of people are very proud of the job we’ve done. We’ve had an amazing year. This has been one of the greatest years,” he tooted during his 104-minute exposition.
“Even some people that wouldn’t necessarily love me instinctively, they’re saying this was an incredible year.”
Trump focused heavily on economic news — as he seeks to blunt midterm election-year attacks — and at one point questioned whether his message was failing to break through because “maybe I have bad public relations people.”
Inflation and gas prices are down while real wage growth and stock values are up, Trump boasted, and taxpayers will soon get big refunds from his legislation cutting taxes on tips, overtime and Social Security.
He crowed about a drop in trade deficits, pledges from all major drug companies to lower US prescription prices and said 401k accounts had added $9 trillion in value since he reclaimed power last January.
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And he insisted that he wouldn’t allow himself to fall into the same predicament of former President Joe Biden, who similarly argued the economy was thriving despite pessimistic polling sentiment to the contrary.
“I blame ourselves. I think we’ve done a much better job than we’re able to promote. We’re not promoting. We’re doing a great job and we’re sort of allowing the promotion to take care of itself,” Trump said.
“One of the reasons I’m doing this news conference is I think it’s important. We have taken a mess and made it really good. It’s going to get even better.”
The president highlighted border security, bragging that it was now “the strongest border of any country,” with the possible exception of North Korea.
He held up dozens of wanted-style posters of violent criminals apprehended in Minnesota by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers — showing crimes such as murder and rape — before tossing that stack of paper from his lectern.
On immigration policy, Trump said he told his team to “lighten up” on people who “technically” living in the US without legal permission.
“It was so sad” to see anti-deportation activist Renee Good, 37, fatally shot by an ICE officer when he accelerated her vehicle this month
“Her parents were tremendous Trump fans,” the president said.
“We have a lot of heart— and I said, ‘You gotta lighten up on this’,” Trump said.
“We have a lot of heart for people. They came in illegally, but they’re good people and they’re working now on farms and they’re working in luncheonettes and hotels. And we’re not looking— we’re looking to get the criminals out right now, the criminals,” he said.
“I think it’s very important. Every once in a while you see a story [where] we take somebody — he should be out because he came in illegally, so in theory they should be. But we’re focused on the murderers, the drug dealers, the mentally insane killers.”
Trump rattled off “a lot of firsts” over the past year, including his decisions to make English the official language, launch military strikes on alleged drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean Sea, declare illicit fentanyl a weapon of mass destruction and order an end birthright citizenship, which is now contested in court.
“We captured and brought to justice” former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and “now we have a great relationship with Venezuela,” he said of this month’s daring raid on Caracas, which followed his airstrikes last June that flattened three Iranian nuclear sites.
Trump described a one-year drop in murders nationwide with “almost 2,000 lives were saved” and said 100,000 fewer cars were stolen.
He defunded NPR and PBS, restored Columbus Day, created “Trump Accounts” with $1,000 in seed funding for newborns, banned artificial food dyes, unveiled a new food pyramid, revised vaccine recommendations, started to build battleships and inked rare-earth deals with a half dozen countries, Trump recounted.
It was all the more remarkable, Trump said, because he won the 2024 election staring down a pair of federal prosecutions from the “sick son of a bitch” special counsel Jack Smith, as well as convictions in New York on civil fraud and criminal business-record tampering by “sick” prosecutors Letitia James and Alvin Bragg and an additional case in Georgia from Democratic District Attorney Fani Willis, whom he called “fanny.”
The entertainer-in-chief worked humor into his presentation.
His ongoing deployment of the National Guard to patrol DC streets has driven violent crime so low that residents can enjoy romantic outings and “act like a real lover” in public without fear for their safety, he told the press corps.
The renaming of the “Gulf of America” — one of his accomplishments — almost ended up as the “Gulf of Trump,” the president joked, saying that he thought the region would be “hotter than ever” with his name attached.
“The Gulf of Trump — that does have a good ring though. Maybe we could do that. It’s not too late,” he quipped.
The printed-out accomplishments — listing 365 — included some that the president didn’t get around to mentioning, including his initiative to end the use of paper straws.
Another unread item, #243, said Trump “stripped notorious crackhead and grifter Hunter Biden of his taxpayer-funded Secret Service detail.”
The president took 26 questions before getting ready for his evening departure for the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland — including a large number from foreign press eager with queries about European opposition to his plans to annex Greenland.
Asked how far he would go to acquire the Danish island, which has spooked NATO allies, Trump said: “You’ll find out.”
