Photo of Donald Trump

Remarks at Seven Flags Event Center in Des Moines, Iowa

September 13, 2016

Thank you. It is so great to be back in Iowa. Spending time in your state has been one of the great joys of this campaign.

Together, we are going to win Iowa in November -- and we are going to win the White House, and Make America Great Again.

The White House will become the People's House. We will tackle and fix the problems that have gone unsolved for years.

We are going to fix our crumbling infrastructure, renegotiate our disastrous trade deals, free children from failing government schools, eliminate government waste, and create a fair, simple and efficient tax code that adds millions of new jobs.

Prosperity will rise, poverty will recede, and wages will finally begin to grow – and they will grow rapidly.

This is a campaign about big ideas designed to help everyday people.

In recent days, we've rolled out one new policy idea after another – on taxes, on school choice, on foreign policy, on defeating terrorism, on rebuilding our military, on Veterans care, on unleashing American energy, and on the vital issue of trade.

By contrast, Hillary Clinton is running a policy-free campaign. She offers no ideas, no solutions, only hatred and derision.

I am running to be a President for all Americans – Democrat, Republican, Independent, everyone. Whether you vote for me, or whether you vote for someone else, I will be your greatest champion.

Our support comes from every part of America, and every walk of life. We have the support of cops and soldiers, carpenters and welders, accountants and lawyers, the young and the old, and millions of working class families all over this nation.

While my opponent slanders you as deplorable and irredeemable, I call you hardworking American patriots who love your country and want a better future for all of our people.

Her comments displayed the same sense of arrogance and entitlement that led her to violate federal law as Secretary of State, hide and delete her emails, put classified information in the reach of our enemies, lie to Congress, and sell government favors and access through the Clinton Foundation.

It's this attitude of arrogance that explains why Hillary Clinton made her 13 phones disappear – including with a hammer – so the FBI couldn't see them, and why she bleached her emails after a congressional subpoena. Now the people who destroyed the emails are all pleading the fifth amendment in front of Congress today.

Anyone watching today's hearing in Congress knows that Hillary Clinton's actions are far more corrupt than we even imagined.

This is a far bigger scandal than Watergate ever was, but with Watergate we had the Justice Department doing its jobs – here we don't have either. This is a scandal that threatens national security and that involves a multimillion dollar pay-for-play scheme between the Secretary of State and her Foundation.

Whether it's her emails, her disasters in Iraq, Libya and Syria, or her failures on the economy, Hillary Clinton lacks the judgement, temperament and moral character to lead this country.

In the words of a secret service agent posted outside her office: "she simply lacks the integrity and the temperament to serve in the office…from the bottom of my soul, I know this to be true."

The policies of Hillary Clinton have produced death and destruction overseas, and produced only failing schools, rising crime, job loss, shrinking incomes, and tragic poverty at home.

1 in 5 American households do not have a single member in the labor force. Another 14 million people left the labor force entirely since 2009. And the national debt has doubled to nearly $20 trillion during the Obama Years.

I am running to reverse these policies, and to create a future of prosperity for all Americans.

That includes our family farms right here in Iowa.

Family farms are the backbone of this country. We are going to end the EPA intrusion into your family homes and your family farms.

We are going to protect the Renewable Fuel Standard, corn-based ethanol, eliminate job-killing regulations like the Waters of the U.S. rule, and provide desperately-needed tax relief.

Our plan lowers the tax rate on family farms down to 15 percent, and to stop the double-taxation of family farms at death – helping to ensure that the family farm tradition in Iowa continues to thrive and flourish.

My economic agenda can be summed up in three words: jobs, jobs, jobs.

That means we are going to negotiate trade deals to protect our farmers, help them export their goods, and grow family farming in America.

My first day in office, I am also going to order a review of every single regulation issued over the last eight years. All needless, job-killing regulations will be cancelled. Millions of new jobs will come pouring in.

We are going to lift the restrictions on American energy – which means lower electricity prices for our farmers, and half a million new jobs a year.

That's just the beginning.

Also on my first day, I am going to ask Congress to send me a bill to immediately repeal and replace disastrous Obamacare – this will instantly save another 2 million jobs.

By the way, remember when Jonathan Gruber, the architect of Obamacare, said the "lack of transparency," was essential to passing the legislation and then he talked about – and I quote – "the stupidity of the American voter." This is the hateful attitude of insiders like Mr. Gruber and Hillary Clinton – and the voters have had enough. They're taking their country back.

Another major reform is going to be school choice. I've outlined a plan to provide every disadvantaged child in America the freedom to choose the private, public, magnet or religious school of his or her choice.

This will help lift millions of poor African-American and Hispanic children out of poverty.

It's time to break-up the failed Democratic control over our inner cities, and provide real hope and opportunity to every single community in this nation.

Our policies on taxes, trade, regulations and education will grow incomes, boost jobs and reduce poverty for our African-American and Hispanic communities.

We need a new civil rights agenda for our time, one that promises safe neighborhoods, great education, and secure jobs.

Nearly 4 in 10 African-American children live in poverty, including 45% of African-American children under the age of six. 58% of African-American youth are not working.

Violent crime rose in America's fifty largest cities last year. Homicides are up nearly 50% in Washington, D.C. and more than 60% in Baltimore.

Over 3,000 people have been shot in Chicago since January of this year. There's a shooting on average every 2 hours.

To those suffering and hurting I say: what do you have to lose – vote for Donald J. Trump. I will fix it. I will bring back millions of jobs, higher wages, and great schools.

I will make your communities safe.

Safety also means protecting our people from Radical Islamic Terrorism.

New video has just been released showing ISIS butchers murdering innocent people in what has been called a Syrian slaughterhouse. The victims were dragged, then hung from meathooks, and then their throats were slit.

This is an evil, sadistic, monstrous enemy and we must keep these killers out of our country.

We know that ISIS is trying to infiltrate refugee flows, and to recruit refugees after their entry to our country.

My opponent wants a 550% increase in Syrian refugees. According to the Senate Subcommittee on immigration, her entire plan will bring in 620,000 refugees in her first term and cost $400 billion in lifetime benefits.

Instead of providing free healthcare and jobs to refugees from around the world, we should rebuild our inner cities and help struggling Americans get jobs.

I support the construction of safe zones in the region, and we will get the Gulf States to pay for it.

At the same time, as we rebuild our military, we are going to get our allies to pay their fair share. Only 5 of the 28 member NATO countries meet their obligation to spend 2% of GDP on defense. I will convene a summit of our European and Asian allies to make sure everyone is sharing in the security burden – and that we are properly focused on Radical Islamic Terrorism.

In all things, it's time to put Americans first – and start taking care of each other.

Tonight, I am going to roll out a plan to help our mothers and our families get affordable, quality childcare for their children.

On policy after policy, we are going to provide opportunity, prosperity and security for all Americans.

I am going to lower your taxes; I am going to get rid of massive amounts of unnecessary regulations, on business and in your life; I'm going to repeal and replace Obamacare; I'm going to appoint Justices to the Supreme Court who will follow the Constitution; I'm going rebuild our depleted military and take care of our vets; I'm going to save your 2nd amendment. I'm going to stop illegal immigration and drugs coming into our country, and yes, we will build the wall and I'm going to, so importantly, renegotiate your horrible trade deals, especially NAFTA – which is the single worst trade deal ever made by any country anywhere in the world a one-way street for jobs out of the United States – and we will make great trade deals that put the American worker first.

And Apple, and our other major companies, will start making their iPhones, computers and other products inside of the United States – not in China, and all over the world.

We don't make our products anymore in the United States, but we will again – like never before.

We will rebuild our roads, bridges, tunnels, highways, airports, schools and hospitals.

American cars will travel the roads, American planes will soar in the skies, and American ships will patrol the seas.

American steel will send new skyscrapers into the clouds.

American hands will rebuild this nation – and American energy, mined from American sources, will power this nation. American workers will be hired to do the job.

We will put new American metal into the spine of this country.

I will fight for every neglected part of this nation – and I will fight to bring us all together as One American People.

Imagine what our country could accomplish if we started working together as One People, under One God, saluting One American Flag.

It is time to break with the bitter failures of the past, and to embrace a new, inclusive and prosperous American future.

Jobs will return, incomes will rise, and new factories will come rushing back to our shores.

Once more, we will have a government of, by and for the people.

We Will Make America Prosperous Again.

We Will Make America Safe Again.

And Will Make America Great Again.

Thank you, and God Bless!

NOTE: As prepared for delivery.

Donald J. Trump, Remarks at Seven Flags Event Center in Des Moines, Iowa Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/319662

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