Remarks at the Iftar Dinner

The President. Thank you very much. Nice-looking crowd. [Laughter]

Hello, Lindsey.

Senator Lindsey O. Graham. [Inaudible]

The President. Nice to see you.

Sen. Graham. [Inaudible] [Laughter]

The President. [Inaudible]—and you'll like it.

Good evening, and welcome to this magnificent Iftar dinner—very special—as we honor the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

Let me begin by saying to our Muslim friends, of which I have many tonight—and I think we have many all over the world, based on the results in Michigan, other places—[laughter]—but I just want to say hello to all of the people that supported us so strongly: Ramadan Mubarak.

We're grateful to be joined by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard. Tulsi, thank you very much. Deputy Secretary of State Chris Landau. Chris. Thank you, Chris. Congratulations, by the way. Deputy Special Envoy Morgan Ortagus. Morgan. Hi, Morgan.

A very good friend of mine, who I just endorsed, actually: Senator Lindsey Graham. Lindsey. Congressman Abe Hamadeh. Abe. Thank you, Abe. Thank you, Abe. Good job.

Counselor to the President Alina Habba, and going to be the U.S. attorney in New Jersey, very importantly. Great. Great job.

Pastor Paula White, my friend for a long time, and somebody that's done an incredible job with faith and all of the things that so many in this room stand for. Paula White. Thank you, Paula.

And a person that Paula would have a hard time not being with. I would say Jenny would be about impossible for you, right? But Jenny Korn is here, and she's been incredible—the Faith Office Director. And right out of the White House, right, Jenny? Hi, Jenny. How are you?

And a great friend of mine, Massad Boulos. Massad, how are you? Thank you.

I also want to extend a very special thanks to the hundreds of thousands of Muslim Americans who supported us in record numbers in the 2024 Presidential election. It was incredible. We started a little slow with you, but we came along. [Laughter] And by the time that election was finished, we figured we—went up like a rocket ship. So I just want to thank everybody very much for that. That was great.

And, in particular, I want to thank two great gentlemen. The mayor of Hamtramck, Michigan. Hamtramck. How are you, Mr. Mayor? And he's done a great job as mayor, and he's done a great job with his support of us. And—Mr. Amer Ghalib. And thank you very much. He was such a tremendous endorsement right at the right time. Your timing was excellent. Thank you very much.

And you'll be the next Ambassador to Kuwait, and you're going to have a great time with Kuwait. Wonderful people. And that's a great place. So congratulations. Really terrific. You're going to love them, and they're going to love you. And they're going to love you. Thank you very much. Congratulations to you.

As well as the mayor of Dearborn Heights, Mr. Bill Bazzi. Bill. Good job, Bill. And Bill, actually, is going to be the next Ambassador to Tunisia, and that's big stuff.

Those guys, you are very upwardly mobile. You're doing very well. [Laughter] That's great. You're going to have a tremendous time—both great countries. And enjoy it.

Every day, we're keeping our promises to the Muslim community. My administration is engaged in relentless diplomacy to forge a lasting peace in the Middle East, building on the historic Abraham Accords, which everybody said would be impossible.

And now we're going to start filling them out. Because, as you know, Biden did nothing to fill them out. He did absolutely—we had the four great countries, and nothing happened, despite the importance of the Abraham accords.

But I have a feeling it's going to fill out very quickly. It's already—people are talking already about it. They should have had them—long, long ago, it should have been done.

We're rapidly defeating inflation by reducing energy costs, and even slashing the price of eggs by 50 percent. Doesn't sound like much, believe me.

You know, when I got here, I was—I was in 1 week, and I was being hit by the fake news media. [Laughter] They were saying, "Egg prices have quadrupled." I said, "I just got here. I didn't even know." [Laughter] I said, "What's the problem with eggs?"

But the problem with eggs was Joe Biden. That was the problem. [Laughter] He let him get out of control. And as you probably saw, last month, they went down 35 percent, and the quantity is so much that—I don't know—I think they're going to go down a lot further. We have a total of over 50 percent in a few weeks, Lindsey. I'd say that's pretty good. And nobody wants to talk about it. [Laughter]

Now they don't want to talk about it. They talked about it when it went up under somebody else, but when it went down under me, they don't want to talk, so we have to talk ourselves. If they won't say it, we have to say it. [Laughter] Right? I learned that a long time ago.

We're fighting for parents' rights in school choice, and we're stopping schools from indoctrinating children with transgender ideology, something which the people of this room are not happy about. I know that for a fact. And it's a shame what's happened, but we're turning it around and turning it around at levels that nobody can even believe.

I signed an order also—and, I think very importantly, also, in particular, for people in this room, we're keeping men out of women's sports. Is that okay? Men out of women's sports.

The Muslim community was there for us in November, and while I'm President, I will be there for you. I'm going to be there for you. And I think you know that. And our two great mayors understand that.

I said that I would see you after, and I saw you after, and I think you're doing better than we are. You're doing better than anybody. [Laughter] So it's so—it's so great. I'm so glad you're here.

But, as we approach the end of Islamic holy month of Ramadan, we're also deeply honored to be joined by many of the international friends and partners, including the Ambassador from Saudi Arabia to the United States—a very, very special woman—Princess Reema. Princess, thank you. Thank you, Princess. Great. Say hello to everybody. It's great to see you.

Thanks as well to the Ambassadors and Chiefs of Mission from the United Arab Emirates, from Jordan, Egypt, Kuwait, Qatar, Pakistan, Malaysia, Brunei, Bahrain, Iraq, Oman, Morocco, Indonesia, Algeria, Djibouti, Cameroon, Lebanon, Nigeria, Ginee [Guinea; White House correction], Tanzania, Kenya, the Maldives, Libya, Senegal, Bangladesh, and we have a few others. I'm sorry if I forgot, but I am going to be in big trouble if I did. But that's a pretty good group of people represented tonight, wouldn't you say, Senator? I think so.

And we're greatly honored by your presence this evening. I just really want to thank you all. It's a special group. I look forward to it. You know, we had long days. I'm not like other people that had this position. I work long hours. [Laughter]

And I said tonight, after making three calls for people running for office—they call them tele-townhalls, and they're not easy to do. And I said, "Well, now I go home and can relax." They said, "No, you can't, sir." [Laughter] "You're seeing your friends from lots of different places." And that's okay. As soon as I found out who they were, I said, "All right, that's okay."

But Ramadan is a season of spiritual reflection and self-restraint. Every day during this sacred ninth month of the Islamic calendar, Muslims fast from dawn to dusk, deepening their focus on prayer and devotion to God. So nice. Then Muslims all over the world join family and friends each night in sundown to give thanks to the Almighty and break their fast with an Iftar dinner just like this one. This is what we have tonight. Right, Paula?

I hope you like it. If you don't like it, don't complain. Okay? [Laughter] You're still in the White House, right? We're all in the White House together, so how bad can that be?

So tonight we gather with the good will and the gratitude for God's many blessings. And that's what it's all about. This tradition exemplifies the beautiful spirit of all three Abrahamic faiths and the spirit that inspires us to seek happiness and prosperity at home and peace for the entire world. We're all looking for peace for the entire world.

When I was in Michigan, I met with so many leaders of faith, and I said, "What about your attitude here, your attitude there?" All of the attitudes and all of the things I heard. They said, "Sir, all we want is peace." Right? You remember, Mr. Mayor? I said, "But I understand you don't mind death." They said: "No, sir, we want to live. We want to live, and we want to be happy, and we want to love everybody."

And I actually—it was a very inspirational period of time for me. And I want to thank you also for introducing me to so many of your friends. It was absolutely incredible. Thank you very much.

To our Muslim friends, I look forward to working with each of you to achieve a brighter and more hopeful future, and I think together, we're going to do great. You're going to make strides like you've never made. You have somebody in the White House that loves you.

Thank you all very much. And now we'll have a little dinner. [Laughter] Have a little dinner. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you.