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>> usa. usa. usa. first of all,p: at ease. let's have a good time. meetingn incredible that lasted for about an hour. you have no idea what we have come up with.

you will be so happy. to say thank you for the half of myon wife and myself, we had a great flight in. say hello. thank you for your service and your sacrifice and keeping us safe and free. i am very proud of you and on the half of our nation, happy christmas and a happy new year. and to yourain friendly's. -- your families. president trump: let's let her make the speech.

very popular first lady and a great person. i want to thank the general for the incredible job he has done. we had a meeting with him and some of your great representatives. we have some ideas that are more than ideas. we like to win. i want to thank everyone at the air base, special people. and we felt very safe coming in. it was a difficult journey in certain ways, but we felt very good, very safe and we knew exactly where we were going. we were going to say hello to you and wish you a very happy new year. great job. we are thrilled to be here with the extraordinary men and women of the american armed forces. military and

especially as we get all of this billions and billions of dollar of new equipment that i approved of the last two years. your eyes are popping, right? you are getting the best equipment in the world. it was being rapidly depleted and it was not good. we were not going to let that happen to you or the country. let's relax and have a good time for a few minutes and then i will be headed to another location and then i will be headed back. i have you totally in mind. our eternal gratitude for everything that you do to keep america safe, strong and free. though you are thousands of miles away from your home and loved ones, i hope you all had a merry christmas and speaking for

your families, they are missing you and they love you. they are every bit a part of your success. they make it possible. is because of your sacrifice that america's families can celebrate and safety and in peace. we are doing great back at home. there are many incredible --riots to recognize here it here. i would like to start by saying a few words for kernel michael. thank you. great job. thank you. i know people. no games with the kernel. no games with the general. they want to win. i want to thank the 201st regional support group.

that everybody knows even back in the states. .ask force thunder there is a reason for that name, isn't there? squadron and their great commander major dicey ritz. great. the first expeditionary rescue group and their commander colonel michael bouchard. thank you. andthird cavalry regiment their commander colonel jonathan.

brigadier general austin. thank you. thank you, austin. everybody at the special operations joint task force, thank you. where are they? reside atrsonnel who tragic --k dashcam camp havoc. douglas, thank you very much. great job. the courageous men and women at the air base are on the leading edge in our fight to vanquish america's terrorist enemies. i am here today

is to personally thank you and every service member throughout this region for the near elimination of the isis territorial in iraq and in syria. two years ago, when i became president, they were a very dominant group. they were very dominant. today they are not so dominant anymore. great job. i looked at a map and two years ago, it was a lot of red all over that map. now you have a couple little spot and that is happening very quickly. job and weay rate will be watching isis very closely. we will be watching them very closely. the remnants of isis. can match therth strength of american soldiers,

airmen and marines. , even in even close terms of our equipment. we make the greatest equipment in the world, whether missiles, ships or anything that you want to name. we have the greatest in the world. , the new f-35, the super at 18. we make the greatest equipment and the world. you strike fear into the hearts of our enemies and bring comfort to all of our allies and those who cherish peace. we want peace. the best way to have pieces eace is strength -- p through strength. we are stronger than ever and very soon, when that equipment it is beingg -- made now -- there will be nobody

in history that is even close. american and coalition forces have had one military victory after another over the last two years against isis, including the retaking of postal -- mosul. thanve liberated more 20,000 square miles of territory. 20,000 acres is a lot. think about what 20,000 square miles -- it is a lot. this was all formally held i isis and liberated more than 3 million civilian from their bloodthirsty control. haveen and women stationed played a vital role in the military defeat of isis in iraq and in syria. gains, ourthese service member area -- service

members can return home to their family. going backem will be home, where they want to be with their families. they have done a fantastic job. and itgo they came here was supposed to be for three to four months. it was a long time ago. that was many years ago. what a job you have done. i made it clear from the beginning that our mission in .yria was to strip isis we will need a political solution. it is a solution that should be paid for by its very rich, neighboring countries. let them pay for it. and they will. fact, saudi arabia,

yesterday, you probably read about it. already making a commitment of substantial funds for development. the president of turkey has also agreed to take out any remnants of isis. we will be working with them. we will be working with them. our presence in syria was not open ended. it was never ended -- intended to be permanent. eight years ago, we went there for three months and we never left. now we are doing it right. we are going to finish it off. one year ago, i gave our generals six more months in syria. it turns out it was really a year and half ago. i said go get them. they said give us another six months.

moresaid can we have one period of six months? i said no. i give you a lot of xmas and now we are doing it a different way. you are doing it. the men remnants area and women who serve are entitled to clear objectives and because it is when those objectives are met, they can come home and be with their families. always toive was retake the territory controlled by isis. some people say we have already be taken 99%. if you look at the map before and after, it looks like 99%. mustations of the region step up and take more responsibility for their future. also, they have to those remnants of isis and take them out.

there will be a strong, deliberate and orderly withdrawal of u.s. forces from syria. very deliberate and orderly. while maintaining the u.s. presence in iraq to prevent and isis resurgence and protect u.s. interests and always watch very closely over any potential re-formation of isis and watch over iran. we will be watching. mike can defeat terrorist armies on the battlefield, each nation must decide for itself what it wants to build for its people and what kind of sacrifices they are willing to make for their children. america should not be doing the fighting for every nation on

earth. not being reimbursed in many cases, at all. if they want us to do the fighting, they also have to pay a price, and sometimes that is a monetary price. we are not the suckers of the world. asple are not looking at us suckers. i love you folks because most of you are not in your head this way. we are respected again as a nation. and pieces more peace is more possible. well maybe say somebody comes from the area and they hit us on our homeland. if that happens, they will suffer consequences over here like nobody has ever suffered

before. let me just tell you. i hope they hear that loud and clear. that is not a threat. that will be a fact. if anything should happen at all, nobody will ever have suffered the consequences that they will suffer. you are welcome. we will honor your service by doing everything in our power to defend our homeland and to stop terrorists from entering america's shores. that includes strengthening our borders are you we want strong borders in the u.s. only for one reason. you know why? because i want it. i stand here looking at all these brilliant young faces.

you are modern-day warriors. just looking at this warrior i will say i do not want the wall and then they will give it to me. i do not want the wall -- oh, we want the wall. then we would get the wall. that is another way of doing it. we had to have it. only human trafficking, drugs, illegals, a lot of criminals. we have seen murderers come in with the caravan. way, our border patrol did an incredible job and our military did an incredible job.

those caravans are slowly breaking up and going back where they came from. they have to come to our country legally. that is what you are fighting for. borders inhting for other countries. they do not want to fight. want, the democrats. our thoughts turn to the america -- american heroes who gave their last breath in defense of our country, including the seven brave souls who perished matched -- last march on the joys to do one rescue helicopter. who we areactly talking about. some of you were great friends of theirs. sacrifice, oure fallen heroes have achieved

immortality. immortality. they will live forever in the hearts of their countrymen, in your heart and in the history of the u.s. they will live forever. the dignity and glory of the american warrior is recorded on the field of battle and in acts of valor that will live for all time. you will be remembered for all this time. under my administration, we are winning now. we are not planning to lose slowly like they have been doing for 19 years. we are fighting in areas where andhould not be fighting spending hundreds of billions of dollars doing it. no, you have the right bot

process -- thought process. we want to fight where it is meaningful. you understand that better than anybody. your general understands. fight for the meaningful things. no force in history has done more for the cause of justice we will always protect those who protect us. we will always protect you. you just saw that because you got one of the biggest pay raises you have ever received, unless you do not want it. is anybody here willing to give up the big pay raise you got? raise your hand, please.

up.ot give it nobody deserves it more. more than 10 years. we got you a big one. there are plenty of people that came up. we could make it 3%. we can make it 4%. 10%, make itke it more than 10%. it is a long time. you really put yourself out there and you put your minds out there, so congratulations. we are fighting every day to ensure that you have old some of the equipment, the training and resources that you need to fight and to win. prevent defense

anymore. we are not doing that. when you see me doing things, i always have things in mind. things that you have in mind as well. a lot of the media does not want to report it correctly, but we have a lot of things in mind. holdingall, the team is the other teams scoreless, they cannot throw or pass. they cannot do anything. now it is three and a half quarters. they have to hold them and they change the prevent defense. you know what that does? it prevents them from winning. prevent defense. we want real offense and we want real defense. that is what we are doing.

we have secured a record increase to our military budget and we are purchasing all of this great equipment. $700 billion last year. billion. we were fought very hard by the democrats and others, but i said we have to take care of our military. coming downe cost as well, but not at the cost of our military. $716 billion. --s year again, we will be do not telling you buddy because nobody else knows -- a little bit higher. we do not have a choice. we cannot play cheap with our warriors, our military. we cannot play cheap with victory and we are not going to

best waynderstand the to preserve peace is to be prepared for combat. combatest way to prevent is to be totally unyielding and totally ready for conflict. happen, america is a peaceloving nation, but rest assured, if we are forced to fight, we will engage the enemy with overwhelming force, like never before, like nobody has ever seen before. there is no military more capable and now more lethal, more fearless and more skilled than the u.s. armed forces. nobody is even close. faith and confidence in you

is absolute and total. you are the sentinel to watch over our nation. you are the warriors who defend our freedom. you are the patriots to ensure the flame of liberty burns forever bright. that is who you are. to everyone at the airbase and every american serving overseas, may god bless you, may god protect you and may god always keep you safe. you, weyou, we support salute you, we cherish you and together we pray for justice, goodness and peace on earth. putting america first for the first time in a long time.

longer than anybody can remember. at the same time, we are here to help others. for all of you that have those red hat -- i saw them before and i signed a lot of them. it says make america great again. you know what? that is exactly what we are doing. we flew all night on christmas evening. the first lady, myself, john bolton and a lot of great people on that plane. worth every minute of it. i just want to thank you. people andstanding we will never let you down. god bless america. thank you very much. ♪

[camera shutters] president trump: we are meeting with some of our great leaders in iraq. we flew all night and arrived safely. it was an interesting trip, i will tell you that. a lot of security ofir