TRANSCRIPT: President Trump Addresses Service Members on the USS Harry S. Truman, 10.5.25
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President Donald Trump: [Audience chants "USA"] Well, that was good timing, wasn't it? [Laughs] We had to get that right. We had to get that right, but they always get it right. I was just, uh, given a display with a wonderful first lady, the likes of, which I think few people have ever seen before. We were a few minutes away. And the uh, display of strength was absolutely incredible. We appreciate it. Thank you, Navy. Thank you very much. And I wanna thank our magnificent first lady for that introduction. People love our first lady. [Audience responds affirmatively] They do. And let me say to all of the incredible sailors on this pier, it's great to be with the fleet. The fleet. And let's also give a very special thanks to the shipmates who put on that spectacular display of Nazy, Navy dominance. And that's what it was. It was dominance and Bravo, Zulu. You know what that is? Bravo, Zulu.
You know, a lot of people don't. [Laughs] [Audience responds affirmatively] And it's a true honor to be here with the thousands of our nation's finest sailors at the largest naval facility in the entire world. It's the largest, and I would say more importantly, it's the best. Okay? It's both, the Norfolk Naval Base, thank you very much. The largest and it's the best. We're gathered on this storied waterfront to celebrate 250 years of strength, tenacity, and unwavering courage by the greatest fighting force even, and that's true. No matter where you go, no matter where you go, no matter what you even think about, there's nothing like the fighting force that we have roam the seas. It's called the United States Navy. And there's nothing in the world like it. Nothing. Not even close. You read stories. They don't have it. Let me tell you. [Laughs] We check it closely.
We check it closely. Docked beside us today are a combined 150,000 tons of pure American naval supremacy and two colossal reasons why no one should ever want to start a fight with the USA. They won't fight. We're putting out a lot of fights. So do you see that? We're gonna be close to number eight. Number eight. We don't wanna send you into battle unless, unless it's necessary, right? [Audience responds "No"] We're putting out -- We're putting out a lot of fires. Maybe some of you will be angry. You'll say, "What's he doing? We wanna fight." You know what? If we can solve them the way I'm solving them, we solve seven. We have another one that's taken 3,000 years and we're pretty close, but I don't want to talk about it until it's done.
But let's give a big round of applause to the men and women of the majestic USS Kearsarge. Thank you. And let's hear it for the sailors of the USS Harry S. Truman. Those who call this carrier home live by a motto that captures the spirit of America's navy. It's very simple. The words give 'em hell, and we do give 'em hell. For two and a half centuries. That is what every generation of American sailors have done. You've conquered raging oceans and brave ferocious storms to vanquish America's enemies on the high seas and distant shores. You've beaten mighty warships into twisted wrecks of steel. You've splintered vast armadas and sent the mangled pride of empire sinking into oblivion.
You've surged the waters thick and danger, blood, brine. And through it all the United States Navy has kept the stars and stripes soaring, high and proud above those big, magnificent waves. You love doing it too. There's not a thing in the world that you'd rather do. Is there? Is there? No. [Audience responds "No"] I like your life better than mine. I have to be honest with you. [Laughs] Sailing on those beautiful waters all the time. You're so lucky because the American sailor never quits, never fails, and never ever lets us down. They've never let us down. Thank you. Thank you. And we're honored to be joined today by service members representing every part of this great naval tradition. Our incredible surface warriors are the reason America's enemies tremble at the site of a navy ship haze, gray, or underway, the innocent US carrier, cruiser or destroyer breaks across the horizon. Every tyrant and adversary on the planet knows their choices. Very simple. It's leave America in peace or be blown up in fire and fury never seen before. [Audience responds affirmatively]
All over the world, people know of the skill, nerve, swagger and sheer attitude of the boldest and most daring pilots on the sea, the US Naval aviators. And I just got to witness it with Melania. They land screaming jets on pitching decks in the dark of night with no room for error. There's no room for error. The greatest pilots in the world. And while Navy pilots rain down pain from above the greatest adversaries, fear the daring deeds of our silent service below. [Audience responds affirmatively] They prowl and strike from crushing depths, unseen, undetected, and unstoppable. They are our brave submariners. Where are the submariners here? And they are brave. The most lethal weapon in the world, I will tell you, the most -- Nobody knows where it is and what it carries is nothing that carries weaponry like that.
And we're 25 years ahead of any other country when it comes to submarines. Nobody's even close. Nobody can match us. No roll call of Navy warriors would be complete without recognizing some of the fiercest and most elite commandos in the history of war. They are the toughest, and there's nobody tougher. It's just nobo- -- that's what they tell me is nobody tougher called the Navy SEALs. What do you think about the Navy SEALs? Where are the Navy SEALs? We're not gonna mess with the Navy SEALs. They are great. Thank you very much. Incredible people. And of course, our enemies have learned to dread that special cast of warriors who have charged forward almost everywhere. America sees a stronghold or stormed a beachhead.
They call themselves the Leathernecks, the Jarheads, the Devil Dogs. But we revere them as the United States Marines. Incredible people, incredible people. With us today are some of those who have led these exceptional men and women. They've led them like nobody else. And I'll tell you a s- -- person I'm very, very proud of. He has stepped up and he is hitting home run after home run. They love him. I want to introduce again a man who's just exceptional. I'm so happy with this choice, secretary of war, Pete Hegseth. Thank you, Pete. Doing a job. I said, "Pete, what do you think?" You know, we used to call it Secretary of War. The Department of War. The War Department. Now, we call it defense.
And I don't know, would you ever wanna -- You know, we won World War I, we won World War II, we won everything in between. We won everything before. And all of a sudden, they decide to change the name. They went woke then too, you know? Woke is a [Laughs] long term word. I said, "What do you think about changing it to the Department of War?" He said, "I love it, sir." And that was about the end of it, right? [Audience responds affirmatively] That was the end of it. Thank you, Pete. Great job. He's a great leader. Also, Secretary of the Navy, a very, very successful man. He gave it all up to do this. And we're designing more ships. We have more ships being built shortly. We're gonna be have -- Have more great ships being built than we've ever had being built in the history of the Navy.
John Phelan. John, thank you. Great job, John. He made a lot of money in the private sector. And I said, "You wanna do this, John? We need a lot of ships and we need them fast." And he said, "I want to do it." He gave up a lot, gave up everything to do this. But he's loving it and he's doing a fantastic job. Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Daryl Caudle. Admiral, thank you. Great, great job. Rear Admiral Gavin Duff. And along with so many different people here that I could introduce them all day long. I don't wanna do that because we gotta get to business, talking a little bit about war and peace. But along with you great officers here at Norfolk Naval Base, Vice Admirals, John Gumbleton.
John, thank you. Thank you, John. Great. Young guy. You're a young guy. Great. Doug Perry and Rob Gaucher. Thank you. And a very special thanks to a man who just got a 93% approval. He runs the veterans everything I call it. He's veterans everything. The VA, Secretary Doug Collins. He's doing great. Thank you, Doug. Doing a great job. Ambassador Monica Crowley. Monica, thank you very much. A man that everybody loves. He was my doctor in the White House, and I got to know him very well. He was also the doctor for Barack Hussein Obama. Have you heard of him? And he was a doctor for a man named Bush. And at a press conference, they asked him, "Who's in the best shape?
Who's the healthiest? Who's the strongest, who's the best physical specimen of the three?" He said, "That's easy. President Donald Trump." And I said, "I love this guy." I said, I said, "I love him." Ronnie Jackson. He's now a congressman, as you know. So he was an admiral. He was the chief doctor. He was the whole boss of doctors. And uh, now he's a very, very successful congressman from Texas. Thank you, Ronnie, very much. And I appreciate those words. I'll never forget him. Jen Kiggans. Jen, thank you. John McGuire. Rob Wittman, Dan Crenshaw, Derrick Van Orden, these are unbelievable talented people that are with me and they fight.
Thank you very much fellas. Thank you. Thank you very much darling. These are great Congress -- I will, I say Congress warriors. That's what you have to be today if [Laughs] in Congress, if you're gonna make it. I also wanna recognize all of the newly-pinned chief petty officers. You got a lot of 'em here today. I had to approve it, who recently earned their anchors and now bear their venerable title, Navy Chief, Navy Chief, thank you Navy Chiefs. Let's also express the gratitude of our entire nation. To every Navy veteran who has come out to honor this big anniversary, I see so many veterans. I saw, backstage, I was shaking hands with veterans all over the place. And they are great and they're respected and they're loved. Thank you very much. Stand up if you'd like. Thank you very much. They really loved, I saw it backstage. I saw so many veterans in my hand, will never be the same. Thank you very much. A great honor and a very special thanks to the countless Navy families who support our sailors with such love and devotion.
None of what are, and think of this, without them, you wouldn't be celebrating today. Many of you would not be doing very well. Male or female, you wouldn't be doing very well. So we wanna thank our family members, right? All of 'em, parents, husbands, wives. Thank you. Thank you very much. From the American Revolution until today, the story of the US Navy is the tale of loyalty, sacrifice and commitment stretching back 250 years. So we're celebrating 250. I almost thought I wouldn't get to do that because I was president in 2016 and then they rigged the election on me and then we caught 'em, didn't we? We caught 'em. But you know, we had to run it again. I ran it again and I got 250 and I got the World Cup and I got the Olympics. Can you believe all of it? In my first term, I was the one that got the Olympics.
I was the one that got the World Cup. And I said, "You know, the sad part is? Maybe I'll go, maybe I won't even be invited 'cause it won't be during my term." I would say if we're a Democrat, I might not be invited. They don't love me exactly too much. And then when this happened, now all of a sudden they got all three. But you know what's the most important? 250 years is the most important above World Cup, above Olympics. But we got 'em all coming. And in June 14th, next year, we're gonna have a big UFC fight at the White House, right at the White House. On the grounds of the White House. When the Continental Congress formed a fleet of just two ships in October 1775, many scoffed at their chances against the most powerful empire on earth, that was the most powerful ever, relatively speaking.
We had two ships. We had nothing other, but we had great heart. They didn't know the audacity and the grit of the American sailor. They had no idea. The war for Independence gave us some of the greatest American heroes of all time, including the father of the US Navy, Captain John Paul Jones. You know that. When a far stronger British ship demanded his surrender, Jones yelled back, that timeless battle cry right now. "I have not yet begun to fight. Don't ask me for that." Think of that. I could just say it that he's a wise guy. He's asking. "I haven't even begun to fight." And he knocked the hell out of them. In the war of 1812, Captain James Lawrence shouted his final words to his crew, as blood streamed down from his mortal wounds, "Fight her till she sinks," he yelled. "Don't give up the ship. Don't give up the ship." These are all incredible, very, very famous statements now with years and time. Very famous.
Don't give up the ship. I say it all the time. [Laughs] You're a little behind. I said, "Don't give up the ship." And we win. We all know how to win. Today, that eternal creed is written into the hearts of every sailor in the fleet. America's Navy never ever gives up the ship, right? We never give it up. Another titan of the early Navy was the great Commodore Arthur Sinclair. He defeated the French in the Caribbean battle, and then he went to work on the Barbary pirates off the coast of Tripoli and raided British forces when they were so powerful in 1812, the war of 1812. He raided them. He was knocking 'em out one by one. Everyone said, "Where does this guy come from?" And we're all descendants when you think of it. Commodore Sinclair went on to become the commanding officer here at the Naval station, Norfolk, right here, where he founded a nautical school for officers that eventually became the one and only US Naval Academy.
And I'm gonna be at your Army Navy game this year. Who am I gonna root for, huh? Uh, you may be surprised. [Laughs] It's gonna be great. We're gonna be here. Generations of the Commodore's descendants have forged their own towering legacies of service in the Navy, and we're joined today by his fifth great-grandson, Commander Link Mustin. Where is Mustin, Commander Mustin? Where are you? He's here. Wow. Look at this handsome guy. That's good genetics, right? [Laughs] He's got good genes. Thank you very much. Commander, thank you for continuing a family tradition that has endured for two and a half centuries. Can you believe that, huh? I wonder if they were as good-looking as you.
I doubt it. That, you just got better with age, right? Congratu- -- is that young man, your boy? Wow. He beats you. They beat you. [Laughter] That's what we wanna see. Over the generations, our Navy sailors raised old glory above the streets of Veracruz, sent the Spanish fleet to its watery grave in Manila Bay, and buried the vicious German wolf packs at the bottom of the sea. Those were vicious, vicious wolf packs. They were brutal. They were hitting us hard. And then, we came up with the answer, didn't we? We came up with a way to knock 'em out, and we were knocking 'em out so fast they didn't know what to do. It was really the end once we discovered the secret through some brilliant minds, a lot of them are descendants of the people here right now.
In every era of conflict, the Navy has never failed to hunt, kill, and to win. Never failed. Never failed. In World War II, Admiral Bull Halsey's motto, "Hit hard, hit fast, hit often," and that is exactly what the sailors do. One of those warriors was Submarine Commander Eugene Fluckey, who sent more Japanese tonnage to the ocean floor than any other man in history. I don't like to talk about it too much now. You know, they've been a nice ally. But anybody from Japan here right now? We'll get off the subject immediately. [Laughter] But think of it. Sent more tonnage to this bottom of the sea, one after one. Brought the famed USS Barb, he destroyed a Japanese tanker and a carrier with a single salvo to his, to his men's chagrin.
They were very concerned about it. They didn't think we could do that, and he just knocked them out one after another. And again, torpedoes were flying. But his greatest feat came when he spotted 30 enemy ships at port off the coast of China. You know that, a very famous story. Commander Fluckey ordered his men to their battle stations, slipped into the harbor, and sank six vessels at one time before taking off into the beautiful wild blue ocean. He received four Navy Crosses, the Legion of Merit, and the Congressional Medal of Honor. That was a brave guy. In recognition of the incredible achievements of the USS Barb under his command, this December, we will lay the keel of a brand new Virginia-class submarine bearing that same legendary name, and his grandson, Tom, will be there to pick it up. Tom is with us today, and I want to thank you for keeping that great legacy around.
Where is Tom? Ah, look. Stand up, Tom. Great. Good, Tom. Thank you. That's good, that's good genes too, Tom, isn't it? That's good stuff. Thank you very much both for being here. From Midway to the Coral Sea, to Leyte Gulf, American sailors fought the most epic naval battles in history. And at Normandy, the Navy led the greatest armada ever formed to deliver the single largest invasion force the world has ever seen. One of the sailors who did it was Felix Maurizio, who enlisted at age 18 and trained right here in Norfolk, trained right here. On D-Day, June 6th, 1944, Felix manned an amphibious landing craft that did six harrowing runs to Omaha Beach. You all know about it. These are all famous fights. He delivered hundreds of American troops into the battle, including his brother, Sal.
Felix lost so many of his friends that day, but he kept fighting. He kept going out there, getting more soldiers, getting more, more of everything. He just kept coming. They couldn't stop him. Went on to serve in the Pacific under the Great Admiral Nimitz. In February 1945, he spent his 21st birthday landing Marines on the blood-soaked sands of Iwo Jima, one of the bloodiest, toughest battles ever. Historic battle. Six months later, he was aboard the USS Talladega in Tokyo Bay when Japan surrendered. They said, "I don't think we want Felix hitting us anymore." And he retired as a Chief Petty officer in 1966. This year, Felix celebrated his 100th birthday, and he is here this afternoon as a living testament to the glory of the United States Navy.
Wow. That's great. He looks good. Felix, you look better than I do. I don't -- [Laughs] I'm not happy about, not happy about this, Felix. Nah, they don't wanna mess around with him. And Felix, we salute you. Thank you very much. Incredible. 100 years. In Korea, American sailors and Marines carried out the daring landing in Incheon, and flew more than a quarter of a million combat sorties against the enemy. It was an amazing effort. In Vietnam, the Navy unleashed Operation Rolling Thunder and deployed a brand new unit, the Navy Seals, to tear up Mekong River Delta. Problem with Vietnam, we, you know, we stopped fighting to win. We would've won easy. We would've won Afghanistan easy, would've won every war easy.
But we got politically correct, "Ah, let's take it easy." It's, we're not politically correct anymore, just so you understand. We win -- Now, we win. We don't want to be politically correct anymore. And history will never forget that it was the Seals who stormed the compound at Osama Bin Laden, and put a bullet in his head. Remember that. And please remember, I wrote about Osama Bin Laden exactly one year ago, one year before he blew up the World Trade Center. And I said, "You gotta watch Osama Bin Laden." And the fake news would never let me get away with that statement unless it was true. But I said one year before to Pete Hegseth, I said, one year before -- Where's Pete?
In the book I wrote -- Whatever the hell, the title, I can't tell you. But I can tell you there's a page in there devoted to the fact that I saw somebody named Osama Bin Laden, and I didn't like it, and you gotta take care of him. They didn't do it. A year later, he blew up the World Trade Center. So we gotta take a little credit 'cause nobody else is gonna give it to me. You know the old story. They don't give you credit, just take it yourself. And it was the U.S. Navy that dumped his wretched corps off the decks of the Carl Vincent, to sink into the dark abyss. The Navy's central role in the defense of our liberty continues to this day. Just a few months ago, the Ohio class guided missile submarine played an indispensable part in one of the most spectacular military feats the world has ever seen, the obliteration of Iran's nuclear sites in Operation Midnight Hammer.
How did that work out? Pretty good, right? And we shot 30 Tomahawks, you know, that we -- On top of -- After the B-2. How about that? The B-2 is what they did. Those beautiful flying wings. What they did, they hit every single target, they hit. And just in case we shot 30 Tomahawks out of a submarine, every one of them hit too. So I would say Iran was not particularly thrilled. They were gonna have a nuclear weapon within a month, and now they can start the operation all over again, but I hope they don't because we'll have to take care of that too, if they do. I let them know that, "You wanna do that, it's fine, but we're gonna take care of that.
And we're not gonna wait so long." It should have been done long before I came along. You know that I had the pilots of the B-2s in my office, the famous Oval Office. I had 'em in the two -- The B-2s, they came in to the White House and we talked about it. They said, "You know, sir, for 22 years, our predecessors and us trained for that hit. For 22 years, they were training to take out the nuclear potential of Iran. He said, "But it was only when you came along that we did it." And they were so happy that they did it. But they've been training for that hit for 22 years. But no president wanted to do it. They would've had a nuclear weapon within a month, probably within a month or shortly thereafter.
And speaking to them would've been much more difficult. In recent weeks, the Navy has supported our mission to blow the cartel terrorists the hell out of the water. You see that? [Audience responds affirmatively] And you know, there are no boats in the water anymore. You can't find any. We're having a hard time finding them. But you know, it's a pretty tough thing we've been doing. But you have to think of it this way. Every one of those boats is responsible for the death of 25,000 American people, and the destruction of families. So when you think of it that way, what we're doing is actually an act of kindness. But, we did another one last night. Now we just can't find any. You know, it's the old story we -- we're do -- We're so good at it, that there are no boats. In fact, even fishing boats, nobody [Laughs] wants to go into the water anymore.
Sorry to tell you that. But it's, uh, we stopped. We're stopping drugs coming into America, if that's okay. We're stopping drugs at a level that nobody's ever seen before. Last year we lost, I believe 300,000 people. And that's not talking about the destruction to families. Every one of us knows families that have been destroyed, because the son, daughter -- Even mothers and fathers are destroyed by the fentanyl pouring in, and drugs pouring in. Well, they're not coming in by sea anymore. So now we'll have to start looking about the land, because they'll be forced to go by land. And [Laughs] you right now, that's not gonna work out well for 'em either. And it was the Truman Carrier Strike Group that unleashed American Fury on the Houthi terrorists in the Red Sea. And as you know, they settled.
But they settled because they made the statement to us, "We've never been hit like that ever before." And earlier this year, conducted the single largest airstrike from an American carrier in history. That was the largest ever. I want to express my personal thanks to every single sailor who contributed to these phenomenal victories. We only know victory. We're only gonna know victory. We don't want to know the other, the other word, we wanna know victory. We're gonna have great victories in the years to come. Well, at least for almost three and a half years, we're gonna have great victories. I wanna thank a group of women from North Carolina. Look at these great -- Will you stand up, please? These beautiful women have followed me. This is number 151, you could call a rally. This is sort of a rally. Let's face it. This is a rally. This is a, a speech of love. We're all, we all love our country. But that group is from North Carolina. They're up to about 151 visits.
They have a whole group of them. I never see their husbands. I don't know what's going on with their husbands. I assume, do they still love you, the husbands? Yes? Good. But I wanna thank you. 151, they've been following me since 2016. And you look even better now than you did then. But I want to thank you very much. That's a really group. They love our country. They like Trump, but you know what they really do? They love our country. And we have the right policy, right? We have policy. We don't want crime. We don't want men playing in women's sports. We don't want transgender for everybody. We don't wanna have open borders, where millions of people come into our country from jails, from prisons, from mental institutions and insane asylums. Drug dealers, murderers. 11,788 murderers were allowed to come into our country. A lot, a lot of them are gone. And by the way, Washington DC is a safe place right now. It went from one of the most dangerous cities in our country, can you believe that? To probably the safest among the safest in our country.
Nobody's being hit anymore. It's very safe. And I want to thank you. A lot of the people here have helped. A lot of the people in the audience are people that have straightened them out. It took 12 days. Think of that. Now we're in Memphis. We're doing the same thing in Memphis, and we're going to Chicago. You know, we have a governor that thinks it's wonderful when 50 people in a short period of time were murdered in Chicago. Over 200 people were hit. And so we send in the National Guard, we s- -- I, you know what? We send in what's ever necessary. People don't care. They wanna, they don't want crime in their cities. And we're doing it. And we're doing it well. We're doing it like nobody's ever done it before. So I just want to tell you, you're very close to DC. The restaurants are thriving. The restaurants were dying, they were closing one after another. Now they're thriving. They're opening up beautiful new restaurants.
Washington DC is safe. And I even went there and had dinner the other night, and I stood right smack in the middle of the street, Secret Service was thrilled, and I gave a news conference. It's a safe place now, Washington DC, it's always gonna be. Our nation's capital is always gonna be safe. We're never gonna let that happen again, what happened there. One of the most beautiful places, and we're doing a big beautification program. It'll take me very little, very short. But we're doing a beautification program to go along with the security and safety. We're getting rid of the graffiti, the potholes, the broken medians between roads. We're doing a real job, and you'd be proud of it. I think everybody here is proud of it, frankly.
That's our nation's capital, and that has to be clean, beautiful, and safe. The US Navy always stands for America. As your commander-in-chief, I will always stand for you. I promise you that. You know that. That's why you voted for me in numbers that nobody's ever seen before. And I want you to know that despite the current Democrat-induced shutdown, we will get our service members every last penny. Don't worry about it. Don't worry about it. Don't worry about it. Do not worry about it. It's all coming. It's coming. And even more, because I'm supporting the across-the-board pay raises for every sailor and service member of the United States Armed Forces. [Audience cheers]
But we have to take care of this little gnat that's on our shoulder called the Democrats. They wanna give all of our money to illegal aliens that pour into the country. And you know, I have a bigger heart than they do. But the problem is, when you do that, they come in by the millions. Everybody wants that, so you can't do it. But I've also pledged the largest-ever investment in our military's history. We're spending over $1 trillion. We've never had anything like that before, $1 trillion on our military. And that includes, along with your Secretary of the Navy and Pete Hegseth, we're gonna be building lots of ships and doing a lot of things that you haven't seen happen for 35 years. We'll soon revitalize our once great shipyards with hundreds of billions of dollars in new investments and people coming from all around the world, and they're gonna build ships in America.
We wanna build in America. And as I told our generals and admirals last Tuesday, we are getting woke to stay hell out of our military. It's gone. It's really gone. I don't know that it was ever really here. I think some of the top people had it. I knew a few of them that were really, they were major losers, but, uh, they were losers. Unlike our great general, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who may be here, Dan "Raizin" Caine. You know "Raizin" Caine? When I heard his name, I said, "That's the guy I'm looking for." But he's been an amazing warrior. And you know, he was the one headed up the attack on Iran, and, uh, everything he's touched has turned out great. He knocked out ISIS. So I was told it would take four to five years to beat ISIS. When he came on board, he did it in four weeks. We knocked them out in four weeks, 100% of the ISIS caliphate. Is Dan Caine here? He is, uh, you know why? 'Cause he's working. That's the one thing [Laughs] we don't have to worry about him, but he is a fantastic man.
That's the man I wanted right from the beginning. I said, "If I ever do this again and if I could get lucky enough to win, 'cause we have a base like nobody in history has had," I said, "I'm gonna pick "Raizin" Caine as the chairman." And that's what we did, and he's been incredible. We will not be politically correct when it comes to defending American freedom. That's why we have renamed the Department of Defense at Department of War, as I said, and we have changed the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. That was easy. That was an easy one. You know, for years I've looked at it and I added it up and I figured I, we have 92% of the frontage. I say, "How come we call it the Gulf of Mexico?" I mean, I wouldn't say that Mexico is thrilled with me, but what are you gonna do? It's the Gulf of America, and I love it now.
I was watching the other night, a report, and they said very routinely, "In the Gulf of America, this is the -- " you know, they just went on to talk about it. They didn't do it with a smirk or a smile. They didn't say, "In the, uh, uh, Gulf of America." No, it's called the Gulf of America now, and nobody's playing games with it. We got sued by the Associated Press, and they lost. In fact, the judge was so good, he said he's calling it the Gulf of America. He's got all the approvals. You have to do that, too, to the very liberal Associated Press. They got thrown out of court. In fact, they're almost not allowed to cover me anymore because of that. It's a li- -- big hit. So, uh, I'm very proud of that under our leadership, the spirit of the American forces is soaring like it had, has never soared before. I think right now we have more spirit than we've ever had before after years of recruiting shortages. We couldn't get guys or gals to become sailors. One year ago, they didn't wanna be a sailor, although I must say once I said we're gonna run a lot of people, it made it better. But let's go back two years, and it was even worse, you could, because there was no hope.
We had this horrible, horrible president who had no clue what the hell was happening. The chances of him walking down those stairs successfully were not good. [Laughter] And I have to be careful 'cause one day I'm gonna probably fall. No, they, the North Carolina women said, "That will never happen to you." [Laughs] I always say, "Walk down the steps nice and slow." You ever notice I do? Ni- -- I don't have to bop down the stairs. Walk nice and slowly. But we, uh, we have a waiting list. Think of this. We have a waiting list for people wanting to get into the United States Navy, the Army, Navy, Coast Guard, Marines, Space Force. Oh, we love Space Force. But think of it, we have a waiting list for every branch of government now, and that includes police, police and firemen.
They didn't wanna -- Nobody wanted to be a policeman. Now, they want to be a policeman. Now, they want to be in the Navy. They want to be in the Air Force so badly. The Marines, the Army. They want to be in all of it. They love Space Force. I love Space Force 'cause I created Space Force. That was my thing, and it's gonna turn out to be one of the most important. But one year ago, our country was dead. We had a dead country. People say, "Sir, you shouldn't say that. It's too 'strwitraw' [Sic]." We had a dead country, and today we have the hottest country anywhere in the world by far. One year. Think of it. One year ago, we were dead. The King of Saudi Arabia said to me, "President, one year ago, we thought we lost America.
We lost it was a dead country. And now, you have the hottest country anywhere in the world." He said that. I used his term. And I'm pleased to say that 2025 was the Navy's single best recruiting year ever. Not bad. So, you went from those embarrassing headlines of a year ago. Think of it. Nobody wants to go into the Navy. How does that make you feel? Now you have a different problem. You know what the problem is? Everybody wants your job. [Laughs] I like that better, right? Now, but nobody's gonna take your job. You were with us when it was not as nice. It wasn't as nice. Th- -- those are the people I like the best too, the people that were with me when it wasn't looking so good, like these ladies from North Carolina. They were with me when it wasn't looking that good. A lot of fake scandals were created, all fake. One of those eager new recruits is 18 year old Aiden Rollins, a recruit like I'm so proud of. Aiden's father was a sailor. His grandfather was a sailor. And after four years of Navy, ROTC, it is Aiden's turn to carry on that tradition.
When he enlisted in April, his father Daniel, a Navy veteran, was so inspired that he decided to re-enlist too. Wow. I'm delighted to say that father and son are here with us today representing the future of this great fleet. Please, Aiden and your father. Please stand up. Wow. Wow. That's a good-looking family, I'll tell you. [Laughs] Thank you both. That's a great story. Beautiful. Your father looks pretty young, Aiden. [Laughs] I mean, he's a young-looking guy. Every sailor, aviator, submariner, and shipmate in the Navy inherits a tradition of excellence and daring, power, glory unmatched in the long saga of mankind's voyage on the sea. From that first ship, the schooner Hannah, to the awesome sight of a modern carrier battle group underway, the US Navy has always been the iron will of a proud and mighty nation pushing forward.
Through the currents and over those big, beautiful waves, through the spray of raging combat and the fog of naval war, American sailors have proven time and again that our Navy does just the best job there is. Anything having to do with sailing the oceans, there's nobody to compete. We own the skies, we stalk the depths, and we rule the seas like nobody has ever ruled the seas. From Boston harbor to Hampton Roads, from the Philippine Sea to the Red Sea, from the Panama Canal to the vast great Atlantic Ocean, our sailors have seized triumph upon triumph. We don't know anything about defeat. We heaped honor upon honor and carved greatness and splendor into the pages of history. We only talk about the Navy and only use that word splendor.
We also say victory because that's the other. We have splendor and we have victory. On gun decks and flight decks, in torpedo rooms and cockpits, they have poured out their blood, sweat, and tears and offered their very lives to defend this land between the seas. They have crossed icy canals, lept from burning records, plunged into frigid waters, soared into deadly skies, and slashed across the mine-infested bays to claim American victory and to defend the cause of liberty, to defend, quite frankly, the American flag. In every era and every part of this globe, our sailors have fought with courage in their hearts, patriotism in their souls, and saltwater in their veins. You have that saltwater. Don't let the doctors change it. Keep it, 'cause there's nothing like it. There's no blood like it. And standing before all of you today, I know that whenever our nation is threatened and whenever they need help, whenever duty calls, American sailors will hoist our flag high and they will rally to Admiral Farragut's immortal battle cry, "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead. Go, you son of a guns." With your help, we will fight, fight, fight. We will win, win, win. Because of you, our Navy and our country will always be proud and righteous and mighty and free. Congratulations once again on 250 years of total dominance. Sail fast, stay strong.
Thank you. God bless our sailors and God bless the United States of America. Thank you very much, everybody. Thank you.