“I am officially running for president of the United States, and we are going to make our country great again,” Donald Trump said in a 45-minute speech Tuesday in New York.
Announcing his entrance into the race, the Republican touched on a wide-range of political topics and launched a number attacks on his opponents. Here are some of the most memorable parts:
On China:
“I beat China all the time. All the time.”
On Mexico:
“When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re not sending you. They’re not sending you. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.”
On Islamic terrorists:
“I’m in competition with them. They just built a hotel in Syria. Can you believe this? They built a hotel. When I have to build a hotel, I pay interest. They don’t have to pay interest, because they took the oil that, when we left Iraq, I said we should’ve taken.”
On the Obamacare website:
“$5 billion we spent on a website, and to this day it doesn’t work. A $5 billion website. I have so many websites, I have them all over the place. I hire people, they do a website. It costs me $3.”
On inviting Obama to play golf:
“I would invite him. I actually would… I have the best courses in the world…I have one right next to the White House, right on the Potomac. If he’d like to play, that’s fine. In fact, I’d love him to leave early and play. That would be a very good thing.”
On politicians:
“They’re controlled fully by the lobbyists, by the donors, and by the special interests, fully. Yes, they control them. Hey, I have lobbyists, I have to tell you. I have lobbyists that can produce anything for me.”
On Obama’s promotion of the country:
“He wasn’t a cheerleader. He’s actually a negative force. He’s been a negative force. He wasn’t a cheerleader; he was the opposite. We need somebody that can take the brand of the United States and make it great again. It’s not great again.”
On job creation:
“I will be the greatest jobs president that God ever created. I tell you that.”
On China, again:
“It’s like take the New England Patriots and Tom Brady and have them play your high school football team. That’s the difference between China’s leaders and our leaders.”
On Jeb Bush and whether Iraq was a mistake:
“He couldn’t answer the question. He didn’t know. I said, ‘Is he intelligent?'”
On his financial situation (claims assets totaling $9.2 billion):
“I have liabilities of about $500 million. That’s long-term debt, very low interest rates.”
On the country’s national debt:
“According to the economists — who I’m not a big believer in, but, nevertheless, this is what they’re saying. $24 trillion. We’re very close. That’s the point of no return. $24 trillion. We will be there soon. That’s when we become Greece. That’s when we become a country that’s unsalvageable. And we’re gonna be there very soon.”
On defeating ISIS:
“Nobody would be tougher on ISIS than Donald Trump. Nobody. I will find, within our military, I will find the General Patton or I will find General MacArthur. I will find the right guy.”
On John Kerry:
“Secretary Kerry…goes into a bicycle race at 72 years old, and falls and breaks his leg. I won’t be doing that. And I promise I will never be in a bicycle race. That I can tell you.”
On the recent prison break:
“Through stupidity, in a very, very hard core prison — interestingly named Clinton — two vicious murderers, two vicious people escaped, and nobody knows where they are.”
On Jeb’s stances:
“Bush is totally in favor of Common Core. I don’t see how he can possibly get the nomination. He’s weak on immigration. He’s in favor of Common Core. How the hell can you vote for this guy?”
On infrastructure:
“We have to rebuild our infrastructure, our bridges, our roadways, our airports. You come into La Guardia Airport, it’s like we’re in a third world country.”
On the American dream:
“Sadly, the American dream is dead. But if I get elected president I will bring it back bigger and better and stronger than ever before. And we will make America great again.”
