There were detractors all along the way. For instance, the preservationists were angry about my creating a new and beautiful glass exterior façade. Inside, I gutted all of the floors and replaced them with the best available materials.
The hotel, the Grand Hyatt, has been successful since the day it opened in 1980. It became the foundation for the restoration of the entire Grand Central neighborhood as well as my calling card—introducing the Trump quality brand to the people of New York.
That project marked the first time I took a large-scale failing property and made it great again. As part of that deal I fixed up the great Grand Central Terminal itself—it looked beautiful and clean again. I’ve done it over and over again in the thirty-five years since—and now for the really big and important one: our country.
We can take a crippled country and make it great again. Our country has been allowed to languish and become a tarnished, second-class place in the eyes of the world.
The challenges ahead are many. The naysayers from the media and the political establishment are out there because they fear any changes to the status quo from which they benefit.
But guess what? I have a vision and I understand the process by which we’re going to accomplish our goals. We need to strengthen our military, help our vets, stand up to our enemies, deter illegal immigration, rebuild our infrastructure, revamp our tax code and educational system, and rip apart the ridiculous policies of the past, including Obamacare and the Iran nuclear “agreement.”
Most important, we need to reinvigorate the American dream and give our country back to the millions of people who have labored so hard for so little. Too many Americans are wondering (and who can blame them) what happened to this nation’s great promise and the idea that each generation makes things better for their children.
Don’t bet against what I am saying—I understand odds very well—because I’ve always tackled the hardest challenges and come out on top. My name has become one of the greatest brands in the world. I know how to win. I like what Jay Leno said at the ceremony to unveil my star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. “It is now official,” he proclaimed. “There is no place in America that doesn’t have the Trump name on it.”
Candidates for political office always say they’re running on their record. Unfortunately, their records are made up of them talking about what they’re going to do, rather than them getting things done.
Our nation’s capital has become the center of gridlock. It seems like these days most of the energy in Washington is being spent deciding whether we’re going to keep the government operating or not. No surprise there: Washington’s been running a going-out-of-business sale for a long time.
It’s no wonder that our president and Congress have such low ratings in the polls. No wonder that we’ve lost our influence and the basic respect of both our allies and enemies throughout the world.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has decided in their infinite wisdom to fill the breach by making social policy rather than defending our most precious historic assets, the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
We have three branches of government, but the trunk of that tree is rotting away.
For years I had thought about—but resisted—running for the presidency. Friends, colleagues, and customers encouraged me to do something. I thought, “I’m not a politician, and I have a huge, successful business to run.”
But then I realized I couldn’t stand what I was seeing. I couldn’t believe the hypocrisy and inaction of Washington “insiders” who wanted to keep the gravy train flowing in their direction, while outside the Beltway, Americans were suffering and they were rightfully angry about the lack of leadership and creativity.
So when I spoke up, the media squawked, the politicians cringed, and the special interests realized that their days of influence were numbered.
A lot of people tried very hard to paint a bleak picture of what would happen.
Then the American people spoke.
The crowds started coming to my rallies in droves. We had to move our rallies into football stadiums and basketball arenas, while my competitors could barely fill small rooms. The national debates drew huge audiences—more than 24 million viewers—because our citizens felt hopeful again and wanted to hear what I had to say. And what I have been saying is that it is time to do everything necessary to Make America Great Again.
It begins by creating millions of good jobs for hardworking Americans. The Economic Policy Institute estimates we’ve lost more than five million jobs since 1997 because of the terrible trade deals we’ve made. Those jobs are coming back home. We’ve created too many jobs—in other countries.
Our military must be by far the greatest in the world, so when we negotiate deals with countries like Iran, we do it from strength. And when our soldiers come home, they must receive the care they have earned. This is the one national debt we should be thrilled to pay.
A great wall on our southern border must be built. It needs beautiful doors in it to welcome LEGAL immigration, but the flood of illegal immigrants must end. And we need to legally stop the practice of birthright citizenship; the Fourteenth Amendment was never intended to create a technical path to citizenship. Most Native Americans, for example, although they were born here, were not automatically granted citizenship—and it took almost 150 years before a law was passed making them citizens if they wanted to be.
And the Second Amendment was created to make sure Americans could protect themselves from tyranny. There is no way we will change it.
A revised revenue-neutral tax code—which conservative writer and commentator Wayne Root described as “close to perfect”—will put money back in the pockets of the people who need it most; and when you spend it—instead of the government—you’ll be creating American jobs. It will encourage corporations to spend their earnings here, resulting in even more new jobs.
Our educational system needs to better prepare our children and retrain adults to succeed in the new digital marketplace. No one knows how to do that better than local communities. The federal government should not be telling local schools how to educate our children. Common Core will be dead.
Obamacare needs to be repealed and replaced with a sensible health care system that creates a competitive marketplace, which will reduce costs while providing for the medical needs of all Americans.
We can create tens of thousands of new jobs by rebuilding our collapsing infrastructure. These are the real shovel-ready projects: Roads, bridges, tunnels, and tracks have to be replaced or repaired before they crumble, and this will also put many thousands of people to work.
The most powerful people in Washington are lobbyists and special interest groups, whose money funds most elections and buys them influence. That has to stop, and electing someone who doesn’t take their donations is a good first step.
We must have a viable energy policy that uses our abundance of resources to power America back to economic prosperity.
You can believe what I say, because to see what I’ve accomplished, all you need to do is take a nice walk through the greatest cities of the world—and look up. Look up, and you’ll see the Trump buildings rising skyward.
I’ve done things that nobody else has done. The 68-story Trump Tower, on Fifth Avenue right next to Tiffany’s, was the tallest entirely glass-exteriored building in Manhattan when it opened in 1983. That helped pioneer the modern luxury-building industry.