Donald J. Trump - Crippled America: How to Make America Great Again

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This book is dedicated to my parents, Mary and Fred C. Trump, and my brothers and sistersMaryanne, Robert, Elizabeth, and Fred. Also, my wonderful wife, Melania, and my incredibly supportive children, Don Jr., Ivanka, Eric, Tiffany, and Barron.

And importantly, to the people who are ready to Make America Great Again!

SOME READERS MAY BE wondering why the picture we used on the cover of this book is so angry and so mean looking. I had some beautiful pictures taken in which I had a big smile on my face. I looked happy, I looked content, I looked like a very nice person, which in theory I am. My family loved those pictures and wanted me to use one of them. The photographer did a great job. But I decided it wasnt appropriate. In this book were talking about Crippled Americathats a tough title. Unfortunately, theres very little thats nice about it. Hence, the picture on the cover.

So I wanted a picture where I wasnt happy, a picture that reflected the anger and unhappiness that I feel, rather than joy. Theres nothing to be joyful about. Because we are not in a joyous situation right now. Were in a situation where we have to go back to work to make America great again. All of us. Thats why Ive written this book. People say that I have self-confidence. Who knows? When I began speaking out, I was a realist. I knew the relentless and incompetent naysayers of the status quo would anxiously line up against me, and they have:

The politicians who talk a great game in campaignsand play like total losers when they try to actually govern because they cant govern; they dont know how to govern.

The lobbyists and special interests with their hands in our pockets on behalf of their clients or others.

The members of the media who are so far lost when it comes to being fair that they have no concept of the difference between fact and opinion.

The illegal immigrants who have taken jobs that should go to people here legally, while over 20 percent of Americans are currently unemployed or underemployed. Believe me, theyre all over the place. I see them. I talk to them. I hug them. I hold them. They are all over the place.

Congress, which has been deadlocked for years and virtually unable to deal with any of our most pressing domestic problems, or even the most basic ones, such as passing a budget. Think of it: a little thing like passing the budget. They dont even have a clue.

Meanwhile, the bedrock of this countrythe middle classand those 45 million Americans stuck in poverty have seen their incomes decline over the past 20 years. Understandably, their disenchantment and frustration at whats happening grows every day, and it gets worse and worse and worse.

And even our lawyers and judges, the reflective wise men, have been stepping all over the US Constitution, the bulwark of our democracy. They have recklessly appointed themselves to be policy makers, because our actual elected officials are paralyzed by partisanship. They cant move; they cant act. They are totally impotent.

As for the presidency and the executive branch, the incompetence is beyond belief.

As I write this, Russian president Vladimir Putin is totally outmaneuvering our president by putting together a coalition in Syria that will make Putin the only effective leader in the world. He and his alliesmost notably Iranhave positioned themselves exactly where President Obama and our military have failed miserably for years. They are total failures. They are not leaders. We are no longer a leader. Putin has become the leader, and its an embarrassment to our country.

Weve wasted literally trillions of dollars in the Middle East, with virtually nothing to show for it except for alienating our best ally, Israel. To make matters worse, weve negotiated a worthless and costly nuclear treaty with Iran (now Russias best friend) on the supposition that it will lead to greater harmony and world peace, which it wont. It will lead to just the opposite.

The idea of American Greatness, of our country as the leader of the free and unfree world, has vanished.

Despite all of these challengesand actually because of the challengesI decided to do something about it. I couldnt stand to see what was happening to our great country. This mess calls for leadership in the worst way. It needs someone with common sense and business acumen, someone who can truly lead America back to what has made us great in the past.

We need someone with a proven track record in business who understands greatness, someone who can rally us to the standard of excellence we once epitomized and explain what needs to be done.

When I started speaking out, I had no idea what the reaction would be. I know Im a great builder, Ive built buildings all over the world. Ive had tremendous success. But I hadnt fully exposed my political thoughts and ideas to restore Americas greatness.

I also knew that the Trump brand is one of the worlds great icons of quality and excellence. Everybody talks about it. Everybody knows about it. Its very very special. Im very proud of it. Our buildings and resorts now stand very proudly (and beautifully) all over the United States and in many other countries.

I started with the issue of illegal immigration, and proposed building a major wall that would be very high and completely impervious to the flood of immigrants who we dont want or need here illegally. We love people coming in, but not when its done illegally.

Suddenly, Americans started to wake up to what was going on with regard to illegal immigration. Despite the large number of candidates who were running for the Republican nomination, what I was saying started to really hit home with people, and everybody picked it up and they picked it up gladly.

I started drawing crowds so large that we had to move our rallies into football stadiums and convention centers. The first national debate drew 24 million viewers, which set a record for cable television. Despite some of the ridiculous, antagonistic questionsor maybe because of themI fought back as I always do and began to explain my vision. As a result, most people thought I won the debate.

People were applauding. All of a sudden, people who had never cared about elections or never voted were rushing to our rallies. The rallies became massive. The crowds were unbelievable. The enthusiasm was based on pure love and love of what we were doing.

The media, the politicians, and the so-called leaders of our country reacted in horror. But I persevered and went directly to the people, because I dont need anyones financial support, nor do I need anyones approval of what I say or do. I just had to do the right thing. I had to do it. I had no choice. I see whats happening to our country; its going to hell. I had to do it.

I have now begun to fill in some of the details of my vision. Ive released a tax plan that gives the middle class and those with lower incomes a chance to keep more of what they earn, while restructuring how the richest Americans will be paying taxes.