Donald J. Trump - THE GREATEST SPEECHES OF DONALD J. TRUMP: 45TH PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA with an Introduction by Presidential Historian Craig Shirley

The GREATEST SPEECHES of

Donald J. Trump

The GREATEST SPEECHES of

Donald J. Trump

45th President of the United States

Humanix Books

THE GREATEST SPEECHES OF DONALD J. TRUMP

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Contents

Introduction

O ver the years, historians and writers have often referred to the presidential pedestal as The Bully Pulpit. The term was first coined by Teddy Roosevelt and, contrary to modern usage, means a wonderful platform; a profound and powerful tool by which a president may articulate a grand vision for the future and prosperity of our nation. A message that cannot be corrupted or twisted by pundits or publications who often believe that the right to communicate directly to all Americans is solely their privilege. Indeed, when The New York Times reported on his usage of the term, they were not pleased:

A man may be temperamentally fond of a fight, even of vulgar brawls, but most men have a sobering sense that the power and responsibility of a high office involve the obligation of dignity. Mr. Roosevelt was not sobered, he was not repressed, he was turned loose. His immense egotism exalted in the possession of an office that brought him into the eye of millions, and he was apparently intoxicated with the sense of his power to speak and act.

The shallow and superficial and collectivist New York Times bashing a Republican president? What a surprise.

Some things never change.

Its vitally important that each of usincluding presidentshave a chance to speak out for ourselves and not rely on the corrupt filter of The Washington Post or NBC, just as the Framers intended in 1787, when they wrote the Constitution. Then, they saw the pamphleteers and broadsheets of the era as valuable allies of the American people. No longer. The national media is mostly the enemy, making presidential speeches even more important.

The bully pulpit is a powerful tool for those leaders with the foresight to recognize its power. Leaders who dont, like Jimmy Carter, have only yelped out from this podium simply because they did not understand presidential power. Who can forget the now notorious Malaise Speech by Carter, blaming Americans for high inflation, long gas lines, high interest rates, and all the other problems America faced in that steamy, hot summer of 1979?

Other presidents who rightly roared over the years include Franklin Roosevelt, John Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, and Donald Trump. They may not have always been rightas FDR was incorrect about the Great Depression needing more government regulationsbut they spoke with verve and conviction.

And FDR was right about the threats from Nazi Germany and the Empire of Japan.

President Theodore Roosevelt spoke often of the presidency as a bully pulpit. The president has the rare ability to speak to the nation at will, and to disseminate information supporting his point of view, as when the old Bull Moose pointed out in his speech on the six duties of American citizenship, long before he was president. They included the Big Stick foreign policy, as well noting that Americans should be good people and, especially, act as a political watchdog over the system. Great presidents think great thoughts even before they become president. Donald Trump was such a watchdog, as when he took on the liberals of the high-tech industry, who are a direct threat to the American way of life.

Some presidentslike Lyndon Johnsonconfuse the bully pulpit with the pulpit of a bully. He was a small man, and as a result, a bully.

Other presidents evolved in office. Men such as Abraham Lincoln, Harry Truman, and John Kennedy all developed and grew in office. The Abraham Lincoln of 1861 was not the Abraham Lincoln of 1865, when he appealed to the nation to bind up its wounds. Hed gone from a hack politician who won the presidency with a mere plurality, to one of our most important presidents. JFK blundered badly in the Bay of Pigs in Cuba of 1961 but performed magnificently during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. Truman was over his head in 1944, but was commanding the seas by 1950.

Sometimes presidents suffer for using the executive podium, as in the many cases of Richard Nixon, who only seemed to make the Watergate scandal even worse, as he did when he blundered by saying, The American people need to know if their president is a crook. Well, I am not a crook. At the time, no one was accusing Nixon of being a crook. He was pleading his innocence when no one was accusing him of being guilty. Nixon had a history of flying off the handle, as he did when he once said to the media, in the third person, they wont have Nixon to kick around anymore. Some, like Joe Biden, are just plain disasters, in over his head. In the context of history, he will rank with our poorer presidents like Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan, and Herbert Hoover.

Others, like Reagan, were more surefooted. Reagan was a reader, a writer, a thinker, and a listener. A true intellectual. He wrote many of his own speeches, even as he had the best speechwriters in the history of the presidency. They came up with phrases such as Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall! Historians rank his Farewell Address alongside Washingtons and Eisenhowers as the best farewell remarks in the history of the presidency.

The Constitution established a relatively weak chief executive. The Framers were understandably fearful of granting too much power to one man, having just been the victims of King George II and King George III. This was made clear in the Federalist Papers when Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay made the case against the Articles of Confederation, and for a new constitution, as they did in Federalist 59 and 70. They argued for the need for a stronger central government but also argued for the need to regulate the presidency.

The greatest power the president exercises with regularity is the power to persuade Congress and the American people that his agenda should be implemented. Over the course of the twentieth century, technology has permitted the presidents words to move faster, not just to the American people, but around the world.

Donald Trump is a historical anomaly. He is the first person to be elected to the presidency without having served in government or the military. However, he has understood the bully pulpit better than most career politicians. Mr. Trump emerged in the New York media as a brash, second-generation real estate developer. His projects were proclaimed to be the biggest and the best in the greatest city in the world. He was used to getting things done and leapfrogging over bureaucracy. Over time, he became a media celebrity. He parlayed his business acumen and showmanship into the hit reality television show