Guest Speaker / Commentator (52:55)
Friends, sit down. We have a little time just everybody, thank you very much and to our great speaker, Speaker Johnson. And hello to the men and women of one of the most consequential Republican majorities in history. It's not a big majority, but it's just about the most consequential. The job you've done is incredible. And they are members that are warriors and really people that are for the American people. And that's why you're doing well. And I think that's why we're going to continue to do well. We're fighting a little tradition. You know, historically the person that wins Democrat or Republican wins the presidency. For whatever reason, it doesn't work out. But we've done a lot. I don't know we've done. I think we've done. I think we had the best first year of any president ever. And that includes you because you came along with me and you made it happen. So with your help and hard work, we're making America great again. We're doing it much faster than we thought and it's better, stronger, and our country is doing really well. I mean, at a level that nobody thought. We took a little excursion because we felt we had to do that to get rid of some evil. And I think you'll see it's going to be a short term excursion. How good is our military? Right? Amazing. How good? Short term, Short term. Thank you. They're great. You know, we all together in my first term, we rebuilt our military and I didn't know I'd be using it so much in the second term, but we have a military like no other is not even close. But I especially want to recognize the rest of our amazing House Republican leadership team and so many of my friends that are congressmen, some senators, we have some great people in this room, but including majority leader, a real brave guy because I know the real story. I was there that night with him in the hospital when he was given a very small chance of Living by a doctor who was very good, by a wife who was desperately in love with him. She cried so much because I've seen the other two. I've seen guys at the end of the line, the wives aren't exactly shaken up. When they don't cry, when they have no tears or any sign of tears. This is not a good sign of a great marriage, but he must have a great marriage because she was really. She was just devastated. She was going to lose her guy, but it worked out that the doctor said more blood was put into him than we've ever. That he's ever seen. He was. He was in big trouble. I looked at him that night and I said goodbye to him. But he. He made it. He was brave. And look at the way he fought back from so many different things. Steve Scalise. And we have another one, Tom Emmer, who I really got to know over the last few years. And I'll tell you, he's. He's a winner. He's a champion with another great wife. We got good wives up in here. You, that's a great wife, fine husband. But Tom is just a real champion and a winner. And you have a problem, you go to him, he gets itself. So thank you very much. Great job. You've done a great job. And our conference chairwoman is Lisa McLean. And we all know Lisa. Don't get on her wrong side. It can be a very, very bad experience. Thank you very much. Great job. Great job. And a very special thanks. You know, you broke a record. This is over 20 million. This is. It's the biggest of these type of events that there's ever been by, actually, by a lot. You know, you didn't just break it, you broke it by a lot. So I want to congratulate you. But there's just great spirit. The Republican Party has fantastic spirit. The level I don't think has been seen before. I really don't. We have to get a couple of people on board, which in at least one case is virtually impossible. I wonder who that might be. Sick person. But I want to say a very special thanks to everyone at the Congressional Institute for helping organize this event. This has been amazing. And over the last nine days, we've been reminded of how vital our Republican majorities are. And it's, you know, it's America's future. We're really fighting because these people you saw the other night at the State of the Union, you saw these people, they wouldn't stand for a mother who just lost her daughter by having her Throat slit from behind. They wouldn't stand for the helicopter pilot who just got the Congressional Medal of Honor for landing safely in Venezuela. A helicopter with a lot of soldiers on that. Lot of soldiers on that helicopter, and he was able to land it safely. And he was. His leg was practically ripped off. And for those people that know about helicopters, you land them pretty much with your legs, right, Tom? You land him with the legs, and he was. He was in bad shape, but he got it. He got that not only landed, he landed in exactly the right spot at exactly as blood was pouring down the aisle, which didn't make all of those soldiers in the back feel too good, looking at a pilot as bleeding out. But they didn't want to stand for that. They didn't want to stand for a 100-year-old soldier who was. Who had left a legacy of bravery. Everybody talked about it for years, and it was time for him to get the Congressional Medal of Honor. They didn't want to stand for him. There's something wrong with those people, and we can't let them ever be in a position where they can lead this country again or destroy this country again, because we almost lost this country. This country was close to being lost. The representatives in this room provided the pivotal votes in securing a record $1 trillion for the United States military this year. And now the world is witnessing the importance of that investment with one of the most complex and stunning operations ever conducted, and that's Operation Epic Fury. That's a great name. Is it? Epic Fury. That's even better than Midnight Hammer, which was pretty good, too, right? That was where we knocked out their nuclear potential. That was a big day, because if we didn't do that, they would have had a nuclear weapon within two weeks, and I think we'd be in a lot different situation. And then you had, of course, what they did in Venezuela, how that was. That was just so far, so good. We've done a real job. We've got all good ones. If you go back and you look at Afghanistan with Biden, one of the worst, I think, the most embarrassing moment in the history of our country. If you look at what happened with Jimmy Carter, with. Also with Iran. But if you look at what happened with the helicopters, the hostages, it cost them the election. It was what a. What a mess. The world respects us right now more than they have ever respected us before. And because of Republicans, you people in Congress, the United States has by far the strongest and most powerful military on the face of the earth. We're the strongest military anywhere in the earth. And now everybody understands it. Together with our Israeli partners, we're crushing the enemy in an overwhelming display of technical skill and military force. Iran's drone and missile capability is being utterly demolished. The navy is gone. It's all lying at the bottom of the ocean. 46 ships. Can you believe it? In fact, I got a little upset with our people. I said, what quality of ship? Excellent, sir, top of the line. I said, why did we just capture the ship? We're going to use it. Why did we sink them? They said, it's more fun to sink them. He said, that's. They like sinking them better. They say it's safer to sink him. I guess it's probably true, but think of it. We knocked out 46 and actually took three and a half days. Their terrorist leaders are gone or counting down the minutes until they will be gone. Think of it. We had leaders and they're gone. Then we had new leaders and they're gone. And now nobody has any idea who the people are that are going to be the head of the country and will not relent until the enemy is totally and decisively defeated. As. And remember, Iran did so many bad things. They were really. If you look at Soleimani, who was taken out as you know that, but you know who. But if you look at Soleimani,