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Connect the World
Hamas Reviewing Trump's Gaza Peace Plan; Police Chief: Church Attack was an "Evil Act"; Trump: Only Way to Settle Global Conflicts is Through Strength; Trump: U.S. Ahead of Russia and China on Submarines; Trump Speaks to Top U.S. Military Brass. Aired 9-10a ET
Aired September 30, 2025 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[09:00:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BECKY ANDERSON, CNN HOST, CONNECT THE WORLD: Well, a government shutdown looms in the United States as Democrat and Republican leaders remain at
odds over funding the government beyond today. It is 09:00 a.m. Tuesday in Washington, 05:00 p.m. in Abu Dhabi, where I am.
I'm Becky Anderson, this is "Connect the World". Also coming up, hundreds of Americas top military brass are meeting with the commander in chief this
hour. We'll bring you Donald Trump's live address from where the Secretary of Defense is currently speaking. And the pressure is on for Hamas to
accept a new Gaza peace deal.
Otherwise, Israel says it will finish the job by itself. The stock market in New York opens about 30 minutes from now. The arrows pointing lower,
ahead of that possible government shutdown. Stand by for more back in New York at half past this hour. We are waiting for U.S. President Donald Trump
to speak to a gathering of top military leaders in Virginia in the U.S.
The meeting called by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who, just moments ago, repeatedly blast diversity efforts and wokeness in the military, and
he promised to make more leadership changes. Hegseth says a warrior ethos is needed to defend the nation from threats. He called pacifism naive and
dangerous, praising the change of name of the Department of Defense into the Department of War, and he had a message for any of America's enemies.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PETE HEGSETH, U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: Either you protect your people and your sovereignty, or you will be subservient to something or someone. It's
a truth as old as time. And since waging war is so costly in blood and treasure, we owe our republic a military that will win any war we choose,
or any war that is thrust upon us.
Should our enemies choose foolishly to challenge us, they will be crushed by the violence, precision and ferocity of the war department.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Well, we are standing by to hear from Donald Trump at that same event. I want to bring in CNN Military Analyst and Retired Air Force
Colonel Cedric Leighton. I guess just ahead of Donald Trump, let's just get some key takeaways from you from that speech by the Secretary of Defense.
It did feel as if he was going after just about everybody everywhere.
COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Yeah, Becky, it sure did. And one of the key things here is that, you know, he's looking at this
from a military tactical perspective. And it's kind of interesting when you have a Secretary of Defense who is really supposed to be focused on very
big strategic issues.
And he's basically getting into the very much the weeds of military operations, you know, everything from grooming standards all the way to DEI
you know, the idea of diversity, equity, equity and inclusion in the military being a quote, unquote bad thing, in his view.
But the problem with this is that not only is he focusing on very small issues, he is really taking things that should be the province of the
individual commanders all the way down to the platoon level, and he's making them his own. Now, in some ways, he's responsible for all of that,
absolutely, but his idea should really have been to inculcate not only a warrior ethos, but to do it with a big strategy in mind.
And the fact that he hasn't really articulated his connection to that strategy, at least not in this speech, makes it very, very interesting.
ANDERSON: Yeah.
LEIGHTON: And you know, there's perhaps a dissonance there with, you know, with what he's trying to achieve and what is actually achievable at this
point.
ANDERSON: Because, look, you can disagree with style and substance, and there will be as many people who, perhaps, you know, find what he's saying
today of value as those who don't. But to your point, you know, what is the point of today's event?
LEIGHTON: Well, exactly. And so, the you know the fact that these generals and admirals traveled, in some cases, thousands of miles to get to
Quantico, Virginia to have this meeting with the secretary, I guess it's good face time, in one respect, as long as they keep their jobs.
[09:05:00]
But the other part of it is the real threats that are out. There are ones that we deal with in places like the Middle East, where you are, in places
like Europe, in places like Asia, and when you look at the preparedness that is going on within let's say, let's take the Chinese military for
example.
The Chinese military is absolutely preparing for offensive actions of one type or another. We don't know that necessarily the time and place of those
actions, but the military should be focused on those kinds of threats. And this effort here, you know, is clearly designed, on the one hand, to get,
as he says, competence into the military.
But the generals and admirals in the audience would argue that they are quite competent, thank you very much, and that they are competent in
carrying out those war fighting missions. You know, one thing at the end, Becky, that he talked about was the fact that we didn't win any wars.
The U.S. didn't win any wars I in during the period where it's been called the Department of Defense. Well, this institution actually did win one
major conflict that he didn't mention. He mentioned the first Gulf War as being one in which that the U.S. did win that decisively.
But the other war that we won was the Cold War, and that is one that really should be looked upon as being the seminal achievement of that particular
period in history and you know where it actually got into a contest between, in this case, communism and the free world. And that contest was
one that the U.S. and its allies won quite well.
Now we are at risk of losing some of those gains, if we don't pay attention to what Russia is doing, but those are the kinds of things that really
matter from a big national strategy standpoint.
ANDERSON: Yeah, we are standing by for a speech from the U.S. President. You see the podium set there in Virginia. He describes this as a as a pep
rally. And what do you expect that we might hear from Donald Trump today?
LEIGHTON: Well, Becky, it could be one of several things. He could be reiterating a lot of what Secretary Hegseth mentioned, in essence, keep the
standards up in the military and base promotions on merit, as opposed to, you know, some kind of quota system. But the fact of the matter is that all
of the people in the room are there based to a large degree on merit.
Of course, there's a bit of who you know and how you know them that goes into any promotion system. And in some ways, the idea of promoting on merit
is certainly laudable to say the least. But as far as the president is concerned, he could potentially talk about some of the things that have
been happening already with the military under his watch.
He will probably try to turn the types of achievements that he sees he's making against, compare them to what he sees as the failures of the
previous administration. That will probably a likely thing that he will talk about. The other thing, Becky, might be that he will talk about a more
inward focus of the military.
In other words, a more focused approach on Homeland Security type missions on the Western Hemisphere, as opposed to other areas. The problem with that
is that adversaries get a vote in all of this, and we may not have the luxury of focusing only on one particular area. That's not what happens in
a globalized world, and even if they rail against so called globalism.
The fact of the matter is, is that we're all interconnected. And as far back as a little over 100 years ago, the U.S. found itself involved in a
major global war, because those global interests did actually have a major impact on domestic affairs even back then. So that kind of, you know, those
kinds of elements will probably be in the speech.
I don't know if he'll tie things in with the national defense strategy that is being worked on at the you know, at the Pentagon right now. There's some
disagreement even between a uniformed military and the civilian leadership of the Department of Defense that you know, may indicate that there -- that
the president may try to bridge some of that.
But the issues that the president will bring up will probably touch very much on the political and so we'll have to see how, not only he carries
that message, but also what the reaction will be in the room.
ANDERSON: Good to have you, sir. Thank you very much indeed. And as I want to reiterate for our viewers, we are standing by to hear from Donald Trump
there in Virginia. And as we get that, we will get back to that event.
[09:10:00]
Meantime, time running out to make a deal to keep the U.S. government open if lawmakers on Capitol Hill can't reach a last-minute agreement today,
then the federal government will shut down for the first time in nearly seven years. The senate is expected to vote later today on a Republican
backed bill extending funding for seven weeks.
This is the sort of first stop gap, but that vote is expected to fail, and there is already plenty of finger pointing as who is to blame. CNN's
Arlette Saenz joins us from Washington. Arlette, what are we hearing about budget negotiations taking place behind the scenes, as it were, any signs
of progress?
ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Not just yet, Becky. There are less than 15 hours left before the federal government shuts down, and lawmakers
heading into today have expressed skepticism that they will be able to reach an agreement that meeting between President Trump and congressional
leadership yesterday did not result in a breakthrough and really hardened both sides in their positions.
Republicans want Democrats to get on board with that seven week stop gap funding bill to keep the government open, but Democrats want some
concessions from Republicans on the issue of health care. They are still adamant that they want to see an extension of the Obamacare subsidies,
which are set to expire at the end of the year.
But so far, Republicans have not signaled that they will get on board with that before Tuesday. Top Democrats left that meeting with President Trump
yesterday, believing that he might be willing to negotiate on those subsidies that are expiring. But Republicans here on Capitol Hill have said
that any negotiations should only take place if the government is kept open.
Here is what Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Vice President J.D. Vance had to say about the standoff.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): But it's now in the president's hands. He can avoid a shutdown if he gets the Republican leaders to go along with what we
want. And if they don't, the American people are going to know they had a partisan bill that the president's in charge --
J.D. VANCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: You don't put a gun to the American people's head and say, unless you do exactly what
Senate and House Democrats want you to do, we're going to shut down your governments. I think we're headed to a shutdown because the Democrats won't
do the right thing. I hope they change their mind, but we're going to see.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAENZ: Now, later this afternoon, the Senate is expected to vote on that seven-week funding bill that had passed out of the House, but Republicans
would need seven Democrats to get on board to make to have that passed, and so far, there are no signs that enough Democrats will budge on that matter.
Senator John Fetterman is the only Democrat who has said that he would vote to keep the government open. Now, Republicans are already mapping out a
strategy for what happens if this shutdown does go into effect. Republican leadership just plans to continue to bring that stop gap funding bill up
for a vote over and over, thinking that Democrats will ultimately cave, but Democrats have said that they will hold the line until they get those
concessions on health care.
ANDERSON: Much talk about whether this is the moment Democrats will have the appetite for a fight which is followed off times when I'm talking to
people about whether this is the fight they should have chosen to fight as it were, where will this ultimately leave government?
SAENZ: Well, that's the big question about how exactly this will all play out. Democrats, they've been hearing from their base that they want
Democratic leaders to show a fight against President Donald Trump. They did not do that back in March when the last government funding debate was up
here on Capitol Hill, and so they're hoping that Democrats will hold the line here.
But there's a lot of questions about what happens once we enter into a shutdown. There will be widespread impacts on the federal government, on
the federal workforce, with tens of thousands of workers expected to be furloughed, many more thousands are expected to continue to work without
pay.
Think about members of the military, air traffic control and TSA at airports. There are some essential services that will continue. People will
continue to get their social security and their Medicare checks. But a lot of questions going forward about who will shoulder the blame for this,
especially if this turns into a prolonged shutdown.
A new poll out this morning from "The New York Times" found that 33 percent of registered voters said both parties would be to blame. Another 26
percent said Republicans, and another 19 percent said Democrats. So, both sides believe the other will be the one to get the blame shut down, but
only time will tell how this all plays out.
ANDERSON: Yeah, it's good to have you, Arlette. Thank you and a reminder, we are standing by for a speech from President Trump in Virginia, a speech
to top military brass there. And we will get to that as and when.
[09:15:00]
Well Hamas is now reviewing U.S. proposal for a ceasefire and a post war road map for Gaza after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stood
beside U.S. President Donald Trump and publicly accepted the plan yesterday. Sources tell CNN the deal is still up for negotiation, and Hamas
can still seek changes.
Also, the Israeli government will need to formally approve the plan. Well, as these negotiations are hashed out. Eight Muslim nations say they are on
board and are ready to work with the Americans towards finalizing the agreement. That includes the Qataris, for example, who received an apology
from Mr. Netanyahu over Israel's attack targeting Hamas in Doha during the last round of ceasefire negotiations.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAJED AL-ANSARI, QATARI FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESPERSON: Our commitment is steadfast when it comes to offering any support in ending this war,
rebuilding and providing any assistance of any kind for the people of Gaza, and that would go to any initiative that is there on the table right now.
We will not shy away from having these roles, but obviously we are doing them in tandem with working with all of our partners and countries which we
work with in the region and beyond.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: All right. Well, mediators from Qatar, alongside Egypt and Turkey this time, are due to meet with Hamas the team there this evening. Earlier,
I spoke to CNN's Jerusalem Bureau Chief, Oren Liebermann, about where things stand. This is his perspective.
OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN JERUSALEM BUREAU CHIEF: The release of all hostages within 72 hours of Israel publicly accepting the proposal. We'll come back
to that point in a second, as well as the release of a number of more than 1000 frankly, Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli prisons.
That is just the beginning here. It also calls for a comprehensive end of the war, the decommissioning of Hamas' weaponry, the destruction of their
infrastructure, an international security force that will come in and take over security of Gaza, as well as a gradual Israeli withdrawal.
There are also a number of other points in this 20-point plan, but a lot of this is unclear, including the timeline for all of this to play out. In
fact, the only real timeline that's there is that Hamas will release all of the hostages, 48 remaining, 20 believed to be alive within 72 hours of
Israel publicly accepting.
But even that clock hasn't started yet. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he accepts the proposal while he was standing alongside President
Donald Trump at the White House. But that's not a formal acceptance, and having spoken to sources familiar with the process here, there is time for
final negotiations and for finalizing the proposal itself.
Israel had a chance to weigh in over the course of the past few days, before that Monday press conference. And now Hamas has a chance to weigh in
as well with their feedback, the changes they would like to see. So, there is still a process to play out here, and we're not just waiting for a Hamas
response.
We're waiting for their feedback, and then we're waiting to see what Israel formally accepts here, in terms of Hamas calculus, here there are some red
lines of theirs that are clearly crossed. This requires the decommissioning of their weaponry. That's something they said they wouldn't be willing to
do.
Although the term itself, decommissioning has perhaps enough wiggle room to somehow get this across the line. And that's where the U.S., Israel and
others are relying on Qatari pressure there. It does include recognition of aspirations for Palestinian statehood. And at least from what's the text of
the proposal, we're seeing a process, a discussion, that could lead to, frankly, a two-state solution.
And that is something you know, a Palestinian state is something Hamas has called for. It clearly violates the red lines of Netanyahu and some of his
far-right allies. So, there are conditions in the proposal we're seeing here that violate each side's red lines. And perhaps that was Trump's
intent in putting this on the table.
ANDERSON: So, I guess that begs the question, where does this go next? In Israel, where you are as Netanyahu, will need to square Trump's proposal
with Cabinet members and with the kind of broader Israeli politics, correct?
LIEBERMANN: So, one thing is clear, and that's that Israel's public clearly wants this to happen, the hostage families want to see this happen. They
called for it to be signed and approved as quickly as possible. The only part that needs a formal cabinet approval, at least from what we're seeing
in this current proposal, is the release of Palestinian prisoners that needs a cabinet vote.
But that vote is not currently scheduled at this time. So even that will take time for the process to play out as we wait to see how Hamas reacts
here. Netanyahu hopped on the phone or had a discussion last night with his far-right allies, Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich.
[09:20:00]
He told them, according to a source familiar with the call, that he is skeptical that Hamas will accept the agreement. So, it seems he is
effectively waiting to see if they reject it, and then, first, he has a government, and second, he can just proceed with his war plans, as we see
them playing out in Gaza on a daily basis.
So, this is still difficult on the Israeli side of this, and it will be interesting to see how Netanyahu plays this and when that vote comes on
acceptance here as we wait, frankly, to see a finalized agreement.
ANDERSON: And let's just get you the very latest President Donald Trump, has just told reporters on Tuesday, on his way to Virginia, where we are
waiting to hear from him, that he is giving a mass quote three to four days to respond to the Gaza peace plan, as he described it.
He outlined that was a plan, of course, yeah, I'm beside the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, just about a day ago.
Now we're going to do about three or four days. We'll see how it is. All of the Arab countries are signed up. The Muslim countries, he said, are all
signed up. Israel is all signed up. He said it would be a very sad end were Hamas not to agree to the deal. Well, reaction pouring in from around the
world on this is countries welcome the prospect of peace.
French President Emmanuel Macron saying that he quotes, expects Israel to engage resolutely on this basis, Hamas has no choice, he says, but to
immediately release all hostages and follow this plan. Head of the EU Commission, Ursula von der Leyen wrote that all parties must now seize the
opportunity and that a two-state solution remains the only viable path for peace in the Middle East.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer called on all sides to finalize the agreement and bring it to reality. Writing quote, Hamas should now agree to
the plan and end the misery. And finally, India, the prime minister there, Narendra Modi, said the plan provides a path to development, not only for
the Palestinians and the Israelis, but also for the larger West Asian region. Right, we are going to take a very quick break. Thanks for being
with us. Back after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANDERSON: Well, a community in Michigan is grieving, and its looking for answers. After Sunday's deadly attack on a church in Grand Blanc.
Investigators are trying to find out why a 40-year-old ex-marine drove his vehicle into a Mormon Chapel filled with worshippers and begin shooting
with an assault rifle and set the building on fire. CNN's Leigh Waldman with the very latest.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WILLIAM RENYE, GRAND BLANC POLICE CHIEF: Evil. This was an evil act of violence.
LEIGH WALDMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Congregants and residents in shock after at least four were killed in a deadly attack at the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Grand Blanc Township, Michigan.
[09:25:00]
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everybody in my neighborhood, they're so devastated.
BRANDT MALONE, CHURCH MEMBER: My wife and my daughter were just up here on Saturday night for a youth activity. So, it's a really raw thing to see it.
WALDMAN (voice-over): A peaceful Sunday service cut short by violence when a gunman drove a vehicle into the church, began shooting, then set the
building ablaze, authorities say.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A lifetime of memories is just gone.
WALDMAN (voice-over): In an exchange of gunfire, officers killed the gunman they identified as a 40-year-old Iraq war veteran from a nearby city,
complicating the investigation on Monday, a 21-year-old drove a sedan through a barricade at the scene and was quickly apprehended by police.
Photos taken by a CNN crew shows what appears to be a long gun in the front seat of the car. Authorities have not provided additional details about the
individual or the motive.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are still in the process of investigating that incident, whether or not it's related or not.
WALDMAN (voice-over): The motive in the attack remains unclear. Kris Johns, a candidate for a Michigan City Council, told CNN he spoke to the alleged
shooter a week ago while door knocking on the campaign trail.
KRIS JOHNS, BURTON CITY COUNCIL CANDIDATE: He did make the statement that Mormons are the Antichrist, which is a shocking statement. This is somebody
you're just meeting for the first time. He had very strong opinions, nothing that was related to violence, that would indicate violence, just
somebody who had a very, very strong held belief that really, he had maybe --
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: All right. Sounds, let's get you to Virginia, where the U.S. President is about to take to the podium to make a speech to the gathered
top military brass there at Quantico. Let's listen in.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: -- job you're doing too. Fantastic job. I've never walked into a room so silent before
this is very -- don't laugh. Don't laugh. You're not allowed to do that, you know what just have a good time. And if you want to applaud, you
applaud.
And if you want to do anything you want, you can do anything you want. And if you don't like what I'm saying, you can leave the room. Of course, there
goes your rank, there goes your future. But you just feel nice and loose. OK? Because we're all on the same team, and I was told that, sir, you won't
hear, you won't hear a murmur in the room.
I said, we got to loosen these guys up a little bit so you just have a good time. But I want to thank Secretary Hegseth and General Caine, General
Razin Caine for a reason. They call him that. When I heard his name, I said, You're the guy I'm looking for. Did your chiefs of staff and so many
others in this room who together represent the greatest and most elite fighting force in the history of the world, the United States military.
We're very proud of our military. I rebuilt the military during my first term. It's one of the greatest achievements. We had the greatest economy in
history, and I built the military. Those are the two things I say, more than anything else. And I also kept us safe at the borders.
We had very good borders. We didn't have people coming in from jails and prisons and everything like took place over the last four years. I'll never
forget what happened to this country over the last four years with the incompetence. There could be no higher honor than to serve as your
commander in chief.
It is a great honor. I look at you. You just incredible people, central casting I might add. To each and every one of you. I thank you for your
unwavering devotion to the armed forces and to the country. We've all sworn a sacred oath to defend. We all have that oath, every one of us.
I'm thrilled to be here this morning to address the senior leadership of what is once again known around the world as the Department of War. I know
Pete spoke about it. He gave a great speech. I thought, great speech. I don't want him to get so good. I hate that. You know, I hate it.
I almost fired him. I said, you can't, I don't want to go on after that. Now he gave a great speech, but he talked about Department of War. We were
sitting there, I said, didn't it used to be called the Department of War. Then he goes, yes, sir, they changed it like in the early 50s.
So, we won the First World War. We won the Second World War. We won everything in between and everything before that. We only won. And then we
went in a way woke that was probably the first sign of wokeness, and we changed it to defense instead of war. And I said, what do you think?
How do you think if we change it back? Would that be a nice idea? And Pete loved it immediately. Some people think thought about it, you know, they
gave it a little thought, but in the end, we did it. And I have to be honest, it's so popular, it's I thought would be met with fury on the left,
but they're sort of giving up.
I must be honest with you. They've had it. They've had it with Trump. They've been after me for so many years now. Here we are. Here we are. Come
to the White House anytime you'd like. Now they've given up bad -- a lot of bad people, but all over that's been so popular, it's been very popular.
[09:30:00]
I really thought that we were going to have to sort of fight it through. There's been no fight. There's been no fight like what I call the Gulf of
America, the Gulf of America, because to me, it was always the Gulf of America. I could never understand. We have 92 percent of the frontage.
And for years, actually, 350 years, they were there before us. It was called the Gulf of Mexico. I just had this idea. I'm looking at a map, I'm
saying we have most of the frontage. Why is it Gulf of Mexico? Why isn't it the Gulf of America? And I made the change, and went smoothly.
I mean, we had a couple of fake news outlets that refused to make the change. And then one of them, AP, took us to court, and we won. And the
judge, who was a somewhat liberal judge, said the name is the Gulf of America because AP refused to call it the Gulf of America.
They wrote, they're not a good outfit, by the way. They call it the Gulf of Mexico. I said no, the Gulf of America is the name. And the judge actually
said that, in fact, you can't even go into the room because what you're doing is not appropriate. The name is the Gulf of America.
Google Maps changed the name. Everybody did, but AP wouldn't, and then we won in court. How about that? Isn't that so cool? The Secretary Hegseth has
beautifully described. The name change reflects far more than the shift in branding. It's really a historic reassertion of our purpose and our
identity and our pride.
That's when we go with the word war. And you know, we want war because we want to have no wars, but you have to be there. And you know, sometimes you
have to do it. I have settled so many wars since we're here almost nine months, and I've settled seven. And yesterday we might have settled the
biggest of them all.
Although I don't know, Pakistan, India was very big. Both nuclear powers, I settled that. But yesterday is, could be the settlement in the Middle East
that hasn't happened for 3000 years. I said, how long have you been fighting? 3000 years, sir. That's a long time, but we got it.
I think settled. We'll see Hamas has to agree, and they don't. It's going to be very tough on them, but it is what it is. But all of the Arab
nations, Muslim nations, have agreed. Israel has agreed. It's an amazing thing. It just came together. War is very strange. You know, you never know
what's going to happen with war.
The easiest one of them all is Putin. I said number one, it's a war that would have never happened if I were president, if the election weren't
rigged, if I were president, that war would have never happened, not even a little chance, and it didn't happen for four years.
But I knew Putin very well, and I thought that would be easy, because I know him so well, well, that one turned out to be the hardest of them all.
We had some that were not settleable, and they all got settled. So, if this works out that we did yesterday with the Middle East, then that's more than
a war, that's lots of wars, that's all combined.
That's a lot of wars. Many of you were over there in many different capacities, in many different countries. That was a that's a big part of
the earth. But if that works out, it would be eight plus. I could give myself two or three for that one, and then we just have the one to settle
and we have to settle it up with President Putin and Zelenskyy, going to get them together and get it done.
But the only way we can do that is through strength. I mean, if we were weak, they wouldn't even take my phone call. But we have extreme strength.
We had the horror show in Afghanistan, which is really the reason I think that Putin went in. He saw that horror show by Biden and his team of
incompetent people.
And that showed, I think it gave him a path in. I wasn't there any longer. I watched that. And was so, so horrible. I think it was the most
embarrassing day in the history of our country, and now we're back. That's it. We're not going to have any of that crap happen, I can tell you.
That was terrible. So terrible, together we're reawakening the warrior spirit. And this is a spirit that won and built this nation and from the
cavalry that tamed the Great Plains to the ferocious, unyielding power of Patton Bradley and the Great General Douglas MacArthur, these are all great
men in this effort.
We're a team. And so, my message to you is very simple. I am with you. I support you, and as president, I have your backs 100 percent. You'll never
see me even waver a little bit. It's the way it is, and that includes our great police officers and firemen and all of these people that are doing so
well.
[09:35:00]
Together over the next few years, we're going to make our military stronger tougher, faster, fiercer and more powerful than it has ever been before. I
rebuilt our nuclear as you probably know, but we'll upgrade that also, and just hope we never have to use it. We have to hope we never have to use it,
because the power of that is so incredible.
I see things, I don't think they'd show it to you. I really wouldn't want them to show it to you, but when you see the result of what's left, you
never want to use that never. Never, ever. We were a little bit threatened by Russia recently, and I sent a submarine, nuclear submarine, the most
lethal weapon ever made.
Number one, you can't detect it. There's no way. We're 25 years ahead of Russia and China in submarines. Russia is actually second in submarines.
China is third. But, you know, they're coming up, they're way too lower in nuclear too. But in five years, they'll be equal they're coming up.
And you don't have to be that good with nuclear. You could have 1/20 what you have now, and still do the damage that would be. You know, that'd be so
horrendous. But I announced that, you know, based on his mention of nuclear, and it was really a stupid person that works for I mentioned the
word nuclear, I moved a submarine or two, I won't say about the two.
Over to the coast of Russia, just to be careful, because we can't let people throw around that word. I call it the N word. There are two N words,
and you can't use either of them. Can't use either of them. And frankly, if it does get to use, we have more than anybody else. We have better.
We have newer but it's something we don't ever want to even have to think about. But when somebody mentions it, that submarine started immediately
thereafter, and it's just lurking. But I'm sure we're not going to have to use it, but it's an amazing, it's undetectable totally ours is, theirs is -
- theirs are totally detectable.
We can detect them easily. We go right to the spot. But we have genius apparatus that doesn't allow detection. It doesn't allow detection at all
by anybody above water or below water. It's incredible. We're way ahead of everybody and other things as a result of the exciting renewal of the
spirit, of our own forces.
And that's what it is. It's really reaching its spirit unprecedented heights. Over the past eight months, new enlistments I'm so proud of this
have surged to record highs, the highest we've ever had. And we used to have recruiting shortages. If you remember, about a year and a half ago, I
was at the beginning stage of a campaign, and things came out that you couldn't get people to join the armed forces.
And by the way, the police also fire department. I always put the fire department in because they're great. They're great, and I got 95 percent of
their vote too that helps. When you get 95 percent of their vote, you always have to mention them, but they're great and they're brave in our
inner cities, which we're going to be talking about, because it's a big part of war now it's a big part of war.
But the firemen go up in ladders and you have people shooting at them while they're up in ladders. I don't even know if anybody heard that, but, and I
said, don't talk about it much, but I think you have to our firemen are incredible. They're up in one of these ladders that goes way up to the sky,
rescuing people, and you have animals shooting at them, shooting bullets at firemen that are way up in death territory.
You fall off that letter. It's over. It's over. They don't even have to inspect you when you hit the ground and you have people shooting bullets at
them in some of these inner cities. We're not going to let that happen. So, I always mention the firemen, because that's actually a big problem we
have.
They are unbelievable. Like you, they're unbelievable people. For the first time on record in 2025 the navy, air force and space force all met or
surpassed their recruiting goals three months early. That never happened before. And the army did even better. Congratulations, army.
They met everything. And these were the highest standards, because we're making it larger. So, these were much higher standards than you had four
years ago, three years ago, during the sleepy Joe Biden era.
[09:40:00]
And the army did it four months early. And you remember a year and a half ago, they said the big stories that were way behind with the army, air
force, the navy, the marines were way behind Coast Guard, and even space force. I love space force because that was my creation.
You know, when you create something, I love it. And the people we put in there were good. I got that right. We put in great people initially, and
we've really dominated. We really dominated that sphere now. We were way behind China and Russia, and now we dominate space force turned out to be a
very important thing.
I said from the beginning, you know, when Biden came into office, he wanted to terminate, he said, and this thing called space force so we could get
rid of that. And he got hammered by the people in this room for even suggesting it, because it's very important, one of the most important.
And as time goes by, it'll get more and more important. But we're now at 106 percent of our recruiting targets for the year, and that's the best in
far more than a generation. And for the marines, morale is so strong that the Marine Corps will meet its 2026, retention targets before the end of
October, which never happens.
And that's the earliest it's ever happened in the history of our country. And it makes you feel good. You know, I felt guilty. I'd go make a speech
in front of never people like you. You are the leaders, but people soldiers. And I felt embarrassed, because there'd be stories about, you
know, you couldn't -- we couldn't fill up our army, navy, air force, we couldn't fill them up.
And it was headlines, his headlines. It was during Biden's four years, the auto pen. I call him the auto pen. That's how would you like to have your
thing signed by an auto pen? You know, when I have a general and I have to sign for a general, because we have beautiful paper.
They're gorgeous paper. I said they're all little more gold on it. They deserve it. Give me. I want the A paper, not the D paper. We used to sign a
piece of garbage. I said this man is going to be a general, right? Yeah, I don't want to use this. I want to use the big, beautiful firm paper.
I want to use the real gold writing when you talk about the position, and they're beautiful and -- but how would you like to have that where you --
some kid sitting in the back office is having it signed with an auto pen? I thought about it, and I thought about you people, first admirals, generals,
and I said, somebody works this.
His whole life, he gets into maybe the academies or wherever, but however you got there, and you go through years of work, and now you become an
admiral or a general or whatever. And when you do, the President of the United States signs your commission, as you know, and that commission is
beautifully displayed.
And I sign it, actually, I love my signature. I really do. Everyone loves my signature, but I signed it very proudly. And I always think to myself,
how can you have an auto pen sign this? It's just so disrespectful to me. It's just totally disrespectful. And it turned out that almost everything
he did was signed by autopen, except for what he gave his son, Hunter.
Pardon, he signed that one, and that's actually the worst signature I've ever seen, that was the bit the auto pen looks much better. But as leaders,
our commitment to every patriot who put on the uniform is to ensure that American military remains the most lethal and dominant on the planet, not
merely for a few years, but for the decades and generations to come, for centuries.
We must be so strong that no nation will dare challenge us, so powerful that no enemy will dare threaten us, and so capable that no adversary can
even think about beating us. And we've had it recently. I had India and Pakistan were going at it, and I called them both. And in this case, I used
trade.
I'm not going to trade with you. You start two nuclear nations, big nuclear. No, no, no, you cannot do that. I said, yes, I can. You go into
this freaking war that I'm hearing about. You know, actually, they just shot down seven planes. Seven planes, it was starting. There's a lot of bad
blood.
And I said, you do this was not going to be any trade. And I stopped the worst it was going. It was raging for four days, but that was just the
beginning. And we stopped. It was a great thing. And the Prime Minister of Pakistan was here along with the field marshal, who's a very important guy
in Pakistan.
And he was here three days ago, and I didn't even realize it as beautiful as he said it, but he said that to a group of people that were with us, two
generals, but a group. He said, this man saved millions of lives because he saved the war from going on, and that war was going to get very bad.
[09:45:00]
Very, very bad. President Trump saved millions and millions of lives. That was a bad war, and I was very honored. I loved the way he said it. Susie
Wiles was there. She said that was the most beautiful thing. But we saved a lot of them. Saved a lot of them. Even in Africa, we saved the Congo with
Rwanda.
They've been fighting for 31 years. 10 million people dead. I got that one done and very proud of it. So, if this works out, we'll have eight. Eight
in eight months. That's pretty good. Nobody has ever done that. Will you get the Nobel Prize? Absolutely not. They'll give it.
They'll give it to some guy that didn't do a damn thing. They'll give it to a guy that wrote a book about the mind of Donald Trump and what it took to
solve the wars that he'll get the Nobel Prize will go to a writer now, but let's see what happens. But it's be a big insult to our country.
I will tell you that I don't want it. I want the country to get it. It should get it, because there's never been anything like it. Think of it.
So, if this happens, I think it will. I don't say that lightly, because they know more about deals than anybody. That's what my whole life was
based on.
And they can change, and this can certainly change. But we have just about everybody. We have one signature that we need, and that signature will pay
in hell if they don't sign. I hope they sign for their own good and create something really great. But to have done eight of them is just like such an
honor.
And then we have Putin and Zelenskyy. The easiest one of them all. I said that one, I'll get done. I thought that was going to be first. The other
was much harder. Some of Azerbaijan was -- this was going on for 36 years. They said, it's not solvable, sir, you can't don't do it. I said, I will do
it.
I will do it. And I got on the phone with the two countries. They were great. They were great. I knew immediately. I knew as soon as I started
talking to him, we're going to solve that war we did, now they're so happy, now they're friends. Once said he's been President for 32 years, 22 years.
He said, you know, for 22 years, I did nothing but kill his people. They were in the room together at the Oval Office. And they started off spread
like this, at the beautiful, resolute task, and one was here and one was here. You couldn't get further away. That's the furthest I've ever seen two
people in front of me.
And as the hour went by. They got closer, closer, closer, and at the end of the hour, we had it done, and they hugged and hugged and hugged. And I
said, that's so nice, and you're going to remain friends. And I spoke to them, one of them the other day, he said, no, he's now my friend, but for
22 years, he's been the head of Azerbaijan for 22 years.
And the other guy, great guy, too, seven and you know that war, that was a war that was not solvable. He said for seven years. The other one said, for
22 years, all I did was kill his people. That's all I've done. I said, well, we're going to put a stop to that. So, we solved that.
So, it's a great thing. It's a great feeling. You know, you're saving Kosovo and Serbia. You're saving so many lives doing this, if you can do
it. But our people deserve nothing less than the very best, and we'll never going to let them down. And if we can solve wars instead of you having to
fight wars, wouldn't that be wonderful, right?
Wouldn't that be wonderful. That's why one of the first executive orders I signed upon taking office was to restore the principle of merit. That's the
most important word other than the word tariff. I love tariffs, most beautiful word, but I'm not allowed to say that anymore. I said tariff is
my favorite word.
I love the word tariff. You know, we're becoming rich as hell. We have a big case in front of the Supreme Court, but I can't imagine, because this
is what other nations have done to us, and we have great legal grounds, but you still have a case would be very bad. Something happened, but I said my
favorite word in the English dictionary is the word tariff.
And people thought that was strange, and the fake news came over, and they really hit me hard on it. They said, What about love? What about religion?
What about God? What about wife family? I got killed when I said, tariff is my favorite word, so I change it's not my fifth favorite word, and I'm OK
with that.
I'm OK with that. But they hit me hard, but it is. I mean, when you look at, we've taken in trillions of dollars, we're rich, rich again, and
they'll never be when we finish this out, there'll never be any wealth like what we have.
[09:50:00]
Other countries were taking advantage of us for years and years. You know that better than anybody. And now we're treating them fairly. But the money
coming in is we've never seen anything like it. The other day, they had 31 billion that they found, $31 billion so we found $31 billion and we're not
sure from where it came.
A gentleman came in, a financial guy. I said, well, what does that mean? Said, we don't know where it came. I said, check the tariff shelf. No, sir.
The tariffs haven't started in that sector yet. I said, yes, they have. They started seven weeks ago. Check it comes back 20 minutes late, sir,
you're right.
It came from tariffs, 31 billion. That's enough to buy a lot of battleships. Admiral, to use an old term, I think we should maybe start
thinking about battleships, by the way. You know, we have a Secretary of the Navy came to me because I look at the Iowa out in California, and I
look at different ships, the old pictures I used to watch victory at sea.
I love victory at sea. Look at these admirals. It's got to be your all time. Fade black and white. When I look at those ships, they came with the
destroyers alongside of them, and meant nothing was going to stop. They were 20 deep, and they were in a straight line, and there was nothing going
to stop them.
And we actually talk about, you know, those ships, some people would say, no, that's old technology. I don't know. I don't think it's old technology
when you look at those guns, but it's something we're actually considering. The concept of battleship, nice, six-inch side, solid steel, not aluminum,
aluminum that melts.
If it looks at a missile coming at it starts melting as the missiles about two miles away. Now those ships, they don't make them that way anymore, but
you look at it and your secretary likes it, and I'm sort of open to it. And bullets are a lot less expensive than missiles.
A lot of reasons I should take a vote, but I'm afraid to take that vote, because I may get voted out on that one. But I tell you, it's something
we're seriously considering. There were powers. There were big powers. They were just about as mean and scary as you could be.
So, looking at that, one of the biggest cases that we won was the decision of the United States Supreme Court to allow us to proceed on the word
merit, merit. So those two words are right up there. So, this is, I would say, the opposite, if you ask for a definition, the opposite of political
correctness.
We went through politically correct, where you had to have people that were totally unfit to be doing what you're doing. For many reasons, I won't get
into them, but for many reasons, they were unfit. Now it's all based on merit. That was such an unbelievable decision. I didn't expect we were
going to win that one.
We went in. We said, we need it. We went in for colleges, you know, where kids with a C average are getting into the best colleges, and the kids with
A averages won't get in. And kids with the highest boards and the highest marks are the best marks couldn't get into the best schools.
And people that had not good boards and not very good marks. I mean, OK, but nothing special. They were getting into our best colleges. I said, this
is just crazy. We can't run -- you can't run a country like this. And it was lingering for years, and it got to the Supreme Court, and we won that
decision.
Merit -- everything's based on merit. You're all based on merit. We're not going to have somebody taking your place for political reasons, because
they are politically correct and you're not. We take the people that are going to do the best job. So, it's very simple, and that's the way our
country was built.
We were built on merit. We got away from it for a long time, and everyone understands it. And it was done. It was approved. I give great credit to
the Supreme Court, because I thought they had tremendous courage. I didn't think they'd do that. That was tremendous. I give them maybe for that
decision, almost more than anything, because it's a hard decision to make.
It's really hard. The apparatus of our country was not set up for merit. It was set up for political correctness, and you can never be great if you're
going to do that, and we're going to be greater than we ever were before. We're bringing back a focus on fitness, ability, character and strength,
and that's because the purposes of American military are not to protect anyone's feelings.
It's to protect our Republic, and it's the Republic that we dearly love. It's to protect our country. We will not be politically correct when it
comes to defending American freedom, and we will be a fighting and winning machine.
[09:55:00]
We want to fight, we want to win, and we want to fight as little as possible. You have to count on people like me to keep you out of wars,
because we don't want to go into wars. Many of the wars that I just told you about, we could have entered those wars and settled them in a different
way.
Lose a lot of our troops, and we could have settled him, I guess differently, maybe not actually, you might not have been able to settle
him. We just would have been in the middle of a lot of firepower, but, but when we do need it, you're going to be so ready, and you know it.
But very importantly, with that goal in mind, I've committed to spending over $1 trillion on our military in 2026 and that's the most in the history
of our country, $1 trillion that's a lot of money. I hope you like that, mams and sirs. I hope you like it. That's a hell of a lot of money we have
the best of everything.
Every branch is seeing major investments. And as I announced in the Oval Office in March, we are rapidly moving forward with the first ever sixth
generation fighter jet. I didn't name it. I did not name it. Boeing came in and they said, sir, this is our submittal. It's the greatest fighting jet
ever done.
And you know, they're testing all these planes. All the companies are testing, and this one tested like through the roof, and they said, we like
to name it the F-47. I said, let me think about it. Then, after thinking for about two seconds, I said, OK, you know that means 47 I'm 47.
So, I'm 45, 46 and 47 if you think about it. I just don't want the credit for 46 I don't want to have their open borders and people coming in from
all over the world, including jails and mental incidents. I don't want that on my record. But I like having it. We're investing tens of billions of
dollars in modernizing our nuclear deterrence capabilities like never before, and we've begun construction on what we call the golden dome
missile defense shield.
It will be the most sophisticated in the world. You watched it. Do well until they had some problems at the end with a little bit of a lack of
ammunition, defensive ammunition, but they've got that taken care of. But I tell you, it's what we're doing is so good, and we deserve it.
You know, we help other countries with it. We don't have it ourselves. And Canada called me a couple of weeks ago. They want to be part of it, to
which I said, well, why don't you just join our country? You become 51, become the 51st state, and you get it for free. So, I don't know if that
made a big impact, but it does make a lot of sense.
It actually makes because they're having a hard time up there in Canada now, because, as you know, with tariffs, everyone's coming into our
country. We have more investment than we've ever had before, $17 trillion coming in. As an example, in four years, Biden didn't have 1 trillion.
We have 17 trillion more than that in eight months coming in, and they're coming in from Canada, Mexico, from Europe, from all over AI auto plants.
Everybody's coming back to the United States. Under my budget, we will be expanding the U.S. Navy by at least 19 ships next year, including
submarines, destroyers, assault ships and more.
And it's going to be much more than that as we go along, because we basically don't build ships anymore. We do build submarines, but we don't
build ships. Do you know, in the Second World War, they were freighters and different types, but we were doing a ship a day.
And now we don't do ships. And I'm not a fan of some of the ships you do. I'm a very esthetic person, and I don't like some of the ships you're doing
esthetically. They say, oh, it's stealth. They say, that's not an ugly ship. It's not necessary in order to say you're stealth. By the way, the B2
bombers were incredible.
That is stealth. They went into that I was with General Caine, and every and Pete were in the we call it the war room, but we're watching them go in
and they were totally untouched. They were not seen. They were literally not seen. They dropped their bombs. They hit every single one of them hit
its target.
It was total obliteration. CNN, when we came back, fake news. CNN, oh, their camera just went off. You know, their camera, every time I mention
they turn the camera up because it's never good. They say this is a problem, but I don't blame them. You're better off keeping it off.
But they have some scammer reporter who started saying, without any knowledge, he may not have hit the targets as well as they thought.
END
