Crippled America: How to Make America Great Again

1 WINNING AGAIN

AMERICA NEEDS TO START winning again.

Nobody likes a loser and nobody likes to be bullied. Yet, here we stand today, the greatest superpower on Earth, and everyone is eating our lunch. That’s not winning.

We have a president who tries to get tough and draw a line in the sand, but when that line gets crossed, there are no repercussions.

And when we try to negotiate with foreign countries? We don’t stand up. We don’t threaten to walk away. And, more important, we don’t walk away. We make concession after concession. That’s not winning.

If I ran my business that way, I’d fire myself.

Take one of the worst agreements in our history—the nuclear “treaty” with Iran—which John Kerry negotiated and President Obama rammed through and around Congress. (Or, rather, he convinced his party to support it and filibuster any debate or vote on it.) This is probably the most important treaty of our time, and our very stupid leaders in Washington, DC, couldn’t even bring themselves to hold a discussion and vote on it.

Ronald Reagan said, “Trust but verify”—but in this case we aren’t following either piece of advice. How can we trust a man like the Ayatollah Khamenei? Just a month before we approved the treaty, he reiterated that his country was pledged to destroy and eliminate Israel, our most important ally and longtime partner in preserving some semblance of stability in the region. And as for verification, we don’t even know what side-deals the International Atomic Energy Agency has struck with Iran. Or if we do know, they haven’t been made public.

That’s not winning—that’s criminal negligence, in my view.

Then when every Senate Republican criticized this deal (and some of the Democrats did as well), the president compared his critics to our adversaries.

In other words, he sells out his friends and allies, and then defends his treaty by comparing his critics to our enemies.

That’s what we call successful diplomacy?

Now we’re going to open the gates to refugees from places like Syria, which is like extending a personal invitation to ISIS members to come live here and try to destroy our country from within.

This is America today, the shining city on a hill, which other countries used to admire and try to be like.

So what can be done about it? How do we start winning again?

To start with, we need a government that is committed to winning and has experience in winning. This book is about how we do that.

In early September 2015, I spoke at a major rally in Washington, DC. I told them that we need a military that will be so strong that we won’t have to use it. And then I asked, “Are you listening, President Obama?” Almost everyone in the crowd cheered, but I understand why some of them were skeptical. Americans are used to hearing the same old promises from the same tired politicians who never produce any results, let alone any victories. I should know. For years I gave money—lots of money—to candidates from both parties who made personal pleas for my support for their campaigns. They promised to change things with new ideas and bring government back to its original, more limited purpose of protecting our country and putting our people first.

Candidate after candidate made all kinds of pledges like this, and very little, if anything, was done. How many of those problems have been solved? Nothing seemed to move forward in Washington.

Look at Congress, which has an understandably negative reputation among Americans.

And why not? They do nothing.

They can’t even pass an annual budget. They constantly bicker, which means that they just throw all our problems and our huge debt on to our children and possibly our grandchildren.

This has to stop.

Finally, I realized that America doesn’t need more “all-talk, no-action” politicians running things. It needs smart businesspeople who understand how to manage. We don’t need more political rhetoric—we need more common sense. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”—but if it is broke, let’s stop talking about it and fix it.

I know how to fix it.

A lot of people were encouraging me to speak out, and I realized that with my well-known success story and record of building residential and office buildings and developing public spaces—all the while accumulating personal wealth—I could inspire people to help create the most massive turnaround in American history.

Of course, there were doubters. Between journalists who sell newspapers by creating controversy, and established politicians eager to preserve the status quo that in turn preserves their jobs, there were many “experts” predicting my demise. They’ve been reading the “polls.” They’ve been listening to all the lobbyists and special interests saying “Trump is a threat to our well-being.” They’ve even been saying I was a bully or that I was prejudiced or that I hated women or hated Hispanics. Some of them even said—and this is the cardinal sin in politics—I was willing to take on even the richest people in America with all their tax benefits.

I have proven everybody wrong.

EVERYBODY!

Suddenly, those same newspapers and “experts” were only talking about my ideas. And even as I’ve had to respond to some of the toughest and dumbest questions from supposedly nonpartisan journalists, people continue to listen to me and support my ideas—and guess what? Women are flocking to my message because they’re just as tired as men are about how little is being accomplished in Washington.

Likewise, Hispanics are climbing on board because they’ve heard—from Hispanic employees who’ve actually worked for me and know me as a boss and leader—that Donald Trump builds businesses.

Donald Trump builds buildings.

Donald Trump develops magnificent golf courses.

Donald Trump makes investments that create jobs.

And Donald Trump creates jobs for legal immigrants and all Americans.

Even the most jaded journalists are realizing that Donald Trump is for real and that the people are responding to someone who is completely different from every other politician.

No one is paying me to say these things. I am paying my own way, and I’m not beholden to any special interests and lobbyists.

I’m not playing by the usual status-quo rules.

I’m not a politician taking polls to see what I should “believe” or be saying.

I am telling it like it is and going to the heart of what I think will make America great again.

I’m not a diplomat who wants everybody else to be happy. I’m a practical businessman who has learned that when you believe in something, you never stop, you never quit, and if you get knocked down, you climb right back up and keep fighting until you win. That’s been my strategy all my life, and I’ve been very successful following it.

Winning matters. Being the best matters.

I’m going to keep fighting for our country until our country is great again.

Too many people think the American dream is dead, but we can bring it back bigger, better, and stronger than ever before. But we must start now.

We need to ensure America starts winning once again.