President Trump emphasized the importance of "conservative values" and prioritizing the well-being of Americans over global interests during his speech at the 2017 Conservative Political Action Conference, Feb. 24. (Sarah Parnass/The Washington Post)
President Trump on Friday addressed the Conservative Political Action Conference, the event where he launched his political star in 2011. From the outset, he had one thing on his mind: the media.
Trump began his speech with a lengthy tirade against the press. We have annotated the president's remarks, using Genius.To see an annotation, click on the yellow, highlighted text. To addyour own, sign up for a Genius account.
TRUMP: Thank you, everybody. So great to be with you. Thank you. (APPLAUSE)
Great to be back at CPAC. It's a place I have really...
AUDIENCE MEMBER: We love you!
TRUMP: I love this place.
(APPLAUSE)
Love you people. So thank you -- thank you very much.
First of all, I want to thank Matt Schlapp and his very, very incredible wife, and boss, Mercedes, who have been fantastic friends and supporters and so great. When I watch them on television defending me, nobody has a chance.
So I want to thank Matt and Mercedes.
(APPLAUSE)
And when Matt called and asked I said, "Absolutely I'll be there with you." I mean, the real reason I said it, I didn't want him to go against me cause that...
(LAUGHTER)
... that one you can't beat.
So I said absolutely.
And it really is an honor to be here. I wouldn't miss a chance to talk to my friends. These are my friends.
(APPLAUSE)
And we'll see you again next year and the year after that and I'll be doing this...
(APPLAUSE)
... I'll be doing this with CPAC whenever I can and I'll make sure that we're here a lot.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: You can do it!
TRUMP: You know if you remember my first major speech -- sit down everybody. C'mon.
(LAUGHTER)
You know the dishonest media they'll say, "He didn't get a standing ovation." You know why?
(LAUGHTER)
No -- you know why? Because everybody stood and nobody sat. So they will say, "He never got a standing ovation," right? (Inaudible).
They are the worst.
(APPLAUSE)
AUDIENCE: USA! USA! USA!
TRUMP: So -- sit down.
(LAUGHTER)
"Donald Trump did not get a standing ovation."
(LAUGHTER)
They leave out the part, "They never sat down." They leave that out.
So I just want to thank -- but you know my first major speak was at CPAC and -- probably five or six years ago. First major political speech. And you were there. And it was -- I loved it. I loved the people. I loved the commotion.
And then they did these polls were I went through the roof and I wasn't even running, right?
(LAUGHTER)
But it gave me an idea. And I got a little bit concerned when I saw what was happening in the country. And I said, "Let's go to it."
So, it was very exciting. I walked the stage on CPAC. I'll never forget it, really. I had very little notes and even less preparation. So when you have practically no notes and no preparation and then you leave and everybody was thrilled, I said, "I think I like this business."
(LAUGHTER)
I would've come last year but I was worried that I would be, at that time, too controversial. We wanted border security. We wanted very, very strong military. We wanted all of the things that we're going to get...
(APPLAUSE)
... and people consider that controversial but you didn't consider it controversial.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: So, I've been with CPAC for a long time. All of these years we've been together. And now you finally have a president, finally. Took you a long time.
(APPLAUSE)
Took you a long time.
(APPLAUSE)
And it's patriots like you that made it happen, believe me. Believe me.
You did it because you love your country, because you want a better future for your children and because you want to make America great again.
(APPLAUSE)
The media didn't think we would win. The...
AUDIENCE MEMBER: (OFF-MIKE)
(LAUGHER)
TRUMP: ... pundits -- you're right. They had an idea.
The pundits didn't think we'd win. The consultants that suck up all that money -- oh, they suck it up. They're so good.
(LAUGHTER)
They're not good at politics, but they're really good at sucking up people's money. Especially my opponents, because I kept them down to a minimum.
But the consultants didn't think we would win.
But they all underestimated the power of the people: You. And the people proved them...
(APPLAUSE)
... totally wrong. Never -- and -- and this is so true. And this is what's been happening. Never underestimate the people. Never.
(APPLAUSE)
I don't think it'll ever happen again.
And I want you all to know that we are fighting the fake news. It's fake, phony, fake.
(APPLAUSE)
A few days ago I called the fake news the enemy of the people. And they are. They are the enemy of the people.
(APPLAUSE)
Because they have no sources, they just make 'em up when there are none. I saw one story recently where they said, "Nine people have confirmed." There're no nine people. I don't believe there was one or two people. Nine people.
And I said, "Give me a break." Because I know the people, I know who they talk to. There were no nine people.
But they say "nine people." And somebody reads it and they think, "Oh, nine people. They have nine sources." They make up sources.
They're very dishonest people. In fact, in covering my comments, the dishonest media did not explain that I called the fake news the enemy of the people. The fake news. They dropped off the word "fake." And all of a sudden the story became the media is the enemy.
They take the word "fake" out. And now I'm saying, "Oh no, this is no good." But that's the way they are.
So I'm not against the media, I'm not against the press. I don't mind bad stories if I deserve them.
And I tell ya, I love good stories, but we don't go...
(LAUGHTER)
I don't get too many of them.
But I am only against the fake news, media or press. Fake, fake. They have to leave that word.
I'm against the people that make up stories and make up sources.
They shouldn't be allowed to use sources unless they use somebody's name. Let their name be put out there. Let their name be put out.
(APPLAUSE)
"A source says that Donald Trump is a horrible, horrible human being." Let 'em say it to my face.
(APPLAUSE)
Let there be no more sources.
And remember this -- and in not -- in all cases. I mean, I had a story written yesterday about me in Reuters by a very honorable man. It was a very fair story.
There are some great reporters around. They're talented, they're honest as the day is long. They're great.
But there are some terrible dishonest people and they do a tremendous disservice to our country and to our people. A tremendous disservice. They are very dishonest people.
And they shouldn't use sources. They should put the name of the person. You will see stories dry up like you've never seen before.
So you have no idea how bad it is, because if you are not part of the story -- and I put myself in your position sometimes. Because many of you, you're not part of the story. And if you're not part of the story, you know, then you, sort of, know -- if you are part of the story, you know what they're saying is true or not.
TRUMP: So when they make it up -- and they make up something else, and you saw that before the election: polls, polls. The polls. They come out with these polls and everybody was so surprised.
Actually, a couple polls got it right. I must say Los Angeles Times did a great job, shocking because, you know, they did a great job.
(APPLAUSE)
And we had a couple of others that were right, but generally speaking, I mean, can tell you the network, somebody said a poll came out. And I say, what network is it? And they'll say, a certain -- let's not even mention names, right? Shall we?
(APPLAUSE)
Well, you have a lot of them. Look, the Clinton News Network is one.
(APPLAUSE)
Totally. Take a look. Honestly. Take a look, honestly. Take a look at polls over the last two years. Now you'd think they would fire the pollster, right? After years and years of getting battered, but I -- who knows, maybe they are just bad at polling or maybe they're not legit, but it's one or the other, look at how inaccurate -- look at CBS, look at ABC, also, look at NBC, take a look at some of these polls. They're so bad, so inaccurate and what that does is it creates a false narrative.
It creates like this narrative that is just like we're not going to win, people say, I love Trump, but you know, I'm not feeling great today, he can't win, so I won't go and vote. I won't go and vote. It creates a whole false deal. And we have to fight it, folks, we have to fight it. They're very smart, they're very cunning and they're very dishonest.
So just to conclude, I mean, it's a very sensitive topic and they get upset when we expose their false stories. They say that we can't criticize their dishonest coverage because of the First Amendment, you know, they always bring up the First Amendment.
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