Trump speaks at NASA's aerospace expo in Florida — NBC News

[0:20] He's in place, and what a wonderful leader you have in Jared. [0:24] Thank you, Jared, very much. [0:27] And I will say this, the best administrator in NASA history, and I mean that. [0:33] He's a pilot, an astronaut, a patriot. [0:36] So, Jared, great job. [0:38] You're doing a fantastic job. [0:39] I was very proud to pick him. [0:40] And thanks as well to every innovator, pioneer, and distinguished guest gathered today for [0:47] one simple reason, to keep America first on Earth, first in disguise. [0:53] And, of course, first in space. [0:57] Very important. [1:01] And I want to congratulate while I'm looking at that big, strong guy. [1:04] Just one for governor. [1:05] Will you stand up, please, by the way? [1:07] While we have. [1:08] That's fantastic. [1:12] And he won it, and he did it the hard way he worked. [1:15] He worked hard. [1:16] And please, Madam Senator, if you don't mind, you'll be approving this. [1:21] Thank you, baby. [1:23] Great job, both of you. [1:25] Great job. [1:25] I want to thank the co-founder of the Upsummit, Cyrus Cigari, for helping organize this really [1:35] unbelievable event. [1:36] It's going to be bigger and bigger every year. [1:39] You'll see that. [1:40] And congratulations to also our Secretary of State, who's here. [1:45] He's had a fantastic run. [1:47] He's the greatest Secretary of State that we've ever had in this country. [1:51] Marco Rubio is around here someplace. [1:53] Where's Marco? [1:53] Thank you, Marco. [1:59] He's been fantastic. [2:00] OMB Director, Russ Vogt. [2:03] Thank you, Russ. [2:04] Thank you. [2:05] U.N. Ambassador Mike Walsh. [2:07] Good job you're doing, Mike. [2:10] It was a natural, huh? [2:13] I saw the way you took on the Cubans. [2:17] Anybody watch? [2:18] I love it. [2:19] And Sam Graves and Mike Herodopoulos, who's fantastic. [2:24] Thank you, Mike. [2:25] Great job. [2:25] Great job. [2:26] And you win. [2:26] Acting Secretary of the Navy, Hung Kao. [2:30] I love the name. [2:31] Hung Kao. [2:33] You did a fantastic job. [2:35] You're doing that. [2:35] There is FAA Administrator, Brian Bedford, who is amazing. [2:41] Thank you, Brian. [2:43] Where is Brian? [2:44] Is it around here? [2:44] Thank you, Brian. [2:46] Thank you. [2:47] Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy. [2:52] It's really a very important job, Michael. [2:55] Kretzius. [2:56] Thank you, Michael. [2:57] Thank you. [2:58] Thank you, Michael. [3:00] Good job. [3:02] And many other leaders in aviation, aerospace, technology. [3:05] We've got a lot of them here. [3:07] A lot of guys that sell this stuff, they're making a lot of money. [3:10] And they accuse me of having met you once before, a long time ago. [3:15] Remember, I don't want to shake any of your hands. [3:17] That way you have no problem. [3:19] But you're doing a fantastic job. [3:20] We make the best equipment, space equipment, military equipment, anywhere in the world. [3:26] There's nobody even close. [3:28] And before going any further, it's true, too. [3:30] Yeah, go ahead. [3:31] You can clap for that one. [3:32] But before going any further, we have some great news today. [3:39] We just received yet another blockbuster jobs report that smashed all expectations. [3:44] The job numbers are through the roof. [3:47] The United States just added 165,000 jobs in October. [3:51] They thought that number would be maybe around 20, slightly more. [3:55] I told them, including 19,000 brand new manufacturing jobs, the largest one-month increase in manufacturing [4:03] jobs in many, many decades. [4:06] And despite the, thank you, despite the $3 trillion lost yesterday, you know, our country [4:13] lost $3 trillion, all because of an election. [4:17] I wonder what that means. [4:18] If we would have gained $3 trillion, I probably would have been more unhappy. [4:23] But you know what that means? [4:24] That means that they thought somebody else did well in election. [4:28] By the way, I was not on the ballot, just in case you had any question. [4:32] Because if we were on the ballot, we would have won. [4:34] But we weren't. [4:36] But these guys were, and they won. [4:38] That's why we're so proud of you. [4:39] You won pretty easily, too. [4:42] We've secured $22.2 trillion of investment in less than two years. [4:47] Nobody's ever done that. [4:48] No country has ever done that much. [4:51] Personal incomes for the typical American recently reached the highest level ever recorded. [4:56] The poverty rate is at the best and lowest level ever recorded. [5:02] More Americans are working today than at any time ever before in the history of our country. [5:07] Think about that one. [5:09] We're also ensuring that Iran will never have a nuclear weapon. [5:13] They will never have it. [5:14] Not even close. [5:15] They're not close. [5:17] They tried. [5:19] They tried. [5:20] And you know what? [5:21] If they did have it, if we didn't go in with those beautiful B-2 bombers a little more than [5:28] a year ago, if I allowed them to have it, today there would be no Israel. [5:35] It would have been wiped off the face of the earth, and there would be no Middle East. [5:39] And I know, because I deal with these people, we will never let that happen. [5:46] Iran will never, ever have a nuclear weapon. [5:48] You can rest assured. [5:50] So our country is strong again. [5:54] Our country is respected again. [5:56] Over the next two years, we will lead America and NASA to new heights of achievement and success [6:04] that the world has never seen. [6:07] We've never seen what we're doing right now. [6:09] Jared's such a big part of it. [6:10] We have the smartest minds, the most brilliant minds anywhere in the world. [6:16] When I came into office and began my first term back in 2017, the NASA, I was here. [6:23] It was dead. [6:25] I said, are there any people around? [6:27] All you had was broken runways with grass growing up the cracks of the runways. [6:32] It wasn't pretty. [6:33] I said, you know, that only happens when a place isn't used, when wheels aren't running [6:39] over it, but there was grass. [6:41] It was more grass than they had in asphalt or concrete. [6:46] And here at the Kennedy Space Center, things are really going well. [6:51] The ambition was gone, though, at that time. [6:54] I'll never forget it. [6:55] The spirit was gone. [6:56] I met like two people. [6:57] That's about all we had here. [6:59] There were almost nobody. [7:00] I said, is there anybody around? [7:01] Knock, knock. [7:02] Anybody home? [7:04] Now it's thriving. [7:05] But the spirit was gone. [7:06] The inspiration was gone. [7:07] And after many years of failed leadership from Washington, the United States had even lost [7:14] the ability to send their own astronauts into space. [7:17] Wasn't going to happen. [7:19] But I had to make a decision. [7:21] Do we open this place up and make it great? [7:24] Or do we let it die? [7:27] And I think you know the decision because it's never been more vibrant. [7:31] I watched just a couple of months ago what was happening, that big, beautiful ship going [7:36] up. [7:37] And everybody who was with me, they all stopped a very important dinner. [7:40] Let's watch. [7:42] But those days are days of failure and neglect and decline. [7:47] They're all behind us. [7:48] They're gone. [7:49] Under the Trump administration, our ambition is back. [7:53] Our momentum is back. [7:55] Our leadership is back. [7:56] NASA is back and above all, and most importantly, the United States of America is back. [8:03] As a symbol of that national renewal, today we gather by the, and this is a gathering of [8:16] real friends, by the same runway that once stood cracked and silent to announce that this [8:23] very site will soon be the premier venue for the air and space demonstrations from all [8:31] over the world. [8:31] They'll come for decades. [8:34] For decades, the world's major aerospace shows have been held overseas from Paris to the United [8:39] Kingdom to Dubai. [8:42] Those foreign air shows have drawn the biggest crowds and big contracts, big headlines. [8:47] And it's been more than 30 years since a new airliner was unveiled at the show on American [8:54] soil. [8:55] We didn't have the big shows. [8:56] They were in Paris. [8:57] Mostly, I think, of the Paris air show. [8:59] But those foreign countries do not dominate aviation, and they don't dominate aerospace. [9:07] They don't even come close, actually. [9:09] We do. [9:10] And under the Trump administration, we believe that the future of those industries should [9:14] be unveiled right here in the USA. [9:18] We dominate, and we should have the biggest show. [9:20] So we will have, within two years, the biggest air show that means commercial, that means [9:27] space, that means in the world by far. [9:31] It won't even be close. [9:32] And when people ask me what exactly we're trying to do, I said exactly that, that we're going [9:44] to do a bigger and better, grander version than the Paris air show. [9:49] Much bigger, much grander. [9:53] And we have the right location. [9:54] This is such a great unlimited runway, unlimited space to do fantastic buildings and all the [10:02] things necessary to do. [10:03] So we're going to have a show of the likes of which has never been done before. [10:09] Next year, you'll see an even bigger building. [10:12] And over the next few years, you'll see the biggest air show anywhere in the world. [10:16] That'll take place very quickly, I'd say, two years. [10:19] And that includes commercial aircraft of all types. [10:23] You'll have all of the big commercial flights and companies, Boeing, everybody's going to be here. [10:30] The former shuttle landing facility will be transformed into a 1,900 acre venue that will [10:37] bring hundreds of thousands of visitors each year, generate billions of dollars in economic [10:43] impact and host hundreds of billions of dollars in deals. [10:48] We're going to sign deals for commercial and private and whoever. [10:53] We're all right here in central Florida, where all of that business is very important to [11:00] Byron Barnes already getting very happy. [11:03] He's saying, oh, what a great job I've done. [11:05] You're going to be happy. [11:06] And you'll be here every year with me, okay? [11:08] We'll be here to launch each year. [11:10] To the entire team at NASA who have worked to make this vision a real reality, a beautiful, [11:18] a gorgeous reality, and especially Administrator Isaacman, congratulations on this historic [11:27] achievement. [11:29] There could be no better place to launch the next generation of American breakthroughs than [11:33] Cape Canaveral and the Kennedy Space Center, where America's future will take flight. [11:41] This storied soil is where Alan Shepard became the first American to ride into space on a pillar [11:48] of fire was fire. [11:50] I remember that so well. [11:53] It's where the largest rocket ever built, the Saturn V, tore free of Earth's gravity and [11:58] raced into the stars. [12:01] It's where the space shuttle first climbed into the heavens and where the heroes of Apollo 11 [12:06] embarked on their mission to plant our great American flag on the moon, securing our place [12:14] as the most incredible and exceptional nation in all of history. [12:18] The breakthroughs of single lifetime carried Americans from the sands of Kitty Hawk to the [12:26] surface of the moon in just 66 years. [12:29] Think of it, 66 years. [12:32] But then in one of the great tragedies of modern times or political class, you know anything about [12:38] them? [12:39] You know anything? [12:40] These people, they abandoned you. [12:43] They abandoned this vision and they abandoned the commitment to progress. [12:49] We lost the ability to go to moon, to the moon. [12:52] We lost the ability to go anywhere in space. [12:55] We forgot how to build the Saturn V rocket. [13:00] We walked away from supersonic flight. [13:03] And when you think about it, I used to travel on a supersonic plane 30 years ago. [13:12] And it used to go extremely fast, more than double what they go today. [13:16] This may be the only industry in the world where we've gone backwards. [13:20] We used to fly in that beautiful Concorde, one of the most beautiful pieces of art I've [13:26] ever seen. [13:26] It was a piece of art. [13:28] I flew on it often. [13:29] And then one day, they cut the speed in about one third. [13:34] I said, what happened? [13:35] And so it's one of the few industries that have gone backward, but no more, no more. [13:40] We're going way forward. [13:42] We'll be way forward, actually, of the Concorde itself. [13:45] We lowered our ambitions and turned from big dreams and bold visions to small thinking [13:51] and stagnation. [13:53] It was pure stagnation. [13:55] But America cannot remain the leading nation on Earth if we turn away from that big, great, [14:01] giant frontier, the biggest frontier of them all. [14:05] History has shown that if a nation wants to dominate the future, then it must build for [14:11] the future. [14:12] Great civilizations do not stand still. [14:15] They're rising or falling, expanding, shrinking, leading or declining. [14:22] And in America, our destiny is to lead. [14:24] That's what we do as we lead, make America great again. [14:29] That's what we do. [14:30] Our calling is to explore. [14:32] Our purpose is to build. [14:34] And our aim is always to win. [14:37] We want to win, pushing the boundaries of human achievement further than anyone has ever [14:42] gone before. [14:44] And we're there now. [14:45] We're ready. [14:45] We're ready. [14:46] We've taken a long time to put us back in a position where we were far advanced over [14:51] what we were when we were at our previous height. [14:55] That's why in my first term, I signed the orders creating the Artemis program, directing [15:02] NASA to return American astronauts to the moon and then push forward to Mars. [15:09] This year, Artemis II made history circling the moon for the first time in more than 50 [15:15] years traveling further from Earth than anyone has ever traveled before. [15:20] Think of that, the furthest anyone has ever traveled before. [15:25] Three months ago, it was my privilege to award the crew of Artemis II the Congressional Space [15:33] Medal of Honor. [15:35] And today, we're pleased to be joined by astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and [15:42] Jeremy Hansen. [15:44] And wherever you may be, please stand up. [15:47] The great guys, great people. [16:06] Next summer, Artemis III will carry astronauts into orbit on a complex mission to test the [16:12] next lunar landers. [16:14] And we are pleased to be joined by Artemis III astronauts, Randy Bresnik and Frank Rubio. [16:22] Any relation to Marco Rubio? [16:23] Frank, where's Marco? [16:24] Marco, do you know this guy? [16:27] Come here, Marco. [16:28] Where's Marco? [16:29] Would you shake his hand? [16:30] Shake his hand just in case somewhere along the line you're related. [16:33] Two good-looking guys, I don't know, somewhere deep down from hundreds of years ago. [16:46] I think you're related, Marco. [16:47] And thank you all. [16:50] Because of their work before the end of my term, the United States will return American [16:55] astronauts to the surface of the moon, so exciting. [16:59] And soon thereafter, the United States will establish a permanent presence on lunar soil. [17:05] That's a big ambition. [17:06] It's been for many years. [17:09] Just this week, I issued the American Declaration of Freedom in Space, proclaiming all of space [17:15] open for American settlement, American civilization, and American freedom. [17:21] Within the next two years, NASA will launch the first-ever nuclear-powered spacecraft to [17:28] Mars. [17:29] I spent so much time talking to Jared and a lot of the people on that. [17:35] My father's brother, Dr. John Trump, was for 51 years at MIT. [17:41] He knew a lot about this, although probably not quite as advanced then. [17:45] But he spent 51 years as a professor at MIT, from a young man to the longest-serving professor. [17:54] And I gave Elon and some of the great geniuses of our time the science award. [18:02] And then they told me that Ronald Reagan gave my uncle the science award, Dr. [18:07] John Trump, years before, so that was a great honor. [18:11] But we would talk about it a lot. [18:13] He was an expert at sort of everything science. [18:16] And he would be amazed at what we've been able to do. [18:20] But we're going to be paving the way for astronauts to plant the stars and stripes on the red planet, [18:27] as they call it. [18:29] Everywhere we can, our administration is ending years of soil progress and seizing the future [18:35] that rightfully belongs to America. [18:38] In my first term, I created the first new branch of the U.S. military in nearly 75 years, Space Force. [18:46] Think of that. [18:47] Think of that. [18:52] One of the coolest things we've ever done. [18:57] And at the Johnson Space Center last summer, I signed an executive order to establish a new national academy, [19:04] the U.S. Space Academy. [19:07] That will be designated fairly soon, and it's going to be special. [19:13] Think of West Point. [19:14] Think of the Air Force Academy or Annapolis or Coast Guard Academy. [19:19] You're going to have your own. [19:21] It's going to make you very happy. [19:22] You're going to have great, brilliant people going through that academy for many years to come. [19:27] Last year, I signed an executive order to repeal the prohibition on supersonic flight over the continental United States [19:35] for the first time in more than 50 years, I love hearing that. [19:40] I constantly ask Jared, how bad is it? [19:44] Every time I'm with Jared, I said, how bad is that sonic boom or whatever you call it? [19:50] And I said, how bad? [19:52] He goes, not bad. [19:53] I said, so why don't we just open it up? [19:55] Let's open it up. [19:57] And they've got lots of ways of controlling it. [19:59] So we've terminated that band. [20:03] That's going to be the lot. [20:05] That's kind of always one of the reasons we never went further. [20:08] It's one of the reasons the Concorde and all of the future of those supersonic planes never happened. [20:14] And now it can happen. [20:15] Thanks to advancements and engineering, this will soon be possible without a sonic boom. [20:22] I also signed an order to supercharge the American drone industry and even allow for advanced electric vertical takeoff [20:30] and landing aircraft and autonomous flight. [20:33] And we are ensuring that the United States remains the undisputed global leader in super intelligence, [20:42] SI, super intelligence, which is really a much better name than artificial. [20:46] This is not artificial. [20:47] It's super. [20:48] It's too super sometimes. [20:49] That's what we have to worry about. [20:51] We'll make it a little bit less super maybe. [20:55] But whoever wins SI wins. [20:56] You know, we're leading China now by a year, maybe even a little more. [21:01] We want to win. [21:02] You have to win. [21:03] Whoever wins that. [21:04] Whoever wins super intelligence wins. [21:07] And under the Trump administration, the winner will always be the United States of America. [21:12] We're leading now. [21:14] I was with President Xi three weeks ago at the White House and we talked about it and [21:20] he's all in and he congratulated us on how well we're doing. [21:24] And I said the same to him. [21:25] He's doing great. [21:26] But we're leading and we want to keep it that way. [21:30] It's a big deal. [21:31] America is the nation that dreamed and created the modern world. [21:35] And we laid the railroads, harnessed electricity and invented the light bulb, the telephone, [21:42] the airplane, the assembly line, the television, the microchip, the personal computer, the [21:48] internet, GPS, the smartphone, and almost every other thing. [21:54] Think of it. [21:55] Almost every other thing that's worth mentioning. [22:00] That's a cool list though, wouldn't you think? [22:01] Huh? [22:02] How about a little piece of each of them? [22:03] Wouldn't that be nice? [22:04] You wouldn't be sitting here right now. [22:06] You'd be someplace else. [22:07] But think of that. [22:09] That names. [22:10] Every one of them and many, many more. [22:13] Which ordered the human gnome to cure diseases, powered entire cities by splitting single [22:21] atoms and built telescopes to peer all the way back to the beginning of time. [22:28] And to be an American is to inherit the legacy of the greatest pioneers, explorers, inventors [22:33] and innovators who ever lived. [22:36] And so to laugh in the face of doubters and critics who are always ready to say, why are [22:44] you doing this? [22:45] Why are you doing it? [22:47] In 1901, the chief engineer of the US Navy said that the idea of manned flight was nothing [22:54] but a vain fantasy as thin as air itself. [22:59] Two years later, the Wright brothers achieved the age old dream of all humanity and that's [23:04] to fly. [23:06] They flew. [23:07] Nobody could believe it. [23:08] In 1957, inventor Lee DeForest said that man will never reach the moon, regardless of [23:15] all future scientific advances. [23:18] 12 years later, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin strode across the lunar surface. [23:25] Time and time again, our courage, ingenuity and sheer determination has achieved what everyone [23:31] thought to be totally impossible until American. [23:35] And America and our great country and our unbelievable genius minds got it done. [23:43] As I said in my inaugural address in America, the impossible is what we do best. [23:50] That's exactly what we do best. [23:51] Now our nation is ready to prove the doubt is wrong yet again and to make the next giant [23:58] leap for all of mankind. [24:01] Looking around these grounds today, we can still proudly say that after 250 years of American [24:08] freedom, the best is yet to come. [24:12] So I want to just thank everyone and again, this is a phenomenal, a phenomenal weekend. [24:19] And then maybe most importantly, I want to thank and congratulate our great continuation [24:27] of the Senate. [24:28] It's not totally new, sort of new, but it's a continuation and a man who will end up being [24:35] a great governor. [24:36] I have absolutely no doubt about it. [24:38] Thank you both and congratulations. [24:41] Now let me invite Administrator Isaacman back to the stage for a very special presentation. [24:48] Jared, please. [24:49] Thank you very much everybody. [24:50] Great honor. [24:51] Mr. President, we brought you something very special here. [25:02] This plaque was made for you. [25:04] We are going to install it on the runway that you helped energize, that you helped bring back [25:09] to life. [25:10] So, thank you very much Mr. President, thank you for being with us tonight, thanks for what [25:14] you are doing for NASA and for the nation. [25:30] Thank you. [25:31] Thank you very much.