Remarks by President Trump at the Faith and Freedom Coalition “Road to Majority” 2019 Conference | Eastern North Carolina Now

    MR. CHARLES: Thank you. (Inaudible.) (Applause.)

    THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. Thank you very much.

    To help our citizens overcome the grip of opioid addiction - big problem - we secured a record $6 billion in new funding, including support for treatment and faith-based organizations, and we've had a great, great experience. People don't know. Way down. Opioid - way down.

    Unfortunately, other drugs sometimes take the place. Fentanyl is a disaster, coming in from China. I'll be talking to President Xi about that tomorrow. But we have tremendous amounts of drugs that come in from places, and we got to stop it. And we're doing pretty well, but it's a tough - every time you knock one, another one pops up. But we'll be talking to President Xi about that. For the most part, China makes the fentanyl, and it's unbelievably powerful and unbelievably destructive and bad.

    We're expanding affordable healthcare, increasing access to plans 60 percent cheaper than Obamacare. We're doing a plan that's going to come out if win back the House, if we keep the Senate, and win the presidency. I think we're going to do all. I think we have a great chance to do all.

    We have a healthcare plan that's far better than Obamacare. I'm keeping Obamacare alive because I felt I should have - I should do that. We had a chance to terminate it, and a gentleman voted against it after campaigning for many years to repeal and replace, but he voted against repeal and replace. Someday, somebody will explain that to me, but that's what happened. Because we just about had it done.

    But we're going to, actually, end up better, I think. We're going to do - if we win the House back, keep the Senate, and win the presidency, we're going to have a plan that blows away Obamacare. It'll be less expensive, and it'll be far better healthcare and health insurance. (Applause.) And we'll be announcing it over the next month or so.

    And to help patients access lifesaving treatments, we passed Right To Try. I love that. You know what that is. (Applause.) I hope nobody in this room ever has to use it - especially you folks, you're so young. But I hope nobody has to use it.

    But people would travel all over the world to try and get relief - people that had money. People that didn't have money would just go home with no hope. And now we have the right to use our great geniuses - the best in the world - for possible cures that haven't been approved yet. You couldn't use them. They'd go to Asia. They'd go to London. People would go to London - anyplace. And now, we're using it.


    And we have had some incredible success. And I must say, the other day, I was watching a favorite network of mine that I really have a lot of respect for. (Laughter.) That - you know, that doesn't always treat me so great, by the way. They could do better. (Laughter.) But at least they're fair.

    And I was watching and I heard the story of an incredible, unbelievable young woman who is battling rare bone cancer. They made a mistake. A doctor or hospital made a mistake. She called it a - it was a medical error. Her name is Natalie Harp, and she lit up the television screen like very few people I've ever seen do it. And she talked about how they were preparing her for death. And because of Right to Try, she's now living and, I think, doing phenomenally well.

    And somebody said she's here. Are you here, Natalie? Is that - where's Natalie? Will you come up here, please? Come up, Natalie. (Applause.)

    MS. HARP: Thank you, Mr. President. You know, we all know the story about the Good Samaritan. But what you don't know is I was that forgotten person on the side of the road - the victim of medical error, the number-three cause of death under the previous administration - and left to die of cancer.

    First, the medical establishment - they came by and they saw me there, so they wrote prescriptions for opioids, and they walked on. Next, the political establishment, they saw me there. And they stopped just long enough to come over and tell me how to die, how to speed up my death so I could somehow die with dignity.

    But then, an outsider - my Good Samaritan, President Donald J. Trump - he saw me there and he didn't walk by. He stopped. And for every single one of us, he gave up his own quality of life so we could live and work and fight with dignity. Because he believes in survival of the fighters, not the fittest.

    And so, Mr. President, I have to say you have made a lot of promises to us, and you have kept every one of them. So now we're going to make you this promise: Just as you fought for us, forgotten America will never forget how you saw us on the side of the road, and you walked over, and you picked us up, and you made us great again. And now we're going to fight for you, Mr. President. God bless you. (Applause.)

    AUDIENCE: Four more years! Four more years! Four more years!


    THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, Natalie. It's just - it was an incredible thing. I saw the picture of Natalie. She was in a wheelchair. She was in a bed. And they showed them, and it was so incredible. And they were, actually, preparing her for death. And because of Right to Try, they had a medicine that wouldn't have been approved for years, but it was very, very - it's looking good. It was looking very good. Now it's looking a lot better, Natalie, I have to tell you. (Laughter.) I don't know what that was, but that sucker worked, Natalie. (Applause.)

    You know, part of the problem with Right to Try is that the big pharmaceutical companies and the labs - they didn't want to do it because they didn't want have where a person is terminally ill or very in bad shape. They didn't want to have that on their record. I understood that. And so we didn't put it on their record. We made a second, you know, record, which people don't see and we don't want to show. You know, it's unfair to them. But they didn't want it to go on their record because people were very far along, unfortunately.

    But cases like Natalie have not even been that unique. We've saved many lives with what's going on. And ultimately, I guess, that's probably also the best test for a medicine to see whether or not it's good, because it really - it's worked so well and we're so proud of it.

    They've been trying to get that approved for 45 years. They couldn't get it done. Not that easy, because the medicals didn't want it; the doctors didn't want it; the country didn't want it. Our country - because they say, "Well, if something happens and a person is terminally ill, then they die, then we'll get sued if we do something." I said, "That's okay. They'll sign an exculpatory letter. They'll sign a letter saying that we're not going to hold anybody liable." That's okay. And they said, "Well, that's a good idea."

    Can you imagine? Forty-five years, nobody thought of that. (Laughter.) Obviously, they're not in the real estate business in New York. (Laughter and applause.)

    And we had great help from the Republicans. And we actually had some Democrat support. And we got it done. And, to me, I thought that was going to be so easy. (Laughs.) It was not an easy one, but we got it done and got it done the way we wanted - properly and very strongly.

    And I just want to say that, Natalie, you are an inspiration. You really do - you lit up that screen. My wife watched; I said, "You have to see this." It's a great invention - it's called TiVo, okay? (Laughter.) I don't want to be advertising, but you know it's like, better than television, because television, you never see it again. With TiVo, you play it back. I played it back. I played it back. And my wife said, "That is amazing." So, we're very proud of you, Natalie. Thank you very much. It's so (inaudible). (Applause.) Incredible person. Incredible spirit.


    We want every American to have the chance to live and to dream and to thrive. And to protect the safety and wellbeing of our citizens, we're securing our border, building the wall - it's being built right now. (Applause.) It could have been so easy - the wall - if they gave us the money, but they won't give us the money. The Democrats won't give us the money. And I think it's more political, because who - I mean, a wall works. Okay?

    They have drones. They want to give me unlimited money for drones, unlimited money for everything. You know, a drone, flying up in the air, doesn't help as 5,000 people are charging the border. (Laughter.) Unless you want to take nice pictures of what's happening. (Laughter.)

    So we'll have almost four - probably more than 400 miles built by the end of next year. It's under construction now. And I'm taking from here - (applause). We're all over the place. We're taking - Army Corps of Engineers is doing a great job, but we're building a lot of it. It's already started, and it's - a lot of it's being done. And it's - it has such a tremendous difference. It's day and night.

    This year alone, 43,000 minors have been illegally smuggled across our border, providing a lucrative cash flow to some of the most dangerous criminal organizations anywhere in the world. Loopholes and federal law prevent Homeland Security from removing illegal aliens who get smuggled into our country through bad laws. It's our bad laws.

    And, by the way, Mexico - they're really helping us. They just put 6,000 soldiers on the southern border - their southern border. And they just announced they're going to put 16,000 soldiers on our southern border. And it's had a huge impact. It's only been a few days, literally, but it's had a huge impact. And they were great. And I'm glad I didn't have to do tariffs on Mexico. I'm glad. (Applause.) I'm very glad.

    But we've been trying to get them to do that for 40 years - more, they say - for 40 years. And, you know, I'll tell you what, they stepped up. And, as I say, Mexico is doing more to help us than the Democrats, who are doing nothing. Nothing. (Applause.)

    We have repeatedly asked the Democrats to close these loopholes and to save the lives of young immigrants. I mean, they're too busy interviewing people on the Russian witch hunt, on the hoax. If they spent a little bit less time on the Russian witch hunt - which turned out to be a total phony deal. Actually, they're the ones that committed the crime, as it turned out. (Applause.) If they spent some time on that, they could solve the loophole problem in an hour, they could solve the asylum problem in an hour, and we'd have no problem whatsoever at the border.