try to reconcile the differences and we'll see if they can get this done before the end of the year. thanks for joining us. i'm dana perino. here's shep. >> shepard: it's noon on the west coast, 2:00 in missouri where the president has just aarrived. it is our belief that he will speak during this hour on his tax plan. again, these are live pictures. you can see the cameras around as the president is making his entrance. this comes as senate republicans have their big push for tax cuts. do they have the votes? could john mccain again cast the deciding vote? we're tracking the action in missouri and on capitol hill. the president also talking up tax cuts and the economy on twitter. he's been catching a lot of criticism for some retweets. highlighting violent videos said to be of anti-muslim lawmakers. now the white house is responding. meantime, the president

promising tough new penalties against north korea after the dictator there, kim jong-un, tested a long-range missile. we learned more about that launch. we'll share it. the news that rocked morning television. nbc firing matt lauer for what executives call inappropriate sexual behavior. a similar story for the radio legend, garrison keilar. let's get to it. and a live look on capitol hill is coming where we're expecting a news conference any moment. lawmakers say they will push to expose sexual harassment in the united states congress. the bill would force the house to reveal the names of lawmakers that settled claims using taxpayer dollars. we'll monitor that news conference. this comes on a monumental day in american media with two

titans of broadcasting brought down by accusations about their behavior. "the today show" host matt lauer faking accusations of sexual misconduct. millions awoke to learn that nbc last night fired matt lauer for inappropriate sexual behavior in the workplace. nbc now reports a co-worker came forward monday with the detailed complaint and that there was reason to believe this was not a one-time incident. matt lauer's on-air colleagues said they learned the news before going live this morning. they were clearly shaken to hear about a darker side of their long-time friend. >> you know, for the moment, all we can say is we're heart broken. i'm heart broken for matt. he's my dear friend and my partner and he will be loved by my people here. i'm heart broken for the brave colleague that came forward to tell her story and any other women that have their own stories to tell.

>> dealing with the news of a friend of 30 years. we're trying to process it. i'll deal with it along with you folks. >> shepard: from "the today show" this morning. and later on, a prairie home companion is also out of a job. minnesota public radio fired garrison keilar citing inappropriate behavior. he didn't give any details. he said what happened is more complicated than the story his boss' heard. he's now revealing more about what he says happened. details in just a moment. garrison keillor hosted his show before ending last year. he went on to another kind kated show. in an interesting twist, garrison keillor's firing came a day after he wrote an op-ed defending al franken. the headline "al franken should

resign? that's absurd." the firings today are the latest in a long string of prominent people answering for sexual harassment and sexual assault. first, roger ailes and bill o'reilly of fox news. "new york times" expose on harvey weinstein. at cbs, accusations that led to the end for charlie rose. this is all exploded with the so-called me 2 movement which encourages woman to come forward with their own stories of harassment. rick leventhal has more. hello, rick. >> the firing of matt lauer may have been a shock to colleagues, but not to reporters at the "new york times" and variety who said they were working an poses on

lauer. andy lack said that the complaint monday to h.r. by a female nbc employee was the first lodged against lauer since he started out at the peacock network two decades ago. the complaint was detailed and was a clear violation of company standards. the woman sex that lauer sexually assaulted here in the soshi olympics in 2014. there's reports that nbc was aware. there's multiple women we have spoken to with far-reaching accusations against lauer. the power of journalism has never been more evident. no word on when that story might be released. behind me, the barricades being set up for the rockefeller christmas tree lighting, which is tonight. an event that matt lauer was supposed to be a part of. >> shepard: rick, anything yet from matt lauer? >> we haven't seen any public comment, no tweets from him.

we did reach out to his agent's office and got a no comment as a reply. we have heard from the attorney representing the alleged victim in this case who says that she detailed egregious acts of sexual harassment and misconduct by mr. lauer. at this point, nbc acted quickly and responsibly as all companies should when confronted with allegations about sexual misconduct in the workplace. the attorney said there were no other demands but asked that nbc do the right thing. >> shepard: i mentioned that garrison keillor is giving his side of the story. share them with us. >> he sent an e-mail to the minneapolis star tribune. he said he put his hand on a woman's back in an attempt to console her. he writes, i meant to pat her pack after she told me about her unhappiness and her shirt was up and my hand went up. she recoiled. i apologized. she said that she had forgiven

me and not to think about it. keillor said that they were friendly up until the lawyer called. shep? >> shepard: rick levinthal. john conyers is under fire but not from everywhere. three democratic lawmakers are calling for him to resign after multiple accusations of sexual misconduct. members of the congressional black caucus just wrapped up a two-hour meeting and they tell fox news that they're not urging the congressman to step down. >> we're not urging john to resign. we're not. we think that is a decision for -- while the ethics investigation is going on, we think that is a decision for he and his family and his constituents to make. >> shepard: conyers is a founding member of the caucus. he was not at the meeting. the congressman flew to detroit last night. he denies the accusations

against him. party leaders say they want to speed up the ethics investigation of john conyers. some say it's not enough. >> calling for the resignation does not create the resignation. the reality is we have a process in place and calling for an expedited process to bring this to the forefront to be as much transparency as possible. >> you can see the actions at cbs and nbc take when there's allegations against well known men in positions of power. we don't do the same. it's a disgrace. >> democratic leadership has shown where they are on this issue, who they're standing with. i think that's -- they don't speak for me clearly. >> shepard: conyers missed a floor vote about training for sexual harassment in the workplace. john conyers said one of his office aides sued and the case

was resolved to avoid a legal battle. breaking news. we're waiting for the president to speak. we showed his arrival. this is live, st. charles, missouri where the president is scheduled to make his case for tax reform this hour. as the president pushes for his first major legislative achievement, his twitter page is a distraction. critics say the president encouraged hate against muslims when he retweeted video from a fringe anti-islam group in the u.k. the images show muslims committing acts of violence. a woman was accused of verbally abusing a woman who was wearing a hijab. british leaders and theresa may have condemned our president's retweets. and then there's david duke, the former grand wizard of the

ku klux klan tweeting his support for the president for posting the videos. in response to the criticism, the white house press secretary sarah sanders says the president is looking to promote strong borders and strong national security and the white house said whether the videos are real or not, the threat is real. while all of this is going on, there's word the full senate could start debate on their tax bill today. if all goes according to plan, we could see a vote happen by the end of this week. yesterday the senate budget committee advanced a measure on a party line vote. as i mentioned, republicans can lose just two votes and still pass the measure. several gop senators have expressed concerns about this bill. republicans face unanimous democratic opposition. the house passed their own version of tax reform before thanksgiving break. if both sides pass, they have to reconcile. a lot of work ahead under all circumstances. john roberts is live on the north lawn. let's start with the president's retweets today. it's quite a thing to see this

morning. >> you know, shep, there's some things that defy explanation. one of them could be why the president of the united states is retweeting unverified videos put out by an anti immigrant party in the u.k. the white house is absolutely unapologetic doing it saying the president wasn't highlighting the videos but the greater problem of the threats that face the american people and the need to provide safety and security for those said people in the united states. sarah huckabee sanders, the press secretary was asked about that earlier today. listen to what she said. >> look, i'm not talking about the nature of the video. you're focusing on the wrong thing. the threat is real. that's what the president is talking about, the need for national security, the need for military spending. those are very real things. nothing fake about that. >> not talking about the nature of the video. you're focusing on the wrong thing. in fact, the office of british

prime minister theresa may thought that the president was focusing on the wrong thing and wasn't a good idea to retweet the videos. the office of the prime minister says it's wrong for the president to have done this. while the white house says it's not about the video, jada fransen thanked the president for support of her cause. listen to this. >> i'd like to start by saying how delighted i am, as the leader of the free world, you took time out to retweet three of my videos on twitter and shed light on my plight here in britain in that i am facing prison for giving a speech in which i criticized islam. >> and keep in mind, jada does face charges in an anti immigrant rally in ireland in august. she also in the video appeals to

president trump to intervene with the u.k. government on her behalf. so this may be the law of unintended consequences. the president was trying to highlight what he sees as a threat to u.s. security and is now perhaps unintentionally thrown in to some degree with her cause. shep? >> shepard: we're waiting for the president to speak on taxes. what is the sell today? >> the president putting on the hard sell for tax reform now that its passed out of the senate budget committee and will go to the full senate. the white house is hopeful that there could be a vote by the end of the week, maybe on into saturd saturday. but because there's a long process to get through, if the president hopes to get this on his desk, it has to pass the senate and go to the conference committee and reconciled with the house version and back to the house and senate for final approval before it hits his desk. all of this in two weeks time.

that timetable could also slide. earlier today, sarah huckabee sanders, the press secretary, was optimistic that this could all get done. listen here. >> we're very confident in the progress that we made. it's been a big week for tax reform and tax cuts. the president is extremely focused on this. he spent a good bit of the day yesterday on capitol hill meeting with senators, pushing this, calling for them to really step up and make sure that they make this a priority. >> a couple of thorny issues here. senator ron johnson wants bigger tax breaks for small businesses. some want a fiscal trigger. the president would not commit to that, only to say that he does appreciate the idea of fiscal discipline. shep? >> shepard: john roberts, thank you. more ahead on what we're expecting to hear from the president as he tries to recruit more re-republicans and tackling other topics on twitter. that's coming up from the fox

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>> shepard: a live look there, st. charles, missouri outside st. louis. the president is expected to speak in this hour to try to rally support for the gop tax plan. john bussey is here, associate editor from the "wall street journal," also a fox news contributor. they made progress, real

progress. you'd think that would be the headline but it ain't. >> should be victory lap time almost. they're slowly -- >> shepard: a moderate victory. >> slowly but surely inching towards a senate in the vote. you have people like langford and flake saying they may be able to resolve my concerns about this bill, which was it's going to contribute to the deficit. maybe we get our triggers that if it started contributing to the deficit, taxes get reuped for the public. >> shepard: they're so confident in their plan, as flake put it, puts them in. >> so it's inching toward some kind of vote before the end of the week. mind you, it's not bipartisan. the democrats are against it. it's not been vetted the way it needs to be vetted. all sorts of possible unintended consequences. a good time for the republicans. and then this morning the president tweets out unverified

hate videos that were -- >> shepard: horrible videos. >> a right wing fringe group in britain and retweets them out. once again, surprising the people that he's now trying to convince to stay with him on the tax bill. >> shepard: the critics make an argument that that encourages hate and violence. >> that's what prime minister may said. >> shepard: of our greatest ally on the earth. >> denouncing the president of the united states. there was a comment on the floor of the house only commons today denouncing the president. this is at a time also where the president needs to be conveying to the public, you can trust me. you can trust our institutions, trust me when i speak. we're possibly heading into crises. we have concern about the debt. the tax bill is supposed to address that. we have a nuclear north korea

that is sending up missiles with proximity now to the united states. he's going to have to convince those allies and the american public to stick with me. yet the president's fitness is again being discussed on capitol hill. why did he do this? this was unnecessary. what do you mean it doesn't matter what was in the videos. of course it matters. people within truthfulness out of the white house and we don't always get it. >> shepard: john busy from the "wall street journal." thank you. we'll see what president trump has to say when he speaks live. we believe it's to start about nine minutes from now from st. charles, missouri. earlier he threatened major penalties against north korea a day after the nuclear nation tested a long range meissile, that could reach the east coast. we'll tell you what we learned

about the launch. the president is entering the room now as time would have it. the thing about these presidential schedules, sometimes things run late and sometimes they start early. this is an early day. we showed you his arrival in st. charles. we were told it was a quick motorcade. we're expecting him to put the sell on for the tax plan and possible that he will talk about north korea. let's listen. >> it's great to be back in missouri, sign of a lot of good things. you're doing really well. i want to thank the governor and attorney general holly. where is josh? josh, our next senator. where is he? going to be a great senator. he wants to see a major tax cut.

i think i can speak for him. right? and your current senator does not want to see a tax cut. that's not good. that's not good. she wants your taxes to go up. secretary mnuchin, who is doing a fantastic job. thank you. and linda mcmahon. everybody knows. administrator. small business. became a big business under linda. she's helping a lot of people. thank you very much, linda. i especially want to thank missouri's incredible congressional delegation, sam grass. where is sam? you here? yeah. flew in with me. they wouldn't miss that flight. vicky hartsler. thank you. billy long, who i think was my first endorser in the entire country practically, billy. right? thank you, billy. blaine lukenmeyer. he was great on television

today. i watched him. i got up early and watched you. a good interview. thank you. very much in favor of tax cuts. jason smith and ann wagner. thank you, jason and ann. and i have two others. i have a lot of faith in faith. sally faith. where is sally? your mayor. hi, sally. thanks, sally. and eric schmidt. missouri state treasurer. thank you. thank you, eric. doing a great job. just three months ago, we came to this state to launch our plan to bring back main street by cutting taxes for american families and small businesses. today i've come back to this incredible state to spend an afternoon with its amazing citizens -- you are amazing -- to help push or plan for historic tax cuts across the finish line. we're going to do that. with your help, we can usher in

a thrilling new era of opportunity and growth for this nation that we love so much. tax cuts have already passed the house of representatives. [cheers & applause] big ones. the eyes of the world turn to the united states senate. a successful vote in the senate this week will bring us one giant step closer to delivering a big victory to the american people. i won't mention reform. for years, they have not gotten tax cuts, many years, since reagan. the problem is they talked about tax reform, not tax cuts. i said don't call it reform. i called it tax cuts and reform. so every once in a while, we'll add the name reform. but it's tax cuts. [applause]

right? that's the governor agreeing. we cannot sit by and watch ourselves losing in competition to other countries as they continue to take away our jobs because their tax codes are more competitive and less burdensome than ours. that's why we must cut our taxes, reduce economic burdens and restore america's competitive edge. we're going to do that, too. look what is happening with our markets. people get it. [applause] if we do this, then america will win like never ever before. a vote to cut taxes is a vote to put america first again. we want to put america first again.

it's time to take care of our workers, to protect our communities and to rebuild our great country. we've spent almost $7 trillion in the middle east over the last 16 years. 7 trillion. i'm taking care of it. we're doing numbers like isis has never seen before. we're wiping them out. terrorists. they're bad. [applause] and all of that but we've spent almost $7 trillion. we could have rebuilt our country four times over. we're going to start spending here. we're going to start spending here. [applause] with that being said, we're going to protect our country, whether it's north korea or -- we're going to protect our country like never before. we're going to building up our military and make our product here and make our planes and our

boats and our everything here. we're going to build up our military. [cheers & applause] we've got to start focusing on our country. that's why i'm saying america first. make america great again. you've never heard that expression. all of those hats. they've never heard that expression before. that was a good expression and it's a true expression. it's already happening long ahead of schedule. today some numbers came out that people haven't seen in many, many years. this before city of st. charles is the perfect place to deliver the message that i want to deliver. it's the place where america's past and future come to life on this historic brick-lined main street. nice street. do you agree? [applause] it was along these very streets that in 1804 the great american

explorers lewis and clark gathered their time supplies before going on their expedition of discovery. i have to say i didn't know that until two days ago. [laughter] the world is watching. look at the fake news back there. [cheers & applause] they're all watching. today more than two centuries later, new generation of american pioneers begins its own adventure. gathering inside the startups and the store fronts of main streets across the country, blazing new trails into totally unchartered territory of business and technology. once again, leading our nation into a future of limitless potential. that's what we have in this country. we have the greatest people. it's the greatest country. i love this country so much. [applause]

our country was not treated properly for a long time. we're treating it properly. we're treating it with love and with this. got to treat it with this. and today, just as it's always been, main street is the heart of our economy, the soul of our community and the birth place of american dreams. over the years, crippling taxes, massive regulations and totally disasterous trade deals. oh, the trade deals. i get a headache thinking about who made these deals. one after another. wto, nafta. the wonderful deal with south korea. they said it would produce 200,000 jobs and it did for

south korea. and it turned main streets to empty ghost towns. we have a once in a lifetime opportunity to restore prosperity and reclaim america's great destiny. we have already made tremendous progress, far greater than i would have thought. i will tell you this in a nonbraggedocious way. there's never been a president in ten months that has accomplished what we've accomplished. that i can tell you. [cheers & applause] . today again the stock market has reached another record all-time high. the unemployment rate nationwide is the lowest it's been in 17 years. 13 states this year have seen unemployment drop to the lowest

levels in the history of their state. i hate to tell you, but missouri happens to be one of them. we've created nearly two million jobs, two million jobs, think of that -- we used to lose millions now we created -- two million jobs since i won the election and i want to say since you won the election. i didn't win it. you won the election. we will create countless more if we can sustain the 3% growth rate we've achieved the past two quarters. we're going to do much better than that. remember i used to say we can hit 4 and we can hit 3 and they said forget it, forget it. it was 1.2. it was doing terribly. we were flat. we were even. in all fairness, the stock market was going this way. now we're hitting numbers that

nobody thought possible, certainly not in this time. the numbers are going up and will be better than anybody anticipates. in fact, they're going to say that trump is the opposite of an exaggerator. the exact opposite. [applause] they're going to start saying governor, that you ought to be more optimistic. his predictions were low. can you believe it? 1 1/2 years ago, they said he can't do that. now they're saying hmm, that was quick. by the way, the commerce department announced this morning our gdp, the big one, the third quarter grew even faster than they reported previously. they made a mistake. they were too low. they had it at 3%. by the way, 3%? did you think you would hear that in less than a year? now it comes in at 3.3%, which is the largest increase in many

years. [applause] and if we didn't have the hurricanes, we would have been at 4%. the hurricanes were devastating. and i said they're worth a paint. they said they were wouldn't like .006. i said a point. we would have been 4% or maybe more. we had hurricanes. we took care of them in texas, florida. they did a great, great job. amazing job. tremendous leadership. we're very proud. puerto rico has been a very tough situation because of the fact that it was in very, very bad shape before the storms ever hit. they're doing well there. it's healing and getting better. we're getting them power and all of the things that they have to have. i want to tell you, a lot of brave people in every state. we have great, great people. it's our number 1 resource, believe me. really great. [applause]

in order to achieve the bright and glowing future, the senate must pass those tax cuts. bring main street roaring back. that's what's going to happen. this is all done without the tax cuts. and i'm not sure that people even believe the tax cuts. i want to see what happens. and the big day will be either tomorrow or the next day. i want them to do it now. we're ready. i said to the republicans -- these are good people. they really want it. i know they get hit hard, the senators, the congressmen. they're all working hard. it's not so easy. it's complicated stuff. it's not so easy. we had an incredible session yesterday. i think we're there. i said can we do the vote today? what do i know. can we do the vote now? they said how about friday? i said i don't want to wait till friday. i said billy, can we do the

vote? get me the vote. billy already passed it. what happens, it passes and goes into this beautiful committee -- i call it a pot. we mix it up and we stir it up and bring the best things out. you'll have something that i predict that will be really, really special. so right now -- really is. [applause] so right now america's tax code is a total dysfunctional mess. the current system has cost our nation millions of american jobs, trillions and trillions of dollars and billions of hours wasted on paperwork and compliance. it's riddled with loop holes that let some special interest, including myself in all fairness. this will cost me a fortune. belief me. believe me, this is not good for me. i have some very wealthy friends. not so happy with me. that's okay. i keep hearing schumer, this is

for the wealthy. well, if it is, my friends don't know about it. i have to explain why. it is great for companies. companies are going to bring back jobs. we're lowering the rates substantially. right now, we're bringing the rates down from 35%, which is totally noncompetitive. the highest industrialized nation in the world by far and we're bringing it all the way down to 20%. that's good. [applause] that's good for everybody in the room whether you have a company or want a job. we're going to bring back jobs. what we've had is a massive give-away to foreign countries, which encourages businesses to relocate off shores. you've seen what has happened. as bad as our tax code is, we have toyota, we have big car companies coming back in, building plants in michigan and other places. we have a lot of businesses

coming back in. and they see what is happening. our current code is a giant and really -- it is -- it's a self-inflicted economic wound. it's been that way for so many years and nobody wanted to do anything about it. but all that will change. it will change immediately if congress sends a tax cut and reform bill, the biggest tax cut in the history of our country. bigger than reagan. if they send it to my desk, i promise all of the people in this room, my friends, so many friends in this room -- a great state -- i promise you i will sign it. i promise. i will not veto that bill. there will be no veto. [applause] under the plan moving forward in the senate, a typical family of four earning $75,000 as an

example will see their taxes go down by as much as $2,000. that's a lot. [applause] now, we're doing that not just to help people. we're doing that because it helps our country. you're going to take that $2,000 and maybe you'll save some and maybe you'll spend some. we're going to make product back in our country again. it's going to be made here. going to be made elsewhere, but it's going to be made here. we're opening up plants, opening up factories and we're going to be great to small business. wait till you see the final product. wait till you see what i call in the mixer. the beating heart of our plan is a tax cut for working families. that's what it is. we're going to make sure -- [applause] -- that you keep more of your

hard-earned money. we're going to make sure you keep the job you want. with education, you have choice. good word. you're going to have a choice here of many jobs. people are moving back into our country. under our plan, the first $12,000 of income earned by a single individual will be totally income tax free. zero. [applause] a married couple won't pay one dime of income tax on their first $24,000 of income. zero. our plan will significantly increase the child tax credit and make it available to more middle class families because the single most important investment our nation can make is in our children. do we agree? you agree? [applause] you better agree.

families will also benefit from a new credit for other dependents like a child in college or an elderly loved one. we have our mothers, our fathers. you have your grandparents. you have people that are elderly that have done a fantastic job. they have grown old. you want to help them. now we are going to help you help them. [applause] we're also going to eliminate tax breaks and complex loop holes taken advantage of by the wealthy. who are they? i don't know. i think my accountants are going crazy right now. it's all right. hey, look, i'm president. i don't care. i don't care anymore. i don't care. some of my wealthy friends care. me, i don't care. this is a higher calling.

do we agree? [applause] as hillary said, what difference does it make? it made a difference. it made a big difference. made a big, big difference. we want a tax code that is simple and fair and that's for all americans. the plan that senators will be voting on this week hopefully as soon as possible closes the loop holes that corporations use to shift their profits to tax havens and it eliminates deductions for ceo salaries over $1 million. you can see what some of these people are making. a little ridiculous. i'm driving up their stock, they're making a fortune and go to the board and tell everybody what a great job they're doing. what am i going to do? many of them honestly i don't like. some of these bankers, i don't like them and they're making a

fortune. it's one of those things. steve know as couple of them that i'm talking about. they say what a great job they do. right now anybody can do their job because we're making it easy for them. because we're giving them a great and strong economy. because we've cut regulations more than any president in the history of this country by far. that's for full terms. that's not for ten months. [applause] it allows builders to build and it allows farmers to farm. you know what i've done for farmers. where if you had a puddle in the middle of your field, you go to jail if you touch it, right? you know what i'm talking about. not anymore. not anymore. not anymore. and it allows bankers to lend. it allows bankers to lend again.

so many people came up to me and said, we had a 20-year relationship with a bank. we never had a default, never had a bad loan. now we go back to the bank and say we can't do business with you anymore because you don't qualify. even though they're better than the people that do qualify. it's incredible. we're back to the strong days of our banks. not the days of trouble. pre that. where bankers can make loans and community bankers can make loans to good people. you saw what happened recently where the certain agency or bureau that was causing so much trouble to lenders where they could not lend. they just couldn't lend. it was devastating. they were going out of business. well, we're taking care of that we have already taken care of a big part of it. and yesterday we won the lawsuit. that will be taken care of automatically. have to get back to business. our focus is on helping the

folks who work in the mail rooms and the machine shops of america, the plumbers, the carpenters, the cops, the teachers, the truck drivers, the pipe fitters. the people that like me best. actually, the rich people don't like me, which is interesting. that's fine. i like that trade. really, the people that like me best are those people, the workers. they're the people that i understand the best. those are the people that i grew up with. those are the people i worked on construction sites with. [applause] all of the people that give their best each and every day to take care of their family and the country that they love, these are incredible people. they came out to vote for me, they came out to vote for us. people that worked hard, two jobs, three jobs, that hadn't voted in many years because they never had anybody they wanted to vote for. they came out -- i'll never

forget in tennessee, a great congressman, told me they had early voting. said i tell you what, we went through four days of early voting. at that time it was mr. trump. now they say mr. president. but it was mr. trump. he said if the other parts of the country are like what is happening in tennessee, people are coming from all over tennessee. they haven't voted in years. now they have trump shirts and they have trump hats and they have trump pens and they have everything trump and trump pence. and he said i've never seen anything like it and i've been a politician for a lot of years. if it's anything like tennessee, you'll have one hell of a victory. turns out to be a lot like tennessee. [applause] it turned out to be a lot like missouri. that i can tell you.

we had a big one here. i promised josh that when he gets it going and he's got it in good shape from what i here. everybody said has to be josh. who is going to run against you in josh. i said josh, when you're ready, you have my word, i'm going to come here and campaign for you. we have to get you in. okay? we have to get you in. [applause] not enough for the middle class to keep getting by. we want them to start getting way ahead. we're going to have them start getting way ahead. under our plan, middle class families will not only see their tax bill go down, they will see their incomes go up by an average of around $4,000. that's because we're going to cut taxes on american businesses, so they will compete

for workers, they'll raise salaries. the businesses will be happy and the workers will be happy and the country will be a happy place. although we're going to have very strong borders. please remember that. okay? please remember. [cheers & applause] we're going to have the wall. don't worry about it. we'll have the wall. we don't forget that wall. a lot of people say now that he got elected, is he going to build the wall? absolutely. more so. more so. it's not easy dealing with the democrats. they want to have people pour into our country, illegals. they don't care where the hell they come from. they want them pour into our country, they want to raise your taxes. they don't want to take care of your military and all they're good at is obstructing. they want to obstruct. you know what? they may obstruct but we've gotten through all the obstruction so far and we'll keep it going.

believe me. today america has one of the least competitive tax rates on planet earth. 60%. think of that. 60% higher than the average in the developed world. so our taxes are 60% higher. on my recent trip to asia, every single one of the countries i visited, even those with communist governments have slashed their corporate tax rates and slashed them dramatically. when their taxes are lower, it really makes it very tough. that trip was a tremendous success. we bought back $250 billion in contracts. that be over a trillion very soon. that's a good 1 1/2 week's work. boeing came back with contracts. so many of our companies came back and i'm very proud of them. we're doing great. at the same time, we're going to

fix trade. trade is unfair. we're getting killed on trade. so we're going to fix our trade. unless anybody would like to continue with this horrible situation that we have. our plan gets america from the back of the pack and it will bring us right to number 1 where we were for years but we haven't been for decades. we'll be back at number 1. [applause] and we're going to work on trade. we're also going to work on military when we defend nations that are wealthy and we do it for almost nothing. i say why are we defending them? we love them. i won't pension names. there's a lot of them. they're wealthy. one of them has a cash flow that they say is unsustainable it's so large. think of that. how would you like to have an unsustainable cash flow. they don't know what to do with

their money and we defend them. it's going to change, folks. we're going to defend them but they're going to treat us fairly. they're doing to pay for their defense. does that make sense? [applause] and a lot of this is from many, many years ago when we defended a defeated country and they became strong and they became rich and we kept the same defense. what happened? why didn't anybody go in and negotiate? when i was in asia, i spoke to a couple of the countries about it. they looked like this. you know what this is? uh-huh. that means they know they're getting away with murder and they got to start helping us out. okay? so if you don't mind, i'll start bringing that up with some of our good friends. we're going to cut our tax rate to the very competitive number of 20% as i said. we're going to create jobs and

factories will be pouring into this country and they are already starting. a lot of people think it's going to happen. i don't want to say anything. i'm not going to talk about it. i thought we had healthcare and we will have healthcare. it's going to happen. as soon as we get the taxes, we'll get healthcare. it's going to happen. we thought we had the votes and something happened strange. it's okay. when you lose by one vote, you go back. somebody people said you failed with healthcare. what do you mean we failed? we don't fail. by the way, what happened is obama took a long tame to get obamacare. again, ten month? we had two runs at it. we're coming closer, closer. i think now we have a plan that will be great. but we're not talking about it until after taxes. and then we take care of healthcare. then we'll have done tax cuts, the biggest in history, healthcare, phenomenal

healthcare. i know you don't want this, welfare reform. does anybody want welfare reform? and infrastructure. welfare reform. i know people that work three jobs and they live next to somebody that doesn't work at all. the people that doesn't work at all and haas no intention of working at all is making more money and doing better than the person that is working his and her ass off. it's not going to happen. it's not going to happen. [applause] so we're going to go into welfare reform, unless billy doesn't want it. am i okay in say i speak for you? he said yes. a lot of friends out there, bill.

we also cut taxes for the millions of small businesses that file. it's coming out of the hopper. it's getting there. it's getting better and better. we are reducing the tax burden of all sizes of businesses. as a candidate, i pledged to fight for american jobs. i think it's possibly the number 1 reason i got elected. and i think we've done a lot better at this point than anybody ever even thought possible. think of that. two million jobs since the election. two million more jobs in this country since the election. nobody expected that. excuse me. i didn't even expect that. you know, you cut the regulations and give people spirit and incentive. when you have the highest ratings in terms of confidence that the country has had in many, many years, maybe ever, things happen. the tax cut will mean more

companies moving to america, staying in america and hiring american workers right here. so that's so important, right? [applause] small business groups across our nation, retailers, restaurants, manufacturers, grocers, contractors, support this plan. we have tremendous support for this plan. tremendous. because these massive tax cuts will be rocket fuel -- [laughter] little rocket man. rocket fuel for the american economy. he's a sick puppy. cassandra, where are you? she's around here. hello, cassandra. i met you back there. she and her mother, terri, they own a jewelry store on main

street here in st. charles. they make really beautiful handmade jewelry. i got to see some of it. i would have taken it in my previous life. now if i do, they don't like that. we're not allowed to take jewelry. right? but they make it here in the heartland. it's beautiful. our tax plan will ensure that cassandra can keep growing her business, keep creating jobs, keep giving back to the community that she loves and just make her more and more successful. i assume you like that, right? good. randy schilling is also here. where is randy? hello, randy. he's the founder of opeal. it's called opeal startups and a member to dozens of small businesses in the st. charles area. he's a mentor. he really mentors a lot of the businesses. he's respected.

he did a terrific job renovating the old post office on main street. something that i know something about. old post offices. did he did a good job, by the way? i hear. [applause] they said yes, randy. if he did a bad job, i'm going to stop right now and say good luck, randy. he said you did a good job. i know you did. randy knows first hand how the high tax burden is holding america's small businesses back. our tax cut plan will unleash them to thrive like never before. he understands our plan. which will provide relief from the horrible crushing unfair estate tax also known to many as the death tax. [applause] we want to make it easier for loving families to pass on their life's work to their children. be nice. be very nice. that's a tough one.

the democrats fight that one i think harder than any other thing that we're doing. they fight the death tax. they don't want it. they don't like it. they don't want it. it's one of those things. but that's one of the hardest things. i see people right here. they're obviously very rich and they love their children, in this group, right? they love their children, very rich. they want to pass on what they have without having to have the kids sell the property, mortgage up half of it. the biggest problem we have on that one, these democrats are being brutal. you know, i call them obstructionists. they want to stop the estate tax, the death tax from being rescinded. we're going to try our best there. our economy will receive another enormous boost as trillions of dollars in wealth that is parked overseas will be able to come back to our country. this is one that is interesting. for years republicans and democrats agreed. you have apple and you have these great companies having

billions and billions of dollars overseas. who doesn't want the money to come back? to show you the lack of leadership that this country had in the past, the republicans want it and the democrats want it and nothing ever happened. you could have passed that one easy. we're just throwing it into the bill. i could have had a separate bill on that one, i think. don't you think? i could have had a separate bill on that one and gotten it past in record time. i figured it put it here. it is actually popular. used to be 2.5 trillion. you know what that is in trillion. money you can't bring back in. it's too -- prohibitive. both in complexity and in the amount of tax you have to pay. so nobody brings it back in. 2.5 trillion. i've said that for six years. i think it's four to five trillion. all of that money is coming back into the united states and invested in our country instead of sitting and helping others. we want our own help. [applause]

sort of an easy one. last year american multinational companies left more than 70% of their foreign profits overseas because the current tax system penalizes them for bringing that money back home. they actually get penalized. our plan switches to a territorial tax system that encourages company to return their profits to america right here to the united states where that money belongs going back to work for you. territorial. if we want american to thrive in the 21st century, then we must stop running from the competition and instead we must start totally winning and winning and winning again. remember what i used to say? we're going to win so much. we're going to win that the people of missouri are going to

go to your governor and they're going to say, governor, please go see the president. we can't stand winning so much. remember i used to say that? right? [applause] i used to say it. that's what's happening. [applause] that's what's happening. and then the governor is going to come to that beautiful historic oval office. he's going to say to me, mr. president, the people of missouri cannot stand all of this winning. they don't want to win so much. they love the old way. where they had lousy job numbers, lousy economic numbers. they loved it. please, mr. president. please. and i'll say, governor, i don't care what the they say in missouri. we're going to keep winning and winning. remember? that's right. [applause] i used to say