You know, it’s the greatest honor of my life to serve as Vice President to a President who gets up every day and fights to keep the promises that he made to the American people. (Applause.)
I mean, think about it: This President promised to get this economy moving again. And working with Republican majorities in the Congress, in our first two years, President Trump has cut more federal red tape than any President in American history. (Applause.) We’ve unleashed American energy, and now the United States is the largest producer of oil and natural gas in the world. (Applause.)
Under the President’s strong leadership, we’ve forged new trade deals that finally put American jobs and American workers first. And with the support of this generation of conservatives, President Trump signed the largest tax cut and tax reform in American history. (Applause.) That’s promises made and promises kept!
We cut taxes across the board for working Americans, for American businesses, and we cut out the core of Obamacare. The individual mandate is gone. (Applause.) And the results have been amazing.
As I stand before you today, the American economy is booming. (Applause.) In just over two years, businesses large and small have created 5.3 million new jobs, including over 480,000 good-paying manufacturing jobs that the other side said would never come back. (Applause.)
Unemployment has hit a 50-year low. And more Americans are working today than ever before in the history of this country. (Applause.) The unemployment rate for women has hit a 55-year low. And the unemployment rate for Asian Americans, Hispanic Americans, and African Americans have reached the lowest level ever recorded in American history. (Applause.) And the wages of working Americans are rising at a faster pace than they have in more than a decade.
Under President Donald Trump, working Americans are winning again. The forgotten men and women of America are forgotten no more. (Applause.)
Everywhere you look, confidence is back, jobs are coming back. In a word, America is back — and we’re just getting started! (Applause.)
But for all the progress we’ve made, President Trump has no higher priority than the safety and security of the American people. And from the first days of this administration, this President has worked to make the strongest military in the history of the world stronger still. And last year, President Trump signed the largest investment in our national defense since the days of Ronald Reagan. (Applause.)
We’re modernizing our nuclear arsenal, updating missile defense, and before the year is out, President Donald Trump will launch the sixth branch of our armed forces, the United States Space Force. (Applause.) Under this Commander-in-Chief, we’ll make sure that America is as dominant in space as we are on land and air and sea.
So, we’re rebuilding our military, we’re restoring the arsenal of democracy, and we’re once again giving our soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines, and Coast Guard the resources they need to accomplish their mission and come home safe. (Applause.)
And we’re also standing with our veterans and all the men and women who have worn the uniform of the United States. And we restored accountability to the VA. (Applause.) We’re finally giving our heroes access to the world-class healthcare they earned in the uniform of the United States. Veterans Choice is here! (Applause.)
And in this administration, we’re also standing every day with the brave men and women of law enforcement, and we’ve been giving all those who stand on the Thin Blue Line the resources and the respect they deserve every single day. (Applause.) And that includes the courageous men and women of Customs and Border Protection — (applause) — who put their lives on the line every single day. Under this President and this administration, we will never abolish ICE. (Applause.)
You know, as the President has said many times: If you don’t have a border, you don’t have a country. And since day one of our administration, we’ve been working to remove dangerous criminals from our streets in record numbers, enforcing our immigration laws, and working to secure our border. And we’ve already started to build that wall. (Applause.)
And I’ll make you a promise: Before we’re done, we’re going to build it all. (Applause.)
AUDIENCE: Build that wall! Build that wall! Build that wall!
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Oh, we’re building it. (Laughter.) As the President often says, “Don’t worry about it.” (Laughter.)
Make no mistake about it, folks: No matter what you hear from the Democrats and their allies in the media, we have a crisis at our southern border, and it’s like nothing we’ve ever seen before.
Matt Schlapp認証済みアカウント @mschlapp https://twitter.com/mschlapp/status/1089995602136653829
The movement for liberty and freedom is not just an American phenomenon, but a force working to improve lives around the entire world. @JCU_official Chairman Jay Aeba @ultraJedi will highlight the impact conservatives can make when we band together for the greater good.
＿＿＿
You know, it’s the greatest honor of my life to serve as Vice President to a President who gets up every day and fights to keep the promises that he made to the American people. (Applause.)
I mean, think about it: This President promised to get this economy moving again. And working with Republican majorities in the Congress, in our first two years, President Trump has cut more federal red tape than any President in American history. (Applause.) We’ve unleashed American energy, and now the United States is the largest producer of oil and natural gas in the world. (Applause.)
Under the President’s strong leadership, we’ve forged new trade deals that finally put American jobs and American workers first. And with the support of this generation of conservatives, President Trump signed the largest tax cut and tax reform in American history. (Applause.) That’s promises made and promises kept!
We cut taxes across the board for working Americans, for American businesses, and we cut out the core of Obamacare. The individual mandate is gone. (Applause.) And the results have been amazing.
As I stand before you today, the American economy is booming. (Applause.) In just over two years, businesses large and small have created 5.3 million new jobs, including over 480,000 good-paying manufacturing jobs that the other side said would never come back. (Applause.)
Unemployment has hit a 50-year low. And more Americans are working today than ever before in the history of this country. (Applause.) The unemployment rate for women has hit a 55-year low. And the unemployment rate for Asian Americans, Hispanic Americans, and African Americans have reached the lowest level ever recorded in American history. (Applause.) And the wages of working Americans are rising at a faster pace than they have in more than a decade.
Under President Donald Trump, working Americans are winning again. The forgotten men and women of America are forgotten no more. (Applause.)
Everywhere you look, confidence is back, jobs are coming back. In a word, America is back — and we’re just getting started! (Applause.)
But for all the progress we’ve made, President Trump has no higher priority than the safety and security of the American people. And from the first days of this administration, this President has worked to make the strongest military in the history of the world stronger still. And last year, President Trump signed the largest investment in our national defense since the days of Ronald Reagan. (Applause.)
We’re modernizing our nuclear arsenal, updating missile defense, and before the year is out, President Donald Trump will launch the sixth branch of our armed forces, the United States Space Force. (Applause.) Under this Commander-in-Chief, we’ll make sure that America is as dominant in space as we are on land and air and sea.
So, we’re rebuilding our military, we’re restoring the arsenal of democracy, and we’re once again giving our soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines, and Coast Guard the resources they need to accomplish their mission and come home safe. (Applause.)
And we’re also standing with our veterans and all the men and women who have worn the uniform of the United States. And we restored accountability to the VA. (Applause.) We’re finally giving our heroes access to the world-class healthcare they earned in the uniform of the United States. Veterans Choice is here! (Applause.)
And in this administration, we’re also standing every day with the brave men and women of law enforcement, and we’ve been giving all those who stand on the Thin Blue Line the resources and the respect they deserve every single day. (Applause.) And that includes the courageous men and women of Customs and Border Protection — (applause) — who put their lives on the line every single day. Under this President and this administration, we will never abolish ICE. (Applause.)
You know, as the President has said many times: If you don’t have a border, you don’t have a country. And since day one of our administration, we’ve been working to remove dangerous criminals from our streets in record numbers, enforcing our immigration laws, and working to secure our border. And we’ve already started to build that wall. (Applause.)
And I’ll make you a promise: Before we’re done, we’re going to build it all. (Applause.)
AUDIENCE: Build that wall! Build that wall! Build that wall!
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Oh, we’re building it. (Laughter.) As the President often says, “Don’t worry about it.” (Laughter.)
Make no mistake about it, folks: No matter what you hear from the Democrats and their allies in the media, we have a crisis at our southern border, and it’s like nothing we’ve ever seen before.
So today we call on every member of Congress: Stand up for border security, stop playing politics with the security of the American people, and stand with President Trump for a stronger and safer America. (Applause.)
With his renewed commitment to law and order, this President has also been busy seeing to our judicial branch. President Trump has appointed more men and women to our federal courts in the last two years than any administration in American history. And they are all conservatives, like Justice Neil Gorsuch and Justice Brett Kavanaugh! (Applause.)
And they’re conservatives who will uphold all the God-given liberties enshrined in our Constitution, like the freedom of speech, the freedom of religion, and the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms. (Applause.)
You know, the freedom of religion is not just enshrined in our Constitution; it’s enshrined in the hearts of the American people. But make no mistake about it: Freedom of religion is under attack in our country. Lately, it’s actually become fashionable for media elites and Hollywood liberals to mock religious belief.
My own family recently came under attack just because my wife Karen went back to teach art to children at a Christian school. Let me say, before all of you, I couldn’t be more proud of my wife. (Applause.) She’s a Marine Corps mom. She’s a great schoolteacher. And Karen Pence is a great Second Lady for the United States of America. (Applause.)
But let me be clear on this point: This is not about us. It’s about all of you. It’s about the sincerely held belief of millions of Americans who cherish their Christian faith and Christian education. And so I’ll make you a promise: Under this President and this administration, we will always stand with people of faith. We will always defend the freedom of religion of every American of every faith, so help us God. (Applause.)
And as we reflect on our God-given liberties, I got to tell you, I couldn’t be more proud to serve as Vice President to the most pro-life President in American history. (Applause.)
Since the first days of this administration, President Donald Trump has stood without apology for the sanctity of human life. In one of his very first acts, the President reinstated the Mexico City Policy, preventing taxpayer dollars from funding abortion or abortion providers around the world. And here at home, President Trump signed a law to allow all 50 states to defund Planned Parenthood. (Applause.) Life is winning in America once again.
But for all the progress we’re making — tragically, at the very moment that more Americans than ever before are embracing the right to life, leading members of the Democratic Party are embracing a radical agenda of abortion on demand.
In state legislatures across the country, Democrats have endorsed late-term abortion. The Democrat governor of Virginia openly defends infanticide. And just four short days ago —
THE VICE PRESIDENT: — Democrats in the Senate, including every Democratic senator running for president, voted against a bill that would prevent newborn babies who survived failed abortions from being killed.
You know, I’ve long believed that a society can be judged by how it deals with its most vulnerable: the aged, the infirmed, the disabled, and the unborn.
With Democrats standing for late-term abortion, infanticide, and a culture of death, I promise you this President, this party, and this movement will always stand for the unborn. We will always defend the unalienable right to life. (Applause.)
So we’ve restored American strength and security at home, and we’re doing the same thing around the world. And today, under the leadership of President Trump, the United States of America is once again standing proudly as leader of the free world — (applause) — like when this President kept his promise to our most cherished ally and moved the American embassy to Jerusalem, the capital of the State of Israel! (Applause.)
So we’ve stood with our allies and we’ve stood up to our enemies. We’ve taken the fight to radical Islamic terrorists on our terms, on their soil.
In Iraq and Syria, thanks to the courage of our armed forces and our coalition partners, the ISIS caliphate has been decimated, and our troops have liberated 5 million men, women, and children. (Applause.) To see the extraordinary progress they’ve made in liberating millions from the vicious grip of ISIS, I say with conviction, again, what has been said throughout history: The Armed Forces of the United States are the greatest force for good in the history of the world. (Applause.)
You know, it’s the greatest honor of my life to serve as Vice President to a President who gets up every day and fights to keep the promises that he made to the American people. (Applause.)
I mean, think about it: This President promised to get this economy moving again. And working with Republican majorities in the Congress, in our first two years, President Trump has cut more federal red tape than any President in American history. (Applause.) We’ve unleashed American energy, and now the United States is the largest producer of oil and natural gas in the world. (Applause.)
Under the President’s strong leadership, we’ve forged new trade deals that finally put American jobs and American workers first. And with the support of this generation of conservatives, President Trump signed the largest tax cut and tax reform in American history. (Applause.) That’s promises made and promises kept!
We cut taxes across the board for working Americans, for American businesses, and we cut out the core of Obamacare. The individual mandate is gone. (Applause.) And the results have been amazing.
As I stand before you today, the American economy is booming. (Applause.) In just over two years, businesses large and small have created 5.3 million new jobs, including over 480,000 good-paying manufacturing jobs that the other side said would never come back. (Applause.)
Unemployment has hit a 50-year low. And more Americans are working today than ever before in the history of this country. (Applause.) The unemployment rate for women has hit a 55-year low. And the unemployment rate for Asian Americans, Hispanic Americans, and African Americans have reached the lowest level ever recorded in American history. (Applause.) And the wages of working Americans are rising at a faster pace than they have in more than a decade.
Under President Donald Trump, working Americans are winning again. The forgotten men and women of America are forgotten no more. (Applause.)
Everywhere you look, confidence is back, jobs are coming back. In a word, America is back — and we’re just getting started! (Applause.)
But for all the progress we’ve made, President Trump has no higher priority than the safety and security of the American people. And from the first days of this administration, this President has worked to make the strongest military in the history of the world stronger still. And last year, President Trump signed the largest investment in our national defense since the days of Ronald Reagan. (Applause.)
We’re modernizing our nuclear arsenal, updating missile defense, and before the year is out, President Donald Trump will launch the sixth branch of our armed forces, the United States Space Force. (Applause.) Under this Commander-in-Chief, we’ll make sure that America is as dominant in space as we are on land and air and sea.
So, we’re rebuilding our military, we’re restoring the arsenal of democracy, and we’re once again giving our soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines, and Coast Guard the resources they need to accomplish their mission and come home safe. (Applause.)
And we’re also standing with our veterans and all the men and women who have worn the uniform of the United States. And we restored accountability to the VA. (Applause.) We’re finally giving our heroes access to the world-class healthcare they earned in the uniform of the United States. Veterans Choice is here! (Applause.)
And in this administration, we’re also standing every day with the brave men and women of law enforcement, and we’ve been giving all those who stand on the Thin Blue Line the resources and the respect they deserve every single day. (Applause.) And that includes the courageous men and women of Customs and Border Protection — (applause) — who put their lives on the line every single day. Under this President and this administration, we will never abolish ICE. (Applause.)
You know, as the President has said many times: If you don’t have a border, you don’t have a country. And since day one of our administration, we’ve been working to remove dangerous criminals from our streets in record numbers, enforcing our immigration laws, and working to secure our border. And we’ve already started to build that wall. (Applause.)
And I’ll make you a promise: Before we’re done, we’re going to build it all. (Applause.)
AUDIENCE: Build that wall! Build that wall! Build that wall!
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Oh, we’re building it. (Laughter.) As the President often says, “Don’t worry about it.” (Laughter.)
Make no mistake about it, folks: No matter what you hear from the Democrats and their allies in the media, we have a crisis at our southern border, and it’s like nothing we’ve ever seen before.
So today we call on every member of Congress: Stand up for border security, stop playing politics with the security of the American people, and stand with President Trump for a stronger and safer America. (Applause.)
With his renewed commitment to law and order, this President has also been busy seeing to our judicial branch. President Trump has appointed more men and women to our federal courts in the last two years than any administration in American history. And they are all conservatives, like Justice Neil Gorsuch and Justice Brett Kavanaugh! (Applause.)
And they’re conservatives who will uphold all the God-given liberties enshrined in our Constitution, like the freedom of speech, the freedom of religion, and the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms. (Applause.)
You know, the freedom of religion is not just enshrined in our Constitution; it’s enshrined in the hearts of the American people. But make no mistake about it: Freedom of religion is under attack in our country. Lately, it’s actually become fashionable for media elites and Hollywood liberals to mock religious belief.
So today we call on every member of Congress: Stand up for border security, stop playing politics with the security of the American people, and stand with President Trump for a stronger and safer America. (Applause.)
With his renewed commitment to law and order, this President has also been busy seeing to our judicial branch. President Trump has appointed more men and women to our federal courts in the last two years than any administration in American history. And they are all conservatives, like Justice Neil Gorsuch and Justice Brett Kavanaugh! (Applause.)
And they’re conservatives who will uphold all the God-given liberties enshrined in our Constitution, like the freedom of speech, the freedom of religion, and the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms. (Applause.)
You know, the freedom of religion is not just enshrined in our Constitution; it’s enshrined in the hearts of the American people. But make no mistake about it: Freedom of religion is under attack in our country. Lately, it’s actually become fashionable for media elites and Hollywood liberals to mock religious belief.
My own family recently came under attack just because my wife Karen went back to teach art to children at a Christian school. Let me say, before all of you, I couldn’t be more proud of my wife. (Applause.) She’s a Marine Corps mom. She’s a great schoolteacher. And Karen Pence is a great Second Lady for the United States of America. (Applause.)
But let me be clear on this point: This is not about us. It’s about all of you. It’s about the sincerely held belief of millions of Americans who cherish their Christian faith and Christian education. And so I’ll make you a promise: Under this President and this administration, we will always stand with people of faith. We will always defend the freedom of religion of every American of every faith, so help us God. (Applause.)
And as we reflect on our God-given liberties, I got to tell you, I couldn’t be more proud to serve as Vice President to the most pro-life President in American history. (Applause.)
Since the first days of this administration, President Donald Trump has stood without apology for the sanctity of human life. In one of his very first acts, the President reinstated the Mexico City Policy, preventing taxpayer dollars from funding abortion or abortion providers around the world. And here at home, President Trump signed a law to allow all 50 states to defund Planned Parenthood. (Applause.) Life is winning in America once again.
But for all the progress we’re making — tragically, at the very moment that more Americans than ever before are embracing the right to life, leading members of the Democratic Party are embracing a radical agenda of abortion on demand.
In state legislatures across the country, Democrats have endorsed late-term abortion. The Democrat governor of Virginia openly defends infanticide. And just four short days ago —
THE VICE PRESIDENT: — Democrats in the Senate, including every Democratic senator running for president, voted against a bill that would prevent newborn babies who survived failed abortions from being killed.
You know, I’ve long believed that a society can be judged by how it deals with its most vulnerable: the aged, the infirmed, the disabled, and the unborn.
With Democrats standing for late-term abortion, infanticide, and a culture of death, I promise you this President, this party, and this movement will always stand for the unborn. We will always defend the unalienable right to life. (Applause.)
So we’ve restored American strength and security at home, and we’re doing the same thing around the world. And today, under the leadership of President Trump, the United States of America is once again standing proudly as leader of the free world — (applause) — like when this President kept his promise to our most cherished ally and moved the American embassy to Jerusalem, the capital of the State of Israel! (Applause.)
So we’ve stood with our allies and we’ve stood up to our enemies. We’ve taken the fight to radical Islamic terrorists on our terms, on their soil.
In Iraq and Syria, thanks to the courage of our armed forces and our coalition partners, the ISIS caliphate has been decimated, and our troops have liberated 5 million men, women, and children. (Applause.) To see the extraordinary progress they’ve made in liberating millions from the vicious grip of ISIS, I say with conviction, again, what has been said throughout history: The Armed Forces of the United States are the greatest force for good in the history of the world. (Applause.)
NRATV認証済みアカウント @NRATV https://twitter.com/NRATV/status/1102639039184818177
"Part of what [we've] talked about all week is what makes America great. And the answer to that is simple: it's freedom." —@ChrisCoxNRA #CPAC2019
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It’s undeniable: Around the world, nationalism is on the march, and the media and reigning political elites would have you believe this is a dangerous disaster in the making. So, why is Yoram Hazony, author of The Virtue of Nationalism, unafraid? Watch to understand.
Donate today to PragerU! http://l.prageru.com/2eB2p0h
Britain votes to leave the European Union. The United States elects a president who says he’ll put “America First.”
Around the world, nationalism is winning elections. Many see this nationalist revival as the great danger of our time, fearing that nationalism will take us back to a more primitive and racist past.
But it wasn’t long ago that great political figures such as Woodrow Wilson and Teddy Roosevelt, David Ben-Gurion and Mahatma Gandhi, Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher recognized what I call the virtue of nationalism.
So, what is this virtue?
A nationalist believes that the world is governed best when nations are free to chart their own independent course, cultivating their traditions and pursuing their interests without interference. Nationalism is not about racism. All nations are internally diverse. And it isn’t about isolationism.
Of course, nations can a pursue a variety of different policies in diplomacy and trade. Nationalism is the opposite of imperialism—or globalism or transnationalism—which are all names for the attempt to bring peace and prosperity to the world by uniting mankind under a single political authority.
The debate between nationalists and globalists, then, is over whether we should aspire to a world of many independent nations—or to be one unified super-state, like the enlightened “Federation” of the Star Trek movies. A case can be made for both sides of the argument. But for the last 30 years—really, since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the end of the Soviet Union—the “one world“ side has been dominant.
Today, this is changing. Maybe not among elites, but among ordinary citizens—or, as they are known in America, “the deplorables.” It turns out that a lot of people still think good borders make good neighbors.
It’s hardly surprising that people want to preserve the way of life they and their ancestors built up over centuries, the way of life they believe is best. It’s human nature. Our strongest loyalties are to those who are closest to us: to our family; then the larger community or “tribe”, and finally, to the nation.
Mention the Korean War today and most people will look at you with a blank stare. At the time it was fought, just five years after World War II ended, everyone recognized it as a world-shaping conflict, a stark confrontation between the forces of democracy and communism.
It began on June 25, 1950 when Soviet-backed communist North Korea crossed the 38th parallel and invaded its US-backed anti-communist South Korean neighbor. Within weeks the communists had nearly absorbed the entire country. The United States at first was confused over whether it should—or even could—respond. America had slashed its military budget after the end of World War II and was short both men and equipment. It still had not awakened fully to the expansionist threat of Soviet Russia.
The Soviets—buoyed by their own recent development of an atomic bomb and Mao Zedong’s communist victory in China—sensed America’s lack of resolve and encouraged the North’s aggression. Yet within weeks President Harry Truman rushed troops to save the shrinking Allied perimeter at Pusan on the southern tip of the Korean Peninsula. And by late September, 1950, General Douglas MacArthur had successfully completed the Inchon landings and launched counter-attacks
He quickly reclaimed the entire south and sent American-led United Nations forces far into North Korea to reunite the entire peninsula—only to be surprised when hundreds of thousands of Chinese Red Army troops crossed the Yalu River at the Chinese border and sent the outnumbered Americans reeling back into South Korea.
Thanks to the genius of General Matthew Ridgeway, who arrived to assume supreme command in South Korea in December 1950, over the next 100 days US led UN forces pushed the communists back across the 38th Parallel. The fighting was fierce. Seoul, the capital city of South Korea, exchanged hands between communist and US led forces five times before it was finally secured.
During the years 1952 and 1953, the war grew static, neither side able to deliver a knockout blow. Eventually the conflict ended with a tense armistice in July 1953. For over the next 60 years, a cold war persisted between the Stalinist North and what, by the 1980s, had evolved into the democratic, economic powerhouse of South Korea.
Over 35,000 Americans died in the Korean War. The war marked the first major armed conflict of the Nuclear Age, and one in which the United States had not clearly defeated the enemy and thus not dictated terms of surrender. Was fighting the Korean War and restoring the South—without uniting the entire peninsula—worth the huge cost in blood and treasure?
The natural dividend of saving the South was the evolution of today’s democratic and prosperous South Korea that has given its 50 million citizens undreamed of freedom and affluence—and has blessed the world with topflight products from the likes of Hyundai, Kia, LG and Samsung.
South Korea is a model global citizen and a strong ally of the U.S.—and stands in sharp contrast to the communist regime in the North that has starved and murdered millions of its own people and caused untold mischief in the world community. Had it not been for U.S. intervention and support to the South, the current monstrous regime in Pyongyang would now rule all of Korea, ensuring its nuclear-armed dictatorship even greater power and resources.
JOHN BOLTON, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: Well, I don't agree at all that it was a failed summit. I think the obligation of the president of the United States is to defend and advance American national security interest and I think he did that, by rejecting a bad deal and by trying again to persuade Kim Jong-un to take the big deal that really could make a difference for North Korea. As the president said, sometimes you have to walk away and I think he made a very important point to North Korea and to other countries around the world about negotiating with him.
He's not desperate for a deal, not with North Korea, not with anybody -- if it's contrary to American national interest.
WALLACE: Well, I want to pick up on that, though, because apparently it had become clear in the negotiations over the preceding weeks and finally days before Hanoi that the North Koreans were asking for a much greater sanctions relief in the president was willing to give. Under those circumstances, did it make sense to even hold the summit?
BOLTON: Well, you never know what the North Koreans are actually going to come with or if they're going to adhere to it. A big part of the problem here in all these discussions were the experts are saying, well, the North Koreans will give a part of their program and the U.S. will release some of the economic sanctions that has bedeviled prior administrations if the problem of incommensurability, that we are talking about things that don't have common measurements. And what North Korea has done consistently in the past is promised to denuclearize and then, by the way, not do it, to get economic benefits, which provide their economy a lifeline, get them out of the trouble they are in and then allow them to go back to the nuclear program.
That kind of mistake is exactly what President Trump said he would not permit in his administration and he did not do it.
WALLACE: You didn't really answer my first question, I'm now realizing, which is where do things stand and what does the president -- what does he want and what's he willing to give?
BOLTON: What he has said from the beginning, that North Korea, if it makes a strategic decision to denuclearize, can have a prospect of a very, very bright economic future. The president held the door open for North Korea and Singapore. They didn't walk through. He held it open for them again in Hanoi, they didn't walk through it.
He is ready to hold it open again, no fixed date for a third summit but he's turned traditional diplomacy on its head and after all in the case of North Korea, why not, traditional diplomacy has failed in the last three administrations.
WALLACE: But would you agree that so far this move with Kim has failed?
BOLTON: I don't think we are in any worse shape than they were in past demonstrations. I think in fact we are in a stronger position because the maximum pressure campaign, as it's been called, of putting tighter economic sanctions on North Korea and enforcing those sanctions more effectively is what brought them to this point. And that program of maximum pressure will continue and I think have a real impact on Kim Jong-un.
WALLACE: I want to ask you about exactly that because before Singapore, the president said that he would not accept North Korea as a nuclear power and here's what you told me last April.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WALLACE: Is there any possibility that the U.S. would accept North Korea as a nuclear power and allow them to keep some of their infrastructure?
WALLACE: But this week the president kept saying over and over again, there's no rush for North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons, to give up its missiles, the key is no testing and according to intelligence reports, U.S. intelligence reports, in the last year while they have not tested, North Korea has produced enough nuclear fuel for five to seven more nuclear weapons.
So I guess the question is, in effect, despite what you said, despite with the president said, aren't you accepting North Korea as a nuclear power, and haven't you, in fact, given a big concession, which is that in return for no testing, you've agreed to cancel major joint exercises with the South Koreans?
BOLTON: I don't think the president sees it that way at all. The objective of making sure that North Korea denuclearizes is still the policy of the administration. And I think --
BOLTON: That the fact is that at the moment, the leverage is on the side of the United States, the economic sanctions continued to take hold.
There's no doubt over a protracted period of time, that the time does work in favor of the proliferator. But I think our judgment right now is that time works in the favor of the president's position as North Korea sees the effective of these sanctions taking greater effect.
