Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
Trump's Remarks at Kids First: Getting America's Children Safely Back to School; August 12, 2020
REMARKS
Remarks by President Trump at Kids First: Getting America’s Children Safely Back to School
EDUCATION
Issued on: August 12, 2020
State Dining Room
3:02 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Well, thank you very much. And we’re here to talk about a very important subject — education — but also opening our schools. And we have some of our great teachers and parents and a very representative group, and we also have some extraordinary experts with us. I’d like to maybe start off by asking our Vice President to say a few words. And then, if you would, Betsy and Kellyanne. And we’ll go around and talk to some of the parents and teachers. And thank you all for being here very much. Appreciate it.
Please.
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, thank you, Mr. President. And
{snip}
And so, Mr. President, I want to thank you for your leadership. It’s great to be here with the Secretary of Education, with Kellyanne, and all these remarkable teachers in particular. As you know, I’ve been married to a schoolteacher for 35 years. She’s preparing to go back to the classroom this fall. And I want to thank all the educators who are here for all the hard work you’ve done through these difficult days and all the work that you’re doing to get our kids back to school.
Thank you, Mr. President.
SECRETARY DEVOS: Well, Mr. President, thank you so much for your continued, bold leadership through this crisis, and particularly with respect to getting kids back to school. It’s been a privilege to travel with the Vice President to meet with educators, education leaders, and especially with parents and students to hear about what their needs are as fall quickly approaches. And so, I’m — I’m just thankful to be here with this group today to listen and learn from you about what your needs are as we anticipate getting back to school.
And, Commissioner Corcoran, thank you for your bold leadership in Florida, really setting high expectations for all of the students and educators there.
{snip}
DR. PIASECKI:
{snip}
So I feel like — Mr. President, thank you for your leadership on trying to get students back in school safely. So appreciate it.
{snip}
THE PRESIDENT: Okay. Great job. Thank you very much.
DR. PIASECKI: Of course.
MS. CONWAY: Nilsa Alvarez. Hi. It sounds like your children are back in school, following a decision that you and other parents in Seymour, Tennessee, had to make with respect to whether to keep them at home and learn virtually or go back to school. You chose to go back to school. Why? And how is it going so far?
MS. ALVAREZ: Well, the “why” is very easy. I’m a Hispanic small-business owner, so I need my kids in school to run the business. And I know a lot of families — it’s a struggle if you’re working your business and being a teacher at the same time. It’s just not easy.
But we’ve made that decision, and I really want to thank the leadership of Governor Bill Lee, who emphasized to the school districts to offer the options of in-person learning and virtual so that parents would have the freedom to choose which education route would be best for their child.
{snip}
MS. VALLADARES:
{snip}
THE PRESIDENT: Very exciting. Right?
MS. VALLADARES: Thank you. Thank you for all of your leadership with this.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. Say hello to everybody.
MS. VALLADARES: Okay.
THE PRESIDENT: I know the area well. It’s great.
{snip}
SECRETARY DEVOS: Well, and I would just add to that: Senator Tim Scott has a bill introduced in Congress that would do just that. It would empower parents to make the choice for their children to find the right setting and the right fit for them, depending on their circumstances. And with the President’s bold leadership here, I think we can get it done. Congress can do the right thing on behalf of parents and their kids.
{snip}
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, Scott. That’s very good. So we’ll have more from Scott in a little while. We’re going to meet together. And we’ve been working with him very closely — all of the task force, all of the White House. And we’ve made a lot of progress. We’ve made tremendous progress. You see countries — other countries are now blowing up, in terms of the — the disease.
You call it what you want. So many different names for the disease, whether it’s “China virus” and some I won’t get into because I just get myself in trouble every time I do. But I’m — I’m angry about it. And so everybody else in this country — angry about it.
So we will have a press conference in a little while. You’ll be seeing the doctor. You’ll be seeing a few of the people, and I’ll be making a statement. And I think that’ll start at about 5:30.
I want to thank everybody very much for coming in and being with you. We’re on your side 100 percent. We’re on your side.
We’d like to also see football get going. We want to see college football. And I don’t know what they’re doing with high school football, but I guess it’s the same kind of a thought process. So we want to see that happen. And I think some of it will happen. To a large extent, it’s going to happen.
They want to do it. I’ll tell who wants to have — do it are the players and the coaches. They want to do it. I spoke with Trevor Lawrence, the great quarterback, and he’s very smart. He understood it very well. He said, “Hey, I’m a lot safer on the field than I am being out there.” And he — he got it. He got it very quickly.
Coach O, I spoke with him. He’s a — he’s some coach, that one. He’s a great coach. And he — he feels his players just want to be out there. So we’ve spoken to a lot of different people, and they want to get out.
And our country is opening up. We’re opening up very strongly, if you look at retail sales numbers, car sale numbers, used car numbers, and employment numbers. We have — we’re hiring — over the last three months, the most people ever hired in the history of our country. So you had a lower base, but nevertheless we hired a tremendous amount — by far the biggest number of people ever hired during a three-month period, so — for the quarter.
So I just want to thank everybody. We’ll see you folks in a little while. And thank you very much. Appreciate it. (Applause.)
Q Mr. President? Mr. President, what do you say to the families that are not — that don’t feel safe with their kids going back to school?
THE PRESIDENT: We’ll (inaudible). We’ll talk about it (inaudible) a little while. Too much respect for these people to discuss anything. Okay?
END
3:37 P.M. EDT
Remarks by President Trump at Kids First: Getting America’s Children Safely Back to School
EDUCATION
Issued on: August 12, 2020
State Dining Room
3:02 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Well, thank you very much. And we’re here to talk about a very important subject — education — but also opening our schools. And we have some of our great teachers and parents and a very representative group, and we also have some extraordinary experts with us. I’d like to maybe start off by asking our Vice President to say a few words. And then, if you would, Betsy and Kellyanne. And we’ll go around and talk to some of the parents and teachers. And thank you all for being here very much. Appreciate it.
Please.
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, thank you, Mr. President. And
{snip}
And so, Mr. President, I want to thank you for your leadership. It’s great to be here with the Secretary of Education, with Kellyanne, and all these remarkable teachers in particular. As you know, I’ve been married to a schoolteacher for 35 years. She’s preparing to go back to the classroom this fall. And I want to thank all the educators who are here for all the hard work you’ve done through these difficult days and all the work that you’re doing to get our kids back to school.
Thank you, Mr. President.
SECRETARY DEVOS: Well, Mr. President, thank you so much for your continued, bold leadership through this crisis, and particularly with respect to getting kids back to school. It’s been a privilege to travel with the Vice President to meet with educators, education leaders, and especially with parents and students to hear about what their needs are as fall quickly approaches. And so, I’m — I’m just thankful to be here with this group today to listen and learn from you about what your needs are as we anticipate getting back to school.
And, Commissioner Corcoran, thank you for your bold leadership in Florida, really setting high expectations for all of the students and educators there.
{snip}
DR. PIASECKI:
{snip}
So I feel like — Mr. President, thank you for your leadership on trying to get students back in school safely. So appreciate it.
{snip}
THE PRESIDENT: Okay. Great job. Thank you very much.
DR. PIASECKI: Of course.
MS. CONWAY: Nilsa Alvarez. Hi. It sounds like your children are back in school, following a decision that you and other parents in Seymour, Tennessee, had to make with respect to whether to keep them at home and learn virtually or go back to school. You chose to go back to school. Why? And how is it going so far?
MS. ALVAREZ: Well, the “why” is very easy. I’m a Hispanic small-business owner, so I need my kids in school to run the business. And I know a lot of families — it’s a struggle if you’re working your business and being a teacher at the same time. It’s just not easy.
But we’ve made that decision, and I really want to thank the leadership of Governor Bill Lee, who emphasized to the school districts to offer the options of in-person learning and virtual so that parents would have the freedom to choose which education route would be best for their child.
{snip}
MS. VALLADARES:
{snip}
THE PRESIDENT: Very exciting. Right?
MS. VALLADARES: Thank you. Thank you for all of your leadership with this.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. Say hello to everybody.
MS. VALLADARES: Okay.
THE PRESIDENT: I know the area well. It’s great.
{snip}
SECRETARY DEVOS: Well, and I would just add to that: Senator Tim Scott has a bill introduced in Congress that would do just that. It would empower parents to make the choice for their children to find the right setting and the right fit for them, depending on their circumstances. And with the President’s bold leadership here, I think we can get it done. Congress can do the right thing on behalf of parents and their kids.
{snip}
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, Scott. That’s very good. So we’ll have more from Scott in a little while. We’re going to meet together. And we’ve been working with him very closely — all of the task force, all of the White House. And we’ve made a lot of progress. We’ve made tremendous progress. You see countries — other countries are now blowing up, in terms of the — the disease.
You call it what you want. So many different names for the disease, whether it’s “China virus” and some I won’t get into because I just get myself in trouble every time I do. But I’m — I’m angry about it. And so everybody else in this country — angry about it.
So we will have a press conference in a little while. You’ll be seeing the doctor. You’ll be seeing a few of the people, and I’ll be making a statement. And I think that’ll start at about 5:30.
I want to thank everybody very much for coming in and being with you. We’re on your side 100 percent. We’re on your side.
We’d like to also see football get going. We want to see college football. And I don’t know what they’re doing with high school football, but I guess it’s the same kind of a thought process. So we want to see that happen. And I think some of it will happen. To a large extent, it’s going to happen.
They want to do it. I’ll tell who wants to have — do it are the players and the coaches. They want to do it. I spoke with Trevor Lawrence, the great quarterback, and he’s very smart. He understood it very well. He said, “Hey, I’m a lot safer on the field than I am being out there.” And he — he got it. He got it very quickly.
Coach O, I spoke with him. He’s a — he’s some coach, that one. He’s a great coach. And he — he feels his players just want to be out there. So we’ve spoken to a lot of different people, and they want to get out.
And our country is opening up. We’re opening up very strongly, if you look at retail sales numbers, car sale numbers, used car numbers, and employment numbers. We have — we’re hiring — over the last three months, the most people ever hired in the history of our country. So you had a lower base, but nevertheless we hired a tremendous amount — by far the biggest number of people ever hired during a three-month period, so — for the quarter.
So I just want to thank everybody. We’ll see you folks in a little while. And thank you very much. Appreciate it. (Applause.)
Q Mr. President? Mr. President, what do you say to the families that are not — that don’t feel safe with their kids going back to school?
THE PRESIDENT: We’ll (inaudible). We’ll talk about it (inaudible) a little while. Too much respect for these people to discuss anything. Okay?
END
3:37 P.M. EDT
1 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
