“It’s so nicely—look at that—so nicely…It says, ‘Thank you.’ They say, ‘Pastor Robert.’ I just said, ‘I just think of you as “pastor” or “Robert,”’ but I’m going to put them together, Pastor Robert,” Trump said, looking over at Jeffress.
Trump then wished the congregants a “very, very merry Christmas,” going on to describe how his wife, Melania Trump, was criticized for her choices of Christmas decorations at the White House while she served as First Lady.
“But more than 2,000 years ago, an angel of the Lord appeared—and really it’s been a long and beautiful history. But an angel of the Lord appeared to humble shepherds and proclaimed the reason for our Christmas joy. ‘For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord,’” Trump said, quoting Luke 2:11.
“Now, when I was listening to Robert, perhaps unknowingly, you used the word ‘savior’ a lot, and our country needs a savior right now. And our country has a Savior. And that’s not me. That’s somebody much higher up than me, much higher up,” Trump said.
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“We just do what we have to do,” Trump went on to say. He then returned to reading from his prepared remarks. “But the life and death and resurrection of Jesus Christ forever changed the world. It’s impossible to think of the life of our own country without the influence of His example and of His teachings: our miraculous founding, overcoming civil war, abolishing slavery, defeating communism and fascism, reaching boundless heights and discovery, so many incredible things…And the United States ultimately becoming a truly great nation, and we’re going to keep it that way.”
“We’re not going to let it go. We’re not going to let it go,” Trump reiterated. “But none of this could have ever happened without Jesus Christ and His followers and His church. None of it. And we have to remember that Jesus Christ is the ultimate source of our strength and of our hope…And we want to just thank everybody who believes, because we’re believing in our country. We’re believing in the world. We’re believing in life.”
Trump then transitioned to speaking about America’s exit from Afghanistan, saying, “This Christmas, let us pray for the hundreds of thousands of men and women serving in our nation’s military. I’m so proud of what we were able to do for our military. And with what happened recently, the disgrace that was put on it by the way we left [Afghanistan].”
“I think it was the most embarrassing day in the history of our country, the way we left. We can’t let that happen,” Trump continued. “We have to be respected throughout the world. And if we’re not respected for strength, we are not going to be a nation too much longer. We’ll be a nation in a lot of trouble.”
Trump also touched on police reform in his address, saying, “And the Americans in law enforcement who dedicate their lives to keeping our communities safe, who aren’t allowed to do their jobs in many cases…We have to give the police their authority back. And we have to give them their dignity back. And [crime] will stop very quickly.”
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