ICYMI: President Trump Delivers Remarks To The FIFA World Cup Reception In Trump Tower - #NewVM2 #Dailyworldnews

So, I want to thank Johnny, this guy. He came to me with this crazy idea. I said, are you crazy? We're not a soccer country. It turned out we were a soccer country, and I think it's going to remain. But what he's done and what he thought of with a lot of your friends that I met today, they were very much involved in the decision. But I want to thank our great FIFA president, Johnny Infantino. There's nobody like him, actually. Very few. And the entire team at FIFA for their incredible work. I've met so many of them. I see why you were so successful. Because of the commitment and devotion of the people in this room, this beautiful room where the sound is very good, because you're going to hear a great opera singer in a couple of minutes. That's why I say, you know, Pavarotti was here. I was saying years ago he was here and he sang right in that corner. And he said to me something I never forgot, because it's luck. Sound is luck. Like talent, you're born with it. Sound is a little luck. He said, this is the greatest space. And he came and recorded either an album or a song. And we're going to hear somebody. You're going to hear somebody in a couple of minutes that's really good. But I did say to him, Christopher, are you as good as he's an Italian man also? I don't know. It seems that being Italian is a big advantage in that business, right? If his name was Christopher Smith, it wouldn't work out as well. But I said, Christopher, are you as good as Pavarotti? No, no, no. He was the maestro. He was the greatest of all time. Who is nobody like? When you hear him, you'll understand he's just as good. Now, I would have said, no, no, I'm better than Pavarotti if I were him. And therefore, I'm doing this instead of that. But you're going to hear somebody who's fantastic, really an acknowledged genius. But this has been the most successful sporting event, maybe in the history of the world. It's been amazing. So I want to congratulate everybody in this room because you're very much into football. I'll say the word football. It's a little confusing here because we have the great Bob Craft. He's won six Super Bowls, six Super Bowl. That's not stand up, Bob, will you please? And he also owns a soccer team, which is good, but it hasn't been quite as good as the football. Do you agree? Not quite. And you're OK with that. He's OK with that, actually, in this country. Congratulations, Bob. Nice to have you been my friend for a long time. But eight years ago, all the way back in twenty eighteen, it was my honor to help secure the World Cup for North America and never thinking that it would turn out to be what it turned out to be. Johnny said this would happen. But as fate would have it, I'm president. I said, you know, I was supposed to not be here right now. I was supposed to be president for eight years. The polls showed it. Everyone showed it. They rigged the election. And what did I get? I got the World Cup. I got the Olympics and I brought him here. I tried to take credit for 250 years, but that didn't work out as well. I tried to say I created two hundred and fifty years. That one didn't work, but I did get the Olympics and we got this. And I don't know, this might be bigger than the Olympics. Tell me, is it bigger? Much bigger. All right. I'll take his word for it. I'll take his word for it. I had a feeling he was going to say that. But Johnny, I want to thank FIFA Secretary General Matias Grafstrom, as well as FIFA vice presidents and all of those vice presidents and council members, along with the presidents and general secretaries of FIFA member associations, along with some presidents of their countries. Of course, being a president of your country at this particular time isn't really as good as being the president of one of your associations. But you've done an amazing job. In fact, the presidents of the countries are sitting in the back row. You believe this? They're going to be very upset with you. But we also have many famous FIFA legends and all-star players, people that I recognize being somebody that knows something about sports. I have my children love soccer. My one son, my very tall son, Baron, loves soccer. He's a good soccer player. He may. I don't know his speed. My little kid is very tall. I don't know. I said, when some guy gets by you from Spain, from Argentina, from France, Baron, what happens from England? What happens, Baron? He said, Dad, I'm a very good ball handler. I said, but Baron, if he's faster, what do you do about it? Dad, he'll never get by me. I said, but when he does. And he didn't want to answer that question. So speed, I think, is quite important in this sport. Do you agree? But he has good, good skills, actually. But he helped Johnny helped shape the game. You all helped shape the game and really bring it to a level that I don't think I've ever seen before. Melania's father, Victor, sitting right here. And he's been a wonderful father in law, a great guy. And he said he used to play soccer as a young man. He didn't quite make it into the big leagues, but he's a good athlete. Victor, stand up. Stand up. An ex-soccer player. But we're gathered tonight. Thanks, Victor. But we're gathered tonight. He's going to be at the game along with Melania, along with everybody. I mean, who's not going to be at the game? If we had if we had about 10 million more, we would sell every ticket. This thing is sold out. I've never seen nobody seen anything like it. But we're gathered tonight in New York City as we await the final face off on Sunday between the amazing two amazing teams, Spain and Argentina. I watched that pass that Messi made. I'm not knowing as much as the people in this room, but I know about sports and I know about a little bit about soccer. But I watched Messi and he was well guarded, right? Well guarded. And all of a sudden, he's standing on the right. You understand what I'm talking about? I don't know if anybody didn't. I just noticed it. Nobody talked about it. I just noticed it. I said, he's so well guarded by a great player. And then he moved to the right and the other player was just standing there and he had plenty of time. He kicked it. It was within, I would say, a quarter of an inch of being perfect. And that was the end of the game. It was brilliant. And these great players, they seem to do that over and over again. They're just born with something extra special. I know that Ronaldo is one of them. I got to know him over the years and he's a great guy. You have a great player in England who I played golf with. You know that, right? And he is Harry, who's been fantastic. I think they perhaps made a mistake when they made him a defensive player. What do I know about soccer? They took the league and they took their best player and then put them on defense. Then somehow now we got to be a little offensive, right? But no, I'm not going to call it. Look, what do I know about coaching? But that was a little unusual. But Harry is a great guy, actually. But we're gathered tonight in New York City as we await the final face off on Sunday between these two amazing teams. And it's going to be something, I think, really special. This has been a tournament like no other, filled with fierce competition, unforgettable moments, yet unforgettable moments like probably the most unforgettable is when they gave that gentleman. Is it a red card? And I was forced to call Johnny and just make a recommendation. I said, Johnny, I'd like to make a recommendation. Let the guy in the game. No, I didn't say that. I said, I'd like to wage a complaint. And actually, I didn't. I had no idea what was going to happen. But, you know, it's so much better the way it worked out because there's no controversy. They won the game and our team had all of its players. You made another great decision. If you think about that, no, you'll never get credit. You never get credit. Think of it. If he didn't allow him and they let's say we would have won the game if we had our best player. So Johnny made yet another of his many good decisions. But the spirit and patriotism and the unity that's brought, I think, the whole world together. This is really brought the world together. The 2026 FIFA World Cup has broken almost every record imaginable. This is the largest World Cup in history by far, by many times, actually welcoming 16 additional teams. And I understand you may be making it even larger next time. I suggested that this has been so successful that and I'm you know, I'm really working these people hard because they really call the shot. They tell Johnny exactly what to do. I say what we should do is you should choose the United States of America again. This time, we'll leave Mexico and Canada out. But then what you do is you which I was very nice to get them in. But what we do is you leave. You choose us, but you pick somebody else for the next one. And that will take some of the anger, hatred and steam out of everyone. But Johnny also had another idea. He said we could do it. China and the United States for next time. We do in China, United States. So you have a nice short flight in between games. The players would love that. But it is the world's largest. And it's like having you know, I first heard this, but many Super Bowls at one time. It's like having many Super Bowls. Bob, every stadium is packed to the rafters, the spirit. But fans from 200 countries attended 104 games spread across 16 northern American cities. And I saw things happen. My mother comes from Scotland. My father comes from Germany. When I saw the Scottish bagpipes in the Scottish, they were going wild. They were going. I said, this is really different. And, you know, a lot of countries came here not knowing what to think. And they love the United States. In fact, the people that came, they're going to be coming back maybe permanently. I don't know. They love the United States. We're doing great. We're doing great. It's a golden age of America. We're doing better than we've ever done. We have 19.2 trillion dollars being invested, much more than any country has ever had invested into our country. Factories being built all across the land. But I'm proud to report that with more than six point five million attendees, this has been by far the most attended tournament in history. And that's the history of all sports. And that's only going to go, well, maybe up. I don't know where you're going next time. Where are you going next time? You're allowed to tell me. I'll let you know if you're going to do better. But that's a tough number to beat, right? That's why he's you know, he wants to do. He's very competitive. That's why he's going to add some more teams. He figures by adding some more teams, maybe they can tap it. But the total number of spectators exceeds the entire attendance of the last two World Cups combined. And together, we pulled it off really flawlessly. I mean, I don't want to say this because you do have two more games. And so let's not talk about it yet. I don't want to say how great it's been. We've had absolute spirit, absolute. I have to say the law enforcement, they're fantastic, but they didn't have to work too hard because the spirit was so good. There were no fights. There were no anything. So I just want to say great. But let's save it for Sunday evening. I think we'll hold it out for Sunday evening, but it's going to go well by the time the final whistle sounds on Sunday. Nearly six billion viewers will have watched this World Cup. That's a record by many, many times over. I have no doubt that the World Cup has won millions of new fans and a lot of new fans in this country, which traditionally hasn't been a soccer country, but it's got it's getting there even before this has been going on. And this will have a big impact, I'm sure. From the first day of my administration, 2025, we've worked closely with FIFA to make this event a resounding success. We have great people. Andrew, thank you very much. Great job. You did really. You really worked hard. And thank you very much. Great job to put our preparations into perspective. And the record-setting tournament has been the logistical equivalent of holding 78 NFL Super Bowls in less than two months time. Seventy-eight. We marshaled the resources of more than 50 federal departments and agencies, deployed every arm of the federal law enforcement to ensure the games would be safe, secure and successful. And they've turned out to be amazing. The State Department expedited thousands and thousands of visas for World Cup ticket holders very quick, very, we call it fast, fast, letting them in. We call it let them in fast. And we secured and Marco was fantastic. Marco Rubio, fantastic. And the job he's done, Secretary of State. And we secured more than one point two billion dollars in funding to support transit operations and security for the games. One point two. And he wanted more. I said, can we just relax for a little while, John? One point two billion to transport people. Isn't that nice? But I want to thank the White House FIFA Task Force. They've been really fantastic. And again, Andrew Giuliani did a fantastic job. Thank you very much. Hosting guests from all over the globe for the 2026 FIFA World Cup was also an incredibly special way to help kick off America. Two hundred and fifty years of freedom. We have tens of thousands of people from around the world that got to join us. We had a fantastic July 4th weekend like I think we've never had before. And it was only enhanced by having you here by I don't know if you did that on purpose. I don't think so. But it was it worked out fantastically. We had we had an amazing crowd. Four hundred and fifty thousand people showed up to to celebrate our country on a very rainy evening. And because of lightning, everybody was forced to leave. And then I said, we're going to do it anyway, even if I have to speak at two o'clock in the morning. We called everybody back and one hundred and fifty thousand people came back. They were on their way back to Texas and Oklahoma. And we had one hundred and fifty thousand people standing in the rain late in the evening. Somebody suggested, let's do it on a different day, maybe in a week or two. I said, no, it doesn't work in a week or two. It worked on the two hundred and fifty two hundred and fifty of the year from the Scotland fans who took over the streets of Boston last month to the Argentinian supporters who cheered on Messi. How good is Messi? The hat trick in Kansas City had the hat trick, something very rare, I guess, in your sport. That's pretty rare, isn't it? To our first ally, France winning in Philadelphia on July 4th. What a game they would seem to be. I mean, it's life and sports, but they seem to be unbeatable. And then they didn't beat Spain. It was they were the team that was favorite. They were the team that was winning, I think, probably the most easily. And then they something happens. It can happen in life. It's sports. It can happen in life, too. You're hot as a pistol and then you're not so hot. But I wouldn't know about a thing like that. No, it happens in life. You're hot and then you're not. But you have to always make a comeback, right? You can never give up. But it's been a true honor for Americans to share our magnificent country with the world. And today, America, it's stronger and wealthier and hotter than ever before. And you're a big part of it. Once again, I want to thank Johnny and the incredible people of FIFA. They're incredible people. Got to know some of them during this period of time. I'll get to know some more on Sunday. And I want to congratulate every team that made the 2026 World Cup one of the all time greatest sporting events in history. And I think beyond a sporting event, it's been this has been not just a sporting event. This has been far beyond a sporting event. This has been something very, very special. So good luck to Spain and Argentina on Sunday and may the best team win. And now it's a pleasure. It's really my pleasure to introduce a very talented man, the man that I cannot tell. You know, Luciano was a great friend of mine, Pavarotti, and he was a great singer. And I cannot tell the difference. The only one that tells me he's not as good is Christopher. He says I'm not as good as him. He was the greatest of all time, as I said. But Christopher Macchio is a great, great talent, a very highly respected person within the world of opera. And you're going to hear a tremendous voice. And again, thank you very much. And, Johnny, congratulations on probably the most successful event ever held. Thank you.