Read Donald Trump’s Speech to the Republican Convention

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Friends, delegates and fellow Americans: I humbly and gratefully accept your nomination for the presidency of the United States.

Who would have believed that when we started this journey on June 16th of last year we – and I say “we” because we are a team – would have received almost 14 million votes, the most in the history of the Republican Party, and that the Republican Party would get 60 percent more votes than it received four years ago. The Democrats, on the other hand, received almost 20 percent fewer votes than they got eight years ago.

Together, we will lead our party back to the White House, and we will lead our country back to safety, prosperity, and peace. We will be a country of generosity and warmth. But we will also be a country of law and order.

Our Convention occurs at a moment of crisis for our nation. The attacks on our police, and the terrorism in our cities, threaten our very way of life. Any politician who does not grasp this danger is not fit to lead our country.

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Americans watching this address tonight have seen the recent images of violence in our streets and the chaos in our communities.

Many have witnessed this violence personally, some have even been its victims.

I have a message for all of you: the crime and violence that today afflicts our nation will soon come to an end. Beginning on January 20th, 2017, safety will be restored.

The most basic duty of government is to defend the lives of its own citizens. Any government that fails to do so is a government unworthy to lead.

It is finally time for a straightforward assessment of the state of our nation. I will present the facts plainly and honestly.

We cannot afford to be so politically correct anymore. So if you want to hear the corporate spin, the carefully-crafted lies, and the media myths_the Democrats are holding their convention next week.

But here, at our convention, there will be no lies. We will honor the American people with the truth, and nothing else.

These are the facts:

Decades of progress made in bringing down crime are now being reversed by this Administration’s rollback of criminal enforcement. Homicides last year increased by 17 percent in America’s fifty largest cities. That’s the largest increase in 25 years.

In our nation’s capital, killings have risen by 50 percent. They are up nearly 60 percent in nearby Baltimore. In the President’s hometown of Chicago, more than 2,000 people have been the victims of shootings this year alone. And almost 4,000 have been killed in the Chicago area since he took office.

The number of police officers killed in the line of duty has risen by almost 50 percent compared to this point last year.

Nearly 180,000 illegal immigrants with criminal records, ordered deported from our country, are tonight roaming free to threaten peaceful citizens.

The number of new illegal immigrant families who have crossed the border so far this year already exceeds the entire total from 2015. They are being released by the tens of thousands into our communities with no regard for the impact on public safety or resources.

One such border-crosser was released and made his way to Nebraska. There, he ended the life of an innocent young girl named Sarah Root. She was 21 years old, and was killed the day after graduating from college with a 4.0 Grade Point Average. Her killer was then released a second time, and he is now a fugitive from the law.

I’ve met Sarah’s beautiful family. But to this administration, their amazing daughter was just one more American life that wasn’t worth protecting. One more child to sacrifice on the altar of open borders.

What about our economy?

Again, I will tell you the plain facts that have been edited out of your nightly news and your morning newspaper:

Nearly four in 10 African-American children are living in poverty, while 58% of African-American youth are not employed. 2 million more Latinos are in poverty today than when President Obama took his oath of office less than eight years ago. Another 14 million people have left the workforce entirely.

Household incomes are down more than 4 thousand dollars since the year 2000 – 16 years ago. Our trade deficit in goods reached nearly 800 billion dollars last year alone.

The budget is no better. President Obama has almost doubled our national debt to more than trillion dollars, and growing.

Yet, what do we have to show for it? Our roads and bridges are falling apart, our airports are in Third World condition, and 43 million Americans are on food stamps.

Now let us consider the state of affairs abroad.

Not only have our citizens endured domestic disaster, but they have lived through one international humiliation after another.

We all remember the images of our sailors being forced to their knees by their Iranian captors at gunpoint. This was just prior to the signing of the Iran deal, which gave back to Iran 150 billion dollars and gave us nothing – it will go down in history as one of the worst deals ever negotiated.

Another humiliation came when President Obama drew a red line in Syria – and the whole world knew it meant nothing.

In Libya, our consulate – the symbol of American prestige around the globe – was brought down in flames.

America is far less safe – and the world is far less stable – than when Obama made the decision to put Hillary Clinton in charge of America’s foreign policy. I am certain it is a decision he truly regrets.

Her bad instincts and her bad judgment – something pointed out by Bernie Sanders – are what caused so many of the disasters unfolding today.

Let’s review the record. In 2009, pre-Hillary, ISIS was not even on the map. Libya was stable. Egypt was peaceful. Iraq was seeing a reduction in violence. Iran was being choked by sanctions. Syria was under control.

After four years of Hillary Clinton, what do we have?

ISIS has spread across the region, and the world.

Libya is in ruins, and our Ambassador and his staff were left helpless to die at the hands of savage killers.

Egypt was turned over to the radical Muslim brotherhood, forcing the military to retake control.

Iraq is in chaos.

Iran is on the path to nuclear weapons.

After fifteen years of wars in the Middle East, after trillions of dollars spent and thousands of lives lost, the situation is worse than it has ever been before.

This is the legacy of Hillary Clinton: death, destruction, terrorism and weakness.

But Hillary Clinton’s legacy does not have to be America’s legacy.

A change in leadership is required to produce a change in outcomes.

Tonight, I will share with you my plan of action for America.

The most important difference between our plan and that of our opponents, is that our plan will put America First.

Americanism, not globalism, will be our credo.

As long as we are led by politicians who will not put America First, then we can be assured that other nations will not treat America with respect.

This will all change when I take office.

The American People will come first once again.

On the economy, I will outline reforms to add millions of new jobs and trillions in new wealth that can be used to rebuild America.

That is because these interests have rigged our political and economic system for their exclusive benefit.

They are throwing money at her because they have total control over everything she does.

She is their puppet, and they pull the strings.

That is why Hillary Clinton’s message is that things will never change.

Every day I wake up determined to deliver a better life for the people all across this nation that have been ignored, neglected and abandoned.

I have visited the laid-off factory workers, and the communities crushed by our horrible and unfair trade deals.

These are the forgotten men and women of our country. People who work hard but no longer have a voice.

I have embraced crying mothers who have lost their children because our politicians put their personal agendas before the national good.

When innocent people suffer, because our political system lacks the will, or the courage, or the basic decency to enforce our laws – or worse still, has sold out to some corporate lobbyist for cash – I am not able to look the other way.

When the FBI Director says that the Secretary of State was “extremely careless” and “negligent,” in handling our classified secrets, I also know that these terms are minor compared to what she actually did. They were just used to save her from facing justice for her terrible crimes.

In fact, her single greatest accomplishment may be committing such an egregious crime and getting away with it – especially when others, who have done far less, have paid so dearly.

When that same Secretary of State rakes in millions of dollars trading access and favors to special interests and foreign powers I know the time for action has come.

Nobody knows the system better than me, which is why I alone can fix it. I have seen firsthand how the system is rigged against our citizens, just like it was rigged against Bernie Sanders – he never had a chance. But his supporters will join our movement, because we will fix his biggest issue: trade deals that strip our country of its jobs and wealth.

Millions of Democrats will join our movement, because we are going to fix the system so it works fairly, and justly, for each and every American.

In this cause, I am proud to have at my side the next Vice President of the United States: Governor Mike Pence of Indiana.

He is a man of character and accomplishment. He is the right man for the job.

America was shocked to its core when our police officers in Dallas were so brutally executed.

Law officers have been shot or killed in recent days in Georgia, Missouri, Wisconsin, Kansas, Michigan and Tennessee.

On Sunday, more police were gunned down in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Three were killed, and three were badly injured.

I have a message to every last person threatening the peace on our streets and the safety of our police: when I take the oath of office next year, I will restore law and order to our country.

I will work with, and appoint, the best and brightest prosecutors and law enforcement officials to get the job done.

In this race for the White House, I am the Law And Order candidate.

This Administration has failed America’s inner cities. It’s failed them on education. It’s failed them on jobs. It’s failed them on crime. It’s failed them in every way and on every level.

Every action I take, I will ask myself: does this make life better for young Americans in Baltimore, Chicago, Detroit, Ferguson who have the same right to live out their dreams as any other child in America?

Once again, France is the victim of brutal Islamic terrorism. Men, women and children viciously mowed down. Lives ruined. Families ripped apart. A nation in mourning.

The damage and devastation that can be inflicted by Islamic radicals has been proven over and over – at the World Trade Center, at an office party in San Bernardino, at the Boston Marathon, at a military recruiting center in Chattanooga, and many more.

Only weeks ago, in Orlando, Florida, 49 wonderful Americans were savagely murdered by an Islamic terrorist. This time, the terrorist targeted our LGBTQ community.

To protect us from terrorism, we need to focus on three things.

We must have the best intelligence-gathering operation in the world.

We must abandon the failed policy of nation-building and regime change that Hillary Clinton pushed in Iraq, Libya, Egypt and Syria. Instead, we must work with all of our allies who share our goal of destroying ISIS and stamping out Islamic terror. This includes working with our greatest ally in the region, the State of Israel.

Shortly thereafter, it was announced that NATO will be setting up a new program in order to combat terrorism — a true step in the right direction.

My opponent has called for a radical 550 percent increase in Syrian refugees on top of existing massive refugee flows coming into our country under President Obama. She proposes this despite the fact that there’s no way to screen these refugees in order to find out who they are or where they come from.

Decades of record immigration have produced lower wages and higher unemployment for our citizens, especially for African-American and Latino workers.

We are going to have an immigration system that works, but one that works for the American people.

On Monday, we heard from three parents whose children were killed by illegal immigrants_Mary Ann Mendoza, Sabine Durden, and Jamiel Shaw.

Of all my travels in this country, nothing has affected me more deeply than the time I have spent with the mothers and fathers who have lost their children to violence spilling across our border.

These families have no special interests to represent them.

There are no demonstrators to protest on their behalf.

Instead, my opponent wants Sanctuary Cities.

Where was the Sanctuary for the children of Mary Ann, Sabine and Jamiel?

These wounded American families have been alone.

But they are alone no longer.

Tonight, this candidate and the whole nation stand in their corner to support them, to send them our love, and to pledge in their honor that we will save countless more families from suffering the same awful fate.

I have been honored to receive the endorsement of America’s Border Patrol Agents, and will work directly with them to protect the integrity of our lawful immigration system.

By ending catch-and-release on the border, we will end the cycle of human smuggling and violence. Illegal border crossings will go down. Peace will be restored.

By enforcing the rules for the millions who overstay their visas, our laws will finally receive the respect they deserve.

On January 20th of 2017, the day I take the oath of office, Americans will finally wake up in a country where the laws of the United States are enforced.

My plan is the exact opposite of the radical and dangerous immigration policy of Hillary Clinton.

Her plan will overwhelm your schools and hospitals, further reduce your jobs and wages, and make it harder for recent immigrants to escape from poverty and join the middle class.

I have a different vision for our workers.

It begins with a new, fair trade policy that protects our jobs and stands up to countries that cheat.

I have made billions of dollars in business making deals – now I’m going to make our country rich again.

I am going to turn our bad trade agreements into great trade agreements.

America has lost nearly one-third of its manufacturing jobs since 1997, following the enactment of disastrous trade deals supported by Bill and Hillary Clinton.

Never again.

My opponent, on the other hand, has supported virtually every trade agreement that has been destroying our middle class.

She supported the job-killing trade deal with South Korea.

She has supported the Trans-Pacific Partnership – which will not only destroy our manufacturing, but it will make America subject to the rulings of foreign governments.

I pledge to never sign any trade agreement that hurts our workers, or that diminishes our freedom and independence.

We are going to enforce all trade violations against any country that cheats.

This includes stopping China’s outrageous theft of intellectual property, along with their illegal product dumping, and their devastating currency manipulation.

Our horrible trade agreements with China, and many others, will be totally renegotiated.

Our country is going to start building and making things again.

While Hillary Clinton plans a massive tax increase, I have proposed the largest tax reduction of any candidate who has run for president this year – Democrat or Republican.

America is one of the highest-taxed nations in the world. Reducing taxes will cause new companies and new jobs to come roaring back into our country.

Then we are going to deal with the issue of regulation, one of the greatest job-killers of them all. Excessive regulation is costing our country as much as 2 trillion dollars a year, and we will end it.

We are going to lift the restrictions on the production of American energy.

My opponent, on the other hand, wants to put the great miners and steel workers of our country out of work – that will never happen when I am President.

With these new economic policies, trillions of dollars will start flowing into our country.

This new wealth will improve the quality of life for all Americans.

We will rescue kids from failing schools by helping their parents send them to a safe school of their choice.

We will repeal and replace disastrous Obamacare. You will be able to choose your own doctor again.

We’re going to work with all of our students who are drowning in debt to take the pressure off these young people just starting out their adult lives.

We will completely rebuild our depleted military, and the countries that we are protecting, at a massive cost to us, will be asked to pay their fair share.

We will take care of our great Veterans like they have never been taken care of before. My just-released Ten Point Plan has received tremendous veteran support. We will guarantee those who serve this country will be able to visit the doctor or hospital of their choice. My opponent dismissed the VA scandal – one more sign of how out of touch she really is.

The politicians have talked about it, I’m going to do it.

We are also going to appoint justices to the United States Supreme Court who will uphold our laws and our Constitution.

The replacement of our beloved Justice Scalia will be a person of similar views, principles, and judicial philosophy. This will be one of the most important issues decided by this election.

At this moment, I would like to thank the evangelical and religious community in general who have been so good to me and so supportive.

An amendment, pushed by Lyndon Johnson, many years ago, threatens religious institutions with a loss of their tax-exempt status if they openly advocate their political views. I am going to work very hard to repeal that language and protect free speech for all Americans.

It is time to show the whole world that America Is Back – bigger, and better and stronger than ever before.

In this journey, I’m so lucky to have at my side my wife Melania and my wonderful children, Don, Ivanka, Eric, Tiffany, and Barron: you will always be my greatest source of pride and joy.

My Dad, Fred Trump, was the smartest and hardest working man I ever knew. I wonder sometimes what he’d say if he were here to see this tonight.

Then there’s my mother, Mary. She was strong, but also warm and fair-minded.

She was a truly great mother. She was also one of the most honest and charitable people have ever known, and a great judge of character.

To my sisters Mary Anne and Elizabeth, my brother Robert and my late brother Fred, I will always give you my love_you are most special to me.

But now, my sole and exclusive mission is to go to work for our country – to go to work for you.

But to do that, we must break free from the petty politics of the past.

Remember: all of the people telling you that you can’t have the country you want, are the same people telling you that I wouldn’t be standing here tonight.

No longer can we rely on those same people in the media, and politics, who will say anything to keep a rigged system in place.

Instead, we must choose to Believe In America.

I’m asking for your support tonight so that I can be your champion in the White House.

My opponent asks her supporters to recite a three-word loyalty pledge. It reads: “I’m With Her.”

I choose to recite a different pledge.

I am your voice.

I’m with you, I will fight for you, and I will win for you.

We Will Make America Strong Again.

We Will Make America Proud Again.

We Will Make America Safe Again.

God Bless You And Good Night.