Trump to Religious Conservatives: ‘I Will Never, Ever let you Down’

As Donald Trump spoke to a group of religious conservative activists at the Faith & Freedom Coalition conference in Washington on Thursday, he told the audience that “we are under siege” but “we will come out bigger and better and stronger than ever.”

“We will always support our evangelical community and defend your right and the right of all Americans to follow and to live by the teachings of their faith,” Trump said. “And as you know, we are under siege. You understand that. But we will come out bigger and better and stronger than ever, you watch.”

At the gathering, Trump also told the crowd they “picked a winner” as a president, who will defend their religious liberty and as long as he’s president, no one will stop them from following their faith.

“You didn’t let me down and I will never, ever let you down, you know that,” Trump said as the audience applauded.

One of the largest applause moments of the day occurred when Trump discussed his action to remove the U.S. from the Paris climate accord, the historic deal that aimed to restrict greenhouse emissions in order to reduce the rising global temperatures.

“To protect those jobs and the sovereignty and freedom of the United States, I followed through on my promise to withdraw from the Paris climate accord,” he said as he walked away from the podium to accept the applause. “Thank you. You understand it. You understand how bad it was for our country.”

The president gave the speech just as former F.B.I. Director James Comey gave his public testimony about Trump before the Senate.

However, Trump didn’t mention Comey’s testimony a single time, in which the former F.B.I. director verbalized his confusion over his dismissal in early May.

“It confused me when I saw the president on TV saying he actually fired me because of the Russian Investigation,” Comey said. “I was also confused by the initial explanation offered publicly that I was fired because of decisions I’d make during the election… That didn’t make any sense to me.”

Comey also discussed his defamation and the “lies” he faced from the Trump administration.

“The administration then chose to defame me and more importantly the F.B.I., by saying the organization was poorly led,” he said.

Trump urged the conservative supporters at the conference to attempt to win more seats in the House and Senate as he blamed the opposing party for harming the country.

“If we had a plan that gave you the greatest health care ever in history, you wouldn’t get one Democrat vote because they are obstructionists,” Trump said. “They are bad right now for the country. They have gone so far left that I don’t know if they can ever come back.”

Featured Image via Wikimedia Commons/Gage Skidmore