I want to thank you first, Mr. President, for being here. As Texans, as Americans, the presidency can seem far away, focused on international affairs. It's never been something far from you to be in touch with ordinary Americans. And I think it means a lot. So thank you.
Well, the people in this room and the people in this community have been unbelievable, what they have gone through. There's -- nobody's ever seen anything like it, frankly, when you have a wave that's almost 40 feet high just come rushing through this. You would think it was a dam that burst. Maybe you could understand that, but you can't understand this.
And I just want to thank everybody here in the room and the community itself. It's been incredible the way they have pulled together.
What you're looking at right here, Mr. President, is the brain center of search-and-rescue to notify, coordinate the process of notifying the next of kin --
Right.
-- to understand the problems. You have got city of Kerrville. You have got Kerr County. You have got Texas EMS. What would you say? A lot of volunteers. What would you say to everyone?
Well, they're talented and they have got a big heart. And I just spoke to some of the people, family members who lost a child, for the most part, lost a child. They have lost everything. They have lost everything in many ways. But I just think it's amazing what you're doing, and real talent in this room.
I know a couple of you, I have seen you work and I have seen you at work, and you have real talent. And it's a shame, because there's sometimes nothing much you can do when you see devastation like that, but amazing job that they have done.
Not every president has visited disaster zones and been here in touch with ordinary Americans. Why is it important to you to show up in Texas?
Well, I showed up in Ohio, and it was a great thing to do. And I made permanent friends in Ohio in that little community that had -- remember the train going through, and it was a mess. It was a mess. And other people didn't show up for like a year-and-a-half. And, frankly, I made real friends there. We did a good job.
We helped them out. And we're going to help this community too. We're going to help this community too. They love each other. I just left this group of people. They just love each other. They love the community. And they're going to rebuild. They want to rebuild. I didn't hear one person -- we spoke to a lot of people.
Didn't hear one person that wants to leave. And some lost a daughter, two daughters even. And, boy, it's a tough -- it's a tough thing that they're going through. But it's an amazing community. I like to do it. I think I have an obligation. I think, as president, I really have an obligation to do it. I have done it many times, but this is as bad as I have seen.
I think you're going to end up with a lot of friends in Texas. You already have a lot of friends in Texas.
Yes.
But you will end up with more here in Texas.
Texas has been great. And you have been great, and you have been doing very well, I have to say. If I can interject, he's got very high ratings. His show is a big success, so we will at least say that.
Well, thank you, Mr. President. As you mentioned, you just came from next door meeting --
Right.
-- with some of the families of victims.
Right.
What did you get to share with them? What did they share with you?
Well, they told me stories. You know, I'm a little late for this because I didn't want to rush. Spent quite a bit of time over there. I'm very late for the governor. The governor is in there, and he's waiting with some of his people. But he fully understands. He's been -- he's done a great job. He's been a terrific governor, actually.
And we met him at the plane and the helicopter. We went together to get here. It's tough. It's a tough go with the roads and all the blockages and everything else. But what I learned in that room and from some other people that I spoke to, I just really -- how much they love their family. And I wanted them to talk.
I said, you have pictures of your daughter. And they showed me pictures of their daughter, and they talked about how great a student she was in one case, and just different things about the daughter. And I let them talk, and they were so happy to be able to talk about their child that they just lost, they just lost.
They can't even believe it. And, sometimes, you wake up in a week or two weeks from now, and you realize what happened. Right now, a lot of people don't even know what happened. This happened so fast. But whatever -- look, the office of president should -- I think whoever is here has to be here for a thing like this.
This is a real tragedy.
What was the emotion in that room? What are they feeling at this moment? Is it anger? Do they feel a loss of hope? What do they feel?
It was very interesting. Really, they feel a love for the community. They wanted to rebuild. I mean, they talked about, we're going to rebuild. We're going to come back. It's the only place that people should grow up. They talked about the community more than anything else, which is a beautiful thing. I see that sometimes.
Sometimes, they don't. Sometimes, they want to get out of a community. I have seen that too. But they really talked about the love of this community, the store, which, as you know, was pretty well demolished, but the two walls are standing. And they want to build it, rebuild it with those two walls standing.
And it's very beautiful. It's cute in a certain way, but really beautiful, the love that they have for this community. This is -- it's going to rebuild. Look, it's going to be hard to say it can ever be like it was. Too much death, so much. I mean, right now they're looking for still a lot of people, a lot of people missing.
But they're going to rebuild this community.
Mr. President, you have children, you have a daughter, you have grandchildren. We're approaching one year from you having a very narrow escape from death. Do you think all of this in any way gives you a unique perspective on what's happening here and what people are experiencing here in Texas?
Well, I went through a lot. It was a crazy time, very surreal, actually, if you want to know the truth. It's -- I have got this massive crowd of people, and all of a sudden you hear and you feel something that's very unusual. And I got down quickly. And I was -- people were screaming, get down, get down.
It was a whole -- the whole thing was just crazy. And it's hard to believe a year is up. And here we are. A lot of things have happened since then, including the presidency. So I have an obligation to do a good job, I feel, because I was really saved, I was really saved by somebody very special. People that are shooters -- I'm not so much of a shooter, but people that were shooters say it's almost impossible that that was a miss.
I mean, it was a hit, but it was a miss. Well, I do get that throbbing feeling every once in a while, you understand.
Is that right?
Yes, a little bit. But, no, I owe a lot. And I think -- I hope the reason I was saved was to save our country. We had a country that was, I don't say dead because it's too strong, but we had a country that was really very close to being finished, in my opinion. And now we have the hottest country in the world.
That's why I'm so saddened by this. But it's one of those things, those tragic things that happened. But we had a country that was dead. It was dead. It was really in deep trouble. I was with world leaders, and they said, a year ago, your country was dead, and now you have the hottest country in the world.
And it sounds rough initially, but the second part of that statement is true. We have the hottest stock market. We have -- financially, everyone's going to be in great shape. And we have done a good job. So maybe the reason that I'm here after Butler, maybe that was part of the reason. We have worked hard.
We don't take big vacations. We take -- if we take 10 minutes off, it seems like a lot. I think we have accomplished a lot in a short period of time. But being here was very important.
You know, it's natural, it happens after a tragedy like this that the blame game begins.
Right.
And, almost immediately, people were trying to blame your government, trying to blame DOGE cuts, trying to blame the National Weather Service. We have done the facts. We have reported the truth. The National Weather Service seems to have done an exemplary job.
They did.
DOGE seemed to have had no effect. But what would you say to those that are looking to blame politics for what just happened here?
Well, these are people that have taken a pounding, a beating. They have lost their confidence. They have lost their way. It's -- oh, it happens any time there's anything. It's Trump's fault. You could have something happen on the other side of the country that had nothing to do with us, that had to do with them, actually, and there's, oh, it's Trump's fault.
It's just like a sound bite. You see it. It comes over the fake news or the news, but the fake news oftentimes. And no, with the Weather Service here, they were actually well-stocked, more than normal. They actually gave a lot of warnings. And the problem with the warnings, it was 1:00 in the morning or it was late in the evening.
And it happened so fast. And it's easy to say the state or the local area, the city, whatever. but -- and it's easy to blame the federal government. But the money was tremendous. Everything was there. And they did a really good job. They actually had warnings the day before that there was going to be something.
And they then had the warnings very shortly right before the event, right before this horrible, tragic event. The other thing, the people worked and they just reacted so well. I just met some of the first responders, the sheriff's office. I met them all. And they are unbelievable. They acted so quickly. So this is just something that happens.
It's a tragedy. It's a horrible thing. But, really -- and you look at something, whether it's maybe an alarm system, a massive alarm system. There's something maybe can be done. That was the first thing came to mind when you hear a bad weather forecast. You hear alarms. Now, I have never heard of that system being put up. You start thinking about it, though.
Maybe that would be something appropriate. But if an alarm went off at 1:00 in the morning, maybe that would have been something that would have been good. But I hope -- I get -- I want them to look for everything anyway. But this was a case where the Weather Service really supposedly did a very good job.
Plus, they had more people than they would normally have. They actually had -- it was very well-stocked. Their warnings were early and consistent. And they kept getting more dire, actually. They called it right. But it was -- boy, it's a tough -- it's a tough thing to watch.
Well, I'm glad to hear that what you're hearing from people here in Kerrville, in Kerr County is a spirit to rebuild, to come back.
Tremendous.
What commitment can you give from the federal government to help us rebuild here in Texas?
Well, we have already given the governor unlimited -- within minutes. And we spoke with your congressmen and your -- and congresswomen, and we have given them max. We have maxed out, and we will continue to max out. And I just told a group we're going to help them throughout the process. They want to help and they want to rebuild.
And the billions of dollars that this country gives away for things that they shouldn't be doing, and this is not billions of dollars. This is a relatively small amount of money. But it's a lot of love. It's a lot of love and a lot of heart. And so we're going to stay involved. And I told Chip, I told some of the people that we're going to stay involved very much.
Brian Babin is involved also. He's right down the road, congressman. And we have some great people, some great political people here. I flew out with a plane, a load of them, your two senators and a number of congresspeople. And they wanted to be here, and I wanted to be here, and I'm glad I did. And I learned something.
I learned the love that they have. It's amazing, when you lose your daughter, and you're talking about, we're going to rebuild this town. It's pretty tough to do.
Again, it means a lot that you're here. Thank you, Mr. President.
Thank you very much. Congratulations.
All right, thank you, Mr. President.
Thank you.