President Donald Trump marked the Thanksgiving holiday by paying tribute to U.S. troops in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere in the Middle East, and warned about sending sophisticated weapons to American allies that one day could become the enemy.
Trump cited progress in Afghanistan, where he authorized a small increase in U.S. forces to help train and advise local fighters in the battle against the Taliban. And, he said, the fight against the Islamic State is "coming our way" amid gains in Iraq and Syria that have stripped the militant group of its remaining strongholds.
"Everybody is talking about the progress you've made in the last few months since I opened it up," Trump told the Army's 82nd Airborne Division in Afghanistan, during a morning video call from his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Fla. "We're not fighting anymore to just walk around. We're fighting to win. You've turned it around over the last three to four months like nobody has seen, and they are talking about it."
Throughout the day -- at events and on Twitter -- Trump boasted about the economy's performance since he took office, pointing to recent stock market gains and the unemployment rate, along with his efforts to scale back regulations and boost military spending.
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"The economy is doing really great," Trump told service members. "When you come back, you're going to see with the jobs and the companies coming back into our country and the stock market just hit a record high. Unemployment is the lowest it's been in 17 years. So you're fighting for something real, you're fighting for something good."
Trump and his wife, Melania, also made a trip to a nearby Coast Guard station in Riviera Beach, Fla., where they delivered a lunch of turkey sandwiches, giant muffins, heaping baskets of fruit, chips and cookies to men and women on duty for the holidays.
During his remarks, Trump singled out the service for its hurricane relief efforts during Harvey and the other storms that battered the country earlier this year.
"There's no brand that went up more than the Coast Guard," Trump told them "What a job you've done."
Trump said his administration is ordering ships for the Navy and that the Air Force is getting new planes, including Lockheed Martin Corp.'s F-35 fighter jets, which he said operate "almost like an invisible fighter."
"I was asking the Air Force guys, I said how good is this plane?" said Trump. "You know, a fight, like I watch on the movies, a fight, they're fighting, how good is this? They said, it wins every time because the enemy cannot see it."
He also said he's changing the "sad" situation in which the U.S. defense industry had been selling its best equipment to foreign nations. "You know when we sell to other countries, even if they're allies, you never know about an ally -- an ally can turn," he said. "I always say make ours a little bit better, give it that extra speed. Keep about 10 percent in the bag, because nobody has what we have."
By videoconference call, Trump also greeted Marines in Iraq with a "Semper fi" -- the Marine Corps motto, which means "always loyal" in Latin -- and praised them for "delivering defeat after defeat to ISIS."
"We are being talked about again as an armed forces," he said. "We are really winning, we know how to win. But we have to let you win."
He professed that there has been more progress under his administration than under those of his predecessors and praised the "brave, incredible fighters."
"They weren't letting you win before, they were letting you play even," he said of his predecessors Barack Obama and George W. Bush.
He also addressed Navy members on the USS Monterey at sea, an Air Force expeditionary fighter squadron at Incirlik, Turkey, and Coast Guard members on USCG Wrangell at Kuwait Navy Base.
At the earlier videoconference, Trump cleared the room of media representatives after about 10 minutes so he could have "very confidential, personal conversations" with those on the line. Borrowing a line from his Apprentice days, he told the reporters "You're fired," then wished them a happy Thanksgiving.
"And by the way, media, Happy Thanksgiving, I must say. Have a good Thanksgiving in Palm Beach, Florida."
In honor of the holiday, the president also released a video address in which he retold the story of Thanksgiving.
"Our country is doing very well," Trump said. "We are doing something very special. People are feeling it. The enthusiasm in this country has never been higher. We're very, very happy on this Thanksgiving Day."
On the Trumps' own Thanksgiving menu for family and friends at Mar-a-Lago were: turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, sweet potatoes with marshmallows, red snapper, Florida stone crab, baked goods, local produce and cheeses, and a selection of cakes and pies.
Information for this article was contributed by Margaret Talev of Bloomberg News; by Jill Colvin of The Associated Press; and by Jenna Johnson and David Nakamura of The Washington Post.
A Section on 11/24/2017