President Donald Trump vowed to make America powerful, wealthy, healthy, strong, proud, safe, and great again while addressing the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) at their annual fundraising dinner.
“We're the hottest country anywhere in the world,” Trump said on March 25. “There's nobody close. We have the most powerful military.”
The president pre-emptively struck Iran on Feb. 28, alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Israeli Defense Forces, and is now seeking to settle the conflict diplomatically through intermediaries.
“The war essentially ended a few days after we went in,” Trump said to a cheering crowd. “We knocked out their navy. We knocked out everything. It's amazing.”
Fighting across the region has continued, with Iran launching fresh missile and drone attacks on Israel and targeting energy infrastructures spanning the Persian Gulf.
Countries including Saudi Arabia and Kuwait reported intercepting drones aimed at key facilities, while Israel has continued strikes on Iranian military and industrial sites.
Iran retaliated with 100 missiles going 2,000 miles an hour but all were intercepted, according to Trump.
“Not one missile got through,” he said. “That was the PATRIOT system. It's great. We have the best equipment in the world. The most powerful, most lethal military in the world by far.
The PATRIOT (Phased Array Tracking Radar to Intercept on Target) is a ground-based air defense system developed by Raytheon.
Trump also commented on the 38 days that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has been partially shutdown due to Democrat and Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill remaining at a stalemate over funding.
Since the lapse in financing started in mid-February, more than 450 Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents have quit and thousands have called in sick from work, according to DHS public affairs acting assistant secretary Lauren Bis.
This week, Trump deployed hundreds of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers, who are currently funded by Congress, to the airports.
“They are doing such an unbelievable job at the airports,” Trump added. “One line was four hours yesterday and today it was a half hour. Big difference. If we have to, we are going to send in the National Guard.”
Major airports that have seen higher than average absences among TSA agents, include 33.7 percent at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, 30.4 percent at Baltimore/Washington International Airport in Maryland, and 27.5 percent at the Pittsburgh International Airport in Pennsylvania.
As a result, American travelers have been facing long wait times at airport security checkpoints across the country.