WASHINGTON, DC – President Donald Trump said Thursday at the National Prayer Breakfast that Americans are a “people ordained by God” to live in the “freest and most exceptional nation” in the world’s history.
Trump said that Americans are reclaiming their rightful identity, touching on themes of Manifest Destiny and American exceptionalism.
“After years of decline, Americans are reasserting our true identity as a people ordained by God to be the freest and most exceptional nation ever to exist on the face of the earth,” he said. “But we weren’t that for four years.”
“We’re getting there very soon, very quickly. I’ll be able to say it, and we’ll be able to say it again,” Trump added.
Trump said he is hearing optimism from leaders around the world, including those who have not traditionally been aligned with the United States:
I’m hearing it from leaders that have traditionally not been on our side that… there’s such a good feeling in the air, so different than it was just a short time ago because here in America, we are, once again, a nation that believes in ourselves. We believe in our destiny, and trust in the providence of Almighty God.
Trump also listed a number of shining feats accomplished by the American people over the nation’s history, which he says were propelled by a belief that America has a “God-given destiny.”
“And it was confidence in America’s God-given destiny that pushed the pioneers to journey west and led Americans to end slavery, crush fascism, defeat communism, and conquer every single challenge that we faced, and they were very great challenges,” Trump asserted.
Trump’s remarks came soon after he addressed members of Congress in the U.S. Capitol building earlier in the morning, where he shared his belief that God saved him from a near-assassination in Butler, Pennsylvania, in the summer of 2024.