December 23, 2025 • 12 mins
-
Golden Fleet Announcement
- Trump unveils plans for the construction of two massive battleships, described as:
- The largest ever built.
- “100 times more powerful” than previous Iowa-class ships.
- Part of a new Golden Fleet to revitalize U.S. naval power.
- Long-term vision: expand to 20–25 ships, boosting American shipbuilding and jobs.
- Emphasis on national security, military supremacy, and economic benefits.
- Trump unveils plans for the construction of two massive battleships, described as:
-
Press Conference Highlights
- Trump positions himself as “the most transparent president in modern history”, answering questions on:
- China, Venezuela, Iran, and oil tanker seizures.
- Drug trafficking from Colombia.
- U.S. investment and tariffs.
- Healthcare insurer meetings.
- Epstein files and photos involving Bill Clinton.
- Trump positions himself as “the most transparent president in modern history”, answering questions on:
-
Epstein Files Discussion
- Trump expresses discomfort with photos of Bill Clinton being released but frames the issue as a Democratic distraction from Republican successes.
- Criticizes political opponents for using Epstein controversy to deflect from his administration’s achievements.
-
Economic & Trade Themes
- Claims trillions in foreign investment flowing into the U.S. due to tariffs and pro-business policies.
- Projects $18 trillion in investments within 10 months, aiming for $20 trillion.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
That innocently met Jeffrey Epstein years ago, many years ago,
and they're you know, highly respected bankers and lawyers and others.
What this whole thing is with Epstein is a way
of trying to deflect from the tremendous success that the
Republican Party has, Like, for instance, today we're building the
biggest ships in the world, most powerful ships in the world,
and they're asking me questions about Jeffrey Epstein's I thought
(00:22):
that was finished.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
If you're listening to the forty seven Morning Update with
Ben ferguson.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
Good Tuesday morning, so nice to have you with us.
On the forty seven Morning Update, Donald Trump comes out
with a big announcement a new golden fleet of battleships,
saying these will be the best in the world and
they will bring jobs back to America. That's not all
the President covered. He also covered narco terrorism, Venezuela and
(00:48):
what country could be our next target. I have the
full breakdown for you. It's the forty seven Morning Update
and it starts right now.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Story number one.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
President Donald Trump speaking from marl talking about building our
military new ships that our military desperately needs, and not
just talking about that, but clearly being the most transparent
president in modern political history. At a more than fifty
minute press conference, the President took questions about building the
(01:19):
new Golden Fleet, about the Golden Fleet, counters with China,
intercepting drugs on land, and what could happen with possible
attacks on land, what he was going to do with
the seized oil of oil tankers coming out of Venezuela
and the Black Fleet of oil tankers that also deal
with Iran. He also was asked about Venezuela and US
(01:41):
oil companies working together, and he was asked about Bill
Clinton and Jeffrey Epstein a workforce to build the Golden
Fleet that will help American workers. The endgame with Maduro
was also covered. He was asked about Colombia and the
president there and could that be next after Venezuela up
and a new envoy to Greenland. He was asked about
(02:03):
the war with Ukraine and Russia. Had he spoken with
Vladimir putter Zelenski recently and what do they say? And
then the pursuit of other oil tankers came up, would
America continue to push forward with that? And is the
goal of Forstman Duro from power. He also talked about
healthcare insurers meetings and exactly what had happened there. Now
(02:26):
the President making it clear there is nothing he is
unwilling to discuss. There's no question that he is saying no,
I'm not going to answer that. This is part of
the President being the most transparent president in modern political history.
One of the big questions was about the Epstein files,
and there was an awful lot of pictures that came
(02:47):
out of a former president by the name of Bill
Clinton with Jeffrey Epstein. The President's response may be one
that will surprise you. I want you to hear what
he had to say.
Speaker 4 (02:58):
Thinking, mister President, prized by the number of photos of
Bill Clinton and Epstein files, and you can you commit
to their poll and we used pride in the number
of photos of Bill Clinton in the Epstein files, and
can you commit to their full release By the end
of the year, some of the victims were protesting that
too many of them were retacted.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
I know there are a lot of people that are
angry about all of the pictures of other people, you know,
but I think it's terrible. Look, I don't like the
I like Bill Clinton. I've always gotten along with Bill Clinton.
They've been nice to him, He's been nice to me.
We've always gotten along respect him. I hate to see
photos come out of him, but this is what the Democrats,
mostly Democrats, and a couple of bad Republicans, are asking for.
(03:38):
So they give me their photos of me too. Everybody
was friendly with this guy, either friendly or not friendly.
But then you know he was around. He was all
over Palm Beach and other places. The head of Harvard
was his best friends Larry Summers, and Bill Clint was
a friend of his, but everybody was I actually threw
him out of mare A Lago. And as if you know,
as a person that was in Maralago, throw them at
(04:00):
mar A Lagos. This is mar Alago. It's the hottest place,
and I think it's the hardest place in the world.
But it's the hottest place in Florida, and everybody would
come here. He'd come here. We actually threw them out.
But no, I don't like the pictures of Bill Clinton
being shown. I don't like the pictures of other people
being shown. I think it's a terrible thing. I think
Bill Linton's a big boy, he can handle it. But
(04:23):
you probably have pictures being exposed of other people that
innocently met Jeffrey Epstein years ago, many years ago, and
they're you know, highly respected bankers and lawyers and others,
and they'll end up because of guys like Massw's a
real low life whose polls are down to about nine percent.
By the way, the great state of Kentucky, if you
(04:44):
look at Kentucky, Kentucky is such a great place, but
I don't know, they've got a couple of people in
there that are very strange in terms of leadership. With
Massey's a loser and he likes it, and that he
works with the Democrats. He's being used by the Democrats
because what this whole thing is with Epstein is a
(05:05):
way of trying to deflect from the tremendous success that
the Republican Party has, Like, for instance, today we're building
the biggest ships in the world, most powerful ships in
the world, and they're asking me questions about Jeffrey Epstein.
I thought that was finished. I believe they gave over
one hundred thousand pages of documents and there is tremendous
back list. It's an interesting question because a lot of
(05:27):
people are very angry that pictures are being released of
other people that really had nothing to do with Epstein,
but they're in a picture with him because he was
at a party, and you ruin a reputation of somebody.
So a lot of people are very angry that this continues.
A lot of Republicans are angry because of the fact
that it's just used to deflect against the tremendous success.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
Look, we have eight the president talking about those tremendous
successes and yet again having to deal with the Epstein
files that have been released. The President wanting to talk
about other issues as well. One of the things he
talked about is about American investment. This is one of
the things he says is really important that he's working on.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
We're doing a great job and we enjoy doing it.
Our border is secure, our country is strong. Trillions of
dollars is coming into our country from other countries and companies.
They're building factories and plants, including auto plants, all over
the United States of America. Without tariffs, they wouldn't be
doing anything. Although they were very happy with the November
(06:31):
fifth election, but it's only because they want to avoid
paying tariffs that they're all coming in. And again, the
biggest number was three trillion dollars in history. That was
China many years ago. Now it's eighteen trillion dollars and
that's just in ten months. We think we could hit
twenty trillion dollars. That's investment in the United States, including
plant and equipment.
Speaker 3 (06:53):
So you listen to the present talk about the investment.
He also talked about protecting Americans when it comes to drugs.
Something else that he says a very important point of
his administration and it's something that we must stand firm on.
Part of that is dealing with the cocaine coming out
of Colombia. The President asked about Colombia and here's what
(07:16):
he said, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
Go ahead, please.
Speaker 5 (07:19):
So, in response to the United States taking sanction oil
from from Venezuela, Colombian President of Gustavo Petro criticize the
United States by saying, well, the Southwest is stolen land
and that it should be returned to Latin America. I
just wanted to know what your response to that.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
Well, he has to watch because you know, he's got
drug factors. They make cocaine in Colombia, and he's no
friend of the United States. He's very bad, very bad guy,
and he's got to watch his ass because he makes
cocaine and they send it into the United States of
America from Colombia. We love the Colombian people. I love
(07:54):
the Colombian people. They're great people, energetic, smart, great But
their new leader he is a trouble banker and he
better watch it. You better close up those cocaine factories.
If at least three major cocaine factories we know where
they are, he better close them up fast.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
Ye, he better closed them up fast. The President also
wasn't done there as he talked about this major important
announcement that deals with the Golden Fleet of battleships, saying
these are the best in the world and long overdue.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
So I want to wish everybody a big hello and
merry Christmas, and welcome to mar A Lago for this
exciting announcement of the new Golden Fleet. We're going at
the Golden Fleet that we're building for the United States Navy.
As you know, we're desperately in need of ships. Our
ships are some of them have gotten old and tired
and obsolete, and we're going to go to the exact
(08:52):
opposite direction. We're delighted to be joined by Secretary of war.
Pete Hegsath is doing a fantastic job. And Secretary of
the Navy John Falen Marco Rubio is here who gave
a great few words for the end of last week.
He spoke for a couple of hours on what a
(09:12):
good job we're doing, which is true. As Commander in Chief,
it's my great honor to announce that I have approved
a plan for the Navy to begin the construction of
two brand new, very large, the largest we've ever built battleships.
You know, you used to build the Iowa, the Missouri,
(09:33):
the Wisconsin, the Alabama, and many others. We had big battleships.
These are bigger, but they will have one hundred times
There will be one hundred times the force, the power,
and there's never been anything like these ships. These have
been under design consideration for a long time, and it
(09:56):
started with me in my first term because they said,
why aren't we doing battleships like we used to? And
the these are the best in the world, will be
the fastest, the biggest, and by far one hundred times
more powerful than any battleship ever built. So if you
look at the Iowa, the Missouri, Wisconsin, Alabama, and others,
(10:17):
but there they were similar in size, some a little
bit bigger than the others, but if you take the
biggest one, it's one hundred times more powerful. They are
longer by a little bit, but the and the bigger
they're bigger ships, but they hold much more. They use
the word lethality. Battleships are the largest, sturdiest, and most
(10:41):
heavily armed vessel built specifically for naval combat. While America
has built many new warships over the years, they've been
they've tended to be smaller and much smaller, and not
conducive to where we are and where we going. Piece restraint.
Speaker 3 (11:02):
President Trump yet again saying a I'll talk about anything.
B I'm gonna keep you safe. See, I'm gonna make
sure that we bring jobs back to this country. Making
this fleet be built in America, something we stopped doing,
and we're far too reliant on foreign countries for our
(11:22):
ship making. This is all part of his plan to
put America first and from a national security standpoint, and
the President saying I'll stand here and answer as many
questions as I need to. It's important that you have
a president that's transparent, and that is exactly what Donald
Trump did yet again on a multitude of issues.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
Thank you for listening to the forty seven Morning Update
with Ben Ferguson. Please make sure you hit subscribe wherever
you're listening to this podcast right now and for more
in depth news, also subscribe to the Ben Ferguson podcast
and we will see you back here tomorrow
That innocently met Jeffrey Epstein years ago, many years ago,
and they're you know, highly respected bankers and lawyers and others.
What this whole thing is with Epstein is a way
of trying to deflect from the tremendous success that the
Republican Party has, Like, for instance, today we're building the
biggest ships in the world, most powerful ships in the world,
and they're asking me questions about Jeffrey Epstein's I thought
(00:22):
that was finished.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
If you're listening to the forty seven Morning Update with
Ben ferguson.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
Good Tuesday morning, so nice to have you with us.
On the forty seven Morning Update, Donald Trump comes out
with a big announcement a new golden fleet of battleships,
saying these will be the best in the world and
they will bring jobs back to America. That's not all
the President covered. He also covered narco terrorism, Venezuela and
(00:48):
what country could be our next target. I have the
full breakdown for you. It's the forty seven Morning Update
and it starts right now.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Story number one.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
President Donald Trump speaking from marl talking about building our
military new ships that our military desperately needs, and not
just talking about that, but clearly being the most transparent
president in modern political history. At a more than fifty
minute press conference, the President took questions about building the
(01:19):
new Golden Fleet, about the Golden Fleet, counters with China,
intercepting drugs on land, and what could happen with possible
attacks on land, what he was going to do with
the seized oil of oil tankers coming out of Venezuela
and the Black Fleet of oil tankers that also deal
with Iran. He also was asked about Venezuela and US
(01:41):
oil companies working together, and he was asked about Bill
Clinton and Jeffrey Epstein a workforce to build the Golden
Fleet that will help American workers. The endgame with Maduro
was also covered. He was asked about Colombia and the
president there and could that be next after Venezuela up
and a new envoy to Greenland. He was asked about
(02:03):
the war with Ukraine and Russia. Had he spoken with
Vladimir putter Zelenski recently and what do they say? And
then the pursuit of other oil tankers came up, would
America continue to push forward with that? And is the
goal of Forstman Duro from power. He also talked about
healthcare insurers meetings and exactly what had happened there. Now
(02:26):
the President making it clear there is nothing he is
unwilling to discuss. There's no question that he is saying no,
I'm not going to answer that. This is part of
the President being the most transparent president in modern political history.
One of the big questions was about the Epstein files,
and there was an awful lot of pictures that came
(02:47):
out of a former president by the name of Bill
Clinton with Jeffrey Epstein. The President's response may be one
that will surprise you. I want you to hear what
he had to say.
Speaker 4 (02:58):
Thinking, mister President, prized by the number of photos of
Bill Clinton and Epstein files, and you can you commit
to their poll and we used pride in the number
of photos of Bill Clinton in the Epstein files, and
can you commit to their full release By the end
of the year, some of the victims were protesting that
too many of them were retacted.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
I know there are a lot of people that are
angry about all of the pictures of other people, you know,
but I think it's terrible. Look, I don't like the
I like Bill Clinton. I've always gotten along with Bill Clinton.
They've been nice to him, He's been nice to me.
We've always gotten along respect him. I hate to see
photos come out of him, but this is what the Democrats,
mostly Democrats, and a couple of bad Republicans, are asking for.
(03:38):
So they give me their photos of me too. Everybody
was friendly with this guy, either friendly or not friendly.
But then you know he was around. He was all
over Palm Beach and other places. The head of Harvard
was his best friends Larry Summers, and Bill Clint was
a friend of his, but everybody was I actually threw
him out of mare A Lago. And as if you know,
as a person that was in Maralago, throw them at
(04:00):
mar A Lagos. This is mar Alago. It's the hottest place,
and I think it's the hardest place in the world.
But it's the hottest place in Florida, and everybody would
come here. He'd come here. We actually threw them out.
But no, I don't like the pictures of Bill Clinton
being shown. I don't like the pictures of other people
being shown. I think it's a terrible thing. I think
Bill Linton's a big boy, he can handle it. But
(04:23):
you probably have pictures being exposed of other people that
innocently met Jeffrey Epstein years ago, many years ago, and
they're you know, highly respected bankers and lawyers and others,
and they'll end up because of guys like Massw's a
real low life whose polls are down to about nine percent.
By the way, the great state of Kentucky, if you
(04:44):
look at Kentucky, Kentucky is such a great place, but
I don't know, they've got a couple of people in
there that are very strange in terms of leadership. With
Massey's a loser and he likes it, and that he
works with the Democrats. He's being used by the Democrats
because what this whole thing is with Epstein is a
(05:05):
way of trying to deflect from the tremendous success that
the Republican Party has, Like, for instance, today we're building
the biggest ships in the world, most powerful ships in
the world, and they're asking me questions about Jeffrey Epstein.
I thought that was finished. I believe they gave over
one hundred thousand pages of documents and there is tremendous
back list. It's an interesting question because a lot of
(05:27):
people are very angry that pictures are being released of
other people that really had nothing to do with Epstein,
but they're in a picture with him because he was
at a party, and you ruin a reputation of somebody.
So a lot of people are very angry that this continues.
A lot of Republicans are angry because of the fact
that it's just used to deflect against the tremendous success.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
Look, we have eight the president talking about those tremendous
successes and yet again having to deal with the Epstein
files that have been released. The President wanting to talk
about other issues as well. One of the things he
talked about is about American investment. This is one of
the things he says is really important that he's working on.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
We're doing a great job and we enjoy doing it.
Our border is secure, our country is strong. Trillions of
dollars is coming into our country from other countries and companies.
They're building factories and plants, including auto plants, all over
the United States of America. Without tariffs, they wouldn't be
doing anything. Although they were very happy with the November
(06:31):
fifth election, but it's only because they want to avoid
paying tariffs that they're all coming in. And again, the
biggest number was three trillion dollars in history. That was
China many years ago. Now it's eighteen trillion dollars and
that's just in ten months. We think we could hit
twenty trillion dollars. That's investment in the United States, including
plant and equipment.
Speaker 3 (06:53):
So you listen to the present talk about the investment.
He also talked about protecting Americans when it comes to drugs.
Something else that he says a very important point of
his administration and it's something that we must stand firm on.
Part of that is dealing with the cocaine coming out
of Colombia. The President asked about Colombia and here's what
(07:16):
he said, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
Go ahead, please.
Speaker 5 (07:19):
So, in response to the United States taking sanction oil
from from Venezuela, Colombian President of Gustavo Petro criticize the
United States by saying, well, the Southwest is stolen land
and that it should be returned to Latin America. I
just wanted to know what your response to that.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
Well, he has to watch because you know, he's got
drug factors. They make cocaine in Colombia, and he's no
friend of the United States. He's very bad, very bad guy,
and he's got to watch his ass because he makes
cocaine and they send it into the United States of
America from Colombia. We love the Colombian people. I love
(07:54):
the Colombian people. They're great people, energetic, smart, great But
their new leader he is a trouble banker and he
better watch it. You better close up those cocaine factories.
If at least three major cocaine factories we know where
they are, he better close them up fast.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
Ye, he better closed them up fast. The President also
wasn't done there as he talked about this major important
announcement that deals with the Golden Fleet of battleships, saying
these are the best in the world and long overdue.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
So I want to wish everybody a big hello and
merry Christmas, and welcome to mar A Lago for this
exciting announcement of the new Golden Fleet. We're going at
the Golden Fleet that we're building for the United States Navy.
As you know, we're desperately in need of ships. Our
ships are some of them have gotten old and tired
and obsolete, and we're going to go to the exact
(08:52):
opposite direction. We're delighted to be joined by Secretary of war.
Pete Hegsath is doing a fantastic job. And Secretary of
the Navy John Falen Marco Rubio is here who gave
a great few words for the end of last week.
He spoke for a couple of hours on what a
(09:12):
good job we're doing, which is true. As Commander in Chief,
it's my great honor to announce that I have approved
a plan for the Navy to begin the construction of
two brand new, very large, the largest we've ever built battleships.
You know, you used to build the Iowa, the Missouri,
(09:33):
the Wisconsin, the Alabama, and many others. We had big battleships.
These are bigger, but they will have one hundred times
There will be one hundred times the force, the power,
and there's never been anything like these ships. These have
been under design consideration for a long time, and it
(09:56):
started with me in my first term because they said,
why aren't we doing battleships like we used to? And
the these are the best in the world, will be
the fastest, the biggest, and by far one hundred times
more powerful than any battleship ever built. So if you
look at the Iowa, the Missouri, Wisconsin, Alabama, and others,
(10:17):
but there they were similar in size, some a little
bit bigger than the others, but if you take the
biggest one, it's one hundred times more powerful. They are
longer by a little bit, but the and the bigger
they're bigger ships, but they hold much more. They use
the word lethality. Battleships are the largest, sturdiest, and most
(10:41):
heavily armed vessel built specifically for naval combat. While America
has built many new warships over the years, they've been
they've tended to be smaller and much smaller, and not
conducive to where we are and where we going. Piece restraint.
Speaker 3 (11:02):
President Trump yet again saying a I'll talk about anything.
B I'm gonna keep you safe. See, I'm gonna make
sure that we bring jobs back to this country. Making
this fleet be built in America, something we stopped doing,
and we're far too reliant on foreign countries for our
(11:22):
ship making. This is all part of his plan to
put America first and from a national security standpoint, and
the President saying I'll stand here and answer as many
questions as I need to. It's important that you have
a president that's transparent, and that is exactly what Donald
Trump did yet again on a multitude of issues.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
Thank you for listening to the forty seven Morning Update
with Ben Ferguson. Please make sure you hit subscribe wherever
you're listening to this podcast right now and for more
in depth news, also subscribe to the Ben Ferguson podcast
and we will see you back here tomorrow
Host
Ben Ferguson
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