Donald Trump Eloquently Describes New York and American Values

Donald Trump spoke to the New York State Republican Party annual gala on Thursday evening. Although his remarks covered a wide range of topics, and mainstream media focused on what they saw as a Trump attack on Texas Senator Ted Cruz, they got it wrong. You won't hear it from the mainstream, but New York Republicans were treated to a rare Donald Trump, speaking eloquently and from his heart about "New York Values." Here is as much of the text of Trump's speech as I could piece together. It should go down in history as one of the great descriptions of New Yorkers and of Americans. ~~~~~ Donald Trump : "I want to just talk, just for a second, about New York values that we all know so well. Where do we see the values? We see the values with our New York police and firefighters. They don't get enough credit. These are great, great people, great Americans. We see New York values in the state's transit workers, in families that go to the parks, in restaurant workers in delis and factory workers in upstate New York. You see it all over, you see tremendous, tremendous spirit. You see it really in the whole fabric of the community. Number one : Honesty and straight talk. It's the energy to get things done. Big energy. You see it in our work ethic. We work hard and we're proud. We're builders. We make things. You see it in our family values and our families. It's courage and community service. We have courage and we do great great jobs for our community, we have great community service, and that's where you see it. New York values were on display for all to see in the aftermath of 9/11 -- a strike at the heart of our city and our nation. In our darkest moments, as a city, we showed the world the very, very best in terms of bravery and heart and soul that we have in America. This was the worst attack in the history of our country. And when you think of what we've done since then and how we've reacted, that's New York values. In our darkest moments as a city, we showed the world the very best of America -- the firefighters, first responders, police officers and the Port Authority workers -- what they did in the immediate aftermath. All of them who ran up those stairs, knowing that the end could be very near. They knew it. They felt that building. They knew bad things were going to happen and they ran up those stairs and nobody came back. That's New York values. The people in the towers who helped rescue each other and those that perished knowing that if they left earlier, they could have gotten out. They didn't want to do it. They stayed. They helped other people. Those are New York values. The restaurants and local businesses who kept their shops open to help the first responders and help people in need. Those are really the people when you think in terms of New York values. The bravery. You never heard about somebody who left, who was running in the opposite direction. Everyone who helped to clear the rubble, those people were amazing. Every small act of kindness, every great act of courage. Those are New York values." ~~~~~ Dear readers, this speech captured everything that all the other contenders in the 2016 presidential campaign lack -- conviction, patriotism, passion, pride in America and her people, feeling that comes from the heart and not from a speechwriter's laptop. Say those closing words with Donald Trump : "Every small act of kindness, every great act of courage. Those are New York values." And he could easily have added, "Those are American values." It may not be Ronald Reagan at his best, but we conservatives have our new leader, if only we are wise enough to recognize him.