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Trump’s Shocking Comments About Materialism and Success The Media Missed

"America is a nation of believers."
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By Billy Hallowell
Editor

February 2, 2017

There’s been no shortage of attention given to President Donald Trump’s tough critique of “Apprentice” host Arnold Schwarzenegger — comments Trump made about his TV replacement during the National Prayer Breakfast on Thursday.

“They hired a big, big movie star, Arnold Schwarzenegger, to take my place. And we know how that turned out,” Trump quipped. “The ratings went down the tubes. I want to just pray for Arnold, if we can, for those ratings.”

But, those comments aside, there was an intriguing and thought-provoking portion of Trump’s address that hasn’t been given anywhere near as much attention as his Schwarzenegger skewer.

Applause Erupts During U.S. Senate Chaplain’s Powerful Message About Prayer — and Watch How Trump Reacts

It’s no secret that Trump is brash and loose with his language; it’s also no news to anyone that he’s a billionaire who has often been painted by critics as being too enamored by pride, opulence and materialism and, thus, is seen by some as being out-of-touch with the public. That aside, Trump made pointed comments about personal happiness during his speech that are certainly worth noting.

“America is a nation of believers. In towns all across our land, it’s plain to see what we easily forget,” Trump said. “So easily we forget this, that the quality of our lives is not defined by our material success, but by our spiritual success.”

And he didn’t stop there, going on to further dissect the importance of internal measures over material wealth and possessions.

“I will tell you that — and I tell you that from somebody that has had material success and knows tremendous numbers of people with great material success — the most material success,” Trump continued. “Many of those people are very, very miserable, unhappy people, and I know a lot of people without that (wealth), but they have great families.”

As for the people in that latter group, Trump said they have “great faith” and, while they don’t have as much money as those in the former group, he said they are infinitely more happy that their wealthier counterparts.

“Those, to me, are the successful people,” he added.

Watch Trump’s speech in its entirety below (his comments about materialism are around the 8:00-mark):

As for whether Trump’s words were genuine or mere political rhetoric, we’ll leave that to you to decide. At the least, his comments certainly offer another side to a man who, before his ascension to the White House, was known more for his business acumen and for “firing” people than for living out — or offering insight on — life’s smaller blessings.

—

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