Transcript: What Scott Baio said about Donald Trump

Television director and actor Scott Baio addressed the Republican National Convention on Monday evening in Cleveland. For the record, here’s a transcript of what he had to say: 

Thank you for that warm welcome. Thank you so much.

Tonight’s theme is “Making America Safe,” so I want to thank all the brave men and women who serve our country, including retired Lt. Col. Charles Kettles, who just this morning received the Medal of Honor for his heroism in Vietnam.

And I want to thank Mr. Trump for asking to be here tonight. I can’t tell you how much of an honor it is to stand up here and talk about a man that I trust with the lives of my family and the health of our country.

America: The greatest country God ever created.

Now, America is an easy place to get to.

But for you first-time voters, it’s important for you to know what it means to be an American. It doesn’t mean getting free stuff.  It means sacrificing. Winning. Losing. Failing. Succeeding. And sometimes doing the things you don’t want to do — including the hard work — in order to get where you want to be. And that’s what it means to be an American.

But folks, our country right now is in a very bad spot. You can feel it. And you can see it everywhere. There’s no stability. Nothing seems right. And all the things that we hold dear are being attacked every single day.

We cannot go down this road anymore.

We need to stop.

We need Donald Trump to fix this.

Is Donald Trump a messiah? No. He’s just a man — a man who wants to give back to his country: America — the country that has given him everything. A country that has also given all of us so much. And now it’s time to give back to her.

We have a choice in November. We can go for Hillary Clinton, who wants to continue the same policies that are wrecking this country. Policies that make us unsafe. A woman who somehow that feels she’s entitled to the presidency — that she’s somehow owed it. Or we can go for Donald Trump, a man doing this from the goodness of his heart and genuinely wants to help. A man who knows how to get things done. A man who says what he means, and means what he says.

Hillary Clinton wants to be president for Hillary Clinton. Donald Trump wants to be president for all of us.

So, of course, let’s make America great again.  But let’s make America America again.

Thank you all so much.

God bless. Go Trump.