Remarks by President Trump at 2025 National Prayer Breakfast

~ REMARKS BY PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP
AT THE NATIONAL PRAYER BREAKFAST ~

President Donald Trump talked about the need for Americal to return to God and how his brush with death has deepened his own faith at the 2025 National Prayer Breakfast.

From the earliest days of our republic, faith in God has always been the ultimate source of the strength that beats in the hearts of our nation.

We have to bring religion back. We have to bring it back much stronger. It’s one of the biggest problems that we’ve had over the last fairly long period of time. We have to bring it back.

Thomas Jefferson himself once attended Sunday services held in the old House Chamber on the very ground where I stand today, so there could be nothing more beautiful than for us to gather in this majistic place — it is majestic — and reaffirm that America is and will always be “one nation under God.”

At every stage of the American story, our country has drawn hope and courage and inspiration from our trust in the Almighty. Deep in the soul of every patriot is the knowledge that God has a special plan and a glorious mission for America. And that plan is going to happen. It’s going to happen. I hope it happens sooner rather than later. It’s going to happen.

And it’s His hand that guides us every single step of the way. And all of you and the things we have to do is to see the defining role that faith and prayer have played in the life of our nation. And you just have to look at this building, and you can look at each other. You can really look at each other. It’s defined almost everyone in this room. I think faith has been very strong with the people in this room.

Just steps away from here, in the Hall of Columns, is the statue of John Winthrop, who famously proclaimed that America would stand as “a city upon a hill, a light to all nations with the eyes of all people upon us.”

Today, almost 400 years after that famous sermon, we see that with the Lord’s help, the city stands taller and shines brighter than ever before — or at least it soon will.

In that same hall, we also find the statue of the great Roger Williams, who founded the state of Rhode Island, named its capital city Providence, and built the First Baptist Church in America.

It’s Williams that we have to thank for making religious liberty part of the bedrock of American life. And today we must protect the fundamental freedom with absolute devotion. We must stand strong, just like generations of Americans have done on the battlefields all around the world.

Feet away from the magnificent rotunda, another statue watches over visitors to the Capitol. George Washington, the founder of our country, often called for Americans to join together in prayer — very often. And more than two centuries later, this morning, we heed President Washington’s wisdom and follow in his mighty footsteps. He was a strong man and of great religious strength.

The stories of legends like Washington, Winthrop, and Williams remind us that without faith in God, there would be no American story. Every citizen should be proud of this exceptional heritage. We have an unbelievable heritage, and we have to use that and make life better for everyone…

One floor below us, Reverend Graham’s statue stands with an open Bible, the page turned to a letter from the apostle Paul, which reads, “Let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season, we will reap if we do not give up.” Never give up. Never ever give up. You can’t…

None of us knows exactly when our time on Earth will be over. You never know.

A truth I confronted a few short months ago when there was an incident that wasn’t — it was not fun. It was not a good thing. But God was watching me. The chances of me being here — my sons are shooters. They’re really good shooters, Don and Eric. And they said the chances of missing from that range with that gun are — but Don equated it to a one-foot putt. That’s pretty bad. Two feet I can see missing. (Laughter.) But one foot you can’t miss. It was the equivalent of a one-foot putt, is what he told me…

So, you never know, but God did that. I mean, it had to be. The chances of turning, because there’s no reason to turn to the right. You know, the chart is rarely brought down. I brought it down maybe 20 percent and — 20 percent of the time. And it’s never on my right. It’s always on my left. And it’s always at the end of the speech, never the beginning of the speech.

And if I was a little more than that 90-degree angle, it would be no good. And if I was a little less, it would be no good. It had to be perfect. The thing went “shhh” right along the edge. It didn’t affect my hair. Can you believe that? (Laughter.) It might’ve touched it. Might have touched it, but not where it counts, not — (laughter) — not the skin part.

But it changed something in me, I feel. I feel even stronger. I believed in God, but I feel much more strongly about it. Something happened. And so — (applause) — thank you. Thank you…

So, today, we join our hearts and prayers in recommitting to putting our country first. We have to put our country first, making America stronger and greater and more exceptional than ever before.

And we have to make religion a much more important factor now. We have to make it an important factor. And if we do that, it’s going to be — our job is just going to be much easier. It unifies people. It brings people together…

And God bless everybody. We want to come together. And the happiest — the person, the element, the everything that’s going to be happy. People of religion are going to be happy again.

And I really believe you can’t be happy without religion, without that belief. I really believe it. I just don’t see how you can be. (Applause.)

So, let’s bring religion back. Let’s bring God back into our lives.

Read President Trump’s full speech at the 2025 National Prayer Breakfast here.