WATCH: Trump Says After Hurricanes, ‘There’s No Brand That Went Up More Than The Coast Guard’

President Donald Trump addressed the Coast Guard on Thursday, and said the armed forces “brand” has gone up since the hurricanes that devastated Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico.

Trump was making an appearance, alongside first lady Melania, before service members at the Coast Guard’s Lake Work Inlet Station in Florida to hand out sandwiches.

“It is an honor to be here,” Trump started. “I have to tell you, you know. The Coast Guard always respected, but if you’re looking at it as a brand, there’s no brand that went up more than the Coast Guard with what happened in Texas, and I would say in particular, Texas has been incredible. You saved 16,000 lives. Nobody knows that. 16,000 lives. In fact when I first heard the number, I said, you mean like 600? 500? 16,000 lives in Texas.”

“As bad as that hurricane was, and that was a bad one, a big water dump, right, kept coming in and going back, couldn’t get rid of it, the biggest water dump they’ve ever seen,” he continued.

“And the job you did in Florida, and then Puerto Rico,” Trump continued. “I think that there is no brand — of any kind, I’m not just talking about a military brand — that has gone up more than the Coast Guard.”

Later on in the appearance, Trump requested that the gathered service members ask him questions about the state of the country, but declined to take questions from reporters. He touted the American economy, and also went on something of a tangent about F-35 fighter jets:

The Navy, I can tell you, we’re ordering ships, with the Air Force I can tell you we’re ordering a lot of planes, in particular the F-35 fighter jet, which is like almost like an invisible fighter. I was asking the Air Force guys, I said, how good is this plane? They said, well, sir, you can’t see it. I said but in a fight. You know, in a fight, like I watch on the movies. The fight, they’re fighting. How good is this? They say, well, it wins every time because the enemy cannot see it. Even if it’s right next to them, it can’t see it. I said that helps. That’s a good thing.

Watch above, via CNN.

[image via screengrab]

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