2010s, 2011, Q&A with Former President George W. Bush (January 2011)
Context: And you realize that we share the same values. Faith, family, you know, hard work, commitment to service and I think we ought to welcome people from different cultures to America. The great thing about America is we ought to be confident in knowing that everybody becomes an American. And we share the same value system. In other words, there's a great capacity for our society to assimilate people.
“It's a great day for America, everybody.”
citation needed
The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson (2005–2014), Commonly repeated
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Tweet published by @realdonaldtrump https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/881281755017355264 (1 July 2017)
2010s, 2017, July
Interview with Frederick Van Ryn, This Week Magazine (January 4, 1953), p. 11. Sandburg previously used these words at a rally at Madison Square Garden, New York City (October 28, 1952), praising Adlai E. Stevenson during the latter's 1952 presidential campaign. Reported in The Papers of Adlai E. Stevenson (1955), vol. 4, p. 175.
According to Michael A. Ledeen, this line has been falsely attributed to Tocqueville by Dwight Eisenhower, Bill Clinton, Colin Powell, Ross Perot and Pat Buchanan. See Tocqueville on American Character (2001), p. 25 http://books.google.com/books?id=gFjQUXYsSR0C&pg=PA25. Hillary Clinton in her acceptance speech at the Democratic Convention (July 29, 2016), said, without attribution, "America is great because America is good."
Misattributed
“I suddenly began to realize that everybody in America is a natural-born thief.”
Source: On the Road
“This is the story of America. Everybody's doing what they think they're supposed to do.”
Source: On the Road: the Original Scroll
4 February 2019 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-hCP5Tp4Nw, excerpt from 5 February 2019 article on Reason https://reason.com/blog/2019/02/05/rand-paul-criticizes-bipartisan-support, there is a full transcript https://votesmart.org/public-statement/1319881/strengthening-americas-security-in-the-middle-east-act-of#.XKGWiJhKjIU from VoteSmart's list of his public statements https://votesmart.org/candidate/public-statements/117285/rand-paul
2019
“America is great – because America is good.”
Presidential campaign (April 12, 2015 – 2016), 2016 Democratic National Convention (July 28, 2016)
Source: "America is great because America is good" can be found in a contribution by Reverend Clarenca Reynolds to the September 6, 1922 https://books.google.com/books?id=3sYpAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA3-PT21 issue of the Herald and Presbyter. The line is sometime falsely attributed to Alexis de Tocqueville.
Context: We will stand up against mean and divisive rhetoric wherever it comes from. You know, for the past year, many people made the mistake of laughing off Donald Trump's comments – excusing him as an entertainer just putting on a show. They think he couldn't possibly mean all the horrible things he says – like when he called women “pigs.”Or said that an American judge couldn't be fair because of his Mexican heritage. Or when he mocks and mimics a reporter with a disability. Or insults prisoners of war like John McCain –a true hero and patriot who deserves our respect. At first, I admit, I couldn't believe he meant it either. It was just too hard to fathom – that someone who wants to lead our nation could say those things. Could be like that. But here's the sad truth: There is no other Donald Trump.... This is it. And in the end, it comes down to what Donald Trump doesn't get: that America is great – because America is good.
“You don’t make America great by getting rid of everything that made America great.”
When asked if Donald Trump is racist.
Presidential campaign (April 12, 2015 – 2016), Democratic Presidential Debate in Miami (March 9, 2016)
Context: I was the first one to call him out. I called him out when he was calling Mexicans rapists.... His demagoguery, his trafficking in prejudice and paranoia has no place in our political system. Especially from somebody running for president who couldn’t decide whether or not to disavow the and David Duke. So people can draw their own conclusions about him. I will just end by saying this. You don’t make America great by getting rid of everything that made America great. I think it’s un-American. I think what he has promoted is not at all in keeping with American values.