President Donald Trump stopped at Graceland before heading back to Washington, DC, on Monday following a Memphis Safe Task Force roundtable in Tennessee.
Trump told reporters how much he admires Elvis Presley, the King of Rock and Roll, and his music.
“I love Elvis. Elvis, you know, they all say, ‘Did you know Elvis?’ I knew Frank Sinatra. I knew most of them. Unfortunately, I never met Elvis, and that would be one I would have liked a lot, but I do like his music,” Trump said.
Trump told reporters that this was his first-ever visit to Graceland.
“I’ve never been here, no. I just, I’m a big fan of Elvis. Who isn’t right? But I think he’s great. I think his music is incredible. I understood his life. His life was complicated. It was complicated, but he was terrific,” Trump said.
“He was born with a voice that he never lost, right? He had other difficulties, but he never lost the voice,” he added.
Trump noted Presley’s relationship with his mother.
“Well, he loved his mom so much, and the father, but he really loved his mom, and I think when his mom went, it was very hard for him,” Trump said.
Trump was also invited to sign a replica guitar of what Presley played during the “Aloha from Hawaii” concert in 1973.
The president called it “a big honor.”
A short time before the stop, the president touted the progress the Memphis Safe Task Force has made in combating crime.
Compared to this time last year, Memphis has seen a 67 percent plummet in motor vehicle thefts, a 51 percent decline in robberies, a 38 percent drop in sexual harassments, a 35 percent fall in homicides, and a 32 percent drop in burglaries.
“It was averaging far more than one murder per day, with a crime rate higher than Colombia, Mexico City, or Baghdad … I shouldn’t be saying this, but here’s the good news: it’s been fixed, alright? I hate to say this because it’s so negative,” the president noted during the roundtable.
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