Trump cut literal red tape while standing next to a massive pile of paper to make a point about big government

Kevin Lamarque/Reuters

Trump as he prepare to cut the tape at Thursday's event.

• President Donald Trump held a deregulation event on Thursday.
• He stood next to huge piles of paper and cut red tape.

President Donald Trump concluded a press conference about his administration's progress on cutting regulation on Thursday by standing in front of a massive stack of papers and cutting a literal band of red tape.

After speaking to reporters about the number of regulations he has eliminated and how the cuts would advance his agenda, the president moved over to a stack of paper taller than he is, signifying the number of regulations that exist at the federal level today. Crossing the enormous pile was a ribbon of red tape.

This red tape was crucial to Trump's message on deregulation, and a tweet he sent soon after his statements highlighted this element of the process conference.

"Today, we gathered in the Roosevelt Room for one single reason: to CUT THE RED TAPE!" Trump wrote. "For many decades, an ever-growing maze of regs, rules, and restrictions has cost our country trillions of dollars, millions of jobs, countless American factories, & devastated entire industries."

Here are some photos and a video from the event: