President Trump on Economy, Energy in Corpus Christi, TX (Transcript) 

What we did, we had a tremendously successful first term. And he came in and tried to take away what we had. But today, the dock workers, we stopped them. And today, the dock workers, energy workers, and great people of Texas once again really have a president that loves our country, a president that fights for our country, and a president who’s got your back.

Record Energy Exports and the Venezuela Deal

Nationwide, exports of liquefied natural gas are up 37 percent. Think of that. And the past year, the highest level in American history and going up a lot. Crude oil exports are up by hundreds of thousands of barrels a day.

Venezuela — think of it — 80,000 — 80 million. So far — we just started — 80 million barrels of fuel. Think — 80 million barrels of oil. Think of what that means. Think of a stadium with 80,000 people. Now say 80 million. That’s what we’ve taken. And it’s great for Venezuela, and it’s great for us. It’s great for us, great for Venezuela. And a lot of it, like that — a lot of it comes right here.

And with our new friend and partner, Venezuela, we’re going to do a lot of other things. We’re going to be doing a lot. We’re having a great relationship with their government. Has anybody ever witnessed anything so beautiful, so decisive, and so popular with the people of Venezuela? It was very popular.

In fact, 360,000 barrels of Venezuelan crude are right now sitting in the tanker on my left. It’s a nice one. So where the hell does that one come from? For the benefit of both our nations, we’re going to refine their oil.

here in America and right here in Texas, and then exported to all over the world. We’re going to keep some for ourselves. We’re going to give some to them. And they’re going to make more money than they’ve ever made before. We’ll help build their country again, which was a disaster. And we’re going to build it up, and we’re going to benefit also. And that’s the way it’s supposed to be. All right? It’s going to be great.

Jesse Robinson Speaks at the Port

One person who has witnessed our energy turnaround firsthand is Jesse Robinson. Jesse. Come on up here, Jesse. He began his career at this port working on the frontlines of railroad operations and has risen to become one of the port’s key leaders. I can see that, by the way. You all know I’m helping to drive the American energy surge like — this is a surge like nobody’s ever seen. Jesse, come on up and say a few words.

JESSE ROBINSON: Wow. Good afternoon, everyone. You know I’ve been on this cargo dock probably a thousand times, but I never could have imagined standing at this podium at this very moment with all of you as we honor together what an irrefutably historical moment this is.

In my role as director of asset management here at the port, I see firsthand every day the valuable contributions by President Trump. I see the millions of dollars in federal funds invested in infrastructure that helps us serve our customers so they can then turn and serve the communities around the world.

At this port, I have the honor of leading roughly 75 employees and contractors, most of which are here today. And I can tell you with utmost sincerity that every one of us takes great pride in our jobs supporting this global gateway. We work hard and with humility. This waterway means something to us. It represents the economic opportunity for tens of thousands of families throughout this region.

I want to thank my family for supporting my commitment to this port. I want to thank my team for their heart and grit. And I want to thank President Trump for recognizing their tenacity and value. Thank you.

DONALD TRUMP: Thank you, Jesse. Thank you, Jesse. Great guy and great family and hard worker. All hard workers. I’m a hard worker. We’re all hard workers.

Slashing Energy Costs

Slashing energy costs. Hey, by the way, how did you like the State of the Union the other night? That was good. That was good. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you very much. That was fun.

Did you see these people on my right, the way they just sat there? Some of them. How about Omar screaming, screaming, screaming like a lunatic? You looked at her bulging eyes. She’s crazy. Get her the hell out of here. And Omar and her friend and her little friend sitting next to her.

Slashing energy costs is among the most important actions we can take to bring down prices for American consumers. Because when you cut the cost of energy, you really caught — you just cut the cost of energy. Everything follows — look, you’re in an industry, a business, whatever you want to call it, a profession, in many cases. Everything follows energy.

Now, AI, they build these big plants. They say, how do you make your money? Information. Somehow, I like oil better. I’m sorry. I like — I think oil — if I had my choice, I have to stick with oil.

Inflation at Its Lowest in Five Years

In 12 months, we’ve driven core inflation down to the lowest level in more than five years. And in the last three months of 2025, it’s been down to one point inflation — 1.7 percent. Nobody thought that. So we went from the highest inflation ever to low inflation.

All the — you know, everything took place. I’ve been here one year. Think of it. One year. A little bit more than one year now. Time flies. Time flies. Maybe we should — maybe we do one more term. Should we do one more term? Do one more term.

Well, we’re entitled to it because they cheated like hell in the second one. We would actually be entitled to it. But think of it. The price of eggs is down 60 percent. The cost of chicken, butter, fruit, hotels, automobiles — rent is lower today than it has been in years. And even beef is, right now, on the way down. It’s coming down. It’s coming down fast. Prices of almost everything is down.

And we inherited a mess one year ago. A mess. And they came up with a word — affordability. And I said, what are they talking about? They’re the ones that caused it. They’re cons. They’re liars. Not good. Other than that, we want to have unity. Let’s have unity. To have unity, you need sane people on the other side.

On Democrats at the State of the Union

And when you watch them not stand up for a mother that just lost her daughter, or not stand up for a great, brave helicopter pilot that did so well and so amazing in Venezuela, or not stand up when I asked the question — stand up if you love our country. Think of it. And you love great American patriots. But don’t stand up if you don’t or if you love illegal alien criminals. And not one of them stood up.

They got killed in that. You know, at the end of the night, they were all standing up for anything because the word was, they are getting killed. They passed — did you see? They were passing notes all over the place. Stand up. Stand up for anything. Stand up. They were instructed. You know, they have terrible policy, terrible everything, but they do stay together, as bad as it is. But they were instructed, under no circumstances are you to applaud or stand up.

So I say, stand up for a mother who lost her beautiful daughter. And they don’t applaud. They sit there like — and eventually, we just looked at them and said, you people are crazy. And they are. They’re crazy.

And we got to win the midterms. We are — we brought this country back. We don’t want to lose the midterm. We got to win the midterms. We got to get out. You got to get out, and we got to vote, and we’ll keep it all going — better even than it is now, as good as it is.

State of the Union Highlights: Tax Cuts and Economic Relief

Tuesday night, in my State of the Union address, I laid out the historic actions my administration is taking to put more money in the pockets of workers and families, like those here today — the greatest people on Earth. You built the country. And to ensure that we always keep America first. You know, they don’t keep America first. They keep America last.

With the help of our Republican majorities in Congress, we passed the largest tax cuts in American history. That includes no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, and no tax on Social Security for our great seniors. And the average Texas family will save over $4,000 on their taxes this year alone, and much more next year. We gave you the best tax cuts anyone’s seen.

We also got you an interest deduction if you buy a car. You can — if you borrow some money to buy a car, you have a loan, you’re allowed to deduct the interest for income tax purposes. Never happened before. But only if it’s an American-made car. We put that in.

Cutting Regulations and Ending the EV Mandate

We have cut a record number of job-killing regulations, slashing 129 old regulations for every one new regulation that we approve. So if we put a regulation on, we slash 129 old regulations, which is far and above what anybody’s been able to do.

We terminated the insane electric vehicle mandate where you had to have a car — like, all-electric car — within a couple of years. Yet, it was not going to work. I mean, you don’t mind driving 200 miles to get a charger, right? You ever see the signs? Charge — you’re running out, you’re running low, and they say, charging booth 112 miles to the right.

These people are crazy, I’m telling you. But the mandate is over and the other radical attacks, and now you can go out and you can buy a gasoline-powered car, a hybrid, an electric car. You can buy whatever the hell you want.

## $18 Trillion in Investment Commitments

In four long years, the last administration got less than $1 trillion. So $1 trillion less — much less — of new investment came into the country. In less than 12 months, I secured commitments for more than $18 trillion. So think of it. For four years — think of it, what it does to a place like this. Four years, much less than $1 trillion. Less than one year, more than $18 trillion. I would say that’s — that’s the difference between making America great again and making America a major loser.

A short time ago, we were a dead country. We were totally a dead country. The King of Saudi Arabia said it to me. I was over — they invested $2 trillion in our country. I was over there with other great countries. But the King of Saudi Arabia said to me, “President, two years ago, you were a dead country. Now you have the hottest country anywhere in the world.” Can you imagine?

## Record Stock Market Highs and 401k Gains

The stock market has hit 53 all-time record highs since the election. Think of that in one year. Adding trillions of dollars in value, Americans’ pensions and 401ks and retirement accounts. They’re all through the roof. Who has a 401k? Wow. Is anybody unhappy with the job I’m doing? Your 401ks have doubled, right? Are they doubled?

I have a policeman. I tell the story. Same guy — I meet him. But he’s this wonderful, tough policeman from New York. He’s taking good care of us. And he said, “Sir, it’s so good. My married life has gotten so much better.” Why? “My wife thought I was a loser financially. I couldn’t make any money because my 401k was dying for years. And now she thinks I’m the smartest financial genius ever. It’s made my sex life good. It’s made my life good. It’s given me a tremendous boost in life, Sir.”

This is a big, tough cop. He said, “My wife treated me like a dog, and now she admires my financial genius. And I haven’t done anything. My 401k has gone through the roof.” So I said, “Thank you very much.”

But everybody’s there, right? Everybody’s up. Has anybody gone down with their 401k? Because if you do, you’re a loser. Nobody. And then, you know, you hear these radical lunatics say, “The stock market doesn’t matter.” But it does matter because they have 401ks. They have investments. They buy stocks without 401ks. It matters a lot.

## Beating the Dow and S&P Records

Our stock market’s going through. You know, we beat 50,000 on the Dow. They said when I got elected, if I could beat 50,000 by the end of my fourth year, it would be a tremendous miracle. And we then hit 7,000 on the S&P. And that was even tougher. They said there’s no way that could be done. I did them both by the end of my first year. Not my fourth year, my first. Which means you also did them both. So, you know, everybody’s happy.

## Matching Retirement Savings and the Big Beautiful Bill

To help ensure that all Americans share in the gains from the rising stock market, I announced on Tuesday night that any worker whose employer does not provide matching contributions to a retirement account, my administration will begin matching your retirement savings with up to $1,000 a year. Anybody ever thought that’s possible?

And we passed a bill, the great, big, beautiful bill, that the Democrats are — they’re always saying, “Oh, the great, big, beautiful —” they don’t know. It’s basically the great, big, beautiful tax cut bill, if you really want to look at it. Probably a more accurate name. Every parent can actively just activate all of their children’s accounts. We have a new thing, and it was Michael and Susan Dell. Dell Computer. Go out and buy a Dell Computer. They’re great.

Because he put up $6,250,000 in the Trump accounts, and it’s for children. It’s tax-free investment accounts for every American child — every single American child — born — born rich. So millions and millions will be prefunded, courtesy of the U.S. Treasury. Private individuals like Michael and Susan Dell, who have donated the — think of it — $6 billion. He put up $6,250,000, and now he wants to put up more to fund what’s called the Trump accounts for 25 million American children. And that number is growing rapidly all the time.

So these children, they reach 18 or 19 or 20. They could have over 100,000. They could have much more than that. Think of it. They’ll be, like, rich. They started with nothing and a small amount of seed money. And by the time they’re 18 years old, they could have well over $100,000. And to make this investment in our children’s future, go to trumpaccounts.gov. It is amazing. It’s going through the roof.

No Tax on Overtime: Kevin and Marcy Rhodes

One American who is benefiting tremendously from our tax cuts is Kevin Rhodes from Andrews, Texas. Kevin is a Marine Corps veteran who has spent 20 years in the oil and gas industry. Great guy. Just met him. He works as a wells tech in Permian Basin, where he averages 15 hours a week in overtime. Now, there’s no tax on overtime anymore, Kevin.

As a result, Kevin and his wife, Marcy, will take home more than $7,000 extra this year thanks to no tax on overtime with money that they are going to take the two boys on a road trip to Yellowstone, Yellowstone National Park. Nice place where you can save the money or you can buy a house and do whatever the hell you want with it. Right.

But you know what? I’d like to have Kevin and Marcy come up. They’re so happy. No tax, in this case, overtime. But think of it. No tax on tips. No tax on overtime. No tax on Social Security for the seniors. So, who the hell else could have gotten that? Come on up, Kevin.

KEVIN RHODES: Thank you, Mr. President. It’s a huge honor to be here in Corpus Christi, Texas with everyone here. Thank you to the Oil and Gas Workers Association also. I stand here as a Marine Corps veteran with my wife, who is a small business owner. We own a small catering company. We are products of the oil and gas industry of West Texas. We send our oil here to Corpus Christi to send out across the world.

With the legislation that has been passed with a no tax on overtime, we were able to buy a commercial refrigerator for our business. And then, like Mr. President said, we’re going to take our kids on a trip to Yellowstone and Grand Teton. We are just Americans, two parents trying to give the best life to their children, opportunities for both of our sons, one who is in automation fixing to go into the oil and gas industry.

We have big dreams and are excited for the future of this nation and our family. We are grateful that God has given us a president like Mr. Trump that allows this. We are grateful that he has put America first. So God bless you, Mr. President, and God bless this nation.

Doug Burgum, Chris Wright, and America’s Energy Leadership

DONALD TRUMP: That’s great. Thank you very much. Both. So we’re also grateful to be joined by a man who, as they say, the most talented man in the oil industry, Doug Burgum, who, as you know, is a great gentleman. He was former governor of North Dakota. I wanted to put him at energy, said, “Sir, I’m really good at energy, but there’s one man that’s better. His name is Chris Wright.” So I made Chris Wright the secretary of energy, and he has really proven to be fantastic wherever you are. Chris. Where is Chris? Thank you. And he’s got a beautiful hat. I love the hat. Gulf of America. I love that hat.

We have one of the great governors of our country. He is an unbelievable guy, a tremendous friend of mine.

And he is something very special. He’s tough as hell. I want to tell you, if you think he’s a nice guy, you’re wrong. He’s tough. He’s mean. But it’s all for you. So I want to just say, Greg Abbott, we love you, Greg Abbott.

Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick. Thank you. He’s been the chairman of my campaign all three times. All three times. We set records. We set records like nobody. Okay. I don’t want to brag. But in the history of Texas, I have — correct, Governor — I have by far the largest number of votes ever gotten. And it was the highest, and the highest again. And we just topped it big in the last election. So we have the highest ever gotten by a lot, by millions. I think I got to move here fast. I’ll stay in Washington for a little while. We’ll stay in Washington for a little while longer. So thank you very much.

Acknowledging Texas Leaders

And we have a great attorney general, Ken Paxton. Where’s Ken? Hi, Ken. Hi, Ken. And we have a great senator, John Cornyn. Hi, John. Thank you, John. We’re in a little race together. You know that, right? A little bit of a race. It’s going to be an interesting one, right? They’re both great people, too. Thank you both very much.

Texas House Speaker Dustin Burroughs. He’s here doing a terrific job. Hi, Dustin. Thank you, Dustin. Good job. I like you much better than the last guy, Dustin.

And we have a senator who’s really an amazing guy. I’m thinking about putting him in the Supreme Court. And now, now, I’m thinking — because it’s very hard, you know, getting these nominations through is very tough — but he’s the only guy I know who will get 100 percent of the Democrat vote, 100 percent of the Republican vote. They want to get him out of there. He is such a pain in the ass, but he’s so good and so talented. Ted Cruz. That’s right. If we ever had a problem, I’d just pick Ted. That would solve — that would solve that problem. No, he’s a great guy. And he’s a very talented guy, too. Smart.

Recognizing Texas Representatives

Representatives John Carter, Randy Weber, Jason Smith, Brian Babin. These are all incredible warriors, by the way. Jody Arrington, Lance Gooden, Chip Roy, running for office. Chip? Where’s Chip? You’re doing a good job, Chip.

Michael Cloud. That’s right. He’s the — oh, look at that. Whoa. Okay, this is his district, and people like you — you know, I’ve had some bad things where I introduce people from a district, and then they like you, Michael. That’s good. And you know what? Honestly, they should, because he’s a phenomenal congressman, a phenomenal friend, and a phenomenal congressman. Thank you for the great job.

And you got that dredging. Is it 54 or 56 feet? Yeah. In other words, 54. He said, go with 54. You got that done. We got it done together, right? Made a big difference. Thank you very much. You have a great congressman.

Congressman Tony Gonzalez is here. Tony, congratulations. Jake Elsey. Monica De La Cruz. Thank you. Keith Self. Good guy. Oh, these are great people. Thank you, Keith.

Brandon Gill, a young one. I endorsed him. I said — a very dear friend of mine happens to have a slight relationship, right? I endorsed him. I said, “What does he know about politics?” That was like four years ago. He knows a lot. You’ve been fantastic. Thank you very much. Thank you, Brandon.

And another friend of mine who’s doing very well, Wesley Hunt. Where’s Wesley? Wesley Hunt. Doing a good job. Thank you, Wesley.

Well, you do have an interesting election. You have a couple of them going on. Texas is so good. You know, I never really appreciated Texas because I won by so much it wasn’t fun. But I’d rather have it that way. So let’s keep it that way. Let’s keep it that way.

Director of Federal Housing Finance Agency, a genius financially, Bill Pulte. Hi, Bill. President and founder of the Oil and Gas Workers Association, very popular guy, Matt Coday. And we have an actor who’s one of the best actors in America. He played a gentleman that preceded me by a few years named Ronald Reagan. And Dennis Quaid has gotten accolades all over the place. And he really is good. Dennis Quaid. Where are you, Dennis? Dennis Quaid. Hey, Dennis, come here, Dennis. Come on. You know, they like celebrities and actors more than politicians. And thank you, sir.

DENNIS QUAID: Hello, Corpus Christi. Hello, Texas. My home state. I love Corpus Christi and I love Donald Trump.

DONALD TRUMP: Thank you, Dennis. Did a great job. Thank you, Dennis. Got a new movie coming out, by the way.

## Recognizing Texas Patriots

Thanks as well to several great Texas Patriots. Jessica Steinman, who’s doing unbelievably well. Where’s Jessica? You’re around here someplace. Thank you, Jessica. Alex Mailer. Alex, thank you. Thank you, Alex. Chris Gabber. Thank you, Chris. Mark, oh, Mark Tashira. Yates, are you the great Mark? He could throw that ball. We need you. We need you desperately. And I hear you’re doing very well. I endorsed all of these people, by the way, and I hear you’re doing very well.

I’ll tell you what, that’s the end of the Democrats’ chances of winning the game. When you have a top, top Major League player on your team, they’re in deep trouble. That’s good. That’s — they’re really — we’re rooting for you big. I’m a big fan, too. What a great baseball player you are. Thank you very much. Thanks, Mark.

Jace Yarbrough. Jace, thank you very much, Jace. Good job. They’re all leading. John Bonk. They’re all leading in the polls, every one of them.

## Endorsed Candidates Take the Stage

And I want to call up three people that are running, and we don’t even have the polls yet, but they’re, I think, doing well. When we endorse people — I’d like to take it seriously, but these people we endorse — and just run on up here real fast. Carlos De La Cruz, Webb County Judge Tano Tijerina. Tijerina, come on up. And former Assistant Attorney Eric Flores. They’re all running, and I think they’re doing great. Say a couple of words.

ERIC FLORES: I have to first thank our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, for opening every single door for my family. I want to thank my family, Annette and my daughter, Rebecca. And, Mr. President, I want to thank you, sir, for securing our borders and making America strong. And I got a lot of fighting in me, sir. And I’m going to make sure that Texas 35 brings you a wingman.

JUDGE TANO TIJERINA: Mr. President, it is truly an honor to stand up here. Soy un Mexicano — Mexican American. Soy un Mexicano, pero orgulloso, porque aquí estoy con el mejor presidente de todo el mundo. Mr. President, this is South Texas right here. Hardworking patriots. Faith-filled patriots, Mr. President. Men and women that power this country, that our ports, our refineries, our ranches, and our military bases — aquí no tenemos miedo para trabajar. Nunca tenemos miedo. We’re not just a border, but we’re the future, Mr. President. And we’re here to back you up and continue to fight, fight, fight.

CARLOS DE LA CRUZ: Mr. President, I am honored to be here with you today. As someone who has worn the uniform of the United States Army and locked up some of the worst of the worst, I believe in strength, never backing down, and staying focused on the mission. That is the kind of leadership that you have brought back to America, and that’s the leadership that I will bring to D.C. to fight for Texas 34 and always have your back, Mr. President.

South Texas stands ready to do our part to secure our borders, grow our economy, and keep America strong. Thank you for being here, Mr. President, in Corpus Christi. Thank you for your endorsement and for your trust. And, above all, thank you for your unwavering, unapologetic devotion to our great nation. God bless you, Mr.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Thank you. Thank you. God bless you, Mr. President. Always have your back. Good guys. They’re all, I hear, doing really well. We haven’t seen the polls, but they’re all winning. Everybody I named is winning.

But every day — and you know, it’s interesting, the governor called me, after the last election. He said, “You know, you did something no Republican has ever done. You won every border town and little border city, but all the way up and down, all the way from one side to the other.” He said, “First time it’s ever happened since” — he used the word — “Reconstruction, right?”

And I said, “By Reconstruction, are you saying the Civil War? Is that what you’re saying?” That was a fancy way of saying the Civil War. He said, “That’s the first time it’s happened.” We won every single and largely Hispanic vote. We love the Hispanic voters. We love them.

And what a lot of people didn’t understand, that the Hispanic voter wants safety and understands safety better than anybody else. So when I said we want safety. We want law and order. They got it better than anybody else, and they voted for Trump. So I just want to thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you, man.

Tackling Corruption, Fraud, and the Cost of Living

Every day under the Trump administration, we’re taking on the corruption and fraud that drives up your cost of living. And we’re defending the honest, hardworking citizens of our country, like you.

Slashing Drug Prices: Most Favored Nation Policy

Under the most favored nation agreements for drug prices, we’re slashing drug prices at record levels like never seen before, with price differences of 400, 500, even 600 percent. I went to other countries. I said, no way. You know, we were paying the highest prices in the entire world by far, and now we’re paying the lowest price. It’s numbers that have come down for decades.

Think of it. For decades, Americans have paid the highest drug prices. Nobody’s ever paid more. We would pay sometimes 8, 10, 12 times more than places in Europe and other countries. But from now on, because of what I did, we’re going to be paying the lowest price. It’s called favored nations, most favored nations.

So these incredible price reductions are available right now. And I didn’t name this, but somebody did. They thought it was good. I said, whatever sells. TrumpRx.gov. TrumpRx. And you’ll see numbers.

And I tell the story of a friend of mine — very smart, very heavy guy. Very — I’m trying to be nice. Never use the word fat. Very heavy, slightly obese. But he takes the fat drug, and it didn’t work. But he’s a very brilliant guy. He’s highly neurotic. Very brilliant. Very smart. Rich. He calls me. He was in London. He called me. He said, you know, he takes the fat drug — one of the many fat drugs. And he says, “In New York, I pay $1,300. And in London, I’m paying $87. What the hell is going on?”

So he checked it. He’s a man of means. Same plant, same factory, same manufacturer. Shipped over to London. And it’s a tiny fraction. He said, “What is it?” And I said, “Well, that started years ago, and nobody’s been able to do anything about it. But I’m working on it hard.”

I got it done. And I got it done by saying, very simply to the other countries, if you’re not going to do it, we’re going to charge you a massive tariff that’s many times more because they had to approve it. The drug companies approved it. The countries approved it. And now you’ll have a pill that would sell for $1, but in New York would sell for $13. And now that pill is selling in London for $2 or $3, and it’s selling in New York for $2 or $3. Came all the way down.

And I said, “That alone, Governor, that alone should win us the midterms. Ted, that alone should win us the midterms. That is the single biggest thing to happen. It’s a revolution in prescription drugs.”

Drug Prices and Healthcare

DONALD TRUMP: Your prices are going down 80 percent, 85 percent, 70 percent. Numbers that nobody ever saw. You know, in my first term, I had a year, my third year, where I got it down one quarter of a percent. Think of it. One quarter. I was so proud of myself. I called the news conference immediately. I announced that I got — because nobody in 28 years had gotten drug prices down. I got them down from the beginning of the year to the end. One quarter of one percent. I thought it was great because nobody else had done it for 28 years.

Now I’ve got them down 80 percent, 85 percent, 75, 55. And that should really do it. And other Presidents have tried, and they were unable to get it. They were unable to get the other countries to do it. They were unable to get the drug companies. Everything is done. Everything is signed up. You know that. Ted and John and everybody — everything is signed up, done. And there it is. I mean, it’s amazing. Now it’s just taking hold.

The — when it was done, a major paper — it’s the single biggest thing in years in medicine. A major paper. Put it on page 22 of this paper. So — so we have to explain it. It’s the biggest thing. It’s the greatest thing. One of the great things. And that also has to do with bringing your healthcare way down.

Obamacare and Insurance Companies

And since the passage of the Unaffordable Care Act, which is Obamacare — did you ever hear of Barack Hussein Obama? Barack Hussein. Who likes Barack Hussein Obama? Who doesn’t like him? I’ve heard worse, honestly. I’ve heard less popular people than that.

Big insurance companies have gotten rich with our government, giving them hundreds of billions of dollars as their stock prices soared because Obamacare was good — rotten health insurance. Good for one reason — the insurance companies. The insurance companies made a fortune. The insurance companies own Democrats. They own them. So the Democrats never want to do anything good for us. They want to do it for the insurance companies. That’s why Obamacare is terrible, and it’s way too expensive.

So that’s why, in introducing the great — we call it the Great Healthcare Plan, I want to stop all payments to big insurance companies. And all money — billions and billions of dollars — goes directly to the people so that you can buy your own healthcare, which is better and much less expensive than Obamacare. Right? You like that, Dan? Dan Patrick likes it. If Dan Patrick likes it, I like it. How good a chairman was Dan Patrick, right? He’s undefeated as chairman, right, Dan?

Big Tech, Energy, and the Power Grid

As I announced on Tuesday, under our new rate-payer protection pledge, we’re also telling the big tech companies that energy usage, AI data centers cannot drive up electric prices in communities. They have an obligation to pay that. We have told them, “You got to build your own power plant. You can’t take it. You got to build it.”

And actually, we’re doing them a favor because they never thought they’d have it so good. Because our grid, which is very old and broken, tired, and doesn’t have great capacity, cannot sustain the kind of numbers that you’re draining out of it. So I gave them the right, and now it’s mandatory. I made it mandatory where they have to build their own electric power plant so they’re no longer taken out of the community. And any excess they give back into the grid. So the grid is actually going to be enhanced, as opposed to hurt.

They wouldn’t have been able. We’re leading China. We’re leading everybody right now in AI. And the reason we’re doing it is because they’re building their own plants. Otherwise, we couldn’t build much at all. And so I just want you to know, as you see these massive plants, they’re building their own power plant. They’re becoming essentially their own utility.

Expanding Homeownership

We’re expanding the dream of homeownership to millions of Americans.

And after I directed the purchase of $200 billion in mortgage bonds, that’s $200 billion in mortgage bonds. Mortgage rates just fell substantially lower than 6 percent for the first time in five years. The annual cost of a typical new mortgage is now down almost $5,000 in one year. Think of that.

And I have a lousy guy in the Fed. Terrible. Jerome, too late. You know what? He’s too late. You know why we call him too late? He’s too late in reducing mortgage interest rates or interest rates. He’s not doing too good. But fortunately, he’s going to be out of there soon. But even despite him, you know, did you ever hear you got a little wall, an obstacle you power through? We power through the wall. He’s a wall that we just power through.

In the past 12 months, we’ve helped over 50,000 first-time homebuyers in Texas get the house of their dreams. And we’ve really created the American Dream.

The Golden Age of America

By the way, our country right now, this is the Golden Age of America. We’re in the Golden Age. This is the beginning. This is the beginning of the Golden Age. You’re going to be reading about this in 100 years until we are in the Golden Age of America. We’ve got to keep it going. We’ve got to win the midterms. We’ve got to keep it going.

Last month, I signed an executive order to ban large Wall Street investment firms from buying large numbers of family homes, single family homes. No, you’d have these firms go out and buy 2,000 houses. We don’t want it. We want you to buy the houses, not them.

The SAVE AMERICA Act

We’re also fighting to pass the SAVE AMERICA Act, my all-time favorite. It’s my all-time favorite. The SAVE AMERICA Act. We got it, John. You hear that, Ted? You’re unstoppable. Because, you know, they cheat like hell in elections, in case you haven’t noticed. They cheated in the third election. Second election was ridiculous. We got them. We caught them. It’s all coming out. Coming out. Daily, it’s coming out. They cheated like dogs.

That guy couldn’t win. But to stop illegal aliens and other unpermitted persons — see, that’s a politically correct — unpermitted persons, rather than illegal aliens. They’d rather have us use unpermitted persons. That’s the first time I’ve ever heard that word — those words. I don’t sort of like them, unpermitted persons. Is that the new phrase we’re using? The governor says, no. Good. Thank you. No, Ted. Right? Unpermitted. He’s an unpermitted person. He’s killed 19 people. We’re not permitting him in.

From voting in our sacred American elections. We don’t want people that aren’t citizens of our country voting. We don’t want people that aren’t studied. And we don’t want people that can’t love our country voting in our elections. So it’s very simple.

All voters must show — this is the Save America Act. Now, think of it. I watched Schumer the other day. “We will stop the Save America Act.” I said, No, no, we’re talking about saving. It’s a really hard thing. It was like MAGA. Biden. Remember Biden? He made those speeches. “We will stop MAGA. We would.” Then he falls off the stage. “We will stop. We will stop MAGA. We must stop MAGA.” He had no idea what. And I said, No, no, MAGA is make America great again. You don’t want to stop it. You don’t want to stop MAGA.

And this may be even better. The Save America Act. I watched Schumer today. “We’re going to stop the Save America Act.” You know what it is? Basically, voter ID, et cetera. But what’s wrong with that? So they came up with all different theories about why anybody should. You have voter ID for everything. No matter where you go, it’s ID. You have an identification for everything, except for one of the most sacred things you could be doing is voting.

And the reason they don’t want voter ID is because they want to cheat. Because the only way they can get elected is to cheat because their policies are no good.

They do stick together. You saw that the other night. They wouldn’t stand up and clap for anyone, for anybody. We could meet. We could introduce. Ladies and gentlemen, I’d like to introduce you to the late, great Amelia Earhart. Here she is. They would not clap. They wouldn’t clap for anybody. There was nothing I can think of. Nothing I could think of where they would clap. They’re sick people.

Election Integrity: Voter ID, Proof of Citizenship, and Mail-In Ballots

So they don’t want all votes must show voter ID. All voters must show three simple things. Proof of citizenship in order to vote. Voter ID. Proof of citizenship. And then third, and I’m telling you it’s the most important, no mail-in ballots except for illness, disability, military, or travel. And if I had my choice, I think I’d take that one. You want to know the truth. There’s more cheating with mail-in ballots. They drop them in the river. See this beautiful port? You see the damn things floating down? It is — it is so terrible. Our elections are so rigged and crooked.

And those three things will solve it. Think of it. Voter ID, proof of citizenship, no mail-in ballots, with exceptions. Military, we want an exception. Illness, disability, we want an exception. And if you’re traveling, you’re on a business trip, you’re somewhere — even a vacation, you can vote by mail, but that’s a very small number of people. And you will see that they will never win another election again. They will never win because their policy is no good.

They want men playing in women’s sports. They want transgender for everybody. They want open borders so that the world’s criminals can pour into our country, which — have we done a good job?

ICE and Border Patrol: Nine Months of Zero Illegal Border Crossings

I’ll tell you what, ICE — ICE has done such a great job. And Border Patrol. You know that for the last nine — it’s hard to believe — for the — you remember the problems two years ago. You people — everybody was going crazy. People were pouring into our country by the millions. In the last nine months — and this is done by radicals, radical lefts. In the last nine months, zero people came into our country through your southern border illegal.

And remember when Biden said, well, for that, we need legislation? I said, no, you need a new president. And I was right. I didn’t get legislation. I said to Paul Perez, close your border, Paul. Close it!

Where’s Paul? Is he here? Where the hell is Paul? He’s the greatest. That guy is great. I’d have him come up and speak, but he’s such a good speaker that I don’t like that. I only want to follow terrible, terrible speakers. That way they say, “Trump is a brilliant speaker.”

We got big ratings here tonight, by the way. Big. Like, record, record ratings. Everything was clicking. You want to come up, Paul? Come on up, Paul. Show off to your family. He’s got a beautiful family. What a beautiful family. Now, watch, I’ll put pressure on him. Don’t blow it, Paul. This is your one opportunity. This is a big crowd, Paul. Don’t get nervous.

Now, Paul is just incredible. And he rates Trump the single greatest president in history. That’s why I have him. He says he’s the GOAT. The GOAT. No, we have — we’ve had a couple of GOATs. We haven’t had too many, actually. Come on up, Paul.

Paul Perez, National Border Patrol Council President, Speaks

PAUL PEREZ: Thank you, President Trump. Thank you for the ride home on Air Force One. Really appreciated that. I am the president of the National Border Patrol Council, and I can tell you without a doubt, President Trump is the only president that backed up every campaign promise he made when it came to the border and everything else. We have record drops in immigration, in border crossings, in drug seizures, because President Trump, within one hour of being inaugurated, allowed us to do more than what Biden allowed us to do in the entire four-year term. President Trump is the best president in the history of this country. Prove me wrong.

DONALD TRUMP: He does a great job. He does a great job. The whole group — ICE, Border Patrol, law enforcement — by the way, our great firemen. How about that?

## Record-Breaking Military and Law Enforcement Recruitment

You know, one of the things — and we sort of — we can just talk today. We’re together. One of the things that I’m most proud of — if you go back two years, three years, and four years under the last administration, we had the worst recruitment for our military in the history of our country. Nobody wanted to be a soldier. They didn’t want Army, Air Force, Navy. They didn’t want the Marines. They didn’t want even beautiful Space Force or Coast Guard. They didn’t want to be in the police. They didn’t want to be in the fire departments. They didn’t want to be anywhere. They didn’t want anything with a uniform because it represented our country.

Since then — and it started, really, with November 5th, which was the election. But since November 5th, we have the highest record of recruitment in the history of our country. Think of it. And that includes ICE and Border Patrol. And I want to thank Paul because that group of people does a great job.

Think of it. It gets — it’s nine months now — registered zero. Now, I don’t even believe it could possibly be that low because millions of people. But it’s pretty close to zero. And they say it’s zero. If they say it’s zero, it has to be. They’re Democrats that do it, so they’re not going to give me any benefits.

## A Complete Turnaround for the Ages

Just over one year ago, we inherited a total disaster. Four years now. Think of it. Four years, we had ruinous inflation, economic surrender. We surrendered to the whole world. A border invasion, rampant crime, and chaos. All over the world, they laughed at us.

But today, we have ended that disaster and achieved a turnaround for the ages. Nobody’s ever seen it like this. Nobody has ever seen a one-year turnaround like we had. Think of it. We were a laughingstock one and a half years ago, and now we’re hot. We’re hot. I was going to say, like that person in the audience, but I won’t say that because that could be career-ending. So I don’t do that. We’re hot. Our country is the hottest country in the world.

America is back. Our economy is roaring, and our country is strong. And we’re respected again. They’re respecting us again. China respects us. Russia respects us. They all respect. And they respect your President. They respect — and I respect them.

## A Very Big Decision to Make

We’ve got a lot of things going on. Now we have a big decision to make. You know that. Not easy. Not easy. We have a very big decision to make. We have a country that’s been, for 47 years, blowing people’s legs off, arms off, the face. They’ve been knocking out ships, killing people. Lots of people. Not only Americans. Lots of people. It’s been terrible. Thirty-two thousand people killed over the last two, three months. Protesters. Thirty-two thousand. That’s some number of people. Thirty-two thousand.

They want to make a deal, but got to make a deal that’s meaningful. I spoke with Ted Cruz, John, all of them. On the way here, I said, well, you got to make a deal that’s meaningful. We hit them real hard, as you know, with those beautiful B-2 bombers recently. Knocked out their nuclear capability. But I’d rather do it the peaceful way. But they’re very difficult people, I want to tell you that. They’re very dangerous people, very difficult people.

## The Love for Texas

With the help of proud Texans like you and people we have today. And I want to just thank you, because it is true. We have had voting in Texas. They say, “Sir, you don’t have to go to Texas. You’re leading by a lot.” I said, I want to go to Texas. I love Texas. I love Texas. It just represents something special. It’s success. It’s great, incredible people. But they said, “See, you don’t have to go there. I’m telling you, sir, you’re wasting your time, sir. You don’t need us.”

I’m going to Texas. I don’t give a damn if I’m wasting my time. But we’re going to keep on working and we’ll keep on fighting. Texas will keep on drilling. Corpus Christi will keep on shipping. And the United States of America will keep on winning, winning, winning like we’ve never won before.

And together, we will make our country richer and stronger and safer and prouder and freer and greater than ever before. And I just want to tell everybody here, I appreciate everything you’ve done for me. And I’ve done a lot for you, too. But I love you all very much. And thank you, Corpus Christi. Thank you very much. Thank you, Texas.

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