Transcript: Trump Remarks at Peterbilt Motors Company in Denton, TX

We sent in 201 men with gunfire blazing. I’ll tell you, we were blazing. They were running. You never saw anybody run like that. And they took out Maduro, and they got him.

And you know what he did? He sent a lot of people right through your beautiful state because he emptied his prisons into the United States of America. All of his prisoners were emptied into Texas all along the border because of Biden’s open border policy. But we ended that. We’re getting them out.

We’ve gotten tremendous numbers of them out. We take the worst first. We take them all, but we get the worst. We have some of the worst people on earth were put into our country. And despite that, we have the best crime numbers at any time since the year 1900.

It’s 126 years ago. Think of it. 1900. So we’re very proud of it, and we’re very proud of your company, and we’re very proud to be here. And thank you very much, Preston. Again, thank you.

Backing Ken Paxton for Senate

So workers like you and companies like this have always been loyal to our country, but for decades you were heartlessly betrayed by politicians, lousy politicians who let foreign trade cheaters plunder your wages, loot your factories, close up your jobs, and they robbed our country blind.

They’d still be doing it if I wasn’t here, believe me. And they’ll do it again if you don’t get guys like Ken Paxton elected. Such a big race. It’s such a big race.

And I want to just say that he’s been a friend of mine for a long time, one of the most loyal people. When I was being hit by the radical left very hard, harder than very few people could have withstood it. I was being hit. Ken Paxton was at my side more than anybody.

And I have to always remember that because he could be a pain in the ass sometimes, I’ll be honest. Is he here, by the way? Oh, there he is. Good. I didn’t even know if he’s here.

I don’t care. I’m just… I would say the same thing whether the guy is the greatest attorney general in the United States of America. Look at all the fake news back there. I’m really… I’m saying… Because we gotta get this guy elected. You got a freako. You got a freako that’s running against him. Give me a break.

You notice the way all of a sudden, he’s eating meat. He doesn’t eat meat. He’s a vegan and vegans… You know what a vegan is. Vegans don’t do well in Texas. Okay?

So now he goes to a barbecue. He eats meat. You know what he does after he eats? He says, “Excuse me just for…” He goes behind the tent and he throws up. He throws up. He gets rid of the meat. He doesn’t want meat.

No. This guy is not the right guy for Texas. I know it well. Remember, the all time record is Trump. But Ken… I’m really here for Ken and for some unbelievable congressmen and for Ted Cruz, who’s been my friend for a long time.

Recalling the 2016 Fight With Ted Cruz

We fought rather violently. Remember? Where’s Ted? There he is. We fought, but Ted Cruz has done a great job. Nobody works harder than Ted, and we love him really, but we did fight. We got along so well at the beginning. Remember 2016?

And the press… Those people… Look at all those people back then. They say, “Well, when are you guys going to fight?” He actually had a rally and he asked if I’d come. I said, “That’s strange, but I will.” And we did it right in Washington, DC.

We had a big crowd. And the press said, “When are you 2 guys going to fight?” I said, “Don’t worry. It’ll happen.” I didn’t know it was going to be quite as violent as it turned out. But once that was over, we got along, and he’s been a great senator too.

But I’ll tell you what, we need Ken so badly, and that’s why I’m here. I wanted to stop here. I wanted to also say you build a nice truck, but we… You’re not going to have too many nice trucks if you get a couple of negative votes.

All they need is a couple of votes. It’s not even a question of taxes. It’s a question of the overall vote. And we have to get… Number one, Texas represents so much. It would be such a horror to the… To put a guy, a freak like that, in there would be such a horror to your state and such a horror to the country. But it’s a vote, and we need the votes, and I’m here for that. And I think we’re going to win.

Election Claims and the Los Angeles Mayoral Race

We… Every place I’ve gone, we win. The press says, “Oh, I don’t know. Trump really… His heart isn’t in.” My heart’s in it. I would be home right now. My heart is in it like never before.

We had an election a little while ago, year and a half, little more than a year and a half ago, got the highest vote in the history of the Republican Party. We got the real number was probably 85 or 87 million votes. They gave us credit for 78 or 79.

They don’t even know. They say, “I don’t know.” I got around 79, 78. They have no idea because it’s so rigged. But we made it too big to rig. I said, “Get out and vote.” We made it too big because the second one…

I mean, you look at what’s going on in California with the mayoral race and you look at what’s, where the kid, Spencer Pratt was doing great. And at the end of the election, election day, his opponent was crying. Oh, she’s lost so badly. She was crying.

Then all of a sudden, a week and a half later, you hear that she’s surging. Nobody ever heard of her. People that nobody ever heard of don’t surge. The only time they surge is when they cheat. And she was surging, and she just beat him by a little bit. What a disgrace.

We have to have… Look. We have to have a fair and free media, which we don’t have. You have some very good reporters there, but you have some very bad ones. You have some very evil, sicko people. But they do have good… But they do have good photographers that are right here. All good.

So I just hope you’re going to do that. And I just want to say that the American workers and they respect you so much. The American people respect what you’ve done. And this is a part of the country that’s very, very special. You love your country more than…

Oklahoma Rally Waiting in the Rain

Look, I’m going to a place called Oklahoma right now. And likewise… Oh, listen to that. That’s good. And they have a massive crowd. They’re waiting in the rain. It’s raining like hell. And they said… He said, “Keep them waiting.” Listen.

Well, it’s only in Texas can you say. No. But they said, “You know what you can do, sir? We could skip Texas.” I said, “Are you crazy?” Oh. If I skip Texas, I would tell you to vote against Ken. I wouldn’t skip Texas. We’ll be a little late, and they understand it. They’re great too. They’re great too.

We’re in 70… So think of it. They have 77 counties in Oklahoma, and we won all 77 all 3 times. And I’m the only one to ever do it. I’m the only one and… The only one to ever do it. And you know who was second? I think it was Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan, 56. 77.

So I gotta be nice to them. Right? But we love them. They’re waiting by the thousands. And I still… I’m not going to rush anything. We’re going to have a little conversation.

Tariffs: “My Fifth Favorite Word”

But every other president for decades let other nations flood our markets with shoddy and substandard foreign goods. And even if it was reasonably good goods, they destroyed American manufacturing and they destroyed your way of life. And you were suffering through it.

I guess you did suffer through it for a period of time, President, until I came along. But upon taking office, I immediately placed my favorite word, actually my fifth favorite. You know that story. I don’t want to bore you with it, but I said the word tariff is my favorite word. And the fake news, they went crazy.

They said, “What about God? What about your wife? Your children? Family? What about religion? Aren’t they your real favorite words?” I said, “Absolutely. Yes, they are. Tariff is my fifth favorite,” and now I don’t have any problem with them. So I quelled it.

So tariff is my fifth favorite word, and that’s what really Preston was talking about. He didn’t even have to say it to me, but we kept all of those people out that used to rip off our country. They’d drop their products here. They’d walk away with the money, and you’d walk away with no jobs, but not with me. And we changed it.

We have more factories being built like you’re doing so well. They’re doing well, better than anybody in the history of our country. All over the country, they’re building factories, plants, manufacturing is coming back. Remember Barack Hussein Obama said manufacturing will never come back to America? He was very wrong.

Selling the Message: Months of Rallies

We have more jobs coming back to America. And I really said that the only thing we’re doing badly at is public relations. In other words, we’re doing a phenomenal job, but by a combination of maybe we’re doing a bad job in selling it.

That’s why I said I’m going to take 32 days, for myself, selfishly, Ken, I’m sorry to say this, but for myself, I took 120. I took 4 months, and I went every single day. I did rallies almost every day. I did speeches, 4, 5, 6 speeches, and I went for 4 months. That was tiring.

And my only question is, will my voice hold out? And I made it, barely. I made it. And the last day, I did 5 rallies. The day before that, I did 4 rallies. That’s hard. These are rallies with 35, 40,000 people sometimes. Sometimes much more.

My record was 117,000 people. In New Jersey, sure, it was quite a rally. I will tell you that we had another rally called Butler. Butler, Pennsylvania. It was an interesting rally. That one didn’t work out so well. But whatever it is, we’re doing a job. We’re all here to do a job. But I have such respect for the people in this room.

Exports, China and Trade

I want to say that thanks to our strong tariff policy, this year American exports have surged through the highest level in history, in the history of our country. Our trade deficit with China has plummeted to the lowest level that we’ve had in 44 years.

Wait. And by the way, President Xi, we get along great. He’s a great, great gentleman. Frankly, he likes China and I like the USA, but other than that, he’s a real leader. I always say he’s central casting. He is, you have to say. He’s central casting, but we get along great.

That’s a good thing. To get along good is good, but we do well with China now. They used to rip us so badly. Canada rips us so badly. Ugh, Canada, what they do to us, but not anymore. They’re not doing that anymore.

But wages for manufacturing workers are up by nearly almost close to $4,000 since I took office. And after years of decline, this year the United States has added 60,000 new manufacturing jobs and heavy truck manufacturing is almost up by about what 31% or something.

And heavy truck shipments have hit an all time high, the highest in the history of our country under the Trump administration. So America trucking is back. American truck… American trucking is back.

Attacks on the Press and Biden

2 years ago, our country was dead. This was said to me by the king, by the leader, by the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia. He’s a good man. And he said this a year ago, but he said, but nothing’s changed. It’s actually gotten better. Nobody… No president has ever, ever…

And you have to understand, when I say this, I have all the news back there. If I say something a little bit incorrect, it’s headlines. “He lied. He lied.” If Sleepy Joe Biden said something incorrect, they don’t care. But they never used to ask him hard questions.

Remember, they’d always say, how many times have you heard them say, “What’s your favorite ice cream?” That was the hardest question. “Mr. President, sir, sir, what’s your favorite ice cream?” “Vanilla. Thank you, sir. Let me call upon…” Remember? With me, I just take… “Let me call upon…” He’d go, “From NBC. Yes. NBC.” Is NBC here? I don’t do that. Then they’d ask him a softball, all softballs. It was a terrible thing.

If our country had to suffer through a Joe or a Kamala or Obama, any of these people, we wouldn’t be… We wouldn’t have been… If I didn’t win that election… And when I say I, I’m talking about us. If we didn’t win that election, we wouldn’t have a country anymore.

Inflation and the Price of Eggs

Our country is going down the tubes. I told you, the money coming into our country is almost nonexistent. The factories were closing all over the country with the worst inflation in history, in history. I inherited high prices.

And the first day I got in, I beat him and I had a news conference on January 21. I came in on January 20 and the press starts screaming at me about the cost of eggs. “What about eggs? What are you going to do about eggs?” I said, “What’s with eggs? Tell me what’s with eggs.”

They went up like 4 times, 5 times. They were crazy. In fact, they said, we have an Easter egg hunt at the White House. They asked me to use plastic eggs. I said, “I’m not using plastic eggs.” Can you believe it?

“But what are you going to do, sir, about eggs?” I said, “Tell me the problem with eggs, please.” They’ve gone up 5 times in the last 4 years. Well, he was the president, but we did a great job. Brooke did a fantastic job. Secretary of Agriculture and eggs now are cheaper than they were 5 years ago.

The War With Iran

We’re bringing prices way down, and oil is lower. Gasoline is lower than it was with Biden despite the fact that we have a war going on with a country that will never have a nuclear weapon and is ready to fold up, will win very easily right now. They’re just about…

And I believe right after the election, we’ll win, but maybe before the election because they have 300%, almost like 312, I heard, inflation. Think of that. 312% inflation, meaning their currency is valueless. They have no money. They have no navy.

The navy, 159 ships, lying beautifully at the bottom of the sea. They have no air force. Their air force has been totally extinguished. They have no anti-aircraft. They have some missiles, but we can handle it. We can handle it. They have some missiles, very few left. Their manufacturing capacity is dead. Their leaders are gone. For the most part, their leaders are gone.

That was one of our problems. We don’t know who the hell to deal with, to be honest with you. Nobody wants to be president. We have intercepts where it says, “Who wants to be president?” “No. I don’t want to be president.” Because their presidents aren’t with us any longer, but we’re trying to be nice to the current person. We gotta deal with somebody at some point. Right?

So we’re doing very well. Even the fake New York Times is saying, “Not looking good for Iran right now.” They should have said it about 5 months ago because it wasn’t looking good.

“Fire and Fury” in Venezuela

But think of it, we had 2 wars, one with Venezuela, which lasted approximately 48 minutes. And they’re good soldiers, by the way. But we came in with fire and fury, and they never saw anything like it.

They had a Venezuelan general, a real professional. He said, “I stood there. We were all set to get them. We saw them coming off that aircraft carrier at 2:00 in the morning.” And they were coming, and they knew they were coming for us because it’s unusual that at 1:00 and 2:00 in the morning, you see 150 fighter jets pour off, and then you have the one next to it where you have 112 fighter jets pour off.

This is… They figured they’re in a little trouble because it’s rare at 1:00 and 2:00 in the morning that you see hundreds of planes flying off the carrier going very fast. And when they take… Came to shore, which was a matter of minutes, they were raging. They were raging, and it was something that nobody had ever seen.

They had all Russian equipment and Chinese equipment. It didn’t work. Discombobulated. You know what that is. Right? It discombobulated all that crap. Now we make the greatest equipment in the world just like you make the greatest trucks in the world. Greatest trucks in the world.

And Preston, don’t make a commercial out of that statement. Okay? Because I got other truck companies that do a nice job also, Preston. He’ll put me up… “Major announcement from… We make the greatest trucks,” but you do. And we have other great companies. You know that. Great companies, all of them.

But what we’ve done… So think of it. So we took over Venezuela. It’s in… Let’s say one day. Let’s not say in 48. It was 48 minutes, but let’s say one day. And remember that Maduro was locked in a steel house, heavy steel house. It was meant to be a house of protection.

They broke those doors open in less time than it takes you to start that truck, which is pretty fast. And it was an amazing event. We lost no soldiers, and we took over tremendous wealth.

We are sending millions and millions of barrels of oil to Houston and other places, Louisiana, Houston, Alaska even. We’re refining it at levels we’ve never seen before. Soon, we’re going to be starting to fill up our strategic oil reserve, and we’re going to do it at almost no cost. We’re going to get it for almost no cost. It’s amazing, but it’s great.

Why Strike Iran: Oil Prices and the Strait of Hormuz

And then we went into Venezuela. We just had the best numbers we ever had, and I went to Lutnick, and I went to Scott Bessent. I went to all our people. Jamieson Greer, great trade representative. I said, “Fellas, we just had the greatest numbers in history, but we’re going to have to do a little detour because Iran is about to have a nuclear weapon.”

They were 3 to 4 weeks away, maybe sooner. And if they have a nuclear weapon, the whole game is over. We can’t let them have.

So in the midst of our great… When gasoline was… I was in Iowa making a speech. It was $1.95 a gallon. Another station was $1.85 a gallon. I remember those 2 numbers like magic. Good memory too, but that was an easy thing to love and remember.

And I said, “Fellas, I’m sorry to do this to you, but we have to put out the fire in the Middle East because they’ll blow up Israel, they’ll blow up the Middle East, and then they’re going to start hitting us in Europe.” They’re crazy. These people are totally crazy.

I mean, they scream “Death to America.” They’ve been screaming it for 51 years. “Death to America.” I said, “How do you feel about that now?” So we had no choice. We had to do it.

And they said oil would go to $300, $400 a barrel. Well, today it’s at 90. And the last few days, we’ve taken out more oil from the Hormuz Strait. Our navy is unbelievable. They put up a blockade. We’re the only ones that could get through or somebody that we want. Iran hasn’t had one ship get through. Not one ship in months. Not the…

And what happened is we’re taking out millions and millions of barrels of oil. In some cases, more than before the war. They don’t want to report that, the fake news, and it’s gotten bigger and bigger.

And they don’t have radar. They don’t have much they can do. Every once in a while, they’ll try and drop a mine in the water. Usually, we’ll take them out before they do it. But when a mine goes in the water, if you have a $1 billion ship, you don’t love… You don’t float… Love floating a ship down the strait of this. One little mine.

So they could be a nuisance, but we have that in control. When that happens, when that ends, which will be very soon, one way or the other, it’s going to end. Either they’ll do something very proper and smart, or they won’t be around very long, which is… Frankly, I hate to see that. But they won’t be around very long.

There’s a group of people that want that because they say you basically… You can’t make a deal with them that they’re going to honor. When I make a deal with this company, you’re going to honor it. When you make a deal with them, it’s very possible that they won’t honor it.

So one way or the other, it’s going to be over. And when it’s over, oil is going to go like that. In the meantime, prices have come way down, oil prices.

Taking Aim at Democrats’ Policies

But just so you understand, and they say this for those cameras out there that are so crazy. They’re so crazy. I don’t get them. I don’t get them. They want men and women’s sports. They want open borders. They want transgender mutilation of your children for everyone. What the hell are you people thinking about, liberals? What are they… What are you thinking about?

I hope they keep their policy though because they should never win an election. Ken, are you in favor of the transgender mutilation of our children? Are you in favor of men playing in women’s sports? Are you in favor of open borders so that the world’s prison population can be emptied out in this beautiful community? Are you in favor?

Alright. Well, I think you’re going to win the election because your opponent is actually in favor of all those things and many more that are just as bad. Just as bad. You gotta get out and vote.

So starting on day one, I ended the radical Dumocrats. I started using that word because their policies… The Dumocrats. I think it’s good. I don’t know if it’s ever going to compete with Pocahontas. I don’t know if it’s ever going to compete with some of the terms that we’ve come up with.

But think of it, you take out the e, you replace it with a u, and nobody knows that dumb has a b at the end. Right? So we throw that. And I call them Dumocrats because their policies are so bad, but the Democrats…

“Green New Scam” and Climate Change

Green New Scam. Remember, we’re supposed to all be dead by now. 12 years. In 12 years… Who was that? AOC said that. Right? In 12 years, you’ll all be dead because of global warming. Well, that didn’t work out because the planet got cooler.

In fact, the ice that was melting, it’s right now just set a record. It’s the biggest ice cube that’s ever been in the history of the world. So they changed it from global warming to climate change because climate change…

Preston, climate change, you can’t go wrong. Climate change, if it gets hot, cold, if it rains, if it snows, nobody knows the difference. It’s climate change. No, it’s a scam.

Data Centers Paying “Dividends” to Communities

And they’re doing the scam with data centers, by the way. That’s the new thing because they want us to be unsuccessful. These things are making a fortune. But what’s happening now is people are… I told the people… I met with them all yesterday. It’s a huge thing. It’s bigger than the industrial revolution. Huge for your company too, by the way.

But they’re making a fortune. And I said, “Go and do,” what they’ve done in some cases is take care of the community. Take care of the community. And communities, in one case, in Louisiana, they offered $50,000 to teachers who were very poor. And the teachers in this beautiful parish are getting $50,000.

In another case, they’re giving $10,000 to all of the people in the community. And I said, “Do that. It’s peanuts.” I told them, “Do it and call it a dividend.” And that’s what they’re doing. And they’re giving a dividend. And all of a sudden, are saying, “We like data centers very much.” It’s very interesting. Very interesting how that works.

But they’re making a fortune for the communities they’re in. And it may be not popular to say, maybe it is, probably not, but it should be. And the people in this room are smart. Make sure it’s in an area that you want it. Some of those buildings are beautiful. You’ve had data centers for 25, 30 years. People just don’t know that.

But so I say to the companies yesterday, I had them all up at the White House. They said, “Take care of the people. Take care of the people. Help them out.” And they’re going to do that.

And all of a sudden, one group got paid certain amount for the citizens, per citizen, and they went from hating the concept of a data center to saying, “We love it very much. We love it very much.” It’s amazing what can happen. And you sort of become partners in what’s happening in this revolution, this positive revolution.

Rolling Back Emission Standards and NOx Regulations

But starting on day one, I ended the radical Democrat green scam and I also terminated Sleepy Joe Biden’s disastrous fuel emission standards, which helped you a lot. That helped you. How much was that? It’s funny. I have a… Yeah. I do have a glass. I’m not a big drinker of water.

See this glass here? So in order to save this much fuel, this much. Right? This much. They had to put 3 computers into an engine, charged $3,000 more, and we have more fuel than any country in the world. And now if you add Venezuela, we’ll have 58% of the fuel in the world.

In order to save a glass of fuel like this, it’s ridiculous. No. It’s ridiculous. Now they had computers all over the place. And the other thing is it didn’t work well. It was terrible. You know that better than anybody. Anyway, I really did it for the trucking industry. It’s a whole different… It’s a better truck.

I buy a lot of equipment, farm equipment, because I have a lot of clubs, big clubs, big beautiful golf clubs and things. And I always… I say, “I want old equipment. I don’t want new equipment. I want old equipment. Do you have any old lawnmowers from 10 years ago that haven’t been destroyed by putting computers all over it?”

I got nice workers. But they didn’t go to MIT, and they’re looking at a lawnmower that if you didn’t go, if you weren’t first in your class at MIT, you can never turn the damn thing on. Right?

So he said, I want to buy old equipment. Old, really old, as old as you can give me because it’s ridiculous what happened. We got rid of all that crap and especially for the trucking industry.

But they had a… We’re rolling back a horrible thing, the nitrogen oxide regulation. You know about that? Nitrogen oxide made your business impossible regulation. That would have devastated the heavy truck manufacturing. What do you think of it, Preston? Okay. He’s liking me.

I’ll tell you, he’s the greatest guy. I don’t know if he’s given me a donation. I wonder if he’s given… Probably not, but that’s okay. I like him anyway. I don’t give a damn.

But this action alone will cut an estimated $6,000 from the cost of each truck built, and it’ll be a better truck. It’ll be a much better truck, which is equally important. And these actions are not simply numbers on paper, they’re about defending a way of life for countless American families.

A Peterbilt Family: Sarah Renshaw

Today, we’re joined by Peterbilt events manager Sarah Renshaw, who in December will celebrate her 20th year at this company. Her mother worked here, her father worked here, her husband worked here, and a few months ago, her beautiful son started his first shift at Peterbilt. In other words, they like the company.

So Sarah, where are you, Sarah? Sarah, come up. Come up. I want to see Sarah. Wow. That’s amazing. That’s a beautiful story. Thank you, darling. That’s something.

SARAH RENSHAW: Thank you, Mr. President. Peterbilt is not just a company. It is the foundation of my family and its success. My husband, mom, dad, son, we have a collective 65 years of employment with way more to come.

Mr. President, because of your tariffs, we have been able to hire, increase production, and hire 1,000 employees. And my son was included on that. I can officially say that we are a third generation Peterbilt family.

I am so thankful for what not only Peterbilt has done for us, but what also you, Mr. President, has done for our family. Thank you, sir.

DONALD TRUMP: Thank you, Sarah. Wow. And she did that with no notes. I like that. That’s great.

SARAH RENSHAW: Thank you, sir.

DONALD TRUMP: Thank you. Congratulations. Great family.

Assistant Plant Manager Phillip Juarez

We’re also joined by assistant plant manager Phillip Juarez, who started on the shop floor and has now worked here for 25 years. His father, mother, brother, aunt, and uncle all worked at Peterbilt for over 20 years each. This is a serious Peterbilt person. Do we agree?

So I’d like to ask Phillip, come up, please. I want to see what this guy… Oh, look at him. Beautiful.

PHILLIP JUAREZ: Thank you, Mr. President.

DONALD TRUMP: Thank you very much. Wow.

PHILLIP JUAREZ: He said it. “Peterbilt Motors, the greatest company in the world.” Right? Right? Yeah.

So my story is not different from many of you out here. I know a lot of folks here in 25 years. It started nearly 40 years ago when my father accepted a job out here. 1983. A lot of you in that same class.

So since then, my mother’s worked here and retired from here. My brother’s still here. A whole list of family members that have been here. Extremely proud to be a member of this team and what we can accomplish. I’d say after 25 years, I truly understand what he meant when he said he loved this place.

So for Mr. Trump to be able to come up here and represent Peterbilt is truly an honor. We’ve been able to not only build our trucks in America, but sell them in America. 100% of our trucks. I didn’t know I was going to get emotional. Thank you, guys.

I would like to say though, I appreciate everybody here. And one man out here, Brian Danoff, our plant manager. You guys’ plant manager. He said if you give somebody a good job, they’ll do amazing things. Congratulations, guys. Thank you.

DONALD TRUMP: Wow. That was beautiful. It’s from the heart too.

Trump Recognizes Ken Paxton and Secretary Lutnick

So we’re also pleased to be joined today by Ken, and we love Ken, and we’re going to get out there. Ken, we’re going to vote for you, and we’re going to make it a big win. We’re going to make it a big win if I’m so happy with how you’re doing. He is going very high up.

There was a lot of jealousy about Ken. A lot of people were very jealous and a lot of bad things. They didn’t recognize the great job he did, but I just want to thank you and I want to thank you for being here. You’re a special man.

And again, you’re certainly one of the, but I think maybe the best attorney general in the whole United States of America. That’s your only qualification for the job. I’d say that’s a very good qualification. I think that’s the ultimate qualification. So, Ken, thank you very much. I appreciate you being here.

And I also want to thank Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick who worked so hard on getting all of these things done so that President could say what he said to me when I first came out of the Beast. The Beast is quite cool, I have to tell you.

But I came out and he said those things about the policies and I knew it, but we have to tell the world about it. The world is fine, but the world really does know. Look at what’s happened to Europe. They’re being eaten alive.

Shout-Outs to Texas Lawmakers: Ronny Jackson and Brandon Gill

Senators Ted Cruz and James Lankford. James is a great senator from Oklahoma. We’re going to be going. I think, you have a whole group of talented Texans here, but I have James, and I think James and I are going solo to Oklahoma, and we look forward to it. Those people are great, just like you’re great.

We also have one of my favorite people in all of politics, Ronny Jackson is here. Ronny. Ronny was the White House doctor right at the beginning when I got there, and he was also the doctor for Barack Hussein Obama. Ronny’s an admiral. He’s an admiral. He’s the White House doctor, and he’s a congressman that won by 48 points, maybe more.

I think maybe more. And because his community loves him, and they like me too, but they like Ronny. But they asked him a question. This was before I got to know him. Was a doctor. He looked me over. He checked me out. I don’t like when men check me out at all. But we didn’t have to worry about Ronny. I can tell you.

But they asked Ronny. They said, “Ronny,” at a news conference, a big one, a lot of those same… Many people. “Who’s the healthiest of all the presidents? Who would you rate the most physically fit? President Trump, President Bush, or President Barack Hussein Obama?” He said, “That’s an easy question. President Trump is by far the healthiest president I’ve ever seen.” Right?

I said, “I don’t know who that guy is, but I like him.” I like him. I said, “I don’t know.” Now he did make the statement, and if he didn’t like junk food so much, he’d live to be 200 years old. He could have left that out, Ronny. But I said, “I like that guy,” and he’s turned out to be really amazing.

Another one is Brandon Gill. He’s a star. He’s a young, handsome star. Brandon? His father-in-law, a great friend of mine called up and he said, “Brandon’s a young guy.” He said, “He’s running for Congress and could he get your endorsement?” I said, “Oh, I don’t want to… I’m endorsing so many people. I don’t want to do it.”

And father-in-law is a very special guy, actually. He was persecuted unfairly. Dinesh… You know Dinesh? Dinesh just is a very good guy, conservative guy, loves his country, but was persecuted.

Then he said, “No. His name is Brandon Gill. He married my daughter. He’s a great person.” I said, “Alright. Send me his picture. Let me see.” I looked. I said, “This guy’s a handsome guy.” That’s all I know. Very handsome guy. What the hell do I know?

And I said, “Well, let me talk to him.” I talked to him, and I endorsed him. He became a rocket ship. Right? And he’s been a star ever since. Right? A star. Thank you. Great job you’re doing. He’s doing a great job.

More Congressional Allies and State Leaders

And Pat Fallon, we all know Pat. Pat’s unbelievable. Where are you, Pat? Where are you, Pat? Thank you, Pat. What a job he’s done. We love him.

Keith Self, seriously conservative. Where’s Keith? Hi, Keith. Will you please be easier on me? I’ll have to call him sometimes at 3:00 in the morning to get his vote, but he’s always there. Right? He’s always there. He’s for you.

Jake Ellzey is another one. He’s fantastic. Jake, thank you very much. Thank you.

One of the bravest men, Roger Williams, he was unfortunately practicing for a baseball game when that lunatic shooter came and he ended up hitting Steve Scalise pretty hard, but he got Roger too. And Roger sloughed it off like it was nothing. He’s a tough cookie and he’s a great guy. He’s been my friend right from the beginning, Roger. Right?

And Craig Goldman, he’s a new congressman, and he’s a star. Thank you. He’s a new… Great job. Thank you. He’s been a real star, and Beth Van Duyne is my friend for… Right from the beginning. So thank you. Thank you, Beth. Right. Thank you, Beth. Right from the beginning.

And so that group of warriors, and I think I probably maybe missed some, but that group of warriors and others, but they’ve been unbelievable what they’ve done in the House, in the Senate. Incredible.

State Senate Majority Leader is here, Tan Parker. I want to thank you, Tan. Great job. You did a great job. You’ve been doing a fantastic job. Thank you very much. I appreciate it.

Dennis Rodman and Kim Jong Un

We have a basketball legend. When you think you’re tall and then you stand next to Dennis Rodman, you’re not so tall anymore. Dennis Rodman. Where’s Dennis? Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. There he is. He is the greatest guy. I’ve known him for so long.

This guy got rebounds. He’s very tall, but he wasn’t tall in terms of what he did. He wasn’t as tall as you’re supposed to be, but he’s the greatest rebounder. That’s according to Michael Jordan and some other people that I know. He’s the greatest rebounder in the history of basketball, and that’s a big statement. That’s a big statement, and he’s my friend.

When I wanted to get to know Kim Jong Un when we’re having a problem, Kim Jong Un and I get along. But the one who knew him best was Dennis Rodman because they asked Dennis to come over to North Korea to work with their basketball team. Their basketball team wasn’t doing too well. Right, Dennis?

And Dennis worked with them. I’m not sure that he was able to do much with that particular team. The only thing that would have helped if Dennis played on the team. Right? But I want to thank Dennis Rodman. He’s a special guy, so he’s been my friend for a long time. Thank you.

Local Officials and University Leaders

I want to thank the Mayor of Denton, Texas, Chris Watts. Chris, thank you. Thank you. Where is Chris? Oh, thank you, Chris. Heard you’re doing great.

The President of the Club for Growth, he’s a fantastic guy. We’re undefeated. Where’s David? David McIntosh. He’s great. Thank you, David. We’re undefeated. Right? Every time we endorse a candidate, that candidate wins. So I assume you’re for Ken Paxton. Right? Okay. Good. That’s good.

He’s… If he’s for Ken and we’re all for Ken, how the hell could you be for the other guy anyway? But even if they had a good opponent, I’d be for Ken because he proved himself.

The President of University of North Texas, Dr. Harrison Keller. Thank you very much. I heard great things. Good looking guy. Central casting. I like central casting people. Great.

The Chancellor of Texas Woman’s University, Dr. Carine Feyten. Carine, thank you very much. Wow. Great job you’re doing. I heard that.

The County Judge, Andy Eads. Thank you, Andy. Great. Thank you, Andy. And County Sheriff, Tracy Murphy. Thank you. Great job. Right from the beginning.

“From the Dark Age to the Golden Age of America”

But less than 2 years ago, we inherited the dark age of America from the previous administration. It was a dark age. It was a horrible age, frankly. But we’ve turned it into the golden age of America. Our country is now going through the golden age. We’ve never had numbers like this. We’ve never had anything like it.

We’re respected all over the world. They don’t play games anymore. President Xi doesn’t come to countries that he doesn’t respect. President Xi of China doesn’t come in. He just left, and we had a lot of good talk. But he only comes to places he respects and there are not many of them.

Last month, was announced that real median household incomes are at the highest level ever. And as I said before, the poverty rate is at the record low, the lowest rate ever. African American poverty, Hispanic American poverty, Native American poverty are all at the lowest rates in the history of our country by far. Those are great numbers for us. You need that. You want that.

And here in Texas, we have unleashed our great American energy workers, and Texas oil production has reached the highest level in history by far, not even close.

Paxton’s Opponent and the Border

And with our new relationship with… And by the way, this other guy would shut… He’ll shut down oil. One thing about politicians that I’ve learned, whatever they say first is where they go. They change with the election like the guy from Michigan. He’s a communist guy.

But now all of a sudden, he’s sort of trying to be like he’s moderate. He’s not moderate. He’s the worst. They are so bad, these guys. But the one you have might be the worst of all. A bad one, really a bad crazy lunatic. I beat him once before running in Georgia. Now the guy in Michigan is really bad. He’s a con man.

But all these guys and the one you have in Texas, whatever they say first, that’s what they’re going back to. He’ll become a vegan again. He’s got no choice. He can’t stand meat. But he’ll become a vegan again. He’ll go into transgender mutilization again. He’ll have open borders again where you have everybody.

Coming up here, they had a person in… They were interviewing a person on one of the networks. And they said, “Well, what’s the different…” They live on the border. “What’s the difference between now and during the Biden administration?”

They say it’s the most… It’s like we’re living in a different country. He said, “Under the Biden administration, every day, 3, 4, 5 times, people were pouring across our lawn. They were pouring across our farm. They were dangerous people. We were petrified. The doors were always locked. We had guns all over the place. We just didn’t know what to do. We were threatened. We were hit. We haven’t seen anybody in a year and a half.” She said it’s like… She said, “It’s like living in a different country.”

Energy Prices and the “Affordability” Debate

But just as I promised, I’m ensuring that Iran will be very quickly ended. I will tell you the energy prices are going to be rapidly, rapidly coming. I mean, I hope we have enough space to get it. It’s already happening. The energy… All other prices have come. They’re coming down rapidly, but we inherited.

Remember, they came up with the word affordability. So from day one, they said, “Well, what about your prices?” And then they came up. They always come up with these words, affordability. So the fake news starts using it because they’re partners with the Democrats.

And the fake news would say, oh, they say it all the time to me. “What about affordability?” And I’m saying, “What about affordability?” “The prices are higher.” I said, “They’re lower than they were.” And think of it, gasoline’s lower than it was with Biden, and we’d knock the hell out of a country that was going to try and kill us, probably.

The word probably is very important. I would say more than probably. They would have taken a shot. Remember now also… But it’s a phony… It’s… When I say phony, they say, “Oh, he thinks inflation is…” No. I think inflation is very real. But they’re the ones that cause the inflation. I’m the one that’s bringing it down, and we have to be able to get that word out somehow because they’re using the word affordability.

So whenever we go after them, like we announce all these great numbers, the best numbers in the history of any president, there’s never been any president that’s gotten $21 trillion invested in our country. Not even close. Not even. It’s 5 times, 6 times higher than ever before. Nobody’s ever heard of this.

And what they say, “Yes. But affordability,” and everyone thinks that the prices are high because of me, but they’re not. We’re the ones bringing down the prices.

I just hope you can know because the one good thing about them, they have a great line of bullshit. They have bad policy, the worst, stupidest policy, the men and women’s sports, the open borders, the transgender for everybody, the… All these horrible things and 25 things that are just as bad.

But you have to remember that we’re the ones doing the job. We’re the ones that’s fixing our country. Our country is seriously broken. They laughed at our country. They thought we were stupid people. They thought we were weak.

Someday I’m going to trip. I’ll be walking down. Don’t forget when Biden left the stage, he speak… Spoke very shortly, 2 minutes, 1 minute, as quickly as possible. Could never find the stairs. I don’t have that problem. You know these things? Do you know how many stairs they have?

Look, I got… I can go ramp. I can go stair. I can go another stair. Another stair in the back. I have a stair. You could never find a stair. Now we were laughed at all over the world. All over the world. They don’t laugh at us anymore. I’ll tell you that.

Tax Cuts: No Tax on Tips, Overtime and Social Security

So we passed the largest tax cuts in history and that includes no tax on tips, no tax on overtime. Oh, that’s a good one for you. Oh. That’s a good one, Preston. With all those trucks, you gotta be spending a lot of overtime. No tax on overtime. You gotta like the Republicans.

No tax on Social Security for our great seniors. And we did something. We made interest payments on auto loans fully tax deductible. First time it’s ever happened. It’s having a huge impact.

So when I took office, we inherited the worst border in American history, and now we have the strongest border in our country’s history. And for the last 17 months that I said, 0 illegal immigrants have crossed into our country. Who would have thought?

So every single Democrat in Congress voted against our massive tax cuts. Every single one of them. They voted against no tax on tips. They voted against no tax on Social Security for our seniors. And they voted against no tax on overtime. They don’t want them.

And if you put these guys in, all of that stuff is going to come back and your taxes are going to double, and you’re going to end up in a depression, not a recession, a depression.

They voted against unleashing Texas oil and gas. They voted against strong tariffs to protect car and truck manufacturing in our country. They voted in favor of men playing in women’s sports, in favor of transgender mutilation of your children. They voted against border security for Texas.

And if they get the chance, they will turn Texas back into a dumping ground for the rest of the world, which is what it was just 2 years ago.

Closing: “Keep Building the Peterbilts”

So I just want to say that it’s an honor to be with you. You’re amazing people. You make an amazing product. And I guarantee you this, if I come back here in a year, you will only be stronger. You will be much stronger than, even if that’s possible, than even you are today.

So keep building the Peterbilts. They’re beautiful. I mean, I don’t know if I’m allowed to drive them. Secret Service has a little problem with that. But if I can get approval, I’ll buy one myself and I’ll drive it all over the place.

Thank you. Thank you. Bless you all. Thank you.

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