Administration of Donald J. Trump, 2026
March 11, 2026
The President. Aw, thank you.
Audience members. U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.!
The President. Well, thank you very much. Thank you.
And a very special hello, Kentucky. I love Kentucky. I love Kentucky.
We won in a landslide. We won by so much. We have the alltime record in this State.
But it's great to be back in this beautiful commonwealth with so many proud, hardworking, unbelievable American patriots. Thank you.
And we're here today with the men and women of a phenomenal company that has been helping Kentucky grow and prosper for six incredible decades—in other words, they've been here for a long time—Verst Logistics. Verst Logistics. Good company.
Just met a lot of the—the people that run it. They're good people. They love your—they love you, actually. If they didn't, I wouldn't be here probably. [Laughter] I don't think I'd be here. If they didn't love you, I'd walk off this stage right now.
With your help, this family-owned business has risen from a small trucking operation into a juggernaut of warehousing; packaging, one of the biggest; transportation. All these big labels they put on—but I'll tell you—America's favorite brands right here. And this has been an unbelievable group of people that built this wonderful company, and I want to thank them very much. It's an honor.
And like the people of Kentucky, you do it with skill and precision and pride, using equipment stamped with those beautiful words "Made in the U.S.A." Do you remember? "Made in the U.S.A." We're putting it all over the place, and we're making more and more things in the U.S.A., more than we ever had. More people are working today in the U.S.A. than at any time in the history of our country.
And by the way, do we have a great military? The best. Better than any military in the world by far. I didn't know that we're going to have to be showing it off so much, to be honest with you.
I built it—in my first term, we built this military, and I didn't know that we'd have to use it quite as much as we're using it. But we're using it well, and there's no better military. There's nobody even close. So we're very proud of it.
So we have in this company 2,600 employees, and they pour out their sweat and their soul into shipping the products America knows and loves, and they're doing more business than they've ever done before. And thanks to the record-setting tax cuts that we passed in the "Great Big Beautiful Bill"—biggest tax cuts in the history of our country. Tax cuts.
You know, I've been—as I grew up, I'd watch politicians, and I'd always hear them—"We're going to cut your taxes. Cut your taxes." This is the first group of opponents. It's the first group—the Democrats—they're always saying, "We're going to raise your taxes."
Historically, a politician has to—ideally, you're going to follow through—but you have to say, "We're cutting taxes." They say, "We're going to raise"—they were going to give you, if they won—Kamala and Joe, Sleepy Joe——
Audience members. Boo!
The President. But they were going to raise your taxes more than any—it was the biggest tax increase in the history of our country. And I kept saying, "Are they really saying this? I don't know. What do I know about politics? I haven't been doing it that long."
But they were going to give you the biggest tax cut. And now again—the midterms are coming—they want to raise your taxes higher than you've ever had before. We have to win. The midterms are going to be very, very important to keep it going.
But thanks to the tax cuts, which are record-setting, we passed the "Great Big Beautiful Bill." And I'm pleased to report that Verst Logistics is investing more than $10 million into expanding its operations this year right here—$10 million.
And you're buying brandnew tractor trailers and opening up warehouses in two additional States: Texas and North Carolina. And that's what it's all about. And that's why we did it.
And with the help of our tax cuts, all of those trucks and warehouses and equipment purchases, everything that we're doing and everything that you see in this country that's being built, you get what's called expensing, meaning a deduction in the first year. One year, it's the—now, to a lot of people, that doesn't mean—to me, it means something else. It means jobs. That's why we have so many jobs. The best jobs ever.
Perhaps most importantly to the workers here today, I'm pleased to report that the "Great Big Beautiful Bill" also delivers no tax on overtime. Who ever thought that was going to happen?
That means every extra hour you work, your overtime pay is now 100-percent tax-free. You have no tax. Remember that when you go and vote, because the Democrats want to end it. So, you take home 20- or 30-percent more to those beautiful children or whoever the hell you're bringing it home to. Okay? I don't know who you're bringing it home to. I don't want to know.
That's not my business, although it could be interesting.
After so many years of politicians who sold out the working men and women of our country, we finally have a President who puts American workers first.
With us today are the Front Row Joes. You know, they have followed me—what are you up to? About 350 rallies, right? Three-hundred and fifty—[laughter]. I don't know what the hell they do, I don't know where they get their money, but they follow me a lot. We have a lot of people.
They follow—just like a tour. [Laughter] But they're Front Row Joes. They're like professionals are getting on the front row.
Thank you. There's a—and there's a lot of them too. Thank you very much. Great honor. So, a short time ago, under a man named Sleepy Joe Biden—has anyone heard of him? Audience members. Boo!
The President. Has anyone heard of him? How about Barack Hussein Obama?
Audience members. Boo!
The President. He went to Jesse Jackson's funeral. He spoke, and it was like a political hit job. [Laughter] And the family of Jesse Jackson got angry as hell at him, because they understand: They hated each other. You know, he was there. But I loved watching that. That was so—the family goes outside, and they start screaming at him.
A short time ago, under Biden and his allies in Congress, we had a dead—we were dead as a doornail. We were a dead country, I'll tell you, and it looked like we weren't going to come back.
Now we have the hottest country anywhere in the world. This is the hottest country anywhere in the world. Most powerful military.
The stock market has set 53 alltime record highs since the election—alltime. And the typical American's 401(k) is up by almost $35,000 since I took office.
And in 4 years, Joe Biden got less than $1 trillion of new investment into the United States. So think of this: $1 trillion over a period of—much less—over a period of 4 years. We got $18 trillion—and Jake Paul knows what that means—[applause]—$18 trillion in 11 months, because they haven't calculated the 12th month.
So we have $18 trillion in 11 months—say "in a year"; what difference does it make?—compared to less than—substantially less than $1 trillion in 4 years. You would say they're not doing—they didn't do a good job, Jake.
I didn't ask Jake who he voted for, but I don't think it was Kamala. [Laughter] I don't think so. I think your whole reputation would be shot if you said, "Oh, I voted for Kamala." That would be the end of your whole career, Jake. [Laughter]
But here in the heartland of America, you're already seeing the results of what we've done. I just came from Thermo Fisher Scientific in Reading, Ohio—right across the way—a great American company that's investing $2 billion in domestic manufacturing, all because of what we've done with the tariffs and with the deductions and all of the other things that we've done.
Ford Motor Company—and by the way, we have more jobs in terms of construction—we're building more factories now in this country than at any time in the history of our country. More factories are being built.
And Ford Motor Company—a good old staple—has announced a $2 billion assembly plant in Louisville, Kentucky, which will support more than 2,200 Kentucky jobs.
And I was with Ford the other day. I was in Detroit and—Bill Ford, the head of it. He had an advantage over everybody else in getting the job, but that's okay. He was born Ford.
But he was showing me a plant that was built in, like, 1914. Very old. One of the biggest plants in the country, but one of the oldest. And they were getting ready to shut it down a year and a half ago. And then he heard Trump was running, and he sort of said, "Let's wait."
So they were getting ready to shut it down. It was on minimal time. It was just a question of time. But he said, "Let's wait," and he waited. And they just announced 2 weeks ago that they're now going to run 7 days a week, 24 hours a day, building the Ford 150.
Big difference. [Laughter] That's a big difference. That's a big difference. You shut it down, or you run 24 hours a day. And they're doing a good job.
Apple—great company—$2.5 billion to manufacture 100 percent of the glass for iPhones and Apple Watches right here in Kentucky factories. All being made in Kentucky. And Apple is spending $650 billion on new plants all over the United States. Think of that.
Who the hell else could have done this? Nobody else. Nobody else.
I say it kiddingly, but I'm actually not kidding. Nobody else could. [Laughter] He's done a good job: Tim Cook. But $650 billion. Think of it.
And just 2 days ago, GE Aerospace—they're doing phenomenally—announced a $1 billion investment in American manufacturing, including $115 million right across the river in the Queen City, Cincinnati. I love Cincinnati.
So jobs, factories, and new investments are pouring in. As they do, we have added 70,000 new construction jobs in just a short period of time, including 8,000 brandnew construction jobs in Kentucky. Okay? "Keentucky."
[At this point, the President imitated a Kentucky accent.]
I love the way a real Kentuckian pronounces it, but if I do it, it will get—but I love "Keentucky." [Laughter]
More Americans are working today than any time in history, and that number is going to be—wait till you see the numbers by the end of the year.
We did an excursion. You know what an excursion is? We had to take a little trip to get rid of some evil—very evil people. It should have been done—for 47 years, they've been killing our people. Forty-seven years. Forty-seven years.
Audience members. U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.!
The President. And I can only say this: They were all prepared. They're very strong. You know, they were going to try and take over the whole Middle East. They were going to knock out Israel. They don't know what the hell hit them. Right? They don't know what hit them.
They got hit by the American military. They don't know—they're saying, "What the hell is happening?" They didn't expect anything like this.
To bring down energy costs for American workers and families and businesses like this one, we ended the "green new scam." You know the scam? Greatest scam in American history.
Well, maybe the election results of the second election were. I would say the—what was the greater scam: the "green new scam" or the 2020 rigged election? I would say the 2020—I think the election. I think the election, but what difference.
We took—but the main thing is, we said: "Get out and vote. We're going to do it again, and we are going to make it too big to rig." And that's what we did. We got the highest vote in history. We didn't need that big. We made it too big to rig.
We terminated the insane electric vehicle mandate, where you were mandated—and I like electric cars. I think they're great. I like Elon. I said, "Elon, look, not everybody wants an electric car." And I like him, and he does—it's a great product, everything, but they have to have it. We ended the mandate. We ended the mandate. Now you can have gasoline. You can have hybrid.
You can have whatever the hell you want. You can have electric.
They wanted you to buy an electric car by 2030. There—only one problem: You can't charge it. You ever see a charger? You're driving down the road, you're running a little low, and they say, "Electric charging plant, 150 miles up the road." [Laughter] That's a bad feeling.
And we massively increased production of American oil, natural gas, and clean, beautiful Kentucky coal. And we're not allowed—in the Trump administration, we're not allowed to use the word "coal" without proceeding it with two words: "clean, beautiful." We say "clean, beautiful coal."
And we had Doug Burgum the other day, Secretary of the Interior, who's great, and Chris Wright, Secretary of Energy, and they were giving a long speech on coal. And I tried to stop them. I was in the audience. I tried to—they kept saying: "Clean, beautiful coal. Clean, beautiful coal. Clean, beautiful"—and after about, like, 40 times, I said: "Wait a minute. Just say coal. It's too much. It's too much."
But it's clean, beautiful coal. And it's back. And it's roaring back.
You know, it's interesting. China uses a lot of coal. China's very smart. They use coal. What they don't use much of, if at all, are windmills. So they make all the windmills, and they sell that garbage to us. Round and round it goes. It keeps losing money. Every time it goes around, it loses
$25. That's a lot, you know? And kills a lot of birds. Kills them all.
You know, if you shoot a beautiful bald eagle, they put you in jail for 5 years. Windmills kill them by the thousands. Okay? Figure that one out.
Last year, I took action to save 74 coal power plants from crushing restrictions and regulations—they were putting them out of business—that would've forced them to shut down, including four plants we saved right here in Kentucky. And some of the people that work in those plants are here with us now.
It's a very powerful—and it is now, with modern equipment, clean, beautiful. But it's a very powerful fuel. It's very powerful. And if it wasn't, China and some of these other big behemoths would not be using it. They use it because it's powerful. Very, very powerful.
The wind. You know, you're watching television, and you want to watch. Your beautiful wife—our First Lady says: "I'm sorry, darling. You can't watch tonight. The wind has gone down, and we have"—[laughter]. But I want to watch myself on television. I want to watch myself debate. [Laughter] She says: "I'm sorry, darling. We have absolutely no energy. There's no wind tonight." [Laughter]
What a scam. That's a pretty big scam. That's one of the top—I say that's a top five. It's about five that are real beauties.
I also announced a lease agreement for $1.5 billion of private-sector uranium enrichment facility in Paducah. Paducah.
And as we take decisive action to stop the threat posed by the terrorist regime in Iran with Operation Epic Fury—is that a great name? Well, it's only good if you win. You know, you can only do—and we've won. Let me tell you, we've won.
You know, you never like to say too early you won. We won. We won the bet—in the first hour, it was over. But we won.
But they gave me a list of names, the generals. "Sir, you can pick the name you'd like, sir." I said, "The name of what?" "The name of the attack on Iran, sir." And they gave me, like, 20 names, and I'm, like, falling asleep. I didn't like any of them. Then I see "Epic Fury." I said, "I like that name. I like that name."
And my administration, as you know better than anybody, is also working to keep the oil flowing. It's all flowing all over. We knocked out—you know, the—they wanted to drops some mines. Very friendly people. Mines so boats blow up. And we knocked out, as of—I—you know, every hour I have to change because they knock them out so fast. I've never seen anything—think of it. They knocked out 54 ships in 2 days, and they're real ships. In fact, I got angry at my people. I said, "Are they any good?" "Yes, they're warships." I said: "Why the hell did we kill them? Why didn't we just capture them and use them in our navy?" They said they wouldn't have qualified for that.
But I got a little upset with my people. I said, "Why do we have to knock them?" And actually, one of my generals said, "Sir, it's a lot more fun doing it this way." [Laughter]
But we knocked out 58 naval ships. We knocked out their navy. Okay? Let's put it that way.
But they also knocked out the mine layers. They call them mine layers. They put mines in the water. Lovely job. Isn't that nice? Blow up ships. And we knocked out 31 of them.
And, you know, I suggested—I was very proud of myself. I said, "Why don't you use the weapon that we use on the drugs that come in by sea?" Do you know that drugs by sea are down 98 percent?
And I said, "That's a hell of a weapon." And they said, "We'll give it a shot." It worked very well. We've knocked down, I think, 28 or 29, all of them—almost all of them. They'll all be gone. By the time I'm finished speaking, they'll be gone. These people work very fast.
But I'm pleased to report that earlier today, the International Energy Agency agreed to coordinate the release of a record 400 million barrels of oil from various national petroleum reserves around the world, which will substantially reduce the oil prices as we end this threat to America and this threat to the world.
We don't want to leave early, do we? Huh? We've got to finish the job, right?
Over the past 11 days, our military has virtually destroyed Iran. Tough country. Their air force is gone. Totally gone. That took the better part of about 3 hours. They no longer have radar. They don't have anti-aircraft equipment. They don't have anything. Their missiles are down 90 percent. Their drones are down 85 percent. We're blowing up the factories where they're made, left and right.
And frankly, nobody has ever seen anything like it.
Nobody's ever seen anything like what you're witnessing now. And that can include the original killing of Soleimani and al-Baghdadi, two of the worst killers in the world, that I did, as well as Operation Midnight Hammer, where we totally obliterated Iran's nuclear potential. We obliterated it. They don't have nuclear potential.
And then during—after Midnight Hammer—and then we left, we figured that'll be the end of them for a while, but they started again. That's why we've got to finish it, right? We don't want to go back every 2 years, and that's—because, you know, there'll be some day when you don't have me as President. You'll have perhaps——
Audience members. Boo!
The President. ——perhaps—perhaps you'll have a weak, pathetic person like we've had in the past, mostly all, like Barack Hussein Obama, who signed one of the worst deals——
Audience members. Boo!
The President. ——ever with Iran, where they were going to give up everything. Remember when he filled up a 757 with billions of dollars of cash and sent it to Iran?
Billions. We—people forget that. That's when I realized the Presidency is very powerful, when you could put over a billion dollars in an airplane and fly it over and give it to a foreign country that's your enemy. How stupid was that?
But that deal, the Iran nuclear deal, gave them the right to have a nuclear weapon, as of 3 years ago. If that deal—if I didn't terminate that deal—I terminated it very quickly. If I didn't terminate that deal, they would have had nuclear weapons, and this world would, right now, be a different place. Much different place. Believe me.
And then Biden, he came along. He had no clue. He didn't know what the hell he was doing.
But they really—they—what they did was incredible. They—everything they did was wrong.
Think of it: Afghanistan, Biden. Afghanistan. The most embarrassing day in the history of our country. Embarrassing. Thirteen dead, but hundreds and hundreds are dead from—I count both sides, you know? I do. I count both sides. Sorry. But hundreds and hundreds of people dead.
And instead of leaving from Bagram, they fled. I—you know, I hate to even say it. There's no reason we were in there. I was the one—we're going to get out. We're going to get out with strength and dignity. We were pounding the hell out of them. They didn't like Donald Trump. The Taliban, they would do anything I asked them to do. You know that.
And this guy comes in, left all the equipment behind. I said, "Every piece of equipment will be taken out with us." They said, "No, it's better to leave the plane." I said, "Why is it better?" "Well, I think it's more cost-efficient to leave the plane." No, no. You've got a brandnew fighter jet, $150 million. You give it a tank of gas, a little jet fuel, and you fly it out. They said, "Sir, I think it's better to leave the plane." These are the exact opposite generals as we have now.
Do we love General "Razin" Caine? He's great.
But oil prices are already coming back down, and it's going to come down, but we're not leaving until that job is finished. And it's going to be very fast. It's going to be very fast. But we're not going to count on having competent Presidents. We have to assume we're going to have incompetent ones, like the one we had last time that couldn't walk off a stage. Remember?
He'd finish with a speech. His speech would last about 2 minutes. People would come out, not many—like, two people—[laughter]—and he'd be finished with his speech, and then he could never find his way off the platform. He'd look around, over here, "Oh." There's so many stairs.
Like, we—I have four sets of stairs on this platform. Usually, they have at least that. He couldn't find.
Or walking up Air Force One. Now, I know the problem with this. It can happen. You can slip. I could slip. I came down stairs today that were soaking wet. You know it's a little rainy today, and I have steel stairs, and I'm saying, "Ai yai yai." But I'm—I do it very slowly. I'd grab that thing, I—because nobody cares if you set a speed record.
The only thing I admired about Barack Hussein Obama, which was nothing, actually—[laughter]—but the only thing is the way he bopped down. Remember, he'd bop? "Hey." If you talk about un-Presidential, he's bopping. And I couldn't believe that he made it without at least a noticeable, major fall.
But Biden was the opposite. Biden couldn't even walk up the stairs. He fell three times walking up the—and the world watches that, and they don't like seeing it, although they actually do like seeing it, because they say, "What the hell is going on?" Or when he fell at the Air Force Academy, right? And the general was standing there, could have caught him, but he didn't want to drop the paper that he's holding in his hand, so Biden went down for the count.
No, we have a country now that's respected, and we don't play games, and we have the greatest military, and it's so nice to see. It's so nice to see.
And they want to get back in office for the midterms, and you can't let them. Did you see that—you know, they went to München—Munich—right? You saw that, right? You saw Gavin—Gavin Newscum. He admitted that he's——
Audience members. Boo!
The President. No, Gavin Newscum. So I think his career is over. Okay? We get—let's get off the teleprompter for a—do you mind if I get off the teleprompter for a couple of minutes?
Because this isn't—you know, I have these great speechwriters. I drive them crazy because half of the time I'm not——
But Gavin Newsom, in an interview—in an interview——
Audience members. Medic!
Audience member. Anybody a doctor?
[A participant collapsed on the risers behind the President's podium. The President paused his remarks so that a medical team could assist the participant.]
The President. You have a doctor in the house, please? Doctor.
Yes, take your time, please. Take your time. We have all the time. These are great people. They wait so long, hours and hours. They are—they're great people, right? We have all the time, right?
Audience member. Tell the First Lady we love her!
The President. Thank you.
Audience member. You stopping—[inaudible]—ever.
The President. Thank you.
Audience member. Trump, you look awesome!
The President. First responders are incredible, by the way. Hey, let's—want to play a song?
Audience members. Yes!
The President. Do you think the people backstage are listening to me? How about "Ave Maria" while—because is—is going to be okay. How about putting, right now, "Ave Maria" if they are listening? "Ave Maria" by Pavarotti. Right?
Audience member. Thank you for Venezuela, President.
The President. Take your time. Doctor, take—take your time. She looks great. She looks great.
[The participant was escorted off the stage.]
It's Dr. Oz. Can you believe it? Dr. Oz. Good job. He's a good doctor. Thank you, Oz.
Audience member. God blessed us with you, Donald Trump.
The President. Thank you, everybody. Great job. Thank you.
Well, thank you very much. We were talking about Gavin Newscum. Doesn't seem like a very good subject right now. It made that young lady not feel so good. [Laughter]
Anyway, he admitted he has mental problems, that he's not a smart person, that he has mental—a mental lack of ability. He's unable to read his speech. He can't read. And all of the other things he said. He said he has a lot of mental problems. And I was attacked by a reporter that said, "Well, what's wrong with that?" I said, "Nothing is wrong with it." But I don't want the President of the United States to have a cognitive deficiency. Okay? Right?
And when he admitted this, I said, "I think he just lost the Democrat nomination." What do I know? But you know what? I'm for everybody. But you know, when it comes to President, you got to be sharp. You've got to be sharp as hell.
One of the greatest victories we have achieved for hardworking Americans with the help of our great Republican majorities in Congress is no tax on tips, no tax on Social Security, and, as I told you before, no tax on overtime, which affects you, 800,000 Kentucky seniors. And every Democrat voted against it. So, remember, and they'll terminate it. If they take power, they'll
terminate it. 800,000 Kentucky—so you have—think of that—you have no tax on Social Security, 800,000 seniors. And they will—they will end it. We've got to win the midterms.
We also made interest on auto loans tax deductible. First time that's ever happened. But I did put a little proviso: The car has to be made in America for you to get it.
Our tax cuts are projected to raise incomes in the Commonwealth by $5,400, boost household take-home pay for you by nearly $10,000, and protect more than 84,000 Kentucky jobs at a minimum. And some of the jobs we're creating or protecting are right here at Verst Logistics.
So let me call up your outstanding CEO. Paul, come on up. Real fast, Paul. Come on. Paul Verst. Come on up here, Paul. Let's go. Do it fast, Paul. They don't want to hear from you.
Verst Logistics Chief Executive Officer Paul T. Verst. I wish I could have gone before him, Mr. President. [Laughter]
Thank you, President Trump. Thank you for allowing me an opportunity to share our experiences, how your economic policies and the "One Big Beautiful Bill" have positively impacted our employees, company, and family.
As mentioned in your earlier comments, the no tax on overtime will greatly benefit our employees, producing an average of $1,400 additional take-home pay per year, per person. With this amazing benefit, the savings they will realize can be used to take a family vacation, provide further education for their children, pay bills, or make a downpayment on a house or a car.
Our family and companies have a mission of giving back to our communities. The savings from the lower tax rates and permanently full expensing of equipment will allow us to invest back in our local communities of supporting nonprofit organizations and providing educational scholarship money for students attending local high schools and colleges.
Many of our Verst family owners and members who are with us today understands how vital the extension of the estate tax credit exemption is for the continuity and succession planning of our great family business. Our sweat and equity are tied to this building, many others, and our business. Without this extension, it is possible our thriving business would one day need to be sold to pay family estate taxes.
President Trump, this is all possible because of your vision to make America great again.
Audience members. U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.!
Mr. Verst. On behalf of our family, company, and employees, we want to take this opportunity to welcome you to Northern Kentucky and the Cincinnati region. You are in the heart of Kentucky, home of bluegrass, faster horses, and the best damn bourbon in the world. You are in Trump country right now.
If—wrapping this up, if we can just take a pause, and I'm going to say a quick little prayer for President Trump, if I could.
May God bless and keep you healthy and safe, and may God bless our beloved United States of America and everything it stands for.
Thank you, President Trump.
The President. Thank you, Paul. Wow. He did a good job. You think that's easy to do? That's not easy. I oftentimes—I'll say to the head of a company, "Please, come up and say"—"No, I don't want to do it." [Laughter] Very good. Thank you very much. Thank you for the prayer.
Also with us today is Sami Biddle, who works at the restaurant and bar in nearby Newport, Kentucky. Sami makes over half of her income through tips. And now, thanks to the no tax on
tips, her tax liability has been slashed by more than 50 percent. The average filer's tax refund this year has soared to nearly $4,000. You're saving $4,000. And Sami is receiving even more—over
$5,000.
So Sami is going to make over $5,000 more than anticipated, all because of the "Great Big Beautiful Bill" that the Republicans got passed—but with not one—with not one Democrat vote. They want to raise your taxes. They're going to raise your taxes.
So, Sami—come on up for a second and say hello, Sami.
Pensive Distilling General Manager and bartender Samantha Biddle. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. President.
The President. Wait.
[The President adjusted the podium microphone.] Mr. Biddle. Oh, there we go.
Hello, everyone. My name is Sami Biddle, and I'm a general manager and bartender at a local distillery in Newport, Kentucky, called Pensive Distilling.
And like most servers and bartenders, a big portion of my annual salary comes from working double shifts and tips. A big dream of mine has always been to save up enough money to buy a nice piece of land and eventually build a home on that land.
And this year, due to our President's no taxes on tips and overtime policy, I got more year-end taxes back than I ever have, which has helped me get that much closer to my American dream.
Thank you, Mr. President! Thank you.
The President. That's pretty good, right? Thank you, Sami.
So millions and millions of Kentucky families have more money in their pockets thanks to what we did with respect to tax cuts. And I just described, but every single Democrat in Congress voted against it. Every single one. Not one voted for it. They want tax increases, along with—
Audience members. Boo!
The President. ——along with just one Republican voted against. You know what the name is? He is the worst person. His name is—what the hell? How did he ever end up in Kentucky? His name is Thomas Massie.
Audience members. Boo!
The President. How did he ever end up here, Paul?
Anyway. No, Massie voted against tax cuts for seniors. He voted against tax cuts for overtime workers. And he voted against tax cuts for earners—tip earners. No, he wanted to increase the taxes. He voted with the Democrats.
He voted against our historic funding for border security—he voted against border security—where we took the worst border in the history of our country and made it the best border in the history of our country in 2½ months. He voted against it.
And he voted against eligibility verification for welfare recipients. Nobody has to be eligible.
Just pick up whatever you want. The people in this room don't like that.
Thomas Massie also voted with the radical-left Democrats in Congress to keep the Federal Government shut down during the open border crusade while our military went without pay. He voted for our military not to get their pay.
Audience members. Boo!
The President. And now Massie—he's the worst. And I don't say that. I never hit a guy like this, the guy—I've always—he just—we call him Rand Paul, Jr. He votes against everything. But at least I like Rand a little bit. Can't love a guy that votes against—I got him elected twice. If I didn't endorse him, he was not going to get elected. Do you remember that? I came and I did a little rally, and Rand votes against us all the time too, but at least he's okay. [Laughter] I wouldn't say the greatest.
And now Thomas Massie is attacking a great Navy SEAL hero—this is a real hero—Ed Gallrein—who is running against him in the primary. You know why? Because he's not doing right for our President.
He didn't want to run for office. He's a hero. He's a farmer hero. He's a tremendous war hero, but he's a farmer, right here. He's like central casting. I said, "This is the guy I'm looking"—I wanted to—I wanted—just give me somebody with a warm body to beat Massie. And I got somebody with a warm body but a big, beautiful brain and a great patriot. He's unbelievable. And he did it because he said he's disrespecting our country. He votes against everything.
And Ed became an independent a few years ago because he was so angry at the way the Republican Party was operating. And I don't disagree with him. Other people did too. But then Ed came back, and he came back strong because I got involved, and he came back stronger than he ever was, and now, he's all the way—he's in this party, and he's in it.
And he said, "I came back because of the strength and wisdom that Donald Trump displayed." And I appreciate that. That's a nice—I'm think I'm going to use him in an ad. I think I'll use that statement. I'm going to use that statement in an ad: "strength and wisdom." I put "wisdom" in quotes because I didn't say it. He did.
But many people have joined and rejoined our party, but Massie did not, because he only votes no. He just votes no. Doesn't matter. I could give him the best things in the history of a Republican voter, and he'd vote no. There's something wrong with him.
It will be interesting to see what he does with the SAVE America Act, which is, very simply—I think he has to vote for it, but he's a nut job, so you never know.
All voters must show voter ID. Ninety-eight percent. That's 98 percent. All voters must show a little thing called "proof of citizenship" in order to vote. Right? Right, Paul? Paul agrees.
No mail-in ballots except for illness, disability, military, or travel. You're away. You can't get there. We'll be generous.
And then I added two things. We call them "best of." You know what they are? Best of Trump. These are the "best of." No men in women's sports. Ninety-nine percent. That's 99. And no transgender mutilization surgery for our children. That's it. That's it.
And I think we're going to get it approved in the House, and I hear the Senate has a hard time. How can you have a hard time with that? How can you have a hard time?
But Massie wants to vote no. But on this one, he may be forced. I mean, how can you do it?
So I just want to say this: Thomas Massie is a disaster for our party. He comes from a State that I won by a landslide. Got the highest vote in the history of your Commonwealth. The highest
vote. I got the highest vote. That means the people like me, and I love them. I love them. I love them more than they love me, but I still got the highest.
Remember with your mother? "I love you more than you love me." Remember? [Laughter] We revert back to childhood.
But Massie is a complete and total disaster as a Congressman and, frankly, as a human being. You know, he's got one thing going. He went to a good college. But I know a lot of stupid people that went to a good college. [Laughter]
And my uncle was the longest serving professor in the history of that particular college, university—MIT. Forty-one years. My uncle was there 41 years, so that means I have much better blood, if you go by that.
But I went to the hardest college of all to get into: the Wharton School of Finance. That means I'm real smart.
We got to get rid of this loser. This guy is bad. He's disloyal to the Republican Party. He's disloyal to the people of Kentucky, and, most importantly, he is disloyal to the United States of America. And he's got to be voted out of office as soon as possible.
On the other hand, Ed Gallrein has my complete and total endorsement. He's a true American hero, and he's a great patriot, and he's doing it because he saw what this guy was doing to our country. And he said, "I'm going to run." He's a—he's now a farmer—successful farmer.
And he's—I can tell you, he's strong as hell. He shook my hand. My hand is still recovering. "Sir, I'd like to shake your hand." "Absolutely." Holy mackerel. [Laughter] I didn't tell him that, you know? I'm telling him now officially.
Ed, would you come up for a minute, please?
Kentucky Republican congressional candidate Ed Gallrein. Mr. President, welcome to Kentucky, and thanks for coming to the heartland, because you are loved and admired here for your courageous leadership of our great nation at such a critical time in history.
Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you.
This is the land of "We the People." Right here. I want to thank you for your endorsement because, once you did that, my support skyrocketed.
So I look forward to serving to the people as their representative of Kentucky District 4, because as you folks know, you deserve an authentic, true Republican conservative that stands shoulder to shoulder with our President and the Republican Party and against the Democrats who are trying to destroy our Nation.
U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.!
Audience members. U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.!
Ms. Gallrein. So, Mr. President, I will stand with you and the party to put America first and Kentucky always!
Mr. President, I hope the fake news gets this. Tom Massie stands with the ladies of "The View." Tom Massie stands with the ladies of "The View." Mr. President, we stand with you! Fight! Fight! Fight!
U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.!
Audience members. U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.!
The President. I'm telling you, that is the greatest candidate. [Laughter]
You know, I've done this before, not quite as violently and miserably as this one, but I just can't stand this guy. But I've had some candidates that weren't great. They'd get up. They wouldn't talk well. And I'm trying to beat, like, an incumbent bad Congressman, Senator—somebody. I do it all the time. If somebody is bad, I try and get them out of office. I should just leave it alone. My life would be a lot easier, right?
But I have usually candidates that don't have what it takes. This guy is unbelievable. He is central casting. Just elect him. You're going to have no problems with him. Thank you. Ed, thank you. Unbelievable. That's great. He's a good man.
With us today are some of the amazing warriors who, unlike Massie, stood up for the working people of this commonwealth—this great group of people, the people that built the nation—including a wonderful man who's been with me all the way, Congressman Andy Barr. All the way.
Audience members. Andy Barr! Andy Barr! Andy Barr!
The President. He's a good guy and a warrior.
Also with us is a Senator who came from, really, behind. He really didn't have a good chance of winning. The guy was a longtime Senator, Democrat, that was—he's terrible. He's running again. He's terrible. Was a terrible radical-left lunatic.
But Bernie Moreno did some job on him, and he won the race. And it was amazing. Bernie, congratulations.
And thanks as well to CMS Administrator—you just saw him working—Dr. Mehmet Oz. He was just working.
Thank you, Dr. Oz.
Director of the Center for Medicare, who's an incredible guy, helped us so much with the reduction in drug prices that you got—the biggest reduction in history. Chris Klomp. Great job.
Your State attorney general, Russell Coleman. Russell. Thank you. Thank you, Russell.
Good job.
A wonderful secretary of state. We have a good one in Washington, too, you know? Marco. Do we like Marco? I think so. Your secretary of state, Michael Adams. Thank you. Thank you, Michael.
State Auditor Allison Ball. Thank you.
These are great people, and I've gotten to know them over the years. They are just incredible people.
State treasurer, Mark Metcalf. Thank you. Thank you, Mark. Great job.
Your former Kentucky attorney general, Daniel Cameron. Daniel, thank you. Thank you, Daniel.
And chairman and CEO of Morris Industries—a good man—Nate Morris. Nate, thank you.
Now, also with us is a local legend who did quite well suing The Washington Post and various—and sundry others. I—where's Nick Sandmann? Where's Nick? Come here. Come here. Come on. Hurry up, Nick. He's a young guy. He can get up here fast.
Guy walked away with a lot of money. They did a number on him. He said, "We're not going to take it anymore." I love these guys. Nick. Wow. Become a big celebrity too. Nick. Say a couple of words, Nick. We love Nick.
Thank you, Nick.
Senate Republican Conference press assistant Nichalas Sandmann. Mr. President, I just want to tell you thank you.
Well, thank you. Thank you. And—and as I just said, really the only thing I can say is, Mr. President, thank you. Thank you, and thank you to all of you because it's us together which can beat the radical left. So thank you. We will always stand with you.
The President. I watched that whole thing unfold, Nick. And I said, "That guy is getting scammed." And you know what? He scammed them, because what he did was pretty amazing, him and his group of friends. You had good, loyal friends, Nick. And that's great.
I loved it. I loved watching what he did.
And another one who—this guy is a piece of work. He—a very tough cookie, but instead of fighting like a guy his own size, he goes, he fights a guy who's, like, 70 pounds bigger, who won—he's like a two-time Olympian champion. He's this massive guy. And my friend is a guy named Jake Paul. And—and I said—and I'm watching. I didn't realize there was a slight size variance, like about 7 inches and about 70 pounds.
This guy fought like—I tell you what, he is courageous. He's an incredible guy. He's got a brandnew beautiful fiancée. And you're not allowed to use the word "beautiful" when describing a woman anymore. It's the end of your political career, but I'll say it anyway. What the hell? [Laughter] She's beautiful. She just won the Olympic gold medal.
Where is—where is she? Where's Jutta? She—gold medalist. Boy, I tell you, she's strong.
That means she's strong. You better be careful. [Laughter]
She's a beautiful person, and she's a big, strong athlete. I watched her win that gold. And they have an expression: If that were a fight, they'd stop it, right? She's great.
But Jake Paul is a great guy. And you know, part of the deal is he said, "Do you mind if I do an interview with you?" I said, "Jake, I'm the President of the United States. I don't do interviews." Look at Joe Biden. He went 2½ years without doing an interview because he was shot. But he was shot 30 years ago too. He was no good.
But I said: "Jake, I'm President. How can I do your local podcast?" But his local podcast is big stuff. And he's big stuff. Jake, you've got to come up. Come here. Come on. You've got to come up.
This guy has guts. And he had—he walked out with a broken jaw. [Laughter] Anyway, this was not the greatest fight, but you know what it showed? Lots of courage. Come here, Jake. Say a few words. Your—these are your people.
Podcast host and boxer Jake Paul. Yes. What Mr. Trump has taught me is courage. You know, we never back down from a fight, even if they're much bigger than you—much, much bigger than you. And I feel all the local Kentuckians feel the same way. You guys have that fight. You guys have that swag.
There's a lot of young kids in here, the future of America. I grew up just a few hours away from here, and my dad taught me to fight. And all of our voices matter in America. And I'm never afraid to speak the truth, and I know you guys aren't. We here—we are here representing the United States, and it's just a blessing.
Thank you, Mr. Trump. We need more factories like this thriving all over the country. And I know he's going to be the one to bring that here to us.
I know God is with us. I know He wants us on the right side of history. And everyone here has to do their part, and God's got us. Trump's got us.
God bless. Love you, Kentucky.
Audience members. Jake! Jake! Jake!
The President. No, he's a great guy. He's a courageous guy and a talented guy. He's a hell of a fighter too, by the way.
And I just want to say: I predict—I'm going to make a prediction that you will be, in the not-too-distant future, running for a political office. Okay? And you have my complete and total endorsement. Okay? No, that's what we want. He is an incredible guy. Lot of courage and smarts.
So, in 4 long years, Joe Biden and the radical Democrats in Congress gave us the worst inflation in the history of our country, driving up prices all across the board. They left us a mess.
In 12 months, my administration has driven down core inflation down to the lowest level in more than 5 years. And in the last 3 months, inflation was less than 1.7 percent.
Under our policies, prices for chicken, eggs, cheese, butter, potatoes, and fresh fruit are lower today by a lot than when I took office. Hotel rates, automobile prices, and rent payments are way down as well.
As a result of my direction to purchase $200 billion in mortgage bonds—a risky move, perhaps, but not for me—mortgage rates are now the lowest in more than 5 years. And the annual cost of a typical new mortgage is down almost $5,000.
And to help our great citizens afford their American dream, I recently signed an Executive order to ban large Wall Street investment firms from buying up single-family homes.
Under my most-favored-nation agreements for drug prices, we're also slashing drug prices at
—record levels, with price differences of 400, 500, 600, and even 700 percent. Can you believe it? And I got that with the drug companies, and then I had to convince foreign nations that it's not fair, and I used the word "tariff," the beautiful word.
I always said one of my most favorite, most beautiful words—I used to say it was my favorite word, most beautiful word, and the fake news killed me. They said: "What about your wife? What about God? What about religion? What about your children?" I said: "Okay. It's my fifth-favorite word." Now I don't get in trouble. [Laughter] No, they actually went after. I said, "It's my favorite word in the dictionary, the word 'tariff,'" and they killed me. These guys, they are the worst.
For decades, Americans have paid the highest drug costs in the world, but now, thanks to our policies, Americas are going to be paying the lowest drug prices paid anywhere in the world. And these incredible price reductions are available right now at—and I did not name this. This was done by Dr. Oz and Bobby.
Where is Oz? He's back with a patient? So he stays with a patient. Where's Oz? Oz, is it true that I did not name this after myself?
Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Mehmet Oz. It's true.
The President. Okay. Thank you. If he said no, I'd—it would—he'd be out to here. [Laughter] No, he's done a great job.
And is she okay, Oz?
Administrator Oz. She's fine.
The President. Good. Thank you. Great. Great job. She's okay.
So it's available right now, these really low prices: TrumpRX.gov. TrumpRX. And if—people are using it at record numbers.
He named it. I didn't name it. I'm not sure I want my name on drug. Well, drug reduction is probably good, right? If prices ever go up, I'm going to say get my name off there. But they're not going to go up. They're only going to go down.
Other Presidents tried to do it, but all they did was talk. It was all talk, no action. I got it done. I got it done for you, got it done for Kentucky.
But it's doing record type business, right? Biggest price reduction. I think it's one of the biggest things to happen in medicine, because the prices are just a tiny fraction of what they were.
So TrumpRX is a major step toward a larger goal of reducing the cost of health care for hard-working Americans since the passage of the "Unaffordable Care Act." Do you know what that is? [Laughter] I love the name: the "Unaffordable Care Act." Oh, do the Democrats hate me.
I wonder who hates me more: Stupid Tom Massie or the Democrats? I think it's close.
Well, they have Trump derangement syndrome. If we won that war, which we have basically done—if we won that war in one day, "He should have done it faster. It's unacceptable." And by the way, if I didn't go in—you know, now they like to complain. It's hard for them to complain with our military is so incredible. But they like to complain.
So let's assume I didn't go in. I—was like every other President: "Oh, no. Let them kill people. Let them get an atomic weapon. Let's give—get—let them get a nuclear weapon that can destroy the world." So let's assume I didn't go in. They'd say, "He should be going in." These are the worst people.
Since the passage of the "Unaffordable Care Act," sometimes referred to as Obamacare, named after Barack Hussein Obama—have you heard of him?—big insurance companies have gotten rich with our Government giving them hundreds of billions of dollars as their stock prices soared up to 1,700 percent.
Under my plan, I want to stop all payments to big insurance companies and instead give them money directly to the people so that they can buy their own health care, which will be better health care at a lower cost, Dr. Oz. Okay?
Billions—trillions of dollars a year—literally, trillions—go to insurance companies, and you get rotten health care. Obamacare is a loser. It was meant for the insurance companies, and the insurance companies totally control the Democrats, not the Republicans.
Just over 1 year ago, we inherited a mess, a floundering economy, wide-open borders, the worst inflation ever, crime, chaos everywhere. Today, just a short time later—look, we've been there for 1 year—we have the most secure border in U.S. history. The flow of fentanyl across our border is down by 59 percent. We get it better.
The murder rate just saw its single largest drop ever recorded, the lowest in 125 years—before my father, Fred, was born. Before he was born. And that's despite the fact that we have a lot of people that shouldn't have been allowed in here that are murderers.
Inflation is plummeting, incomes are rising, the economy is roaring back, and America is respected again, perhaps respected like never before. Every single day of my administration, with the help of the great people of "Keentucky"—[laughter]—yes, I love "Keentucky"—we will keep on working, and we will fight, fight, fight, and we will win, win, win.
And together, we will make America powerful again, Front Row Joes. We will make America wealthy again. We will make America healthy again. We will make America strong—strong again. Strong. We will make America proud again. We will make America safe again. And we will make America great again.
Thank you, Kentucky. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you very much.
NOTE: The President spoke at 4:46 p.m. at Verst Logistics. In his remarks, he referred to former Vice President Kamala D. Harris, in her capacity as the 2024 Democratic Presidential nominee; William C. Ford, Jr., executive chair, Ford Motor Co.; Timothy D. Cook, chief executive officer, Apple Inc.; Elon R. Musk, cofounder and chief executive officer, Tesla; Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. J. Daniel Caine, USAF; Gov. Gavin C. Newsom of California; Sen. Randal H. Paul; former Sen. Sherrod C. Brown; professional boxer Anthony Joshua; Jutta Leerdam, Olympic gold medalist and fiancée of Mr. Paul; and Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. He also referred to S. 1338. The transcript was released by the Office of Communications on March 12.
Categories: Addresses and Remarks : Walton, KY, remarks on national economy. Locations: Walton, KY.
Names: Adams, Michael; Ball, Allison; Barr, Garland H. "Andy," IV; Biddle, Samantha; Biden, Joseph R., Jr.; Brown, Sherrod C.; Burgum, Douglas J.; Caine, J. Daniel; Cameron, Daniel; Coleman, Russell; Cook, Timothy D.; Ford, William C., Jr.; Gallrein, Ed; Harris, Kamala D.; Joshua, Anthony; Kennedy, Robert F., Jr.; Klomp, Christopher; Leerdam, Jutta; Massie, Thomas H.; Metcalf, Mark; Moreno, Bernie; Morris, Nate; Musk, Elon R.; Newsom, Gavin C.; Obama, Barack; Oz, Mehmet; Paul, Jake; Paul, Randal H.; Rubio, Marco A.; Sandmann, Nicholas; Trump, Melania; Verst, Paul T.; Wright, Christopher A.
Subjects: 2024 Presidential election; Afghanistan, withdrawal of U.S. military forces; Automobile industry, strengthening efforts; Border security; California, Governor; Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services; Coal-based energy production, expansion efforts; Crime rates; Economic improvement; Election security and integrity, strengthening efforts; Electric and hybrid vehicles, promotion efforts; First responders, service and dedication; Food markets and prices; Health care costs and affordability; Household income and wages; Inflation; Iran, U.S. airstrikes on nuclear facilities; Iran, U.S. military operations; Job creation and growth; Joint Chiefs of Staff; Kentucky, President's visit; Kentucky, Verst Logistics in Walton; Manufacturing industry, domestic investment; Mortgage rates, stabilization efforts; Nuclear energy, expansion efforts; Oil and natural gas, domestic production; Oil markets and prices; Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act; Prescription drug costs, reduction efforts; Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act; Secretary of Energy; Secretary of Health and Human Services; Secretary of State; Secretary of the Interior; Solar and wind energy; Stock market; Suspected drug-trafficking vessels, U.S. airstrikes in Caribbean Sea and Eastern Pacific; Tariffs; Tax Code reform; U.S. military readiness, improvement efforts; Voter participation.
DCPD Number: DCPD202600165.