Remarks at a "Make America Great Again" Rally in Minneapolis, Minnesota

Eric Trump. Minneapolis! [cheers and applause] Are you guys tired of winning yet? [cheers and applause] Never, ever, ever get tired of winning. Where's law enforcement tonight? [cheers and applause] You are absolutely the best. You know, I was watching Fox & Friends, Fox is back there somewhere, who likes Fox? [cheers and applause] I guess everybody in here likes Fox, right? [cheers and applause] And I saw this amazing officer, his name was Bob, and I called him. He was on TV and he was talking about my father and what a great job he's done and how law enforcement ... Where's Bob? Wave to us, Bob! [cheers and applause]

And I got his number, and I called Bob, what was it, two days ago, and I said thank you, on behalf of the entire family, thank you. Law enforcement, you are the absolute greatest, we owe everything to you, you are not forgotten about! [cheers and applause] My father will never, ever forget about you. He has your back, trust me, he loves you, we love you as a family, and we love you as a country. [cheers and applause] You know, guys, I was on the campaign trail in 2016 with my father. We went all over the place, we campaigned as a family, we fought like hell, and I am telling you guys, we are stronger today than we were in 2016 [cheers and applause] And we are going to win this state, make no mistake about it! [cheers and applause]

How do you think Elizabeth Warren is feeling right now as she sees this crowd? I don't think she's feeling too good. [booing] No, no, boo, that's right. How do you think Joe Biden and his—[booing]—How do you think his son's feeling right now, right after embezzling a lot of money, taking a lot of money, the crookedness, right? He's not looking too good either. [booing] Yeah, maybe "lock her up" goes to "lock him up," I don't know, it might. "Lock him up," I don't know, I like "lock her up" a little bit more. Thank you, that's a good idea, I like that idea.

Crowd. [chanting] Lock him up! Lock him up! Lock him up! Lock him up!

Eric Trump. Hey guys, we don't need to lock him up, we're just gonna beat the hell out of all of them, we're gonna win. [cheers and applause] You know why? Because America is winning again. Because of my father America is winning again. Tonight's all about jobs, tonight's about the military, I see some military guys up here in the front. We love you. We absolutely love you. [cheers and applause] Thank you guys for the service. And my father's gonna protect the Second Amendment, I know something that's near and dear to everybody in this room. [cheers and applause] Don't worry about the Second Amendment, something I love, something my father loves. And you know what I see? I see a hat right there that says "God wins." He's also gonna protect religious liberty! [cheers and applause]

We're gonna say "Merry Christmas" again, we are saying "Merry Christmas" again. [cheers and applause] So guys, we love you, my family loves you, I love you, and certainly my father loves you, and we have a great Vice President here tonight, he loves you. And we are gonna win this state, and thank you for honoring us, and let's keep America great. Thank you very much, guys. [cheers and applause]

[Music: Village People, Y.M.C.A.]

[Music: Survivor, Eye of the Tiger.]

[Music: Free, All Right Now.]

[cheers and applause]

The Vice President. Well, hello Minnesota. It is great to be back in the North Star State. [cheers and applause] Thank you for that warm welcome. [cheers and applause] But I'm here for one reason, and one reason only, that Minnesota and America need four more years of President Donald Trump in the White House. [cheers and applause] Like all of you, I'm here because I stand with President Donald Trump. [cheers and applause] When this president stands up for American workers, from the cities to the Iron Range, I stand with President Donald Trump. [cheers and applause] When this president stands up for faith, and freedom, and the American flag, I stand with President Donald Trump. [cheers and applause] And when this president stands up to the radical Democrats in Congress trying to overturn the will of the American people with endless investigations and partisan politics, we stand with President Donald Trump. [cheers and applause]

You know what began four years ago has grown into a movement, a movement of everyday Americans from every walk of life. All of you believe we could be strong again. You believe we could be prosperous again. America said "yes" to President Donald Trump in 2016, and Minnesota, I know you're going to say "yes" to four more years of President Donald Trump in 2020. [cheers and applause]

You know, when you think of the last three years, there's only one way you can describe it. It's been three years of action. It's been three years of results. It's been three years of promises made and promises kept. But we're just getting started, Minnesota. I mean, think about it, this president promised to rebuild our military, and President Trump has signed the largest investment in our national defense since the days of Ronald Reagan.

He promised to stand with our veterans and give our veterans access to the real-time world-class healthcare that you earned, we reformed the VA, and Veterans Choice is now available for every veteran. [cheers and applause] And this president promised to secure our border, we made historic investments in border security. Apprehensions on our Southern border are already down by 60%. And we've already started to build that wall on the Southern border of the United States. We're doing it.

Crowd. [chanting] Build that wall! Build that wall! Build that wall! Build that wall!

The Vice President. Oh, we're building it. And President Trump promised to appoint principled conservatives to our federal courts at every level. And at last count, he's appointed 180 men and women who will uphold the God-given liberties in our Constitution, like the freedom of religion and the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms. [cheers and applause] And this president promised, he promised to stand with the men and women of law enforcement at every level. And we've done just that. As the Cops for Trump know, Trump's for cops. [cheers and applause]

And finally, President Trump promised to revive the American economy, he cut taxes across the board, we rolled back red tape at a record level, unleashed American energy, and Minnesota's economy is booming. [cheers and applause] It's true. Since Election Day 2016, 6.4 million new jobs have been created by businesses, large and small. Unemployment's at a 50-year low, and there's more Americans working today than ever before in the history of this country.

On one promise after another, President Donald Trump delivered. And thanks to the president's leadership and our strong conservative allies in Congress, like Congressman Tom Emmer, Congressman Jim Hagedorn, Congressman Pete Stauber,—[cheers and applause]—we've made America great again. It's true. But to keep America great, we need you to decide right here and right now that Minnesota is going to vote for four more years of President Donald Trump in the White House.

Crowd. [chanting] Four more years! Four more years! Four more years! Four more years!

The Vice President. Because four more years means more jobs. Four more years means more judges. Four more years means more support for our troops. And it's gonna take at least four more years to drain that swamp. [cheers and applause] You know, the choice in this election couldn't be clearer, and the stakes couldn't be higher. Today we have a president who loves this country, who stands by our military, our law enforcement, our workers, and our freedoms. He never quits. He never backs down. He believes in you, and he fights for you every single day. [cheers and applause]

And that's more can you can say for those do-nothing Democrats in Washington D.C. I mean, the truth is the Democratic Party has been taken over by radical leftists who want higher taxes, open borders, late-term abortion, and socialist policies that would crush our economy. And worst of all, today's Democrats have spent the last three years trying to overturn the will of the American people in the last election. And they're back at it again. But despite three years of non-stop resistance and investigations and obstruction by the Democrats and the media, I'm here to tell you President Donald Trump has never stopped fighting to keep the promises that he made to the people of Minnesota, and he never will. [cheers and applause]

But now, Minnesota, it's our turn to fight for him. [cheers and applause] I mean, it's on. And we got work to do. And it's going to take all of us to do it. So we need you to bring your enthusiasm, be ready to volunteer your time, voice your support, and get ready to get out the vote for four more years of President Donald Trump in November of 2020.

And while you're bringing all that energy and enthusiasm, bring your faith too. [cheers and applause] Bring faith in this president, whose drive and vision has made America great again. Have faith in our fellow Americans, that every time they're given a choice between more freedom and more government, the American people choose freedom every single time. [cheers and applause] And finally, finally, have that faith that he who blessed this one nation under God will still bless America beyond anything that we can ask and imagine. So have faith.

Ladies and gentlemen, I can tell you firsthand, President Donald Trump is the real deal. He's a man who says what he means, and means what he says. And I see every day, he gets up and fights to keep the promises that he made to the people of Minnesota and the people of all this country. He's made America great again. And with your support and your prayers, I know he will keep America great.

So now it is my high honor and distinct privilege to introduce to you my friend, and the 45th president of the United States, President Donald Trump. [cheers and applause]

[Music: Lee Greenwood, "God Bless the U.S.A."]

Crowd. [chanting] USA! USA! USA! USA!

The President. Thank you very much, thank you Minnesota, this is a great state, we are going to win this state in a very short period of time, thank you. [cheers and applause] This feels like the day before the election. So we have 20,000-plus people inside. We just set a new record. [cheers and applause] And we have 25,000 people that we still love, outside. And close to 100,000 people wanted to come tonight. Thank you all. This is great. This is really great. Thank you.

I wanna thank our great vice president, Mike Pence, and Karen Pence, for being here tonight. [cheers and applause] It is great to be back in the Twin Cities with the freedom-loving American patriots who make our country run. You know that. You know it. For the next 13 months, think of that, it seems like yesterday, for the next 13 months, we are going to fight with all of our heart and soul, and we are going to win the great state of Minnesota in 2020. [cheers and applause]

America now has the number one economy anywhere in the world, and it's not even close. You know I'm dealing with China right now. They're in Washington. We're gonna see if we make a deal. But they wanna make it. We're gonna determine whether or not we wanna make it. But they've been very nice. And today I got a call from one of the top representatives, he said, "Congratulations, Mr. President, on having a truly great, great economy." That's pretty nice. [cheers and applause]

We picked up, since the election, trillions of dollars in value. And China has lost trillions of dollars in value. I will say this—[cheers and applause]—if our opponent had won that election, you know what would have happened? Right now China would become the ... It would be the number one economy anywhere in the world. And right now I can tell you they're not even close. [cheers and applause] Our country is stronger than ever before because we are proudly putting, for the first time in a long time, we are putting America first.

Crowd. [chanting] USA! USA! USA! USA!

The President. And I have to say, there are a lot of very beautiful red T-shirts in the audience. [cheers and applause] That was a record sale. They did very well. And I'll tell you what: cops love Trump, Trump loves cops. [cheers and applause] Our bold pursuit of this pro-American agenda has enraged, and you know what's happened, it's enraged the failed ruling class in Washington. Not easy to get them out, but we're doing it slowly, but surely. These corrupt politicians and the radical leftists got rich bleeding America dry and they knew that my election would finally end their pillaging and looting of our country. And that's what they were doing. And that's what they continue to try and do. That is why, from day one, the wretched Washington swamp has been trying to nullify the results of a truly great and democratic election, the election of 2016. They're trying. They're not getting very far. They want to erase your vote like it never existed. They want to erase your voice. And they want to erase your future. [booing] But they will fail, because in America, the people rule again. [cheers and applause]

Do you remember that, just 19 minutes after I raised my hand and took the Oath of Office, The Washington Post, a terrible newspaper—[booing]—that doesn't know how to write the truth, published a story, and in this case, they might've gotten it pretty correct, they said, "The Campaign To Impeach President Trump Has Begun." That was the headline. Little did we know they weren't playing games. [booing] Think of that. That was 19 minutes after the Oath of Office.

Months earlier, Peter Strzok—[booing]—remember, he and his lover, Lisa Page. What a group. "She's going to win 10 million to one. She's gonna win. I'm telling you, Peter. I'm telling you, Peter, she's going to win. Peter. Oh, I love you so much." [laughter, cheers and applause]

"I love you, Peter." "I love you too, Lisa. Lisa, I love you. Lisa, Lisa, oh God, I love you, Lisa. And if she doesn't win, Lisa, we've got an insurance policy, Lisa. We'll get that son of a bitch out. [laughter] We got an insurance policy."

And we're living through the insurance policy. That's what it is. The phony Russia hoax. [booing] "Lisa, I love you." Now the do-nothing Democrat con artists and scammers are getting desperate. Thirteen months, they gotta move fast, because they're not beating us at the polls and they know it, despite the phony polls that you see all the time, their phony polls. You know, polls are no different. Remember I always used to talk about polls, I know polls very well. Polls are no different than crooked writers. They're crooked polls. They're crooked polls. No different.

Boy, that's a lot of media. Look back there. That's a lot of media. [booing] They are so dishonest, and frankly, they are so bad for our country. [cheers and applause] They are so bad. And they could be so good for our country. They could be so good. And maybe they'll change, and maybe they won't. I've been waiting for a long time. You know, after I won the last election, I said, "Finally it's okay. Finally I'll get some great press." They got worse. They got worse. I said, "Finally, we're going to get ..." I said to the first lady, "Darling, we're gonna finally get respect. We're gonna finally get media and press coverage. It's going to be great. Look at what we've done." And I'm telling you, they did, they got worse. [booing]

And they know they cannot win. You understand. Well, if you didn't understand, honestly, there's no way anybody could win, because you'd believe them. If you believe them, there's no way anybody could ... Because it's like 94% ... I can do the greatest things in history, and they'll make them bad to very bad. And if I do a neutral, something neutral, it worked out okay, not great, not bad, it's like, "Give him the electric chair. That was terrible." Right? No, this is the worst.

Crowd Member. We love you, Trump.

The President. These people and the Democrats, they're partners. It's a partnership. How about on the newscast, like the word "manufactured," it's manu ... And every newscast, "Tonight, in a manufactured deal along the border ..." The word's never been used ... All of a sudden every newscast is using it. It's a talking point given to these fakers by the Democrats. [shouting]

So they know they can't win the 2020 election, so they're pursuing the insane impeachment witch hunt. I've been going through it now for more time than I've been in office. Because, like Strzok with his insurance deal, this was before, remember this, this was before, that statement was made months before I took office. That statement was made months before the election took place. They said, "Just in case, we're gonna have an insurance policy." That only means one thing, "We're gonna get him out." So they're telling us. We can't let that ever happen again to another president. [cheers and applause]

And Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, a lot of people—[cheers and applause]—the great Mark Levin. We have a lot of great people. [cheers and applause] Lou Dobbs, great people. You know what they said? Every one of them, plus many others, "There's no other man that we've ever met that could've taken it." It's true. Maybe I'm a little different up here. I don't know, but I enjoy it. To me, I'm energized because we're draining the swamp. [cheers and applause]

Crowd. [chanting] Drain the swamp! Drain the swamp! Drain the swamp! Drain the swamp!

The President. The Democrats' brazen attempt to overthrow our government will produce a backlash at the ballot box the likes of which they have never ever seen before in the history of this country. [cheers and applause] These are bad people. My phone call, as an example, with the president of Ukraine, was perfect. Everybody that looked at it. And the only reason I released it was that the Democrats put out a phony narrative. So I had no choice. And I don't wanna do that as president, every time a president from a country calls me, or I call them, we have to release the text. How can you do business that way? Who's gonna wanna speak to your president? So the president of Ukraine reiterated today at a major news conference, on other subjects, that he was under absolutely no pressure. He doesn't even know what they're talking about. And he used the word, there was no "blackmail" during this call. He used that term. [cheers and applause] So in theory, that should be the end of it.

Think of it, a President of the United States who's made our economy, with a lot of help from all of you, frankly, but from Mike and from some of our great senators and some of our great people that we have with us, we made this the strongest economy in our history. We've rebuilt our military. We're taking care of healthcare like nobody's been able to do. What we've done is incredible. And by the way, we're protecting your Second Amendment. If you don't have me, your Second Amendment is gone. [cheers and applause]

So we have the greatest economy, the greatest military. We've rebuilt our military, two-and-a-half trillion dollars, because when I took it over, it was a mess. And what do they wanna do? "Let's impeach our president," right? I don't think so. I don't think so. I think we're gonna have a turnout the likes of which we've never seen in the history of our country.

So we were really forced, just to put it away, we were forced. I said, "Just do it." Got the approval from Ukraine. I have to ask. I said, "Hey, do you guys mind?" They said, "That's a strange request." I said, "Don't worry about it. Do you mind?" And they said, "Please, go ahead. Nothing was said wrong on that call." So we released the transcript of the call, which was so good that that crooked Adam Schiff, this guy is crooked—[booing]—he had to make up a fake conversation that never happened and he delivered it to the United States Congress and the American people. [booing] It was a total fraud. And then Nancy Pelosi said, "Oh, I think the president said that." [booing] These people are sick. I'm telling you, they're sick. And you know what? Had they waited one day longer, they would have had the transcript of the actual call, word for word. It would've been perfect. Instead, they released it, they went early, they said all these horrible things. You know why? Because they never thought in a million years that I was gonna release a transcript of the call. [cheers and applause]

So Nancy Pelosi, upon hearing a false story from a whistleblower that had no clue what was going on in that call, or somebody gave her very bad advice, but also hearing it from shifty Schiff, Nancy Pelosi said, a day before seeing the transcript of the call with the Ukrainian president, "We've got to impeach him. We've got to impeach him." Right? And then she saw the call and she said to her people, "What the hell? Nobody ever told me this was the call." But she keeps going anyway because the press is fake and they play right into their hands. [booing]

The do-nothing Democrat extremists have gone so far left that they believe it should not be a crime to cross our border illegally, and it should be a crime to have a totally appropriate, casual, beautiful, accurate phone call with a foreign leader. I don't think so. As our brilliant White House counsel wrote to the Democrats yesterday, he said, "Their highly partisan and unconstitutional effort threatens grave and lasting damage to our democratic institutions, to our system of free elections, and to the American people." That's what it is. To the American people. It's so terrible.

Democrats are on a crusade to destroy our democracy. That's what's happening. We will never let it happen. We will defeat them. [cheers and applause] I mean, look at their debates. These people are crazy. They wanna spend 99 trillion dollars to redo buildings all over the United States. I said, "What about China? What about Russia? What about India? What about all these other countries where that stuff is just flowing out?" It's all right. [booing] Let him give you the answer. Man, did the cops act fast. He's already gone. [cheers and applause] Man, that's unbelievable. That's the fastest ... You know I have ... Look, I love law enforcement. I love the cops. I love the police, all of it.

Minneapolis, Minneapolis, you've got a rotten man. You've gotta change your mayor. You've got a bad mayor. You've got a bad mayor. But you know what? The police ... I've done this a lot, and every once in a while, we'll have very little disturbance. It's really ... Actually, is there any place where we can have more fun than at a Trump rally? [cheers and applause] And we've set every record at every place, virtually, that we've gone. And one of the big musicians said, "And Trump does it without a guitar." Can you believe it? Without a guitar. But this guy ... So I've had it a lot where ... But sometimes it'll take the police like 30 seconds, 50 seconds.

It's like Roger Penske when you watch him, who's getting the Presidential Medal of Freedom, by the way, very soon. He won 18 Indy 500s, 18, Roger Penske. But it's like the way they change those tires, takes four seconds to change the whole damn thing. I say, "How the hell do they do it?" That's the way these cops just reacted. [cheers and applause] That was a record. I think it was a ... I've had good service, but I've never had anything like that. I look up, the guy is already gone. Ah, we love you with the red shirts. [cheers and applause] So now the Democrats are making a pathetic bid to save Sleepy Joe, Sleepy Joe Biden. [booing] And you know what? I'd love to run against him, to be honest. Anybody like that, if you can't beat him in a debate, you've got a big problem folks. You can't beat him in a debate, you can't be president. Because what are you gonna do against President Xi and Kim Jong-un. You can't beat Sleepy Joe, but now we're going to meet with Kim Jong-un? I don't think so. But he's totally owned and totally controlled by the Washington swamp for many years.

Two months after president Obama put Joe in charge of Ukraine policy, they put Joe Biden in charge of Ukraine policy. Listen to this. And the press will not write it. They say, "In totally unsubstantiated charges ..." every time they talk about him. "President Trump has said that his son walked away with a fortune. Now you know that's a totally unsubstantiated charge." Really? It's not an unsubstantiated, it's fact. Joe's son Hunter got thrown out of the Navy and then he became a genius on Wall Street in about two days. [laughter]

By the way, whatever happened to Hunter? Where the hell is he? [cheers and applause] Where's Hunter? Hey fellows, I have an idea for a new t-shirt. I love the cops, but let's do another t-shirt. "Where's Hunter?" Where is he? [cheers and applause] Here's Hunter, being examined by sleepy-eyes Chuck Todd or some of these people. Hunter, it's so great that you're here, sir. Hunter, I know they're giving you approximately 168,000 dollars a month. I hear they paid you a big check of three million dollars. I just want to speak on behalf of NBC who's absolutely one of the worst. I just wanna tell you ... Hunter, Hunter, I just want to tell you I couldn't be happier for you and your family and I know you don't know anything about energy and I know it's an energy company, but I think they made a great deal, Hunter. And then they fly to China, and I'm dealing with people right now. They're tough as hell, those Chinese negotiators, and Hunter, who's not too smart, Hunter. He goes in, he has a meeting, he walks out in his fund with 1.5 billion, with a B, one point five billion dollars. [booing] These aren't the same Chinese negotiators that I'm dealing with, I can tell you. These are not the same ones, but we are doing very well in that negotiation.

Now, think of it, where's Hunter? Where is Hunter? I want to see Hunter. Hunter, you know nothing about energy, you know nothing about China, you know nothing about anything, frankly. Hunter, you're a loser. Why did you get one point five billion dollars, Hunter? [cheers and applause] And your father was never considered smart. He was never considered a good Senator. He was only a good vice president because he understood how to kiss Barack Obama's ass. [cheers and applause] True. Thank you. Thank you. It's true. It's true. And they're always saying the same thing. Yeah, he got a billion five, we admit it, they admit it, it's nothing, but oh, it's not the same thing, "President Trump made a totally unsubstantiated claim about Hunter Biden and his father." It's not unsubstantiated, you crooked son of a guns, it's 100% true. [cheers and applause] 100%. Even the smart guys on Wall Street, and I know all of them, they are smart. They've never seen anything like that one before. I've called them. Does that ever happen? Never happens. Guy walks in, no experience, no nothing. Walks out with a billion five. Gee. Flies in on Air Force Two with his father, the vice president. Don't forget, that's when he was vice president. So China gives his son 1.5 billion. How would you like to have Joe Biden take over negotiations right now with China? I don't think so. [booing]

I don't think so. Meanwhile, Biden allowed China to rip off America for eight years as vice president, and Barack Obama let him just rob us blind, and we're not doing that anymore. Those days are over. [cheers and applause] The Bidens got rich and that is substantiated. While America got robbed, that's what happened. Sleepy Joe and his friends sold out America, they didn't have tough negotiations. I look at these trade deals and I say, "Who the hell could have done this?" If you didn't ... If you had no business instinct, no business ability, if you had nothing, if you're dumb as hell, you wouldn't make these deals, they're so bad. I say, "Who made these deals? Who made these deals?" But we're ripping them all up and redoing them and they're gonna be very good. Wait until you see what happens. Now that I'm your president, you see it. America is winning again and we're respected again as a nation. [cheers and applause]

Crowd. [chanting] USA! USA! USA! USA!

The President. A brand new report just came out as I'm walking on the stage. Hard to believe, actually. It turns out that Joe Biden was vice president, he worked with the so-called whistleblower. [booing] This is nothing but a partisan witch hunt, sabotage, and I'm sure they're going to say it's totally unsubstantiated, but one of them wrote this story. Congratulations, by the way. That's very nice. That's really good. That's the way you should do it. Good. Good. Good. In the twisted worldview of Democrats and the media, it's okay for politicians to ship our jobs to foreign countries, flood our communities with drugs and crime, and enrich themselves at America's expense. Their treachery is allowed because they go along with the rigged Washington game, and it is far more rigged. When I ran, I thought it was rigged, but this is crazy what's happening. But if you refuse to bow or bend to the Washington swamp, which I could do very easily, I'd be much more popular. Folks, it would be so much easier. [booing]

You know, I'm very smart ... I got it. I got to tell you, isn't it much better when I go off script? Isn't it better? [cheers and applause] So much. It's just ... Hey folks, the greatest buyer of advertisements in the history of the world, Mike Lindell, My Pillow. [cheers and applause] I have never seen so many ads. I think he's the greatest ad negotiator in history, and I told them, I said, "Would you do me a favor? All the money we spend on these political campaigns, if I gave some of that money to Mike, I think it would have ads every single minute of every single show." I never saw so many. [cheers and applause] Anyway. But the lawless political establishment will try to frame you. They'll persecute you. They'll swear and just swear up and down that they're telling the truth. When Nancy Pelosi was on television the other day—[booing]—I have to say, I have to say I was very proud of George Stephanopoulos. I was very proud. It's not often. She said, "No, no, shifty Schiff told the truth when he said that." Stephanopoulos said, "No way. No, no. It wasn't the truth. It was a false statement." "No, no, it was the truth." He said, "No." And she really believes it. So she's either got one of two problems. She's either really stupid, okay? Or she's really lost it. Or maybe there's a certain dishonesty in this hooplah. But they smear you, they spy on you, and they target your friends, your family, your staff for harassment, for abuse, for destruction.

I came down to Washington with incredible people. We won a great political campaign. They were bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. That's a nice phrase. They came down, they were happy. They wanted to turn the country around. They wanted to do great things. All of a sudden they get summoned and they get subpoenaed by Robert Mueller. How good was he as a witness? Not too good—[booing]—and by people that were, I call them the 13 angry Democrats, that turned into 18 angry Democrats. It was disgraceful. So people that were going down, "Sir, what is this?" I look, "Oh wow, that's a subpoena. What the hell is this?" They took people ... I really mean this. They took people that were full of life and energy and vigor. We had just won the greatest campaign in the history of American politics, it's true. It's true. [booing] And they destroyed their lives. They destroyed their lives. They went home.

I could name many people, one in particular, who came down, an incredible young woman. She was going to help people. She wanted to help people. She had causes that were so good. She wanted to help people, and she ended up going home, dark, dark. Her life became hell. They ruined people. They destroyed people, good people. People that ended up paying far more money in legal fees than they made. Than they made. They destroyed great people. They're vicious, horrible, and the media was behind every single step. [booing] They destroyed so many lives. They destroyed so many lives, and they're continuing to do it. And it's a disgrace.

When all of their ludicrous hoaxes have been exposed as frauds, these sinister fakers then tried to impeach you for daring to call out their own corruption. There's nothing like the dirty political establishment, and I have to tell you, this is, friend of mine, very smart, brilliant guy, was with me about two weeks ago. We just got rid of the Russia hoax and then a week later the Ukraine hoax starts. I had a week of like, "I can think about everything perfect. It's so beautiful." And he said, "President." I said, "Call me Donald. You've called me Donald for 35 years." "I will. Thank you Donald." I've lost all my friends because they're all scared to talk. Honestly, I'm the president that they can't talk to me anymore. It's like they're afraid. They respect the office. It's true. They say, "President." I say, "Do me a favor, Richard. You've called me Donald for 35 years. Call me Donald, please. I want somebody to call me Donald."

Crowd. [chanting] Donald! Donald! Donald! Donald!

The President. He said to me, I just told him call me ... He said, "President, I can't do it," he said. So he says, "President, you've been here now for, think of it, almost three years." Can you believe we're here three years? We, we, it's we. And we have to promise them no more than 16 years. Okay? No more. No more. 16 more years. I'm only kidding. Now they'll go back. See, he wants to run for more. But he said, "President, could I ask you a question? It's so important to me." He's a great businessman, very successful. He said, "You deal with all of these nations, these great, powerful ... Who is the worst to deal with? Is it China? Is it North Korea? Is India? Is it Russia? Please tell me, Mr. Pres, who is the toughest nation to deal with?" I said, "You're not going to believe this. It's the USA is the toughest nation to deal with." The USA.

It's true. Because we're dealing with some very sick and deranged people. [booing] There is nothing that the dirty political establishment hates more than a president that they cannot intimidate, own, and control. [cheers and applause] They're trying to stop me because they know that I don't answer to them, I answer to you. It's true. [cheers and applause] I never say this. I don't think I've ever said it in a speech, but they'll find out if I did. They'll give me Pinocchios, he said it before, but I don't know if I ever said this before. But I make, as president, about 450,000 dollars. I give it away. I don't care. I don't want it.

I never hear anything. Can you imagine if I didn't. I give it away to ... You can only give it, you can't keep it. You can't actually make a gift. You can give it to your different agencies. So I can give it to health, I can give it to transportation, I can give it to military, but I give it away all the time. Now, and if I ever did ... But it's 450. If somebody stays from, let's say, a Middle East country, in one of my hotels and we charge him 392 dollars and 53 cents for staying, and I never heard of the guy and I don't wanna hear about him, they say, "Trump is getting rich off our nation."

I lose billions being president. I don't care. It's nice to be rich, I guess. But I lose billions. If somebody rents a room someplace and they pay me two months in rent or hotel fees, I never heard of the people. I never know who they are. They say, "Emoluments." Nobody ever heard of the word "emoluments" before. Emoluments. It's the craziest thing I've ever seen. I tell you, it's cost me billions of dollars to be president. It really has. And at some point I'll probably to prove that, and I look forward to doing it. It's very easy. It's very easy. [cheers and applause] And there is nothing that makes me happier than making that decision to run and win and straighten out the mess that these people have created. [cheers and applause]

So in a desperate attempt to attack our movement, Nancy and Chuck, two beauties, have given control of the Democrat party entirely over to the radical left, including Minnesota's own representative Ilhan Omar. [booing] I know you people. I know you people. I know the people of Minnesota, and I wanna tell you, and I also, at the same time, it's both a question and a statement, how the hell did that ever happen? How did it happen? How did it happen? Congresswoman Omar is an America-hating socialist. She minimized the September 11th attack on our homeland. [booing] Where far more than 3,000 people died, saying, "Some people did something, big deal. Some people did something." She pleaded for compassion for ISIS recruits right here in Minnesota. Omar laughed that Americans speak of Al-Qaeda. Remember that tape? Speak of Al-Qaeda. [booing] But when we say something about the United States, you just don't say America with any intensity. Remember that? Representative Omar has a history of launching virulent antisemitic screeds, whether you like it or not. She said the US support for Israel is all about the Benjamins. She said that pro-Israel lawmakers have an allegiance to a foreign country. Omar wrote that Israel has hypnotized the world, may Allah awaken the people and help them to see the evil doings of Israel and the United States. [booing]

How do you have such a person representing you in Minnesota? I'm very angry at you people right now. She is a disgrace to our country, and she is one of the big reasons that I'm gonna win, and the Republican party is going to win Minnesota in 13 months.

Crowd. Four more years! Four more years! Four more years! Four more years!

The President. Thank you very much. So we're honored to have with us today a special guest, a man that really is a terrific talented writer. He knows a great deal about all those tangled lies of Omar. Mr. Scott Johnson of Power Line. He wrote some stuff, I can't believe it. Where's Scott? Where's Scott? Thank you, Scott. Thank you, Scott. What a job. Man, do you have her figured out. The only problem is, Scott, it's incredible talent, much more talented than most of these people that you heard about. The problem is they never pick it up. They don't wanna pick it up, but we pick it up, Scott, and the people get it and we thank you for your great reporting. Thank you. Thank you very much. [cheers and applause] And Scott reported everything about Omar is a fraud, including her name.

Scott reports his sources told him that, quote, Omar's legal husband was Omar's brother and that she had married him for fraudulent purposes. You mean like coming into the United States, maybe? And as Scott says, "We have seen a plethora of congressional scandals in our history yet we have never seen scandals like Omar's in Congress, and nothing gets done about it." I hope, I hope that some of you people are looking, because what AOC has gotten away with campaign financing and what ... I call it AOC plus three, that's what it is. And Omar is one of the three. What AOC has gotten away with all of that money that she used for her personal self with campaign finance is worse, and nothing happens to them, but it happens to you, and it's not fair. The fact is, we're in a struggle for the survival of democracy in America. The only message these radical socialists and extremists will understand is a crushing defeat on November 3rd, 2020. [cheers and applause] With your help, we will win back the House, we will keep the Senate, and we will win the White House. And we're thrilled to be joined tonight by some incredible people that have helped me so much. One of your tremendous talented, tough congressmen, Tom Emmer. Tom.

Also a man, you don't wanna fight him, and you don't wanna play him in hockey because he was tough. He just won, not that recently but pretty recently, and I was out here campaigning for him and working hard, and it turned out to be an easy race because everyone loves him and respects him. Congressman Pete Stauber. And a man who gets in the trenches, and he just doesn't care. He wants to win for the people. He loves you. He loves this state. He loves this country. Jim Hagedorn. Thank you. [cheers and applause] And a great friend of mine with his incredible family. He's a friend. He's smart. I guess you'd say he's brilliant. His education is incredible, his military career has been incredible. Then he ran for office, and now he's a United States Senator from the great state of Arkansas, Senator Tom Cotton. [cheers and applause] Great guy. And Minnesota Senate Majority Leader, Paul Gazelka. Paul. Thank you, Paul. Minnesota GOP Chairwoman, Jennifer Carnahan. She's been incredible. [cheers and applause] I said, "Jennifer, are we gonna win in 13 months?" She said, "Honestly sir, I've never seen anything like this. It's gonna be easy. Don't ever say ... Just assume we're like two points behind, okay?" Two points behind.

You never ever ... Please. Always just assume you're a little behind, but we're going to win this state by so much that people are going to be shocked. And plenty of other states too. You know, we had a rally three weeks ago in New Mexico, and New Mexico's a hard state for Republicans, hasn't been won in a long time also. And we had receptivity that was unbelievable. The audience was 40% Hispanic, where we're doing great. [cheers and applause] And you know, Hispanic, they understand borders better than anybody, better than we do. They understand safety, they understand their job, they don't want people taking it away, they don't want crime. They understand it better. That's why we're doing so well, but we're in New Mexico, and I'm telling you, that was electric. But honestly, all evenings are electric. We haven't had any bad ones. We haven't. They're all electric. [cheers and applause]

A woman who headed up the great state of Michigan for me, a state that hadn't been won in a long time by a Republican for whatever reason, but it hadn't been won. I guess we didn't have the right candidates, right? But a woman who would call me constantly. I'd say, "I don't want to talk to her. She's giving me a headache." "Sir, if you make one more trip, you're gonna win Michigan." I say, "All right," I make the trip, I go back home. I get a call the next morning, "Sir, we need one more." This went over and over and over, and we ended up winning the state of Michigan—[cheers and applause]—and I said, "Who the hell was that woman that kept bugging me to go back to Michigan and speak just one more time every week? One more time, sir."

And her name is Ronna McDaniel. She's fantastic, and she's the head of the RNC. She's great. And our campaign manager, a man who's really been ... They used to say that Crooked Hillary had a very, very sophisticated campaign. After she lost, I said, "I guess it wasn't sophisticated." We had a sophisticated campaign. Nobody knows the world of computers better than this guy. Brad Parscale. [cheers and applause] Remember when they used to say it? You know, I never got credit. My father used to teach me, if you can do it for less and win, that's good.

He wasn't talking politics. The last thing ... He's looking down. He's definitely looking down, not looking up. He was great. He was tough, but he was great. But my father would say, "If you could do it for less and win, that's a good thing, not a bad thing. If you can build a building for less money than the guy across the street, and if it's a nicer building and you can rent for less, you're really ... That's like a good thing." So in the campaign, we spent much less money than Crooked Hillary Clinton, much. And we won. And we won. [cheers and applause]

We won 306 to 223. That's a pretty big ... Remember? Remember they said Electoral College. By the way, when you run, if you're running, the Electoral College is like the 100-yard dash, and the total vote, you don't go certain places. You focus. Electoral College. We have to explain to them, it's different. So we won 306, and, do you remember, they used to say one's the 100-yard dash. You practice. One's the mile. You practice. It's a different race. Winning the total vote is much easier in my opinion. The Electoral College, I had to go to 22 different states. For the total vote, I'd go to four states maximum, right? Much easier. It's much easier. I'm all for it, but the electoral college is better for our country because it forces you to go places that you wouldn't go. I love Maine. I went to Maine four or five times. I needed one point. Maine gave me one point. And what happened? What happened? I went there numerous times. Everyone said, "Why?" Because I was told by these fraudsters back here in the media that Trump cannot get to 270. He cannot get ... They had me maximum, if everything worked, right? At 269. So I kept going to Maine, and you know what? We won that one point in Maine. We won it. [cheers and applause]

But I kept going. They say, "Why?" I said, "Well, first of all, it is really a beautiful place," but we won the point. But they said, "He cannot get to 270," and I heard this for months and months. I had such a headache, almost as bad as listening to Mike's damn commercials about those pillows. [laughter] Maybe I need one of those pillows to cure my headache. Does it cure headaches? I think so. But here's the thing. Here's the thing. So they said, "He cannot get to 270." In other words, you can't win. You don't get to 270, it's over. You can't win, right? He cannot do it. There's no way of doing it, and they were right. I got to 306. [cheers and applause] They were right. But I didn't get to 306. You got to 306. We won incredible states. We won incredible states. We won Wisconsin, we won Michigan, we won Pennsylvania, we won North Carolina, we won South Carolina, we won Florida.

What a run. Do you remember the evening that we won? [shouting] I think ... Look, forgetting me, I think it was won of all of us together because we all worked hard. I was the messenger, but we all worked hard. That was our victory, not my victory. But that was one of the greatest nights in the history of television, one of the greatest nights, and hopefully it'll go down when we're allowed to get all of this stuff seeded ... You know, it's like a tree. You plant it. You plant it. It has to go, but it needs a little ... That's why we need the four more additional years. It's got to grab on and catch, so they can't destroy it. So they can't destroy it. But I think it'll go down, and I hope it's gonna go down as one of the greatest evenings in the history of this country, because it's never happened, anything like that before. And these guys don't even question it. They just sit back and say, "I guess he's right about that." I'll never forget the night before, I was at a tremendous arena. The place was going crazy. It was like this, going crazy, and two reporters that hate my guts, they looked at themselves, they looked at each other.

Famous shot. They're looking like this and they're saying, "What the hell is going on?" They knew. They knew. And I didn't need Beyonce and Jay Z—[cheers and applause]—and I didn't need little Bruce Springsteen and all of these people. They'd get all these people. They'd come in because she couldn't get a crowd. They'd come in, they'd sing. They got Bruce Springsteen. Okay? He'd do about two songs and leave. What happens is, they leave, and then everyone leaves with them, and she's still speaking in front of the same lousy crowd. It's the craziest thing I've ever seen. And then they complain. Sometimes I'll use terrible word like "hell." The other day I used the word "hell." I got hell from ... They said, "He used terrible language." I used the word hell. It was so bad. But you've got to hear Jay Z, the words he was using, he was using the F-word all over the place, and then the next day they say I used bad language. The word "hell" is a terrible word. These people are sick. [cheers and applause] But that was an amazing evening. I'll never forget that evening. Look. Outside of your family and your children and things ...

Crowd Member. I love you Trump!

The President. I love you too, darling. It was one of the highest rated evenings in the history of television. You add up all those networks. Remember the woman crying? Oh my God. No, they weren't biased at all. Now, another very special man who's with us today, but he'll never be a man to me, he'll always be my boy, you know what I mean? Right? He's my boy. He's my little six foot six boy, Eric Trump. [cheers and applause] And the parents understand that, right? They may be big and strong and older. To a parent, a child is always their boy or always their little beautiful girl, and I know that's probably politically incorrect. They'll say, "It was terrible what he said about women. Terrible." But they're our boy and they're our girl, and it doesn't matter how old we get and how old they get, is that a correct statement? [cheers and applause]

And I'm also proud to endorse your next Republican Senator from Minnesota, a man that I've known, a man that is tough and smart, a man that's running against somebody that's never done a damn thing in the Senate, Mr. Jason Lewis. [cheers and applause] And Jason did a great job in Congress. Congressman Lewis, thank you very much, and thank you for putting up with all of this stuff because I'll tell you, it's gonna be nasty. It's gonna be nasty. They're going to make up stories about you. They're going to say things that's going to want to make your wife say, "Why did I marry this guy?" Just say, "Don't worry about it. It's just another phony story." Thank you very much, Mr. and Mrs. Lewis. Jason, thank you. [cheers and applause]

And Jason, they can say that about Tom Cotton. He's too perfect, this guy. He can't say ... They can't say it about you, Tom. Anyway, good luck Jason. Do well. And I don't know why, but with all of the great people I just introduced, for tonight, maybe this is the most important person, because I turned on a very good show in the morning. Fox & Friends. They treat us great. I just want fairness. What a great group. Ainsley and Steve, and by the way, Brian has gotten a lot better, right? [laugher]

Brian was a seven, and he's getting close to 10 territory, and Steve has been so great, and Ainsley's just incredible. And sometimes, Pete Hegseth gets on there for the weekly [inaudible]. [cheers and applause] And how good does Jessie Waters do? How good? [cheers and applause] Right? Just some really great people. And again, Tucker's been very good I have to say. He's been good. Smart. He's been great. Tucker, and the legendary Sean Hannity. Great. Number one. Number one show. Sean's got the number one show. And Laura Ingraham is knocking them out of the park, Laura. [cheers and applause]

And you go over, Maria Bartiromo—[cheers and applause]—and the great Lou Dobbs. How good are they? Lou Dobbs. And many more. And many more. How about Greg? Greg used to hate me. Now, he's good. Oh, we can't forget ... We can't forget Judge Jeanine. [cheers and applause] I would be in such trouble if I forgot Judge Jeanine. No, these are ... And there are many more. I just ... Look, I'm just rattling some names off, but they're just terrific people. They're terrific people. But a man that I have to really say something very special about ... So I'm watching Fox & Friends early in the morning, very early in the 6:00 slot, because I'm out of there pretty good, and I see a handsome young man named Bob Kroll, Cops For Trump. [cheers and applause] And he's talking about this lousy mayor they've got. Now, he didn't quite say that, but I say it. He's talking about this lousy mayor that won't let the cops, the police, the law enforcement ... You know, my father always used to say, "Son ..." and he meant it too, "Never say cops. It's disrespectful. Say police officer." I said, "Okay Pop."

But honestly, the truth is with time, I love you guys whether you're cops, police officers, law enforcement. I'll call you whatever you want. It doesn't matter. You are so great, so respected. You don't even know how much our public loves you. You don't know it. You don't know it. You don't know it. [cheers and applause] But I see this guy, and I don't know if he's done a lot of television before, but he was very effective and very good. And he was saying how the police aren't being allowed to take care of this rally, and yet with President Obama and Bush and all these people, they were fine, fine. Everybody comes. They fall asleep at a rally. But they weren't allowed to do the job for us, and they went wild. So what I wanna do—[booing, then cheers and applause]—Go home to Mommy. Mommy says, "I saw you on television tonight. I love Trump. Don't you ever do that again." "Yes Mom. Yes Mom." But the job he did before the election, I came right here to Minnesota, and I pledged to address this really important issue, and it's the issue of law enforcement. And when I saw this man, this great gentleman on television pouring out his guts, pouring out his heart ... I don't know him. He knows I've been good to law enforcement. He knows I've been good to, as my father would say, "The police." He knows I love the cops. He knows that, and so does everyone else. I mean, it's so many shirts, so many red shirts, and there are plenty of people here without the red shirts, and I wanna just tell you, the respect that we have for law enforcement is unbound. It's unbound. Come up here. Bob, come up. [cheers and applause; "Cops for Trump" group comes onstage and shakes hands with Trump.] Say something.

Bob Kroll. What can I say after that? Tune in to Fox, 10:15 tonight. Shannon Bream, they asked us on. How can you thank this guy for everything he's done for law enforcement? Wonderful president. [cheers and applause]

The President. Thank you fellas. I'll see you later. Thank you.

"Cops for Trump" Member. Thank you sir. [cheers and applause]

The President. Thank you very much. Thank you. Great people. Thank you. What a group.

I think your very weak mayor made a mistake when he took them on. As you know, for many years, leaders in Washington brought large numbers of refugees to your state from Somalia — [booing] — without considering the impact on schools and communities and taxpayers. I promised you that as president, I would give local communities a greater say in refugee policy, and put in place enhanced vetting and responsible immigration controls. [cheers and applause]

And I've done that. Since coming into office, I have reduced refugee resettlement by 85%—[cheers and applause]—and as you know, maybe especially in Minnesota, I kept another promise. I issued an executive action, making clear that no refugees will be resettled in any city or any state without the express written consent of that city or that state. So speak to your mayor. You should be able to decide what is best for your own cities and for your own neighborhoods, and that's what you have the right to do right now. And believe me, no other president would be doing that.

If Democrats were ever to seize power, they would open the floodgates to unvetted, uncontrolled migration at levels you have never seen before. You think you have it bad now? You would never have seen anything like what they want to do. But in the Trump administration, we will always protect American families first, and that has not been done in Minnesota. [cheers and applause] We've also implemented the strongest screening and vetting mechanisms ever put into place. We are keeping terrorists, criminals, and extremists the hell out of our country. [cheers and applause] And I wanna thank the country of Mexico. The president of Mexico has been incredible. We have now, 27,000 Mexican soldiers. They're great, and they're tough, and they are now protecting our border, and those numbers have gone down like this. [cheers and applause] Thank you Mr. President. We will not make the mistakes made in European countries, that allow a violent ideology to take root in our country, on our shores. We're not gonna allow it to happen. [cheers and applause] And as you all know, to protect our citizens from those who would do harm to us, I instituted a very controversial, very hard-to-get, travel ban on some of the world's most dangerous countries. [cheers and applause]

And the other day, one of the fake news reporters in the back said ... They were talking about the travel ban, and they said, "Well you know, the president has lost in court." They said, "Where?" "On the travel ban." And he's right. I lost, and then I lost at the appellate division, and then I won at the United States Supreme Court. [cheers and applause] Right? And he knew that, but he said I lost on the ... And he was right. I lost, and then I lost again, but then I won, and we have the travel ban. But instead of saying, "He lost, and then he lost at the appellate, and then he won at the United States Supreme Court," he said, "He lost on the travel ban."

These are very dishonest people. Do you understand that? Very dishonest people. [booing] In the Republican party, we believe that those who seek to join our society must embrace our values, honor our history, and love our people. Democrats also support deadly sanctuary cities, which release dangerous criminal aliens into the heart of your communities, and we're not letting it happen anymore. [cheers and applause] Republicans believe American cities should be sanctuaries for Americans, not for criminal aliens. [cheers and applause] My administration is taking historic action to secure the border. We have reduced illegal border crossings by over 60% since May, and we are building the wall faster than anyone ever anticipated it could be built. [cheers and applause] And this is a serious wall. You've all seen it. It's going up rapidly, and you think that was easy? I had every Democrat in Congress fighting me, fighting me, fighting me. I had a lot of the rhinos fighting me. They say, "See, he's not getting it built. He's not getting ..." Let me tell you. You have every Democrat fighting you.

We took it from here, and we took it from there, and we took it from all over the place, and we got that thing. That's the biggest patchwork of financing you've ever seen, and that sucker is going up, and it is the finest, it is the strongest, it's largely 30 feet tall, which is the maximum height that they wanted. I went to the Border Patrol, and I sat down with 15 representatives of the Border Patrol, and I said, "What do you want? What's your ideal?" I actually said, "I wanna give you the Rolls Royce," and they killed me for that. They said, "It's not an American made product." Yeah, they happened to be right. No, they're right about that one. They're actually right there, Tom. But I said, "I wanna give you the Rolls Royce of walls. Tell me." And they told me everything, and then we built some alternative walls. We built all different types. We built about seven of them, and then we had climbers come in. The one that worked the best was the one we're building. It also, unfortunately ... The bad news, it's also the most expensive. But we got it for the right price. We got it for the right price. [cheers and applause]

It's steel, it's hardened concrete, it's deep, it's high, it's a thing of beauty. And it's gonna keep bad people out of our country. That's what it's gonna do. And the Democrats knew this. Most of the Democrats four years ago, they wanted a wall. Now all of a sudden, they don't want a wall. You know why they don't want a wall? Because I want it. That's the only reason. And I just thought of it a year ago. I said, "Man, this could've been so much easier." All I had to do is say, "We don't want a wall," and they would've given me all the financing I wanted for the wall. What was I thinking? We're not gonna build a wall, and they would have forced me to build it. I would've ... It's true. Under this administration, we are also ending the endless wars. We have to do it, folks. We have to do it. [cheers and applause] We have totally defeated the ISIS caliphate, and I did that in rather quick time if you remember, because we have the greatest fighting machine, now. When I came in and was totally depleted. We have great generals, we have great warfighters, and they did it so fast.

I flew to Iraq, I met with the generals, right? I met with the generals. I said, "I hear it's gonna take a year to two years." "Sir, we can do it in two weeks." I said, "What?" "They don't let us fight, sir. They don't let us fight. We wanna fight. They don't let us fight." I said, "I let you fight." I said, "How come if they say it's going to take anywhere from a year to two years, you say you can do it so quickly?" He said, "Sir, we're gonna hit them from the front. We're gonna hit them from the back. We're gonna hit them from the sides, from underground, from overground. We gonna hit the hell out of them." And they did. And we won very quickly.

But from now on, we want to fight where it is to the benefit of the United States of America, not to the benefit of other countries. And we will only fight to win. We're only gonna fight to win. We don't fight to win. We don't fight to win. The Turks have been fighting with the Kurds for two centuries, and Turkey, as you know, is a NATO ally. But I've been rough on them.

We've defeated 100% of that ISIS caliphate, and no longer have any troops in the area. We don't have any troops. The troops have been pulled out. Where Turkey is carrying out now a very tough campaign against the Kurds, get them out. [booing] So Turkey is right now waging a very tough campaign against the Kurds. We got along with the Kurds, and we helped the Kurds. And don't forget they're also fighting for their land. You know that. But they're fighting. So we have three choices. You're ready? Here are the three choices. We don't have any soldiers there because we've left. We won. We left. Take a victory, United States. We left. Take a victory, take a victory. Bring our troops back home.

I told this story yesterday, I have to sign letters, it's the hardest thing I have to do. I sign letters, "Dear Mr. and Mrs. Smith from Arkansas. Dear Mr. and Mrs. Jones from Alabama. Dear Mr. and Mrs. Somebody from some great state, I'm sorry to inform you, your son has been killed in combat. I'm so sorry." And every letter is individually done because sometimes the parents, they're grieving, and they get together with other parents, and I don't want to see that it's like the same letter. So we do different letters. It's the hardest thing I have to do. Hardest thing. It's the hardest thing I have ... I was telling Tom Cotton, it's the hardest thing that I have to do. And I sign those letters, and it just, it breaks your heart.

And by the way, there's a time to fight. Nobody fights harder than I do. But there's a time, and there's not necessarily a time. But I send these letters out, quite a few. And sometimes I send letters out, it's called "Blue-on-Green," where we're teaching people how to fight and then they turn the gun on our soldiers and shoot them in the back. And that's the hardest thing for a parent. I have all of them. I know everyone. That's the hardest thing for a parent when they get notification, because they learn how their child has died. When the so-called people that were teaching how to fight turn the gun on them, and shoot. We've had a lot of that, a lot of it in Afghanistan, more than we've ever had proportionally before. It's a horrible, horrible thing. But I have to sign these letters.

And sometimes I go out to a place, Dover Air Force Base, it's a very tough experience. Mike Pence goes, I go, other people go, Tom Cotton goes. We go out there, and we meet the parents and the families, the wives, the children, the sisters, the brothers. We meet them, and we talk to them, and their son or daughter is being flown in from some far-away place in a coffin, and these things are just impossible. I don't know how parents can do it, even. And I'll meet them. And we have a particular Colonel, that's all he does. So good. So professional. That's what he does. He said, "I greet the dead, sir. I greet the dead."

And what happens is this big incredible machine flies in, this tremendous cargo plane, and it flies in so powerful, so big. I'll be talking to some of the parents, and they'll act like they're fine. I said, "How are you doing?" "We're fine, sir. We're fine. We're really good." I say, "That's great." And I'll tell the Colonel, I'll say, "Colonel, I think they're doing great." "No sir, they're not gonna do great. You'll see." And I didn't know what he was talking about, this is the first time. Then we went outside to the runway, and this incredible machine is flying in, and it lands, and it comes over, and it pulls up, and we have military guards, we have incredible talented musicians that do this. That's what they do. And what happens is that door opens up, and the Colonel told me, he said, "Sir, when that door opens up, those same people that you think are okay, do things that you'll never see. You will hear sounds like you've never heard." That's what he does.

I saw that door open up with a coffin with a flag over it. The door was opened, and these beautiful soldiers, five or six on each side, lifting the coffin and walking down the runway, the plank, they call it, off this cargo plane. And I see parents make sounds, that were just 20 minutes ago absolutely fine, make sounds, scream and cry like you've never seen before. The Colonel was telling me that, "Sir, you'll see things that you've never seen before. A mother who was fine 20 minutes ago, you think, breaking the military line and jumping off, and then jumping onto a coffin of her son or her daughter, jumping on, on top of the flowers, on top of the American flag." I've seen this.

Then I have all these people that wanna stay. They wanna stay. And I don't wanna stay. We were supposed to be in Syria for 30 days. We've now been there for 10 years. We were supposed to be in Afghanistan for a short period of time. We're now going to be there for close to 19 years. It's time to bring them home. It's time to bring them home. [cheers and applause] It's true. Time to bring them home. [cheers and applause] We've done our job, we've defeated everyone that we're supposed to defeat. And now we are, we are policing, we are now policing. That's what we're doing. We're policing. And that, as I said, no more respect for the police, but these are military people, and those are police, but we are now policing. We're not fighting, we're policing. And you know what? After all of these years ... One other story, and I have to tell you. I go to Walter Reed on Friday, and I do it quite often. I gave out five Purple Hearts. And I meet people that are so beautiful, so amazing. I met five warriors, and one was so badly hurt, with the loss of arms and a leg, another one ... they're just very, very devastated. But these are great, great people. And I gave out the Purple Heart. And I see the parents, and I have to say, Walter Reed, I wanna just say, the doctors there, the job they do, you know, you hear so many complaints about doctors and about the vets, and the vets' care, and nobody's done better. We got choice for the vets. We did things for the vets that nobody thought would be possible. [cheers and applause]

But I saw these young men, and I gave them their Purple Hearts. And their parents were there crying. And one of them was so amazing. I said, "What's your problem?" "Sir, my face was blown apart. My nose was absolutely just blown apart." He said, "Sir, it's incredible." And I looked at him, I said, "That's the most beautiful nose I've ever seen. What do you mean?" He said, "A doctor worked on my face for 10 hours in the field. He said there were a thousand fragments." Now I don't know if that's right, but well, a lot. He meant a lot. "He said there were a thousand fragments. He rebuilt my nose with glue. He glued the bones together. He rebuilt my nose." I say, "You have the most beautiful nose I've ever seen," and it's true. And his father came over to me, he said, "Sir," father was crying, he said, "Sir, honestly, my son looks better now." [laughter] He said, "My son did not have a good-looking nose. Now look at it, it's beautiful, it's beautiful."

But these doctors at Walter Reed, and these Army, and Marine, and the medical doctors, they are unbelievably great people. And they see sights that you and I hopefully will never see. They see things that nobody will ever see, and there's nobody like them. And I have to give a shout-out to those people, there's nobody like them. [cheers and applause] So in the case of Turkey, and Syria, and the Kurds, we could send in a thousand troops for a military conflict with Turkey.

Crowd Member. [unintelligible]

The President. No, you don't want to do that. We could hit Turkey very hard financially. Or we could mediate a deal between Turkey and the Kurds. I like that. You know? Let's mediate a deal. But remember they've been fighting each other for hundreds of years, and we were artificially put there, in this case by President Obama. So we did our job. We knocked out. And I'll tell you another thing, we have to be treated fairly. We have to be treated fairly. We're not treated fairly by other nations. We captured many, many ISIS fighters. Most of them came from Europe. They came from Germany. They came from France. They came from all of these countries. And we called them, I called them myself in many cases, I said, "Take your fighters." They said, "We don't want them. You take them." I said, "No, no, no, we did you a big favor. They're citizens of Germany. They're citizens of France. They're citizens of these various countries in Europe. Take your fighters." "We don't want them, sir. We don't want them.' And I said, "How unfair are we treated? We do them a great favor, and they won't take the fighters."

So we're doing some things that are pretty amazing. Every once in a while you have to change course, and do what you have to do. The United States has spent 8 trillion dollars in the Middle East. We've lost thousands of brave soldiers, and tens of thousands of terribly wounded people, great people, their lives will never be the same. These wars produced only chaos and bloodshed. And all of the blood and treasure we sacrificed, made the Middle East, really it's less safe, it's less stable, and it's less secure. And I say it all the time. The single greatest mistake our country made in its history was going in to the quicksand of the Middle East. We spent 8 trillion dollars and lost thousands of lives. And by the way, the other side, we can talk about that, lost millions of lives. What did we do?

So we're gonna pull them out, and we're pulling people out, and we're trying to make good deals, and we're going to bring our soldiers back home, and we may need them for something else, and they'll be ready. Previous administrations lust for regime change, and also put historic Christian communities in vastly more danger than they were before we started. They are some of the biggest victims of these power vacuums and reckless foreign adventures. The Christians, the Christians. And we work hard with the Christians. We have tremendous evangelical support. We work hard with the Christians. [cheers and applause]

So we're slowly getting out of the Middle East. We're doing it carefully. And we're rebuilding our military like we have never rebuilt our military before. When I came into office, a very prominent general told me, because it looked like we could have a big conflict with someone, said, "Sir, we have no ammunition." We had old planes. We had planes that were so old, they didn't fly. We had people going to the desert, the plane graveyards, airplane graveyards, picking up parts. I never wanna hear a President of the United States hear those words again. I never wanna have a President hear the words, "Sir, we have no ammunition." Think of that. Think of that.

Now, thanks to more than two-and-a-half trillion dollars' worth of investment in our military, we have more ammunition, more missiles, more rockets, more tanks, more fighter jets, and more of everything else than we've ever had before. [cheers and applause] And we have no choice. You look around the world, and we have no choice, unfortunately. And the Democrats wanna dismantle our military. After years of building up other countries, we are finally building up our country. That's what we have to do. [cheers and applause]

We're replacing the disaster known as NAFTA with the brand-new U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, USMCA, a giant victory for our farmers, ranchers, workers in Minnesota. Congress should pass USMCA immediately. We hope that Nancy Pelosi can start thinking about passing some legislation instead of thinking about nonsense. [cheers and applause]

And to protect our industrial backbone, I placed tariffs on foreign aluminum and foreign steel. I'm also fighting back against years of chronic trade abuse from China. And the supply chain of China, which was unbreakable, is now breaking wide open. [cheers and applause] And they understand that. And I don't blame China for what's taken place over the last 25 years. I blame the people that led our country that let that happen, where hundreds of billions of dollars a year was taken from our country to build China. It's not China's fault.

In the previous administration, they put our nation's natural resources under lock and key, including thousands and thousands of acres in a place called Superior National Forest. Last year, I traveled to Duluth and announced that we would be ending this injustice, reopening Superior National Forest, and restoring mineral exploration for the iron ore mines of Minnesota. Tremendous jobs. [cheers and applause] And now the Iron Range is back in business. [cheers and applause] The last time I was here, a man came up to me, said, "Sir, President Obama took our heart away, took our life away.' I'll never forget it. A man, strong guy, had tears in his eyes. He said, "You gave us back our life," because they took it away from him. We gave it back. Best iron ore there is anywhere.

My administration is also fighting the Democrat socialist healthcare agenda that would obliterate Medicare. Republicans will protect Medicare, and we will always protect patients with preexisting conditions. [cheers and applause] And for those of you that have private healthcare, health insurance, 180 million people, they are going to end it, obliterate it, and most people are thrilled with it. We are going to leave it. You're gonna have your plan the way you want it. And there's no plan like those plans.

Virtually every top Democrat also now supports late-term abortion, ripping babies straight from the mother's womb, right up to the moment of birth. That is why I've asked Congress to prohibit extreme late-term abortion, because Republicans believe that every child is a sacred gift from God. [cheers and applause] Democrats are now the party of high taxes, high crime, open borders, late-term abortion, socialism, and blatant Washington corruption. The Republican Party is the party of the American worker, the American family, and it's the party of the American Dream. [cheers and applause]

For years, you watched as your politicians apologized for America. You remember that? Gee, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. Now you have a President who's standing up for America, we are standing up for Minneapolis, and we are standing up for the great state of Minnesota. [cheers and applause]

We begin this political campaign with the best record, the best results, the best agenda, and the only positive vision for America. We begin this campaign with, right now, almost three years of perhaps the most successful administration in the history of our country. [cheers and applause] Together, we will help millions more citizens from welfare to work, from dependence to independence, and from poverty to prosperity. [cheers and applause]

With your help, we will reelect, and we will elect, a Republican Congress to create a safe, modern, fair, and lawful system of immigration. We will enact trade deals that ensure more products are proudly stamped with that beautiful phrase, "Made in the USA." [cheers and applause] We will achieve new breakthroughs in science and medicine, finding new cures for childhood cancer, and ending the AIDS epidemic in America within 10 years. Nobody thought that could be done. Gonna be done. We will defend privacy, free speech, free assembly, religious liberty, and the right to keep and bear arms. [cheers and applause] And above all, we will never stop fighting for the values that bind us together as one America. We support, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States. [cheers and applause] We stand with the incredible heroes of law enforcement. [cheers and applause] We believe in the dignity of work and the sanctity of life. [cheers and applause]

We believe that children should be taught to love our country, honor our history, and always respect our great American flag. [cheers and applause] And we live by the words of our great national motto, "In God We Trust." [cheers and applause] We stand on the shoulders of American patriots who built this country into the greatest nation ever to exist in history. Our ancestors crossed the oceans, settled a continent, tamed the wilderness, revolutionized industry, pioneered science, won two world wars, defeated fascism and communism, and put a man on the face of the moon. [cheers and applause] Proud citizens like the people of Minnesota helped build this country, and together we are taking back our country. [cheers and applause] We are returning power to you, the American people.

With your help, your devotion, your drive, we are going to keep on working, we are going to keep on fighting, and we are going to keep on winning, winning, winning, winning. [cheers and applause] We are one movement, one people, one family, and one glorious nation under God. [cheers and applause] America is thriving like never before. And, ladies and gentlemen of Minnesota, I will tell you this with great certainty, the best is yet to come. [cheers and applause]

Crowd. [chanting] Four more years! Four more years! Four more years! Four more years!

The President. Thank you very much. And just in concluding, together we will make America wealthy again, we will make America strong again, we will make America safe again, and we will make America great again. Thank you, Minnesota. Thank you.

[Music: The Rolling Stones, You Can't Always Get What You Want.]