CROWD: USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA!
THE PRESIDENT: That's right, USA. And hello, Kentucky. Thank you. [applause]
And I'm thrilled to be back in the heartland with thousands of loyal, hard-working American patriots. [applause]
In just 24 days, the people of Kentucky . . . we love Kentucky . . . greatest horses in the world and plenty of other things . . . are going to elect an incredible slate of Republican candidates to protect your jobs, defend your borders, and continue making America great again. [applause]
Just hours ago, we celebrated another tremendous victory for the American people. You know what I'm talking about. We're having a lot of victories, folks. Can you handle it? [applause]
In the Oval Office of the White House, I welcomed home Pastor Andrew Brunson, great man, from Turkey. [applause]
He is now free from jail. Think of that, 35-year jail sentence, 35 years. Not anymore. He's back with his family, together with his wife, and he is on American soil. [applause]
And it's a beautiful family. They're all together. And I want to thank President Erdogan of Turkey. He was . . . he was terrific. We all worked together. It wasn't easy. It wasn't easy. That one wasn't easy. And we don't pay ransom. We don't pay ransom. [applause]
But I do . . . I want to thank the president. I want to thank the people of Turkey. And I think we'll probably now really establish a terrific relationship with Turkey. We appreciate it. [applause]
This evening, in the wake of Hurricane Michael, our thoughts are with our fellow citizens in Florida, Georgia, Alabama, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia. They got hit hard. They got hit hard, especially when you look at . . . when you look at Florida, did you ever see anything like that? And you look at Georgia, Georgia got hit hard. That was some wind force. Up to 200 miles . . . almost 200 miles an hour, one of the most vicious we've ever been hit with.
So I just want to thank all of those incredible people, the people of FEMA, the first responders. . . [applause] . . . law enforcement, and all of the thousands of federal employees and National Guard, all of the personnel, they're now on the ground, they're supporting this really major recovery. I will say, you have thousands of electrical trucks all lined up, they're following in, they're getting the roads cleared, not easy. And they have done some job. You had 600,000 people without electric. In one day, they got it down to 250,000. That's some job, one day. [applause]
And we will not rest until the job is done. We're here tonight to discuss everything we have accomplished together in less than two years' time. Think of it. Think of it. [applause]
And I'm here tonight, although I've been back many times, I love this state. . . [applause] . . . to thank the people of Kentucky for 2016. We didn't have to wait too long for that. [applause]
We didn't have to wait too long for that. Remember, the vote is in, the polls have closed in Kentucky, Donald Trump is the winner of Kentucky. [applause]
That was fast. That was fast. And to make sure that America's extraordinary comeback, we want to make sure it continues full speed ahead. We don't want Democrats. . .[booing] . . . that are coming from a different place, we don't want them getting in office. All they'll do is abstract. Under Republican leadership, America is booming. It's thriving. [applause]
America is winning again because we are finally putting America first. [applause]
CROWD: USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA!
THE PRESIDENT: Our country's unemployment rate has just fallen to 3.7 percent, the lowest in over 50 years. Fifty years. [applause]
Median household income has reached an all-time high. That's pretty good. It means you're making more money than you've ever made before. I don't know how much better, but we're going to get it up higher. [applause]
We have eliminated a record number of job-killing regulations. [applause]
And some of you will love this, and I'm proud of it, these are great people, it's a great resource when properly used. We have ended the war on clean, beautiful coal. [applause]
We're putting our miners back to work like never before. They're going back, back, back. And after years of rebuilding other nations, we are finally rebuilding our nation. And we are doing it with American iron, aluminum, and look at what happened to steel. You see the comeback with steel? Everyone's going back to work. The steel mills are opening up, U.S. Steel, Nucor. They're all opening up their steel mills. That was faster than I thought.
And we're stopping the dumping. And if they want to dump, they can but they got to pay a lot. So if you think about it, so true, despite our size, America is now the hottest country anywhere in the world. This is where people want to be. [applause]
Since my election, we've picked up in worth $11.7 trillion. Think of that. Think of it. [applause]
And we are going to get along great with China, but we're doing things with China, and they've dropped about $20 trillion. But you know what? They're going to be just fine, but they have to treat us fairly. They have to treat us fairly. Right? [applause]
That's right. And every day, we are living by our motto, promises made, promises kept. [applause]
CROWD: Trump! Trump! Trump! Trump! Trump! Trump!
THE PRESIDENT: And you look back there at the fake news media, look at them. [booing]
Look at them. It's like the Academy Awards every time. You know, I'd like to walk into a place one night and not have any of these guys. [applause]
Boy. It gets bigger and bigger. But even they have said that President Trump, and you know they probably get fired the next day, that President Trump made promises during the campaign, and I've actually produced more than the promises I made. How often do you hear that? [applause]
And we all produced it together. We have incredible people. Mitch and Rand, and we all produced it together. We have a great team.
But we need more of them. We need more Republican votes. We have a majority that's essentially, Rand, not a majority. If somebody has a cold, we don't have a majority, right? So we have to get some more Republicans in there, and we're here for some good ones tonight.
On Monday night at the White House, we kept one of the biggest and most historic promises of all. Do you know what we're talking about, right? Never has a man been treated so badly. America watched as we proudly swore in the newest member of the United States Supreme Court, Justice Brett Kavanaugh. [applause]
A great, great gentleman. What happened to him was so unfair. I've never seen anything like it. And we stuck with him all the way because we knew the facts. We stuck with him all the way. [applause]
And Rand Paul and Mitch, they stuck with him. No doubts about it. No doubts. Remember that. Remember that. He now sits alongside Justice Neil Gorsuch to defend your sacred rights and your God-given freedom. [applause]
What the crazy, radical Democrats did to Justice Kavanaugh is a national disgrace. From the moment Brett Kavanaugh was known, well, you know what happened. We announced the name, we nominated him, and literally from the moment he was nominated, they didn't even know. It's actually, if you think of it, it's from before he was nominated, nobody knew anything about who it was going to be.
I didn't even make my decision yet, and they started saying horrible things about whoever the person might be. They were on a mission to obstruct, resist, delay, demolish, and destroy. The Democrats have become totally consumed by their chilling lust for power.
And I'll tell you something, we have a man, one of the most powerful men in the world, it's OK, comes from Kentucky, that's not bad. Got to respect that. And he heard about this, he says I want to be there. He's one of yours. He's joining us tonight. He's rock-ribbed Kentucky leader. He's been a leader for a long time. There's nobody tougher. There's nobody smarter. He refused to cave to the radical Democrats' shameful campaign of political and personal destruction. He stared down, tough cookie . . . I know tough people, he's tough, he's Kentucky tough, which is about as tough. . . [applause]
He stared down the angry left-wing mob. He never blinked, and he never looked back, and he got us a man who will be one of our great, great Supreme Court justices, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. Come up here. [applause]
MITCH MCCONNELL: Thank you, Kentucky. Aren't we proud of President Trump? [applause]
Let me just add, thanks to President Trump and a Republican Senate, 84 new federal judges already this Congress. [applause]
That's already a record, Mr. President. Keep sending them our way and we'll keep confirming them and change the court system forever. Thank you for being here. [applause]
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. And Mitch is a true fighter for Kentucky. He loves this state. And you know, we'll be running together in 2020. That will be a lot of fun. [applause]
Thank you, Mitch. On this Election Day, November 6th, every American faces a simple choice. You can either vote for Democrat mob rule or you can vote for a Republican Party that stands proudly for law and order, fairness, freedom, and justice. Simple as that. [applause]
If Nancy Pelosi. . . [booing] . . . cryin' Chuck Schumer, and the radical Democrats take over Congress, they will try to raise your taxes, they will immediately restore job-killing regulations, they will impose, believe it or not, socialism, take away your health care, your health care and your whole life will be unaffordable, shut down immediately, oh, forget this one, shut down your coal mines in about two minutes. [booing]
You see what's going on with the Second Amendment? They will destroy your Second Amendment. [booing]
And the Democrats want to open our borders to a flood of deadly drugs and ruthless gangs. [booing]
The fact is, Democrats have become the party of crime. They have. Republicans are the party of safety, and we are the party of jobs, jobs, jobs. And we're thrilled to be joined this evening by several terrific Kentucky Republicans. First of all, Kentucky Senate President Robert Stivers. Where is Robert? Where is Robert? Thank you.
Congressman Tom Massie. They've got them spread all over the place. Where's Tom? Doing a great job, thank you. They're doing a great job.
Congressman Hal Rogers. [applause]
Thank you, Hal.
Congressman James Comer, James Comer. [applause]
Thanks, James. James, the whole group, they have been incredible, I'll tell you what. We got tax cuts, biggest tax cuts in the history of our country. We got so many other things. ANWR. We got rid of the individual mandate. We had Obamacare repealed and replaced. [applause]
We didn't get one Democrat vote, but we'll get it done. We had a little disappointment that night. A little bit of a disappointment. But it's essentially done anyway, because when you get rid of the mandate, the individual mandate, it's done.
And what we have done with the remnants of Obamacare is we've kept your premiums down far below what anybody would have thought, through good management, through Secretary Alex Azar. [applause]
Now a friend of mine who has helped us so much, he's really smart, but I have to say his wife, the last couple of days, has become maybe the biggest star in the family. She's been so . . . I said, Rand, you have to get her on television more. She's become the biggest star in the family. Yes. [applause]
A man that really has been a friend of mine, a special friend, and he's really something. He's a great guy. Not everybody knows that, believe it or not. Not . . . it's like Mitch, not everybody knows that Mitch is a great guy. These are great people. There's something that happens to you when you grow up in Kentucky, I guess, right? These are great people. [applause]
But, you know, I call Rand a senator of tremendous common sense. That's a great compliment, common sense. And you know what? Hey, Rand, he's young, he's spry, run up here for a second, Rand. Come up here, Rand.
RAND PAUL: The president said he's tired. I could take 20 or 30 minutes, right?
Now, I'm going to tell you a very quick story about the president, and this shows how he's different than any politician and why you're all out here. I went to him with an idea on health care. I said, let's let individuals buy it in a group. Let them join an association. Let competition drive prices down.
The president said, it's a great idea. What did he staff say? Oh, no, we could never do that. What did all the middle managers say? Oh, we could never do that. And you know what the president said? Make it so. And he did it. [applause]
THE PRESIDENT: But it's true. We were talking about health care and Rand had this concept that . . . he was so far advanced, even the experts didn't know, and after they checked, they said, you know, he's right. He's right. Association health care, where you can team up with other companies, you can team up . . . you go in, you get phenomenal pricing, you have no problems with crossing borders, so you get every insurance company, and it's taken off, Rand, and that was Rand's initial idea. That's true. And it's doing really well. [applause]
Inexpensive and terrific. And another man, a very special friend of mine, he was a great businessman, decided to win and run in Kentucky. By the way, does that sound familiar? This guy was a really successful guy and he saw things happening in Kentucky, and he said, you know, I can do a tremendous job, and he really has done. And he doesn't want to be political. He wants to get the job done.
This state is doing so well. You have your lowest unemployment numbers in history. You have your best incomes in history. You have jobs and companies flowing back in. And all of that wouldn't matter if I didn't like him, because if I didn't like him, I'd say, forget about him, right? But I like him a lot. He's a terrific man and a terrific governor, Matt Bevin. [applause]
Thank you, Matt. Thanks, Matt. So we're here for a truly special guy. These are all special people. Something about this place. Boy, did we win by a lot. What did we win by, 38? Thirty-eight. We won by a lot. [applause]
I have a feeling that Mitch McConnell in two years is going to do very good, very good. He's going to do very good. [applause]
You know, he goes down as the greatest leader, in my opinion, in history. What we've done is incredible together. But he's better when I'm president than he ever was when anyone else was president. Doing much better. [applause]
But I want to introduce the leader that we're all here for tonight. And all of our congressmen know exactly what I'm talking about. He has been so strong on all of the things that we stand for, tax cuts, regulation cuts. Every single event that we passed, and it's record numbers of events, he's been at the forefront, and he's got a little bit of a tough race with a Nancy Pelosi-picked figure. [booing]
And I guess they did a little changing, and they did a lot of this and that, the Democrats do, that's the only way they can win. But I'll tell you what, I've seen the . . . you know, outside, you have 25,000, 35,000, some crazy number of people, and we set up movie screens. We set up beautiful movie screens. And to those people outside, we love you. We love you. [applause]
You have to see the lines, they go all the way back, many miles. But a lot of them stayed and they're watching screens outside. I like your location better, do you agree? [applause]
But this is a special guy, and normally I wouldn't make a trip, but here I have two reasons. One was I love the state of Kentucky. And the other was that Andy Barr is a great congressman. Andy, come on up. [applause]
CROWD: Andy! Andy! Andy! Andy! Andy! Andy!
ANDY BARR: Mr. President, welcome to Kentucky's Sixth Congressional District. [applause]
A swing district that two years ago, you sent a message to the nation because you won it by 15 points. And welcome to Madison County, a county, Mr. President, that you won by a whopping 32 points. [applause]
Home of Eastern Kentucky University, where we are right now, the most pro-veteran university in America. [applause]
Home to workers who relocated from Eastern Kentucky, who value a paycheck to put food on the table, and, Mr. President, thank you for ending the war on coal. [applause]
And Madison County, home of the Department of Criminal Justice Training, the Kentucky State Police, two awesome police departments, and Democrat Sheriff Mike Coyle, the sheriff of the year, who says, Mr. President, to keep the drugs out of our communities, we need to build the wall. [applause]
CROWD: Build the wall! Build the wall! Build the wall! Build the wall! Build the wall! Build the wall! Build the wall! Build the wall! Build the wall!
ANDY BARR: And when I first met you . . . when I first met you, Mr. President, I told you about our drug problem in Kentucky, and you listened. And six months later, I was in the White House with you when you declared a national public health emergency to fight the drug epidemic, the opioid epidemic. And we worked together and we funded the most significant investment to fight a drug crisis in American history. [applause]
This president is a man of action. A man of action. [applause]
Other people resist, but this president gets results. [applause]
And so I want to turn it over to him, but I just want to remember one special night two years ago in Cleveland, the moment I knew this man would be the next president of the United States. Remember? Remember what he said. He said that my opponent has a slogan, and that slogan is I'm with her. Remember what he said next? What he said was, I have a different slogan, and that slogan is: I'm with you, the American people. [applause]
Mr. President, I'm with you to fight for the American people! [applause]
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. That's pretty good. Now, you know, the one thing that Andy didn't say is that she paid a lot of money for that slogan. And the morning after I came up with my little feel on it, they changed the slogan. It was gone. It was gone. But we weren't gone, because this was the single greatest movement in the history of American politics. [applause]
And our slogan was a great slogan. I think it's the greatest slogan that anybody will ever come up with. Although in two years, we have a new one, you know what that is. Ours is make America great again. Look at all these hats. And at the rate we're going, it's going to happen fast, it's called keep America great. It's got to be that. Right? [applause]
So I'm here for Andy Barr. And that's a vote for safe communities, strong borders, and Kentucky values. Andy Barr. A vote for Andy's opponent, I had to do a little checking, who's he running against? Who? This is an extreme liberal named Amy McGrath. [booing]
Chosen by Nancy Pelosi, Maxine Waters, that's a real beauty. . .[booing] . . . and the radical Democrat mob. Now, Amy supports a socialist takeover of your health care, which by the way means your taxes are going to triple if you're lucky. She supports open borders. She needs the tax hikes to cover the through-the-roof garbage that you want no part of. And she wants to immediately decimate your now-thriving coal industry.
So if you want to stop Nancy Pelosi from becoming speaker of the House . . . no, we can't do that. That will not be good. Then you have to get out and vote for Andy Barr, a great man. Great man.
You know, actually, I must tell you, Kentucky, you're always involved at the middle of politics. The election of Andy is a very important thing, could make the difference between unbelievable continued success and, frankly, failure, where we fight for two more years with these people, with these obstructionists.
So it's really an important race. It could be the congressman up . . . I don't know if they're worried about them. They're so far ahead in their races. We don't have to talk about them anymore, right? We don't have to talk about them.
We don't have to talk about them, but we were talking backstage, and they said it. This could be the most important race there is. So get out and vote. We can't let this happen. [applause]
A majority of House Democrats have already signed up for socialist health care. By the way, it doesn't work anywhere in the world. Just so you understand. It doesn't work. It's good if you don't mind waiting like five weeks to see a doctor. They come from socialist countries. Frankly, they come from Canada, because they want to use our doctors. They come from all over the world.
And we're making it now better. And they want to destroy everything that's been built, all of that great foundation. They want to outlaw the private insurance plans of 2.4 million Kentucky residents. And some of those plans are fantastic and inexpensive. The Democrat plan would obliterate Medicare and terminate Medicare Advantage for nearly 250,000 Kentucky seniors who depend on it. Republicans want to protect Medicare, and we will, for our great seniors who have earned it and who have paid for it. [applause]
And Republicans only will always protect patients with pre-existing conditions. We're going to protect it. [applause]
The new platform of the Democrat Party is radical socialism and it's open borders. Democrats want to abolish ICE and they want to turn America into a giant sanctuary for criminal aliens and MS-13 thugs. And don't kid yourself, that's what's going to happen. And they want to get rid of ICE. They think ICE isn't nice. Did you ever see what they're dealing with? First of all, they're incredible patriots. They have a job that nobody in this group wants. [applause]
They go in there and they meet the most vile, most vicious people on earth like it's a day at the office. You don't want to do it. You don't want to . . . yeah, you might do it. This guy might do it. You want a job? I'll get it to you with a . . . look at this guy, this guy will do it. I'm looking at . . . he might do it. [applause]
You might do it. But you don't want to do it. They go in there and they liberate towns. These people came in by the thousands, and we're taking them out by the thousands. They're getting out. They're getting out. [applause]
Republicans believe our country should be a sanctuary for law-abiding Americans, not criminal aliens. And Republicans . . . and you know this, you know this . . . Republicans stand proudly with the heroes of ICE and Border Patrol and law enforcement. You know that.
One by one, we are finding the illegal alien criminals, predators, drug dealers, MS-13 killers, and we are sending them back home. We are liberating America's cities and towns. That's what we're doing. [applause]
The only immigration policy Democrats support is catch and release. How about that one? You catch a criminal thug, you take their name, and then you release them, say please show up in five years to court. Now, number one, it's ridiculous. Number two, they never show up. What a mess.
We have the dumbest immigration laws in the world. The world laughs at us, but we're getting them changed. We need some more Republicans. We need some votes. [applause]
And if you elect Republicans this November, we will pass legislation to end catch and release. We will . . . I'll tell you, have you heard the other one? Right? Lottery. Lottery. Lottery. OK? Names, you pick them out, coming to the United States.
Now, let me ask you, these countries set up lotteries. Do you really believe they're giving us their finest? No. This is a lottery. This was Chuck Schumer's special deal for this country. [booing]
And we need to elect people so we get rid of it. We got . . . maybe just get rid of it. How crazy. How crazy. How . . . and then you have chain migration. You know what that is, right? So we had a man, horrible person, the west side in Manhattan, where I live, where I love, right along the Hudson River. He's driving a car down this roadway where the speed limit is 35. He's going about 70. And he decides to make a right turn into a beautiful park that goes along the river with lots of people. Many people were killed.
Nobody ever talks about the people that were horribly injured. They lost legs, they lost arms. These are people that were running. They want to keep themselves in shape. They were working out. They were walking hand-in-hand together. They're dead. They're horribly wounded. Many will never, ever recover.
Now, what happens? What happened to him? It will be years of litigation. He came in, and then he took chain migration, and he brought his mother, and his father, and his brother, and his sister, and his aunt, and his grandfather. None of them working. It ended up being approximately 22 people who came in. It's called a chain. Isn't that wonderful? A chain. [booing]
And we're stuck with them. We're stuck with these people. And I don't want a chain. I want people to come into our country on a merit-based system. [applause]
And I want them to help all of the great companies that are moving back into the United States. They're moving to Michigan, they're moving to Ohio, they're moving to Pennsylvania, they're moving to North and South Carolina. They're coming in. They're moving to Florida. And, yes, they're moving into Kentucky. [applause]
And with what we've done, we've become so successful that we need people to come in with all these companies that are coming in. But we want great people that love our country, that respect our country, and that want to work. [applause]
This election is about safety and it is about prosperity. Since the last election . . . and these are numbers that the fakers back there, the fake news, would never have allowed me to say. [booing]
They'd never in a million years, if I ever said this during the campaign, they would've had headlines. We've created over 4.2 million new jobs and lifted over 4 million Americans off of food stamps. [applause]
You know what that means? The second, food stamps. It means, number one, we get rid of an unbelievable cost. You wouldn't even believe it. But you know what else? You got a lot of happy people that are working. It's a great thing. It's a great thing. [applause]
We've added nearly 600,000 manufacturing jobs. Remember, manufacturing's never going to come back? Never going to come back, remember? [applause]
The previous administration, oh, you think that's going to happen? You'd need a magic wand. Well, I guess we had the magic wand. We had the magic wand. [applause]
And these are great jobs and these are important jobs. Manufacturing jobs, companies pouring back in. Manufacturing. African-American unemployment has reached its lowest level ever recorded in history. [applause]
African-American poverty has reached its lowest level in history. Hispanic-American and Asian-American unemployment has reached its lowest level in history. [applause]
I can't believe I'm still saying this. I am so sorry, I apologize to the women in the room. Remember, I got 52 percent . . . remember, they kept saying, he's not . . . the fake news . . . that's right. Remember he said . . . they were all saying he will not do well with women? Wow, did we do well with women. Did we do well. Fake news. We did really well with women. [applause]
But, unfortunately, the women's unemployment, Mitch, is not at a historic low. It's only the best number in 65 years. [applause]
We let down women. We let down women. Sixty-five years, 3.6 percent. As the charts grow just a little bit, it will be historic very soon. The only reason to vote Democrat is if you're tired of winning. [applause]
You know about winning. You really know about winning. Those horses win. You people are winners. I'm just afraid that Kentucky is winning too much.
CROWD: No!
THE PRESIDENT: You're going to send Matt Bevin to see Rand Paul and Mitch McConnell, and they're going to all come to the Oval Office to see me, and they're going to say, Mr. President, we can't do it anymore. Kentucky is winning too much. They can't do it. They don't like it. They don't want to do it anymore.
They're going to say, we're winning so much, we just can't stand it. I'm going to say, Mitch and Matt and Rand, I'm sorry. We're going to keep winning. We're going to win more and more and more. We're going to keep winning. I'm sorry, folks. And I will send them happily back to Kentucky. [applause]
You're winning a lot. We won today. We won today with the great pastor, Pastor Brunson. Last week, I announced that we are replacing the horror show, one of the worst trade deals ever made, known as NAFTA, with an incredible, brand-new U.S. Mexico-Canada agreement called the USMCA, USMCA. [applause]
And even the Democrats are saying, wow, what a good deal that is. They can't believe it. We actually, Mitch, get bipartisan support. Can you believe it? Although, if it's too good, they won't support it. That's the problem. No, I will say, even Chuck Schumer liked it. Can you believe that one? He said that's a good deal.
We've taken the toughest ever action to crack down on China's abusive trade practices. [applause]
China . . . and I have great respect for China, we all do, and I have great respect and like him for President Xi, the absolute head . . . this is an absolute head of China. But you know what? They've been making $300 billion to $500 billion a year, taking it out of our country. We have rebuilt China. [booing]
And I don't blame China. They can get away . . . I blame our past leaders, because they should never have let it happen. I don't blame China. [applause]
And thanks to our strong trade and economic policies, Brady Industries recently broke ground on a new billion-dollar aluminum mill that will create up to 1,500 jobs right next to Ashland, Kentucky. You know where we're talking about, right? [applause]
Right? Ashland. Under Republican leadership, we also passed the biggest package of tax cuts and tax reforms in the history of our country. Bigger than any have ever been passed. We have taken historic action to reduce the price of prescription drugs. You saw three weeks ago, Pfizer, Novartis, a lot of drug companies announced a very substantial increase. Then I said to Secretary Alex Ocasa . . . and I said to Alex Azar, this is no good. This is no good. We got to do something. I want to call them.
And I called the head of Pfizer, big company . . . I guess like the biggest . . . big, big drug company. I called Novartis. I called the heads of these companies, and they said, sir, sir, we will immediately drop the price back to where it was. Did you ever hear of that? And Rand Paul, it's the first time I realized how powerful it was to be the president of the United States. [applause]
No, they . . . they reduced . . . now, I . . . and by the way, I kid, but I do, I respect that they did that. I really appreciate it. And now because of what Secretary Azar is doing, you're going to see drug pricing, prescription drugs going down. You know, we have countries . . . we have countries on this planet, the exact same pill, the exact same prescription, made in the exact same factory or plant, in Canada and in other countries all over the world, is much less, sometimes 50 percent, sometimes more than that, it's much less than what Americans pay.
We're getting rid of the middleman. We're doing a number . . . I'm going to be hated so much by some people in this country that made a fortune. But we're getting drug prices way down. And we started it last Friday with the signing of two bills. [applause]
And something that the congressman really helped me with, all of them in the room and Andy, in particular, we help right now get critically ill, terminal patients access to life-saving treatments. We just passed right to try. [applause]
Right to try. I hope nobody has to use it in this room. But this is a person who's terminally ill . . . we have the greatest drug companies and the greatest research in the world by far, nobody close. But we have a pipeline that would take 12 to 15 years to get it approved and through the pipeline. We have that down, I think, to four years and maybe less, but we have to be careful.
But if we had something that really showed great promise toward a problem that somebody had, who's terminally ill, for 44 years, they've been trying to get this passed. They couldn't. Not as easy as it sounds. Between the insurance companies, the liabilities, the country itself, the lawsuits.
So I got everybody in a room, we got to get life . . . this is really important stuff. Excuse me, how many of you know friends? If they have money, they travel all over the world, begging and looking for a cure. They want hope. If they don't have money, they go home, they have no hope. And we got right to try passed a month-and-a-half ago and already it's had an incredible impact. [applause]
Incredible impact, 44 years. So now a patient is terminally ill, we have something that's looking really good, we make them sign a document, very important document, and they go in and we work with them and we see if we can help them. And we've had some incredible results already.
So I just want to thank Andy Barr and all of the congressmen here and Mitch and Rand, because we got it passed. We got it passed. [applause]
But to me that was a big thing. Many, many, many years they worked on it, they couldn't get it done.
We also passed veterans' choice, giving our veterans the right to see a private doctor instead of waiting online for 12 days, for 24 days, for 38 days. We have our great veterans . . . we're doing a great job with our veterans . . . we have our . . . but this was one of the most important things . . . because they'd be waiting in line for sometimes months if you can believe it.
We had people waiting in line and they weren't very sick. By the time they saw a doctor, they were terminally ill. Now, if there's a line, if there's a way, because we have great doctors in the V.A. That's one thing we . . . I'll tell you, everybody tells me. You can't get to them.
Now, if there's a wait, you go to a local doctor, you get yourself taken care of, and we pay for the bill. We pay for the bill. [applause]
That was another one. That was another one. Took over 40 years. I used to say to people, why don't we do that? I thought I was so smart. I said, listen, I got a great idea. These lines are terrible, 28 days, 30 days. I got a great idea. It's the greatest idea I think I've ever had. We're going to have them go to a private doctor instead of waiting on line. Sir, we've been trying to get that passed for 40 years. Oh, you've heard about it before? Everybody heard . . . they couldn't get it passed.
But we're going at getting things passed. We got it passed. Rand and Mitch and Andy, we got it passed. And the landmark V.A. accountability law to ensure anyone who mistreats our veterans will be held accountable. [applause]
Jim, you mistreated our veteran, Jim. Jim, you're fired, get out. [applause]
We just secured $700 billion and $716 billion, two years, to fully rebuild the American military. [applause]
Bigger, stronger, more powerful than ever before, and we are giving our warriors their largest pay raise in over a decade. [applause]
And at my direction . . . and we need Rand and we need Mitch's help, but it's really popular . . . let them know how popular this is . . . you know, it's all about space. It's all about space. Defense, offense, everything, it's going to soon be all about space. So let Rand and Mitch know about this. Ready?
At my direction, the Pentagon is now working to create the sixth branch of the American armed forces known as the Space Force. [applause]
Now they have to do it. I put them on the spot. I put them on the spot. Now, they have to do it. No, it's very popular. One of the biggest applause I get wherever I go is when I talk about the Space Force.
And, by the way, China, already started. Russia, already started. They've got to start, but we have the greatest people in the world. We make the greatest equipment in the world. We make the greatest rockets and missiles and tanks and ships in the world. [applause]
I withdrew the United States from the horrible, one-sided Iran nuclear deal. You know, when I came to office, weeks before I was given rundowns of what's happening, and Iran was just a question of when will they take over the entire Middle East?
They're not thinking about that anymore, folks. They're not thinking about it anymore. They've got a little disaster going. They have riots in the street. Their currency is shot. And they'll be coming to us some day, probably not too far out, and they'll say we'd like to make a deal. And that's fine. That's good. But a real deal. Not the joke of a deal that was made by the past administration. [applause]
And we have recognized the capital of Israel and opened the American embassy in Jerusalem. [applause]
Right? Together we have made extraordinary progress, but we're just getting started. If you vote to elect Republican House and Republican Senate, we will continue to cut your taxes, cut your regulations, and raise your incomes very, very substantially. [applause]
We, unlike the Democrats, will protect Medicare and protect Social Security. Remember what I said during the debates? We will protect them. We will defend your Second Amendment and protect your right to free speech and religious liberty. [applause]
With your help, Mitch McConnell, Rand Paul, and all of the people that work so well with us will continue to confirm incredible pro-Constitution judges, not radical far-left judges who will rewrite your Constitution and replace your Kentucky values. Not going to happen.
Eighty-four judges . . . think of that, it's a record . . . it's a record . . . and we actually have a lot to go, 84 judges approved. What a difference. Going to be, by the time we finish, maybe 50 percent of the court. Do you know what that is? Fifty percent.
We will fully secure the border. We will pass Kate's law, stop sanctuary cities, end the visa lottery, end chain migration, and we will keep the criminals, drug dealers, and terrorists the hell out of our country. [applause]
We will lift millions more of our citizens from welfare to work, dependence to independence, and from poverty to prosperity. [applause]
But to achieve this future, to continue the greatest movement in the history of our country and maybe of any country, you need to vote Republican. [applause]
For years, you watched as your leaders apologized for America. Now you have a president who is standing up for America. [applause]
We are standing up for your values. We are standing up for the great people of Kentucky. And we are proudly standing up for our national anthem. [applause]
On November 6th, I need you to get your friends, get your family, get your neighbors, get your coworkers, and get out and vote for Andy Barr. [applause]
Great man. A vote for a Republican Congress is a vote for more jobs, more wealth, and more products made right here in the good, old USA. It's about to respect our laws and to respect the heroes of law enforcement. They are heroes. [applause]
And a vote for Republicans is a vote to reject the Democrat politics of hatred, anger, and division, and to celebrate the greatness and the glory of being an American. [applause]
It is not up to the media, it's not up to the pundits, it's up to you to decide your own fate. You have the power with your vote to defend your family, defend your country, defend your values, your faith, and to defend your dignity.
Loyal citizens like you helped build this country. And together, we are taking back our country, returning power to the American people. [applause]
This great state was settled by really . . . I mean, how tough, how smart . . . by tough, tough men and even tougher women, by the way. [applause]
But it was settled by tough men, pioneer women who braved the wilderness and defied the dangers to build a life and a home. They didn't have a lot of money. They didn't have a lot of luxury. But they all had one thing in common: They loved their families, they loved their country, and they loved their God. [applause]
These courageous Kentucky patriots did not shed their blood, sweat, and tears so that we could sit at home while others try to erase their legacy and destroy our proud American heritage. For the sake of our freedom, and for the sake of our children, we are going to work, we are going to fight, and we are going to win, win, win. [applause]
We will not bend. We will not break. We will never give in. We will never give up. We will never back down. We will never surrender. And we will always fight on to glorious victory, because we are American, and our hearts bleed red, white, and blue. [applause]
We are one people, one family, and one glorious nation under God. And 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, Kentucky. Vote for Andy Barr. [applause]
NOTE: The President spoke at Alumni Coliseum on the campus of Eastern Kentucky University, Richmond, KY.
This transcript was prepared for the American Presidency Project by Maryam Eapen.
Donald J. Trump (1st Term), Remarks at a "Make America Great Again" Rally in Richmond, Kentucky Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/332455