President Trump delivered a campaign-style speech Saturday on the White House South Lawn in his first public event since being diagnosed with COVID-19. Read the transcript of President Trump’s remarks as delivered below.
Will be in Sanford, Florida on Monday for a very BIG RALLY! https://t.co/TTOlHJT8kr
– Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 9, 2020
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Thank you.
AUDIENCE: USA! USA! USA!
THE PRESIDENT: Well, thank you very much. And keep that enthusiasm going. Get out and vote. We got to vote. We got to vote these people into oblivion. (Applause.) Vote them into oblivion. Got to get rid of them. So bad for our country.
First of all, I’m feeling great. I don’t know about you. How’s everyone feeling? Good? (Applause.)
And I’m honored to welcome – we call this a peaceful protest – to the White House in support of the incredible men and women of law enforcement and all of the people that work so well with us. And I have to tell you, our black community, our Hispanic community, thank you very much. Thank you. (Applause.)
But before going any further, I want to thank all of you for your prayers. I know you’ve been praying, and I was – (applause) – in that hospital. I was watching down over so many people. And I went out to say hello to those people, and I took a little heat for it, but I’d do it again, let me tell you. I’d do it again. (Applause.)
And on behalf of myself and the First Lady, it just has been really an incredible outpouring. And we’re starting very, very big with our rallies and with our everything, because we cannot allow our country to become a socialist nation. (Applause.) We cannot let that happen. And that’s what would happen – or worse. By the way, or worse.
I want you to know our nation is going to defeat this terrible China virus, as we call it. (Applause.) And we’re producing powerful therapies and drugs, and we’re healing the sick, and we’re going to recover. And the vaccine is coming out very, very quickly, in record time, as you know. It’s coming out very, very soon. We have great, great companies doing it, and they’ll be distributing it, and we will – through our military – very, very rapidly.
Through the power of the American – the American spirit, I think more than anything else, science, medicine will eradicate the China virus once and for all. We’ll get rid of it. All over the world, you see big flare-ups in Europe, big flare-ups in Canada – a very big flare-up in Canada; you saw that today. A lot of flare-ups. But it’s going to disappear; it is disappearing. And vaccines are going to help, and the therapeutics are going to help a lot.
I just want to thank everyone this afternoon. What beautiful colors. Where did you get that color, Candace? (Applause.) Where did that come from? That’s – what a beautiful color. I want to get one of them. I want to put one of them on instead of a white shirt. I want to thank you, though, seriously.
Every day, more black and Latino Americans are leaving behind left-wing politicians and their failed ideology. (Applause.) That’s what they are. They failed for many years and many, many decades.
Democrats have run nearly every inner city in America – and I mean for a hundred years – and their policies have delivered nothing but calamity, poverty, and trouble. Sleepy Joe Biden has betrayed black and Latino Americans. If you think he can run this country, you’re wrong.
AUDIENCE: Booo –
THE PRESIDENT: For half a century – shipping your jobs to China. That’s what they’ve been doing. We’re bringing the jobs back. We’ve been bringing them back. (Applause.) We’ve been charging China a lot of money too, with the tariffs. A lot of money. Billions and billions of dollars.
Opening your borders to mass illegal immigration. The wall is now 380 miles long; it’ll soon be finished. (Applause.) Trapping us in endless foreign wars – these ridiculous foreign wars that last for 19 years. Our people are coming back home. You know that.
And selling you out to the rich, globalist Wall Street donors. They have the Wall Street donors. They want the Wall Street donors. Someday, somebody is going to have to write a little story about that.
Black and Latino Americans are rejecting the radical socialist left, and they’re embracing our pro-jobs, pro-worker, pro-police – we want law and order; we have to have law and order – and pro-American agenda.
I want to thank the BLEXIT Foundation for organizing this event. (Applause.) Thank you very much. Thank you. And especially your two founders, two friends of mine, great people: Candace Owens and former Tucson police officer Brandon Tatum. Thank you both. (Applause.) Great job. What a great job. Two really brilliant, smart, young people. Great. And thank you very much for being here. We really appreciate it.
So you just marched to the White House because you understand, to protect the lives of black Americans and all Americans, you have to have your police support you. You have to have that. (Applause.)
If the left gains power, they’ll launch a nationwide crusade against law enforcement. And they’ve already done that. And you see them; they’re doing that at a level that nobody has ever seen before.
The other day, in the debate, Biden couldn’t even use the words law enforcement. I said, Say ‘law enforcement.’ Say ‘law enforcement.’ And he was bailed out by the anchor. Then I said – then I said, very simply – I said, Name one law enforcement group that’s supporting you. He couldn’t do it. But he was bailed out by the anchor. Second time bailed. He got bailed out by that anchor a lot.
Taking their funds away, their firearms, their fundamental authorities – taking everything away, including your freedom. Joe Biden even said, when you call 911, a therapist should answer the call. That doesn’t work. That doesn’t work. But this is the people telling him what, because he doesn’t say. He’s told what to say.
You saw what they introduced today. They’ve gone through a period of years: No fracking, no fracking, no fracking. All of a sudden, he gets the nomination and he says there’s going to be fracking. For Pennsylvania, Oklahoma, Texas, North Dakota, all of you, there will be – if it happens, all of those jobs are gone; your energy jobs are gone, if they get in. Just remember I said it. Okay? Just remember.
Biden –
AUDIENCE MEMBER: It’s not going to happen!
THE PRESIDENT: I don’t think so either. (Applause.)
There’s been – and I have to say, there’s been more enthusiasm – we have had more enthusiasm right now, right now, this year, than we had four years ago by a factor of three times. (Applause.) And we had a lot. And they had none. They have no enthusiasm.AUDIENCE: Four more years! Four more years! Four more years!
THE PRESIDENT: They have no enthusiasm. In fact, the gap is so incredible, and a poll just came out. I think it said 56 percent of the people prefer their position now in the midst of a pandemic than they did four years ago. Think of what that means – 56. And it’s a Gallup poll, and it’s the highest poll ever recorded – 56 percent. Now, tell me about that.
No, we had it going, and we really had it going, and then the plague came in from China, but we’re getting rid of that, and we’re rebuilding it, and it’s going to be better than it was even before. (Applause.)
But the homes and churches and businesses of black and Hispanic Americans have been looted; you know that. They’ve been vandalized and burned by left-wing fanatics. Total bad people. They know what they’re doing. Yet Biden likes to call them peaceful protesters. You see people –
AUDIENCE: Booo –
THE PRESIDENT: You see anchors from a couple of the very bad, very corrupt networks standing, and behind them, the cities are burning and they’re saying these are peaceful protests. And you look, and everything is on fire.
And I want to thank our law enforcement, and I want to thank everybody in the community and the community drives who are working with law enforcement. I want to thank them. (Applause.) I think we probably have the support of every law enforcement group in this country, practically. I don’t know of any that I don’t. Maybe there must be some; there must be one. They’ll find one tonight. They’ll say, No, he misrepresented.
But we have a level of support the likes of which nobody has I don’t think ever seen before. I don’t think so. And you’re going to see that. And you see how many crooked ballots are being found and turned back in and fraudulent? Just what I said. Then they’ll say, He doesn’t believe in freedom. I totally believe in freedom. That’s called freedom. What we’re doing is freedom. (Applause.)
Tremendous problems with the ballots. Fifty thousand in Ohio. Twenty-five thousand – you have to see it. I mean, every day, there’s a story about ballots. Some thrown out; they happen to have the name Trump. Military ballots were thrown out with the name Trump on them. Okay?
AUDIENCE: Booo –
THE PRESIDENT: But I think we’re to swamp them by so much. Hopefully it’s not going to matter. And we have law enforcement watching. We have law enforcement watching all those ballots. They’re being found for a reason.
Left-wing politicians like Kamala Harris, who really did not do very well the other night –
AUDIENCE: Booo –
THE PRESIDENT: By the way, did our Vice President do a good job, Candace? Did he? (Applause.) That was – that was easy for him.
No, he did a great job, because we’re on the side of right. We really are. We’re on the side of right. And, by the way, we are, and it’s true. And I say it, and I say it all the time now, more and more: We are draining the swamp like nobody in history has ever drained the swamp. (Applause.) Nobody in history has ever drained.
We’re here today to deliver a united message to police officers all across our great land that American – and I mean every American, every race and color, we love you. Every race, color, creed, we support you, we honor you. It’s a dangerous profession. They’ve been doing an incredible job, and I just want to thank them on behalf of everybody here today, because that’s why we’re safe. (Applause.)
In contrast, the Democrats’ socialist program and platform – and it really is more than socialist. It’s not just socialist; it’s beyond socialism.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Communist!
THE PRESIDENT: (Laughs.) He says communist. That’s – yeah, that’s about right.
But I recently announced my plan to deliver more opportunity, security, fairness, and prosperity to the black community, to the Hispanic community. (Applause.) And you know what it is – I don’t have to go over it – but it’s the Platinum Plan, and it’s going to bring back new jobs, like at a level that you’ve never seen before. And we’ve done a lot. We’ve done a lot.
But increase capital. It’s going to increase money coming into the black community, to the Hispanic community, where it’s been very much shut out. In advance, very much homeownership and wealth building. And it’s already taken place, and it’s taken place at a level. And had we not been hit by the pandemic, you would have seen numbers like you’ve never seen before. But those numbers are already rebuilding again. (Applause.)
We’re going to build up a peaceful and safer neighborhood program, like – like you haven’t seen, with the highest standards of policing. We’ll create a healthcare system that delivers better care at a lower cost. Obamacare is a disaster. We want to terminate it, we want to get great healthcare, and that’s what we’re doing: great healthcare. And we’ll always take care of preexisting conditions, always. (Applause.)
And I think we’re at a point where we’re getting. And right now, if you look at what we’ve done in healthcare – people don’t talk about it; we’ve done an incredible job. Less expensive healthcare at a much, much – much better healthcare at a much less expensive price. You can’t do better than that. And it’s happening, and it’s happening fast.
Another thing is school choice. (Applause.) You have to have school choice. Charter schools, school choice.
So I make this statement every once in a while, and people think it’s a little bit on the bold side, but we’ve achieved a historic reduction in violent crime. We signed a landmark criminal justice reform bill that nobody thought was possible to even think about. (Applause.) I did that. I did that. I got that done. And I worked with a lot of people, but we got it done. The Obama administration couldn’t get it done. Biden couldn’t even think about it. He doesn’t even know what it is. (Laughter.)
We have a – we have prison reform. We achieved the lowest black and Hispanic unemployment rate in the history of our country. (Applause.) The black youth unemployment rate reached the lowest ever, again, in the history of our country.
And last year, black and Hispanic American poverty reached the lowest ever in the history of our country. It’s all building back up so quickly. (Applause.)
And if you look at what we’ve done with criminal justice reform, if you look at what we’ve done with historically black colleges and universities, where we funded them; they couldn’t get funded. Nobody was funding them. For years and years and decades, nobody was funding them.
And if you look at what we’ve done with Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina, Opportunity Zones and the jobs created – and I’ve said it very strongly, and perhaps – I don’t know, criminal justice reform, people say maybe that’s the best of all, but the fact is they’re all great. Every one of them is great. And I say the fact is that I’ve done more for the black community than any president since Abraham Lincoln. I say it. Nobody can dispute it. (Applause.) Nobody can dispute it. It’s true. Nobody can dispute it.
So we are now beginning the fastest economic recovery in history. We created a record 11.4 million jobs just in the last four months. That’s the fastest ever. The U.S. has seen the smallest economic contraction of any major nation anywhere in the world. So we’ve seen the smallest going down. If you look at it, that’s an incredible statement.
Our opponents will crush the comeback with unscientific lockdowns. They want to lock everything down. Here we go again. They want to lock it down. No.
AUDIENCE: Booo –
THE PRESIDENT: We’re not going to let it happen. We’re not going to let it happen. So important you get out and vote. You got to get out and vote.
So we got a great poll in Florida, got a great poll in North Carolina, got a great poll in Arizona. (Applause.) Got a great poll in Nevada. Actually got it. Just got a great poll in Nevada. I think we’re doing really well. I mean, this is in addition to states that we’re going to win. Georgia is looking fantastic. Texas is looking fantastic. (Applause.)
Well, think about Texas: They have no oil. They don’t want oil, they don’t want guns, they don’t want religion. I don’t think you’re going to win Texas very well. (Applause.)
No, we got a great poll in Texas. We’re getting great polls all over the place, and they understand it. It’s driving them crazy. And you know why though? And, Candace, it is – it’s because of the spirit. There’s a spirit the likes of which this country hasn’t seen in a very, very long time.
So I just want to thank you all for being on the White House lawn, this beautiful great lawn. (Applause.) And I’m very proud of this country. I’m very, very proud.
I want to thank all of the doctors and labs and scientists and all of the people that are working so hard, because we’re way ahead of everybody. But I just want to thank most particularly you, because you people come out and you come out, and you cheer and you love your country, and you get it. You’re way, way ahead of many, many people in this country.
But the country is getting it. The country is seeing something now.
AUDIENCE: We love you! We love you! We love you!
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. I love you too. Thank you.
AUDIENCE: We love you! We love you! We love you!
THE PRESIDENT: The people of our country – and the whole world is watching – are seeing things now that they haven’t seen in this country for decades. They’re seeing a spirit and a resilience like they haven’t seen.
I just want to thank you. And get out and vote. We got to make this bigger than even four years ago. It’s more important. This is the most important election we’ve ever had. This is more important than even four years ago. I used to say the most important, and it was true at the time. This is the single-most important election in the history of our country.
Get out and vote. And I love you. Thank you. Thank you very much. (Applause.) Thank you. Thank you, Candace.
