Remarks at a "Keep America Great" Rally in Charlotte, North Carolina

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

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

The President. Well, I wanna thank you very much. North Carolina, thank you very much. [cheers and applause] I'm thrilled to back in the great city of Charlotte—[cheers and applause]—where, by the way, we're having our convention. I guess you heard that, right? [cheers and applause] With thousands of hardworking American patriots who love our country, cherish our values, respect our laws, and always put America first. [cheers and applause] Eight months from now, we're going to defeat the radical socialists. We're going to win the great state of North Carolina in a landslide. [cheers and applause] We won it last time, we're gonna win it this time by even more. [cheers and applause] And you know, Eric and Lara named their daughter, you know what her name is? Carolina, Carolina. Her name is Carolina for a reason.

This is an incredible time for our nation. Our country is stronger than ever before. [cheers and applause] And today, we just had the largest one-day increase in the stock market in history. [cheers and applause] That's great. That's great. That was great. You know, our opponents were saying, "Oh, maybe he's in trouble, maybe the economy ..." They'll do anything. They'll do anything. I'm sure they were thrilled. Do you think our opponents were thrilled when they saw the stock market today? I don't think so. [booing]

By the way, look at this. Look back there, look at all of that press. Look at all them. [booing] Man, I don't know if Sleepy Joe, or Bernie, I don't think they have that much press. [shouting] Bernie was going wild. Why would I be here tonight? Why would I be here? He said why would I be here tonight? We don't have the primary, we've already won the thing, you know? I was going to say the you know what thing, I held it back, because they'll say, "Horrible language. He used horrible language today." But we're doing fantastically.

There's never been a time where the Republican Party was so unified as it is now. [cheers and applause] Never, never. And you hear about enthusiasm for Crazy Bernie, and that's true, he does have some enthusiasm, but much less than we have and a much smaller group of people, too. And there's not a lot of enthusiasm for, there's not a lot of enthusiasm for Biden. [booing] I thought he gave up the presidency the other day because he said he's running for the Senate. [laughter] I looked at the First Lady, I said, "Hey, he's running for the Senate." And today he just said Super Thursday, he's looking forward to Super Thursday. [laughter]

Jobs are booming in our country, incomes are soaring, poverty has plummeted—[cheers and applause]—confidence is surging, and we have completely rebuilt the awesome power of a thing called the United States military. [cheers and applause] And every day, for me and for you, it's promises made, promises kept. Every day. [cheers and applause] One of the most important promises I made is right to this era. You know, we look at it, it's the never-ending wars in the Middle East. We're taking our soldiers, we're bringing them back home. We're not law enforcement. We're bringing them back home. [cheers and applause] American troops cannot be the policemen for the world, or to create democracy in other nations that frankly probably don't want it. The job of the American military is to secure and defend our country. [cheers and applause]

Two days ago, the Unites States signed a deal with the Taliban so that after 19 years of conflict, and very close to 20, we can finally begin to bring our amazing troops back home. [cheers and applause] After years of rebuilding foreign nations, we are finally rebuilding our nation and taking care of our own American citizens. [cheers and applause]

And all of the things that we've done, we've wiped out the terrorists, we've done so much, and you know what? We're 8,000 miles away. You got a lot of big countries surrounding Afghanistan, you've got Afghanistan itself. The progress that was made was made possible by the extraordinary valor of our men and our women in uniform. You know that. [cheers and applause] And we pay a special tribute, and I know you pay it, a special tribute to our great wounded warriors and those who made the ultimate sacrifice. [cheers and applause]

And as we bring back our troops, we are committed to ensuring that foreign terrorists are denied admission to America in the first place. They're not coming here, and if they do, bad things happen to them. We must keep radical Islamic terrorists the hell out of our country. [cheers and applause]

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

The President. By the way, I have to say this, you know you have thousands and thousands of people outside. And ... [cheers and applause] Somebody was saying that if Pocahontas, any one of them—[booing]—Sleepy Joe, he doesn't have that, so he doesn't have a lot, he has very small crowds, but if Sleepy Joe or if any of them had a crowd one-tenth this size, they go around talking about how big the crowd ... They never say that. Hey, take your cameras and spin them around this big arena. Go ahead. Spin them around. [cheers and applause]

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

The President. They don't turn, they don't turn. You notice, they don't turn. But if there were some kind of trouble in a little corner, anything to make us look bad, that camera would turn like a pretzel. [laughter] I used to think, you know, modern equipment, it can't turn, but when we would have a protester, and I must say, I'll say it out loud, we don't have too many protesters anymore, do we? [cheers and applause] We don't have too many. [cheers and applause] No fun to be a protester at a Trump rally, but do we have a great time at a Trump rally? [cheers and applause]

My administration has also taken the most aggressive action in modern history to protect Americans from the ...

Crowd Member. We love you!

The President. ... Coronavirus. You know about this whole thing? Horrible. Including sweeping travel restrictions. Today, we met with the big great pharmaceutical companies, and they're really working hard, and they're working smart, and we had some ... We had a great meeting today with a lot of the great companies. And they're gonna have vaccines I think relatively soon. And they're gonna have—[cheers and applause]—something that makes you better, and that's going to actually take place we think even sooner.

So a lot of good things are happening, but we have strong borders, and really, our tough and early actions have really been proven to be 100% right. We went out, we're doing everything in our power to keep the sick and infected people from coming into our country. We're working on that very hard. [cheers and applause] We closed our borders very early. I took a lot of heat for that. Remember when I closed the borders to certain areas of the world? I took a lot of heat. But there are fringe globalists who would rather keep our borders open than keep our infection, think of it, keep all of the—[booing]—infection, let it come in. And we're working with other countries. In all fairness, look, it's a problem, we're working with other countries. Remember this, over the last long period of time, the flu, the common flu, you know this, right? From 27,000 to 70,000 people get infected, and many people die. Think of it, 27,000. You lose 27,000 people to the common flu. It can be much more. One year was much higher than the 70,000 number. Those people die. So when you lose 27,000 people a year, nobody knew that. I didn't know that. Three, four weeks ago, I was sitting there, I said, "What do we lose with the regular flu?" They said, "About 27,000 minimum, goes up to 70, sometimes even 80, one year it went up to 100,000 people." I said, "Nobody told me that. Nobody knows that."

So I actually told the pharmaceutical companies, "You have to do a little bit better job on that vaccine. Really, have to do a better job on that vaccine." [cheers and applause] Think of it. Last year was approximately 36,000 people died. So we're working hard on it, and we're going to come up with some really great solutions. In the meantime, we're stopping ...

Crowd Member. [shouting]

The President. Only in North Carolina. Only in North Carolina. It can only be. How many people here are from South Carolina, by the way? [cheers and applause] Wow. We love both places. But that was from North Carolina. [cheers and applause]

But just to finish up, so, we've made a lot of progress, we've really done a great job with it. We're keeping our borders strong. My job is to protect the health of American patients and Americans first, and that's what we're doing. [cheers and applause] Washington Democrats are trying to politicize the coronavirus, denigrating the noble work of our public health professionals. But honestly, not so much anymore. Everyone appreciates, these are the greatest professionals in the world at what they do. We're actually helping a lot of other countries where they have some very, very big problems. So we have our professionals in constant touch, I'm in constant touch with some of the leaders and helping them out. But the political attacks from some of the Democrats really must stop. We've gotta all work together on this one to safeguard our people. We're gonna safeguard our people, the United States. [cheers and applause]

The United States is, right now, ranked, by far, number one in the world for preparedness. Earlier today, when I met with the pharmaceutical companies, things were discussed and learned honestly. The media didn't know. Nobody knew. They've never heard this before. And we learned a lot, and maybe that had the impact on the stock market. Who knows what happened, but we're going to reduce the severity of what's happening, the duration of the virus. We discussed all of these things. We will bring these therapies to market as rapidly as possible.

And I have to say, with a thriving economy the way it is, and the most advanced health system on Earth, America is so resilient, we know what we're doing, we have the greatest people on Earth, the greatest health system on Earth. [cheers and applause] We have the greatest health system on Earth. The renewal of American strength over the last three years means at times of challenge, we are the best-prepared to rise to any occasion. No country is better equipped than America to handle new threats, and no people are more skilled, talented, tough, or driven than Americans. Americans. [cheers and applause]

And together, we are in the midst of the great American comeback. That's what it is. Last month, we added 225,000 new jobs in January alone. That makes seven million jobs since the election. [cheers and applause] We have destroyed the ISIS territorial caliphate, and we killed the founder and leader of ISIS, al-Baghdadi. He is dead. [cheers and applause] And we took out the world's top terrorist, Qasem Soleimani, ending his evil reign of terror forever, Soleimani. [cheers and applause]

While the extreme left has been wasting America's time with vile hoaxes and delusional witch hunts, we have been killing terrorists, creating jobs, raising wages, and lifting up American citizens of every race, religion, color, and creed. [cheers and applause]

Tomorrow, voters in states across the nation will head to the polls for Super Tuesday, not Super Thursday. [laughter] Oh, he said, "Super Thursday." You can't do these things. Can you imagine if I said Super Thursday? It would be over, right? [laughter] I would be over. No matter how good you are at certain things, you can't, as an example, name ... Like Sleepy Joe, he's constantly naming the wrong state. "It's great to be in the state of Ohio." "No, no, no, I'm sorry, you're in North Carolina. No, no. Joe!" Do you ever see them run up with a sign, "No, no, North Carolina, Joe!" Once that happens, you might as well leave the states, because it's a disaster no matter how good you're doing. "We're in North Carolina!" "It's great to be in Idaho!" "No, you're in Iowa." Nah, he makes a lot of those mistakes, they're a little scary.

Did you see guns? You know, we're gonna protect your Second Amendment, you understand that. [cheers and applause] But did you see, Sleepy Joe, did you see Sleepy Joe, where he said, "Last year, 150 million people were killed by guns in our country." One hundred and fifty million! [laughter] That means 50% of our country. [laughter] That's a big story. Man. One hundred and fifty. Can you imagine Trump saying that? These people would never let me live it down. We can't make ... [booing] We can't make even a little mistake, right? We can't make even a little, tiny, tiny mistake. If we make a tiny mistake, it's headlining. They say things like 150 million people killed, guns, they say Super Thursday, they say Georgia, he's looking forward to winning Georgia tomorrow. Georgia's not in Super Tuesday! [laughter]

So many mistakes! You can't do that when you're negotiating with China. Can't do that when you're negotiating with these countries, can't do that. [cheers and applause] Those mistakes would be very expensive.

And then you have Mini-Mike. You see this guy? Can you believe it? Mini-Mike. He's being interviewed tonight on Fox. Can you believe it? Fox. They wanna, you know, be politically correct. They want to interview, they end up interviewing more Democrats than Republic ... I don't know what's going on with Fox. But they're interviewing this guy the night before. Mini-Mike, ay-ay-ay, what a mess he is. The worst debate performance in the history of presidential debates, do we agree? [cheers and applause] The worst in the history.

Nah, you gotta have more. And I'd get down real low, but I don't wanna copy it. Everybody saw it. Everyone said, "Oh," they all say, "Oh! Do that again where you get down low." But, you know, if I do that again, it's a copy. It's a copy! [shouting] No, no. No. You never like to copy, even though you're copying yourself. You don't like to copy. You know, you do it once. It was a big hit. But you do it once, and you sort of say, "That was nice, don't do it again," because if it doesn't work the second time, it gets embarrassing, right? You know, right? We all know. But no, he's a, he's a disaster waiting to happen. He's a mess.

No matter which Democrat candidate you're talking about, and you understand that, any one of these candidates ... And you see what's happening, right? They're all now ... It's being rigged against ... It's sad. It's being rigged against Crazy Bernie. Crazy Bernie's gonna go crazy. Crazy. I think Crazy Bernie is gonna be more crazy when they see what they're doing. I called it a long time ago. So Mayor Pete Buttigieg—[laughter]—Buttigieg, Mayor Pete, he quit out last night. And then I hear—[cheers and applause]—then I hear a senator from a state we're gonna win, we're gonna win that state, but she dropped out. Sounds like they made a deal. They both supported Sleepy Joe. You know why? [shouting] They made a deal. [shouting] You know why? Quid pro quo, that's why. Don't care. Quid pro quo. [cheers and applause] Quid pro quo, they made a deal. Impeach them! They should be impeached! They should be impeached! [cheers and applause] Quid pro quo.

But they've embraced an extreme left-wing agenda. Their plans would massively raise your taxes, destroy our liberty, muzzle our faith, and erase our sovereignty. You know that. The Democrat party has gone crazy. Whether it's Bernie Sanders's plan to eliminate private healthcare, Elizabeth Pocahontas's plan ... By the way, she's history. She's history. I came up with that name far too early, I should've just waited. But it didn't matter. I thought she was making a come back. I said, "Wow, I just did it to her."

But you know those embers were burning a little bit a couple of months ago, they never caught on. In fact, she'll probably lose the state of Massachusetts to Bernie. So she doesn't know what to do because you're not supposed to lose the state of Massachusetts if you get in there. She's the senator. She's the senator for Massachusetts, I think she's gonna lose it to Bernie. And Miss Michigan, you see what's going on over there? Michigan, we're leading. We're leading in Wisconsin. We're leading in Florida. We're leading in South Carolina, we're leading in North Carolina. [cheers and applause] We're leading in New Hampshire. We're leading in the great state of Florida that was one of the first ones the other ... Our last election.

Hey, how great was the 2016 election? Was that great? Right? [cheers and applause] One of the greatest nights, one of the most highest-rated television nights in the history of television. [shouting] And remember, there was, "Oh, this is gonna be a quick one. This is gonna be ..." Oh, that wasn't so easy for them. Oh, I love the scene. The scene of that convention center where Hillary was getting ready to speak, and then she found out she lost. [cheers and applause] But Elizabeth Warren', she had a plan to eliminate our borders, or Mini-Mike's plan to eliminate your Second Amendment. Mike Bloomberg wants to eliminate your Second Amendment. [booing] Don't worry about it, it's not gonna happen. Not gonna happen for him. As for sleepy Joe, he doesn't even know where he is, what he's doing—[laughter]—or what office he's running for. Actually, I don't, I honestly don't think he knows what office he's running for. [laughter] And it doesn't matter.

You know, maybe he gets in, because he's a little more moderate. So maybe he gets in. But he's not gonna be running it. Other people are going to. They're gonna put him into a home, and other people are gonna be running the country. But they're gonna be super-left radical crazies. They're gonna be super-left radical crazies, Joe's gonna be in a home. He'll be watching television. Everything will be just fine. The insanity of Washington Democrats is why millions of registered Democrat voters are joining our movement. They are joining our great Republican party. [cheers and applause]

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

The President. Turn those televisions. We have the enthusiasm in our party. You know? No, I really mean it. I constantly hear about the enthusiasm. They're fighting each other, they hate each other, they don't know what's going on. We have all the love, we have all the enthusiasm, and we know what we're doing. We know what we're doing. [cheers and applause] So we're thrilled to be joined tonight by many really great, terrific, brilliant, wonderful warriors. [cheers and applause] Even though he comes from a slightly different state, but not too far by, is somebody that really has distinguished himself, he's become a great friend of mine. And what he did for Justice Kavanaugh, do you remember that? [cheers and applause] One of the greatest statements ever made in the United States Senate, Senator Lindsey Graham. Come on up, Lindsey. [cheers and applause] Lindsey Graham, come on up, Lindsey. [cheers and applause] Come here, Lindsey. I gotta have him say something, come here, Lindsey.

Senator Lindsey Graham. Hello, Charlotte. [cheers and applause] It's good to be in a place where I don't have an accent. [cheers and applause] Mr. President, thank you for being the best commander-in-chief since Ronald Reagan. [cheers and applause] Thank you for killing the terrorists over there, so they can't hurt us over here. [cheers and applause] Thank you for sticking with Judge Kavanaugh. [cheers and applause] Mr. President, everybody in this room has one thing in common, we all have your back. [cheers and applause] Mr. President, you are going to kick their ass in November. [cheers and applause]

The President. Oh, my Lindsey, my Lindsey. Thank you, Lindsey. Great guy.

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

The President. Great guy, great gentleman. Now some warriors that really defended us with the impeachment hoax, one of great hoaxes of the, in the history of country. [shouting] Representative Virginia Foxx—[cheers and applause]—Patrick McHenry, Richard Hudson—[cheers and applause]—Mark Meadows—[cheers and applause]—David Rouzer—[cheers and applause]—Ted Budd. [cheers and applause] They're warriors, these guys are unbelievable the way they fight. You know, the last two, I'll tell you, I came here and they probably weren't scheduled to win, and fake news, CNN, were all ... They were all set. They wanted a couple of losses. [booing] And they handle pressure so well. They came and we gave a rally that was like this and Dan Bishop and Greg Murphy won by so much, it wasn't even close. [cheers and applause] And they're great people, and they've done a fantastic job. Thank you very much. They handle pressure. They were under a lot of pressure, and they handled it well. It's nice to know people can handle pressure, there aren't too many of them. North Carolina Republican Party Chairman Michael Whatley. Thank you, Michael. [cheers and applause]

Then a few great friends of mine and they love North Carolina. Louis DeJoy, who you know, Louis DeJoy. [cheers and applause] Two great people, Diamond and Silk. Right? Diamond and Silk. [cheers and applause] Where are they? We love them. [cheers and applause]

Diamond. Okay, y'all know we about to win another election. [cheers and applause] And I saw Mini-Mike on Fox.

Silk. Uh-huh.

Diamond. Mini.

Silk. Mini.

Diamond. President Trump is this high.

Silk. Uh-huh.

Diamond. You gotta be this high to ride this ride. [cheers and applause] Now while the media continue to play the race card, we going to continue to play the Trump card, so we can win, win, and win. [cheers and applause]

The President. You know the first lady, a long time ago now, right? How long is that? Probably almost five years ago, she said, "You know, there are these two women on the internet, they're unbelievable. They're unbelievable." I said, "Oh, I know, I hear that all the time. I hear it all the time." She said, "No," the next day she came again. She said, "You know, I saw them again, they're unbelievable." I said, "Let me see." I saw them, I fell in love with it, and everybody fell in love with Diamond and Silk. So thank you. [cheers and applause]

Some people that have really been helpful to me, Corey Lewandowski, David Bussey, and Pam Bondi, great people. [cheers and applause] And thanks also to all of the people who are working to make the 2020 Republican National Convention right here in Charlotte an outstanding success, RNC Chairman Ronna McDaniel—[cheers and applause]—RNC Co-Chairman Tommy Hicks, and Convention President Marcia Lee Kelly, thank you everybody. [cheers and applause] They're doing a great job, I'll tell you, they're looking, they're gonna spend a lot of money at doing a good job. Should we do a great job, or just an okay job? It doesn't matter as long as you win, right? You know what I gave when we won last time, somebody else took the convention center, spent a fortune, and I just took a hotel ballroom. I said, "What the heck, if I win, nobody cares, if I don't ..." Look, if you win, nobody cares what room you're in. If you lose, nobody cares what room you're in, right? So we took a ballroom, nice ballroom, you know, that's it, no big deal. I figured, this way, if we win, nobody cares. And if we lose, I'm out of there, I save a hell of a lot of money. [laughter]

But I never thought we were gonna lose. That's one of the things they like to spread, "Trump felt that he wasn't gonna win." Oh yeah, I'm running because I felt ... That's not the deal. I mean it's always possible that you don't win, but boy, I thought we were gonna win and we were getting crowds like this actually, to be honest, I think our crowds now are bigger, stronger, and even more enthusiastic than ever before. [cheers and applause] I really think they're more enthusiastic than ever before. And in the true sense, you know, we're eight months away, that's a long ... It's not even our ... In case you haven't heard, we've got it made in the primaries. I mean, we've got it made. [cheers and applause] But, but, you know, we're really ... And for us, we're not even really even into political season, right, and we're getting crowds like this, we were all over, over the last couple of weeks. We like to troll. We like to go the night before one of their primaries, we just ... We do a little trolling, it's called we do a little trolling. [cheers and applause] Bernie Sanders was very upset, "Why would he be there?" Why? Why? Because I wanna win, I wanna ... I keep everybody happy. Guess that's a good reason. [cheers and applause]

But honestly, we're, you know, this is ... When you see this when you're two months or three months out, but we're getting numbers that are unbelievable. Colorado we went, we went to Iowa, every place we've gone, New Hampshire. Every place we've gone, just came out of South Carolina, you saw that. That was an incredible one. [cheers and applause] Every place, every place that we've gone, it's been amazing. I'd also like to recognize, and so important, a woman who's really helped us win North Carolina in 2016, and I have a feeling that this year, she'll even do better, because she happened to grow up here, Lara Trump—[cheers and applause]—and my son Eric Trump. [cheers and applause] Two great people. I mean I have to say that about my son, but I know a lot of people don't like their sons that much, but Lara has been fantastic, and thank you very much, what a job. She knows this state better than anybody in this room except maybe this guy right here. [laughter] How are we doing, Lara? How are we doing? How are we doing in the state, are we doing well? [cheers and applause]

And we're doing well in Pennsylvania I hear, right? And South Carolina, I know we're doing great there. [cheers and applause] Also with us tonight is a man who's really become a good friend of mine. We were going at it a little bit at the beginning, but I will tell you, and I would say if, if I didn't get along, I would not be here. I wouldn't do this. I think he's been tremendous. He's been a tremendous supporter and things that we've wanted to do, and fights that we've had which were so important, he's been right up, and Lizzie will tell you that he's been right up in front and really he deserves another six-year term, and probably a lot longer than that, but he's gonna come up and I'm gonna ask Senator Thom Tillis, come on up. [cheers and applause] Thom has really been incredible, he's been working everyday. And he really wants to fight the radical left and he does it and he knows how to fight, and take care of our amazing veterans, and stop illegal immigration. Thom is a champion for the people of North Carolina. This November, we need everybody to go and vote for Thom, he's doing great. He's doing great. I hear he's way up in the polls, he's way up in the polls. Thom, say a few words. Come here.

Thom Tillis. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you all for being here, thank you for supporting our president, make sure that I come back for another six years, and we get him back for four more years. [cheers and applause] Let me tell you about this president, I think it's very important, since before this president was ever sworn in, they were trying to impeach him. Did he back down?

Crowd. No.

Tillis. No. When the media goes out for him, tries to spread false news or fake news, does he back down?

Crowd. No.

Tillis. When he makes a promise, does he keep it?

Crowd. Yes.

Tillis. When he told you he'd cut taxes, did he do it?

Crowd. Yes.

Tillis. When he told you he would support veterans, did he do it?

Crowd. Yes.

Tillis. When he told you that we would re-fund the military and become the world's superpower, did he do it?

Crowd. Yeah.

Tillis. When he told you that he was gonna confirm Super ... Or, Supreme Court Justices, circuit court justices, the district court judges, now 200 of them, did he do it?

Crowd. Yeah.

Tillis. Yeah. And ladies and gentlemen, you got a stark choice, it starts tomorrow, we're both on the ballot. You need to vote for us so we can go back and do it again. But let me tell you again, we can't forget what they're promising you on the other side of the aisle. Bernie Sanders is so liberal, he doesn't even call himself a Democrat, he calls himself a socialist. This president went to the State of the Union and he said, "America will never be a socialist country." That's another promise he's gonna keep. Now finally, ladies and gentleman, I wanna thank the president for coming back, and I can't wait to welcome him in August for the RNC Convention.

Crowd Member. We love you!

Tillis. But, Mr. President, there was one thing that you said back at the campaign in 2016, it's the only thing, I just don't believe it's happened, have you gotten tired of winning?

Crowd. No!

Tillis. Do you wanna win some more?

Crowd. Yeah!

Tillis. Then you gotta get this man reelected. So we can give you the free stuff that a free country deserves: free markets, free trade, freedom of religion, freedom of speech, and the freedom for you to protect yourself with your right to bear arms. That's the freedom that this man represents, that's the freedom I represent, get him elected for four more years. [cheers and applause]

The President. Wow. [shouting] Wow. Hey, that's pretty good, that's pretty good, Thom. Lot of times we get people up and they just can't do it. [laughter] They start breathing bad, they can't breathe, "Oh, help me," you know, like Bloomberg. Did you see the debate? Oh. She came after him. She's mean, she's very mean. She came after him and he started choking [guttural sounds] "Get me off this stage. Get me off. You guys didn't tell me this was gonna happen." No, that was great, Thom. We're also honored to be joined tonight by a true American hero, a veteran of World War II and the Korean War who just turned 100 years old. [cheers and applause] And his name is George Washington Perry, legit. George, thank you very much for being here. Thank you, George. One hundred years old. [cheers and applause] He's 100 and he looks good. Thank you, George. With the help of everyone here tonight, America has now become the hottest economy anywhere on the planet Earth. [cheers and applause] Since my election, over 219,000 new jobs have been created right here in North Carolina. [cheers and applause]

We have lifted 10 million people off of welfare, including seven million people off of food stamps. [cheers and applause] Median household income has reached the highest level ever recorded, think of that. The average unemployment rate from my administration is the lowest for any US president in recorded history, that's something, that's something. [cheers and applause] The unemployment rate among African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and Asian Americans has reached the lowest level in recorded history. [cheers and applause] Very important to me, African American youth unemployment has reached an all-time low. [cheers and applause] African American poverty is at the lowest rate ever recorded. [cheers and applause] For decades Democratic politicians betrayed, and they truly did, they betrayed African Americans. My administration is delivering for African Americans like never before. No president has done more for our Black community, no president has done more for our Black community, and it's an honor to do it.

Last month here in Charlotte, we launched a nationwide campaign to create a better future for all Americans. It's called Opportunity Now, you know about it. We're also fighting to ensure that working families have access to paid family leave, reducing the cost of childcare and giving 40 million American families an average of 2,200 dollars, thanks to the Republican child tax credit. [cheers and applause] The Republicans are claiming that we did that, nobody else did, but the Democrats are saying, "How did they do that one?"

We're reversing decades of calamitous trade policies that decimated manufacturing in North Carolina, you know all about. It's probably the number one reason I'm running, and the deals we're making, the trade deals, are unbelievable. Your state lost 43% of all manufacturing jobs after NAFTA was signed, think of that. Weeks ago, we finally ended the NAFTA catastrophe and I signed the brand new U.S.-Mexico-Canada agreement into law. [cheers and applause] The USMCA is a giant victory for North Carolina's incredible farmers and factory workers. And by the way, speaking of farmers, and factory workers, and small businesses, and all, for the death tax. You know about the death tax, right? It's called the inheritance tax. You have a small farm someplace, you have a small business, you have a nice business, you no longer have an inheritance tax or a death tax. So if you wanna leave it to your children, you can leave it to your children, there's no tax to be paid by your children. So they don't have to go back to the evil banker, borrow money from the banker, and lose the farm, lose the business, it won't happen. And I always say it, 'cause, you know, I know a lot of parents that don't love their children very much. [laughter]

Is there anybody in this room that does not love your children? Please raise your hand. Please raise your hand. Nobody. Nobody, that's because we're North Carolina, you love your children. No, but if you don't, then it doesn't matter because if you don't love your children, don't leave them a damn thing, okay? [laughter] But you don't have the inheritance tax anymore, which is great. A lot of people don't even know that, but that's a big deal.

On no issue have Washington Democrats more thoroughly betrayed the American people than on the issue of immigration. Every Democrat running for president supports free federal welfare for illegal aliens, on your tax. [booing] Not only does illegal immigration drain our treasury, but it threatens innocent lives. As just one heartbreaking example, two illegal aliens in Maryland who had been previously charged with attempted murder were released, unaccountably released, and they went on to murder a teenage girl beating her with a baseball bat and slashing her with a machete. The entire Democratic field supports deadly sanctuary cities, which release dangerous criminals to terrorize your communities. Right here in North Carolina, believe it or not, the sanctuary county of Durham released an illegal alien criminal, who then proceeded to viciously murdered a young 19 year-old woman last year, you know all about it, killing her and dumping her body into the woods.

Last year alone, sanctuary jurisdictions in North Carolina ... How did that happen to North Carolina? Deliberately set free hundreds and hundreds of dan-... And these are really dangerous criminal aliens, including those charged or convicted of burglary, gun crime, sexual assault, kidnapping, and even murder. Gotta change it. [shouting] Your Democrat Governor, Roy Cooper, vetoed a bill that would save North Carolina lives and ban sanctuary cities in your state. [booing] What is he thinking? But while your super-liberal governor is putting your families at risk, your Republican Senator Thom Tillis has introduced a bill allowing American victims to sue sanctuary cities for the horrible pain, anguish, and suffering they inflict on our people. [cheers and applause]

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

The President. We're building the wall. We're building the wall. We're building the wall. We're building the wall. Mexico's paying for the wall, by the way. [cheers and applause] We built 127 miles as of today, 127 miles. And Mexico is paying for the wall. The media is gonna be thrilled when I explain that Mexico is paying for the wall because, you know, now finally they said I've had obstruction like you wouldn't believe. The entire Democratic party. I could get anything. I created Space Force. I could do anything. I could get ... [cheers and applause] Lindsey and Thom Tillis know this. Mark knows this. All of them know this. If I wanted 10 cents for the wall, they didn't wanna get it. They didn't wanna do it, but now we got it, and you think that's easy? Nobody else could have done this. We're building it. We're building our hearts away. We'll soon be building many, many miles a week, but we're up to over 125, I guess 127 or 28 miles, of the super-duper wall, super-duper.

I went to Border Patrol, I said, " What is your wish?" "Well, sir, we'd like it to be steel and concrete." They wanted exactly what they have it, and the barriers up top, they want everything. It's called a no-climb provisor, no-climb provisor. I said, "What does the word provisor mean?" They didn't know. All it means is you're not able to climb over it. It is very tough. I don't know if you saw. In a part of the wall, a couple, a couple of weeks ago, they were climbing the wall, and the fire department had to come and take them down. They couldn't get ... That's what the no-climb is. That's what the no-climb is. That's a no-climb. It's more money, i's a little more expensive. Thank you. Who is that? Wow, what a voice. Pavarotti. It's Pavarotti.

So, we're building the wall. It's going great. And, so, they said, "All right. He's building the wall, but Mexico's not paying for it." Yes, they are. You'll see. You'll see. You understand. Some of you understand because I told a few people last week, it got linked to the fake news media. If you want to end sanctuary cities in North Carolina and across America, then you have only one choice. You must vote Republican. You have to. [cheers and applause] You have to.

Thanks to our tireless efforts to secure the border, we've reduced illegal border crossings by a staggering 75% since last spring. We've added catch and release, one of the worst loopholes you've ever seen, catch and release. You catch them. You then say, "Where do you live?" They don't know because look, let's face it, they don't know. I understand that. It's not even to be laughed at. They don't know. "Where do you live?" "I don't know." Mexico, maybe, Honduras, Guatemala, who knows? El Salvador. "Where do you live?" Like this guy, he's a Mexican. You're about as Mexican as I am. Look at this guy. He's as Mexican as I am. Look at that hat. Are you Mexican? Are you Mexican? No, you're not. Are you? He is.

It's like Elizabeth Warren. She said she was an Indian. I said ... Right? [laughter] I said, "I have more Indian blood in me than you have, and I have none." And she said, "Oh, this is terrible." So she went out and got a test and it turned out not so good for her. Right? [laughter] One thousand and twenty-fourth, right? One-thousandths, so I was right. I probably have more in me. What a phony she is. [shouting] What a phony.

Washington Democrats have never been more extreme. One hundred and thirty-two Congressional Democrats have signed up for Bernie Sanders's healthcare takeover. While the Washington Democrats are trying to destroy your healthcare and your Social Security, and they are going to destroy your Social Security. Remember they used to say with me, "I'm gonna end it the first day." Well, you know what, we're gonna soon be four years and all I've done is make it stronger. You know that. My administration is protecting your Social Security, your Medicare, and is fighting to give you great healthcare. You're going to have great healthcare. We are defending your right to keep the doctor and to keep the plan of your choice.

Remember President Obama? "You can keep your doctor. You can keep your plan," 28 times. They said, "Impeach him. You should impeach him." Twenty-eight times he lied, 28 times he said that ... Twenty-eight times on record, "You can keep your doctor, you can keep your plan." Well, that's not true. It wasn't true. Impeach him. We're making healthcare better and much cheaper while premiums more than doubled in the last five years before I took office. We are now offering plans that are up to 60% less expensive and they're better plans. [cheers and applause] We are protecting people with preexisting conditions and we always will, and we are trying to terminate, in the Supreme Court of the United States, the worst healthcare in the world, and we are going to give you the best healthcare you've ever seen at a lower price and again, protecting preexisting conditions. Right? Protecting preexisting conditions.

We're fighting to stop surprise medical billing. You know what that is? Surprise, you get all sorts of surprises. We have people that take a blood test in one place, it's 26 dollars, and in another place it's 2,000 dollars. Same blood test, maybe the cheap one is better, who knows? Same blood test. It's wrong. Surprise medical building. Bum. Out. Billing.

I signed an executive order imposing price transparency, that's gonna be bigger than healthcare, because when providers are required to show their prices, those same prices fall very, very fast. Right? It's a big thing. That's a big thing. We've approved a record number of affordable new generic drugs, which are just as good as name-brand drugs, but a fraction of the cost. We've, we have given them, and there's a lot of political pressure not to do that, you can understand why.

To care for our amazing veterans, we passed VA Choice and VA Accountability, and nobody, nobody said it could be done. [cheers and applause] So now, instead of waiting in line for days and days, and weeks and weeks to see a doctor, you go outside, you get a doctor, we pay the bill, you get all fixed up. What a great thing. It's called VA Choice. I got it done. They've been trying to pass it for almost 50 years and they haven't been able to. And those people over there were a great help. We have passed the spectacular Right to Try. You know what that is? Hopefully nobody in the room needs it. Hopefully nobody in the room needs Right to Try.

We are combating the opioid epidemic. Drug overdose deaths have declined for the first time in nearly 31 years. [cheers and applause] Big problem. And we've launched new initiatives combating kidney disease and Alzheimer's, and we're pursuing new advances in neonatal research to care for America's youngest patients, and breaking all records in so doing. [cheers and applause] Virtually every Democratic candidate has declared their unlimited support for extreme late-term abortion, ripping babies straight from the mother's womb, right up until the very moment of birth. How about that? That is why I've asked Congress to prohibit late-term abortion of babies, because Republicans believe that every child is a sacred gift of God. [cheers and applause]

And then you have the governor of Virginia. The baby is born. [booing] The baby is born and he says, "And then you go over and start talking to the mother as to whether or not you execute the baby." This is the governor of Virginia. The governor of Virginia, he's a beauty. Remember? You remember what he did? He wanted to dance like Michael Jackson and his wife stopped him. He got lucky. But the governor of Virginia wanted to do that. The baby is born and then he goes over and talks to the mother. The doctor will now talk, and you'll make a decision as to whether or not the baby lives. Did you ever hear of anything like this?

The Democratic party is the party of high taxes, high crime, unlimited regulations, open borders, late-term abortion, socialism, blatant corruption, and the total obliteration of your Second Amendment. [booing] The Republican party is the party of the American worker, the American family, the American dream, and the late great Abraham Lincoln. [cheers and applause]

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

The President. So many people came up to me tonight and they want me to fight, and we're doing it, for school choice, so that every child who needs it, gets it. No parent should ever be forced to send their child to a failing government school. [cheers and applause]

I passed criminal justice reform to give former prisoners a second chance at life. Alice Johnson, do we love Alice Johnson? [cheers and applause] And this could not have been done by anyone other than the Republican party.

I recognized Israel's true capital and opened the American embassy in Jerusalem. [cheers and applause] We recognized Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights. Our historic investments in the United States military include 200 million dollars to a place that nobody's heard of in this audience, I'm sure, Fort Bragg. [cheers and applause] Three hundred million dollars for Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point. [cheers and applause] More than 500 million dollars for Marine Corps Air Station New River. [cheers and applause]

And listen to this one. No Democrat's gonna do this. They don't even wanna spend money on the military. They don't like the military. They're not gonna spend money, 1.2 billion dollars for Camp Lejeune. [cheers and applause] 1.2 billion. Do you think that a guy like Sleepy Joe's gonna put ... He doesn't know what it means. I know what it means. We have to have a strong military. We have the strongest military we've ever had. And when I came in, our military was in sad shape. It was depleted, but we've rebuilt it, 2.5 trillion dollars went into our military. [cheers and applause]

For years you've watched as your politicians apologized for America. Now you have a president who is standing up for America and we are standing up for the people of North Carolina and always will. [cheers and applause] At stake in our present battle is the actual survival of our nation itself. If you want your children to inherit the blessings of generations of Americans who fought and died to secure, and then we ... And you know what they're securing, they are securing us, they're securing our freedom, then we must devote everything we have toward victory in November, November 3rd to be exact. [cheers and applause]

Only this way can we save the America we love, and drain the Washington swamp, which is, by the way, much more vicious, much dirtier, much deeper than I ever thought, but we are kicking ass, let me tell you that. We are kicking ass. [cheers and applause] With your help, we will lift millions more of our citizens from welfare to work, dependence to independence, and poverty to prosperity. Together we will elect a Republican Congress to create a fair, safe, sane, and lawful system of immigration. [cheers and applause] And we will continue with the great Thom Tillis. We will get Thom Tillis. Thom, I don't, I don't think anybody even wants to run against you, Thom, but we're gonna reelect Thom Tillis. Is that right? We're gonna reelect Thom Tillis. And if we don't, I'm gonna be so angry at you. [shouting] I'll only come back here a few times a year, if that's okay. No, Thom is gonna be great. Thom, I think you're in great shape. I think you're in great shape. One more hand for Thom Tillis, please. [cheers and applause] We don't even know who's running against him. Nobody wants to run.

We will continue to enact new trade deals that result in more products proudly stamped with that beautiful, beautiful, beautiful phrase, "Made in the USA," right? "Made in the USA." We will achieve new breakthroughs in science and medicine, finding cures for childhood cancer and ending the AIDS epidemic in less than nine years. We've already started. Who would have thought that? We will defend privacy, free speech, religious liberty, and the right to keep and bear arms. [cheers and applause]

And your Second Amendment rights are under siege. Believe me, they're under siege. We don't get in, you can forget your Second Amendment. That's what I think. I really believe it. Above all, we will never stop fighting for the sacred values that binds us together as one beautiful America. [cheers and applause] 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 faith and family, not government bureaucracy, are the true American way. [cheers and applause] We believe that children should be taught to love our country, honor our history, and to always respect our great American flag. [cheers and applause] And we live by the words of our national motto, "In God We Trust."

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

The President. From Fayetteville to Wilmington, from Raleigh to Greensboro, from Asheville to Kitty Hawk to right here in Charlotte, this state is the home to some of the toughest men and strongest women, and most incredible patriots ever to walk the face of the Earth. [cheers and applause] We stand on the shoulders of American heroes who crossed the oceans, blazed the trails, sailed the continent, tamed the wilderness, dug out the Panama Canal, laid down the railroads, revolutionized industry, won two world wars, defeated fascism and communism, and made America the single greatest nation in the history of the world—[cheers and applause]—and we are making it greater every single day. [cheers and applause]

Proud citizens like you helped build this country, and together we are taking back our country. We are returning power to you, the American people, that's what's happening. With your help, your devotion, and 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. [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 North Carolina, the best is yet to come. [cheers and applause] Because together, we have made America wealthy again. We have made America strong again. We have made America proud again. We have made America safe again—[cheers and applause]—and we have made America great again. Thank you. Thank you, North Carolina. Thank you.