Remarks at a "Make America Great Again" Rally in Chattanooga, Tennessee

[music: Lee Greenwood, "God Bless the USA"]

LEE GREENWOOD: God bless our President and our Vice President!

THE PRESIDENT: Where do you begin? Where do you begin? And I didn't know Lee Greenwood would be here. That was a surprise. That was a surprise. Wow. We love that voice, and we love that song, don't we? Thank you, Lee. [applause]

Boy oh boy, that was great. That was great. And I want to thank our great Vice President, Mike Pence. Thank you. Fantastic job. [applause]

I know I speak for everyone here when I say we are all, indeed, proud to be Americans. [applause]

Right? And I'm thrilled to say that I love Tennessee. I am thrilled. And to be here with the hard-working men and women who are the heart and soul of our country, and that's true. That's true. In just two days, the people of Tennessee are going to elect Marsha Blackburn--Marsha--to the U.S. Senate to protect your jobs, defend your borders, and continue making America great again. [applause]

This is one of the most important elections of our time. I don't know if I rate it more important than the last election, '16. But it's almost--it's right there. This is really one of the most important elections that we will ever have the privilege of voting in and for. This is a big one. It'll decide whether we build on the extraordinary prosperity that we've achieve for our nation or whether we let the radical Democrats take control of Congress. . . [booing] . . . and take a giant wrecking ball to our economy and to our future. And, by the way, did you see those numbers on Friday? Those are big numbers. America now has the hottest economy on Earth. No matter who comes in to see me in the Oval Office, when it's a president, when it's a prime minister, a queen, a king, they all start off by saying it's incredible what happened to the economy of the United States. It's unbelievable. [applause]

And they try and duplicate it, but you can't duplicate our people, can you, huh? In the last month alone, we added another 250,000 jobs and nearly half a million Americans rejoined the workforce. [applause]

We created a total of 4.5 million new jobs since the election. And by the way, the media would have never believed it if I said it on the campaign. [booing]

They would have never believed it. They would have said, he shouldn't be allowed to say that. And we've lifted 4.3 million Americans off of food stamps. [applause]

And the unemployment rate just fell to the lowest level in over 50 years, five-oh. [applause]

More Americans are working today than ever before. Think of that, in the history of our country, we have more people working today than ever before, nearly 157 million Americans now have a job. [applause]

African American, Hispanic American, Asian American, unemployments, all of them, all of these groups, have all reached their lowest level in the history of our country. [applause]

Think of that. Poverty is plummeting. Wages are rising. Incomes are soaring. And the confidence level of our businesses and our people is at an all-time high. [applause]

Other than that, we're not doing so well. Good. Republicans passed a massive tax cut for working families, and we will soon follow it up with another 10 percent tax cut for the middle class. [applause]

We've got to win Congress, in all fairness. Just--because the Democrats won't be doing that. The Democrats are going to be raising your taxes. They're not cutting your taxes. [booing]

So I have to put a little caveat. We've got to win Congress. Got to win the House. I think we're doing great in the House. I think we're doing great in the Senate. But who knows, right? Who knows? You've got to get out to vote. But I will say, there is an electricity in the air the likes of which I and you have not seen since the '16 election. [applause]

And you don't hear so much about that big blue wave anymore. They may do fine. [booing]

They may do fine. Who knows? But the--you don't hear about the wave, the wave is coming, the wave is coming. I'll tell you, with the statistics I just rattled off, who could do better than that? We're breaking every record practically in the history of our country, right? [applause]

And very importantly, we're taking care of our great veterans and we are rebuilding America's--and you know this--you know what was happening to our military. It was depleted. It was tired. It was exhausted. The plans were old. Everything was tired. We are rebuilding America's military might like it's never been rebuilt before. [applause]

And hopefully we'll never have to use it, but I can tell you, the stronger we become, the less likely it is that we will have to use it, OK? [applause]

And we are building it at a level that has never been done before, $700 billion and $716 billion the following year. Under Republican leadership, America is respected again. [applause]

And America is winning again, because we are finally putting America first. [applause]

And to protect your rights and freedoms, we overcame the Democrats' smear campaign and confirmed the newest member of the United States Supreme Court, Justice Brett Kavanaugh. [applause]

And speaking of Justice Kavanaugh, great man, great intellect, a great scholar. They thought 10 years ago, long before I thought I'd be doing this, I was very happy in Manhattan having a lot of fun building buildings. I was very happy. But long before, I used to hear the name Brett Kavanaugh as being this great intellect, Washington, he will be on the Supreme Court someday. And when I told him that it's my honor--because we did great with, as you know, Justice Neil Gorsuch--you know that. [applause]

And when I saw--when I saw and heard about, we have another vacancy, and I said, wow, what a great time. And I had Brett Kavanaugh, judge at that time, over to the White House, I said, Judge, this is going to be so easy. Congratulations. [laughter]

I'm going to nominate you for the United States Supreme Court. I said, "this is going to--you are so central casting. Great marks, great schools, the best everything, the best of everything. Your family, your wife, your children, you don't have a problem in the world. You are the greatest." I said, "judge, this is a piece of cake." [laughter]

And you know what? The Democrats, what they did to him. [booing]

But you heard on Friday what happened. One of his accusers came out and said she never met him, she never met him, that she made up this story, was a total lie. Rape, rape! It was a total lie. [booing]

It was a total lie. It was fake. It was a fake--it was a fake story. Totally fake story. False accusations. It was false accusations. She made up this story. It was a lie. And think of this. What would have happened if he didn't make it because of her lie? What would have happened? Think of that, how--how unfair would that--can you imagine? That could have happened. There was a lot of pressure on him, and there was pressure on me, frankly.

These stories were coming out. And now we have to find out about the others with their accusations. OK? But I'll tell you what, I'll tell you what, well, already the other one are falling down. You look at what's going on there. But this woman came out of nowhere, and because of the pressure, she admitted that it was a total lie, it was a fabricated story. And think of the fact--think of this. If he didn't--supposing he withdrew or I was forced to do something, which, frankly, I wouldn't do. [applause]

I wouldn't do. It's a disgrace. And the way the Democrats tried to destroy this human being, this great man, who will be a Supreme Court justice at the highest level for hopefully many, many decades. Young man. [applause]

But the way they tried to destroy him, and they knew what they were doing. They knew. Dianne Feinstein with the lies and the leaks. [booing]

The leaks. How about the leak? Did you leak it? Remember, right? You remember? Did you leak it? That was John Cornyn of Texas, did a great job. Just said, did you leak it? No, uh, no, uh, did we leak anything? [laughter]

And the guy shouts back, no, turn around, no. Turn around. He didn't say turn around, I won't say, because they'll give me a hard time. [laughter]

And then she goes, no, uh, no, we didn't leak it. Which I consider that to be maybe the worst body language I've ever seen. But anyway, so we have Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court of the United States. Great. [applause]

The contrast in this election could not be more clear. Democrats produce mobs. Republicans produce jobs. It's true. [applause]

A vote for any Democrat on Tuesday is a vote to hand power to cryin' Chuck Schumer. . . [booing] . . . Nancy Pelosi. . . [booing] . . . and, of course, the legendary Maxine Waters. [booing]

And to--Maxine's in charge of banking, by the way. That'll be good. China will be thrilled to hear that. And to implement their extreme job-killing agenda, they want to raise your taxes by double and even by triple. I don't think the people in Tennessee want that. [booing]

They don't want that. Lee Greenwood does not want it. Lee, do you mind if your taxes go up three times? He doesn't mind, but his wife is not happy right now.

They want to increase regulations. They want to take away your health care. They want to impose socialism on our country. [booing]

And they want to erase America's borders. [booing]

Democrats want to invite caravan after caravan of illegal aliens to pour into our country. I don't think so. I don't think so. [booing]

No nation can allow its borders to be overrun. And that's an invasion. I don't care what they say. I don't care what the fake media says. That's an invasion of our country. [applause]

CROWD: Build that wall! Build that wall! Build that wall! Build that wall! Build that wall! Build that wall! Build that wall! Build that wall! Build that wall! Build that wall! Build that wall!

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. And you're right. And we started the wall. We have $1.6 billion. And we just got another $1.6 billion. And we're getting another $1.6 billion. But we want to build it all at one time. We want to get it done. And it's happening. It's all happening. It's all happening.

But we need Republicans or the Democrats have to start voting for this, because this is the worst immigration laws anywhere in the world. The world laughs at us. The world sees this stuff, catch-and-release. They come onto our land. Other people say get out. We say, congratulations, you're going to end up in court for the next four years. Can you believe it? Can you believe it?

That's why I am telling the caravans, the criminals, the smugglers, the trespassers marching toward our border, turn back now, because you are not getting in. [applause]

Turn back. For years, we only defended the borders of foreign countries. We protect their borders, but we don't protect ours. Now we are defending the borders of our country. [applause]

So very simply, if you want more caravans and more crime, because crime comes with it, vote for the Democrats. Vote for them. [booing]

If you want strong borders and safe communities, vote for the Republicans. It's very simple. [applause]

We are grateful to be joined today by many distinguished Tennessee Republicans. What a great group. They've helped me so much. I want to thank your state's lieutenant governor, Randy McNally, where's Randy? Where's Randy? [applause]

Thank you. Great, thank you, Randy. Great job you're doing. And your state GOP Chair Scott Golden. [applause]

Thank you, Scott. Thank you for doing a great job for me, too, Scott. That was a very good job. Thank you very much. I also want to thank your terrific Republican members of Congress. Are you guys ready? Are you guys ready? [applause]

Lot of times, you know, they don't put them in one area, and I'm looking all over. These big stadiums, they're always packed, because we have something going on, folks. There's something happening. [applause]

Something is happening. That's going to be an interesting day. We're going to do fine. We're going to do very good. We could do great. We could do great. Congressman Phil Roe, Phil, thank you. [applause]

Thank you. Thank you. Great guy. A man who came to see me speak in Pennsylvania, and he said to me--been long-term congressman, loves this state. And he said to a couple of friends of mine, who are also congressmen. I like congressmen, and women. I actually like the women better, but that's OK. [applause]

He came to speak. And you have early voting in Tennessee. And he talked to me backstage. I was going on. I was getting ready to go on. And near the Philadelphia area, we had a big stadium, it was beautiful. And he came up, he goes, you know, I have to tell you something. I wasn't president. So he goes, Mr. Trump, he goes, I want to just tell you that, I don't know what's going on, but I've been a congressman for a long time. And I have people coming in Tennessee, and they've got the Trump hat and the Trump banners and the Trump shirts and the Trump gloves and shoes and socks. [applause]

And these are people that haven't voted in years, because they never really liked who they were supposed to be voting for. And now they're pouring in with banners and everything. He said, and those lines--early voting--he said and those lines are so long, I've never seen anything like it. And he said those red hats and the white hats and every other hat, he said I've never seen anything like it. And he was the first one that told me. He said, and all I can say is this. If other states are like the great state of Tennessee, you're going to become president.

And his name is Congressman John Duncan. Right? Right, John? He said, I've never seen anything like it. [applause]

People that aren't even political, they have Trump all over. Good. And you know what I'm happiest about, we're over-performing, because everything I said, we are doing--who thought the economy would be this good? I wouldn't have been allowed to say it. They wouldn't have allowed it to be said. Who thought we would have in just a short period--not even two years, the greatest economy we've ever had in the history of our country? [applause]

Another great friend of mine--they're all friends of mine--Congressman Chuck Fleischmann. [applause]

OK, thank you. A man with one of the most beautiful names I've ever heard, Congressman Scott DesJarlais. [applause]

What a name. If I had the name, I would have been president 20 years ago. [laughter]

And Congressman David Kustoff. David? Thank you, David. Great job. [applause]

Along with the next congressman for Tennessee's sixth district, John Rose. You know John Rose? I hear great things. I hear great things about John Rose. Thanks, John. It's a great group. You really do. You have a great group. And I know they're all winning big and all that stuff. Go vote anyway. We don't want to take any chances, OK?

Fellas, you don't mind if I tell them that, right? We don't want to take any chances. They're all good. They're great. But we don't want to take any chance that we get a little bit carried away with ourselves. So go out and vote. [applause]

I don't want to see any extremely depressed former congressmen from Tennessee. Great job. That's a great group of people, I'll tell you what. They love your country. They love this state. Thank you very much, fellas. Thank you. Appreciate it. [applause]

Thank you, thank you. If you don't want to be saying Speaker Nancy Pelosi for the next two years. . . [booing] . . . you have to get out and vote for John now, because he's the newcomer. And vote for these great Republican lawmakers.

When you head to the polls on Tuesday, you will be deciding whether you want to keep this economic boom like we've never had before going strong, and we can do it. Frankly, I'll tell you what, honestly, we haven't even begun. We have such potential. We have such potential. [applause]

As crazy as it sounds, we have such potential. Or whether you want to let the resistance take it all away, and it can go quickly. Your next senator, Marsha Blackburn, will keep your economy thriving, your wages rising, your jobs soaring, and she will keep your families and communities safe. She loves this state. She will be a tireless champion for Tennessee.

Marsha is running against a far-left liberal, and you're finding that out finally, named Phil Bredesen. [booing]

The hand-picked candidate of Chuck Schumer. Schumer begged Phil to run because he knows that Phil will always do what Schumer says and always, always do what Nancy Pelosi wants him to do. [booing]

Phil will block pro-Constitution judges. He will cut funding to our military and law enforcement. He will embrace a socialist takeover of health care. And Phil totally supports the Democrats' open border madness. What's that all about? What is that all about? [booing]

If you want to stop the liberal agenda of high taxes and high crime, you need to vote for Marsha Blackburn. Marsha, please come up. Marsha. [applause]

MARSHA BLACKBURN: Thank you all so very much for being here and for everything that you're doing to help elect Republicans this cycle. And thank you so much for all you did to send President Donald Trump and Mike Pence to the White House. They are doing. . . [applause]

Our president and vice president have had quite a 21 months. And the vice president said a few things about that. Just think. Record low unemployment. Wages are growing. You are seeing so much done all across the globe. We're out of the Iran deal. We've defeated. . . [applause]

We've defeated ISIS in Syria. North Korea, China being held accountable. And our U.S. embassy is in Jerusalem, where it belongs. [applause]

And to keep this working, I think Tennesseans want a U.S. senator who is going to do exactly what she says she is going to do when she goes to Washington, D.C. [applause]

Now, let me tell ya, if my opponent, Phil Bredesen, had his way, Hillary Clinton, who he gave $33,400 to, would be president and not any of these things would be happening. [booing]

So if you want to have somebody. . .

CROWD: Lock her up! Lock her up! Lock her up! Lock her up! Lock her up! Lock her up! Lock her up! Lock her up! Lock her up!

BLACKBURN: All right. If you want to have somebody who's going to support more constitutional judges and is going to be there to support tax cuts, be there to build the wall, I ask you to. . . [applause]

I ask you to stand with me. And if you want to vote no on Hillary Clinton and her cronies one more time, stand with me. Let's win this election on Tuesday. Thank you. [applause]

THE PRESIDENT: She's going to do a great job. Thank you very much. That was great. Thank you. Thank you, Marsha.

If Democrats gain power on Tuesday, they will try to raid your Medicare to fund socialism. You know that. The Democrat health care plan would obliterate Medicare and eliminate Medicare Advantage for more than half a million Tennessee seniors. They're not going to be happy.

Republicans will protect Medicare for our great seniors, who earned it, and by the way, they paid for it. You know that. They paid for it. They paid for it. And Republicans will always protect patients with pre-existing conditions. Please remember that. [applause]

Democrats' plan to destroy health care also includes giving away your benefits to illegal immigrants. You know that. [booing]

As we speak, Democrats are openly encouraging millions of illegal aliens to break our laws, violate our borders, and destroy our nation in so many different ways. And they want to sign them up for free welfare, free health care, free education, and most importantly, the right to vote. They want them to vote. [booing]

Come on in and vote. They love them voting. Illegal immigration costs our country more than $100 billion every single year. That's almost three times the entire state budget of the state of Tennessee. Not only do the Democrats' open border policies drain our Treasury, but they endanger every American community. And you people know that better than anybody.

Nearly 100 percent of the heroin coming into the United States enters through our southern border, along with roughly 90 percent of the cocaine, the majority of meth, and a substantial portion of the ultra-lethal fentanyl, which is killing our youth at record numbers. We can't allow this. [booing]

These drugs kill 70,000 Americans every single year and destroy the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. Last year alone, our brave ICE officers arrested more than 127,000 aliens with criminal records. Wow! [applause]

Think of that, 127,000. Think of that, 127--ICE, they want to fire ICE. They don't like 'em. They think they're a little bit too rough. They're dealing with tough customers.

But listen to this. It's including those charged or convicted of approximately 48,000 assaults, 12,000 sex crimes, and 1,800 murders. We don't want this, folks. [booing]

We don't want it. But Democrats want to abolish ICE and turn America into a giant sanctuary city for gang members and MS-13 killers. [booing]

Remember when Nancy Pelosi was upset with the way I was talking about MS-13? She--remember that, though? It's like, they're people, too. They're people, too. Oh, really?

Republicans believe our country should be a sanctuary for law-abiding Americans, not criminal aliens. [applause]

And Republicans will always stand with the heroes of ICE and Border Patrol and law enforcement. This election is about safety and it's about prosperity. For years, you watched as we let foreign countries plunder and drain our wealth, shutter our factories, and steal our jobs. [booing]

But those days are over, Tennessee. Those days are over. [applause]

We've added nearly half a million manufacturing jobs since the election. Last month alone, we added another 33--think of this--33,000 manufacturing jobs, 1,000 each day. Remember the previous administration? We're never going to have manufacturing jobs anymore. By the way, they're among the best jobs we have in our whole country. And very important jobs. [applause]

The magic wand, he just said. You need a magic wand to bring them back. Well, I guess we found the magic wand. [applause]

We found the magic wand. I recently announced that we are replacing the horrible NAFTA deal with an incredible, brand-new U.S.-Mexico-Canada agreement. The USMCA, like the song, YMCA, if you have any problem. If you have any problem remember it, just think YMCA. It's a giant win for Tennessee farmers and autoworkers. And by the way, speaking of autoworkers, we have so many plants, so many companies coming back into the United States, they're all coming back, they want the action. [applause]

Plus our new deal makes it extremely hard for companies to fire all their workers and leave. So we're not having that anymore. And I talked about that during the campaign. Not going happen, where they fire our workers, they move to Mexico or another country, they build their cars and then they sell them back here, no tax, no nothing. We end up with no jobs and empty factory. That's not happening anymore. That's not happening. [applause]

We've taken the toughest ever action to crack down on China's abusive trade practices. We're doing very well, by the way. Every day it's promises made, promises kept. [applause]

And there has been no president or no administration that's had a more successful first two years than we have, with all that we've done. [applause]

We've taken bold action to reduce the price of prescription drugs. That's happening. You see it. Thanks to our aggressive measures to drive down the price of health insurance, this year premiums on the exchange in Tennessee are plummeting by an average of 26 percent. And we got rid of the individual mandate, which was a disaster. We took it out. We got rid of it. You think that was easy? Not easy.

And we've introduced new affordable plans in this state that are as much as 60 percent cheaper and more than that than Obamacare. To help critically ill patients get life-saving treatments, we passed right to try. I'm very proud of that. Many, many years they tried to get it passed. [applause]

Many, many years, right to try. A patient's terminal ill, they travel all over the world trying to find a cure, if they have the money to do that. If they don't, they just don't have hope. They go home. We have the best medical facilities, doctors, research in the world, and if we're getting close, anything in the pipeline, if something's terminally ill, if somebody's very sick, they now will have the right to try the experimental drugs that we have. [applause]

And we've had great success. We've had great success. There's been some incredible stories already. That was done three months ago.

And last month, I proudly signed the largest bill to fight the opioid epidemic, which is a real big problem. Biggest bill, $6 billion, in American history.

We passed veterans' choice, giving our veterans the right to go see a private doctor instead of waiting in line for weeks and weeks and weeks. [applause]

Forty-four years, they've been trying to get it done. Forty-four years, we got it done. And the landmark V.A. accountability law, to ensure that anyone who mistreats our veterans will be immediately accountable. You're fired. Get out. [applause]

Right? And those people right there, those congressmen helped me so much. That's true, fellas. Thank you. On every one of those. On every one of them, what I just said, every one of them, that group of congressmen, they are incredible. Thank you, fellas. Thank you. [applause]

We secured $700 billion and $716 billion to fully rebuild the United States military. And we gave our great warriors their largest pay raise in more than a decade. [applause]

And at my direction, the Pentagon is now working to create the sixth branch of the American armed forces. It's called the Space Force. [applause]

I withdrew the United States from the horrible, one-sided Iran nuclear catastrophe. [applause]

And Iran is a much different right now than it was before I took office. They were doing bad things, and they are doing bad things now, but they don't have the same perspective. They were looking for the Mediterranean. You know what the Mediterranean--that was a long ways away. They wanted to take over the whole Middle East. Right now, they just want to survive. [applause]

And we've recognized the capital of Israel and opened the American embassy in Jerusalem. [applause]

Together we've made extraordinary progress, and we are just getting started. We have a long way to go. That's why we have to get Senator Marsha Blackburn in office as soon as we can. [applause]

By the way, we have another great senator here. He's from a slightly competitive state. It's called the great state of Georgia, where I just left. [applause]

The legendary Senator David Perdue. Thank you, David. Great guy. Great guy. But if Lee Greenwood doesn't like him, I'm going to say, David, you got to get out of here. I'm sorry. [laughter]

But the Democrats want to turn back the clock, throw America in reverse, and return power to a corrupt, selfish ruling class that only looks out for themselves. You see it happening, but we stop it. Our opponents are stuck in the past, while we are rebuilding and going into America's great future. [applause]

I need you to vote for a Republican House and a Republican Senate so we can continue this incredible movement, the greatest political movement in the history of our country. It is. [applause]

With your support, we will keep on cutting your taxes, reducing your regulations, growing your jobs, and raising your incomes. That's what we've been doing.

We will protect Medicare and we will protect your Social Security. We will defend your right of free speech, religious liberty, and we will continue to confirm judges who will interpret the Constitution as written. [applause]

We will fully secure the border. We will pass Kate's law. We will stop sanctuary cities, stop catch-and-release, and end the visa lottery, end chain migration, and we will keep the criminals, drug dealers, and terrorists the hell out of our country. [applause]

CROWD: USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! [applause]

THE PRESIDENT: We will lift millions of our citizens from welfare to work, dependence to independence, and poverty to prosperity. [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 Tennessee. And we are proudly standing up for our great national anthem. [applause]

I am asking every citizen from every party, every background, and every race, color and creed to reject the Democrat politics of anger and division and to unite behind our proud and righteous destiny as Americans. [applause]

I need you to get your family, get your friends, get your neighbors, get your coworkers, and go out and vote Republican. Do it now. Do it Tuesday. We have to get it done. [applause]

On Election Day I need the people of Tennessee to send a message to cryin' Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi, Maxine Waters, and the radical resistance by voting for Marsha Blackburn.

Loyal citizens like you helped build this country. And together we are taking back our country, returning power to you, the American people. That's what's happening. [applause]

This incredible state was tamed by tough frontier men and strong frontier women. This is the state of Davy Crockett and Andrew Jackson. [applause]

Davy Crockett. Andrew Jackson. And this is the state of generations of proud Tennessee patriots who ventured out into the wilderness and up into the mountains 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 Americans did not shed their blood, sweat, and tears so that we could sit at home while others tried to erase their legacy, tear down our history, and destroy our proud American heritage. [applause]

From the majestic valleys of Tennessee to the red rocks of Arizona, Martha McSally, Arizona, McSally, McSally, she's great. She's great. McSally, Arizona.

From the big sky of Montana to the green fields of Missouri, from the deserts of Nevada to the everglades of Florida and from the coal mines of West Virginia to the steel mills of Indiana, 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 victory. [applause]

Because we are Americans. And our hearts bleed red, white, and blue. [applause]

We are one people, one family, and one glorious nation under God. And Tennessee, 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, Tennessee. Thank you. [applause]

[music: The Rolling Stones, "You Can't Always Get What You Want]