Photo of Donald Trump

Remarks at a "Make America Great Again" Rally in Erie, Pennsylvania

October 10, 2018

THE PRESIDENT: Hello, Pennsylvania. Hello, Pennsylvania. [applause]

Great people. Incredible people. And I'm thrilled to be here tonight in Erie, Pennsylvania, with thousands of loyal, hard-working, and beautiful American patriots. That's what you are. [applause]

Before we begin, I want to send our thoughts and prayers of our entire nation to everyone in the path of Hurricane Michael, especially in the Florida panhandle, where it's hitting and hitting hard. It's a big one, one of the biggest we've ever seen. All of Pennsylvania, all of America sends its unwavering love and support. [applause]

My administration is working closely with Florida Governor Rick Scott and the governors of North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama, Georgia, anybody else affected, to provide the full resources and steadfast support of our federal government.

CROWD: You're the man!

THE PRESIDENT: We are. . . [applause]

We're all set to go. We're going to follow it right in. We have massive amounts of water and food. And we have the electric companies, thousands and thousands of electrical workers, they're going to follow it as it leaves. We're going to follow right behind. [applause]

Help the situation. Everyone's working in close coordination with local officials. And I'll be traveling to Florida very, very shortly, so we just want to wish them all the best. And Godspeed. Godspeed. God bless you all. [applause]

And you know . . . and I speak because so many of my friends are here with us in Pennsylvania, we will spare no effort, no expense, no resource to help these great fellow citizens of ours that are going through a tough time right now. [applause]

We know when Americans face hardship, we support each other, we stand with each other, we care for each other, and we will always pull through. It will be successful. We will always be successful at what we do. [applause]

Florida, Georgia, Alabama, North Carolina, South Carolina, again, two weeks ago, and now they're going to get a lot more water coming in. That's what they don't need is water right now. These are great people.

Tonight we are going to discuss the extraordinary achievements we've made for our fellow citizens in less than two years' time. You know, it's been less than two years. All those beautiful red hats, Make America Great Again. . . [applause]

And we will discuss the next steps we must take to protect this amazing progress and to continue building an even greater future for all Americans. That's what's happening. You look at what's going on. It's been incredible. [applause]

I said the other night . . . and you know that these folks will dispute us if we're wrong. [booing]

But this has been the greatest revolution ever to take place in our country. Here we are. [applause]

The greatest ever. [applause]

I remember, during the primaries and prior to the election, they were saying, wow, this is . . . this is something not . . . there's been nothing like this since Ronald Reagan. Then it kept going and going and going, and then we actually won.

In Tennessee, I remember a great Congressmen Duncan, they said, he said, sir, early voting. He said, sir, they're coming from the hills, the valleys, people that haven't voted for a long time because they didn't want to vote for the people that were running for office. And they've got Trump banners and Trump hats and Trump tattoos. I've never seen anything like it. [applause]

All about you. And he was right.

CROWD: USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA!

THE PRESIDENT: And then after that, they said, well, we have to go back further than Ronald Reagan, so they talk about Andrew Jackson and said, let's see, the 1830s, that's a long time. And then they said on election night that this superseded even Andrew Jackson. So you won it. It's yours. And we're doing well. [applause]

We're doing well. We are producing and doing even better than we said we would. It's been amazing. [applause]

This election is about your families, your values, and what kind of country you want to leave for your children. This election is about keeping America safe, keeping America strong, keeping America proud, keeping America free. [applause]

And this has been a historic week for our nation. And you know what I'm talking about. [applause]

You know, all my life I've heard that a president's most important decision is who he or she picks for the United States Supreme Court. [applause]

And as you know, on Monday night, we proudly swore in the newest member of the United States Supreme Court, Justice Brett Kavanaugh. [applause]

Justice Kavanaugh now sits alongside Justice Gorsuch. . . [applause] . . . to defend your rights, your Constitution, and your God-given freedom. Two great men. [applause]

They will go down as great, great justices of the Supreme Court. You watch. What the radical Democrats did to Brett Kavanaugh and his beautiful family is a national disgrace. [booing]

It's a disgrace. What they did was a disgrace. You look at Cory Booker, the way he talked, and then you look at what he did. [booing]

You look at Senator Dianne Feinstein, what she did. [booing]

The disgraceful behavior. The disgraceful leaking of documents. You look at what they did. You look at the false charges. You look at the false accusations. It was a disgrace. It was a disgrace! [booing]

And people were saying, thank you, sir, for sticking and thank you for not giving up. You know what? I never even thought of it, folks. I never even thought of it. [applause]

Never even thought of it. But on November 6th, you can vote to reject the Democrats' shameful conduct by electing Republican House and, really, we need it badly, we need these votes, a Republican Senate. [applause]

Under Republican leadership, America is booming, America is thriving, and America is winning like never before, because we are finally putting America first. [applause]

Just two days ago, the unemployment rate has fallen to the lowest level in 50 years. [applause]

It was just announced that manufacturing confidence is at an all-time high. Historic. [applause]

Big thing, confidence. You remember the previous administration? They said, oh, you can't bring back manufacturing jobs. Really? You can't bring back. . . [booing]

That was wrong. Remember they said you'd need a magic wand. Well, we've got . . . I guess we have, right . . . we have a magic wand. [applause]

And those are our great jobs. And we are unleashing the power of Pennsylvania shale and clean, beautiful Pennsylvania coal, beautiful, beautiful, clean coal. [applause]

We are putting our miners back to work. We are putting our steelworkers back to work. [applause]

And by the way, I don't know how many people are in the steel industry, but one of the hottest industries . . . and this was dying. The steel industry was dead and dying. One of the hottest industries right now in our country is American steel. [applause]

U.S. Steel is opening and expanding seven different plants and spending a tremendous . . . billions of dollars doing it. And what does it mean for you? Jobs, jobs, very simple. What does it mean for our country? What does it mean for our country? We can't lose the steel industry. The steel industry was on its last legs, and now, after four months of really intensely doing what I do. . . [applause] . . . it's thriving. It is thriving. It's amazing, actually. It's amazing. You got to have steel. You know, you need steel for defense. You got to have steel. Supposing you don't have steel and we do have a problem defense-wise. You going to call China, please send us some steel? [booing]

And aluminum is doing great again. These are things we have to have. But beyond that, it's tremendous numbers of jobs already taking place. The head of U.S. Steel said he's never seen anything like it. And what did we do? We essentially stopped the dumping. They were dumping garbage all over our country. It wasn't even good. [applause]

It was sand steel. It was rotted steel. It was garbage. They're dumping it all over our country. So now we can take our own metallurgic ore out of our mines that we can bring it here and to other places, and we can actually have our industry. We don't need this product coming in untested from other countries. We don't need it, folks. We've got it here. We don't need it. [applause]

And you watch what's going to happen with jobs, and you watch what's going to happen with price. Very proud of that industry. After years of rebuilding other nations, we are finally rebuilding our nation. [applause]

But if Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats. . . [booing] . . . take over Congress, they will try to raise your taxes . . . we've lowered them tremendously . . . impose socialism, which is where they're coming from. . . [booing] . . . and take over and destroy American health care. And you see how well we're doing with health care. You see it. Democrats want to abolish America's borders and allow drugs and gangs to pour into our country unabated. [booing]

And I say this, and I mean this. The Democrats are the party of crime. That's what's happening. They are the party of crime. [applause]

Republicans are the party of law, order, and justice. And we are also the party of jobs, jobs, jobs. You see that. [applause]

We're thrilled to be joined tonight by several really terrific friends of mine, Pennsylvania Republicans, including a man that's helped me so much in Washington, like tax cuts, like regulation cuts, like many other things, Congressman GT Thompson. [applause]

A man who's really doing well, if you believe in polls. I believe in polls. Only the ones that have us up, because they're the only honest ones. [laughter]

Other than that, they're the fake news poll. Fake news. [booing]

Fake news. You know they take these polls, they show them, I said, that can't be right. What they want to do is keep you out of the voting booth. Take your wife, take your husband, go to a movie, come back, watch the results. You say, you know, I love so and so, but the polls say he can't win. Darling, let's go to a movie tonight. We'll go home and we'll watch . . . and that's what happens. They talk you out of it. They're dishonest. just like their reporting is dishonest, their polls are dishonest. [booing]

Not all of them. Not all of them. No, not all of them. But many of them, and I saw it. I saw it. And yet there were some that got us very right on that great, great evening. Was that the most exciting evening of our lives? [applause]

Remember, we won Florida? And remember John King, nice guy at CNN, fake news, CNN. . . [booing]

Remember, early . . . it was early, and we won by a lot. We won Florida by a lot. Remember the red, right, the red, beautiful red. I never liked red so much. [laughter]

Against the blue, I didn't like blue. [laughter]

And the whole map is like red. And he's going crazy. [applause]

But early, Donald Trump has won the state of Florida. Oh, my gosh. [applause]

Donald Trump has won the state of Florida. Oh, that was upsetting to him. Remember when they said that Texas would be long, it would be a long call, go late into the night, because they said it's just going to be too close to call? So the polls closed at 8 o'clock, and they never call them early unless you win by a landslide, right? So the polls closed. The polls have closed in the state of Texas. Donald Trump has won the state of Texas. Right? [applause]

Which other one? Utah, remember it was so . . . it was so close, Utah. They had a guy that I never saw before. I don't know. There's this guy. Do you know who I'm talking about? And they had crooked Hillary, the three of us. [booing]

And this guy was supposed to come in second, but I was going to be . . . it's going to be very close. Maybe I could edge, but this guy was going to come either first or second, and crooked Hillary was supposed to be third.

So, the Utah, great people. We just gave over millions of acres of great space, public space to Utah. So what happens? What happens? So they say, oh, for weeks I'm hearing how close Utah is. So the polls close at 8 o'clock. Eight o'clock and three seconds, Donald Trump has won. . . [applause] . . . the state of Utah. We won it by. . . [applause]

And on top of that, this guy came in third. He didn't even come in second. Crooked Hillary came in second. A long ways away. [booing]

Long ways. Remember? Anyway. But was that the most exciting night? Was that the greatest? [applause]

Well, if you look at it, when you think of it, there was collusion between Hillary, the Democrats, and Russia. There was collusion. There's no question about it. [applause]

There was a lot of collusion with them and Russia and lots of other people, by the way. But so you remember . . . so we win Florida, then we had a . . . you know, to win the Electoral College is very tough. The other is easier. You go to three or four states and you work, and you do . . . but to win, got to be smart. You're right. You got to be smart. Got to be smart. You got to . . . and you have to have great support. This is our support. [applause]

But you got to run the whole East Coast. If you're a Republican, it's very, very hard. Electoral College is much harder than anything. Remember, they said, there is no path. I heard this so many times. I said to my wife, oh . . . our first lady, how's she doing? Good? [applause]

I said to Melania, I said, I've heard there is no path, there is no path to 270. Right? How many times have you heard that? Thousands? I've been hearing it for months. There is no path. And I kept going . . . I love this state . . . I kept going to Maine, for one, because they had . . . maybe, if I have a great night, 269. Of course they could never say I could get to . . . so I kept going to Maine five times, because I wanted to get one, and I ended up getting the one in Maine, but I also got Michigan, and Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania. [applause]

Remember that? Remember that? And what angered me, because I love this state, and I went to school in this state, right? I went to school in this state. [applause]

I love Pennsylvania. I went to school in this state. Great place. Great people. What angered me is Pennsylvania hasn't been won for many years by Republicans, but every Republican thinks they're going to win Pennsylvania. They didn't quite get it.

But I got it. The workers, I got it. Every Republican . . . I used an expression. You know, there's an expression, but under the rules of "Me, Too," I'm not allowed to use that expression anymore. Can't do it. [laughter]

It's the person that got away. See, in the old days, it was a little different. Pennsylvania . . . I'll just do it anyway. [applause]

I would do it, except for these people up there. They would say, did you hear what President Trump said? Did you hear what he said? [booing]

So there is expression, but we'll change the expression. Pennsylvania was always the person that got away. That's pretty good, right? The person that got . . . and for many years, nobody . . . no Republican won Pennsylvania. And . . . but they always thought they were going to. Pennsylvania, great. And then they lost it by a lot.

I said I know we're going to win Pennsylvania, but all night long, they had one point. But if I lost every single vote in Pennsylvania, I was 99 percent of the vote cast, and I said, will you please project Pennsylvania? Let Pennsylvania be the state where I win this election? I was winning North Carolina, South Carolina. We won Florida. We were doing . . . we were running the East Coast. And I kept saying, why aren't they . . . and ask them. Ask them. Why aren't they announcing Pennsylvania? [booing]

One point left, 99 percent of the vote cast, right? Ninety-nine percent of the vote cast. One point left. If I lost every single vote, I won Pennsylvania by a lot. I kept saying, why aren't they announcing Pennsylvania? I thought it must be some kind of a technical malfunction. [laughter]

So they didn't do it until late in the evening. It stayed forever. I kept going, why aren't they announcing? I'd love to win with Pennsylvania. But honestly, then what happened? Out of the blue, Donald Trump has won the state of Wisconsin. [applause]

And then out of the blue, first time in decades, Donald Trump has won the state of Michigan. [applause]

And then finally they announced, late in the morning, which we knew they just couldn't do it. They couldn't do it. They just couldn't. Donald Trump has won the great state of Pennsylvania. They didn't do it that way. [applause]

They didn't do it that way. They didn't do it that way. They did it with tears flowing down their face. This can't be happening. Can this . . . did you see some of them crying? And we were all crying, too, out of happiness, right? [applause]

Because there has never been anything like what we all did. OK? We did it together. [applause]

And now we're doing great trade deals. We're fixing our military. We're taking care of our vets. We are doing so much. We're cutting regulations.

So you have a congressional candidate running, taking the place of a fantastic person. You know who that is. But you have a man named John Joyce who's running, and he's way up in the polls, but don't let that fool you. Get out and vote. Get out and vote.

John Joyce. Where is John? [applause]

Thank you, John. State Senators Dan Laughlin and Michele Brooks, and your next governor of the state of Pennsylvania . . . I'll tell you, this guy is working hard, folks. He said he did 631 events. I said that's a lot. [laughter]

I'll tell you, he's a really good man and he's a hard-worker, and I know it's a tough race. But based on competence, based on everything, very successful guy. Successful businessman, which we like. Scott Wagner. Scott? [applause]

And maybe the best thing I can say about Scott Wagner is that Judge Jeanine thinks he's fantastic, OK? [applause]

That might be the greatest endorsement. And I . . . you have my full endorsement. That might be the greatest endorsement I can give you, Scott. Judge Jeanine.

I'm especially thrilled to introduce a terrific Pennsylvania congressmen. He's been a friend of mine for a long time, long before I did this whole political thing. A congressmen came up to me the other day, he said, sir, I've been winning for many years and I'm a proud congressmen. I've won many races, 10 to be exact. I've only lost three. I said, you lost three? Yes, a long time ago, when I was young. And I'm very proud, I'm a real professional.

I said, you know, I've never thought of it that way, but I've only ran one time, one. . . [applause]

It was for the presidency. And we won the presidency, right? [applause]

We won the president. Now, I had to do it, because he was bragging about his political career. This wasn't Mike Kelly, by the way. Somebody else. And I had to do it. I said, I never thought of it that way, but I ran one time, and we won. [applause]

OK. And it's also the presidency, right? So, you know. But a man that's been a friend of mine for a long time, he's a tremendous man, and his name is Congressmen Mike Kelly. He loves you people. [applause]

And just like your other congressmen, and John Joyce, just like your other congressmen, Mike is strong on crime, tough as hell on borders, powerful on trade, and he is really great on jobs. You see what he's doing. [applause]

Mike was leading the fight, along with JT and the others, in Congress to cut your taxes, which we did at a level that they haven't seen before, cut regulations, and to protect American workers and American steelworkers. We're going to dredge the channel to Lake Erie. And we're going to replenish the sand to Presque Isle. Do you know what Presque Isle is? [applause]

Presque Isle. They've been talking about that for a long time. Mike keeps calling, sir, we want to fix up Presque Isle. I said, Mike, what the hell is Presque Isle? [laughter] [applause]

He said, sir, it's a beautiful beach. I had a picture sent to me. There's no sand. That's what he wants. He wants sand. And we're going to get him the sand, OK? [applause]

We're going to get him the sand. [applause]

So, he's a great guy. You got to go vote for him. Let me just invite just for a couple of seconds, Mike, please, come on up. [applause]

CROWD: USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA!

MIKE KELLY: Oh, OK, you know what? Listen, listen, President Trump and I have so much in common. First of all, he loves Pennsylvania. . . [applause] . . . and he . . . and he made a commitment tonight. He said, what can we do to make it even better in Erie than it is now? What can we do to take the greatest of the Great Lakes and make it better? I said, Mr. President, we need to get sand replenishment. [applause]

He said, how much do you need? I said, I'm not sure. He said, let me know. You're knowing to get that sand. [applause]

Yeah! And then he said, so what else? What else? I said, you know what, we need to get some dredging done in the channel so that we don't have to light load any more, our ships can come in and out and get out to the world and bring goods in at a much cheaper price. He said, you know what, we're going to do that, too! [applause]

And then I said to the president, you know what, Mr. President, you and I have a lot more in common than probably most people understand. And he goes, what would that be? I said, well, sir, we both married up. [laughter]

We both married up! [applause]

So this beautiful girl standing beside me tonight, mother of four, grandmother of 10, and five of them are over there right now with my son, George, retired Army captain, and they're here because they love this president. [applause]

Look, you know that in 2016, candidate Donald Trump came here to this same arena, to a crowd that was almost as big as this. My god, we got thousands of people outside that just want to get in. There's just not enough room for all the love. [applause]

The president as a candidate said, this will not be my first trip to Erie, Pennsylvania. This will not be my first time to stand on the shores of the Great Lake Erie. He said, I will be back.

But you know what he also did? He made promises to us in 2016. And people said, no, no, no, there's no way he can do that. There's no way we can get there. My gosh, we just spent eight years of somebody telling us in the White House that America's best days have left her. [booing]

And you foolish, foolish people. You Americans actually still seem to think that you're exceptional. You are not exceptional! [booing]

I want to tell you something. Promises made, promises kept. [applause]

The strongest personality, the strongest president we have seen in our lifetime! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA!

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

KELLY: Listen, I got to tell you, the last 21 months of my life, I have seen something happen in America that I had never seen before. I have seen the resurrection of the greatest nation the world has ever known. [applause]

It knows no boundaries. It doesn't differentiate because of the color of your skin, the shape of your eye, what your gender is, where you worship. Every single American and at every single way every single day is stronger because of this man. [applause]

You're the best. You are the best! [applause]

Now, let me let you in on a little secret. You know, all of us deplorables are here tonight. [applause]

Yeah, we're all here! But you know there's another group out there that says, you know what, we've got to win these midterms. We've got to knock this president off his perch. We've got to knock America down a notch or two. [booing]

Well, I'll tell you, the president said, we're going to win, and we're going to keep on winning, and you're going to get tired of winning. I'll tell you, in Erie, Pennsylvania, we never get tired of winning. That's who we are! [applause]

I'm going to ask you all . . . I'm going to ask you all to do one thing tonight. As you look at this gentleman, who left a life that was so comfortable, who left a life that was so luxurious, to be torn apart every day, to have our first lady attacked every day, to have the first family attacked every day. . . [booing] . . . that is not who we are. Now, you know how you're going to change that? You're going to take the enthusiasm you have tonight, you're going to take the love that you have in your heart for the greatest country in the greatest nation in the history of mankind, and you're going to get out and vote. [applause]

You're going to show up in numbers that nobody ever thought would turn out. Now, listen. There's an old saying. You've got to play it through the whistle. Right? You got to play it through the whistle. You know what this man's saying is? You've got to play it through the echo of the whistle. [applause]

Listen, I am so grateful and so thankful that an American citizen came out of nowhere to take the reins and reform and recommit this country to the greatest, greatest nation the world's ever known. I got to tell you, I'm with you, we're all together. Let's go win! Let's go win! Let's go win! [applause]

CROWD: USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA!

THE PRESIDENT: What do you think of that, folks? [applause]

And, truly, look, he's in good shape. You see that. How would you like to be his opponent? [laughter]

But still, you never know. A vote for Mike is a vote to make America great again. It's very simple. [applause]

I want to introduce another congressmen who has been a friend of mine, also, for a long time. And he had a very sad day yesterday. He lost his brother. He lost his brother. And he loved his brother like crazy. I said, how close? He said the closest. And a very, very strange, horrible thing happened. And he doesn't want to talk about it. But I will tell you it's a hard thing for him.

And he loves this state, he loves the people. He's been an incredible congressman. He was a politician and various things. He went on to become a great congressman. He is so respected in Washington. And the only bad thing when he said he's going to do this, at my suggestion, I said, Lou, I'm telling you, you can win. And he said, well, if you think it's important. It was really at my suggestion. In other words, I got him into this. [laughter]

It could have been for the rest of his life. He could have been a congressman. But he's a special man. He's a total winner. And he had a rough time the last few days. And something else happened on top of that. But I'm honored to introduce the next United States senator from the state of Pennsylvania, my good friend, Lou Barletta. [applause]

CROWD: Lou!

LOU BARLETTA: Thank you. Thank you very much. You know, Mr. President, I happen how much you love Pennsylvania. This is like the 9th or 10th time that you've been here. And each time that you come, the list of promises made, promises kept gets longer and longer. And that's OK with us, because now you're overseeing the greatest economy in American history right now. [applause]

This economy is soaring. GDP last month was 4.2 percent. Unemployment, 3.7 percent. Four million new jobs were created. And this is the stat I love the most: Four million Americans came off of food stamps. Four million Americans came off of food stamps. [applause]

Black unemployment at an all-time low. Hispanic unemployment at an all-time low. Women's unemployment at a 64-year low. There are more jobs than people who are unemployed. And I'll tell you how good the economy is: This economy is so good that even Colin Kaepernick found a job. [applause] [booing]

Now, who would want to stop that? Who would want to stop what's happening to the American people right now? I'll tell you who wants to stop it: Bob Casey wants to stop it. [booing]

Senator Bob Casey went to Washington and he forgot about Pennsylvania. He became . . . in Washington, he became . . . it's no surprise . . . he became one of the most liberal senators in Washington. He no longer represents Pennsylvania values.

I'll tell you how radical . . . I'll tell you how radical he has become. He is so radical that he said he will vote no, no matter who the president nominates for the next Supreme Court pick. No matter who. [booing]

Now, he started this craziness. He started this craziness by saying he'd be the first senator to vote no, no matter what. If you don't like the way that Justice Kavanaugh has been treated, then you can't reward Bob Casey by sending him back to Washington ever again. [applause]

Listen, it's pretty clear . . . it's pretty clear why I'm running for Senate. I'm running for Senate because the president did call and he said, I need you in the Senate. I'm running there because I want to help him because we want to show respect for our law enforcement in America once again. [applause]

We want to take care of our veterans. No veterans should ever and will ever die waiting in line for health care in this country ever again. [applause]

And we're going to support our military, those men and women who travel all over this world to make sure that we have the freedoms that we have and enjoy today and that our children and grandchildren will have that same freedom. [applause]

We're going . . . we're going to take care of our seniors. We're going to protect the unborn. We're going to put an end to illegal immigration. [applause]

We're going to . . . we're going to build the wall. We're going to build the way. And we are going to kneel when we pray and stand for the flag. No, Mr. President. [applause]

No, Mr. President, we're not tired of winning in Pennsylvania. We're going to win again in November. Thank you. God bless you. And God bless the United States. Thank you. [applause]

CROWD: Lou!

THE PRESIDENT: That's great, Lou. Thank you very much. He's a great man. He's really . . . he'll be a fantastic representative for you in Washington, D.C. Got to get out and vote.

CROWD: Lou!

THE PRESIDENT: So while Lou is fighting for you, Bob Casey is fighting to protect violent criminal aliens. That's what he's doing. [booing]

Bob Casey voted in favor of deadly sanctuary cities that released thousands upon thousands of illegal alien criminals and vicious gang members to prey on Pennsylvania streets, to prey all over this country. He'll do it.

For example, the sanctuary city of Philadelphia, can you believe this? Could you believe that one?[booing]

That one I didn't expect to be hearing . . . released a criminal alien who was recently convicted of raping and battering a very young child. Bob Casey defends criminals while attacking our brave ICE agents. He wants to get rid of ICE. [booing]

Let me tell you about ICE. These are tough, brave people that love our country. [applause]

These are people that MS-13, they're afraid of ICE. They don't like seeing ICE. And if we don't have ICE, you'll pay a big price. These are great people. [applause]

These are great people. Lou Barletta and the Republican Party will always stand for the heroes of ICE, Border Patrol, and our great, great law enforcement. These are great people. [applause]

Bob Casey even voted against Kate's Law, named for Kate Steinle, who was gunned down by a five-time deported illegal alien, should have never been in our country. [booing]

Bob Casey puts criminal aliens before American citizens, always has. [booing]

By the way, how do you have such a liberal guy in the state of Pennsylvania? I'm trying to figure that out. Oh, he's banking on the name of his father. That's no good. Which is why he needs to be voted out of office. He has to be voted out of office. [applause]

Casey also voted against tax cuts, against Pennsylvania coal. He joined the left-wing mob by voting against Brett Kavanaugh. [booing]

If you want to save American lives, and save American jobs, and keep things going like they're going now, which is better economically than any time in the history of our country. . . [applause] . . . then you need to vote for a pro-American patriot, and he really is a patriot . . . he loves this country . . . named Lou Barletta. Get out and vote please.

CROWD: Lou! [applause]

THE PRESIDENT: Also at stake in this election is Medicare. Democrats support a socialist takeover of health care that would totally obliterate Medicare. Republicans want to protect Medicare for our great seniors who have earned it and who have paid for it all their lives. [applause]

And we will always protect Americans with pre-existing conditions. We're going to protect people that need help, people with pre-existing conditions.

If you want security for your family, for yourself, if you want to continue our great economic boom like we've never seen before, but it's all very fragile, it can end, they want to end it, then you must go out and vote Republican. We need those votes in D.C. [applause]

Since the election, as Lou has said, we've created over 4.2 million new jobs and lifted over 4 million people off of food stamps. [applause]

We've added almost 600,000 new manufacturing jobs. They were supposed to be gone forever. African-American unemployment has reached its lowest level in history. [applause]

History. That's in history. Think of that. In history. It's got its best level on unemployment. Think of that. African-American poverty has reached its lowest rate ever recorded in poverty. [applause]

Hispanic-American and Asian-American unemployment has always reached historic lows, lowest in history. [applause]

And as I always say . . . I'm sure you've heard it, I hate to say it again because I know the number is going to be changing very soon, it's going to be even better, women's unemployment has just fallen to 3.6 percent, which is only the lowest rate in 65 years. I'm sorry. I keep saying it. [applause]

I keep waiting for that number. I'm sorry, I'd like to apologize to the women, please. Sixty-five years, best in 65 years. I keep waiting for the new number to come out, because that will be history, too, just like African-American, Asian-American, Hispanic-American. Women, it's only the best number in 65 years. I'd like to apologize. But it's very true. Women. Women for Trump. Women for Trump. [applause]

Remember how badly I was going to do with women? I said, am I so bad? Remember how badly? And then I got 52 percent of the vote! And everybody said he beat crooked Hillary. What happened? [applause]

What . . . remember that? Remember they put up these phony numbers? But you remember that? We did very well. Thank you to the women. We did very well. [applause]

She never got it. The truth is she never got it. And she still doesn't get it. She's going around on a tour. Did you know this? Did you know that? I said, you should have saved it for the election.

After years of being let down by Washington politicians, you now have a champion fighting for you in the White House. But I need your help this Election Day, November 6th, to stop the radical Democrat mob from trying to take it away. And they're going to try and take it away. [applause] [booing]

They're going to try and take it away. I need you to show up at the polls to continue this incredible movement, like the country has never seen before, like probably very few countries, frankly, have ever seen before.

The only reason to vote Democrat is if you are tired of winning. Then you should vote Democrat. [booing]

For many years, our country was being pillaged and plundered by unfair trade deals. Pennsylvania lost 1 in 3 manufacturing jobs . . . you know it well . . . I spent lots of time with you folks up here. You know it well . . . following the twin disasters of NAFTA and China's entrance, pushed by us, into the WTO, World Trade Organization, perhaps the only deal worse than NAFTA. We got 'em both. They were both beauties, weren't they? But the era of economic surrender is over. [applause]

America is not being taken advantage of any more. Sorry. America is respected again. America is respected again. [applause]

Last week, I announced that we are replacing NAFTA with an incredible brand-new U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement called USMCA. I didn't want to use the word NAFTA. [applause]

To create jobs that boost incomes, Republicans passed the biggest package of tax cuts and reforms in American history. We've taken historic action to reduce the price of prescription drugs. [applause]

Did you see . . . did you see four weeks ago when Pfizer and Novartis and other drug companies raised the prices of their drugs very, very substantially? And I didn't like it. And I called them. I said, you can't do that. You can't do that. [applause]

And the first time . . . and I give them credit. And I really thank them, too, honestly. But first time in history, they rescinded their price increase and they kept it the same, and they promised no increase for a substantial time. But we're going to get them down. [applause]

And when I called them up and they agreed to immediately rescind, perhaps that's the first time I realized how powerful it is to be the president of the United States. [applause]

That was pretty . . . that was pretty good. But I give them a lot of credit, and I appreciate it. We're going to get the prescription prices down, though. We just signed new legislation today, and there's more coming, because you are being ripped off.

You know, for the same pill, for the same drug, for the same company that makes it, the same package, you go to other countries, and you'll pay half and you'll pay less than half. It's a rigged system.

You remember what else I called rigged? I call plenty of things in this country rigged, but we're straightening it out. But it was a rigged system. [applause]

Plenty of things rigged. And to help critically ill patients access life-saving treatments, we passed something called right to try. People that are terminally ill were given no chance, no hope. We have incredible drugs in the pipeline that can cure really horrible, horrific disease. We wouldn't let anyone use these drugs because they didn't want to hurt them, but they're going to die. They're terminally ill! I said, what are we doing?

And two months ago, I signed right to try. Somebody's terminally ill, we can try. [applause]

And we've had great success. We've had great success. [applause]

And by the way, in all fairness, you also find out whether or not it works. Not so bad. Right to try. You know what it did? These people, if they had money, they'd travel all over the world looking for a cure. If they didn't have money, they'd go home. There was nothing . . . they had no hope. No . . . they had no hope. Now they have great hope. We make the greatest products in the world. We make the greatest medicine, and we'd have hope. And some incredible things have already happened with right to try. They've been trying to pass it for 40 years. We got it passed, and that's because of your congressmen. That's because of your congressmen. [applause]

That are with us tonight. We also passed veterans' choice. Giving our veterans the right to see a private doctor. Right? Our veterans. Forty-four years, they tried to pass it. When I first heard about it, I mean, it's not like I was studying it for my whole life. But I heard about it three-and-a-half years ago. I said, I have an idea. Let's . . . when they wait on line for 10 days, 22 days, 38 days, you have to see, months and months, why don't we let them go see a private doctor and we paid the bill? It will solve our problem. [applause]

And I told everybody: I am the most brilliant guy in the world. [applause]

Who else would think . . . who else would think of that? So I go back to my people. I say, listen, I have this great idea. We can get these great vets to see the doctors. It's taken . . . like 10 days was good. But some of them were ill, but not terribly ill. It took them so long, they would literally become terminally ill.

It took them weeks and weeks to see a doctor. So I went to my people and I said, what an idea this is! They said, actually, sir, we've been trying to get that idea passed for 44 years. I'm good at getting things passed. We signed it three months ago. [applause]

For our vets. And the landmark V.A. accountability law to ensure anyone who mistreats our great veterans can be held accountable. In other words, they're immediately fired. Not easy to get passed. [applause]

They've been trying that one for about 46 years. We got that one passed, too. You think that was easy, getting that by . . . I know you have a lot of union guys here. But do you think that was easy getting that by the unions? Do you think that was easy getting that passed by civil service? Not too easy. We got it passed. Somebody does something bad to our veterans, we fire them on the spot. [applause]

And we secured $716 billion to fully rebuild the American military. And we gave our great warriors their largest pay raise in almost a decade. [applause]

At my direction, the Pentagon is now working to create the sixth branch of the American armed forces, the Space Force. Very important. [applause]

It's where it's at. That's where it's going. We want to always be the best. I withdrew the United States from the horrible, one-sided Iran nuclear deal. [applause]

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

Many, many presidents talked about they were going to do it, and they never had whatever it takes to do it. [laughter]

And I understand why, because there was a lot of pressure on that one. There were a lot of forces saying don't do it. I say, excuse me, get lost. But we did it. [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 Pennsylvania. We are standing proudly for our national anthem. [applause]

I need you to get your friends, get your families, get your neighbors, get your coworkers, and get out and vote Republican. Vote for Lou. Vote for Mike. Vote for all of these great people here. A vote for a Republican Congress is a vote for lower taxes, less regulation, and more products made right here in the USA. [applause]

It's a vote to respect our borders, respect our Constitution, and respect the heroes of law enforcement. [applause]

And a vote for Republicans is the vote for safety, opportunity, prosperity, and justice. It is not up to the media or the pundits to decide your fate. It is up to you. It is up to the people of Pennsylvania. It is up to the people of our country. [applause]

You have the power with your vote to defend your family, your country, your values, your faith, and, indeed, to defend your dignity. Loyal citizens like you helped build this country, and together we are taking back our country, returning power back to the American people where it belongs. [applause]

Pennsylvania is the state that rang the Liberty Bell, forged the railroads, and put steel into the spine of our country. [applause]

Generations of Pennsylvania workers manned the furnaces, farmed the fields, and fought the battles that made America into the most powerful and prosperous nation in the history of the world. [applause]

Unfortunately, years ago, they lost their way, but we have gotten that way back. [applause]

These courageous Pennsylvania patriots did not shed their blood, sweat, and tears so that we could sit at home while others tried to erase their legacy and destroy our great and proud American heritage. [applause]

For the sake of freedom, for the sake of our children, we are going to work, we are going to fight, and we are going to win, win, win. [applause]

We will not bend, we will not break. We will never give in, we will never give up, we will never back down, and 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. [applause]

And always remember, 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, Pennsylvania. Thank you. [applause]

NOTE: The President spoke at the Erie Insurance Arena, Erie, PA. Also speaking were two members of the U.S. House of Representatives, Mike Kelly (PA-16), a candidate for reelection, and Lou Barletta (PA-11), candidate for the U.S. Senate.

This transcript was prepared for the American Presidency Project by Maryam Eapen.

Donald J. Trump (1st Term), Remarks at a "Make America Great Again" Rally in Erie, Pennsylvania Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/332458

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