Remarks at a "Make America Great Again" Rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan

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

Crowd. USA! USA! USA!

The President. Thank you. Thank you, everybody. Thank you. Thank you very much, Grand Rapids. It's great to be back. [cheers and applause] Right here in America's heartland. You know that, right? With the hard-working patriots from the great state of Michigan. [cheers and applause] By the way we are bringing a lot of those car companies back. Remember I told you they're coming back? They're pouring back in. [cheers and applause] They're coming back. They're coming back fast.

This has been an incredible couple of weeks for America. [cheers and applause] The economy is roaring. The ISIS caliphate is defeated 100 percent. [cheers and applause] And after three years of lies and smears and slander, the Russia hoax is finally dead. [cheers and applause] The collusion delusion is over. [cheers and applause]

The Special Counsel completed its report and found no collusion and no obstruction. [cheers and applause] I coulda told you that two and a half years ago very easily. [cheers and applause] Total exoneration. Complete vindication. You know, it's interesting Robert Mueller was a god to the Democrats, was a god to them until he said there was no collusion. They don't like him so much right now.

The crazy attempt by the Democrat party and the fake news media right back there [booing] -- And the deep state to overturn the results of the 2016 election have failed, the greatest election that we've had in a long time maybe right from the beginning.

Crowd. Trump! Trump! Trump! Trump!

The President. This was nothing more than a sinister effort to undermine our historic election victory and to sabotage the will of the American people. This is the one we want. We want ourselves. We want us and that's what we got. [cheers and applause] We came from all over to vote. They've never taken it away from us, never. Never. Our movement took on the political establishment, the corrupt media and it's never been more corrupt than it is today. [booing] And many special interests-- that's why they tried to do everything possible to take us out but we are very tough to take out aren't we? [cheers and applause] Very, very, very.

The Russia witch hunt was a plan by those who lost the election to try and illegally regain power by framing innocent Americans, many of them--they suffered--with an elaborate hoax. They wanted to destroy a movement like our country has never seen before. That's true. Never seen before. And believe me, if these people thought that that wasn't true, they'd be writing it. They've never seen anything like it. Nobody has in this country's history and in most countries' histories there has never been anything like what we did in 2016 on November 8. [cheers and applause]

We defeated a very corrupt establishment and we kept our promise to the American people and it's driving them craaazy. [cheers and applause] Today our movement and our country are thriving. Their fraud has been exposed, and the credibility of those who pushed this hoax is forever broken. And they've now got big problems. [cheers and applause] And the harm done to our country -- think of what they've done. Think of the time wasted. And yet despite this terrible cloud, this phony, corrupt, disgusting cloud, we've done more together in the first two years than any administration in the history of our country.[cheers and applause]

And this group of major losers did not just ruthlessly attack me, my family, and everyone who questioned their lies, they tried to divide our country, to poison the national debate, and to tear up the fabric of our great democracy, the greatest anywhere in the world. [cheers and applause] They did it all because they refuse to accept the results of one of the greatest Presidential elections, probably number one, in our history.

Many, many people were badly hurt by this scam. But more importantly our country was hurt. Our country was hurt. And they're on artificial respirators right now. [laughter] They're getting mouth to mouth resuscitation. Little pencil-neck Adam Schiff. He's got the smallest, thinnest neck I've ever seen. [laughter] He is not a long ball hitter. But I saw him today, "Well, we don't really know. There could still have been some Russia collusion." [cheers and applause] Sick. Sick. These are sick people. And there has to be accountability because it's all lies and they know it's lies. [cheers and applause] They know it. They know it.

Jerry Nadler, I've been fighting him for many years. He was the Congressman from Manhattan. I built great things in Manhattan. I had to beat him many, many times. Now I come here, I've to beat him again. Can you believe? "I want every record in the history of the Trump organization. Every single sheet of paper." And what do you have to justify? "Nothing. It doesn't matter. We will find something somewhere along the line. A mistake must have been made."

These people are sick. [cheers and applause] Sick. Every single deal. Every single paper. All of the Democrat politicians, the media bosses, bad people. [booing] The crooked journalist, the totally dishonest TV pundits, and, by the way, they know it's not true. They just got great ratings. By the way their ratings dropped through the floor last night. Did you see that? [Trump hand gesture showing sharp drop.] [cheers and applause]

And our friends Tucker, Sean, Laura through the roof last night. [cheers and applause] And all of the current and former officials who paid for, promoted, and perpetuated the single greatest hoax in the history of politics in-- our country. They have to be -- I'm sorry. They have to be accountable. [cheers and applause]

Crowd. Lock them up! Lock them up! Lock them up!

The President. Just think of it. A fake, dirty dossier, millions and millions of dollars paid for it. By who? Crooked Hillary Clinton, the DNC, and the Democrat party. Think of it. [booing] This is what they used. But they failed. They failed in one way. Can you believe it? Maybe I got lucky. Maybe I got lucky, because the fake news they wouldn't put it on. Even they didn't believe it. Think of it, they spent millions of dollars and the deal was they get it published or printed all of these horrible lies, all now totally exposed as fake. They were going to get it printed just before the election and they couldn't get any of the media to print it. Thank you very much. I appreciate it. [cheers and applause] You never know. You never know. You lose a few vote and that could be the difference but they wouldn't print it.

So, I will tell you on that score I give the media a lot of credit. It came out after the election and everybody had a big, fat yawn. [laughter] And I heard about Russia. I'd be running, I'd be hearing -- they'd say something about Russia. I'd say Russia, what does that have to do -- ? This went on. Little –

And then all of the sudden I hear, "were you involved with Russia?" I'd say, "Russia? [cheers and applause] What the hell does Russia have to do with my campaign?" It's true. Russia. [cheers and applause] Russia.

You know I go up to Wisconsin where she didn't go, she was told you know many, many years, decades, since a Republican won. Although Bill Clinton said he was in Wisconsin and you'd better get up there, there are a lot of signs up saying Trump-Pence, a lot of signs. A lot of those signs. "You'd better get up there darlin'." And they said, "No, no, no. Don't worry about Wisconsin because you know Wisconsin the pollsters say we're doing great."

They don't come to a place called Michigan. Have you ever heard of Michigan? [cheers and applause] Michigan. And Bill Clinton said, "You know I was in Michigan, you'd better get to Michigan. It's not looking good. They have so many of those damn signs. Every place I look they have the sign on somebody's lawn. You'd better get up to--" "No, Michigan hasn't been lost in decades by the Dems." By the Dems. Hasn't been lost.

And if you remember this was my last stop. [cheers and applause] This was it. And I'll never forget this was a spur of the moment because I heard crooked Hillary and Bill, Barack Obama and Michelle [booing] . They were all headed here, right, at the last moment. They had a tiny, little crowd. And I had I'd like to say more but I can't have more than this because every seat is gone and outside you have 25,000 people. [cheers and applause] And I remember leaving and I said "So, she's got 500 people and I had 32,000 people including the people outside." I will tell you, we have more tonight because outside we have even more than we did then. [cheers and applause]

And I started speaking at 1 o'clock in the morning so it's now election day. In fact I actually said, "Am I allowed to do this?" It's 1 o'clock in the morning. I had made six speeches, and when I heard she was coming I said you know what, what the hell. [laughter] So, it was spur of the moment, last second. We called and we had 32,000 people including all of the people outside. She had a small crowd.

I said so let me explain. Let me ask. So, she's here at prime time 7:30, I'm here at one in the morning. She has 5 or 600 people, I've 32,000. Can you explain why am I going to lose Michigan? [cheers and applause] Why? Why am I going to lose Michigan? Why am I going to lose the great state? I was asking my people.

I get home at 4 o'clock in the morning, and I told our great First Lady, soon-to-be First Lady -- and she's doing a great job, and they love her. I said, "You know I've this incredible crowd, and I didn't start speaking until 1 o'clock in the morning." I said, "How the hell could I lose Michigan?" And guess what we didn't lose Michigan. [cheers and applause]

And you know what, we didn't lose Wisconsin either. And the fact is we won a lot of places that night. We won Pennsylvania. We won South Carolina. We won North Carolina. We won Florida. We ran the East Coast. We won Iowa, you'd better believe Iowa. Ohh! We love Iowa. We won. We won a lot. We won a lot. Well, we 306 to 223. Would you say that's good? I say that's good. [cheers and applause] Because of here.

Remember they said, "There is no way." The day of the election. I'm saying "You know this is pretty lousy." It's all fake news. You know they're trying to put it in your head. They go, "There is no way to 270." In other words I needed 270 to win. "There is no way for Donald Trump," I wasn't President, then, I was a little short of President. "There is no way" on CNN "for Donald Trump." Remember the red board? It was so red; the red was killing -- they were dying. "There is no way for 270 for Donald Trump. It will be a very short evening for Donald Trump. There just is no way." And they were right. We didn't get 270. We got 306. [cheers and applause] But in this country –

Crowd. Four more years! Four more years! Four more years! Four more years!

The President. But in this country, we cannot criminalize political differences, political differences. We do not abuse the law enforcement and intelligence power to target our political opponents when they spy on me. Whoever heard of this? They spied on me. They spied on our campaign. [booing] Who would think that's possible? The single greatest political hoax in the history of our country. And guess what? We won. It's a beautiful thing. [cheers and applause] It's a beautiful thing. We love to win.

They tried to take something great away from people that came from all over. I always say, they came from the valleys, they came from the mountains, they came out of the damn rivers. I don't know what you were doing in the river. But they came from the cities. They came and they came.

And they [gestures toward media] didn't even know these people existed. They're hard-working. They're successful, they're the smartest people, they're the toughest people, they're the most loyal people. [cheers and applause] They're. They're the smartest.

Remember this about yourself. You know I always hear the elite, the elite. Well, I always said they said it. I said it here my last night. I always say they say the elite. They're the elite, I am not. Well, I've a better education than them, I'm smarter than them. I went to the best schools. They didn't. Much more beautiful house, much more beautiful apartment, much more beautiful everything. And I'm President and they're not, right? [cheers and applause]

And then they say, "The elite, the elite." They're not elite, you're the elite. We're the elite. [cheers and applause] I get a kick. I hear "So and so, the elite." Then you see this guy, like this little schlepper...this is elite? I'm not elite. This is elite. We're the elite. You're smarter. You're sharper. You're more loyal. You are a hell of a lot tougher. A hell of a lot tougher. [cheers and applause]

So, we can't have two different standards of justice in our country. One where the left-wing radical establishment can get away with anything they want. [booing] But you know, I've to tell you. I said it last night, we have some great, great friends in the media too. You look at Rush and Sean – [cheers and applause] And Laura and Steve and Ainsley and Tucker and Jeanine. Jeanine is back, going to be back on Saturday night. Jeanine, right? [cheers and applause]

And even Greg likes me now. Greg. He started a little slow but he likes Trump. But we have a lot of great support. We really do. We have a lot of great support. Far more than you think. But where we really have the support are the voters that pull that handle or whatever the hell they're pulling, they're pulling it for us. [cheers and applause] So, the Russia hoax proves more than ever that we need to finish exactly what we came here to do. Drain the swamp. [cheers and applause]

The Democrats have to now decide whether they will continue defrauding the public with ridiculous bullshit...[cheers and applause] ...partisan investigations. Or wayther [sic] they will apologize to the American people and join us to rebuild our crumbling infrastructure, bring down the cost of healthcare and prescription drugs which we are doing incredibly, help us fix our broken trade deals which are coming along really well. We have our team right now in China. They just arrived. China. China. We've gone up, they've gone down but we want them to be healthy. We want them to be happy and healthy. China. And by the way we are building the wall as you -- , we are building that wall. Building – [cheers and applause] We are building that wall!

Crowd. Build that wall! Build that wall! Build that wall! Build that wall!

The President. We had to go down a little bit of a different path but that's okay. National emergency it is. And if you look at the border and you look at the hundreds of thousands of people that are invading or at least trying to invade our country you would know that we needed and we are building it. And we are building it a lot faster than anybody would -- and better, and better. It's better. It's faster and it's less expensive. And it's also much more beautiful. And we are building it very rapidly. It's moving along and we renovated vast amounts of wall. A lot of it was in bad shape, we renovated it for 25 cents on the dollar. That's okay, too, right? That's good too.

The fake news doesn't want to give us any credit for renovation. They say even if you rip it down and build a brand-new wall where the wall was, they call that a renovation. That's not a renovation for me. That's not. They do anything they can to – [crowd member shouts "Shifty Schiff"] you're right. Shifty Schiff. [laughter] They do whatever they can do sort of make it look not so good. We are really doing well but we have a problem. Our country has never been better economically, and people are trying to get in. And they have to come in legally, and they have to come in based on merit. [cheers and applause] Based on merit.

Despite all that we have been forced to endure, every day we are working and fighting and winning. Remember that, because we are making America great again and we are making a great for all Americans, all Americans. And it's getting to be that time, very important.

MAGA country. You heard the other day. How about in Chicago? He said [booing] -- He said he was attacked by MAGA country. Did you ever hear that one? I don't know -- . Maybe the only time I've ever agreed with the Mayor of Chicago. Think of it. That's a terrible situation. That's an embarrassment not only to Chicago. That is an embarrassment to our country what took place there. [cheers and applause] Remember that. But they're looking at it.

So, we are delighted to be joined this evening by some really incredible people. People that love you. Members of Congress. Bill Huizenga. Where is Bill? [cheers and applause] Bill Huizenga. Where is he? Where the hell is he? Well, you didn't get a very good location. [laughter] You didn't get a good bill. You did not get a great location. But we have some news. John Moolenaar. [cheers and applause] you, John. And Jack Bergman. [cheers and applause] Thank you, Jack.

So, here's something good. You ready? In honor of those guys and some of your other representatives and all that we think are fantastic we have some breaking news. You ready? I don't know. Can you handle it? I don't think you can handle it. I support the Great Lakes. Always have. They're beautiful. They're big, very deep, record deepness, right? And I'm going to get in honor of my friends full funding of $300 million for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative [cheers and applause] ... which you have been trying to get for over 30 years. [cheers and applause] So, we will get it done. It's time. It's time. It's time. You been trying to get it over 30 years. I would say it's time, right? Also, and as you know this one, we have already pretty much locked up, I'll say locked up. You all understand that because we are very close to getting started on the beautiful new Soo Locks that people have wanted to build for a very, very long time. [cheers and applause] So, we are very close to finishing that one off.

And by the way don't let your new Democrat Governor -- or don't let [booing] -- Don't let any of our people that fight us all of the way, now that we have it, take credit for it. Okay? Don't let it. Don't let it. You are too smart for that.

We are also joined this evening by the Speaker of the Michigan House Lee Chatfield. Thank you, Lee. [cheers and applause] Thanks, Lee. A person who is doing a fantastic job GOP Chairwoman Laura Cox. [cheers and applause] And a woman you know very well, she headed up Michigan. They said she was wasting her time—"Trump is never going to win Michigan." I said, "But I'm going to bring back your auto business." Remember? [cheers and applause] And I did, and I did. And when we won, I said who is that woman? I want to see her and we put her in charge of the RNC, Republican National Committee. Ronna McDaniel. Ronna. [cheers and applause]

And a friend of mine, he's very shy but he's very rich--he shouldn't be shy. He's one of the biggest builders and real estate people in the world, one of the biggest owners of property. I shouldn't introduce them because you guys will like him because he's a big owner of property, but you own -- you own property, he just owns more of it than you do. [laughter] And he's a great guy and he's been with me from the beginning, Stanley Chera. [cheers and applause] Stanley. Those big beautiful buildings in Manhattan. You know those big beautiful buildings? He owns 'em. Stanley, how much did you make this month? [laughter] Stanley is a great guy. Been with us all. He loves you, and he's been with us from the beginning and we've had a lot of people with us. We've had people you wouldn't believe. We've had a lot of support.

In the last two years we've embarked on an unprecedented economic revival. Unprecedented. America is now the hottest economy anywhere on the planet Earth. There's nobody close. [cheers and applause] Since our election win, the stock market is up almost 50 percent. You are looking like geniuses with your 401(k)s, right? Your wife or your husband is saying, "Darling, you're such a great investor. How're we doing?" "We're up 67 percent." "Oh, darling, you're so brilliant." [laughter] In your whole life you've been criticized by her or him, but all of the sudden they think you are the single greatest investor. "Thank you, Donald." [laughter] By the way if you want to see those 401(k)s and all of your stocks and all of the things that you own, you want to see them deflate, put a good socialist in this position. Go get yourself a good socialist. You'll see some deflation. You'll see a nice deflate of your stocks and your bonds and your 401(k).

We've created, since my election, 5.5 million new jobs. Nobody would've believed that was possible. Including 600,000 brand-new -- remember, this couldn't happen. You'd need a magic wand. Brand-new manufacturing jobs. Well, what, how did that happen? We weren't gonna have any new man -- it was going down. Six hundred thousand, and it's going to be increasing by a lot because you have a lot of companies pouring into Michigan, and your other great states. [cheers and applause] A lot. More manufacturing jobs in fact were created in 2018 than any year in more than 21 years. That's not bad. That's not bad. [cheers and applause]

And that's not even one of our better statistics. That's actually like at the bottom of the pack. D'you believe it? After years of stagnation, wages are rising fast. Do you remember I use to say that people made more money 21 years ago? All of the time. And they had one job then they did -- this is two, three years ago, right, than they did working two and three jobs now. True. But now wages are rising. You have your choice of jobs, like I got choice for the veterans, we also got choice for people wanting jobs.[cheers and applause]

So, wages are rising substantially for those people. You are doing great. But they're also rising most quickly for the lowest income Americans. First time in decades.[cheers and applause]

And here's a statistic that I love because blue-collar jobs recently grew at the fastest pace in more than 30 years. Whoever thought, right? [cheers and applause] 30 years.

And unemployment has reached the lowest rate in 51 years and soon it will be in the history of our country. 51 years. [cheers and applause]

And to me very important, you remember I use to say, "What do you have to lose? What do you have to lose," right? And I got criticized. "You shouldn't say that." I said, "Well, it's true. It's unfair." So, importantly to me African-American unemployment, Hispanic American unemployment, Asian American unemployment and unemployment among disabled Americans have all reached the lowest rates ever recorded in the history of our country. [cheers and applause]

And you remember in the last election, they said Donald Trump will not do well with women. I said, "Really?" I said, "Really?" No. All of the fake news, they said "He will not do well with women." And maybe they didn't want to say they like me, to be honest. That I can understand. And then the election came and they say whatever happened to the fact that he wasn't going to do well with women? Because we did really well with women. [cheers and applause] Right? Right?

Remember when I was sitting back, a couple of 'em were trying, remember one of the true killers, she was crying, not from happiness. But we did great with women. We did great with women. And I think we are going to do better with women now because you know what? I produced. Because women filled more than 60 percent of all new jobs created last year. [cheers and applause] 60 percent. Think about. 60 percent. So, that means the men better get moving, folks. You are falling behind. The women are -- they're beating you pretty good men. Get going. The women got 60 percent of all of the new jobs. I mean that's an incredible number.

We've cut the greatest number of regulations in two years in the history of our country. [cheers and applause] Not for two years, in the history of our country. That's one of the things helping us with the jobs.

And the United States--people don't even believe this, it all happened very recently, is now the number one oil and gas producer in the world. [cheers and applause] Number one. Number one. And by the way, Russia is not happy about that. [laughter] But they're fine. They're doing just fine but they're not happy about that. If Hillary got in you wouldn't have that stat, I can tell you right. You would be doing wind, windmills , eeen eeen, eeen [sic]. [Trump makes spinning motion with hand.] And if it doesn't -- if it doesn't blow you can forget about television for that night. [laughter] "Darling, I want to watch television." "I'm sorry, the wind isn't blowing."[laughter] I know a lot about wind. I know a lot about wind.

We passed massive tax cuts, the biggest in the history of our country. [cheers and applause] And, very importantly, for those people with small farms and businesses, we got rid of the death tax or the estate tax. [cheers and applause] So, now when you leave your farm or small business to your children, under the assumption that you like your children. Some people don't. Some people say "I wouldn't leave it to them under any circumstances. I can't stand my kids." But for those of you that do, which I assume is hopefully a vast majority, you don't have an estate tax to pay, they don't. So, they can take over your farm, they can take over your business, they don't have to mortgage it to the hilt and then the bank comes in five years later takes it away from your kids. [cheers and applause] No tax.

We eliminated the Obamacare individual mandate penalty. [cheers and applause] The most unpopular part, and we are going to hopefully in the court -- in Texas you heard we won the case, now it has to be appealed and then we will go to the United States Supreme Court. We have a chance of killing Obamacare. We almost did it, but somebody unfortunately surprised us with thumbs down but we will do it a different way. You know what, we will do it a different way. But we got rid of the individual mandate where you were forced to pay a lot of money for the privilege of not having to buy bad healthcare. Okay? Not too good. So, we are going to get rid of Obamacare.

And I said it the other day, the Republican Party will become the party of great healthcare. It's good. It's important. [cheers and applause] And we've created new options to help Americans purchase affordable health plans all across state lines. You now have options you would have never had. The Democrats are pushing socialist government-run healthcare that bans private healthcare for 180 million Americans. [booing] Now think of it. A lot of you have private plans and they're great.

They're great and you want that. They want to take it away. That's not going to work. I don't think that's going to work too well. Republicans want you to have an affordable plan that's just right for you and by the way you can use your doctor, remember that? That was a lie. Twenty-eight times. Twenty-eight times he said; that was a lie.

You get cheaper premiums and much lower deductibles. The deductibles in Obamacare are so high --on average $7000. You don't get to use it unless a really great tragedy hits, and then you don't really want it because you don't give a damn about your deductible, right? You will be in a position where you say who cares about the deductible. Let's see if I can live.

We believe that no one in America should be bankrupted by health care cost. [cheers and applause] And that's what's happening with Obamacare. And remember this, because it's very important, and I'm speaking now for the Republican party, we will always protect patients with pre-existing conditions, always. Always. [cheers and applause]

My administration has also begun the bold initiative to reduce the price of prescription drugs, and in 2018 drug prices saw their first decline in 46 years. [cheers and applause] First time. First time. And they'll be coming down a lot. But this is the first time in 46 years that prescription drugs came down. Even Stanley likes that because he needs plenty of 'em.

And then we passed VA Choice and VA Accountability for our amazing veterans. [cheers and applause] Our amazing veterans. They have been trying to get VA Choice for over 40 years. They couldn't do it. I got it. We signed it six months ago. Now instead of waiting online for one day, one week, two months... people that were okay but not feeling well, wait so long that they become terminally ill. There was no reason for it. Now they go outside. They see a private doctor. We pay the bill. They get better quickly. [cheers and applause]

And for 46 years VA Accountability. You couldn't fire anybody in the VA. We had sadists. They took advantage in so many ways of our great veterans. They were rough, they wouldn't have hit them in prime time by the way, not in prime time. In prime time they would say okay, I don't want to touch you. I'm not going to play. They took advantage of people, that are our great heroes that protected us and you couldn't fire them. They stole, they robbed. You couldn't fire them. It didn't matter what you did you couldn't fire them. Called accountability.

We passed seven months ago, today, we passed VA Accountability. [cheers and applause] You hurt our vets? You stole from us? Guess what, Bill? You're fired. You're fired. Get out. [cheers and applause]

And to give former prisoners a second chance I proudly signed groundbreaking criminal justice reform into law. [cheers and applause] They have been trying to do that for so many years. So many years. Very unfair. And by the way some of the people that most supported it are the most conservative people you've ever seen. Both, both sides. Very bipartisan, believe it or not for a change.

But while we are pushing and pursuing all of these commonsense policies to advance the common good for our citizens, Democrats are pushing a cynical and destructive agenda of radicalism, resistance. Resist. Resist and revenge. [booing] Revenge. What do you think of their signs "Resist?" What the hell? Let's get something done, right? Resist. Resist. [cheers and applause] Resist. Isn't that weird? You know you are lookin' to have a parade that's called "resist." You say, "What the hell does that mean?" No, no. We want to do legislation. There are so many things we can be doing. Together.

The Democrats are now advancing an extreme $100 trillion government takeover called the Green New Deal. [booing] But I'd rather not talk about it tonight, because I don't want to talk them out of it too soon. [laughter] Because I love campaigning against the Green New Deal. I want them to make that a big part of their platform. No more airplanes. No more cows. One car per family. One car. You're going to love that in Michigan. Hey, how do you like the idea of one car per family? [booing] You know, I don't think one car per family in Michigan plays too well. Do you agree? Right? Not too well.

And it's got to be of course an electric car even if it only goes what, 160 miles? What do you do, it's 160 miles? "Darling, where do I get a charge? Where do I get a charge, darling?" Nah. We wanta have a lot of cars per family. We want people to lead a great life, and we want people to make those cars, and we want all of these companies to keep coming to Michigan, [cheers and applause] and all of the other great states and building those there.

And we had a problem because when they didn't want the airplanes they were saying "Well, how do you get to Europe?" Nobody knew. How do you get to Australia? Nobody knew. But they're working on it and then they were interviewing this woman from Hawaii, the Senator. The one that was so vicious about Justice Gorsuch and Justice Kavanaugh. Remember? [booing] By the way, do we love Justice Gorsuch and do we love Justice Kavanaugh? [cheers and applause]

She was so vicious to both and these are great people. She was vicious and they hit her. She didn't know about the Green New Deal, and they hit her, and she's from Hawaii. "What do you think of the Green New Deal? It was just put up by the Democrats." Well, I like it very much. But she never saw it. Then they said, "But you can't fly anymore." And she's in Hawaii. She said, "But how would I get to my island?" They said, "We're working on some kind of a train system." [laughter] So she said, "Okay, well then, I am for it 100 percent." It is the craziest thing I've ever seen.

They want to rip down all of the buildings in Manhattan and rebuild them. Let's do that. Hey, Stanley, how do you like that idea? I don't think so. I don't think Stanley likes that idea too much. It's the craziest thing, but you know what, let's let 'em -- . It's like I attacked so violently Pocahontas [laughter] and ... and I knocked her out of the race, I guess. And I said, "What did I do that for?" It's too early. I've got to start in about nine months from now.

We've got plenty more to knock out, you're right. They just keep coming, don't they? They just keep coming. Before I took the Oath of Office, the United States automobile industry was decimated, and it was going down, and you people knew it better than anybody else. We lost one in four auto manufacturing jobs over the last few decades. Think of it, one in four. And I think the numbers were worse than that and so do you.

But from the moment I entered the White House my first meeting was a meeting with car executives. I said what do I have to do to get your business going? We talked about CAFE standards where they were choking the engines, just choking them and costing a lot more for the cars and we had a great meeting. And we worked on it and worked on it. We took historic and dramatic action to save the American auto industry and to defend American auto workers right here in Michigan. [cheers and applause] Right.

And just in the last very short period of time we have added another 6000-vehicle manufacturing and auto parts jobs in Michigan alone. [cheers and applause] And prevented thousands more from being shipped overseas and from going to Mexico. They can't do that anymore. Can't do that. Can't do that anymore. Sorry, Mexico.

We want them to give us a little more help on the border by the way. You know Mexico has the toughest immigration laws in the world. We have the worst, because the Democrats put in things that are so bad, so bad. Catch and release. You catch 'em and then you got to release 'em. [booing] Think of it.

Visa lottery. You are in a lottery system from these countries. You pick up a name. Oh, isn't that nice? She's a... Guess what? Do you think they're giving us their best people? No, they're not. They're giving us their worst people, and so would you, and so would I. Visa lottery. That's another beauty.

We have nothing but bad coming out of those laws. But you know the good thing about what's happening, the rush to the border--another two caravans now are pouring up. Mexico could stop them so easy and you know what? If they don't it's going to cost them a hell of a lot of money honestly because they could do it so easy. [cheers and applause] So easy. And if they don't and I'm telling you right now we will close the damn border. [cheers and applause]

Crowd. Build that wall! Build that wall USA! Build that wall! USA! USA! USA!

The President. And I don't know if you know it or not, Michigan, but Mexico took about 30 percent of your car business. Not when I was here. When I'm here they're not. It's going the other way. Thirty percent. And if we close the border, that means we are not taking those cars into our country and what does that mean? That means you are going to make more cars right here in the good old USA. That's what it means. [cheers and applause] Right?

Very simple. It's all very simple. People try and make it too complicated. It's all very simple. One of the gravest threats to the survival of the U.S. auto industry was the job-killing, sovereignty-wrecking Trans-Pacific Partnership. It was going to decimate your industry. That's why one of my very first acts in office was to withdraw our country from that horrible, potentially-disastrous trade deal. [cheers and applause] And stop the offshoring of Michigan jobs. Saved a lot of jobs. That was a disaster. That would have been almost as bad as NAFTA, one of the worst trade deals in the history of the world. NAFTA. That was a beauty. Your empty factories are still all over the place. They still haven't recovered from NAFTA. Well, NAFTA is going to be a thing of the past. [cheers and applause] Soon. Or we will just go to pre-NAFTA, that was okay, too. We had a huge surplus with Mexico, then we did NAFTA. We lost over the last six, seven years, with Mexico, $100 billion. Before NAFTA, we made $40-$50 billion. Doesn't sound like too good a deal, right? So, we have now the USMCA and it's very good. If the Democrats want to raise their hand -- it's a hard thing for them to give us a victory but let's see if they raise their hands. Otherwise, we go to pre-NAFTA. We don't go to NAFTA, we go to pre-NAFTA. That was just okay with me. That was okay with me.

A short time later I traveled to Detroit to cancel burdensome regulations that unfairly harm the motor city. It was getting decimated.

We renegotiated the U.S. Korea trade agreement to double the American auto exports to Korea. We doubled them. They were not happy about it. [cheers and applause] And to stop the cheap foreign pickup trucks from flooding our market. That's your best market. Do you know why? Because we have a chicken tax. We have a tariff, 25 percent and that's why it's your best market because they can't come in here, and take away your business and take away your jobs. They weren't thrilled but that's okay.

Under my Administration we live by two simple rules, buy American and hire American. [cheers and applause] And we are already seeing the results. Since the election we have created more than 55,000 brand-new motor vehicle and auto parts jobs in our country. 55,000. Fiat Chrysler just announced a $4.5 billion investment in Michigan including the first new auto plant in Detroit in over a generation. [cheers and applause] And they're going to be investing in our country $13.5 billion over a very short period of time.

And Ford has just announced a $1 billion investment just outside of Chicago as well as additional $900 million going right here in Michigan. [cheers and applause] And I've been a little bit disappointed with them because everyone else is coming in but General Motors did just announce a $300 million investment at its Orion [Trump pronounces it "oreon"] assembly plant here in Michigan, right now.

But I'm also fighting with General Motors and the UAW to take swift action on the GM plants at Hamtramck and Warren, Michigan and Lordstown, Ohio. Get the damn plants open. Everyone else is coming in. Get them open, now! [cheers and applause] Right? So, with companies like Chrysler and Ford and Toyota and Volkswagen all investing heavily in America, and heavily in the state of Michigan, we think General Motors will soon be doing the same. I really do believe it. You know they went--before my time--they went to China, they spent a lot of money building stuff. They went to Mexico. They spent a lot of money building stuff. That's not helping us much. So, we think they're going to come around.

As we protect our jobs, we are also protecting America's borders. And we are taking on the extremist and they're really radical, radical extremist Democrats who want open borders and crime, because that's what happens. Open borders and crime. [booing] Last month alone more than 76,000 illegal immigrants arrived at our borders to be apprehended. We have to apprehend them. Do you know what a great job -- I mean seriously think of that, 76,000 people, many of which are rough people. Okay, I'm being nice because they [points to media] will criticize me if I'm not. They will say, "How dare he say that!" But we have people that have criminal records. We have a lot of people. We have a lot of problems. We apprehend them. We capture them. Do you know how tough that job is, border patrol? You know how tough? I don't think any of you guys here -- yeah, you would. That guy would like it. There are some people would like it. They love it. They're great American patriots and ICE, these are great American patriots. [cheers and applause]

And we are on track for a million illegal aliens trying to rush our borders. It is an invasion, you know that. I say, "invasion." They say "Isn't that terrible?" I don't know what these people are thinking. You know, it's your country too. What are you thinking?

Three hundred Americans a week die from Mexican-trafficked heroin. 300. [booing] Think of it, 300 a week. Tens of thousands of Americans are killed every year by heroin, meth, cocaine, fentanyl, vast quantities of which are smuggled across our southern border. You know that. 78,000 people died, and that's a number that's much, much smaller than the real number.

To confront the border crisis last month I declared a national emergency on our southern border. [cheers and applause] The radical Democrats retaliated by passing a reckless resolution to terminate vital border security operations. Can you believe this? And two weeks ago, I proudly issued my first veto. [cheers and applause] And two days ago, our great Republicans in the House of Representatives -- I won't get fancy with you I will just say they essentially gave us the right to build the wall, and lots of money is pouring in.

So, we are building the wall. We will be finishing the wall. It's moving along rapidly. We are giving out many additional contracts. We are going to be building it in many different locations simultaneously with different contractors. And sometime over the next two weeks I will be going to a certain place, which I won't tell you now, because they will be waiting for me. I will be going to a certain place, and we're going to be showing you vast sections of brand-new beautiful walls. [cheers and applause]

Because we are going to put the jobs, the safety, and the security of American citizens first. And you know, when I campaign, it's going to be so much easier the second time. Remember this, I never did this before, and I am one and one, right? We are 1 for 1. [cheers and applause] 1 for 1. Never done. And it was tough. It was tough.

You know why? Because I get up on the stage, and I've never debated before. But I never left center stage. Right? Never left center stage, meaning we were winning the whole time. And I debated, and I said,"Where are these people coming from?" But I never did it and I never said to anybody I'm going to produce jobs. I'm going to bring back your auto business. I'm going to do great for the vets. I'm going to do great for tax cuts. I'm going to cut regulations more than anybody in the history of our country in two years. I never said -- I couldn't say that. But I did say that I was going to do it but who the hell's going to believe me? Now I've done more than I ever promised I was going to do so the debate should be very easy. [cheers and applause] Democrats want to pretend there is no border crisis.

Crowd. Four more years! Four more years! Four more years! Four more years!

The President. Thank you. Well, I'll give you a question, okay. So, I told you before the lowest unemployment rates in the history of our country for African-American, great citizens. Now I say that and it's like, I say that, and I just say your turn, what the hell are they going to do to beat that?

And we have many other things for every single citizen, everybody is benefiting. Everybody. Everybody is benefiting.

So before -- so before first election, my first election. What the hell? I never did it before. I did a good job though do you think? [cheers and applause] So did you. So did you. You know the fact is we did it together and I've always said it. I didn't do it. We did it together.

But -- but think about it now instead of saying I'm going to do this, I'm going to produce 5.5 million new jobs, I'm going to bring back manufacturing 600,000 new jobs in a short period of time. Now I've done it. I mean it should be easy don't you agree? It should be easy.

Democrats want to pretend there is no border crisis for one simple reason, because they have caused the border crisis and you know why else? Honestly because they want votes, and because they don't want to give us a win. They don't want to give us a win. They put that ahead of what's good for our country.

The mass illegal immigration across our border is a direct consequence of Democrat-supported loopholes; Democrat promises of amnesty, amnesty. [booing] You have people coming up... you know they're all met by the lawyers, the lawyers 've... And they come out. They're all met by the lawyers, and they say, "Say the following phrase: I am very afraid for my life. I am afraid for my life." Okay. And then I look at the guy, he looks like he just got out of the ring, he's a heavyweight champion of the world, he's a freyfra [sic]. It's a big fat con job, folks. It's a big fat con job.

And Democrat sanctuary cities, and their refusal to protect American borders--it's not the money. When I fought for them recently, they gave me so much money for everything else but nothing for the wall. Now think of it. Walls work, folks. We need the wall. They said, "Would you call it slats?" I said, "I'll call it slats." "Would you call it steel barriers?" I said, "I'll –" I said, "I'll call it whatever the hell you want just give me the money to build it." And then they sort of got a little cold feet. And now I call it "the wall," and I got the money anyway. [cheers and applause] So that's over.

But their open border policies are truly a betrayal to the American people. This is dangerous, what's coming into our country, is dangerous. To defend the United States of America I deployed the United States military. I got thousands of troops. Right now, we have about 4000 troops on our southern border. And they're fantastic. [cheers and applause]

And think of it, for years we defended the borders of foreign countries but we don't want to defend our own borders. Think of how crazy this is. We are defending borders of countries that are 6000 miles away that many of you have never even heard the name of these countries. But our southern border, our border along Mexico, where we have a lot of problems, and drugs, and human traffickers, and child traffickers, and all of this coming in--we don't want to defend our border. Think of that, how crazy that is. [booing]

So, now we are defending our borders for our country and the people of our country. [cheers and applause] In the last two years alone ICE officers--we love ICE--have made, listen to this though, 266,000 arrests of criminal aliens. Who the hell wants to do that? You don't wanna do it, right? You like what you are doing--making cars, right? I like making cars, I think better, too. But they like it. That's what they do. They're great at it. Including those charged or convicted of nearly 100,000 assaults, 30,000 sex crimes, 4000 kidnappings and 4000 murders.

We got 'em. They got 'em. How about if you don't get 'em? How about if you leave all of those people? Just leave 'em. You know what that means for our country? The Democrats want to abolish ICE. They want to get rid of these very great patriots, these very tough people that love our country as much as anybody I've ever seen. They wanna set violent offenders free, and directly they will be coming into your communities. We are not gonna have it. We are not having it. We want our country to be a sanctuary for law-abiding Americans, not for criminal aliens. [cheers and applause] Right?

The Republican Party will always stand with the heroes of ICE and the heroes of Border Patrol. These are great people. Every day of my Presidency, ICE is tracking down gang members, drug dealers and criminal aliens, and we are either throwing them behind bars or throwing them the hell out of our country. [cheers and applause]

And we're throwing out gangs like MS 13. These are some of the sickest, most demented, most vicious people in the world. We are throwing 'em out of our country by the thousands. [cheers and applause]

In recent months the Democrat party has also been aggressively pushing extreme late-term abortion, allowing children [booing] -- to be ripped from their mother's womb right up until the moment of birth. And now we go a step further in Virginia. The Governor stated that he would even allow a newborn baby--wrap the baby up, make the baby comfortable--to be executed [booing] after birth. That is why in my State of the Union Address I called on Congress to immediately pass legislation prohibiting the extreme late-term abortion of babies. [cheers and applause]

The Democrat Party has never been further outside of the mainstream. They are being brought so far left you wouldn't like it folks. You wouldn't like it. You won't be happy. Radical Democrats are the party of high taxes, open borders, late-term abortion, crime, hoaxes, and delusions.

The Republican Party is the party for all Americans. It's what we want to be. It's the way we want to live. [cheers and applause] We are the party of the American worker, the American family, and we are the party of the American dream. [cheers and applause] And every day, we make good on the motto "promises made, promises kept." [cheers and applause]

Last week I signed in order to defend free speech on college campuses. [cheers and applause]

And to keep America safe we are rebuilding America's military might, making it more powerful than ever before by far. [cheers and applause]

I withdrew the United States from the horrible, costly, one-sided Iran nuclear deal and look what happened. Iran is a different country today than it was two and a half years ago.

I recognized Israel's capital and opened the American Embassy in Jerusalem. [cheers and applause] And just days ago I announced that the United States will recognize Israel's sovereignty over the Golan Heights. [cheers and applause] Very important. Very important.

We also recognized the legitimate government of Venezuela, and we strongly condemn the socialist brutality of the Maduro regime. We stand with the people of Venezuela and Cuba and Nicaragua and their righteous struggled to finally be free. We stand with them. Doing a lotta work. Socialism is not a good thing, you are right.

Each of us here tonight is united by the same timeless values.

We believe in the American Constitution and the American rule of law. [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 and bureaucracy, are the true American way. [cheers and applause]

We believe in religious liberty, the right to free speech ,and the right to keep and bear arms. [cheers and applause]

We believe that children should be taught to love our country, to honor our history, to be proud, to be happy, to love, and always to respect our great American flag. [cheers and applause]

Crowd. USA! USA! USA! USA!

The President. And we believe in the words, and always will, we are not changing it--they want us to change a lot of things, it's not happening--of our national motto: "In God we trust." In God we trust. [cheers and applause]

These are traditions, customs and principles that bind us together as citizens, as neighbors, as patriots. These are the values that unite people all across the magnificent land of Michigan. [cheers and applause] These are the values that brought the incredible people of this incredible state to Grand Rapids for the very last rally of the two-thousand and sixteen campaign, probably the most exciting and hopefully the most fruitful campaign in the history of our country. [cheers and applause]

On that historic day you rejected the failed political establishment that chipped away your jobs, sold out your sovereignty, and tied us down in endless foreign wars--which we are now winning and getting out. [cheers and applause] You stood up to the corrupt special interests, and you stood up to the rigged Washington power structure. You've stood with me. You watched this rigged power structure. You were with me. I won't forget it, and you will be very proud looking back that you did it. Thank you. [cheers and applause]

Crowd. Trump! Trump! Trump!

The President. You took back your country. [cheers and applause] You recaptured your destiny. You defended your dignity. And you proudly reclaimed your freedom, maybe for a second time. [cheers and applause]

You have always been loyal to your nation, and now you have a President who is loyal to you, 100 percent. [cheers and applause] The Democrats took the people of Michigan for granted, but with us you will never, ever be forgotten again. You will never be taken for granted ever, ever, ever. [cheers and applause] I am fighting for you and your jobs, and your life, and your community, with everything that I have. And I will never, ever stop, and we are winning so big. Nobody ever thought it could happen. [cheers and applause]

We will always fight on to victory. Together we are going to make our beautiful stand. We are going to stand for justice, for safety, for sovereignty, and for the sacred rights given to us by the hand of Almighty God. [cheers and applause]

We are one united movement, one united people, and one United States of America. [cheers and applause]

Because, together with the very proud and very truly incredible and inspiring people of Michigan, we will make America wealthy again. [cheers and applause] And we're doing it.

We will make America strong again. [cheers and applause]

We will make America safe again. [cheers and applause]

And we will make America great again. [cheers and applause]

Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you, Michigan.

[Music: The Rolling Stones, You Can't Always Get What You Want.]