Photo of Donald Trump

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

October 01, 2018

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

THE PRESIDENT: Wow!

CROWD: USA! USA! USA!

THE PRESIDENT: Hello, Johnson City. It is great to be with you. I am thrilled to be back. [applause]

I look forward to being back in the great state of Tennessee, with thousands of hard-working American patriots. That's what you are. [applause]

In less than two years, we've achieved the biggest comeback in American history. You look at what's happened. And our country is respected again. We're respected again. [applause]

Jobless claims are at a 50-year low. And the stock market is at an all-time high. [applause]

The economy is booming, wages are rising, and more Americans are working today than ever before. Ever before. [applause]

And think of that. Think of that. Such a simple statement. But such a complex thing to do. Think of it. More Americans are working today than ever before. What a beautiful statement. [applause]

Get out and vote in November. It can all change around quickly, folks. We are defending our Second Amendment, taking care . . . [applause]

But Bredesen will not defend your Second Amendment. [booing]

We're taking care of our great veterans and rebuilding America's military might. [applause]

And just today, we made history again when I announced to the world that we are replacing the job-killing disaster known as NAFTA . . . [applause] . . . with a brand-new U.S.-Mexico-Canada--we added Canada, worked out great--trade agreement. And we're calling it USMCA. No more NAFTA. [applause]

No more NAFTA. It's the largest trade deal the United States has ever negotiated. And it's also a great deal for our country. It's going to produce jobs. And companies aren't going to be leaving and firing everybody and making product and sending it back into the United States, no tax. [applause]

It's there. It's modern. And it's balanced. And you know what? We have two wonderful partners now. Now they're partners, Mexico and Canada, and that's a good thing. That's a good thing. [applause]

America's winning again, and America is being respected again, because we are finally putting America first. [applause]

But radical Democrats in Congress are trying very hard to erase everything that we've achieved. They're looking out there right now, and they're trying to figure out, how do they take an election because they want to take it back? You look at your 401(k)s. You know, we're up from the time of the election 55 percent. . .

AUDIENCE MEMBER: I love you, President Trump!

THE PRESIDENT: I love you, too. [applause]

He doesn't sound like my type. You know, that voice is very strong. But I love him. Whoever you are, I love you. [applause]

We're just five weeks from one of the most important congressional elections of our lifetime. They're trying to take what we did in '16, something that nobody has seen maybe in other countries, not alone--it was the greatest election victory in the history of our country. [applause]

And between the Democrats, who are obstructionists, who are people that don't want to see strong military, they don't want borders, they don't mind crime . . . [booing] . . . and their enablers, the fake news media, right back there. [booing]

We've got to be very careful. We've got to be very careful. A Democrat takeover of Congress will plunge our country into gridlock and chaos and take away all of the wealth that you've earned over the last 20 months.

This--and think of this. The stock market, which is up at record levels, and now the highest, will drop. Your 401(k)s will be devastated. Your taxes will rise beyond your wildest imagination. [booing]

And crime will flow in to our country through these open borders. Other than that, we'll be doing very well. It's crazy.

AUDIENCE: Build the wall! Build the wall! [applause]

THE PRESIDENT: And we are. We want to get more money. We want to--I could build that thing in one year. I could build it. We got $1.6 billion, $1.6 billion, and another $1.6 billion. We want to build it fast. I can build it--so after the election, leadership has said, meaning Republicans, they're going to do something that's going to be very strong. Let's see what happens. [applause]

But--but the wall is under construction. A lot of work has been done. A lot of renovation--if you look at some of it, some wall was up, falling down, terrible condition, now it's beautiful, brand new, and it works. It does work. We need wall. We need border security. We want--we got to take care of our people. Look at what's going on. [applause]

Look at what's going on in California. You have a man running for governor in California that says we don't want any borders. We don't want ICE. We do want sanctuary cities. [booing]

And they're going to take care of health care, they're going to take care of education, they're going to care of everything for people that just flow in. You're going to have a billion people living in California. It's going to be a mess.

We have it right. We have it going properly. This country will never be Venezuela, that I can tell you, because that's what they're looking for. [applause]

That's what they're looking for. The Democrat Party has been completely taken over by the so-called resistance. That's all they do. They campaign on resist. I'll tell you something. They're only good at one thing. They stick together like glue. That's it.

They have bad policy. Frankly, they're bad politicians. Everything's bad. But they stick together. We have to be very careful, they'll take everything, including your Second Amendment. They'll take everything away. [booing]

Democrats believe that they're entitled to power, and they have been blind in a blind rage ever since, boy, they lost the 2016--they've gone loco. [applause]

They have gone loco. They have gone crazy. This election is a choice between a Republican Party that is building our future and a Democrat Party that is trying to burn our future down. [booing]

The Democrats only know how to obstruct, demolish, and destroy. As we've seen in recent weeks, Democrats are willing to do anything, and to hurt anyone to get their way, like they're doing with Judge Kavanaugh. [booing]

They've been trying to destroy him since the very first second he was announced, because they know that Judge Kavanaugh will follow the Constitution as written. That's been his history. [applause]

And he's a good man. Great student, great intellect. Never had a problem. All of a sudden, oh, let's go back to high school. They maybe should go before high school.

And I know so many of them. You have the great Vietnam War hero who didn't go to Vietnam--you know that--Blumenthal. How about Blumenthal? [booing]

How about Blumenthal? Da Nang Blumenthal, we call him Da Nang Blumenthal. For 15 years, as the attorney general of Connecticut, he went around telling war stories. People dying left and right, but my platoon marched forward. He was never in Vietnam. It was a lie. And then he's up there--then he's up there saying we want the truth from Judge Kavanaugh. And you're getting the truth from Judge Kavanaugh. Unbelievable. Unbelievable.

Da Nang. You know Da Nang, right? Great city in Vietnam. And then you have Cory Booker, who destroyed Newark. I mean, the job he did in Newark. [booing]

And see some of the things he wrote when he was young about women. Take a look, OK? And then they want to take a lot longer with the FBI. No, the FBI--they should take--by the way, if we took 10 years, they'd want more time. But they want to take a lot longer.

But Dianne Feinstein, she had this . . . [booing]

She had this letter for months, and she didn't reveal it until everything was finished. Then she revealed it. Then she says, oh, we want more time. Let's see how it all works out. But I'll tell you what, they're trying to destroy a very fine person. And we can't let it happen. We can't let it happen. [applause]

Democrats want activist, left-wing judges who will totally rewrite your laws, erase your borders, and replace your values. You don't want that in Tennessee. [booing]

Republicans know that a judge's job is to follow the law and to deliver equal justice for all.

The Democrats can no longer be trusted with your power and with their power. You can't let it happen. They have moved so far left that Pocahontas is considered a conservative. True. That's right. Elizabeth Warren. She said she's considering a run for the presidency. Please, please run.

How about that group, Biden? Biden. [booing] We call him 1 percent Biden. Until Obama took him off the trash heap, he couldn't do anything. Now he's talking about running. Tough guy. He's tough guy. He's--he's a real genius.

"I want to challenge him to a fight behind the barn." Oh, would I love that? Wouldn't that be good? [applause]

"I want to challenge Donald Trump." Remember that? He got a little upset. He's another beauty. They got some real beauties going.

This November 6th, you have the chance to reject the outrageous policies of the Democrat Party. Not the Democratic Party. But the Democrat Party. Sounds worse, right? But that's their real name. It's the Democrat Party.

But you can only do it. You got to vote for Republican. We need more Republicans to get the votes. [applause]

Stop the crime. You know, I said the other night, and I said, you know, I think I'm going to keep it. It's a little harsh, but I think I'll keep it. Democrats are the party of crime. How does that sound? It's true. It's true. [applause]

They're the party of crime. Sounds a little tough, but it's true. Open borders.

We're thrilled to be joined by many terrific Republican members of Congress, people that are friends of mine, people that have helped me, people that love your state and they love other states and they love our country.

One of them is a man that everybody knows in this state very well. His name is Phil Roe. And he has really helped. Phil? [applause]

Thank you, Phil. He's always there for you. Thank you, Phil.

Another man said--this is when I was Mr. Trump, not Mr. President--I was here, he said, "You know, we do early voting in Tennessee." He said, "Sir, I want to tell you that people are coming out of the mountains, out of the rivers, out of--they're coming out of the valleys. They're coming." He said--right? -- [applause]

"They're coming out of everywhere." He said, "I've never seen anything. I've been doing this stuff for 30 years, more." And he said, this is what before--you know, I'm waiting like we had, like, 30 days, but you have early voting in Tennessee. So I've never seen anything like it. People that haven't voted, because they haven't liked anybody. These are great people. These are great, incredible people. But they didn't exactly like what they had to go for. So they have a--now they're coming out with Trump banners, Trump hats, Trump-aisle [?]--you know, make America great again. [applause]

And this man--he said, "I can't speak for the rest of our nation, but if the nation's like Tennessee, you're going to win by a lot." And that's exactly what happened, right? [applause]

John Duncan, Congressman, John, thank you, John. Where's John? Good. Thank you, John. He made me feel very good before the election.

A friend of mine, a great congressman, somebody who's really worked hard. Even though he's not from your state, does it matter? He's just a great congressman. I see him here. He has been so strong, so smart. He loves this country so much, Congressman Mark Meadows. [applause]

Thank you, Mark.

And Deborah. Deborah, thank you, Deb.

Congressman Chuck Fleischmann, who has been fantastic. Where's Chuck? Chuck? Thank you, Chuck. Chuck has been great. [applause]

Morgan Griffith, Scott DesJarlais--my favorite name in politics. DesJarlais. Thank you, fellas. Thank you. You guys are great. These are really--these are great people. You know, we don't have to devote a lot of time. I'm just--these are great people. These are people that love our country. They want to do the right thing.

You know, there's nothing wrong with having strong borders, strong law enforcement. You want to be safe. There's nothing wrong with paying low taxes. There's really nothing wrong. You want to have a strong military, especially in these times. You know, if you have a strong military, you're never going to have to use it. [applause]

You're never going to have to use it. And we're going to very shortly have the strongest military we've ever had. We're also joined--thank you, all--we're also joined by future Republican members of Congress, Tim Burchett. Where's Tim? [applause]

Tim? We got to get Tim in there. Tim? Thank you, Tim.

John Rose, John, thank you, John.

Mark Green, I hear they're up pretty good, but don't take any chances. Don't take any chances. You've gotta go vote. Don't take any chances. We've got to get them in. But they're up pretty good.

This is a hell of a state, I'll tell you that. These people . . . [applause]

I also want to thank your great governor. I had dinner with him the other night. We were with a group of people. It was a fascinating dinner. He loves this state, also, and he's done a great job as governor, Governor Bill Haslam. Thank you. [applause]

Thank you, Bill. Thank you. And Lieutenant Governor Randy McNally, thank you. Thank you, Randy. Great. Great job. Thank you. Great job.

And very importantly, we have Tennessee's next governor, Bill Lee. [applause]

And a man who did a fantastic job during the election for Trump. I will tell you, State Party Chairman Scott Golden. Thank you, Scott. [applause]

Thanks, Scott. Thanks.

And, finally, the person we are here tonight to support. We cherish this person. She's a fighter. A true fighter for the people of Tennessee. She loves your state. And she's your next U.S. Senator, she's going to be fantastic, Marsha Blackburn, Marsha, come up, please. [applause]

MARSHA BLACKBURN: There we go. Thank you all so much.

AUDIENCE: Marsha! Marsha! Marsha! Marsha!

BLACKBURN: Thank you. Mr. President, thank you for coming back to Tennessee. We love the President in Tennessee. [applause]

And I want to say thank you to each of you for being here tonight. Thank you so much for all you are doing to elect all of these Republican candidates that we've talked about tonight. And thank you for sending Donald J. Trump to the White House. [applause]

He has had an amazing 20 months. You've just heard some of those things. Not to even mention the foreign policy that he has achieved. Dealing with China, North Korea, getting us out of the Iran deal. [applause]

And, Mr. President, we in Tennessee really appreciate that you moved the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Thank you for that. [applause]

I know--I know that the Democrats keep saying that there is a blue wave coming, but let me tell you something . . . [booing]

Mr. President, when that blue wave gets to the state line, it is going to run smack dab into the great red wall. And that . . . [applause]

And that is every single one of you. So if you want a U.S. Senator who is going to stand with the president, build the wall, cut your taxes, and to make certain that we take care of our men and women in uniform, I am asking you to stand with me. [applause]

Let's--let's take these Tennessee values to Washington, D.C., and put them to work with President Donald Trump. Thank you all. [applause]

AUDIENCE: Marsha! Marsha! Marsha! Marsha! Marsha! Marsha!

THE PRESIDENT: So I just want to thank Marsha Blackburn. And I will tell you, she's all about Tennessee values. That's the one. She's got Tennessee values. A vote for Marsha is really a vote for me and everything that we stand for. It's a vote for make America great again. That's what it is. [applause]

A vote for Bredesen is a vote for Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi . . . [booing] . . . and the real leader of the Democrats, Maxine Waters. [booing]

Phil Bredesen wants to raise your taxes. As governor, remember this--you've got to remember--seems like a nice guy, but what good does that do? As governor, he raised taxes and fees in your state by more than $1 billion. [booing]

He opposes the border wall totally. He supported driver certificates for illegal aliens. [booing]

And on his watch, Tennessee unemployment doubled. It doubled in the--whatever it was. How long was he there? Eight? It doubled. You want him to be running--I don't think so. [booing]

I don't think so. He doubled unemployment. In 2010, Phil wrote a book advocating government-run health care. That's what you want? You want to wait on line for about six weeks to get taken care of? [booing]

And called for it to be funded by a 20 percent payroll tax on all of the hard-working Americans, many are in this room right now. Government-run health care. No, I don't think so. That hasn't proven too successful anywhere else.

Phil was a major financial supporter of President Obama and of Hillary--crooked Hillary Clinton. [booing]

She's crooked as hell. Now Phil is running to be the 51st Senate Democrat and the 51st--Democrats are elected in November, then Chuck Schumer will become a majority leader. You put in 51. [booing]

Even though he said something good about our deal with Canada and Mexico today, but how can you not say good? That's why Schumer is so desperate for Phil to win, because everything that we stand for will never get the votes. We need votes. It's very important.

Number one, Marsha will be a great, great senator, but, number two, we need the votes. We've got to have the vote. And he will never once vote for us. Just remember, he will never vote for us. Not on judges. You know, one of the reasons they say I got elected was that Supreme Court judge--they always say the single most important thing that the president can do is the selection of a Supreme Court judge. OK. So we picked Justice Neil Gorsuch, who has been fantastic. [applause]

And now Judge Brett Kavanaugh is actually doing well. I really believe--we've got to do it. We cannot allow ourselves . . . [applause] . . . to be pushed around. Phil is only running because Chuck Schumer called him up and begged him. The word is begged him to run because Schumer knows the Democrats' path to power runs right through Tennessee.

Again, Second Amendment, higher taxes, lots of crime, MS-13, get used to them. No ICE. We don't want ICE, they say. [booing]

If you want to stop Schumer from becoming majority leader, if you want to stop your taxes from going up 50 percent or more--that's what's going to happen--then you must vote against Bredesen.

Your vote in this election will decide which party controls the Senate. That's how close it is. You know, I'd like to tell you no, but that's how close it is. A Democrat-controlled Senate will always be raising your taxes. They'll always throw open your border. There's nothing you can do. There's nothing he's going to do to change it. He's going to vote with the Democrats.

There's not going to be--I mean, you look at health care. We got no votes. Look at--we gave you the largest tax cuts in the history of this country. We didn't get one Democrat vote. [booing]

And they don't vote for a reason. They just vote because it's bad for Trump. In other words, they want to stop anything that we do. If it's really good, they still want to stop it. And we don't want to let that happen. We have unbelievable things planned, and we have to let it happen.

Flood your streets. They're going to flood your streets with criminal aliens. That's what's going to happen.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: We love you! [booing]

THE PRESIDENT: They're always attacking law enforcement. I'll give you an example. Under the Obama administration, we have tremendous amounts of surplus military equipment. Right? Tremendous equipment. You know, heavy armor, lots of different things, that keep the law enforcement professionals, people that we love, that keeps them safe. They didn't want to give it them. I have given it to them. I'm sorry. [applause]

They want to block your great judges. They want to weaken the military. They don't--it's not even weaken. They don't want to spend any money on the military. You know, the beautiful thing about military--number one, you need it. Everything's like jobs, jobs is very important to me. When it comes to the military, it's not the jobs. OK? That's totally secondary. But we will soon have the strongest military that we've ever had.

We had fighter jets--we had fighter jets and we had airplanes in our military where the father flew 'em, the grandfather flew 'em, and the son as a young pilot goes in, flying the same planes. You know what? They're all going fast. We've ordered all incredible new, finest jets in the world. [applause]

But the other thing is, they're made right here in the USA. All of them. [applause]

Jobs, jobs, jobs. They want to outlaw private health insurance. So you'll get great health insurance, and we're already doing it. We're providing you with tremendous amounts of competition. You're getting great health insurance, and it's going to get better when we can get a few more votes so we can do it the way you want it. This is the way you want it.

They want to shut down American energy and replace freedom with socialism. They want . . . [booing]

They want to turn--it's true--the Democrats want to turn America into Venezuela. That'll be wonderful. That'll be wonderful. We're not going to let it happen. And you know what, even most Democrats--I can't believe--when you look at what they're doing with sanctuary cities and everything, I can't believe most of them are going for it.

Also at stake in this election is Medicare. Democrats in Washington want to raid Medicare to pay for their socialism. Democrats are pushing so-called medicine for all, robbing our seniors of all of their Medicare benefits. That's what's happening.

Republicans want to protect Medicare and our great seniors who have earned it and paid for it. And we always protect Americans with their pre-existing conditions. We're doing that. [applause]

On pre-existing conditions, a lot of people think it's not a very Republican thing. It is now, and it has been for me. I want to take care of people with pre-existing conditions. We're doing we'll. We can do it. [applause]

Democrats also want to give welfare and free health care to illegal aliens. Republicans want to protect public benefits. [booing]

And we do. We want to protect benefits and public benefits for truly needy Americans, Americans that need help. Democrats want to abolish ICE. In other words, they want to abolish immigration enforcement entirely. And the Democrat Party supports sanctuary cities that unleash violent predators, like MS-13, into our communities.

And remember what I said. It's the party of crime. Democrats--they really are. You look at what they're doing. Even look at what they're doing in Congress. Even look at what they're doing with our laws, the way they treat our laws, the way they treat our, our country. What they do in Congress. They are indeed the party of crime.

Every day, innocent lives are stolen because of Democrat-supported immigrant policies. If you just take a look, you have immigration policies that are so bad, so dangerous. Just recently in California, an illegal alien with a sex crime conviction and other convictions had a prior deportation. They wanted to deport this person. They never did. He was convicted for killing a local football coach who leaves behind a wife and six beautiful kids. A pillar of the community. By the way, this is all over. You could go--you could do this for days.

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

And Republicans proudly stand with the brave men and women of ICE, Border Patrol, and we stand with law enforcement. [applause]

This election in November is about safety, and it's also about prosperity. The prosperity of our country. We are doing things now that nobody believes. We are hitting numbers that nobody believes.

Here are just some of our achievements since Election Day. Thank you. We've created over 4 million new jobs. Nobody thought that was possible, 4 million. And lifted almost 4 million Americans off of food stamps.

We've added nearly 600,000 new manufacturing jobs. That wasn't supposed to happen. [applause]

Remember when President Obama said you can't do manufacturing? Magic wand, right? You'd need a magic wand. You don't need a magic wand. You need proper policies. You need a lot of things. You don't need a magic wand.

Remember this. And you've heard me say it a lot. I'm very proud of it. African-American unemployment--think of it--African-American unemployment just reached the lowest level ever recorded. [applause]

Right? Right? Right?

After years of Democrats failing and abandoning African-Americans, Republicans are delivering for African-Americans like never before. We're doing the job. [applause]

And you saw that the other night with Kanye West. How good was Kanye West? [applause]

And Big Jim Brown. And so many others. We're supported by so many great folks. Jim Brown. Boy, we could use him on some of those teams right now, couldn't we? Couldn't we?

Hispanic American and Asian American unemployment also reached all-time lows. [applause]

Women's unemployment recently reached its lowest level in 65 years. That's going to be coming out soon. I think it'll be in history. [applause]

And last week, I signed a groundbreaking new trade deal with South Korea that dramatically increases American exports. You remember that deal? Remember that deal? Hillary Clinton--that was a Hillary deal--she said we must have this deal with South Korea. It will create 250,000 jobs. And it did for South Korea, not for us. It created jobs for South Korea.

We now have a good thing. Friend or foe? Friend or foe? Friend, OK. You never know. When you hear little noises like that, you say foe, get them out, right? But they're friends. We only have friends in Tennessee, I think. [applause]

We're also entering new trade talks with the European Union, which, frankly, has treated us extremely badly, and with Japan. Japan sends us millions and millions of cars. And we're working on a trade deal. We're working on a trade deal. It will be fine.

And we are cracking down on China's unfair and abusive trade practices. [applause]

Got to do it. We've been losing $300, $400, $500 billion a year to China. No more. No more. Right. No more. Can't do it.

After years of rebuilding other nations, we are finally rebuilding our nation. [applause]

And we're doing it with American aluminum and we're doing it with American steel. And our steel is doing really well. Really well. [applause]

To put more money in the pockets of Tennessee families, we passed the biggest package of tax cuts and reforms in the history of our country. [applause]

And we eliminated the core of Obamacare. We got rid of the individual mandate. It's gone. The worst part of Obama. . .

And as bad as those premiums are, we've kept the premiums down. We've done a lot of things. But we're trying to keep those premiums from the remnant of Obamacare down. But it will all get taken care of. We just need a few more votes.

This year alone, we have successfully lowered your health insurance premiums in the state of Tennessee by 26 percent. That's not bad. [applause]

Under the past administration, it was like a rocket ship going up. To help critically ill patients access life-saving treatments, we just passed something they've been trying to pass for 45 years. Right to Try. You know what that is. Right to Try. [applause]

Right? I'm very proud--Meadows helped with that one. And Phil helped with that one, right, Phil? Phil Roe. You guys all helped with that one. And Greg, right, Greg was good. Did a good job.

You know, Right to Try, so somebody's terminally ill, and we have medicines that have great help, great future. They look good. They're very promising. But we had no right to give those medicines to somebody that's terminal, is going to die. They had no hope. If they had money, they traveled all over the world to find a cure, but yet we have the greatest doctors and the greatest medicine in the world here. But it would be years, three years, four years. We've reduced it. It used to be 14, 15 years. I think we have it down to three-and-a-half to four. Scott is doing a great job at the FDA. But . . . [applause]

Forty-five years they've been trying to pass--not as easy as it sounds. Not as easy as--I will tell you, not that easy, but we got it passed. So now somebody's terminally ill. And if we have a drug that looks like it's possibly going to help, we can actually give it to those people. And you know what? Already we've had success. Some of these drugs are working. Some of these drugs are working.

I'm very proud of it, Right to Try. Hopefully you don't have to use it, OK? I don't want you to have to use it, but you know what? If you do, doesn't it make sense, instead of doing--I mean, if you don't have the money, you just go home and you sit there and it's--you lose hope, and if you do have money, you go all over the world trying to find a cure.

So Right to Try, remember it. That was a big deal.

We also passed Veterans Choice. Any veterans in the room? Yes. [applause]

We do. Young veteran. Young. We just passed choice. That was 44 years they've been trying to pass choice, so that if you have to wait in line for 9 days, 30 days, 21 days, months, you don't do that anymore. If the line's big, and if you're unhappy with it, you go to a private doctor, they take care of you, and we paid the bill. It's better. And you save a lot of money. It's better. [applause]

They've been trying to pass that one for many, many decades. They couldn't do it. We got it passed. We're good at passing things, right? We're good. We're good at passing things, right?

Oh, look. Come here. Stand up, Phil Roe. Stand up. That's right. That's right, Phil. Man, no wonder they love you in Tennessee. Great, right?

And another one, we just passed the landmark V.A. Accountability Act, right? V.A. Accountability. [applause]

This is where you have employees at the V.A., Veterans Administration, who are terrible, who treat our great, great warriors who are troubled. They're not well. They're sadist. They steal. They rob. They do a lot of bad things, some of them. Some people are incredible.

But we now have the right to go after 'em. We now have the right to fire them. [applause]

The V.A. Accountability Act is a big thing. And just last week, I signed a record $716 billion dollar funding bill for our military. And we are giving our troops the biggest pay raise they've had in over a decade. They deserve it. [applause]

And I just withdrew the United States from the horrible, one-sided Iran nuclear deal or disaster. [applause]

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

We've done--we've done so much, as point after point. I will not do this to you, but look at this. Page after page after page after page after page. [applause]

I mean, look at this. Created jobs, 4 million, created manufacturing, 600,000. I mean, you just go point after point--each one is a major point. I mean, but we're not going to bore you. But nobody's done--I'll tell you what. Nobody has done this much in their first two years or probably in any two years--nobody has done what we as a--not me, what we have done with the help of all of these people and all of those people. Nobody. [applause]

True. Nobody has done what we've done.

AUDIENCE: USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA!

THE PRESIDENT: And we've cut more regulations than any administration, whether it's two years, four years, eight years, 12 years, in one case. We have cut more than any president, any administration, in two years, and it's less than two years, we have cut more regulations.

And yet we have crystal clean water. We have pure, beautiful air. We're into that--also, folks, but you don't have to turn off all business and send business to foreign countries to get it. [applause]

Under my administration, we are no longer apologizing for America. We are standing up for America. [applause]

Standing up. And we're standing up for your values. We're standing up for Tennessee. And we are standing up very proudly for our flag and our national anthem. [applause]

We are lifting millions of our citizens from welfare to work, from dependence to independence, and from poverty to prosperity. That's what's happening. [applause]

We're building a future of safety and hope and opportunity. And every city and every community in every part of this great land is prospering like they really have never prospered before. You see what's happening. It's a beautiful thing to watch.

That's why outside right now--I hope they haven't left--we put big screens out there for them--but you have close to 20,000 people standing outside. [applause]

In the great state of Missouri, you had a big, beautiful arena. I always say Madison Square Garden, less maybe 30 percent, OK? Big, beautiful arena. It was packed. And in Missouri, they had 40--you saw it--45,000 people outside. Think of it. So something is happening. And by the way . . . [applause]

By the way, Claire McCaskill, who is another disaster, is being soundly beaten, we hope. We hope. Missouri. [applause]

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Thank you!

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. Thank you, 45,000. So we're fighting for the right of all children to have a safe home, a great school, a loving family and a ladder that raises them up to reach their highest dreams. Wouldn't that be nice? We're unleashing the power of faith. We need more faith in this country. [applause]

The might of justice and the glory of freedom is what we're about. But to continue this incredible momentum, momentum like--I don't know if you've ever had this in this country--you know, I haven't been corrected. I said the 2016 election may have been the greatest election of all time. There's never been anything like this. [applause]

And we had to fight the Democrats, but more difficult was fighting a very, very dishonest media. That was much more difficult. [applause]

Fighting the media is tougher than fighting the Democrats, but they're equal partners. So you have to get your friends, get your family, get your neighbors, get your coworkers, and get out and vote Republican, and vote for Marsha Blackburn and Bill Lee and all of the great Republicans that are running. [applause]

Bill Lee, going to be a great governor. A vote for Republicans is a vote for lower taxes, less regulation--that's a big factor--and more products made right here in the good, old USA. [applause]

AUDIENCE: USA! USA! USA! USA! USA!

THE PRESIDENT: Remember the old days we had signs on cars and little decals all over the place? It said made in the USA. Guess what? That's what's happening now. Made in the USA. It's coming back.

It's a vote to reduce crime, respect law enforcement, and restore the rule of law. Very simple. [applause]

It's a vote for strong borders, safe communities, and thriving families, and a vote for Republicans is a vote to reject the Democrat politics of anger, destruction, chaos, and to come together as citizens, as patriots, and as Americans, come together as Americans. [applause]

To everyone in this room tonight, to every citizen watching all across the land, and they do have a lot of those cameras rolling, unfortunately--thank you. It's called--you know what it's called? Earned media, and I earned it. That I will tell you. Earned media. Thank you very much for the earned media.

This is your time to choose. This is your time. It's the time to choose whether we turn backward to the failure and frustration of the past. Look at what we've done. Look at what we've done in far less than two years. Look at what we've done. Nobody believes it. They don't believe it. They don't believe it. And they don't want to report it.

So we report it ourselves. They don't want to report it. By the way, 15 percent of them are OK, 85 percent, no good.

And it's also a choice of whether we continue forward into the unlimited promise of our future of this great land, this great country. We were losing our country. I've had so many people come up to me, great people, some of them strong and tough--and, you know, these aren't emotional people--they have tears in their eyes, say, Mr. President--I saw one tonight, came up to me, a man, strong, tough cookie, I wouldn't want to fight him, OK? And he said, "Mr. President"--he's crying--he said, "thank you for saving our country." So many people say that. So many people. [applause]

It is not up to the media to decide our fate. It is not up to the pollsters or the pundits--although our polls are very good right now. They're going nuts with that one. They don't like it when we have good polls. So usually they make up phony polls, but that's OK.

They're called repression. It's repression. "Darling," you know the story. I say it a lot. "Darling, I really like Donald Trump, but you know, he can't win because CNN did a poll." Hey, did those polls turn out to be wrong or what? [applause]

But it's called repression. It's called repression. They're phony polls, just like fake news. They're phony, fake polls. But they said, "darling, I really like that guy, but, you know, the polls say, according to some of the news, the media," because most people think it's legit, although that's changed a very lot. They said, "darling, let's go to a movie and then we'll come home and watch our friend, Donald. He'll just--oh, it's so sad what's happening.

I mean, as an example, I heard, darling, that he's going to lose Texas. I heard that he's going to lose Utah. I heard he's going to lose Georgia. So sad. So sad."

Well, you know, when Texas came out at 8 o'clock, they said, ladies and gentlemen, the polls have closed in Texas and the winner is. . . Donald Trump. [applause]

Ladies and gentlemen, the polls have closed in the great state of Utah and the winner is Donald Trump. [applause]

Ladies and gentlemen, the polls have closed in the great state of Georgia and the winner is Donald Trump. [applause]

You see, if it's close, they take hours and hours and days. But when you win a landslide, they do it--that's when I kept hearing he could be in trouble in Texas. Yeah, I'd like--I'd like to have trouble like that all the time. We love Texas. And Ted Cruz is starting to do really well in Texas now. And he is a friend of mine. He's doing really well. He's going to win by a lot. He's going to win by a lot.

But we had a--was that the greatest evening? Tell me. Go back two years, almost two years. Was that the greatest evening, like, ever? [applause]

Was that, like, the greatest evening? Remember the board? And, boy, that center, that whole thing--outside a little blue here, a little blue here--did you see the red--the whole thing is red? [applause]

And by the end of the evening, nice guy, John King, his hand was trembling. He said, oh, oh, Wisconsin, that's been decades. Donald Trump has won the state of Wisconsin. His hand was shaking. What does this mean? What does this mean? [applause]

Donald Trump has won the state of Michigan, and you hear the people behind him, oh, no, oh, no, don't. Remember that? Remember Pennsylvania? Pennsylvania hadn't been won for many years by a Republican. It's a great state, great people. I thought we're going to do well there, I thought we were going to--but all Republicans think they're going to do well in Pennsylvania and then they lose.

So I thought we're going to do great in Pennsylvania. Do you remember? There was 1 percent of the vote left. If we lost every single vote, we win by a lot. They refused to announce it. They refused. They waited until, like, what time, 1 o'clock in the morning? I said, wait a minute, if I lost every single vote, I win by a lot. Announce it. They wouldn't announce it.

But they had to announce Wisconsin, Michigan. So nothing mattered. But that was one of the great evenings--you know, that was one of the greatest rating evenings in the history of television, all because of you. That was a great evening for all of us. [applause]

And hopefully, we're going to have another great evening in November and you're going to get Marsha in there, because that's so important, Marsha Blackburn. It's up to you to choose our future. It's up to you to choose prosperity and pride over socialism and decay. [applause]

It's up to you on November 6th, right, November 6th, November 6th, 2018, loyal citizens like you helped build this country. And together we are taking back our country. We're returning power to the American people. That's what we campaigned on. [applause]

This great state, the state of Tennessee, was forged through the sweat and sacrifice of tough pioneer men and women, tough people, good genes you have, good genes. This is the state of Davy Crockett and Andrew Jackson. [applause]

Andrew Jackson, who continues to be on the $20 dollar bill. You know that? [applause]

Andrew Jackson--they actually--you know, they were comparing what we did a year-and-a-half ago--thank you--I think it was good what he said--we were comparing--they were always comparing it to Ronald Reagan. Then as we went along, they were going--then they actually started saying, no, the only one that we compare this one is Andrew Jackson. He had one wild election. And then they say, toward the end, and then with the big victory, they said, no, this was actually greater than even Andrew Jackson. And I'm a big Andrew Jackson fan. [applause]

And I went to Andrew Jackson's home in Tennessee. And it was great. And it was special. And he was a tough cookie, and he was a great president, too.

This state is the home to generations of proud Americans who defy dangers and brave the elements to defend their families, their country, and always to defend their values. This is what they do. They defend their values. They defend their families.

What else do they defend? They defend our great American flag. Don't they defend that? [applause]

They defend our flag. Just like the pioneers and patriots who came before us, we are going to work, we are going to fight, and we are going to win, win, win. [applause] We're winning. We're winning.

We will not bend. We will not break. We will never give in. We will never give up. We will never, ever back down--like these people over here. They'll never back down. [applause]

Like him. Like him. We will never surrender. And we will always fight on to victory, victory, victory. Because, as you know, we are American. And our hearts bleed red, white, and blue. [applause]

We are one people, one family, and one glorious nation under God. [applause]

And together, we will make America wealthy again, we will make America strong again, we will make America safe again, and we will make America great again. Thank you, Tennessee. Thank you. [applause]

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

NOTE: The President spoke at the Freedom Hall Civic Center, Johnson City, Tennessee.  Also speaking was Member of the U.S. House of Representatives Marsha Blackburn (TN-7th), candidate for the U.S. Senate.

This transcript was prepared for the American Presidency Project by Carla Cernat.

Donald J. Trump, Remarks at a "Make America Great Again" Rally in Johnson City, Tennessee Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/332464

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