Trump takes a victory lap with young conservatives

In his first rally-style speech since winning the 2024 election, President-elect Donald Trump touted his election victory for nearly 10 minutes before expressing confidence that he would keep his administration’s promises, while praising the choices of his Cabinet.

Trump spoke at AmericaFest, a political festival for conservatives organized by Turning Point, the conservative organization led by Charlie Kirk that has been instrumental in helping Trump win the support of young voters through his voting initiatives in Battlefield States.

Trump’s speech essentially repeated many of the proposals he had already posted on his social media platform Truth Social, including his threats about tariffs and the resumption of the Panama Canal, as well as his boasting about the number of people who had contacted him since his victory. .

He said his remarks were “just a small glimpse of the common sense revolution.”

“Because that’s what I call it, a common sense revolution coming to America soon, to a theater near you, right? But it comes to you through your president, Donald J. Trump,” he said.

Throughout his 75-minute speech, Trump made no mention of the recently passed government funding bill, which did not include his last-minute demand to raise the debt ceiling or eliminate it . After strongly opposing the initial bill, Trump has yet to make any comments on the legislation passed Saturday morning.

However, speakers before Trump had something to say on the matter. Trump allies have called for President Mike Johnson to lose his role as speaker over his collaboration with Democrats, called for Republican lawmakers who voted against the package to be primaried, as well as threats against Republican senators who were reluctant to confirm some of Trump’s Cabinet picks.

“Johnson is not up to the task. He has to go, right? He has to go. Should Johnson be Speaker of the House?” Steve Bannon, a former Trump adviser who served prison time for contempt of Congress, asked the crowd, who responded with a resounding “No.”

“We don’t need partisanship now. We need hyperpartisanship now. The conversation is over. We have nothing else to discuss. This is all about executing President Trump’s plan.” , he added.

However, when Trump took the stage, he spent most of his time touting his transition efforts.

“We’ve accomplished a lot in just 47 days since the election. But this is just the beginning of what we will achieve together as the 47th President of the United States of America,” Trump said.

Trump said his second administration would “turn the page” on what he called four years of failure under the Biden administration.

“I campaigned for profound change in Washington, and last month the American people voted for change like never before, and in overwhelming numbers, numbers that no one has seen I saw them coming because I think everyone saw them coming,” Trump said.

Debunking the Elon Musk “hoax”

As tech entrepreneur Elon Musk becomes more vocal about the country’s future, including in a series of tweets criticizing the government’s funding bill, many lawmakers and experts have begun joking that Musk is actually leading the country. Trump laughed off the idea Sunday, calling it another media “hoax” and saying he likes having smart people around him.

“And no, he’s not going to take the presidency. I like having smart people… No, no, that’s what happens. But Elon has done an incredible job. Isn’t it nice to have people intelligent people on whom we can count?” Trump joked, celebrating Musk’s role in the new Department of Government Effectiveness.

Trump praised Musk for his campaign contributions in Pennsylvania, helping North Carolinians during hurricane relief by providing Starlink, and for his efforts with SpaceX.

“No, he won’t be president, I can tell you that,” Trump repeated. “I’m safe. You know why? He wasn’t born in this country. Ha, Ha.”

Trump praises his Cabinet choices

Trump spent time praising several of his embattled cabinet picks, including his Defense Secretary pick, Pete Hegseth, saying he thought he would do “well” in the role.

“Over the past few weeks, I have appointed an all-star cabinet of some of the most determined and successful people of all time to run for public office, and we are getting great reviews. I have to say “They’re all doing well, but we’re getting fantastic reviews on the people we chose,” Trump said.

He again shared misinformation about the link between vaccines and an increase in autism and said Robert F. Kennedy Jr., his choice to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, would be responsible for investigate the matter.

“Think about this: 25 years ago, autism was one in 10,000 children, today it’s one in 36 children. Is something wrong? I think so,” he said. “And Robert and I and everything, we’re going to find a solution…”

Trump made a one-sentence remark about Tulsi Gabbard, his choice for director of national intelligence, mentioning her nomination without any additional comment. He added that he thought Kash Patel, his choice to lead the FBI, “could be the greatest director of them all.”

Meeting with Putin

As Trump reviewed his first day’s priorities, he highlighted comments from Russian President Vladimir Putin in which he said he was ready to speak with the president-elect.

“President Putin said he wants to meet with me as soon as possible. So we have to wait. But we have to end this war. This war is horrible…” Trump said, appearing to allude to the public comments . Putin did so on Thursday.

Threats to tariffs, the Panama Canal and transgender people

Trump also reiterated his tariff threat against Canada, Mexico and China if they do not step up and stop illegal aliens and illegal drugs from flowing into our country.

“They can’t treat us this way. They’re not going to treat us this way for long, I can tell you, because we’re not going to let them turn the United States into a dump.”

Trump also doubled down on his threat to take over the Panama Canal, complaining about fees charged to the U.S. Navy and American businesses: “This total scam of our country will stop immediately. It will stop,” he said.

While Trump spent the last two months of his campaign emphasizing anti-transgender rhetoric, he said he would sign executive orders on day one to end child genital mutilation, remove people transgender members of the military and prevent “men from participating in women’s sports.”

“Under the Trump administration, it will be the official policy of the United States government that there are only two genders: male and female. Trump later denounced “wokeness,” calling wokeness “bull —-“.

Tough speeches on immigration

While emphasizing his tariff threat, Trump also once again referred to migrants as violent criminals, later saying he would designate Mexican drug cartels as terrorist organizations, something he had attempted to do during his first term but ended it after the Mexican president time pressured him not to do so.

“All foreign gang members will be deported, and I will immediately designate the cartels as foreign terrorist organizations. We will do so immediately. And we will unleash the full power of federal law enforcement.”

Trump also promised that his immigration policy would include a vigorous campaign against the influx of fentanyl into America and its devastating effects.

“We’re going to show you what these drugs do to you. No one has done it before and we are going to do it.

One of his first day priorities, he said, will be “a series of historic executive orders to close our border to illegal aliens and end the invasion of our country.”

“And on this same day, we will launch the largest deportation operation in American history, even bigger than President Dwight Eisenhower’s,” he said, calling it “Operation Aurora,” named after the Colorado town he often referred to during the campaign. track where, he said, immigrant gangs had taken over apartment buildings.

Thanking young conservatives and Tiktok

While touting his victory, Trump also expressed gratitude to Charlie Kirk, the executive director of Turning Point USA, who led some of the largest pro-Trump grassroots efforts among young voters.

“I would like to express my immense gratitude to Charlie Kirk. He is truly an incredible guy, an incredible guy and his entire staff for their tireless efforts to achieve this very historic victory… It’s not my victory, it’s yours. victory. It’s a great honor.”

Trump continued his victory lap, praising demographic shifts in favor of Republicans while promising to unify the country. He also addressed the question of the reach he was able to have thanks to TikTok.

“Tiktok, and we had a great response with billions of views, billions and billions of views,” he said. “They brought me a chart, and it was a record, and it was so beautiful to see. And as I was looking at it, I was like, ‘Maybe we should keep this idiot for a little while. moment.'”