Trump takes a victory lap with young conservatives

In his first rally-style speech since winning the 2024 election, President-elect Donald Trump raved about his election victory for nearly 10 minutes before transitioning to confidence that he would deliver on his administration’s promises, as well as touting his election in the cabinet.

Trump spoke at AmericaFest, a political festival for conservatives organized by Turning Point, the conservative organization run by Charlie Kirk that was instrumental in helping Trump garner support among younger voters through his get-out-the-ballot initiatives in battleground states.

Trump’s speech was essentially many of the proposals he has already released on his Truth Social social media platform, including his threats of tariffs and taking back the Panama Canal, as well as bragging about the amount of people who have reached out to him since his victory .

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

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

Throughout his 75-minute remarks, Trump did not mention the recently passed government funding bill, which did not include his last-minute demands to raise the debt ceiling or eliminate it. After vocally opposing the original bill, Trump has yet to comment on the legislation passed early Saturday.

Speakers ahead of Trump, however, had something to say on the issue. Trump’s allies called on Speaker Mike Johnson to lose his speakership over working with Democrats, called for primaries of Republican lawmakers who voted against the package, along with threats against Republican senators who were on the fence about confirming some of Trump’s Cabinet picks.

“Johnson is not up to the task. He’s got to go, right? He’s got to go. Is Johnson going to be Speaker of the House?” Steve Bannon, a former Trump adviser who served time in prison for contempt of Congress, asked the crowd, which 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. It’s only about the execution of President Trump’s plan,” he added.

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

“We have accomplished so much in just 47 days since the election. But this is only the beginning of what we will accomplish together as the 47th President of the United States,” Trump said.

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

“I campaigned on an agenda to deliver profound change to Washington, and last month the American people voted for change like they’ve never voted before, and in overwhelming numbers, numbers that no one saw coming. I saw them coming, because I think we all saw that coming,” Trump said.

Exposing an Elon Musk ‘hoax’

As tech entrepreneur Elon Musk has become more vocal about the country’s future, including a series of tweets criticizing the government’s funding law, many lawmakers and pundits have begun to suggest that Musk is indeed running the country. Trump laughed off the idea on Sunday, calling it the new “hoax” of the media, saying he likes to have smart people around him.

“And no, he’s not running for president. I love having smart people… No, no, it happens. But Elon has done a great job. Isn’t it nice to have smart people that we can trust?” Trump touted and celebrated Musk’s role with the newly created Department of Government Efficiency.

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

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

Trump touts his cabinet picks

Trump spent time praising several of his controversial Cabinet picks, including his Defense Secretary pick Pete Hegseth, saying he thinks he will do “well” in the role.

“Over the last few weeks I have nominated an all-star cabinet of some of the most determined and brilliant people ever to run for public office and we are getting good reviews, I must say they are all doing well, but we’re getting great reviews from the people we’ve elected,” Trump said.

He again shared misinformation about vaccines being linked to a rise in autism and said Robert F. Kennedy Jr., his pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, would be responsible for investigating it.

“Think about this 25 years ago, autism, one in 10,000 kids today is one in 36 kids. Is there something wrong? I think so,” he said. “And Robert and I and everybody, we’ll figure it out…”

Trump made a one-sentence remark about Tulsi Gabbard, his choice for director of national intelligence, mentioning her nomination without further comment. He added that he thinks Kash Patel, his pick to lead the FBI, “may be the best director of them all.”

Meeting with Putin

As Trump reviewed his Day 1 priorities, he highlighted Russian President Vladimir Putin’s comments in which he said he is ready to talk to the president-elect.

“President Putin said he wants to meet with me as soon as possible. So we have to wait for this. But we have to end that war. That war is a terrible one…,” Trump said, that appeared to allude to public comments Putin made on Thursday.

Threats to tariffs, the Panama Canal and trans people

Trump also repeated his threat of tariffs against Canada, Mexico and China if they do not “step up and stop the illegal aliens and illegal drugs from flowing into our country.”

“They can’t treat us like that. They’re not going to treat us like that for a long time, I can tell you that, because we’re not going to let them turn America into a dumping ground.”

Trump also doubled down on his threat to take back the Panama Canal, complaining about the fees charged by the US Navy and American companies: “This complete ripoff of our country will immediately stop. It will stop,” he said.

As Trump spent the last few months of his campaign emphasizing anti-transgender rhetoric, he said he would sign executive orders on Day 1 to end child sexual mutilation, get transgender people out of the military and keep “men out of 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. Later, Trump spoke out against “woke,” calling wokeness “bulls—-.”

Tough talk about immigration

While underscoring his tariff threat, Trump also once again talked about migrants by labeling them violent criminals and continued to claim he would designate Mexican drug cartels as terrorist organizations, which he tried to implement in his first term but stopped after Mexico’s president at time encouraged him not to.

“Every foreign gang member 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 robust campaign on the flow of fentanyl into America and its devastating effects.

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

One of his Day 1 priorities, he said, will be a “historic list of executive orders to close our border to illegal aliens and stop the invasion of our country.”

“And on the same day, we will begin the largest deportation operation in American history, larger even than President Dwight Eisenhower’s,” he said, calling it “Operation Aurora,” after the Colorado town he often mentioned on the campaign trail. tracks where he said immigrant gangs had taken over apartment buildings.

Thanks to young conservatives and Tiktok

While proclaiming his victory, Trump also expressed gratitude to Charlie Kirk, the CEO of Turning Point USA, who led some of the largest pro-Trump grassroots efforts among younger voters.

“I want to express my enormous gratitude to Charlie Kirk. He’s really a great guy, great guy and his entire staff for their tireless efforts to achieve this very historic victory… It’s not my victory, it’s your victory. It’s a great honor.”

Trump continued his victory lap, continuing to praise the demographic shifts happening to Republicans while promising to unite the country. He also went on a tangent about the reach he was able to have through TikTok.

“It ticked and we had an amazing response with billions of views, billions and billions of views,” he said. “They brought me, and they brought me a chart, and it was a record, and it was so beautiful to see. And when I looked at it, I said, ‘Maybe we should keep this pacifier for a little bit.'”