President-elect Trump estimated the exact time his administration will be “fully operational” on Jan. 20 in his first rally-styled speech since his decisive win over Vice President Kamala Harris last month.
“You just have a few days to wait. We’re going to be fully operational, I would say, by about 2:00 on the 20th,” Trump said from the AmericaFest stage.
Trump took the stage of the Phoenix Convention Center Sunday as part of Turning Point’s annual AmericaFest – a four-day event billed as part of the “biggest conservative movement in the country” – where the president took a victory lap for his electoral win last month, and to also preview his administration in the waning days of the transition period.
“The thing that brings people together is victory. It’s winning. And we had that for much of my first year. We had the most – we had the greatest economy in history, in our first term. We can now call it a first term. We had the greatest economy in the history of our country, maybe in the history of any country, frankly. And we had – we did things that nobody could have done. And we’re going to do them even better now. We’re going to be drilling, as we say, ‘drill, baby, drill.’ We’re going to drill, baby drill, but we’re going to be doing a lot more than drilling,” he said of his win and upcoming administration.
President-elect Trump at AmericaFest in Arizona. (Rick Scuteri/AP Photo)
On Saturday evening, Trump issued a message on Truth Social, calling for the U.S. to regain control of the Panama Canal. He elaborated during his speech Sunday that “we will demand that the Panama Canal be returned to the United States of America in full, quickly and without question.”
“A secure Panama Canal is crucial for U.S. commerce and rapid deployment of the Navy from the Atlantic, all the way to the Pacific. It’s an incredible thing. And drastically cut shipping times down to U.S. ports by days and even weeks. The United States is the number one user of the Panama Canal, with over 72% of all transits heading to or from U.S. ports. Think of that. So we built it. We’re the ones that use it. They gave it away,” he said.
The canal had been under American control since its construction was completed, and it began operations in 1914. It was handed over to Panama during President Jimmy Carter’s administration in 1977.
Trump also previewed his upcoming administration, saying that in addition to carrying out the “largest deportation operation in American history,” his admin will also roll out an advertising campaign highlighting the evils of drug use, spotlighting fentanyl that flows across the border.
President-elect Trump on stage at AmericaFest in Arizona. (Cheney Orr/Reuters)
“We’re going to do very big advertising campaigns, just like a campaign for running for president. We spend a lot of money, but it’ll be a very small amount of money, relatively. We’re going to advertise how bad drugs are for you, how bad they are. They ruin your look. They ruin your face. They ruin your skin. They ruin your teeth. If you want to have horrible teeth, take a lot of fentanyl. If you want to have skin that looks so terrible, take fentanyl,” he said.
Efforts to bolster border security and deport illegal immigrants in the nation, Trump said, will also include efforts to secure the northern border.
“Canada allows people and drugs to flood in through our northern border. You know, we have a northern border that’s not doing so well either. Likewise, people are coming in from Mexico in numbers that have never, ever been seen before. We had 21 million people come in over the past four years,” he said.
WHITE HOUSE PRESSED ON BIDEN REFUSING TO SPEAK PUBLICLY AHEAD OF SHUTDOWN
Border Patrol picks up a group of asylum seekers from an aid camp at the U.S.-Mexico border near Sasabe, Arizona, on March 13, 2024. (Justin Hamel/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Trump’s speech on Sunday followed Congress avoiding a prolonged government shutdown early Saturday morning. Members of the House returned to the negotiating table last week after Trump and allies such as Elon Musk slammed a more than 1,500-page bill as “outrageous” and rife with excessive spending.
Trump called on Republicans to suspend the debt limit as part of their talks to avert a government shutdown. The final bill, however, did not include a suspension of the debt ceiling.
Trump has not spoken publicly since the bill’s passage, including on Sunday, although sources told Fox News that the incoming president is not that happy with the bill.
The Capitol in Washington is framed by early morning clouds, March 19, 2024. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
In his speech, Trump again reaffirmed his support for former Fox News host Pete Hegseth as secretary of defense in his second administration, as Hegseth battles allegations of sexual misconduct and excessive drinking while rallying support for his confirmation among senators. Hegseth has denied the allegations and vowed that he won’t drink “a drop of alcohol” if confirmed to Trump’s Cabinet.
TRUMP NOMINATES TV PRODUCER, CREATOR OF ‘THE APPRENTICE,’ TO SERVE IN NEW ADMINISTRATION
House Speaker Mike Johnson, National Intelligence Director nominee Tulsi Gabbard, President-elect Trump, Vice President-elect JD Vance, and Defense Secretary nominee Pete Hegseth attend the 125th Army-Navy football game on Dec. 14, 2024, in Landover, Maryland. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
“To get wokeness out of our military and restore the unquestioned strength and fighting spirit of the American armed forces, I have appointed Pete Hegseth to be our next secretary of the defense. He’s going to be great. You know, I’ve interviewed with him a lot on Fox, and all he ever wanted to talk about was the military,” he said.
Trump also celebrated his other Cabinet picks, including Pam Bondi as attorney general, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.
“When you look at, like, autism from 25 years ago, and you look at it now, something’s going on. And I nominated Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Think of it. Think of this: 25 years ago, autism, 1 in 10,000 children. Today it’s 1 in 36 children. Is something wrong? I think so, and Robert and I, we’re going to figure it out,” he said.
TRUMP NOMINATES PAIR TO HELP LEAD DOJ, ANNOUNCES FEDERAL RAILROAD ADMINISTRATION PICK
President-elect Trump vowed to unleash the energy industry and remove “woke” policies from schools and the military, at AmericaFest in Arizona. (Rick Scuteri/AP Photo)
The former and upcoming president continued in his speech with his typical campaign talking points, vowing to come through on his promises to unleash the energy industry and remove “woke” policies from schools and the military.
“I will sign day one orders to end all Biden restrictions on energy production. Terminate his insane electric vehicle mandate. Cancel his natural gas export ban, reopen ANWR in Alaska, the biggest site potentially anywhere in the world, and declare a national energy emergency,” he said.
Adding at another point: “With a stroke of my pen on day one, we’re going to stop the transgender lunacy. And I will sign executive orders to end child sexual mutilation, get transgender out of the military and out of our elementary schools, and middle schools, and high school. And we will keep men out of women’s sports.”
Trump also quoted his mother at one point during his speech, citing her use of the word “befuddled” to describe Democrats following the election.
President-elect Trump dances at AmericaFest. (Rick Scuteri/AP Photo)
“If you watch television now, they’re all befuddled. They don’t know what the hell happened. They’re befuddled. To use quite a nice word that my mother used to use years ago, talking about somebody that’s a mess. But they did. They’ve lost their confidence. And hopefully they’ll lose it for a long time and then come over to our side because we want to have them,” he said.
AmericaFest kicked off on Dec. 19 in Phoenix and will conclude on Sunday following Trump’s speech. The annual event is billed as one that reenergizes conservative students and voters “all while celebrating the greatest country in the world.” The venue has about a 14,000-person capacity, while Turning Point reported about 21,000 tickets were sold for the convention.
“We are incredibly honored that President Trump will deliver his first rally-style speech since the election at AmFest 2024 in Phoenix,” Turning Point USA and Turning Point Action chief Charlie Kirk said in a press release ahead of the event. “This was already the largest multi-day event in the movement, and this year will be the biggest we’ve ever hosted, by far.”
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