The 24 must-see lines from Donald Trump's victory speech
The 24 must-see lines from Donald Trump's victory speech
Whoa boy, Mr. President-Elect.
You could be excused if you went to bed before Donald Trump formally declared victory in the wee hours of Wednesday morning.
But, as I have said many times, the words Trump uses matter. And that’s even more true now that he will be president for the next four years.
Which is why I went through the transcript of Trump’s victory address — and pulled out the lines you need to see from it.
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To the Lines!
“This was a movement like nobody's ever seen before.”
I used to scoff at this. But here’s the reality: Trump is only the 2nd president ever to be elected to two nonconsecutive presidential terms. In the past decade, he has not only fundamentally altered what one of our two major parties stands for but also remade the political coalitions that elect Republicans and Democrats. So, like, he’s not wrong?
“And now, it's going to reach a new level of importance because we're going to help our country heal, going help our country heal.”
Count me skeptical that Trump will emerge in the coming months as our national healer.
“We're going to fix everything about our country, and we made history for a reason tonight and the reason is going to be just that.”
“We’re going to fix everything.” Sounds good!
“Look what happened. Is this crazy?”
Yes.
“And in addition to having won the battleground states of North Carolina -- I love these places -- Georgia, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, we are now winning in Michigan, Arizona, Nevada and Alaska, which would result in us carrying at least 315 electoral votes”
By my count it’s 312. But, either way, Trump is on track to win more electoral votes than he did in 2016 (304) or Joe Biden did in 2020 (306).
“We also have won the popular vote. That was great, very proud of it.”
He’s right. Or, at least, he looks to be on track to win the popular vote. Which is stunning.
“America has given us an unprecedented and powerful mandate.”
I don’t know that it’s unprecedented. But there is no doubt that Trump has a mandate. And will have a Republican-controlled Senate and maybe even a Republican-controlled House.
“And I want to thank Mike Johnson. I think he's doing a terrific job, terrific job. I want to also thank my beautiful wife, Melania, the first lady.”
He thanked the Speaker of the House before his wife. Epic.
“I took a little heat at the beginning but he was -- I knew -- I knew the brain was a good one, about as good as it gets, and we love the family and we're going to have a great four years and we're going to turn our country around, making something very special.”
This is Trump on JD Vance. Can you imagine just finding out you’re the next vice president of the United States and your boss says publicly: “I took a little heat at the beginning but he was -- I knew -- I knew the brain was a good one”? I want people to say that about me, actually. “Chris? Yeah, a little rough start but the brain was a good one.”
“It lost that -- lost that little -- it lost that little -- that little thing called special”
Trump on America. Also:
“Oh, let me tell you. We have a new star. A star is born Elon.”
I mean, Elon Musk put people in space and fundamentally disrupted the automobile industry but, sure, him supporting Trump in this election is what really made him a star.
“And I saw that rocket and I saw it coming down. I saw it -- it was -- when it left, it was beautiful shiny white. When it came down, it didn't look so pretty. It was going 10,000 miles an hour, and it was burning like hell”
Trump, on rockets.
“I said, what happened to your paint job? He said, we've never made a paint that could withstand that kind of heat.”
Trump, on paint.
“And -- but I saw it come down and turn around and it was, you know, it's like 22 stories tall, by the way. It looks a little smaller than that, but it's big. And it came down and down, and you saw that fire burning. And I'm saying, only Elon can do this. It must be an Elon.”
He’s talking about this:
“But this spaceship came down and I saw those engines firing and it looked like it was over, it was going to smash and then I saw the fire pour out from the left side and I put it straight and it came down so gently and then it wrapped those arms around it. And it held it. And just like you hold your baby at night, your little baby. And it was a beautiful thing to see, and I called Elon, I said, Elon, was that you? He said, yes, it was.”
Incredible stuff. No notes. (And, yes, he is still talking about the rocket.)
“The water, this was a big water, as big as we've ever seen, water hurricane. It built lakes out of nothing.”
A “water hurricane,” you say? A “big water,” you say?
“We have to protect our geniuses. We don't have that many of them. We have to protect our super geniuses”
[Looks in mirror] Yes, yes we do.
“We've been through so much together, and today you showed up in record numbers to deliver a victory like, really, I probably like no other”
Total turnout is estimated by Decision Desk HQ at 159 million. That would be slightly higher than the 158 million who voted in 2020.
“And we can add a few names like Robert F. Kennedy Jr., he came in. And he's going to help make America healthy again.”
“RFK Jr. says he’s not anti-vaccine. His record shows the opposite.” — Associated Press
“And now he's a great guy, and he really means it. He wants to do some things, and we're going to let him go to it.”
Trump on RFK Jr.: “He wants to do some things, and we're going to let him go to it.”
“We're going to be paying down debt.”
In Trump’s 1st term, the debt rose by $7.4 trillion.
“And I said that many people have told me that God spared my life for a reason.”
“Many people.” Bigly.
“Just as I did in my first term, we had a great first term, a great, great first term. I will govern by a simple motto. Promises made, promises kept. We're going to keep our promises.”
“It's time to put the divisions of the past four years behind us. It's time to unite and we're going to try, we're going to try, we have to try, and it's going to happen. Success will bring us together. I've seen that. I've seen that”
Yeah, this feels like a good place to end.
I am ashamed to be an American today.
I’m sick, just sick. I have nothing else to say.