Donald Trump spoke in a triumphant tone during a speech to supporters at his watch party in Florida early Wednesday, claiming victory in the election although only Fox News had called the race.
Trump took the stage at his watch party to Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA” along with a large entourage of family members and other supporters. He was announced to attendees as the president-elect, despite the majority of news sources merely putting him close to victory without officially calling the race in his favor.
“We overcame obstacles that nobody thought possible, and it’s now clear we’ve achieved the most incredible political thing,” Trump said. “And look what happened, is this crazy?”
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Over the course of his remarks, he vowed to deliver a “golden age for America” and hailed the election results as “magnificent victory for the American people that will allow us to make America great again.”
“Winning the popular vote was very nice, very nice, I will tell you,” he said. “It’s a great feeling of love.” Trump went on to claim that America “has given us an unprecedented and powerful mandate.”
He also celebrated the GOP winning control of the Senate and applauded the strong results so far Republicans in the House. “I want to thank Mike Johnson,” Trump said. “I think he’s doing a terrific job. Terrific job. I want to also thank my beautiful wife, Melania, First Lady, who has the number one best-selling book in the country. Can you believe that?”
“I want to thank my whole family,” he continued. “My amazing children, and they are amazing children. Now we all think our children are amazing. Everybody here thinks their children are amazing. “But that’s a good thing when you think they are. But Don, Eric, Ivanka, Tiffany, Barron, Lara, Jared, Kimberly, Michael—thank you all. What a help.”
Trump then turned to thanking his running mate, JD Vance. “I want to be the first to congratulate our great—now I can say vice president- elect of the United States, JD Vance—and his absolutely remarkable and beautiful wife, Usha Vance,” he said. “And he’s a feisty guy, isn’t he?”
He particularly praised Vance’s ability to perform well on networks that Trump described as the “enemy” camp. “He just goes in and absolutely obliterates them.” he said, adding that Vance “turned out to be a good choice.” “I took a little heat at the beginning, but I knew the brain was a good one,” Trump said. “About as good as it gets.”
Some of his most effusive praise was reserved for Elon Musk, who became one of Trump’s most key allies over the course of the campaign. “We have a new star,” Trump said. “A star is born: Elon! He’s an amazing guy.”
Clearly warming to the subject, Trump then went on an extended ramble about the SpaceX landing last month in which a rocket booster was caught by mechanical arms in midair.
“You know he sent the rocket up two weeks ago,” Trump said of Musk. “And I saw that rocket, and I saw it coming down, and I saw it. When it left it was, 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. I said: ‘What happened to your paint job?’ He said” ‘We never made a paint that could withstand that kind of heat.’”
“It came down so gently,” Trump continued. “And then it wrapped those arms around it and it held it 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.’ I said: ‘Who else can do that?’ Can Russia do it? No. Can China do it? No. Can the United States do it other than you? No. Nobody can do that. I said: ‘That’s why I love you, Elon, that’s great.’”
He also praised Musk for helping to provide Starlink communication in areas affected by Hurricane Helene. “He saved a lot of lives,” Trump said, praising him as a “super genius,” before dishing out more compliments to his other celebrity supporters including golfer Bryson DeChambeau and UFC founder Dana White.
“Nobody deserves this more than him,” White said after being invited by Trump to speak. “And nobody deserves this more than his family does. This is what happens when the machine comes after you. What you’ve seen over the last several years, this is what it looks like. Couldn’t stop him. He keeps going forward. He doesn’t quit. He’s the most resilient, hard working man I’ve ever met in my life. His family are incredible people. This is karma, ladies and gentlemen! He deserves this!”
White also gave a shout-out to “the mighty and powerful Joe Rogan,” who also officially endorsed Trump on the eve of the election.
Returning to the microphone, Trump also praised Robert F. Kennedy Jr., reiterating his promise that the vaccine skeptic activist would help make “America healthy again.”
“He wants to do some things,” Trump said. “And we’re going to let him go to it. I just said: ‘But Bobby, leave the oil to me.’”
“Together we can truly make America great again for all Americans,” Trump said in closing. “So I want to just tell you what a great honor this is, I want to thank you. I will not let you down. America’s future will be bigger, better, bolder, richer, safer and stronger than it has ever been before. God bless you and God bless America.”
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