J.D. Vance Rally in Wisconsin

Please join me in welcoming the next vice president and second lady of the United States of America, Senator JD Vance and Usha Vance.

Hey guys. Thank you guys for being here. Good to see you guys again. All right. Here we go. I want to talk to the press here in just a second, but first I want to say how great it is to be here in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. I believe we’re going to get some ice cream afterwards, and I think there’s already some debate about which place we should go to. So hopefully we’re not going to cause any Eau Claire rivalries here, but I’m excited about it and we’ve had a good day. We actually just saw the vice president’s plane on the tarmac. We landed about the same time that she did, and I went over there because I thought it might be nice to check out this plane that’s going to be mine in a few months if we all take care of business and I think we will.

(05:34)
But mostly actually, I want to go and say hello to the journalists who are traveling along with the vice president because I figured they must be lonely because Kamala Harris doesn’t take any questions. And I want to just point this out before we let the media ask me some questions that I think it’s really disgraceful both for Kamala Harris, but also for a lot of the American media that participates in this stuff, to have a person who has been the presumptive of the Democrat party for 17 days and refuses to take a single question from the American media. Now, it’s well known of course, that President Trump and I will go anywhere. We’ll answer any question because we respect the American people enough to actually ask them for their vote rather than sit in front of a teleprompter, read scripted lines, and run away from every reporter and every actual citizen who’s going to decide this election. I think it’s a scandal and I think the vice president should be ashamed of herself.

(06:24)
So hopefully, our reporters out there in the audience will start doing their job a little bit and going and demanding that Kamala Harris actually answer to the American people. And what should she answer for? And I think it’s an important thing to point out here before I kick it over to you guys for some questions. Well, one thing she should answer for, we’re in a great American manufacturing facility here, and I appreciate you all showing up and standing behind me. But one thing we know is that you cannot manufacture in this country unless you have access to low-cost power. And we happen to be sitting on the Saudi Arabia of natural gas in this country. We happen to have unlimited oil and gas resources right here in the United States of America. And yet Kamala Harris would rather get energy from tinpot dictators and Iran and Russia than from American citizens and American workers.

(07:12)
And not only is that driving up the cost of power for hardworking American families, it’s also making it harder and harder to manufacture right here in the United States of America. And I’m one of these guys who believes that it’s important that we make more things right here in the USA. We ought to make more of our own pharmaceuticals. We ought to make more of our own manufactured goods. We ought to make more of our own food. We have to be self-sufficient as a people. And if we’re not self-sufficient, then it’s going to allow the communist Chinese to run all over us. And that’s exactly what they’ve been doing under the Harris administration.

(07:44)
The other thing that Kamala Harris ought to answer for is this terrible crisis at the American Southern border. She has been the border czar for 3 1/3 years, and Americans have suffered because of it. I know this community’s been affected by it. I know I’ve seen the consequences of it personally, but the fentanyl that the Mexican drug cartels are bringing into our country, it is killing Americans by the bushels. And it is unnecessary. It is happening because of failed public policy.

(08:12)
I talked to somebody just yesterday… Actually, two kids, a 19-year-old boy and a 15-year-old girl, and their mom and dad had died of a fentanyl overdose just five years prior when they were 10 and 14 years old. These two kids were orphaned and they’re incredible kids. And I told them I was rooting for them. And I can’t believe that our leadership has what has happened to these children happen. It’s not necessary. There’s no American that wants the Mexican drug cartels to take advantage of our country and make billions of dollars selling drugs into our communities. And these kids suffered because of it.

(08:55)
You have a little girl who’s bounced around four foster homes in just the past four years because of the poison that took her parents from her. And you ask yourselves, “Why are we doing this? Why are we letting this stuff come into our country?” I know very personally the pain of addiction. Some of you saw my RNC remarks, but my mom struggled with addiction for pretty much my entire life, and she’s been clean and sober for nearly 10 years now. And that’s an incredible blessing for my family, an incredible blessing for my kids to be able to get to know their grandmother.

(09:28)
But I really believe that if the poison that Kamala Harris is letting come across the border in 2024 was coming across the border 15 years ago or 12 years ago, I would’ve never got that second chance with my mom. And we would’ve never had the opportunity to see her build a wonderful relationship with her three grandchildren. And if this campaign of Donald Trump’s and mine is about anything, it’s about preserving the American dream. And the American dream is sometimes a thing of second chances. We want moms and dads to recover from addiction and get another

… Their chance with their kids. We want kids, who come from a poor family, to be able to stand here and run for Vice President of the United States because it’s the greatest country in the world and we are proud of it and it provides incredible bounty and incredible opportunity to our people. We want kids who grew up in low income families to be able to walk outside and walk down the street without being afraid of a violent crime because violent crime has skyrocketed under the Harris administration.

(10:27)
We want police officers to be able to do their job and maybe receive a thank you from their federal government and not a federal government that makes their job more and more difficult. And in all these areas, we have a country that’s going in the wrong direction thanks to Kamala Harris. And I think that it’s important to say we could be doing so much better and not just that we could be doing so much better. We were doing so much better when Donald J. Trump was President of the United States.

(10:50)
We had somebody who was fighting for American manufacturing, American workers, and fighting for their jobs. We had somebody who was empowering our police and making it easier for them to do their jobs. We had somebody who was stopping the flow of fentanyl and stopping the Mexican drug cartels from taking advantage of our country. And we had somebody who was pursuing the kind of economic policies where you could build a life in your home without having groceries become unaffordable, without having housing become unaffordable.

(11:17)
The most consistent complaint that I hear from people, all across the country, and I’ve been to more than a dozen states, I think, just since Donald Trump tapped me, the most consistent complaint that I hear is that it is harder and harder for normal people to get by. And I happen to think that if you work hard and play by the rules in this country, you ought to be entitled to a good life in the country that your grandparents built. It’s a very simple, very simple goal, and it’s something that we can get for everybody.

(11:46)
Now, is that possible? Thanks to Kamala Harris, grocery prices are up 30% since she took office. Gas prices are up 50% since she took office. Rent is over 40% since she took office. Every single thing that Americans need to buy, in order to live a halfway decent life, has become more expensive because of Kamala Harris’ economic policies. And instead of saying, I’m sorry, instead of saying maybe we should go in a different direction, she’s running from the media, refusing to answer tough questions, and hoping that a basement campaign is going to earn her a promotion. And I think we ought to say to Kamala Harris, you are fired. Your policies didn’t work, your agenda doesn’t work, and it’s not what the American people want.

(12:29)
Let me just recap it here and then I will turn it over to the media. On day one, Kamala Harris suspended deportations. On day one, Kamala Harris stopped deportations for the American people. On day one, Kamala Harris refused to continue construction of the Trump border wall. On day one, Kamala Harris basically refused to push back against the drug cartels in this country. And on day one, Kamala Harris said that she was going to decriminalize illegal aliens. And she did all of those things. Now, the American people have suffered the consequences because of it.

(13:17)
On day one, Kamala Harris became the border czar, and ever since then, we’ve had a wide open southern border. Now, it’s not just what she’s done on day one, it’s what she’s done ever since then. She cast the deciding vote for the so- called Inflation Reduction Act that sent a lot of our resources to China and sent interest rates through the roof. She cast the deciding vote for the very policies that made groceries and gas and housing less affordable for American citizens. And I think it’s very simple. I think that we can do better. I know that we can do better. We were doing better when Donald J. Trump was President.

(13:49)
Thank you all for being here. Thanks for standing in support of our president and to all the American people out there who are listening to these remarks or will hear them on TV just a little bit later, my very simple request is to think about people who are suffering in this country. Think about kids who lost a parent to an opioid overdose. Think about families, like mine, who can’t afford groceries when they go up by 30%. Think about families that are struggling because the mom and the dad can’t get a good job because Kamala Harris would rather build the Chinese middle class than the American middle class. Those people could be doing so much better, and they will, so long as Donald Trump becomes President.

(14:29)
My final comment I’ll say is it says on our national currency, “In God We Trust.” That is the motto of the United States of America. I believe that God calls us to hope and not to despair, and I really do hope for this country and believe that this country’s best days are ahead of it. But the most important thing that we can do to give people all across the country hope is to get them a government that actually works for American citizens, and that’s by electing Donald J. Trump President of the United States. Thank you all and God bless you. Appreciate it. What I’d like to do here, what I’d like to do is start with the local reporters, and then if we have questions from national reporters afterwards, then I’ll call on you too. If you’re a local news outlet, if you’d throw your hand in the air and I’ll try to call on you. Sir, right there.

Hi. Daniel Gomez, WEAU 13 Eastern Eau Claire. We just talked about the border and everything, and talked about addiction. Here in Eau Claire, earlier, five months ago, we lost two hospitals including an addiction resource center-

Great question.

…as well. And as you know, Eau Claire County voted blue in the 2020 election voting for Biden. What can you tell Wisconsinites here in Eau Claire County and western Wisconsin, who are battling addiction, who are battling these sort of things with such limited resources, what can you tell them to help us see your way and see that you guys are the rightful choice here? Even just without even mentioning the border, because we’re far away from the Mexican border, but what can you do for Wisconsinites up here in the upper Northwest?

We are far away from the Mexican border, of course, but we’re not far away from the fentanyl that Mexican drug cartels bring into communities like Eau Claire. And that’s why I talk about it. Every state is now a border state because every state is affected by the problems.

(16:17)
But particularly on this question about hospitals and how do we actually reinvigorate hospitals in some of our small towns and more rural areas in our country, I think there are two answers to this question. One goes directly to the immigration problem and one doesn’t. Look, first of all, we need to actually invest in our hospital system. Since Obamacare was passed, we’ve seen a lot of rural hospitals, hospitals in small towns close down. You cannot have a good healthcare system. You’re never going to help people beat addiction if they’ve got to drive 90 minutes to the closest hospital. We’ve got to preserve the rural healthcare infrastructure that exists in this country.

(16:52)
And this is where the illegal immigration issue bears on it directly, because we know that Kamala Harris wants to give healthcare benefits, sometimes Medicaid, sometimes Medicare to illegal aliens. We also know that when illegal aliens come in, they have to be housed in the jail sometimes, or they have to be housed somewhere else if they’re not committing crimes, that costs local taxpayer money. We know they have to be fed, that costs local taxpayer monies. We know that they have to be provided shelter, right? That costs money.

(17:20)
And you combine all those things, those are tax dollars that are not going to build out our rural hospital infrastructure and support our hospitals. They’re going to people who shouldn’t be here. Maybe they’re good people, but they shouldn’t be here. And we’ve got to put the interest of our citizens first. That starts with prioritizing things like hospitals, medical services, food and shelter, that stuff. I want us to be a generous country, and I know Donald Trump wants us to be a generous country, but that generosity starts with investing in American citizens and people who have the right to be here. Sir?

Senator, I don’t know if you saw, but there’s a poll from Marquette University that came out earlier today. It shows a virtual tie between former President Trump and Vice President Harris. There’s an old saying in politics that what can swing undecided voters in a place like Wisconsin is whether you seem like somebody they would like to have a beer with, why would people in Wisconsin want to have a beer with you?

I guess they’d want to have a beer with me because I actually do like to drink beer, and I probably like to drink beer a little bit too much, but that’s okay. I’m sure the media won’t give me too much crap over that. But look, the reason I’m doing this and the reason I think Donald Trump is doing this, and I think the media often slanders him, but I’ve never met a guy who likes normal people more than Donald Trump. I’ve never met a guy who, when he’s got a big decision to make, he will solicit feedback from every single person all over the country.

(18:45)
It’s funny, when he was actually thinking about who was going to be his vice presidential running mate, I met with him actually the morning of the attempted assassination, I believe it was Saturday morning. And he said, “you know, JD, everybody’s asking me what I am going to do for VP, and I’m asking everybody.” He said, “in fact, this morning I talked to the gardener at Mar-a-Lago.” And I said, “sir, what did the Mar-a-Lago gardener say,” right? This bears directly on my life. I’m very curious here.

(19:08)
And look, I’m very much the same way. I like the people of this country. I like people who work hard and play by the rules. I like people who just want to take their kids to a ball game or invest in their community or spend a little time watching TV and the things that actually make this country work, they do it. And they do it right here in this factory. And the people behind me do it every single day. And I think that, to lead this country, you should feel some gratitude for it, and you should feel some admiration for the people who actually make the country run.

(19:42)
And I will say it, sometimes I hear Kamala Harris and she talks about the history of this country, and she likes to put it down a little bit. I don’t know that she actually admires the people who work in this factory. I hope that she does, but I don’t really see that gratitude, I don’t really hear that gratitude when she speaks. I certainly do. And I think that that’s one of the reasons why I’d make a good Vice President,

… is because I actually care about the people standing behind me, and I think they feel like I care for them, and I think they care for me too. Remember local, start local. Ma’am, in the red. Thank you.

[inaudible 00:20:15]. Govender Walz has said that he cannot wait to debate you. Your reaction to that, and is there one issue that you would really like to debate him on?

Minneapolis here, we’re trying to focus on Wisconsin, but I’m sure your reach, I guess, spreads across the border. So I’m going to answer the question. Look, I want to debate Governor Walz, nothing to do with Governor Walz, but because the American people deserve to see the people who want to be their vice president stand before them and try to persuade them. And it’s one of the things that’s really frustrated me about Kamala’s campaign is that she seems totally uninterested in actually talking to American voters and persuading them. If there’s a single issue around which I think Governor Walz has to answer when it comes to his record, this is a guy who says that he stands for public safety, but actively encourage the riotous who have burned down Minneapolis. And I think that if you want to say you stand for public safety, you cannot look the American people in the eye and say, “Well, I welcome the people who cause $13 billion of damage to Minneapolis because I encourage them to burn my city to the ground rather than exercise some basic self-control, and rather encourage law enforcement to do what they can do and keep us all safe.” I’m scandalized by this guy pretending that he stands for working people. Working people need to live in communities with public safety. Working people need to be able to build a business and know that some hoodlum isn’t going to come along and burn it to the ground because of a political issue. Working people need the police to be supported in their communities and Governor Walz has been a total failure on all those things.

I am local.

Great. Thank you.

Do you believe elections in Wisconsin are conducted fairly and securely? Obviously your running mate had some issues with that in the last election.

Well, one of the things that Wisconsin did very poorly in the 2020 election is that it actually allowed a lot of big tech billionaires to spend a lot of money. I think putting influence on local boards of election, and as I understand it, Wisconsin has actually stopped that, and kudos to Wisconsin for stopping that because that’s ridiculous. You cannot have private billionaires who own social media companies buying up public boards of elections, influent public boards of elections. And again, as I understand it, that stops. So I see a lot of reason to be optimistic about the election of Wisconsin.

(22:23)
Of course, President Trump and I want there to be a free and fair election because we want every legal vote to count. That’s the hallmark of America’s, Constitutional Republic is that everybody’s vote has to count, but for everybody’s vote to count, everything has to be safe and secure. I feel a lot of confidence about Wisconsin, but certainly as a campaign, we’re going to continue to monitor things. We’re going to continue to make sure that people are doing things the right way. And I think the voters of Wisconsin should have some confidence that the Trump campaign is on top of this stuff and focused on this stuff. And we think we’re going to have a great election in Wisconsin, and I think we’re going to win. Sir.

[inaudible 00:22:55] Eau Claire, as you know, Kamala Harris is also speaking in Eau Claire right now with her new running mate, Tim Walz. Why did you choose to speak here in Eau Claire today the same time as Harris?

Well, we wanted to make sure there was a contrast in part because the media has been so dishonest about Kamala Harris’s record, and in part because they refused to ask her questions, we wanted to make sure that there was at least somebody out there providing an alternative story. We have to remember, President Trump delivered a closed border and rising wages. What has Kamala Harris delivered? A promise to defund the police, a promise to ban fracking and offshore drilling, a promise to destroy the American energy sector, a promise to increase the prices of the goods that the American people rely on. She has not been a good vice president for the American people, and I don’t think she deserves a promotion. I think she deserves to be fired, and that’s what we’re here talking to people about because the media needs to tell the other side of the story. And unfortunately, I think unless you have somebody here, they’re not going to do that. Ma’am.

We’ve heard a lot from Democrats using the word weird, calling you weird, calling former President Trump weird. What do you make of that weird argument?

I think that the weird argument honestly came from a bunch of 24-year-old social media interns who were bullied in school, and they decided they’re going to project that onto the entire Trump campaign. And the reason it doesn’t make sense is because you ask who’s weird, right? I think it’s pretty weird to be the border czar and to open up the border and allow Fentanyl to come into your community. I think it’s pretty weird to try to take children away from their parents if the parents don’t want to consent to sex changes. That’s something that Tim Walz did. I think it’s pretty weird to want to defund the police. I think it’s pretty weird to pretend that you’re a tough on crime prosecutor even though you pursued the policies that made San Francisco such a disaster when it comes to crime and public safety. So if they want to call me weird, look, I’ve got my wife here. I’ve got three beautiful kids at home. I’m a normal guy who wants to live the American dream, and wants all of you and your kids to be able to live the American dream. That’s why I’m in it. If those people want to call me weird, I think it’s a badge of honor. Ma’am.

Hope with Wisconsin Public Radio. Farmers in Wisconsin and other agricultural states are increasingly relying on foreign guest workers for seasonal labor. How does your immigration policy accommodate or address that need?

Well, look, I think that the reason why we have an economy that is more and more reliant on guest workers and frankly not just guest workers, but also a lot of illegal labor is because the Harris administration has invited in 20 million people to be here illegally. When I talk to farmers, they don’t want to hire illegal aliens. They would actually like to hire American workers and people who are lawful residents, but you cannot have a system that works for American farmers when you have 20 million people coming in here illegally. And by the way, a lot of them are competing with Wisconsin workers and Wisconsin people for jobs, driving down wages, making it harder for Wisconsinites to live the American dream.

(25:49)
That is a scandal and that is a disgrace. The thing I really believe about our farmers is they need access to big markets. They want to export food all over the world, and that’s the way to build food security for the American people is to allow our farmers to export all over the world. For the first time, basically in the history of this country, we are now a net importer of food. That means we no longer have the food security that America had for over 200 years. I’d like Wisconsin farmers and American farmers to get back to being the bulwark of the entire world food supply because it means America’s food supply is safe, and that’s what the Kamala Harris administration has destroyed.

Hi, Kelly Milan, Spectrum News. Mr. Vance, recently you, after being picked for VP, you said, “My attitude is it doesn’t really matter as much as this hits my ego.” And then Trump recently said, it makes no difference. Do you think it matters that Harris chose Walz and why?

I think it matters about what it says about her, right? And I think that when President Trump selected me, what he was saying is, “I want somebody who’s going to fight for workers. I want somebody who’s going to push back against the Chinese efforts to build the American middle class on the tops of the,” excuse me, “he’s going to push back against the Chinese effort to build the Chinese middle class on the back of the American middle class. And I want somebody who’s going to push back against this crazy border policy of Kamala Harris.” What does Kamala Harris’s selection of Tim Walz say about her? Well, I think it says, one, she’s leaning into the defund, the police radicalism of the last few years. Two, she’s leaning into the open borders policies of the last few years.

(27:23)
This is a guy, Tim Walz, who wanted to give driver’s licenses to illegal aliens facilitating the flow of illegal immigration instead of stopping it. And then the final point that I’d say is it says that she bent the knee to the Hamas caucus of the Democrat Party. Whatever your views on Pennsylvania Governor, Josh Shapiro, and obviously he’s not in my political party. He’s criticized me. I criticized him. The amount of rage that you heard from the far left saying, “Kamala Harris can’t pick this guy because he’s Jewish,” is disgraceful. I want my kids to grow up in a country where they can be whatever they want to be, and people aren’t attacking them for their ethnic heritage, and that’s somehow considered acceptable. It’s not just that they said it was acceptable. It’s not just what these people said about Shapiro, it’s the way that the Harris administration and the Harris campaign refused to push back against it. I think it’s a real scandal.

Trump has denounced Project 2025 in its entirety. Is that something that you completely agree with that Project 2025 and the policy proposals with everything, every part of it? Do you disagree with all of it?

Well, I think what President Trump said is that Project 2025 does not represent the agenda of the Trump campaign, and it doesn’t. Donald Trump represents the agenda of the Trump campaign. He’s a very smart guy. He already had a lot of good public policies. He speaks for himself, and I think what’s made the president so mad about the conversation around Project 2025, is anybody saying that an outside group… my understanding is it’s a bunch of white papers. It’s almost a thousand pages long. No one speaks for Donald Trump. Not a thousand pages of white papers. Not a conservative nonprofit. Not anybody except for the Trump campaign and Donald Trump. Sir.

Yeah, Matt, Leader Telegram based out of Eau Claire. Speaking a little bit more on Project 2025, Wisconsin Democrats worry that Project 2025 will have negative impacts in rural communities like here in Eau Claire with him stating that the project 2025 has plans to cut federal loan programs for small farmers. How do you combat this claim?

Well, look, I combat the claim by repeating what I just said, which is that Project 2025 is not Donald Trump’s agenda. Donald Trump’s agenda is his agenda, and he speaks for himself. And the Trump agenda from 2017 to 2021 was awfully good for farmers in Wisconsin and everywhere else. This was a guy who fought for Wisconsin farmers to have access to global markets. This is a guy who was willing to fight back against some of the trade practices of other countries that were bad for Wisconsin farmers. This is a guy, Donald Trump, who supported an American energy policy that made it possible for farmers to get the fuel and the fertilizer they needed. His agenda was great for American farmers, and

… and again, he speaks for himself. We’re going to do the same thing when we get reelected. We’re going to make American farmers wealthy and prosperous again, and we’re going to do it by Donald Trump doing exactly what Donald Trump wants to do, not any organization that pretends to speak for him, but doesn’t.

Senator Vance?

Yeah.

Two quick questions for you. Circling back on the debate, we know that Kamala Harris, when she was VP, agreed to a debate early August the 13th with CBS. That was before Biden dropped out. Now he’s out. We have a new VP pick. Can you give us any guidance on when and where that debate would happen?

(30:30)
And then secondly, the weird thing keeps coming up. I know you said that was interns. The first time we heard it on cable news was with Walz. He took that insult all the way to the Democrat ticket, clearly convincing Democrats of these claims. What are you going to do to combat the independent voters and prevent them from saying that you’re weird?

Yeah. So August 13th, what is the date today? August-

7th.

7th? Okay. So here’s my offer to Kamala Harris. If she’d like to do a debate with me on August 13th, I’ll do it. Right? We should do that, right? I don’t think she wants to anymore, because one, she probably doesn’t even know that she’s going to be the Democratic nominee. And two… Two, we don’t know who the vice presidential nominee is going to be either. He’s got a lot of skeletons that are coming out of the closet today, and we’ll see if the Democrats pull a bait and switch on Tim Walz or on Kamala Harris just like they did with Joe Biden. But look, if Kamala Harris wants to honor her commitment and debate on August 13th, let’s do it. I’m all game.

(31:27)
Now, the second thing I’ll say is, look, what Democrats use to attack Republicans, they’re going to attack us on something. They’re going to criticize us on something. I think that what makes Donald Trump and I good candidates and a good team is that we’re normal guys who want to make this country great again and we want Americans to be able to live the American dream.

(31:45)
I really do think that whatever Tim Walz calls me… I mean, talk about weird with Tim Walz. I don’t know if you guys saw the rally yesterday, but afterwards, his wife comes up to him and Tim Walz does what any normal Midwestern guy would do seeing his beautiful wife on stage after a speech, he gives her a firm handshake, right? That’s pretty weird. That’s pretty weird. When I see my wife after a speech, I give her a hug and a kiss because I’m excited to see her and she’s my wife. These people have no leg to stand on, and I think what’s going to happen is they’re going to try to call us weird for the next 93 days. And what’s going to happen is the American people aren’t going to care about it because they don’t care about some tagline written by a social media intern. They care about which president and which vice president is going to make their country better and their lives more safe and more secure. That’s Donald Trump and I, and I’m proud to carry that message forward for the next 93 days.

(32:36)
Ma’am?

NBC Minneapolis. Can you please paint a picture of the future? Grievances aside, what is your winning message?

Oh, I think it’s a great future. I mean, our picture for the future, President Trump and I’s vision for the future is that if you work hard and play by the rules, whether you went to college, whether you went to law school, or whether you just graduated from high school, you can go and work in a job that’s proud, that’s meaningful, that pays you a good wage and allows you to start a family.

(33:04)
It’s about housing prices that are low enough that whatever your background, again, so long as you’re working hard, you’re able to buy a nice home to raise your family in. It’s about going to the grocery store and being able to afford a nice steak and not having to cut back because Kamala Harris has driven the price of groceries through the roof. And it’s about whether you’re poor or rich or in the middle, being able to send your kids off to the playground without being worried that they’re going to be harmed or they’re going to come across a drug that’s going to take their life.

(33:31)
I think it’s a basic and very simple vision of the American dream that you work hard and you play by the rules, you get a good home, you get a nice house, you get a secure family, and you get a good job. And that’s all we really want. It’s crazy to say a lot of Americans feel like that slipping away. And it’s a very, very heartbreaking thing.

(33:49)
I know certainly in the hometown that I grew up in, a lot of Americans felt like that was slipping away, because look, we pursued policies that destroyed thousands of good manufacturing jobs. That’s just in my hometown. Millions of good manufacturing jobs all across our country.

(34:02)
The Kamala Harris economy is that you have to go to the college she says you have to go to and incur hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of debt to be able to support a family in this country. I think that’s a disgrace, and President Trump and I want something better for the American people.

(34:17)
Any more locals? You already asked one, ma’am.

(34:21)
Yep?

I’m not a local. [inaudible 00:34:22].

Oh, it’s okay. Any more locals? Sir, in the back.

I’m from the La Crosse Tribune and Chippewa Herald, and on the topic of manufacturing, the Biden administration has kind of come after Trump for the Foxconn project here not fully delivering. So I wonder if you have any comment on that or how you guys plan to deliver manufacturing for Wisconsinites.

Well, look, I think it’s quite simple. Obviously, not every facility is going to work out perfectly, but if you look at the Trump manufacturing agenda, you saw manufacturing coming back to this country in a very, very big way. And it’s a long-term project. You’re not going to solve every problem overnight. But what you have to do is, number one, you have to be able to put tariffs or be willing to put tariffs on Chinese goods. They’re trying to undercut American wages with slave labor and bring in a lot of cheap products. We have to be willing to say, “If you want access to American markets, you got to treat your employees fairly, and we prefer that people make things with American labor.” That’s leg number one.

(35:15)
Leg number two is you’ve got to have an energy and a regulatory policy that allows people to make things in this country at a reasonable price. This is the biggest problem with Kamala Harris’s policies, is energy is too expensive, oil is too expensive. Everything is too expensive, which makes it hard to manufacture and build things in the United States of America. The Donald Trump agenda is drill, baby, drill. Get this stuff out of the ground with American workers, get it out of American territory, and drive down the cost of manufacturing so we can make more things in this country and stamp more products made in the USA.

(35:48)
I’ll do one more question here. Any more locals? Sir. Thank you.

[inaudible 00:35:55]. What’s your relationship with President Trump? And are there any policies that you guys disagree on?

Look, President Trump and I are very good friends. We spoke twice yesterday actually. What really unites us is a love of this country and a belief that if we had smarter policies, people could live more safe, more secure, and more prosperous lives, and we’re extremely united on that.

(36:21)
Now, of course, we’re not going to agree on every single issue, but I see my role as the vice presidential candidate to offer counsel in private. But fundamentally as the VP nominee, he won the nomination and I didn’t, and my goal is to support his agenda and get him elected next president of the United States because I believe that if we do, whether I was on this ticket or not, I believe fundamentally that the people I care about, the people who built this country, their lives are going to be better if Donald Trump is our next president and their lives are going to be worse if Kamala Harris is our next president. That vision unites me in President Trump. And yeah, he’s got a great sense of humor. And yeah, we tell a lot of jokes with each other, but fundamentally, we’re united on taking this country back and making sure people are able to live good lives in this wonderful country that all of us love.

(37:04)
And with that, I want to just say a note of gratitude for all of you standing back here. I know it’s a little toasty today. And you guys probably don’t care about me [inaudible 00:37:13] with the media here, but I appreciate you guys being here.

(37:15)
I’ll just say, look, I love what you guys are doing. I love building things and making things in the United States of America. I want it to be easier to build this kind of business, to work in this kind of company, and we’re going to pursue policies that make that possible every single day. God bless you guys for what you do, and thank you. See y’all.

[inaudible 00:37:50]