[Audience chants "USA"] USA. What a nice group? Look at them all coming back now. They were way out at that fence and they're coming back. They're running. Don't fall, please, nobody. We had an administration that fell a lot and we don't want to have that. We don't want to have any of that. Well, I'm delighted to welcome to the White House, the thousands of proud American patriots.
And that's what you are, you're patriots. We've never done this before. You know that right? This is a first. They didn't do it. The previous administration wouldn't have thought of doing it, but we're going to do it for four more years. I don't know, maybe eight more years, I don't know. But we love you all.
You're really amazing, successful people all. And you just gave your heart and your soul, and we won every swing state. We won the popular vote by millions. We won everything you can win. And now we have a successful country. Doesn't it feel different? Different, so different. So many people say, go away.
And all over the world, they say it feels different. The whole world feels different. So it's an honor. It's a great honor, believe me, and we should all be happy about it because we're bringing it back like nobody would have thought possible. The event has -- and I just told you it was really the brainchild of a few of the people that happened to be in the audience.
I won't bother to embarrass them by introducing them. They don't need that, but they just had this idea and I loved it immediately upon hearing it. But this is the largest crowd so far that we can imagine to be on this lawn in many, many years. This is a big crowd. There's a lot of people and this is all a group of people that love what we're doing.
They love MAGA, Make America Great Again, and that's what we're doing. So I want to thank you all and very particularly, you have some good food there. I know a certain place serves our food and I think you're liking it. I like it, but I think you're liking it a lot. I want to express my gratitude to just about all of my members in the cabinet who are here.
They are here in great numbers. I didn't know what they were saying. They said, I'll see you tonight, I'll see you tonight and I've been so busy between Iran, Russia, China and every other problem that we were left, that I'm saying what the hell is happening tonight? And then I said, I'm seeing a lot of thousands of my friends tonight, but I want to thank the members of the cabinet in particular.
They've been unbelievable. We have a great cabinet. You see the results every single day. Let me also give a big round of applause and welcome to our new White House interns. This is the very first day on their job, really great. Julian Nicklaus. Where's Julian? Where are you, Julian? Are you out there someplace?
I think so. Where is Julian? Where? Oh, look at him. Oh, is that -- wow, good. You ever hear of the great Jack Nicklaus? This is his grandson, right? I immediately said, get him on board because he's got great genes. You can't get better than that. And you know, especially so your grandmother, OK, Barbara, who's fantastic.
So good luck, you're going to do very well. Thank you, Julian, very good. Say hello. I wish I could play golf like Jack Nicklaus, it just didn't work out that way. But six months ago we had a nation that was as cold as ice. It was cold. The whole world was laughing at us and they're not laughing anymore, that I can tell you.
Now, because of the people here tonight, we have the hottest, most talked about country anywhere in the world. I went to the Middle East. We went to Qatar, Saudi Arabia. We went to UAE. We went to three stops. We brought back $5.1 trillion. Think of that, $5.1 trillion. They ordered massive amounts of military equipment, regular equipment, 200 Boeing aircraft and we got one for free, for the nation.
You've been hearing that. The United States Air Force got one for free. I say, I'd like one because we need it as Air Force One until the other ones are done. And they said we would be pleased to give you, so they gave us a Boeing 747 for the United States Air Force and every -- it's just incredible. The press picked it up and they said, he got a plane.
I didn't get a plane, they got a plane, but that's the way it is. You're going to get to know, as you deal with the fake news, and then eventually you'll get to love them, maybe. I doubt it. Actually, I doubt it. But I want to just tell you, some of the numbers that just came out, Rasmussen, a majority of Americans now believe our country is on the right track for the first time in 28 years.
Think of that, first time in 28 years. That's something. And think of the achievement and that we did that in four months. We haven't been here long, four months and we're going to do a lot better than that. But who would think that for 28 years they thought we were on the wrong track? Because I know one thing, that four years ago during our term, we were on the right track.
We were doing a great job and we had one of the most successful -- that was one of the most successful terms ever. Then we had a little problem where they rigged an election and then we came back. And this is a bigger, better, stronger than ever before. This one is far bigger than it would have been. This is really something, what's happened.
We've created over half a million new jobs in a short period of time, secured nearly $15 billion, new dollars, new investments that are going into our country. And if you notice the inflation report came out this morning, we're at about two percent inflation. Can you believe it? And very importantly, because the people were devastated, the last administration, in my opinion, the most unsuccessful administration maybe in the history of our country, grocery prices went through the roof, while grocery prices now are down.
You remember, they were talking about eggs. My first week in office, the press was screaming about eggs, eggs have gone up 287 percent. I said, I'm sorry, I just got here. And the eggs went up. Now the eggs are down at the same price they were. We got them all the way down and we had -- three weeks ago for Easter, we had an egg hunt, an egg roll, they called it. And they said, sir, could you order -- a couple of months ago, could you order plastic eggs?
I said, we're not ordering plastic eggs. And by the time we had the event, eggs were all the way down. But think of it, grocery prices are down, gasoline prices are down and they were down just in time $1 -- we had numerous states $1.98 a gallon, just in time for Memorial Day weekend. How about that, good timing.
You know, this all endures to you because you're all with us. This is a family. This is really a family. So when I do good, you do good. When we do good, we do good together and that's the way I want it. Incomes the soaring and in April we achieved the largest drop in consumer prices, the largest increase in consumer confidence, both of them in many, many years.
In one case, we've never had such a drop. It's never been like this. We've never had this kind of success. I just hope it keeps going. You know, you do need a little luck too. You know that. And sometimes you need a little prayer, maybe all the time, we need a little bit of a prayer, but we're going to keep it going.
In a single month, we also cut the trade deficit in half by 50 percent. Do you believe that one? You don't hear that too much on the news. They don't like to tell you those things. In a matter of weeks, we slashed the number of illegal border crossings released into the United States down to practically nothing.
Three people got in, three. We had hundreds of thousands and three people equates to 99.999 percent. How is that, good? I couldn't reach 100 percent, I'm sorry. And of the three people I have to tell you, two of them were a medical emergencies, OK. So I'm going to say one person got in. That was a piece of work, I guess.
I'd like to meet that guy. I'd like to meet the guy that got in. Peacetime enlistment numbers, this is something we're all really proud of. It's a big deal. Peacetime enlistment numbers for every branch of our military, every single branch are at the highest levels in modern history and seven months ago -- and seven months ago, we had the worst recruit -- Think of this, this is done in six or seven months.
Seven months ago, we had the worst numbers in recorded history. Nobody wanted to join the Army, Air Force, Navy, Marines, Coast Guard. Nobody wanted -- or our police, our police are likewise, through the roof. Six or seven months ago, they couldn't fill a position. You couldn't fill it in the military. Now it's hot as a pistol.
We have the best numbers -- think of that, the best numbers in a short period of time in modern history. And that's something I'm very proud of. And that's because the people of our country, you love our country, you were devastated to see what was happening. And now you're thrilled to see what's happening because we have a hot one and we love it. We've achieved more in four months than most administrations have achieved in four years or eight years.
And none of this would have been possible without you. You're the ones that are really doing it. You're the ones that are making it happen. You really are. And someday, one of you, maybe two of you or three of you will be standing right here saying very similar words. I hope you're saying similar words, but that's a real possibility because there really is this greatness in this crowd.
There's greatness. You might not even know that, but there's greatness in this crowd. The caliber of talent we've assembled is unparalleled. This is really the strongest, most talented team that we've had, and I think that this government has had in a long time and maybe ever. I really think this could be the best team.
We worked hard on it and just. In just 135 days, we've hired over 3,200 patriots to deliver on the mandate that we received in November. November 5th, we want to go down as one of the most important days in the history of our country. That's Election Day. We are going to make it the most important day and as of tonight, we filled 91 percent of our political appointments.
And I will tell you, we have a waiting list, likewise, we have a waiting list of people that want to come over, work here with you, work in the White House. Every single department, every single agency has a waiting list of people that want to come in and be with us. The Department of Veteran Affairs has achieved already 100 percent staffing, all with people that we want, really great people.
The Department of Defense, Commerce and Treasury is over 90 percent of the political hires. They're complete. It's a record at this time. So early. And the departments of Homeland Security, Health and Human Services, Labor, are all over and up to about 95 percent already. So that's incredible. I want to thank the great chief of staff, most powerful woman anywhere in the world, they say.
She got the most powerful woman in the world. One phone call and a group of people, I better not say it. I was going to say, one phone call in a country is wiped out, but we're not going to say that because we're a peace-loving nation. We are a peace-loving nation. Susie Wiles, where are you Susie? There she is. No, she's great.
And Sergio, thank you for the great job that you did. I appreciate it, Sergio. Sergio Gore. They have done a really amazing job. Susie, I'll tell you what, she's the first woman chief of staff in the history of our country and I'm surprised to hear that. And I watch those men and she watches over them, and if they get a little bit out of line, they may be big shots defense, they may be at commerce, they may be the biggest -- they're scared of her.
They're afraid of her. They don't want her coming after them. But no, she's been incredible. First woman chief of staff in the history of our country. Isn't that great? I'm surprised to hear that, actually, but that's the way it is. But most importantly, let me thank all of the appointees for your tireless efforts to deliver our promises and to put very simply, it's very simple words, two words, America first.
It's all about putting America first. And by the way, we're going to help other countries, but first, we have to straighten out our country, don't you think so? And it's not going to take too long. A very special thanks as well to your spouses and children, families and loved ones for the support that you've given us and we're saving our country.
This would have been a country -- we were a country in shambles and now we're a country that is just in love with itself, in love with its people and everybody's talking about it. And it's such an honor to be involved with you and without you, it wouldn't be happening, because together, we've begun the golden age of America.
This is now the golden age of America. It's a beautiful term and a beautiful country and we're going to make our nation safer and stronger and prouder, richer, freer and greater than ever before. And I can give you my word, I'm going to work so hard. We're going to work. We're going to work harder than any President has ever worked.
We have to, because we got off to a rough start. They gave us a very bad hand and we've taken that bad hand and we've turned it into the best hand you can get and you're the reasons why. And I want to thank you. We love you all. Thank you very much, everybody. Have a good time. Don't eat too much. Thank you very much.
Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you.