Remarks: Donald Trump Speaks at the Great American State Fair on the National Mall - June 24, 2026

Well, thank you, Lee, and hello Washington and a very big hello to America. Thank you. And 10 days from now, our country will celebrate one of the most monumental milestones in human history. We will mark 250 years of glorious American freedom. In 1776, our Founding Fathers met in Philadelphia and changed the world forever and ever with a thing called the Declaration of Independence.

They proclaimed the eternal truth that we are endowed by our creator with the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. We're all made, and you know that, free and equal by the hand of Almighty God. Those timeless American principles did not just win a revolution, but they built us into the greatest, strongest, and most exceptional nation the world has ever known.

There has never been anything like the United States of America and together we are making it bigger and better and stronger and far more exceptional than ever before. Today, we have the largest economy on Earth. We have the strongest military on Earth. We have the most powerful technology on Earth. We have the greatest culture on Earth.

And above all, we have the greatest people on Earth. Greatest. Tonight as we stand on the edge of our 250th year of independence, I am thrilled to declare that America is back. As you know very well, a short time ago we were a dead country. We were dead. Now, we're the hottest country anywhere in the world.

We're respected by everybody. Nobody's laughing at us anymore. Two years ago, they were laughing. Now, we're the most respected anywhere. Think of it, anywhere in the world. Where were we two years ago? We weren't respected. We were a joke. We're not a joke anymore. Most powerful country in the world. But just like those patriots of 1776, over the past 17 months, we have taken power back from the far off political class.

They're trying to gain it back, but it's not gonna happen. We have reclaimed our sovereignty, regained our liberty, restored our prosperity, and we have saved our country in all things. We're once again putting a thing called America first. And last week we signed a historic agreement to end the conflict with Iran, fully open the Strait of Hormuz, and accomplish what no president has ever been able to accomplish before.

Iran will never have a nuclear weapon. That's done. And thanks to the power and skill of the United States Armed Forces, today Iran has no Navy, no Air Force, no anti-aircraft capacity, no missile launches, no manufacturing, and their leadership has been obliterated. And for the first time in 3,000 years, we are finally going to have peace in the Middle East.

We're gonna have peace in the Middle East. Since the agreement, the stock market and your 401(k)s are skyrocketing upward. And oil prices are plummeting downward today. It hit a new low and the world is a much safer place. We had to make that little journey to Iran to do what we did. Very soon you'll be at $2.50 a gallon for gasoline.

And even lower than that, just like it was before we took the nuclear weapon away from Iran and it will be away from Iran for a very long time. Forever, really. In my first term, I rebuilt our military and created the greatest economy of the history of the world. We had the greatest economy in history and now we are going to blow that away.

We're doing better, much better than even the first term. America's 250th year is set for an economic boom, the likes of which no nation has ever seen before. No nation has ever been in the place that we are right now. In four long years of the last administration, which was a total disaster, they got less than $1 trillion of new investment in our country.

That's less than one trillion in four years. In my first 11 months, we secured commitments for $19.1 trillion of new investment from all over the globe and they're building factories and plants and they're building everything all over our country. The stock market has set 73 all-time record high since the election and more Americans are working today than at any time in the history of our country.

Thank you. On the 4th of July one year ago, I signed the largest tax cuts in American history, the largest spending cuts in American history and the largest regulation cuts in American history by far. In the American Revolution, they had a saying, "No tax on tea," but with the great Big Beautiful Bill, we did even better.

We gave you no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, and no tax on social security for our great seniors. And we also made interest on auto loans, you go out and buy an automobile, the interest on the loan is fully tax-deductible. Never happened before, but only if the car happens to be made in America, and we're setting records in automobile construction.

Our country is strong again. Our country is wealthy again, and our country is safe again. In January 2025, we inherited the worst, most dangerous, most wide open and insecure border in history and we have quickly turned it into the strongest, most secure border in the history of our country. For the past 13 months, zero illegal aliens have been admitted into the United States.

Zero. We're removing murderers, gang members, drug dealers, and dangerous criminals by the thousands. They came in through a ridiculous open border. I wanna say a very special thanks to all of the men and women who have helped liberate America from this scourge, the heroes of ICE and Border Patrol. You are heroes.

You're our hero. With the help of our law enforcement heroes in 2025, we achieved the largest drop in the murder rate ever recorded to the lowest level in 125 years, that's the year 1900. We cut the flow of fentanyl across our border by 66%. Drugs coming in by ocean or by sea are down 97%. And Washington, DC is now one of the safest, most beautiful cities anywhere in the United States of America.

For many years, our country was ruled by politicians who let America and its capital fall into decline and total disrepair. The city named in honor of General George Washington was turned into a national disgrace, but not anymore. Today, the homeless encampments are gone. The graffiti is gone. Since I took office, more than 50 monuments and memorials have been repaired and beautified.

Dozens of statues have been cleaned and they look so nice. 22 fountains have been fixed. At Union Station, the statue of Christopher Columbus is clean, and fountain, that fountain is flowing and it looks so beautiful. I just looked at it. Coming over, it is so beautiful, that white marble is nice and clean.

There's no more graffiti stains all over it. The water is cascading at Meridian Hill Park. And I am personally, along with Doug and some of my friends, renovating Lafayette Square at the front door of the White House and it's going to be beautiful and opens in a short period of time. And the Reflecting Pool that you've heard so much about which is so incredible, it's been gruesomely vandalized by thugs, bad people, but soon will be looking as beautiful as it looked just two weeks ago.

In fact, I looked at it just a little while ago, it looks perfect already, but we're fixing it. The vandals got to it. They've largely been caught and are being prosecuted. We can't let that happen to our country, can't let that happen. But it looks beautiful. Under the Trump administration, America is once again a nation of self-respect, dignity, and pride.

Under our leadership America will also be a nation that dares to dream and to build again. We want to build again and dream again. The American dream is alive again. That's something that nobody thought they'd be saying when you went through that last four years of incompetence. For the 100th anniversary of our founding in 1876, American completed the Washington Monument and the work began on the Statue of Liberty.

For our 150th year we built Colonial Williamsburg. Remember that Colonial Williamsburg, how beautiful it was. For the 200th year we built the National Air and Space Museum and renovated the United States Capitol. For our 250th anniversary, we are likewise building new monuments to American greatness to serve every future president and First Lady.

We're building the most beautiful ballroom anywhere in the world right at the White House, right at the White House. It's gonna be completed very soon. And just across the bridge in front of Arlington Cemetery, we're building a magnesi- -- really beautiful. This is gonna be something you're gonna like, a totally magnificent triumphal arc to honor the 250-year triumph of the American spirit, American military, and frankly, American competence.

In West Potomac Park, we are creating the National Garden of American Heroes featuring 250 or more statues of the greatest Americans who have ever lived. It's gonna be beautiful. And next week at Freedom Plaza, we will unveil the Spirit of '76 exhibition honoring the heroes and martyrs of the American Revolution.

And remember, 1776, what a time that was, where we've come from there, what a date it is. It's a date like no other date. From Athens to Rome, from London to Paris, from New York to LA, and from all of the other parts of the world, the great civilizations of history did not wallow in aging ruins of the past.

They built new cities, they created new monuments, and they forged towering legacies that still inspire the world after hundreds and even thousands of years. As America turns 250 years, 250 years old, young by comparison to some, but superior to any nation that's ever been built no matter how many years it took.

We are the inheritors of these incredible traditions. We are the ones who are carrying forward the light of Western civilization because this is the very beginning of the golden age of America. We're in the golden age. There's never been an age like this. There's never been an age like this. This anniversary is a time to be proud of our past, but it is also a time to lift our sights, expand our ambitions, and raise our expectations of what America can be. We will leave our children nothing less than the richest inheritance, most advanced civilization, and highest standard of living in human history.

There's never been anything like it. But, with all of that being said, the best is yet to come. Best is yet to come. I'm very pleased to be joined tonight by our great Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson. Mike, thank you. Stand up [Laughs], Mike. He's been great. Attorney General Todd Blanche. Todd, thank you.

Secretary of the Interior who works with me so hard on the monuments and the fountains, he loves it like I do, Doug Burgum. Doug, thank you very much. Secretary of Agriculture, and those prices are tumbling down, they're tumbling down, we inherited a mess, Brooke Rollins. Thank you, Brooke. Secretary of Labor, Keith Sonderling.

Secretary of Transportation, you heard him and he's great, Sean Duffy. Sean, thank you. Our wonderful Secretary of Education, Linda McMahon. Secretary of Homeland Security, Markwayne Mullin from Oklahoma. Acting Director of National Intelligence, Bill Pulte. Thank you, Bill. FBI Director, Kash Patel. CMS administrator, and he's doing a fantastic job, Dr. Mehmet Oz. Ambassador Monica Crowley.

Thank you, Monica. And countless members, so many members of Congress, I will not go over their names, and senators, we appreciate that you're here. This is a very special night. Thank you all very much, the Senate and the House. As you know, over the past few weeks, America has been proudly hosting the 2026 FIFA World Cup and it's setting attendance records and television rating records like never before.

Who would have thought this was going to happen? They would say it's not our primary sport, but it's happening. And I want to just congratulate my friend, FIFA President Gianni Infantino. He's been fantastic to deal with and he's very happy. Everything is a record. It's like having a Super Bowl every day.

And I know everyone joins me in wishing Team USA good luck in their match tomorrow against Turkey in Los Angeles. (laughs) They're doing great. Every day of my administration, we're delivering one historic victory after the next for the American people. We're unleashing American energy dominance and drill, baby, drill.

You remember during the campaign drill, baby, drill? And America is now the largest producer of oil and gas on earth, larger than Russia and Saudi Arabia by far combined. And under my most favored nation agreement on drug prices, we are delivering the largest reduction in drug price history with price differences of 400, 500, and even 600%. Who would think that if you took down a half a percent, somebody said you were a genius, 400, 500, 600, 700, 800%. Nobody's seen anything like it. We had the highest drug prices in the world and now we're going to be having the lowest drug prices in the world.

And you think that was easy. It wasn't. For decades, Americans paid the highest prices. Think of that. There's never been a time where we, when I took this over, the highest prices and now just remember you go to trumprx.gov and you get what you're looking for at prices so much lower that a lot of people don't even believe it's happening.

We passed the largest ever investment in the United States military, more than one trillion dollars and this year all made in the USA, we're going to be asking Pete Hegseth and General Razin Caine and all of us. We're going to -- and by the way, how good is our military? How good is our money? One week, Iran was essentially finished.

In one hour, Venezuela was finished and I guess we have other things in store, but we don't want to get carried away. Recruitment for every branch of our armed forces so importantly is setting records. 18 months ago, we had shortages and now we have waiting lists. We couldn't get people to join the military.

None of them, none of the branches. They were all dying to get people. They couldn't. Then the thing happened on November 5th, it's called a great election victory. And from that moment on, now you can't even get into the military. We have waiting lists to get into the military and to become policemen and to become firemen.

It's really fantastic what's happened. The spirit in this country is like from a different planet from what it was a year and a half ago. In a flawless and breathtaking operation earlier this year, America's Armed Forces captured the outlaw dictator of Venezuela, Nicholas Maduro, and brought him back to face American justice.

One of the great military raids in history, if you remember. And here at home we abolished DEI across the entire federal government. We don't want DEI. And we got critical race theory out of our schools and I signed the largest expansion of school choice and history and we have begun the process of abolishing the Federal Department of Education.

Thank you, Linda. Because we're sending education back to the states where it belongs. We banned the transgender mutilation of children and we made it the official policy of the United States government that there are only two genders, male and female. We got men out of women's sports. We renamed the Gulf of Mexico after 350 years.

They are 100 years older than we are. We named the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America and restored the name of a great president, William McKinley, to Mount McKinley where it belonged. And tonight right here on the National Mall, we are beginning the most unforgettable birthday party any country has ever seen.

Oh, you're gonna have a good time. You're gonna have a good time. This evening, it's my honor to officially kick off the celebration with the great American State Fair. It's gonna be great. It's gonna be unbelievable. So from today through July 10th, this event will showcase all 56 states and territories.

There will be no military flyovers and I wanna tell you something because they're gonna be beyond flyovers. There'll be something like you've never seen. You get just a little, little tiny glimpse of it tonight. By the way, how good is our Air Force? How good is our -- nobody's ever seen -- those planes, they are serious planes.

When the bad guys see those planes come, they say, "We give up." But we're gonna have special performances, patriotic music, high-tech demonstrations, unique exhibitions, a FIFA fan zone, which is great and it really has been big stuff and even an old-fashioned rodeo. I love rodeo. I don't know how they do it. I don't know how they do it. Then on July 4th, we will have the greatest show of all on the National Mall.

Your favorite president will be speaking. So please show up because if we have two empty seats, you know what's gonna happen? The fake news is gonna say, "He didn't fill out the arena." Now I'll be speaking, I'll be very proudly speaking as we ring in our 250th year with the largest fireworks display in world history, 10 times larger than any that we've ever done in Washington or in the United States.

So if you like fireworks -- then in August, we're going to have what's called the Patriot Games, a first of its kind competition featuring the greatest high school athletes from all across the United States and applications are open through July 10th. These are the best athletes in the country, young athletes.

And soon thereafter, we'll have a Freedom 250 Grand Prix right here in Washington around the Capitol. That's the great Roger Penske. Roger Penske, it's gonna be an Indy race that they've been trying to get. He said, "We've been trying to get it for 29 years. We came to Washington over 200 times. And with you as president, we came here half an hour and it was done." So we're gonna have Indy wrapping around the capitol down Pennsylvania Avenue.

It's gonna be amazing. It's in August. In conclusion, 250 years ago, a new nation was founded by farmers and soldiers, shopkeepers, and tradesmen who stood strong to defend their rights, their families, and their freedom from tyranny across the sea, from every city and town, from the mountains and valleys, from the backwoods and rocky shores.

They came by the thousands to fill the ranks of American patriots and enlist their lives in the righteous cause of independence. That's what they did. This exceptional nation was forged and won by some of the bravest, toughest, strongest, most extraordinary people ever to stride the earth. Together, we stand on the shoulders of incomparable heroes such as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Abraham Lincoln, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, John Paul Jones, John Hancock at Lexington and Concord, Brooklyn and Saratoga, Trenton and Yorktown.

And at Independence Hall in Philadelphia, these real life legends and American icons poured out their blood, sweat, and tears and risked everything they had to purchase and to live the most priceless and glorious inheritance of any people ever to be on this earth. They all lived by the oath that Patrick Henry made immortal, "Give me liberty or give me death." For 250 years, every generation of Americans have taken up the same call to freedom from the storied alleys of Boston to the streets of Philadelphia, from the golden fields of Michigan, to the gleaming shores of California and from Texas to Florida, to right here in now beautiful and extremely safe Washington, D.C. Our American ances- -- our American ancestors fought and won the most vicious battles.

They explored and settled the most dangerous frontiers and let no challenge ever break their spirit or their pride. They were proud to be Americans. They love our country. They look down on us now. They love our people. Americans crossed the Great Plains, scaled the mighty Rockies, tamed the Wild West and turned this continent into industrial powerhouses like nobody has ever seen.

We laid down the railroads, raised up the skyscrapers, built the great highways, invented the airplane, won two World Wars, defeated fascism and communism. We're gonna have to do that again. And led humanity into space and we did it all in the span of just 250 years. Now, we are expanding the glory of American freedom into horiz- -- uh, really into a horizon that's never been seen before.

We've never reached so high as we're reaching right now. This is our heritage. This is our history and this is the destiny of America to be the greatest, most incredible country ever to grace the earth. We are on people, one nation, marching into one magnificent future under our great American flag that we love and respect so much.

And tonight, we prepare to enter our 250th year. We are more determined than ever to remember these phrases. You've heard them many times before. We will make America powerful again. We will make America wealthy again. We will make America healthy again. We will make America strong again. We will make America proud again.

We will make America safe again. And we will make America great again. Thank you very much. Happy birthday, America. Thank you. Thank you very much.