President Donald Trump spoke at a rally in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, on Friday evening, focusing on affordability and his efforts to reduce costs. He cited recent agreements reached with large drug companies to lower prices and argued that these efforts should secure Republican victories in the midterm elections.
“We’re here tonight to celebrate 11 incredible months. It’s been the most successful first year of any president in the history of our country,” Trump said as he opened his speech.
“Your drugs are coming down at levels that nobody ever thought was possible. This achievement alone should win us the midterms.”
With the latest announcement, Trump’s push for most-favored-nation pricing has now brought 14 of the 17 largest drug manufacturers into the initiative.
“This is the biggest thing to happen in medicine, I think, since the founding of our country,” Trump said.
The president recently launched a year-long nationwide tour to talk directly to Americans about the ongoing affordability problem and gave his first speech in Pennsylvania on Dec. 9. The move came after Democrats outperformed expectations in recent off-year elections, fueled largely by voter frustration over high living costs.
“We now have the lowest core inflation since March of 2021, and we’re just getting started,” Trump told his supporters in Rocky Mount.
Trump reiterated his criticism of the previous administration regarding affordability.
“You talk about affordability. You know, the Democrats—they’re the ones that got us into the mess. They’re the ones that caused the high prices.”
“Gasoline is now substantially lower than $2.50 a gallon, and many, many places now are under $2 a gallon,” Trump said. “We’re delivering lower prices and bigger paychecks.”
He also promised to lower electricity prices, which have gone up substantially across the country this year.
“Within the next 12 months, we will have opened 1,600 new electrical generating plants. That’s a record all time,” the president said. “Electricity prices will fall very dramatically.”
Trump highlighted his other policies, including border protection, banning transgender athletes from women’s sports, and new trade deals.
He said the higher tariffs he introduced this year will protect North Carolina’s furniture industry, which has been “decimated” by imports from China.
“You lost the business. It went to China and other places,” Trump said. “It’s all coming back.”
North Carolina is the only battleground state that Trump won in all three elections.
Before concluding his speech, Trump paid tribute to Nascar legend Greg Biffle, who, along with his family and three others, died in a plane crash at Statesville Regional Airport in North Carolina.
“What a tragedy,” Trump said. “North Carolina will never forget them.”
