Photo of Donald Trump

Remarks at a Rally at Berglund Center in Roanoke, Virginia

September 24, 2016

Thank you. It's wonderful to be here in Virginia, a state where I have so many great friends and wonderful employees.

Tremendous polls keep coming in. A brand new Rasmussen poll has us up 5 points nationwide.

On November 8th, we are going to win this state and we are going to win the White House.

We are going to take on the big donors, and big business, and big media – we are going to take on the rigged system that has shipped America's wealth to other countries.

We are going to replace our failed and corrupt establishment with a new government that serves you, your family, and your country.

My economic agenda can be summed up in three very beautiful words: jobs, jobs, jobs.

We will cut taxes for all working and middle-class households in America.

We will reduce regulations, which will put more money into the hands of our poorest workers and bring thousands of new companies to our shores.

We will unleash American energy, creating millions of new jobs and lowering energy costs. The Obama-Clinton energy restrictions are nothing more than a massive tax on the poor – we will remove those restrictions day one.

We will repeal and replace disastrous Obamacare.

President Obama promised his plan would reduce premiums by $2,500 dollars. Instead, they surged $5,000.

Our replacement plan includes expanded access to Healthcare Savings Accounts, with support for those who need it. It includes allowing Americans to buy health insurance across state lines in all 50 states, creating a dynamic and competitive new market – they will be competing for your business.

We're also going to block grant Medicaid so states can develop innovative solutions to make sure no citizen in poverty ever falls through the cracks. High-risk pools will also help to ensure that those with pre-existing conditions will always get the quality coverage they need.

On trade, we are going to end the international abuse, the foreign cheating, and the one-sided rules that govern NAFTA and the World Trade Organization. Right now, America eliminates its tariffs, but then other countries tax our goods with backdoor tariffs and close their markets.

Our massive, chronic trade deficits are destroying the middle class – and shifting money away from workers to large corporations who have no borders. There's a reason hedge funds and Wall Street are giving tens of millions to my opponent.

Hillary Clinton is the voice for the global special interests.

I am running to be the voice of the forgotten men and women.

My opponent likes to say that for decades, she has been "fighting for women." That she has been "fighting for children."

Why then are 70 million American women and children living in poverty, or on the brink of poverty? Why has she provided no relief for the millions of Americans in search of affordable, reliable quality childcare? You know the old saying, "Watch what I do, not what I say."

At the Trump Organization, and in my campaign for President, women occupy some of the highest positions. I have employed thousands of women in my company. Women of different backgrounds. Women of many talents.

And just last week, joined by my daughter, Ivanka, I laid out my plan for childcare and eldercare. That plan has many great features, including tax-free childcare savings accounts. Low-income parents are given tax credits they can put straight into those accounts, and then get a $500 dollar per child match for those savings accounts deposits.

Families can also deduct the cost of childcare from their taxes, a huge tax cut for the middle class.

We have also talked about improving education. My plan includes school choice for every disadvantaged child in America.

We are also going to bring down the cost of college.

Universities get massive federal funds, and huge tax breaks for their endowments – but then they don't spend those funds or those endowments on their students. I will work with Congress to make sure these special federal benefits are not available unless universities begin to reduce tuition and student debt. This will get to the problem at the source, and reduce both the cost for students and the cost for taxpayers. Our students are drowning and we're going to fix it.

Women also value security. They want a Commander-in-Chief that will defeat radical Islamic terrorism, stop the massive inflow of refugees, protect our borders, and who will reduce the rising crime and violence in our cities.

As I campaign across this country, I hear so many stories and pleas, from women especially, about drug addiction and opioid use. They are doing their best in their communities and for their families to provide a safe and nurturing environment.

But even the best-laid plans cannot always protect our youth, and increasingly, many adults, from the scourge of drugs. We lose thousands of our fellow Americans every year to opioid use. I will stop the drug inflow from our borders. These drugs come over the border and make their way into our urban and rural communities, and into our suburbs.

This must change. Every change starts with a conversation. Together, we will have this conversation. And we will make this change.

The changes will start immediately.

Here, in Virginia, we are going to end the war on American energy. Hillary Clinton says she wants to put the miners out of work. Clinton and Kaine also want to shut down shale, and shut down natural gas. The Clinton regulatory agenda will drive up electricity prices for Virginia families and will cost the U.S. economy over $5 trillion.

By the way, less than a week after taking office, Tim Kaine proposed a $4 billion dollar tax hike in Virginia, including on people earning as little as $17,000 dollars a year.

We are going to open up all sources of American energy and bring jobs, wealth, and cheaper electricity to Virginia.

Another major part of our agenda is safety.

I believe every family in America is entitled to live in safety and peace.

Today, the nation just opened the Smithsonian National Museum of African-American History and Culture. We congratulate and honor those involved with the project, and recognize today the incredible contributions of the African-American community to this nation.

African-Americans have given so much to this nation and sacrificed so much for this nation.

Many African-Americans are succeeding so greatly in our country, and I will make sure their success is protected and supported.

At the same time, too many African-Americans have been left behind and trapped in poverty.

I will fight to make sure every single African-American child in this country is fully included in the American Dream.

That includes the new civil rights issue of our time: School Choice.

Democrats have run the inner cities for half a century or more, and produced only more joblessness and poverty.

The jobs are leaving, the schools are failing, and crime is rising.

To those suffering, I say: Vote for Donald Trump. What do you have to lose? I will fix it. I will fight harder for you than anyone has before.

The policies of Hillary Clinton have brought only suffering in our inner cities – just like her bad judgment overseas unleashed suffering everywhere she went.

Of course, she got rich through it all – the Clintons made another $60 million in gross income while she was Secretary of State.

Worst of all, she put her public office up for sale – and then bleached her emails, and destroyed her phones, to try to cover her tracks following a congressional subpoena.

There's a reason the hedge fund managers are donating to Hillary Clinton's campaign – and not mine. Everybody getting rich off the rigged system, and who wants nothing to change, are throwing their money at Hillary Clinton.

My campaign is powered by my own money, and by small dollar donations from everyday patriotic citizens.

95% of our donors are small dollar donations. Every dollar helps us deliver your country back to you.

Our campaign is about breaking up the special interest monopoly in Washington, D.C. We're trying to disrupt the collusion between the wealthy donors, the large corporations, and the media executives. They're all part of the same political establishment.

They go to the same restaurants, they attend the same conferences, they have the same friends and connections. They all support the same ideology of globalism that makes them rich while shipping your jobs, your factories, and your wealth to other countries.

I am not running to be President of the World. I am running to be President of the United States. I Am For America – and America First.

Together, we will rebuild this country beyond our greatest dreams.

Government will start working again. Fixing things is what I do. Just look at my projects in New York, where I turned rundown spaces into new centers of business, activity and opportunity – where others saw only problems, I saw only potential.

We turned empty lots into homes, offices and living memories for thousands of workers and families.

That's what I want to do for our country – I want to go into the neglected neighborhoods, the failing schools, the forgotten stretches of this nation, and unlock their potential for all of our people.

I've made a living for years looking at unused spaces and imagining what they could be. Politicians look at blighted neighborhoods and offer only excuses – I look at those same neighborhoods and offer solutions.

We spend so much time thinking about how things used to be, we've stopped thinking about how great things could be – all we have to do is tune out the doubters, the cynics, and the naysayers.

We are a nation of strivers, dreamers, and believers – and that's the spirit that will carry us to victory in November, and to great victories as a nation.

It's that same spirit of resilience I have seen visiting the flood-ravaged towns in Louisiana, or meeting with the incredible but hard-hit people in cities and towns like Flint, Michigan.

It used to be the cars were made in Flint, and you couldn't drink the water in Mexico. Today, cars are made in Mexico, and you can't drink the water in Flint. We'll turn it all around.

But that means you need to show up and vote on November 8th.

You have to knock on doors. You have to pick up that phone. Go to our website to learn more. You have to campaign on the streets. Spread the love that we have in this room to the people of our country. To beat the system, you have to lift your voice, pound the pavement, and get out the vote.

You have 44 days until the big vote. You have 44 days to make possible every dream you ever dreamed of for your country.

You have one magnificent chance to deliver justice for every forgotten man, woman, and child in this nation.

The arrogance of Washington, D.C. will soon come face to face with the righteous verdict of the American voter.

This November 8th, we are going to show the whole world that America is Back – Bigger and Better and Stronger than Ever Before.

Here is just some of what will happen starting in January of 2017:

I am going to lower your taxes; eliminate every unnecessary regulation; unleash American energy; end illegal immigration – and yes we will build the wall [Mexico will pay]; save the 2nd amendment, and appoint Justices to the Supreme Court who will uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States.

We will rebuild our roads, bridges, tunnels, highways, airports, schools, and hospitals.

American cars will travel the roads, American planes will soar in the skies, and American ships will patrol the seas.

American steel will send new skyscrapers into the clouds.

And we will put our great miners and steelworkers back to work.

American hands will rebuild this nation – and American energy, harvested from American sources, will power this nation. American workers will be hired to do the job.

We will put new American steel into the spine of this country.

I will fight for every neglected part of this nation – and I will fight to bring us all together as One American People.

Imagine what our country could accomplish if we started working together as One People, under One God, saluting One American Flag.

It is time to break with the bitter failures of the past and to embrace a new, inclusive and prosperous American future.

Hillary Clinton has a 3-word campaign pledge. It reads: "I'm With Her."

I have a different pledge: I'm With You – the American People.

To all of our people, in all of our cities and towns, I say these words to you tonight: I'm with you, I will fight for you, and I will win for you.

Once more, we will have a government of, by and for the people.

We Will Make America Wealthy Again.

We Will Make America Strong Again.

We Will Make America Safe Again.

And We Will Make America Great Again.

Thank you, and God Bless!

NOTE: As prepared for delivery.

Donald J. Trump, Remarks at a Rally at Berglund Center in Roanoke, Virginia Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/319656

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