Rally transcript, Aug 21, 2026 (Donald Trump)

And, Darline, I could use your help, because I want to tell you, I've been protecting it for 10 years, and every time there's an incident, it starts over and over again. I protected your Second Amendment. Nobody else could have protected it like I did. And I worked with John and with Tim Scott—and many others. We had great Republican Senators, in all fairness, on the Second Amendment. But it's not easy. And Darline is going to help us with the Second Amendment, and we need the help.

If you put that other person in, if you put that Democrat in, she will be fighting. Look, it's going to be a vote to get rid of your guns. Can't do it. Can't do it. And I'm not talking about the enjoyment aspect of it, and that's important, but you have to be able to defend yourself against lunatics.

So, in a nutshell, you have to defeat the Democrats and elect Darline Graham. Now, if you don't mind, because you heard her—I was on a plane coming here—could I ask Darline to come up for a second? Do you mind?

Darline, please come up. Thank you.

Thank you. And thank you, Mr. President. Thank you for your endorsement. It has meant the world to me. Thank you for your support. Thank you for coming to South Carolina.

This is MAGA country! Right? Yes! Woo! Absolutely.

And, Mr. President, I want to thank you for that beautiful eulogy you gave at Lindsey's service. That meant the world to me. It was beautiful, y'all, if you didn't hear it. And his friendship with Lindsey meant so much to Lindsey. You were one of his closest friends. I hope you know that. And you will forever be part of the Graham family for that.

And I met with the President a few weeks ago in the Oval Office, and I left that office knowing that he is going to work. He works every single day, all day long, so hard for this country. It is amazing.

And, Mr. President, I am proud to stand with you to work hard for this country and to work for this great State of South Carolina every single day!

You know, Mr. President, Joe Biden just about ruined our country. He opened the borders and let people flood in here, terrorists and illegals. And you saved our country, and I want to thank you for that.

So, again, thank you so much for coming to South Carolina. We love President Trump in South Carolina, don't we? Yes, we do! This is Trump country!

U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.!

U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.!

Got a nice way about her. You know, you're all standing up for her. You didn't stand up for me. What's going on? I'm angry. I don't like this. I'm upset with Darline.

Trump! Trump! Trump!

Thank you, Darline. Great job. It's a lot of love.

Trump! Trump! Trump!

Thank you, Darline.

With Darline's help in the Senate, we're going to continue to build on the most successful 19 months of any administration in American history. We've had the best first year and a half of any President in history. There's not been anybody that's done what we've done in terms of our military, in terms of tax cuts.

You know, the Democrats want to raise your taxes. All my life I've watched politicians, and all my life I've watched them say, "We will cut your taxes, we will cut taxes, we will lower your tax." These people say "we're going to raise your taxes," and people go and vote for them. I don't get it. I don't get it.

But in great news for South Carolina workers and the Port of Charleston, it was recently announced that American exports have skyrocketed to the highest level in American history. That's your port that we helped so much.

And that Henry is already asking me for more money. Let's make it a little deeper. Do you mind, sir? Oh, yes, great. Thank you, Henry. I appreciate it. But Henry was after money. He's always after money for the State. But he always gets it. I always give it to him. [ Laughter ]

Likewise, manufacturing is booming at the fastest pace in many, many years, here and all over our Nation, in all fairness.

The stock market has set 80 alltime highs since our election. So we've been in for a year and a half. Think of that. And the typical 401(k) is up by nearly $40,000 since I took office, setting records day after day. It's at the highest level. 401(k)s are at the highest level in history.

And with the help of our Republican majorities in Congress, last year I proudly signed the "Great Big Beautiful Bill," delivering the largest tax cuts in American history. We gave you no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, no tax on Social Security for our great seniors. And we also made interest on car loans 100-percent tax deductible, but only if you buy a car that's made in the U.S.A., if that's okay.

That never happened for people that go out and vote. They never had that. I'm getting you a deduction. You're not used to—rich people are used to deductions, but people that work very hard, middle income, upper middle income, they're not allowed to take. We have a deduction. You can deduct the interest from your income tax.

It's going to be a very big thing, and it's selling cars all over the place. Something like that never happened. That was one of my little ideas, so was no tax on tips, which was particularly good in the State of Nevada, where everybody is a waitress, caddy, or waiter. That was a pretty good idea.

You know, they came in about 2 months later. They said, "We want no tax on tips," and they got laughed out of the place. We won the State. First Republican to win that State in many, many years, and we're going to win it for a long time to come, Nevada.

But everything we've done on taxes and all of the things, jobs, all of those things are going to be wiped out if the Democrats are allowed to win. And that's why you have to go out and vote.

While the radical "Dumocrats" like to say that they stand for working people, they don't. In fact, every single Democrat in Congress voted against your tax cuts. Think of it. Every single Democrat. Is that a correct statement, John? Tim? Everybody? They weren't—voted against your tax cuts. They voted against no tax on tips. They voted against no tax on overtime. They voted against no tax on Social Security. The Democrats want to raise your taxes, not lower them.

They voted against voter ID. They voted against proof of citizenship. When you go to vote, we want you just to show ID, please. Voter ID with a photo, if it's okay. Okay? With a photo. Because I don't want to get—if I'm working behind a booth, I don't want to get Senator Tim Scott confused with Trey Gowdy, as an example. [ Laughter ] If he hands me, like—if Tim hands me his identification, and it shows a picture of Trey Gowdy, I'm going to say: "I'm sorry, sir. This isn't working." Right? [ Laughter ] Right? It's not going to happen, Tim. [ Laughter ]

But they voted against our police. They voted against our military. And they voted against our vets. Everything. They voted against everything.

They voted in favor of transgender mutilization of your children. They voted in favor of men playing in women's sports.

And every single Democrat in the House and Senate, every one of them, voted against our work to achieve the most secure border in the United States history. Not one person voted in favor of the border or the wall, where I built 1,200 miles of wall. That's one of the reasons we have the record that we've made.

And in the past—this is hard to believe, actually—but in the past 15 months, a historic record of zero illegal aliens have been admitted into the United States of America. Zero.

And we've cut the flow of fentanyl across our border by 64 percent. Think of that—64. And by the way, coming in by water, fentanyl coming in, down 97 percent—97. Think of it: down 97 percent. And it's nasty.

But you know, they call it intradict [interdict; White House correction]. We would intradict [interdict; White House correction]. We'd get the boats. We'd bring them to Miami. We'd give the guy a fine. He'd go to court. The court would let him out 15 minutes later. He'd be back on a boat that night, bringing drugs into our country.

They don't do that anymore. They don't do that anymore. They get hit. They get hit. Never miss. We have the greatest military in the world. They get hit.

I built the military in my first term. Created Space Force with the help of those two guys and plenty of others, but we created Space Force. But now they get hit. So it's down 97 percent.

And here's what we're doing: Tim Scott, John Barrasso are looking for the 3 percent of the people that still do that because we consider them to be the bravest people anywhere in the world. The 3 percent that are willing to go and take drugs into our country, I think, Tim, they're the bravest people anywhere in the world, or they don't watch television. [ Laughter ] They don't—maybe they don't watch television.

But we're down 97 percent by sea. Can you believe it? And now the easy part begins. Now we stop them by land. The harder part was by water.

And we're finding the migrant criminals that the Democrats let in, and we're putting them in jail and throwing them out of the country.

You know, one of the best statistics—I say it all the time now because Washington is a good case—we moved 5,000 criminals out of Washington, DC. Otherwise, we couldn't have the record we had. But 2 percent of the population creates 91 percent of the crime. And see, that can work. If we said 40 percent, 50 percent, 30 percent, that would be very tough. That's a real problem. That's almost unsolvable. All problems are solved, but that's almost unsolvable.

So only 2 percent of the population—because you have criminals that create crimes, many—in some cases, three, four crimes a day. Two percent of the population creates ninety-one percent of the crimes. We got them the hell out of our country. Okay? We got them out. Some are in jail. Some are in jail because they're so dangerous. We don't want to take any chance. They're murderers.

Just days ago, in a wealthy suburban neighborhood in Virginia, a sadistic illegal alien monster from El Salvador murdered a 42-year-old mother, stabbing her repeatedly over and over again, dumping her in a park and trying to light her blood-soaked body on fire after putting gasoline all over her. Didn't get to do that, but she was long dead. This savage animal entered our country illegally in 2024, and under the open-border stupid policy of the radical Democrats, he was released into the United States again and again.

A lot of people are asking me: "What do you do? And would you do me a favor? Would you ever read 'The Snake'?" Do you remember "The Snake," anybody? Would anybody like to hear "The Snake"? It's Friday. We have plenty of time. I have all this time. Do you want to hear "The Snake?"

Got it right here. [ Laughter ]

Look, it's a Friday night. We have plenty of time, right? What the hell do I have to do? Go back, bomb Iran a little bit more? What the hell.

So this is from an old song, with some changes, and I just think it's so apropos, especially when you hear of the story I just told you. And it's called "The Snake," and it represents our border and the horrible people that this country has allowed into our country through the Obama and the Biden administrations.

On her way to work one morning, down the path along the lake, A tender-hearted woman saw a poor, half-frozen snake. Her pretty-colored skin had been all frosted with the dew." Poor thing," she cried, "I'll take you in, and I'll take care of you." "Take me in, oh tender woman. Take me in, for heaven's sake. Take me in, oh tender woman," sighed the vicious snake. She wrapped him up all cozy in a comforter of silk And laid him by her fireside with some honey and some milk. She hurried home from work that night, and soon as she arrived, She found the pretty snake she'd taken in had been revived. "Take me in, oh tender woman. Take me in, for heaven's sake. Take me in, oh tender woman," cried the vicious snake. She clutched him to her bosom. "You're so beautiful," she cried. "But if I hadn't brought you in by now, you truly would have died." She stroked his pretty skin again and kissed and held him tight. But instead of saying "Thank you, ma'am," the snake gave her a vicious bite. "Take me in, oh tender woman. Take me in, for heaven's sake. Take me in, oh tender woman," sighed the vicious snake. "I saved you," cried the woman, "and you've bitten me. But why? You know your bite is poisonous, and now I'm going to die." "Shut up, silly woman," said the reptile with a grin. "You knew damn well I was a snake before you took me in."

That's our border. That's our border. That's our border.

Haven't done that in a long time, right? Haven't done that in a long time. So true. That's our border.

People are coming in. They're murderers. They're not going to change. They're not going to change. Nothing you can do to change them. They were born killers. And we're not keeping them in our country. They're getting out. We're bringing them out.

And thank you, ICE, and thank you, Border Patrol, and thank you, law enforcement.

And if you want millions of migrant criminals sent into your communities to loot and maim and rob and pillage and kill, vote for the radical-left Democrats. They will fulfill your needs.

If you want to get the migrant criminals out of your communities, you have to vote Republican. We're doing it rapidly. We're making up all of that—the horror that was allowed.

You know, they gave us the worst inflation in 48 years in history, as far as I'm concerned. And all of these things, I've already solved that. Mostly solved it. It will be soon solved. When the fuel comes down, it's going to come rocketing down.

But I've already said, the worst thing they did to us is allowed 25 million people into our country that were so bad, so evil, many of them. So bad. And these countries forced them out. You know, the countries didn't want them. Even the ones that didn't have prison records, they were, you will see, largely on welfare. They didn't work. There were problems. These countries are smart. I know the leaders. I know all of them. Very streetwise.

By the way, I want to do one thing, if I could interject, because sitting next to Darline is a very handsome man. It's her husband. And her family is here. And I want to just—I have to ask you: Please stand up. Would you please stand up? What a great guy. Great. Great. Look at the family. Great people. That's like from a postcard. In my old days, I'd grab that family and use them in an ad for a hotel, and said: "Do you mind taking an ad, Darline? I want to use you people for an ad." What a beautiful family.

I have to mention that it's so good that your family is so supportive, because without that, it doesn't work. Thank you very much. You're doing it for the country. Thank you. Thank you. Great.

Last year, under my leadership, we achieved the largest drop in murder—think of that—ever. Ever. The largest murder rate drop ever recorded to the lowest level in 125 years, since the year 1900. A hundred and twenty-five years.

And we're making America safe again at home and strong again. On the world stage, everyone is respecting us.

And thanks to Republicans in Congress, we're making the largest-ever investment in the United States Armed Forces by far. These guys are helping a lot.

And I built our military during my first term, and we're using it now. But the late, great Senator Lindsey Graham was always one of the fiercest defenders of the United States military. There is nobody—nobody that fought for our military like Lindsey, and I'm proud to say that we officially named Joint Base Charleston in his honor. That's a big deal. That's a big deal. He really deserves it. You see things named after people; sometimes you say, "What's that all about?" He deserves it.

So we're delivering Joint Base Lindsey Graham nearly $360 million in this year's defense spending. That's good for your State also. And millions more are going to be spent on the marines at Buford and Parris Island.

With Darline as your Senator, those bases will be part of the bedrock of American military dominance for decades and decades to come. And I'm so proud of what we were able to do so easily with Lindsey.

You know, name changes on bases is a big deal. It takes many, many years, right? This one took a week. [ Laughter ] That's how much he deserved it.

So congratulations to the entire family, Darline. It's great. We miss him.

And we're pleased also to be joined tonight by many great South Carolina patriots, including just about my first endorsement in the great State of South Carolina. He was the Lieutenant Governor at the time, and you had a Governor that I didn't like too much—[ laughter ]—and she endorsed somebody else. And I said, "That's strange," because I was always very good to her.

But we had a Lieutenant Governor named Henry McMaster. And Peg—Peg is a part of Henry McMaster. And he said: "I endorse the guy named Donald Trump, who's running. He's going to be a great President."

And I want to just ask—and you have been a great—you have been an unbelievable Governor, and I want to thank Henry McMaster. Thank you, Henry. Please.

And by the way, he was the first—there were a few Republicans that are good, but he was the first one; he kept your State totally open during COVID. Okay? That's pretty good. He turned out to be right. He turned out to be right, Darline. Right? These other guys, they closed up the States. The States will never actually recover. Mostly blue States, in all fairness.

With us also is Senator Tim Scott and Senator John Barrasso. Would you come up? Come on up. And I want to ask Russell Fry to come up. Come up, Russell. Come up here. What the hell. It's Friday night. What are we going to do? Let's have a good time, right?

Is South Carolina Donald J. Trump country? Oh, now this is South Carolina. And when we say we love President Trump, we say it loud and we say it proud! Is this Donald Trump country? [ Applause ]

Oh, yes! We love a President who closes our borders! We love a President who cuts our taxes! And we love a President who keeps Americans safe.

Mr. President, I told these folks earlier that Wyoming and South Carolina are folks, States filled with conservative people who love Donald J. Trump, the President of the United States. And I told them that you and Darline, in Wyoming, follow what we call the cowboy code. You live each day with courage. You take pride in your work. And you do what needs to be done every day for the people of this great country! And for this, we are very, very grateful.

Myrtle Beach, how are we doing? Like the President said, it is "Fri-day." Are y'all ready for November?

Yes!

Are we going to let the Democrats unseal our border again?

No!

Are we going to let them raise our taxes?

No!

Are we going to let them transform our children into robots?

No!

Oh, of course we're not. You know why? Because MAGA is strong, and MAGA is strong when we work as a team, this team right here. And Darline Graham is our next Senator. Let's go get the job done!

And by the way, Governor McMaster has just endorsed very strongly, very powerfully Senator Graham. So that's good. That's a big endorsement, Darline. That's a big endorsement. I don't know, that's pretty good. I think it was—you know, a lot of politicians want to stay out of a race; they never get involved. But that's why Henry is different. But just gave her a full-throated endorsement. Thank you very much. That's great. Thank you, Henry.

Also with us is the Speaker of the South Carolina House, Murrell Smith. Thank you, Murrell. Thank you very much. Good job.

And two fantastic Republican candidates who have my complete and total endorsement: Jenny Honeycutt for the First Congressional District. Jenny is terrific.

And congressional district—think of this—somebody that's very special, somebody that I've known for a long time: Cody Simpson for agriculture commissioner. Cody is going to do a great job, right? Thank you, Cody, very much. Good luck.

I also want to express our thanks to a wonderful woman here tonight, who has done an unbelievable job. It's so sad. You know, you meet people and you love people, but her name is Karoline, and she's our Press Secretary, and she just had a baby, and I just learned she loves the baby more than she loves Donald Trump, and I'm very angry with her.

Where is Karoline? She's fantastic. You haven't heard the last of her. She'll be working for us outside, but she's going to spend a little time with those two beautiful babies, right? Thank you, Karoline. What a job.

Bring her up! Bring her up!

Oh, bring her up. They're all—come on, Karoline. Bring her up. Come on, Karoline.

Hello, South Carolina. Thank you. Well, thank you, Mr. President. You didn't need to bring me up on stage, though I do love a good podium.

And I just want to say, President Trump, you are the most consequential and historic President in the history of our great country—and it has been the honor of my life to serve as your White House Press Secretary, sir. It really has.

And I just want to let everyone in this room know how hard this man works for all of you and for every American across the country, regardless of whether they're a Republican or a Democrat. You call this man at 6 in the morning, you call him at 3 in the morning, he picks up the phone because he's looking out for you.

And he needs your help with a Republican Congress for the next 2 years so he can make our country greater and stronger and wealthier than ever before. So get out and vote! Thank you.

Well, she was great, and she continues to be great, and you'll be hearing from her. She's got a great life ahead. But you know, she wants to be with the babies for a little while at least, and she is very special. Thank you very much, Karoline.

So, in just 19 months, we've turned this country completely around, and today our border is secure, jobs are up, inflation is down, investment is pouring in, factories are opening, our military is more powerful than it has ever been before. America is back, and our greatest victories are yet to come.

Today, with our Republican majorities in Congress, we will crush violent crime, impose harsh new penalties for dangerous repeat offenders, crack down on Marxist prosecutors, and we will end no cash bail where it all started. No cash bail.

We will expand my most-favored-nation policy on drug prices, where drugs are down 70, 80, and 90 percent. Nobody has ever even thought of that.

For decades, Americans paid the highest prices for prescription drugs anywhere in the world by far, and now we are paying the lowest price paid by any other country. So you went from paying the highest prices in the world to the lowest prices in the world, and I had to work hard to get that done.

So I'm giving you the largest prescription drug price cuts in history, with differences of 400, 500, and even 600 percent. Think of that. You'd ever think you'd hear that?

You know, it's funny: In my first term, I was very proud because I was able to cut drug from January to December by—think of this—one eighth of a percent. It's the first time a drug cut was able to get through for a year period in 28 years. So they went 28 years where drugs only went this way—prescription drugs and drugs of all kinds. And I was told that I was the first in 28 years to cut one-eighth of 1 percent.

And I had a news conference, and I was beaming. I thought it was great: one-eighth of a percent. Now I've cut drug prices 60, 70, 80, and even 90 percent. Who would have thought?

And other Presidents knew this was a possibility, but they weren't able to get it done. Most of them never even tried. But I got the other countries to do it. They had to agree to it. You think it was easy? Because their prices had to go up in order for our rises to come down. And I said, "You've got to let your prices rise." And we did. They had to double and triple their prices in order to get us that cut. And I won't tell you what I said to them, but it wasn't very pleasant, I can tell you.

So we should win the midterms on this issue alone. On drug pricing alone we should win. Now, that's going to have a huge impact on your health care because health care is—so much of it is made up on prescription drugs.

Together, we will pass the "Great Health Care Plan" to stop all payments to big insurance companies and give the money directly to the people so that they can buy their own healthcare, which will be much better care at a much lower price. A lot of money left over.

And finally, we must pass the SAVE America Act to defend our sacred American elections. See what I mean? Got to do it. Got to do it, Tim. [ Laughter ] We have to do it.

And to do that, all voters must show photo—voter ID, and all voters must provide, very simply, proof of citizenship.

And we will enshrine—we had a victory in the Supreme Court on this subject, but we got to get it done permanently and good. We will enshrine no men in women's sports and no transgender mutilization of our children. And it's hard to believe we have to fight. Who could believe that we're standing up here? Can you imagine being, like, 20 years ago, and you'd have a Presidential candidate or a President standing up, saying, "We will not allow men to play in women's sports." They'd say, "This guy is crazy." And now it's like a battle. Can you believe it? Or transgender mutilation of your children will take place.

Now, can you imagine saying that, like, 20 years ago, 15 years ago? They take the guy off and put him in a cage. They'd say there's something wrong with him. And I actually have to get up and fight for no men playing in women's sports, no transgender surgery of your children. It's not even believable, but that's the radical left. They're crazy, and you can't let them get involved any further with this country.

But once again, it all begins with voting for Darline Graham and some great, great people. And, in this case, the runoff is Tuesday, August 25, and I will be watching all day long. Oh, I want that to happen. For Lindsey, I want it to happen.

The polls open at 7 a.m. and close at 7 p.m. So get your friends and get your neighbors and get out and vote for Darline Graham.

And remember, they say, again, that Trump gets a lot of votes, but if he's not on the ballot, people don't vote so much. I am on the ballot. We're all on the ballot. Our country is on the ballot. You have to get out. You have to vote. I am on the ballot. We're all on the ballot.

So in closing, ladies and gentlemen of South Carolina, the golden age of America is upon us. And together with your help and patriots all across this magnificent land, 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 above all, we will make America great again!

Thank you, South Carolina. Thank you, Myrtle Beach. I'll be back. Thank you. Thank you.

Good luck, Darline. Good luck. Going to have a big win. Thank you. Thank you, everybody. God bless you.