Remarks #2 transcript, Sep 10, 2026 (Donald Trump)

Well, that was a tremendous success. Two absolutely sold-out, big arenas. I mean, they were big. That was the Mavericks arena.

It was a fantastic night tonight, and yesterday was likewise a fantastic night. I think people are surprised, but it was—I would imagine people are going to be doing it now for midterms. Never been done before, Republican or Democrat. But it was phenomenal.

The singer at the end, Christopher, was great, really amazing. And it was a—it was just a fantastic 2 days.

Mr. President——

How do you rate—how do you rate J.D. for 2028 after that performance?

Well, I think he did very well tonight, and it's—very talented guy. He's a great—been a great Vice President, but I think he did a very good job.

How will you pay for the $5,000 checks that you want to send to all the adults?

Out of growth. We have tremendous growth. We have growth like no country has ever seen before. We have trillions of dollars coming in, and that will end up being not a very big problem at all. And I think our people deserve it.

What about the deficit?

And they—don't forget, they're investing it. They'll be reinvesting it in our country.

Are you worried about the fact that it will impact the deficit?

No, I'm not at all worried. No. We have——

We have tremendous growth.

Yes.

Did you generate some momentum? What do you think happened over the last couple of days in terms of——

About what?

——in terms of momentum for the——

I think, from what I hear, the momentum is so great. It was like a flawless 2 days. The crowds were—I didn't know what to expect. Nobody knew what to expect. I mean, the arenas were packed—packed—with thousands of people outside that couldn't get in.

So nobody knew what to expect. You know, it was a midterm convention. Nobody knew what to expect. Never been done before. But it was amazing.

Mr. President, on the checks, the U.S. is still $40 trillion dollars in debt. If your economic policies are working, why do you need an incentive for people to turn out to vote?

I think what you're going to do—I didn't do it for turning out the vote. I'm doing it as a reward for people having to put up with 5 years and 4 years of horrible—a horrible situation caused by Biden. I mean, they had to put up with the 4 years, and that carried on for at least a half an additional year with horrible—just a horrible thing that Biden did to our country.

And that's not only just from an economic standpoint. You look at the border, you look at the crime, and now we've got it under control. But what a period of time. It's almost a reward for the people having to put up with Biden's policy.

Yes.

But you also——

Go ahead.

Not you.

But you also offered checks——

Not you.

—during—tariff refund checks.

Hey. Not you.

Go ahead.

And that didn't happen, Mr. President.

Mr.—on Iran——

You—your network and you, you're the worst.

Go ahead.

On Iran, oil prices have shot back up over the last 24 hours since we last talked.

No, the prices will drop very—very rapidly as soon as we win the military conflict or war—you can call it whatever you want. The prices will go back to where they were.

It's a—it's always—look, there's no cost-cutter like me, but Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. When that ends—and I think it will end very shortly after the election; it could end before the election, but I think it will end very shortly after the election—the prices will go down to less than $2 a barrel—$2 a gallon for oil.

How can you be sure of that, sir?

For gasoline, I'm pretty sure. I'm pretty good at it. I've been—if you look at where it was before I started—and I had to start. And if I had to do it again, I'd do it exactly the same. And they'll never have a nuclear weapon. We can never allow them to have a nuclear weapon.

So, before I started—literally, the day before—I was in Iowa. And I saw it at $1.85 and $1.95 for gasoline—a gallon. And I think it's going to match those numbers—maybe even be, at some points, below those numbers.

But the big thing—bigger than that, more important than that: They won't have a nuclear weapon.

Mr. President, on the 1-year anniversary of Charlie Kirk's assassination, what, in your view, is his legacy? And can you speak to the impact he had on millions of young Americans?

Yes, what Charlie did was incredible, with young Americans more than anybody else. I mean, I know him so well, and he was always such a great supporter. And it's so sad. I mean, you think about it. It's just a sad cloud over the country, what happened to Charlie. It's not even believable.

He was very close to me and my family, but he was great. I think he's got—there's great memories of Charlie.

But more than anything else, what he was able to do with young people. He just—young people loved him. They still do.

Will the war——

Is it possible that—is it possible that the Iran war will last the rest of your term? I mean——

No, no.

There was a report in the Journal about this yesterday.

The Journal—Wall Street Journal?

Yes, sir.

It's one of the most inaccurate papers I've ever read. It's only going on its past laurels.

No, there's not even a chance of that.

Do you have any concerns about AI leading to human extinction?

No, I don't have any. I have concerns that if we don't win AI, we're going to be put in a very bad position.

We are leading China right now by a pretty good period. I would say a year, which is, you know, considered a lot. President Xi is coming over very shortly. He's going to be—we're going to—we're having a state dinner. It's going to be—I think it's going to be great.

No, we're leading China. We're leading the world right now at everything. We have the greatest economy in history, and people are going to start to see it. We have more jobs right now than at any time in the history of our country.

Thank you all very much. Thank you. Thank you.