Trump Lays Out Republicans’ Post-Midterms Agenda at Dallas Convention

DALLAS—President Donald Trump on Thursday evening addressed a crowd in Dallas, touting his administration’s achievements on the closing night of the two-day midterm convention and asking voters to back Republican candidates in the upcoming elections.

“I’m seeing spirit like we haven’t seen in this country for a long time, long time,” Trump said. “But it came back about a year and a half ago. We went through four years of embarrassment, hurt, harm, sickness, filth was bad, but now it’s good, and it’s going to soon be greater than ever before, better than ever before.”

Trump laid out a flurry of proposals that he said Republicans would pursue in the coming two years.

First, Trump said that Republicans would make most-favored nation prescription drug discounts “permanent in law.”

He also mentioned the “No Invasion of Our Country Act,” a proposed bill from the president to make it illegal for future presidents to “open the border again.”

“We don’t want any more invasions of our country,” Trump said.

He also mentioned the related Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act, which would require most Americans to present documented proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote in federal elections.

Trump also vowed that with the help of Vice President JD Vance, “we will win the war on fraud,” and reiterated his past calls to end cash bail.

The speech is the capstone to a two-day meeting of Republicans in Dallas for their party’s first-ever midterm convention, with Trump placed at the center of what has been dubbed a “Trump-a-Palooza” by Republican organizers.

A flurry of key Republican-aligned policymakers, candidates, social media personalities, and political organizations have descended on the Texas metropolis, with a litany of additional events, candidate speeches, and organization activities also taking place across Dallas.

During the speech, Trump highlighted stock market gains under his second term, his administration’s efforts to lower drug prices, decreases in immigration, and other topics.

“Less than two years ago, the American people gave us a mandate to save America, and in 19 months, I’ve delivered on every single promise I made, and I think I delivered on far more,” he said.

Trump delivered his speech on Thursday shortly after Vice President JD Vance addressed the convention.

The president told the crowd near the beginning that he intended to speak less than he had the previous night, when he addressed the convention for more than two hours.

During that earlier speech, Trump described his second term as “the greatest two years in the history of the presidency,” urging voters to support Republicans in the upcoming elections.

Trump also promised voters a $5,000 dividend to every adult citizen if Republicans keep control of the Senate and House this November. Previously, the president had floated a $2,000 check stemming from tariff dividends.

After his administration faced questions about how it will actually carry out the proposal, Trump reiterated the promise during the second night.

“If we win the midterms, we will … provide a let’s call it Trump dividend: $5,000 for every adult citizen in our country,” he said.

Speaking to The Epoch Times at the convention ahead of Trump’s speech, Republican attendees criticized Democrats for what they called the democratic socialist pitch of “free things.”

Sisters Beth Mills of Shawnee, Oklahoma, and Colleen Robishaw of Arlington, Texas, told The Epoch Times that Republicans should tell people that nothing is free: Higher taxes would be needed to pay for free programs, and the government would exert more control over people’s lives.

“I think you need to look at the cost, the overall cost of what free things are. It was never free,” Mills said.

Nationwide, Republicans are facing difficult polling numbers across a variety of races.

Trump sits at 39.6 percent approval on RealClearPolling, compared with 57.1 percent who say they disapprove.

Following a handful of victories for candidates from the Democrats’ rising democratic socialist wing in largely blue-district races, Republicans have criticized the party as shifting too far left for the average American.

According to polling by Pew Research in July, Americans’ top concern at present is the economy, and by a wide margin. That poll found that economic issues were the driving political force this cycle for 29 percent of Americans.

Trump has described affordability, a key plank of his 2024 presidential campaign, as a “Democrat hoax.”

The president doubled down on this position during his remarks on the convention’s first night, calling affordability a “fake” issue, saying “I’m bringing the prices way down.”

The most recent Consumer Price Index report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics found that annual inflation in the U.S. currently sits at 3.4 percent for all items. That includes a roughly 25 percent increase in the cost of gasoline over the past year—especially after the Iran conflict started in late February and disrupted the global oil supply chain—while inflation on food items sits around 3 percent.

Some voters, meanwhile, told The Epoch Times that they don’t understand the fuss about affordability.

“It’s funny with the economy because, like, you know, under [President Joe] Biden it really wasn’t even talked about at all, and then Trump gets [in], and all of a sudden everyone’s talking about affordability,” convention attendee Rodney Stokes of Fort Worth, Texas, told The Epoch Times.

The second key motivating issue for Americans, according to Pew Research, is government ethics and reform, with 9 percent labeling this a top priority.

Meanwhile, 7 percent of Americans described immigration as a top issue for them. Healthcare, foreign policy, and Trump each polled at around 5 percent.

Darlene McCormick Sanchez, Janice Hisle, Nathan Worcester, and Melanie Sun contributed to this report.