OAN Staff Katherine Mosack
12:05 AM – Saturday, December 20, 2025
President Donald Trump has held his last rally of 2025 in North Carolina, praising his economic agenda.
On Friday, the president began his rally stating that the first 11 months since he retook office have been “the most successful first year of any president in the history of our country,”
“I don’t think anybody could have done better than us, not me … we’re in this together,” the president said.
“Since my inauguration, we’ve created more than 53,000 North Carolina jobs,” Trump announced, setting the tone for the rest of his speech, which emphasized his administration’s economic achievements. This number includes 8,000 construction jobs.
Trump also said that more than 150,000 North Carolinians have been lifted off of food stamps in the past year.
The president went on to announce what he considered the “biggest news of all,” which was the report that came out on Thursday, revealing a lower rate of inflation than expected for the month of November, at 2.7%.
“It was announced that inflation is far lower than anybody expected — I told you!” Trump exclaimed jovially. He said that this beat all forecasts “from the so-called geniuses, the experts. We’re the geniuses, not them.”
“We now have the lowest core inflation since March of 2021, and we’re just getting started,” he continued.
This offered the president an opportunity to argue in favor of the tariffs he introduced during his second term. Many argued that tariffs on foreign imports would raise prices for American consumers already burdened by skyrocketing inflation during former President Joe Biden’s term. Headline inflation reached a rate of over 9% in 2022 after having remained under 3% through Trump’s first term. Core inflation under Biden likewise reached over 6%, while staying under 2.5% with Trump’s first four years.
“Just came out with the best inflation report we’ve had in years,” Trump contended, “and lot’s of cash,” from tariffs.
He also reminded the crowd that mere hours before the event, he hosted representatives from nine major pharmaceutical companies who agreed to offer American patients “most favorable nation” pricing for prescription medications. According to their deal with the Trump administration, drugs will be sold to Americans at a price that matches the lowest it’s sold for globally. The president believes this will help inflation to drop exponentially.
“I’m doing what no politician of either party has ever done before: Standing up to the special interests and demanding lower prices for the American people.” Trump stated.
Trump explained that he had tried to bring lower drug prices to the U.S. in his first term, having discovered that U.S. citizens were charged prices “10 times higher than the prices they were charging in London, in Paris and all over. COVID-19 outbreak made it difficult to ask other countries to pay their fair share, however, “on top of all your COVID all over the place with everyone dying.”
The president has also threatened tariffs for foreign countries that failed to cover more of the cost of prescription drugs.
Trump stated that he believes that this achievement alone will win the GOP the midterms in 2026.
“Under the Trump administration, America will not be ripped off any longer,” he stated, prompting applause from the crowd.
Trump went on to praise his administration’s efforts on overall affordability, which he said Democrats failed to achieve. He pointed to the opposing party as the cause of the affordability crisis, including high gasoline prices after Biden closed the Keystone XL pipeline on his first day in office, and his suspension of oil and gas leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and New Mexico. Trump said that most recently, in some areas, gasoline prices are down to $1.99 per gallon.
Gasoline prices have indeed hit their lowest prices since 2021, as GasBuddy and AAA reported this month.
“Every single day of this administration, we will keep on working for the hardworking citizens of America. We will fight, fight, fight. We will win win win,” his speech concluded, “And with your help, we will make America powerful again. We will make America wealthy again. We will make America healthy again.”
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