President Trump told a crowd at the Peterbilt Motors facility in Denton, Texas, that Ken Paxton "could be a pain in the ass sometimes," then asked them to elect him anyway.
That's the endorsement, per the Forbes Breaking News video transcript of the speech. Trump said he came to urge voters to back Paxton in what he called "such a big race." He called Paxton one of his most loyal friends and said Paxton stood "at my side more than anybody" when Trump was being hit by "the radical left."
The opponent got the roast. Trump did not name him in the transcript. He called him a "freico" and claimed he is a vegan who eats meat at barbecues, then "goes behind the tent and he throws up." Trump offered no evidence for any of it.
Vegans don't do well in Texas.
That is Trump's line, on the record. It is not a fact about anyone.
The plant visit itself was pitched as a victory lap. Trump said Peterbilt makes 200 trucks a day and sells them faster than it can build them, which is why it is expanding. He thanked an employee named Preston, who he said credited his policies for the company's success. He praised the trucks' "made in the USA" stamp and the company's 85-plus years of history.
Then came the claims. All of the following are Trump's own statements. The transcript offers no sourcing for them, and this piece has not verified them:
- The U.S. has more people working than at any time in its history, the lowest poverty numbers ever, and the best crime numbers since 1900.
- The stock market hit record highs on 81 days over a year and a half, so 401(k)s are "higher than they've ever been."
- Iran "will never have a nuclear weapon."
- Texas gave him the highest vote totals in its history, three times.
The Venezuela segment is the most extraordinary. Trump claims the U.S. "went to war with Venezuela" and lost nobody. He says 201 men raided a military base and captured Maduro within minutes. He also says one seriously injured pilot landed a Chinook full of troops and received the Congressional Medal of Honor. Nothing in the speech independently corroborates any of this, and it should be treated as an unverified, extraordinary claim until it is.
Trump also claimed Maduro "emptied his prisons" into the United States through Texas because of Biden's open border policy. That is his assertion, with no supporting figures given.
Ted Cruz got a shout-out too. Trump called him a longtime friend and noted, "We fought rather violently." The transcript cuts off mid-sentence as he recounts their 2016 history.
You can watch the whole thing and decide which parts were a campaign pitch and which were a factory tour. Trump made the priority clear himself: "I'm really here for Ken."