President-elect Donald Trump on Sunday, in his first rally-like speech since the November election, threatened to retake control of the Panama Canal, pushed back on criticism of Elon Musk’s influence, and suggested he could soon meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Trump’s speech in Phoenix, at a Turning Point USA gathering of conservative activists celebrating his victory last month, largely echoed the rhetoric he used on the campaign trail — including lies about widespread fraud in the 2020 election — but were tempered with his satisfaction at having won.
“We had no riots. We had no anything. It was a beautiful thing to watch,” Trump said, noting Democrats’ concession of the 2024 election. “They just said, ‘We lost.’ And we want to try bringing everybody together.”
Trump did not address the chaotic past week in Washington.
Instead, Trump vowed to keep the promises he made on the campaign trail and to take action on his firsts day in office on, among other things, immigration, energy production and a series of culture war issues.
Here are six key lines from Trump’s speech on Sunday:
Panama Canal
Trump said he would consider retaking control of the Panama Canal, which he referred to as a “vital national asset,” doubling down on social media posts he’d made on the topic Saturday.
Putin meeting
Trump suggested he could meet with Putin early in his presidency as he seeks to negotiate an end to Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Trump said bringing the war to an end is “one of the things I want to do quickly,” and said Putin wants to meet with him “as soon as possible.”
Musk’s influence
Trump pushed back on Democrats’ characterization of Musk as acting as the de facto president, after Musk — who has spent much time with Trump at Mar-a-Lago since the president-elect’s victory — helped tank the bipartisan government funding bill last week.
“No, he’s not taking the presidency. I like having smart people,” he said. “They’re on a new kick. ‘Russia, Russia, Russia,’ ‘Ukraine, Ukraine, Ukraine,’ all the different hoaxes. The new one is ‘President Trump has ceded the presidency to Elon Musk.’ No, no, that’s not happening.”
“No, he’s not going to be president, that I can tell you,” he said. “And I’m safe, you know why? He can’t be — he wasn’t born in this country.”
Renaming Denali
Former President Barack Obama’s administration renamed the highest mountain peak in North America, Mount McKinley, to Denali to honor Alaska’s native population, which had used the name for centuries.
Trump said McKinley should have his name restored because he was a “great president” who “deserves it.”
“Woke has to stop. Because along with everything else, it’s destroying our country. We’re going to stop woke,” Trump said. “Woke is bullsh*t.”
Vaccine skepticism
Trump defended his controversial pick for Health and Human Services secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — and seemed to suggest he would allow Kennedy to probe for links between vaccines and autism, despite no evidence supporting the connection that Kennedy has long claimed exists.
Trump pointed to rises in diagnoses of autism, childhood cancer and chronic diseases, and said that “something’s wrong.”
“Together, we’re going to make America healthy again,” Trump said. “Something bad is happening.”
TikTok’s future
Trump again expressed openness to allowing the social media app TikTok to continue operating in the United States, suggesting that the app may have helped reach some key voters.
Trump touted his popularity on the app and the gains he made with young voters in the 2024 election, saying he is “going to have to start thinking about TikTok.”
“We did go on TikTok, and we had a great response. We had billions and billions of views,” he said.
Trump said he was shown a chart highlighting the views his campaign had received there. “As I looked at it I said, ‘Maybe we gotta keep this sucker around for a little while,’” he said.