The president-elect spoke at America First Policy Institute’s annual gala on Wednesday at Mar-a-Lago.
Delivering his first public speech since winning the 2024 election, President-elect Donald Trump touted his victory and praised his allies at the America First Policy Institute Gala at Mar-a-Lago in Florida.
Calling this year’s the “most consequential election”, Trump recalled how he lost the popular vote in 2016 but won it this time around.
“They would say, ‘he didn’t win the popular vote.’ And we won the popular vote by records now, which so nobody can say that anymore about us”, Trump said.
He also celebrated his newly selected Cabinet members and senior administration officials, many of whom were in attendance.
Newly announced picks who attended the annual gala on Thursday evening, including Elon Musk, Vivek Ramaswamy, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum.
Notably, Trump did not give a shout out to former Rep. Matt Gaetz, who he had announced as his attorney general and who was also in attendance.
As he provided pleasantries to several members in the room, Trump transitioned into complimenting Musk, with whom he’s spent a significant amount of time since his victory.
“We have a man who has a seriously high IQ. You know, I’m a person that believes in high IQs, and his is about as high as they get”, Trump said, thanking him for campaigning in Pennsylvania on his behalf.
Trump then touted his pairing of Ramasamy and Musk to lead the Department of Government Efficiency.
“They’re going to be saving a lot of money and making our country stronger and better. And they’ll be coming out with individual reports. But a big one toward the end. And you put those two together, it’s going to be really great. So we look forward to seeing and working with Elon and that’ll be a great experience”, Trump said.
