Summary
President Donald Trump delivered an expansive address to the GOP House Member Retreat on January 6, 2026, celebrating the recent military operation in Venezuela, defending his tariff policies, and outlining an aggressive agenda for Republican midterm success. Trump memorialized the late Congressman Doug LaMalfa, praised House leadership including Speaker Mike Johnson, and detailed his “Favored Nations” prescription drug pricing initiative while urging Republicans to seize the healthcare issue from Democrats by directing funds to individuals rather than insurance companies. The President emphasized unprecedented economic achievements, criticized the media, and warned that historical patterns show the party holding the presidency typically loses midterm elections—a trend he challenged Republicans to defy.
For a fact-check, see Fact-Checking Trump’s GOP Retreat Claims: Venezuela, Tariffs, Drug Prices, DC Crime & Stock Market. Assistance from Claude AI.
Participants
Speaker:
- Donald J. Trump – President of the United States
House Republican Leadership Mentioned:
- Mike Johnson – Speaker of the House
- Steve Scalise – House Majority Leader
- Tom Emmer – House Majority Whip
- Lisa McClain – House Republican Conference Chair
- Richard Hudson – Chairman, National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC)
- Kevin Hern – Republican Policy Committee Chairman
- Jim Jordan – House Judiciary Committee Chairman
Other Members Mentioned:
- Doug LaMalfa – Representative from California, Western Caucus leader (deceased January 5, 2026)
- Jim Baird – Representative from Indiana (recovering from car accident)
- Tim Scott – Senator from South Carolina
- Jim Fry – Representative from South Carolina (replaced Tom Rice)
Historical/Political Figures Referenced:
- Nancy Pelosi – Former Speaker of the House
- Joe Biden – Former President
- Kamala Harris – Vice President
- Chuck Schumer – Senate Majority Leader
- Mitt Romney – Former Senator from Utah
- John McCain – Former Senator from Arizona (deceased)
- Emmanuel Macron – President of France
- Nicolás Maduro – Former President of Venezuela
- Vladimir Putin – President of Russia
- Xi Jinping – President of China
- Narendra Modi – Prime Minister of India
Detailed Topic Breakdown
Memorial Tribute to Congressman Doug LaMalfa
Trump opened with a somber memorial for Congressman Doug LaMalfa, who passed away on January 5, 2026. Trump characterized LaMalfa as “a great, great, great member” who served as leader of the Western Caucus and was “a fierce champion on California water issues.”
Key quotes and details:
- Trump noted LaMalfa “voted with me 100 percent of the time” and was never someone who required late-night phone calls for vote commitment
- “He was a defender of everybody, and our hearts go out to his wife Jill and his entire family”
- Trump revealed he considered canceling his speech out of respect: “I was really saddened by his passing and was thinking about not even doing the speech in his honor. But then I decided that I have to do it in his honor”
- LaMalfa was known for his passionate advocacy on water policy, with Trump recalling: “He wanted—release the water, he’d scream out”
Trump also acknowledged Representative Jim Baird and his wife, who were “recovering from a car accident” but expected to be fine, though Trump described it as “a pretty bad accident.”
Praise for House Leadership
Trump delivered extensive praise for House Republican leadership, particularly Speaker Mike Johnson, whom he endorsed “complete and total.”
On Mike Johnson’s leadership style:
- “He’s a very nice—he’s a high-quality person. But I want to tell you, he’s a very tough cookie. I’ve seen both sides”
- Trump defended Johnson against critics who want him to be “tougher”: “You can’t be tough when you have a majority of three and now sadly a little bit less than that”
- “Everybody loves him. I would say there’s one person he’s given up on. I mean, I think he just gave up on this guy, he’s so bad, he never votes for us”
- Trump emphasized Johnson’s religious character: “He’s a religious person. I like that. I like religious people. It usually means they’re more honest”
On Steve Scalise: Trump recounted Scalise’s shooting and recovery: “He got hit hard. Where’s Steve? Steve? He’s a tough cookie. He was dead. I went to the hospital. His wife was crying so much. It was a mess.” Trump contrasted this with other hospital visits where spouses showed less concern, emphasizing: “Your wife loves you, Steve. She’s a great wife.”
On Tom Emmer: Trump described reconciling with Emmer after early tensions: “We didn’t know each other. And I heard he said something negative about me… But Jackie was saying, I’m telling you, he’s a great guy, he’s good. He’s going to be a great president, blah, blah, blah. She was fighting for me and now I love this guy.”
Other leadership praised:
- Lisa McClain: “so strong and powerful and beautiful”
- Richard Hudson: “He’s always in there—always with a smile, no matter what’s happening”
- Kevin Hern: “You’ve done a great job”
- Jim Jordan: Trump highlighted Jordan’s wrestling career, noting he was “128 and 1” in college and “undefeated in high school,” emphasizing that beating seniors as a freshman was particularly impressive
Military Operation in Venezuela
Trump dedicated significant time to defending and celebrating the recent U.S. military operation that captured Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela.
Military operation details:
- “An amazing military feat that took place yesterday. Think of it, an amazing military—The people are saying—well, thank you. You know, people are saying it goes down with one of the most incredible”
- “152 airplanes, many, many talk about boots on the ground. We had a lot of boots on the ground”
- “Nobody was killed” on the American side, though Trump acknowledged “on the other side, a lot of people were killed. Unfortunately, I say that, the soldiers, Cubans, mostly Cubans, but many, many killed”
- Trump described the tactical brilliance: “The electricity for almost the entire country was, boom, turned off. That’s when they knew there was a problem. There was no electricity, Caracas, said there’s no electricity”
Criticism of domestic opposition: Trump attacked Senator Chuck Schumer for not congratulating the operation: “I watched where Schumer—he’s such a bad guy… At some point they should say, you know, you did a great job, thank you, congratulations. Wouldn’t it be good?”
On Maduro’s crimes:
- “He’s a violent guy and he’s killed millions of people. He’s tortured—they have a torture chamber in the middle of Caracas that they’re closing up, but he’s tortured people”
- Trump mocked paid protesters with professionally printed signs: “Most of these people are paid. You know, they’re paid when they have brand-new, beautiful printed signs by like the highest quality printer”
Military superiority message: Trump emphasized American military dominance: “The United States proved once again that we have the most powerful, most lethal, most sophisticated and most fearsome. It’s a fearsome military on planet Earth, and it’s not even close… Nobody could have done that. Nobody has our weapons.”
Tariffs and Trade Policy
Trump aggressively defended his tariff policies, revealing they had generated far more revenue than anticipated.
Tariff revenue revelations:
- “We’re getting rich because of tariffs, by the way. I hope everyone understands that. They hate to report—we’re going to have over $650 billion poured into our country or coming in shortly because of tariffs”
- Trump recounted a discovery of missing revenue: “A couple of weeks ago, sir, we’re off by $39 billion. Oh, is that good or bad? Meaning, do we have it or are we short of it? Sir, it’s $39 billion that we can’t account for… I said, check the tariff shelf… Comes back 25 minutes later, sir, you were right, it came from tariffs”
Supreme Court case: Trump expressed concern about a pending Supreme Court case on presidential tariff authority: “We have a big Supreme Court case. I hope they do what’s good for our country. I hope they do the right thing. The president has to be able to wheel and deal with tariffs.”
Fentanyl tariffs on China: “I put a 20 percent penalty tax on China and it’s drying up because the tax is far more than they make with fentanyl.”
India and defense contracts: Trump discussed Prime Minister Modi’s frustration with Apache helicopter delivery delays: “India ordered 68 Apaches and Prime Minister Modi came to see me, sir, may I see you, please? Yes. I have a very good relationship with him. He’s not that happy with me because, you know, they’re paying a lot of tariffs now”
Investment surge: Trump claimed unprecedented foreign investment due to tariff policy: “We have $18 trillion being invested in the United States… That’s all investment. That’s building factories, that’s building plants. You know how many car factories we have? Half of you guys are having car factories.”
Defense Industry and Production Speed
Trump criticized defense contractors for slow production times and vowed to accelerate manufacturing.
Boeing and aircraft delivery:
- “I’m the king—I have sold more Boeings than any human being on Earth. They gave me an award, salesman of the year”
- “I’ve sold more Boeing planes than any man in history by far, probably over a thousand, over a thousand planes. I said, that’s the good news. But why should they wait three or four years to get a plane?”
F-35 and Apache helicopters: “The F-35s, it takes too long to get them. The Apache helicopter. I mean, I had India coming to me, sir, I’ve been waiting five years. We’re changing it. We’re changing it.”
Defense contractor compensation critique: Trump signaled plans to pressure executives: “You’re making $45 million a year, and you can’t produce a freaking helicopter for seven years. We’re going to talk to them about that.”
“Favored Nations” Prescription Drug Pricing
Trump provided extensive detail on his signature healthcare initiative to equalize prescription drug prices internationally.
The problem:
- “In London, the pill sells for $10; in New York, it sells for $130. That’s 13 times as much”
- Used Ozempic as example: “Ozempic is $80 in London and it’s $1,300 in New York, the fat drug”
- “There hasn’t been a reduction in 28 years except for the one year where I got it down one quarter of 1 percent”
How Trump achieved it: Trump described confronting pharmaceutical companies and foreign nations, with France as the primary example:
Negotiation with Emmanuel Macron (extensive direct quotes):
- Trump: “Listen, you’re going to have to raise your prices a little bit because we’re paying 14 times more than you”
- Macron: “No, no, no, no, no, no, no. I will not be able to. Mr. President, please excuse me”
- Trump threatened: “If on Monday you haven’t agreed to every single thing that we want, I’m putting a 25 percent tariff on everything coming out of France including your wines, your champagnes and everything else”
- Trump explained: “The tariff I’m imposing on you is 42 times more expensive than what I’m asking for you in return”
- Resolution: “Emanuel said to me, Donald, you have a deal. I would love to increase my prescription drug prices by 200 percent or whatever. I would love to do it, it’d be such an honor. Whatever you want, Donald, please don’t tell the population”
Results claimed:
- “Every country said the same thing. No, no, no, we will not do this. Some were strong, some were very nice, some were rude, but they all said one thing, no, we won’t. And within, I’d say on average 3.2 minutes, they were all saying, we would be honored to quadruple our drug prices”
- “Depending on the way you calculate it, it could be thousands of percent down. It could also be 90 percent and 80 percent”
Healthcare Insurance Reform Proposal
Trump revealed a major new healthcare initiative targeting insurance company profits.
The revelation: Trump explained discovering insurance companies were profiting enormously from Obamacare: “I read a story about insurance companies making a fortune—a fortune. Their stocks were up 1,700 percent.”
The proposal: “When you tell the people that we want the money to be paid to the people so the people can buy their own health insurance and health care… Let the money go not to the big, fat cats and the insurance companies that made 1,700 percent over the last short period of time. Let the money go directly to the people, where they can buy their own health care.”
Strategic political positioning:
- “I’m not sure that I’ve ever said anything that was more impactful… The whole world went crazy, the whole country went crazy”
- “If you can somehow do that, Mr. Speaker, Tom, all of you, Steve, if you can do that, you’re going to have—this is going to be your issue”
- Trump noted Democrats “can’t fight it. They’re owned by the insurance companies. You guys don’t get money from the insurance companies, they do. They get a massive amount of money. It’s their biggest donor”
Flexibility on Hyde Amendment: Trump suggested Republicans need to compromise: “You have to be a little flexible on Hyde. You know that you got to be a little flexible; you got to work something. You got to use ingenuity.”
Election Integrity and Voter ID
Trump made extensive arguments for voter identification requirements and criticized mail-in voting.
California criticism: “In California they not only don’t have voter ID, but if an official at the voting booths, which they don’t have by the way, because it’s all mail, if an official, a voting official even asks somebody for voter ID—sir, we’d like to see your identification. Do you come from our country? They’d put him in jail for tampering with the election.”
Strategic framing:
- “When you confront a Democrat about voter ID, like in a debate or something, I said it a couple of times with Biden and—they’re very embarrassed when they say we want voter ID, voter identification”
- “The only reason somebody doesn’t want that is because they want to cheat. Our elections are crooked as hell”
- “You win elections with that. But when somebody says no, we don’t want voter ID, that means they’re crooked and the public understands it”
SAVE Act endorsement: Trump urged passage of legislation: “You ought to pass the SAFE Act or whatever you’re going to call it, are we going to—the SAVE Act or the Save America Act? I think we’re going to change the name a little bit… I think it would be really important, Save America Act, if you would put that up for a vote, it’s got my total endorsement.”
International comparison: “We’re the only country that votes by mail, essentially. You know that, right? You know, Speaker, that’s another thing. We’re the only country that’s stupid enough to vote by mail. Even Jimmy Carter’s commission said don’t do it.”
France example: “They tried voting by mail and there was fraud all over the country.”
Transgender Athletes in Women’s Sports
Trump devoted extensive time to criticizing policies allowing biological males to compete in women’s sports, using multiple detailed examples.
Long-distance running example: “They had a race, a long-distance race. They had champion men, women, you know, one of those marathon deals. The man finished five hours and 14 minutes and 36 seconds sooner. He beat the champion woman by five hours. It’s so demeaning to women, it’s so ridiculous.”
Weightlifting record (detailed description): Trump provided an elaborate story about a female weightlifter attempting to break an 18-year record:
- “One record stood for 18 years, and it was broken by 112 pounds. They couldn’t get one-eighth of an ounce… She’s out there, we’re adding one-eighth of an ounce to each side”
- The female lifter failed: “The girl gets it and—drops the thing, walks off the stage crying, her mother’s crying, her father’s crying”
- A transgender competitor then succeeded: “The guy gets up. They said, have you lifted before? A little bit. And he walks up, big, he could have gone ding, ding, ding, ding. I think it was 112 pounds”
Boxing at Olympics: Trump recounted an Italian female boxer facing a transgender opponent:
- “First round he hit her, boom, with a left… She’s like, oh my God. She walked to the corner, remember. She didn’t go down, but she did everything else but. She said I’ve never been hit like that before. I don’t want to go out again”
- “He happened to win the gold medal, that young woman, he won the gold medal. There were two transitioned people that both won gold medals”
Melania Trump’s reaction: Trump repeatedly referenced his wife’s disapproval of his gestures and dance moves: “My wife—by the way, my wife hates when I do this. [Laughter] She said—you know, she’s a very classy person, right? She said, it’s so un-presidential. I said, but I did become president.”
On dancing: “She hates when I dance. I said everybody wants me to dance. Darling, it’s not presidential. She actually said, could you imagine FDR dancing.”
Strategic timing: Trump revealed deliberate campaign strategy: “I don’t talk too much about the swimming, the weightlifting, the boxing. I don’t talk about it. You know why, I want to start bringing it up about a week before the election, because I don’t want them to correct themselves.”
Border Security and Immigration
Trump highlighted border security achievements while warning Republicans not to let voters forget the issue.
Shelving the issue: Trump revealed his speechwriter’s advice: “My guy said to me today—I have a great guy, Ross, he’s the greatest speechwriter. He said, sir, let’s not mention the border. Nobody cares about the border anymore… Says to me, nobody cares about the border because it has a shelf life. I fixed the border”
Trump’s concern: “The problem is people forget that I did it. They totally forget… In other words, I could have the most unbelievable four years, and I guess they’re not—I’m not allowed to run. I’m not sure. Is there a little something out there that I’m not allowed to run? But let’s assume I was allowed to run. I could have—there’s going to be a constitutional movement.”
Venezuela celebration: “Venezuela, everyone, they’re marching in the streets, they love it, except in New York. I mean, where do they find these people? These people—and they’re not like—these people are a mess… they got hats that are all frayed and all—they look like—they’re all paid.”
Gang violence—Tren de Aragua: Trump provided graphic descriptions of Venezuelan gang violence in Colorado:
- “Tren de Agua comes in and Tren de Aragua, they say it’s the worst gang in the world. It makes our gangs look like little sweethearts”
- “They cut off the fingers of people. One guy makes a phone call in Colorado. The governor stinks in Colorado. He has no control”
- Detailed story: A landlord called police about his building being taken over: “Did you call the police?… Yeah. Boom, they cut off his fingers. If you call them again, the next time your hand comes off”
- “Can you believe it, guys walking around, his fingers were cut off. And these are the animals that we’re throwing the hell out of here”
Washington DC Crime Reduction
Trump extensively promoted dramatic crime reduction in the nation’s capital.
Safety improvements:
- “Washington DC is now the safest city in the country”
- “We would have on average two murders a week in Washington. I don’t even like talking about it, two—two murders a week in Washington DC. We have—we haven’t had one in seven months”
- “People can walk out now. You can walk down with your wife down to the restaurants, which are booming, by the way”
New Year’s terrorism attack: Trump referenced a recent terror attack: “We had a terror attack four weeks ago and one person’s looking down from heaven and the other one is actually recuperating and going to make it, I think, but really badly hurt.” He praised the victim’s mother: “Most positive mother I’ve ever—no, my son’s going to be fine, sir… Two weeks ago, he got up and started walking around. It’s amazing, actually.”
Removal statistics: “We’ve took out over 2,000 people, brought them back to their countries from where they came or they’re in prison now in Washington… Two percent, three percent of the population causes 90 percent of the crime. Think of it, two percent of the population in Washington DC causes 90 percent of the crime.”
Military presence: Trump defended visible military deployment: “To me, those soldiers standing there look so good. I’m not going to feel safe walking down the street without them. I don’t think you would either… To me, they’re beautiful. I look at these soldiers and you feel safe.”
Chicago operations: Trump claimed success against local Democratic leadership: “We did a great job in Chicago. They don’t want to talk about it… against all this—this slob of a governor, this stupid slob, who the family threw him out of the business. He was a dope, and the Pritzker family, but they threw him out of the business.”
Cognitive Testing and Age
Trump advocated for mandatory cognitive testing for presidents and criticized opponents.
His own testing:
- “I’m the only president that went for cognitive. I think every president and vice president should be forced to take cognitive exams, mental tests, like, are they intelligent?”
- On medical exams: “If I don’t do a medical exam, because I’ve had times where I went longer, because I’m busy. If I don’t do a medical exam, they say Trump’s not doing an exam, there must be something wrong with him. If I do the exam, they say, ah, why did he do this?”
Media death rumors: Trump recounted a bizarre episode: “I took off two hours and the press couldn’t find me… Are you OK? Guys are calling me up, some of the guys in this room. Sir, are you OK? Yeah, what’s the problem? There’s a report, sir, that you’re no longer with us… I don’t want to use the D word. That’s such a horrible word. Dead.”
Political opponents: Trump questioned whether various Democrats could pass cognitive tests:
- On Kamala Harris: “Do you think Kamala could?”
- On Gavin Newsom: “I don’t think Gavin could. He’s got a good line of crap, but other than that he couldn’t pass”
- On Chicago Mayor: “He’s a low IQ person, extremely low IQ”
Stock Market Records
Trump repeatedly highlighted stock market performance as validation of his presidency.
Record-breaking frequency:
- “We set an all-time record again today. We have the highest stock market in the history of our country by far, every single market”
- “47 days out of 11 months, we have just a piece of the last month left for the first year, 47 days out of 11 months, we hit a new record”
- “We hit one last night. We hid—we hit another one today, I understand, but we hit one last night, a new record, brand-new record”
401(k) anecdote: Trump shared a story about a young policeman: “Sir, I want to thank you. What? My wife thinks I am the worst investor in the world and for the last year, I have—I have—she thinks now I’m Warren Buffett. She said, you’re smarter than Warren Buffett… I said, how’s your 401(k)? It’s doubled. It’s going up.”
Investment context: “We’ve got $18 trillion pouring into our country. You know why, because the tariffs. Because if they build a factory, they don’t have to pay any tariff. But if they make it in another country and they send it in, they have a very big tariff to pay.”
Biden Administration Criticism
Trump attacked the Biden administration on multiple fronts, particularly regarding the use of autopen for signatures.
Autopen controversy:
- “Most of the things were signed by autopen, and you’re not allowed to do that”
- “You could always tell an autopen. One thing, it has two little tiny dots, you know that, two little dots. You know what that’s from, two pins. They go bing, bing”
- “The guy barely knew the president. How many times did you speak to the president, right, he said two and they just spoke about the weather”
- “What is it, 95 percent of the things were signed by autopen. You can tell because the autopen is a nice, clean signature and his signature is a mess. The only thing he signed was—which is nice, was Hunter’s pardon”
Election legitimacy: “The election was rigged. He had no—he had no idea what happened. He still doesn’t.”
Policy criticism: Trump characterized Biden-era policies as: “We had the worst president, did the worst job. They had the worst policy.”
Tax Policy and “Great Big Beautiful Bill”
Trump outlined extensive tax cut proposals and urged Republicans to promote them aggressively.
Major tax proposals:
- “No tax on tips, no tax on Social Security, no tax on overtime”
- “You’re allowed to deduct if you buy a car and you take out a loan on the car. For the first time ever, middle income people—all people can deduct, but they never got a deduction before like this… You’re allowed to deduct the interest against your taxes”
- “It’s going to be phenomenal for the car companies, but it’s even more phenomenal for the people. It’s like getting a—you know, it’s like paying half for the car”
Legislation branding: Trump referred to comprehensive legislation as “the Great Big—I call it the Great Big, Beautiful Bill… There are so many goodies in the bill, you have to get the word out, because the people in the back of the room won’t do it.”
Energy Prices
Trump emphasized dramatic reduction in gasoline prices as a major achievement.
Price reductions:
- “I saw on television, energy prices are down three percent. No, they’re not down three percent. They were $3.50 and $4. It’s now $1.99 a gallon in many stations, many stations, and it’s going down further”
- “That’s like a massive tax cut”
Future plans: Trump announced upcoming meeting: “I’m also meeting with oil companies. Let’s go. You know—you know what that’s about, got a lot of oil to drill, which is going to bring down oil prices even further.”
January 6 and Media Coverage
Trump revisited the January 6, 2021 Capitol events with specific complaints about media coverage.
“Peacefully and patriotically” claim:
- “As an example in my speech, peacefully and patriotically. To the Capitol, peacefully and patriotically. Do you know that the Unselect Committee didn’t report it, that I said those words?”
- “Do you know that the news never reported the words walk or march, peacefully and patriotically to the Capitol? Do you know they never reported it? It’s a scandal”
Nancy Pelosi and security:
- “They never reported that Nancy Pelosi was offered 10,000 soldiers, national guard soldiers, whatever you want. No, I don’t want them, and the mayor”
- “Nancy got caught when her daughter did a documentary. She’s a documentary-ess, and she has her mother saying it’s my fault, I should have taken the soldiers, or something. I saw that in the document—I said, whoa. This was a major story”
Media Criticism
Trump attacked mainstream media extensively throughout the speech.
Credibility claims: “Think of it, I got 97 percent bad stories on one network, 93 percent on the other and I won in a landslide. You know what that means, the press has no credibility. That’s all it means.”
Wall Street Journal criticism: “It’s gone so far off the Wall Street Journal I don’t mention it. I refuse to tell you which. I refuse to tell you that it’s the Wall Street Journal. They’ve lost their way. This is not the Wall Street Journal of old.”
New York Times attack: Regarding a story about his schedule: “I never got to leave the seat. I couldn’t do anything. It was just one after another after another, and this went on from early in the morning till late in the evening. And my people gave out a report, he had lunch, they shall report lunch with somebody, and they did a story—Donald Trump is slowing down, he only had lunch and then he went back up.”
Live television preference: “That’s why I like being on, I’d much rather do live television than do non-live, because like when they say as an example in my speech, peacefully and patriotically.”
“That’s why I love live television because they can’t—well, sometimes they’ll turn the camera off, but they’re embarrassed when they do that.”
Intel and Corporate Negotiations
Trump revealed his approach to negotiating with corporations seeking government assistance.
Intel equity demand:
- “Intel came in, they had a problem. I said, I can solve the problem, but I think you should give the United States 10 percent of your company. He goes, whoa”
- “I’d love to accept it, but I don’t think that law enforcement would like that, right? I’m very cognizant of law enforcement, perhaps more than anybody in history”
Tax returns vindication: Trump defended his business integrity after tax return examination: “A friend of mine who’s really smart said, you know, you’ve got to be the most honest guy in history, because you have been examined, your books, your records… This friend of mine, this highly sophisticated rich guy, smart guy, said there’s nobody that I know that could have gone through an examination like that and not ended up in prison.”
Impeachments and Andrew Jackson Comparison
Trump discussed his two impeachments and claimed to be the most abused president in history.
Impeachment complaints:
- “I get a phone call, you just got impeached. I said, what does that mean? It took them 10 minutes. They impeached the president of the—who did a damn good job”
- “They impeached me for nothing, twice, for nothing”
- On the Ukraine call: “It was perfect. It was so good. I told Ukraine not to cheat. And if you see any cheating, report it to the Attorney General of the United States, that was—that was my call”
Historical comparison:
- “Andrew Jackson was the most abused president in the history of the United States. You know who second was? This was before me, you know who second was? Abraham Lincoln. But he had a civil war, so we have to give him a pass”
- “I just saw a report came out the other day. I blow them away. I blow—he never got impeached twice, I got impeached twice over nothing”
Tom Rice Replacement
Trump celebrated the primary defeat of Tom Rice, who voted to impeach him, and praised his replacement Russell Fry.
Primary victory:
- Rice “lost by 48 points” in a “Trump plus 40 district”
- “They had riots around his house that night. You know, he voted, I vote to impeach”
- Trump on finding a replacement: “Who the hell can run against this guy, Rice?… Just give me somebody, a warm body. And then—and then—no, no, it has to be a living, breathing person. And then if I could get a genius, it would be good”
Russell Fry’s success: “I spoke to him one time. I said, you’re accepted. But little did I realize how good he was—you did a great job. You’ve done a great job and the people love him.”
IVF and Fertilization
Trump positioned himself as having rescued Republicans on the IVF issue.
Alabama case:
- “I got a call from a very wonderful, young Senator from Alabama saying they had just lost a case. And the case—I’ve never been met with such scorn—friends of hers were—were just going crazy”
- “A judge ruled against and said all fertilization places have to be closed down like immediately. It would have been a disaster”
- “Fortunately, I picked it up and we became—we owned the issue”
Current concern: “Now I understand they’re trying to make a case on fertilization. You can’t let them do that. Very important issue.”
Midterm Election Strategy and Historical Pattern
Trump extensively addressed the historical challenge Republicans face in midterm elections.
Historical pattern:
- “It just doesn’t seem to happen for people that win the presidency. It’s an amazing phenomena… Even if it’s a successful presidency, there’s been nothing like what we’re doing… But even if it’s successful, they don’t win”
- “You can win by a lot. We won every swing state. We won the popular vote by millions. We won everything, but they say that when you win the presidency, you lose the midterm”
- “We’ve won two races in like 50 years… For whatever reason, I don’t know why, but just don’t fight it. It doesn’t make sense”
Call to action: “You’re all brilliant people. Most of you are in this business longer than me. That makes me smarter than you because look where I am, right? No, it doesn’t. But I wish you could explain to me what the hell is going on with the mind of the public.”
Ammunition provided: Trump emphasized he was providing “ammunition” and “a roadmap to victory. You have so many good nuggets. You have to use them.”
Unity emphasis: On Democrats: “They do stick together. They’re violent. They’re vicious. You know, they’re vicious people and they stick together like glue. They don’t have a couple of the people that we have, a couple of people, not too many, really very few.”
Impeachment warning: “You got to win the midterms because if we don’t win the midterms, it’s just going to be—I mean, they’ll find a reason to impeach me. I’ll get impeached. We don’t impeach them. You know why, because they’re meaner than we are. We should have impeached Joe Biden for 100 different things.”
Policy Contrast with Democrats
Trump characterized the fundamental policy divide as common sense versus extremism.
Overall framing: “We’re all common sense people. It’s not even conservative, it’s common sense, but the press has no credibility whatsoever.”
Democratic policies listed:
- Open borders
- Men in women’s sports
- Transgender operations without parental consent: “In some cases, like in Minnesota, they don’t even tell the parents… When a kid comes back, they keep the kid. They operate on the kid. They don’t tell the parents. It’s not believable. We have six states”
Unity contrast: “They have horrendous policy. What they do, is they stick together. They never have a no vote.”
Personal Reflections and Closing
Trump concluded with reflections on his relationship with House Republicans and his unscripted speaking style.
Speaking style: “You know, do you mind? Because I have—it’s called standard. But these things are so important because you guys got to get elected… So, we can’t play games. Ladies and gentlemen, the sun will rise tomorrow and when it rises, we will all—we don’t need this bullshit. We need to talk about favored nations.”
Weaving technique: “Let me just finish up because you know I weave—I love to weave. If you ever weave and don’t come back to the point, then that’s a problem. Then you say, but when you weave and you go here and boom, boom, boom, always coming back, then you’re in good shape.”
Reading from teleprompter: “I want to say that you are great people. We have all of the policy. We have wonderful—just stay together. You’ve got to—we’ve got a few people that make life very difficult… I haven’t read one word on this thing. Who the hell else could do this? And I think I gave you something, it’s just a roadmap and it’s a roadmap to victory.”
Final message: “You are amazing people. What you do for this country is incredible… We’ve had the most successful first year of any president in history and it should be a positive, and make it a positive. So with that, I leave you, I do. And I started by saying I love you all and I’ll end by saying I love you.”
MLA Citation
“Donald Trump Addresses a GOP House Member Retreat – January 6, 2026.” Factbase, 6 Jan. 2026, https://factba.se/transcript/donald-trump-speech-gop-house-retreat-january-6-2026. Accessed 7 Jan. 2026.