President Donald Trump rallied thousands at Wheeler High School in Marietta, Georgia, on July 22, 2026, to boost Republican Senate nominee Mike Collins and gubernatorial nominee Rick Jackson ahead of the November midterms, delivering an hour-plus address that mixed economic boasts (a disputed $19.2 trillion investment figure, falling egg prices, a stock market he says has hit 73 record highs) with a somber tribute to a fallen Marietta-area soldier, a hard sales pitch for the new “Trump Accounts” child savings program and the TrumpRx drug-pricing website, and a blistering, communism-themed attack on Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff. He also touched on the ongoing conflict with Iran, the U.S.-brokered oil arrangement following the ouster of Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro, and a legislative wish list — the SAVE Act, an end to the Senate filibuster, and a new health care plan — that he wants Congress to finish before the midterms. Assistance from Claude AI.
Who Spoke
- President Donald J. Trump — 47th President of the United States
- Rick Jackson — Republican nominee for Georgia governor (businessman, founder of Jackson Healthcare)
- (Unidentified speaker, “Cole”) — Georgia father and Trump Account beneficiary parent
- (Unidentified speaker, “Dean”) — Georgia entrepreneur and Trump Account beneficiary parent
- Brandt/Brian Snedeker — identified in the transcript as a Braves-affiliated speaker (see fact-check note below on likely transcription error)
- Mike Plant — President and CEO of Braves Development Company, Atlanta Braves
- Trump also name-checked, without giving them the podium: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent; Secretary of Education Linda McMahon; Small Business Administration head Kelly Loeffler; U.S. Treasurer Brandon Beach; Cobb County Schools Superintendent Chris Ragsdale; Faith & Freedom Coalition founder Ralph Reed; attorney David Schoen; activist Alveda King; Rep. Mike Collins (GA-10, Senate nominee, who did not attend because he was in Washington to vote); State Senate candidates Brian Strickland (attorney general) and Greg Dolezal (lieutenant governor); State Rep. Tim Fleming (secretary of state candidate); and State Rep. Houston Gaines (congressional candidate).
Opening: A Joke About Running Again, and a Disputed Vote-Total Claim
Trump opened by joking he was there “to announce my candidacy,” then pivoted to Georgia’s 2024 results, saying “we earned more votes than any candidate in Georgia history.”
Fact-check: Trump did win Georgia in 2024, but narrowly — by about 2.2 points, roughly 117,000 votes, according to results reported by NBC News and The Washington Post. Because Georgia’s population and turnout have grown over time, Trump’s raw vote total may indeed be the highest ever cast for a candidate in the state, but that’s a function of population growth, not a landslide; his 2024 margin was actually narrower than some of his other statewide wins.
The Economy: Investment, Jobs, Inflation, and the Stock Market
Trump’s central economic argument was a $19.2 trillion investment figure, which he contrasted with what he described as under $1 trillion in new investment secured during the Biden administration.
Fact-check: Trump has repeated the $19.2 trillion figure in multiple public appearances. A CBS News review found no documentation supporting a figure of that scale — the White House’s own itemized tally of foreign investment commitments totals closer to $6 trillion, led by pledges from the UAE, Qatar, and Japan, and much of the rest reflects previously announced domestic corporate spending rather than new money. The claim about Biden-era investment levels was not independently verified in available reporting.
He cited specific Georgia projects that check out: UCB, a Belgian pharmaceutical company, is investing $2 billion in a manufacturing plant in Gwinnett County — confirmed by Georgia’s state economic development office and Gov. Brian Kemp’s office in March 2026, with a projected 330 jobs and roughly $5 billion in total economic impact. He also cited a Japanese-backed diamond-processing facility investment and a new Yamaha Motors headquarters in Kennesaw; those specific figures could not be independently corroborated in available coverage, though Yamaha’s Kennesaw presence is well-established.
On inflation, Trump said price growth “dropped by the largest amount in more than six years” in the most recent report. Fact-check: Reporting on the June 2026 Consumer Price Index shows headline inflation fell 0.4 percentage points month over month — the largest single-month drop since April 2020 — with annual inflation easing to 3.5 percent. That is broadly consistent with Trump’s claim, though it followed a stretch in which annual inflation had climbed to 4.2 percent in the spring, partly attributed to an oil-price shock connected to the Iran conflict — a run-up Trump did not mention.
On eggs, Trump said prices are “lower than when we started.” Fact-check: Commodity price data shows the average dozen-egg price fell dramatically, from roughly $4.95 in January 2025 to about $2.14 by June 2026 — support for his claim, though egg prices are volatile week to week and were higher, not lower, during parts of his first year in office.
He claimed the stock market has hit “73 all-time highs since the election” and that a “typical” 401(k) is up $34,000. Fact-check: Specific counts of record closes were not independently confirmed, but the market has been on a sustained upward run during 2026. Trump has cited slightly different 401(k) figures over time — he said in June 2026 that the typical account was up almost $30,000 over 13 months — so the $34,000 figure in this speech appears to be an updated, escalating version of a recurring talking point rather than a one-time data point from a specific source.
Border Security and Crime
Trump claimed “a historic record of zero illegal aliens have been admitted” over the past 14 months and that the murder rate hit “the lowest level in 125 years,” dating to 1900.
Fact-check: U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Department of Homeland Security have in fact published a running series of releases — as recently as July 16, 2026 — touting “14 straight months of zero releases” of migrants into the U.S. interior pending court proceedings, a different (and narrower) claim than “zero illegal aliens admitted,” since it refers to a specific border-processing policy rather than total unauthorized entries. On the murder rate, Fox News and other outlets reported the White House’s own claim that the national murder rate fell to its lowest level since 1900. Independent researchers, including the Council on Criminal Justice, have found 2025 homicide data trending toward the lowest rate ever recorded in records dating to 1900, but fact-checkers such as PolitiFact caution that pre-1960 data isn’t strictly comparable to modern statistics, making the “125 years” framing more of a best estimate than a hard number — and note the decline in violent crime began before Trump’s second term.
He also cited a 67 percent cut in fentanyl crossing the border and a 97 percent cut in maritime drug seizures. Fact-check: This is one of the more contested claims in the speech. Nationwide fentanyl seizures did fall sharply — reported at around 45 percent lower in fiscal 2025, with monthly drops as steep as 70 percent in some months. But whether that reflects successful interdiction, as the administration argues, or simply fewer agents assigned to narcotics work after resources were redirected toward immigration enforcement, is disputed; a senior drug enforcement official cited by reporters raised the latter possibility. Fewer seizures could mean less product is crossing, or it could mean less of what is crossing is being caught — the data alone doesn’t settle it. On the encouraging side, fentanyl overdose deaths did fall substantially, from roughly 48,900 in 2024 to about 38,000 in 2025.
He also referenced a specific illegal-alien murder case in Clayton County and a sexual-assault case in Bullock County; those localized law enforcement claims could not be independently verified in available national reporting but are the kind of case-specific claims typically confirmed or denied by county-level records.
Foreign Policy: Iran and Venezuela
Trump described an ongoing “skirmish” with Iran and said Iranian security forces have killed more than 52,000 protesters over the “last four months.”
Fact-check: The U.S. and Israel did launch a coordinated military campaign against Iran on February 28, 2026, targeting nuclear and military infrastructure, and large protests broke out in U.S. cities in response. Human rights groups have reported that Iranian security forces killed “tens of thousands” of demonstrators in the ensuing crackdown, but no source found in this research corroborates the specific figure of 52,000. That number should be treated as an unverified, Trump-sourced claim.
Trump also devoted several minutes to an emotional account of attending a dignified-transfer ceremony at Dover Air Force Base for Lieutenant Tyler Feehan, one of four service members killed in the Iran conflict, and to giving Feehan’s grieving family — his mother Shari, father Stephen, and uncle David — a ride to Georgia aboard Air Force One. This is a personal, human-interest account rather than a statistical claim, and it could not be independently fact-checked from available sources, but it is consistent with established Dover dignified-transfer protocol for fallen troops.
On Venezuela, Trump said the U.S. “won” the country, which is “now working with us to produce millions and millions of barrels of oil,” and claimed the U.S. and Venezuela together control “62 percent of the world’s oil market.”
Fact-check: This claim rests on real events: U.S. military action led to the capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, and reporting describes a subsequent deal in which Venezuela’s interim authorities agreed to transfer 30 to 50 million barrels of sanctioned oil to the United States, alongside talks aimed at reopening Venezuela’s oil sector to American companies. However, the 62 percent global oil market-share figure is not supported by industry data — combined U.S. and Venezuelan production is nowhere close to that share of global output, which would require control far beyond what OPEC’s largest members hold collectively. That specific statistic appears to be a significant exaggeration.
Tax Cuts, Tips, Overtime, and the “Big Beautiful Bill”
Trump touted the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” which he signed into law in 2025, crediting it with the “largest tax cuts in American history” along with new deductions for tipped income, overtime pay, Social Security benefits, and American-made car loans. He cited Georgia-specific figures: 130,000 tipped workers saving an average of more than $7,000; 700,000 workers saving an average of over $3,000 from the overtime deduction; and 500,000 seniors paying $0 in taxes on Social Security benefits.
Fact-check: The bill’s tip, overtime, and Social Security tax provisions are real and were central, contested features of the legislation. Sen. Jon Ossoff and Sen. Raphael Warnock both voted against the overall bill, and Ossoff has publicly warned it will strain hospitals and nursing homes and cut roughly $1 trillion from Medicaid — a consequence Trump did not mention in his remarks. The specific Georgia-level savings figures Trump cited (the $7,000, $3,000, and “$0” numbers) could not be independently verified against state-level IRS filing data in available sources, though the underlying tax provisions they describe are accurately characterized.
The Trump Accounts
A major focus of the visit was “Trump Accounts” — a new federal program depositing $1,000 into a tax-advantaged investment account for every eligible newborn, with parents, relatives, and employers able to contribute up to $5,000 a year. Trump said “over 7 million” children were already enrolled, that billionaires Michael and Susan Dell had donated “$6,250,000,000” to fund accounts, and that nearly $1.5 billion had been deposited to accounts in “the past 18 days.”
Fact-check: Trump Accounts are a genuine federal program that formally launched July 4, 2026, per NPR and The Hill, covering children born between 2025 and 2028, with a $1,000 seed deposit and a $5,000 annual contribution cap — matching Trump’s description almost exactly. Independent reporting near launch put enrollment above 4 million children, so the 7 million figure Trump cited reflects continued growth in the roughly two weeks since, which is plausible but not independently confirmed at that precise number. The $1.5 billion deposited figure and the $6.25 billion Dell donation figure could not be independently verified in available sources; note that Trump at one point in the same speech also referred to the Dells’ gift as “250 million,” creating an internal inconsistency in his own remarks. He also announced during the event, via Rick Jackson, that Georgia would match the federal $1,000 with a state contribution if Jackson is elected governor — a campaign promise, not existing law.
Drug Pricing: TrumpRx and “Most Favored Nation” Pricing
Trump described a “Most Favored Nation” policy requiring drugmakers to charge the U.S. no more than other wealthy countries pay, delivered through the new TrumpRx.gov website, and recounted pressuring French President Emmanuel Macron with a threatened 200 percent tariff on wine and champagne.
Fact-check: This is one of the more solidly documented claims in the speech. Trump signed an executive order on Most Favored Nation drug pricing in May 2025, and TrumpRx.gov launched in the fall of 2025 as a direct-to-consumer purchasing platform, with the White House announcing more than a dozen pharmaceutical manufacturer deals since. Specific examples cited in White House materials include drugs such as Ozempic and Wegovy dropping from roughly $1,000–$1,350 per month to $350 through the platform — a substantial cut, though not universal across all drugs, and independent analysts (including outlets like Forbes) have cautioned the policy’s real-world impact on most patients’ bills remains limited so far since it applies to a specific list of medications rather than the entire pharmaceutical market. The Macron anecdote could not be independently verified but is consistent with Trump’s public tariff threats against European goods during trade disputes.
Attacks on Ossoff and “Communism” Rhetoric
Trump devoted a substantial portion of the speech to attacking Sen. Jon Ossoff, calling him and other Senate Democrats “communists,” and listing votes Ossoff took against the border bill, the tax legislation, Trump Accounts, and voter ID requirements, tying those in with the broader “SAVE America Act” push for citizenship-verification and photo ID requirements at the polls.
Fact-check: Ossoff and Warnock’s opposition to the “Big Beautiful Bill” — which combined the tax provisions, border funding, and other measures into a single package — is well documented, though Ossoff and other opponents frame their “no” votes as being about Medicaid cuts and program costs, not opposition to tax relief or border security as standalone issues. There is no evidence supporting the characterization of Ossoff or congressional Democrats generally as “communists”; that is a political label, not a factual claim, and Trump’s own campaign materials and past remarks describe Ossoff instead as a mainstream Democrat. The SAVE Act is a real, actively debated piece of legislation requiring proof-of-citizenship documentation and photo ID for voter registration, and it has passed the House multiple times but has stalled in the Senate, consistent with Trump’s complaint about the chamber.
Guests, Endorsements, and a Braves Cameo
Trump brought up two Georgia families benefiting from Trump Accounts, introduced a slate of down-ballot Republican candidates, and closed with an appearance by Atlanta Braves executives, thanking “Mike Plant” and a second speaker the transcript identifies as “Brandt Snedeker” (also rendered “Brian Snedeker”) for presenting him with a team jersey.
Fact-check: Mike Plant is confirmed as President and CEO of Braves Development Company. Brandt Snedeker is a professional golfer with no known connection to the Atlanta Braves; the Braves’ actual co-CEO alongside Plant is Derek Schiller. This appears to be a transcription error by the wire service — the speaker was very likely Schiller, misheard or mis-rendered by the stenographer — rather than a claim Trump himself made about golf.
The Rest of the Agenda: Healthcare, Crime, and the Filibuster
Trump closed with a rundown of unfinished priorities: a “Great Healthcare Plan” that would redirect insurance-company payments directly to patients, tougher penalties for repeat violent offenders and an end to no-cash-bail policies, and a push for Senate Republicans to eliminate the legislative filibuster to pass voter-ID and election-law measures before Democrats, in his telling, could do the same to admit Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico as states. These were framed explicitly as future goals rather than completed actions, and are accurately described as live, unresolved debates in Congress as of this writing.
Source
President Donald J. Trump Delivers Remarks, Wheeler High School, Marietta, Georgia. Political Transcript Wire, 22 July 2026, ProQuest, www.proquest.com/wire-feeds/president-donald-j-trump-delivers-remarks-wheeler/docview/3367159758/se-2