SYRACUSE, N.Y. — The Golden Age rolled into upstate New York Friday night. President Donald J. Trump packed the Nicholas J. Pirro Convention Center at Oncenter in downtown Syracuse, standing room only, and opened with a line only he could deliver: “A very, very special hello to Syracuse. We love Syracuse… And it’s great to be back in upstate New York, just a short distance from the beautiful shores of Lake America,” the lake the President renamed from Lake Ontario by executive order in August. Then he got to business. “With your vote just 25 days from now, New York is going to defeat radical left governor Kathy Hochul. And we’re going to send Bruce Blakeman to the Governor’s Mansion, and he’s going to do a job like you’ve never seen.”
The President made the case against one-party Democrat rule in Albany. “Kathy Hochul and the radical Democrats have turned New York into a national embarrassment of high cost, high crime, massive corruption, and communist politicians chasing jobs and businesses and wealth,” he said, ticking off the highest taxes, the worst business climate and more people leaving than any state in America. On energy, he said New York is sitting on some of the greatest oil reserves in the world but is not allowed to touch them, and he made a promise for Nassau County Executive Blakeman: “If Bruce Blakeman gets in, he will cut your electric bills by 70, 80, and 90%.” He also praised Blakeman’s running mate, Madison County Sheriff Todd Hood, and Kailee Buller, the Republican running to flip New York’s 22nd Congressional District.
He renewed the biggest promise of the midterm season. “If Republicans win the House of Representatives and the Senate, I am going to give all adult citizens in the United States of America $5,000 each,” the President said. “If the Democrats win, you will have a 1929-style economic depression. If the Republicans win, you will each have $5,000 in your pocket.” He called it the Trump Dividend, paid for by tariff revenue and record growth, with one condition: spend it in the USA. And he blasted this year’s Nobel Peace Prize decision after settling eight wars: “This is an indelible stain on the country of Norway and those people that made such a disgraceful and embarrassing decision.”
Then came the moment the arena will remember. “I think we have to call him up, right? Mike Tyson, will you get up here?” the President said, and the former heavyweight champion of the world, who traveled to Syracuse with the President along with New York Yankees President Randy Levine, took the lectern. “I’m just happy to be up here with my president, President Trump,” Tyson told the crowd. “There’s no way in the world I would ever be here if it wasn’t for a president like Donald Trump.” The President’s reply: “I don’t want to fight him.” Energy Secretary Chris Wright, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin and border czar Tom Homan were also in the room.
The President’s ask was simple: “Please pretend I’m on the freaking ballot.” Early voting in New York runs October 24 through November 1, and Election Day is November 3. “We’re in the golden age of America,” he said, closing the night the way he always does: “Together, we will make America powerful again… And most importantly, we will make America great again. Thank you, Syracuse. Thank you, New York.” Watch the Official White House video.
