Donald Trump ‘victory’ speech in full as he declares ‘I like you Elon Musk’

Donald Trump declared “I love you, Elon Musk” as he claimed a “magnificent victory for American people” during his “victory” speech.

With the election result almost a formality, Trump took to the podium in West Palm Beach, Florida, to talk borders, taxes and wars – and to give a little love to the people who backed him every step of the way in this “golden age for America“. He was also joined on stage by some of his high-profile backers, who heaped praise on the “victor”, including tech billionaire Elon Musk and UFC boss, Dana White.

Chants of “USA, USA” rang around the campaign headquarters from his jubilant supporters, as he prepared to address the crowd, and kicked off his speech by thanking everyone and praising the “incredible MAGA movement”.

“Frankly I believe this was the greatest political movement of all time,” he said, adding it’s now going to go to another level of importance.

He told the audience that he’s going to “help our country heal”, claiming it “needs help very badly,” and promised to “fix our borders, and everything”.

“It’s clear that… this is a political victory,” he said. “I want to thank the American people for the extraordinary honour of being elected your 47th president and your 45th president. Every citizen, I will fight for you and your future.

“Every single day I will be fighting for you, with every single breath in my body. I will not rest until we have delivered the strong, safe and prosperous America that children deserve.”

Declaring his victory Trump said this will “truly be the golden age for America”. “This is a magnificent victory for the American people that will allow us to make America great again” he said. “And that you deserve. This will truly be the golden age for America.”

Trump said the victory will allow the Republicans to “make America great again”. Trump said he will obtain 315 electoral votes by the end of the race, although many states are still to be confirmed.

He proudly announced: “We have also won the popular vote, which is great. We have a great feeling of love in this very large room. With unbelievable people standing by my side – these people have been incredible. We’re going to make you very happy, we’re going to make you very proud of your vote.”

He said America has given Republicans a “powerful mandate” and noted the party has “taken back control of the Senate”. Then he listed several Senate races which he said were “won by the MAGA movement”. “They were tough races… the number of victories in the Senate was absolutely incredible,” he said.

“It also looks like we’ll be keeping control of the House of Representatives.”

Trump also thanked his “beautiful wife” Melania, saying she “has done a great job” and “works very hard”. He also said Melania’s late mother would “be very happy right now standing on this stage. She’d be so proud”.

The former president also thanked his “amazing children”. Vice president JD Vance then took to the podium where he paid tribute to Trump, thanking him for the opportunity and vowing to fight for the people and their children.

He said: “I think that we just witnessed the greatest political comeback in the history of the United States of America.” Trump then went onto call a few people forward to the podium to speak, before continuing his own speech, by adding: “Everybody up here is very special.”

And as fans yelled out “Elon,” Trump said: “We have a new star – a star is born, Elon [Musk]! He is an amazing guy, we were sitting together tonight. He spent two weeks in Philadelphia and different parts of Pennsylvania campaigning.”

He recounted watching a SpaceX rocket launch, saying only Elon is capable of such a thing. “That’s why I love you, Elon,” he added.

He also hails Elon Musk’s use of the Starlink communications system in the aftermath of a recent hurricane in North Carolina – a swing state Trump is projected to win. “It was great, it saved a lot of lives,” Trump said. “He saved a lot of lives.”

Trump added America needed to “protect our super geniuses”, saying: “We don’t have that many of them.”

UFC boss Dana White, who has been a vocal supporter of Donald Trump through the election campaign, was next to be invited to speak. White said no one deserved the victory more, and called the result “karma”. “He keeps going forward. He doesn’t quit. He’s the most resilient, hardworking man I’ve ever met in my life,” he added.

After Dana White’s short speech, Donald Trump picked back up. “I want to thank the millions of hardworking Americans across the nation who have always been the heart and soul of this really great movement,” he said.

“This will forever be remembered as the day the American people regained control of their country.” He also teased a potential high-profile role for Robert F Kennedy Jr, who he says will “make America healthy again”.

Continuing his speech, Donald Trump declared that he is going to “stop wars”. He said the Republicans are the “party of common sense”. Referring to his previous presidency, he claimed: “We had no wars, for four years we had no wars. Except we defeated ISIS.

“We defeated ISIS in record time, but we had no wars. They said ‘he will start a war’. I’m not going to start a war, I’m going to stop the wars.”

Trump claimed this was a huge victory for “democracy” and “freedom”: “We are going to unlock America’s glorious destiny, we’re going to achieve the most incredible future for our people.”

Trump said he will make the US “better than it ever has been”, adding he has been told “God spared my life for a reason” after an assassination attempt in Pennsylvania in July. “That reason is to save our country and to return America to greatness,” he said. “And now we are going to fulfil that mission.”

Trump added: “It’s time to put the divisions of the last four years behind us, it’s time to unite, and we’re going to try – we have to try – and it’s going to happen. Success will bring us together.”

He concluded his speech with a simple send-off: “God bless you, and God bless America.”