President Trump paid a visit to Fort Bragg, North Carolina, earlier today to meet, and presumably decorate, the members of 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta, also known as Delta Force or Combat Applications Group, involved in the capture of Venezuelan strongman Nicolas Maduro. Trump also took the time to praise the military, point to his administration's accomplishments, and excoriate the Democrats.
The event kicked off with a brief speech by Melania Trump, and she introduced President Trump to the audience.
In terms of content, it was pretty much a standard stump speech, somewhat tailored for a military audience. It was also a speech keenly aware of the importance of the 2026 midterms.
Trump's walk-up music was, naturally, Lee Greenwood's "God Bless the U.S.A."
His first point was that the U.S economy is booming. He returns to that theme several other times.
We're hitting all-time high stock numbers. were hitting uh all-time high S&P and Dow numbers. You saw that a few days ago at the end of the first year. They said that it was going to take maybe four years, the end of the term to hit 50,000 on the Dow. We did it in one year. And and likewise to hit 7,000 on the S&P was going to take at least four years. Could be five or six. We did it in one year. So, and all I know is forget about the stock market. forget about Wall Street. Your your 401ks are doing very well. I don't have to ask you. Is anybody doing poorly with their 401k? If they were, you're a pretty bad investor, I'll tell you.
His audience was mostly troops from the 1st Brigade Combat Team of the 82d Airborne Division, the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment. The brigade is known as the "Devil's Brigade" because of the sobriquet "devils in baggy pants." This comes from a diary entry of a deceased German officer at Anzio: "American parachutists — devils in baggy pants — are less than 100 meters from my outpost line. I can’t sleep at night; they pop up from nowhere, and we never know when or how they will strike next. Seems like the black-hearted devils are everywhere…”
Trump seemed taken a little off guard by the nickname: "...also known as the devils in baggy pants. What's that all about? The devils. They are devil."
The political figures traveling with Trump were Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, Senator Ted Budd (R-NC), and North Carolina Representatives Mark Harris (NC-08), Pat Harrigan (NC-10), David Rouzer (NC-07), Addison McDowell (NC-06), and Richard Hudson (NC-08). He made sure everyone knew that Rep. Hudson was the force behind a massive upgrade in barracks, quarters, and facilities coming to Fort Bragg. I was sort of surprised that Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll were not there. Wonder what they were doing...
Trump's favored front-runner to replace retiring senator Thom Tillis, Michael Whatley, was given the chance to address the audience.
There were plenty of strokes taken against the Democrats, in general, and Joe Biden, in particular. Trump lauded the quantity and quality of military enlistments and reminded the audience what recruiting had been like for the last four years.
The heroes were clearly the Delta operators. Trump seemed in awe of them as he described their accomplishments.
There was one classic Trump moment.
A lot of Republicans, they come in, they don't do anything about it. I do beyond what anyone's ever done, not even close to give you all of the equipment you need.We're also purchasing 30 new and modified Abrams tanks. Still the best tank, right? still was named in honor of Stacy Abrams.
His walk-off music was "YMCA," because of course it was.
The local outlet covering the speech made this observation: "The energy in the room varied, with those packed near the front laughing at Trump’s jokes and cheering throughout the speech. Others, standing toward the back, remained quiet and expressionless." My perception was that the energy was not comparable to the raucous rally in June; see Trump's Fort Bragg Speech Praises the Army and Slams Los Angeles Rioters – RedState. It makes you wonder if the word went out to tone down the enthusiasm.
The trip did what it needed to do. It gave a thousand or so American soldiers the chance to see and hear their commander-in-chief up close and personal. It paid homage to the men on the Maduro raid and to the military in general. And it introduced some campaign themes for the upcoming elections. I would have preferred it if Trump had toned down the partisan politics, but he is who he is, and what he does works for him.
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