President Donald Trump campaigned on Tuesday in Texas to support Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and other Republicans with the midterms approaching on Nov. 3.
During his hour-plus speech in Corpus Christi, Trump talked about the war with Iran, his border policies, and highlighted the successes he said his tariffs were producing while suggesting the United States could make Venezuela a 51st state.
“These rallies have really energized the Republican Party,” the president told the Corpus Christi crowd.
Paxton is running for a U.S. Senate seat and facing Democrat James Talarico. Republicans control both chambers of Congress. The GOP has a 53–45 majority in the Senate. There are two independents who caucus with the Democrats. In the House, Republicans hold a 218–214 majority with one independent and two vacancies.
Trump said before the speech in Corpus Christi in a post on Truth Social that the United States would receive 1 million barrels of Venezuelan oil at no cost to American taxpayers.
The shipment was the result of a U.S. military operation and a subsequent oil deal with Venezuela, according to Trump. He described it as the first shipment of billions of barrels to come.
“Thanks to our renewed relationship with Venezuela, which has turned out to be a truly excellent one, the oil is being provided to the United States at no cost to the American taxpayer,” Trump said on Truth Social.
The president also predicted that gasoline and diesel prices would soon fall, saying his administration had made the Western Hemisphere the “energy capital of the world.”
Trump said the U.S. military has knocked out 159 Iranian ships, which he said was all the country had. He also said the U.S. military has struck down 288 Iranian jets, which Trump said was all the jets Iran had.
He repeated that the United States couldn’t let Iran have a nuclear weapon, and predicted the war would end “very soon.”
The most difficult situation Trump said he has faced was the border situation. Trump told the crowd 25 million people came across the border under the Biden administration and that in the last 18 months none came across the border into the country.
Trump said he’d rather the number be 116 or 203 rather than zero, because it was so hard to believe.
“The number is actually zero,” Trump said.
The Department of Homeland Security and Customs and Border Protection reported Oct. 16 that Border Patrol agents made 98,708 apprehensions along the southwest border in fiscal 2026. The agencies said September marked the 17th consecutive month in which Border Patrol released no apprehended migrants into the country.
Trump brought to the podium Alexis Nungaray, the mother of Jocelyn Nungaray, a 12-year-old girl who was murdered in Houston on June 17, 2024. Two illegal immigrants from Venezuela whom the White House alleged were Tren de Aragua gang members are charged with the crime.
Alexis Nungaray blamed her daughter’s death on the border policies of “the prior administration.”
Trump also repeated his promise to give $5,000 to each U.S. adult citizen if the Republicans maintain control of the House and Senate after the midterm elections.
We had a problem loading this article. Please enable javascript or use a different browser. If the issue persists, please visit our help center.