coming up next, remarks by representative madison cawthorn ahead of the rally this past weekend for former president trump in north carolina. during his brief speech, the congressman criticized leadership on capitol hill, as well as the biden administration. this is about 10 minutes. >> ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to the stage u.s. representative from north carolina 11th congressional district, madison cawthorn. rep. cawthorn: wow. >> usa, usa, usa, usa. rep. cawthorn: there is no better place to be than a rally

for the 40 fifth and 47th president of the united states, donald j. trump. i am from the mountains of western north carolina. i am very happy to come out to this congressional district. bo heinz is going to represent this area. incredible. i come from the mountains. my ancestors settled those mountains 270 years ago and they fought the revolutionary war there. i and dissented from patriots. it's the greatest honor of my life. we are individualistic, we love our independence, we want the government to stay out of our lives like most americans do. i will tell you, the levers of power in washington dc are controlled by dark forces. we have halls of congress being shoveled by cowards. we have a geriatric despot in the oval office. my friend, what's going on in our country, it is hard.

we are facing dark times. i know that many of you recognize that we are facing dark times. you also realize that america's greatest comeback happened when things seemed the hardest. the american spirit, when it is pushed against, that is when we fight the hardest. my friends, when i start seeing what is going on in our nation, when i see how quickly our country has changed. i think the adage that best describes this time in history is that hard times create strong men. and strongmen create good times. but those good times create weak men. and weak men create hard times. and you see what's going on in our nation right now. we have weak leadership. how quickly things have changed. my friends, i know about how things can change quickly. eight years ago, i was in a car with my best friend, we were driving in florida. i was asleep in the passenger seat. he fell asleep behind the wheel

and we ran into a concrete wall at 70 mile per hour. at that point, my friends, i have less than 1% chance to be able to live. i was destined to never stand again. i know how quickly things can change good we are now seeing our energy independence away from us. we are seeing our greatness ripped away from us. we are seeing how bad our country can be. we are seeing gas at five, up to seven dollars a gallon. my friends, this country can change very quickly. and it may seem impossible. people tell me it's impossible to change the direction of our country. that it is impossible to run out the corruption in our government. >> we love you. [applause]

rep. cawthorn: my friends, god spared my life. he has given me the strength to stand before you today, so do not lecture me on what is impossible. my fellow patriots, americans are in the business of doing the impossible because of god, all things are possible. many of you are tired, your use to a government that works for the elites, only works for the other side. and we have so many in the national parties of our country that believe that the key to saving our nation is keeping our platform and going after these nonexistent middle ground voters. my friends, there is no middle ground with marxists. the key to saving our nation is not going after these voters that do not exist, but going after the disenfranchised and and woman in our country. the people who do not even bother to vote because it has been proven to them time and time again that the government

will never work on their behalf. these are the line men, the welders, the people that actually make our economy run. what do they care about? what do we care about? we care about dining room politics, what actually affects your family if you gather together around the kitchen table. people care about raising their families in peace and prosperity. an economy that is so strong you can do it on a single income. they did not want defund the police, they want the funded police. they want safety. they want high paying steady jobs. they do not want to send their sons and daughters to fight and some foreign war. they do not want our borders to be open. but my friends, i am telling you the elites in our country -- and i've seen them in washington, they are afraid. they're acting desperate and that is lazy semi-see semi crazy things coming out of washington.

-- they are afraid. they tried to make you submit and bend the knee through fear. they called mothers who spoke at school boards domestic terrorist. but when they started coming for our children, they started coming for our freedoms. that is when the americans leaned in. that is when we said we will get louder and fight even harder, because this nation is worth saving. when the people forced the establishment candidate and elected donald trump as president of the united states, we showed how united this country could be. my friends, the quote that i think is so powerful is by mark twain. and it said in the beginning of a change, the patriot is a scarce man and he is brave and he is hated and he is scorned. but after his mission is successful, then the committee join him, because then it costs

nothing to be a patriot. my friends, we are in the beginning of a change. right now, we can make the decision, if were going to bury our sand -- heads in the sand and say we don't like politics because it's too dirty and too bad, i don't blame you. or we can decide that god chose us to live in this time accrued and just like queen esther, we were chosen as such a time as this. my friends, we were not cursed to live in uninteresting times. if you put america first patriots in power in washington dc, if we put donald trump back in command in the white house, my friends, we will embrace the spirit of our founding fathers. we will investigate anthony fauci and send them to jail for lying to congress. we will secure our borders and finally, my friends, we will

impeach joe biden for his dereliction of duty. thank you also much. my friends, may god bless you, may god bless donald trump, and may god bless the usa. >> [crowd chanting "usa"] >> thank you all. >> [cheering] >> c-span's washington journal every day. we take your calls live on the

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