Kelly Loeffler on GOP midterm convention

And one of your points of contrast on that, Kelly Loeffler, is what's going on in New York City with Mayor Mamdani and five government-backed grocery stores, one in each borough. You have criticized them extensively. I know you believe generically that socialism is inefficient and ineffective. So why are you worried about five grocery stores when there are more than 1,000 grocery stores in bodegas already in New York? If socialism is inefficient and ineffective, why are you worried? Well, first of all, let's be very clear. The American people do not believe in socialism. And the idea that taxpayers need to fund government-run grocery stores when there are already small, generational family businesses doing that, it's just wrong. They've failed everywhere else. And guess what they do? They chase out the existing competition in that area. And then the residents would be left with a food desert once the government experiment fails again. That is the contrast of what President Trump has delivered. Growth-- we have all-time record business formation in America right now, over half a million new businesses every single month. We have over 600,000 new jobs. The government didn't do that. Free enterprise did that. That's what's at stake here.

Speaking of small businesses, there is an effort afoot-- and there's a public comment period until later this month, September 21-- to reclassify what a small business is in terms of receiving grants from the federal government. Why is that necessary? And what do you say, Kelly Loeffler, to small businesses who fear this reclassification could make small businesses now compete with things that make a billion dollars a year and employ more than 3,000 people? Well, I'm here in my personal capacity, but I can tell you what the Trump administration has done very effectively, which is deregulate onerous and complex regulations that small businesses disproportionately bear the brunt of. Now, that's happening across every type of business or entity in America. It's not just for small businesses. It's for employers writ-large, which is why we have a booming hiring expansion right now happening. And so in terms of any regulations, what we're doing is getting the finger off the backs of the small business, letting them grow. But here's what's going on at this convention. We're talking about why free enterprise works, not government regulation. And that's President Trump's commitment to the American people. For every new regulation that went into place, over 1,000 regulations have been removed. And that was a cost of $5 trillion that the Biden administration has put on the backs of hard-working Americans and businesses.

Very quickly, the president said today, before he arrived in Dallas, that oil prices-- and therefore, gas prices-- will be high and remain high until after the midterms. That cannot be good news for small businesses. Well, look, the president is doing what he promised to do, which is deliver strength on a world stage and energy dominance. This is a short-term situation that's going to be replaced permanently by long-term lower energy prices. Look, the Democrats have a policy of high energy prices. Don't forget, four years ago, we reached an average of $5 per gallon across the country with no conflict going on. And so the president--

Yeah, Kelly Loeffler-- --has unleashed American energy production. That's what matters to the American people. I appreciate the time very much. Thank you for joining us from Dallas.