we are going to have fun, ok? right? [applause] [cheering] mr. trump: there's always been something about west virginia. i'll tell you a little secret. i've always been fascinated by the mines. i always have. i don't know why. you know, i love construction. i love the whole thing. i can tell you more about caterpillar tractors than the people that work there. i just know, i love that business. i love construction and i love, i'll tell you, i've just always been fascinated by the mines and the courage of the miners. and the way the miners love what they do. they love what they do, you know? and i was talking to some of the people and i said, why don't they move, why don't they go some place else? of course, in this country

else, really go anywhere because you cannot get a job, because our jobs are going to everyone else but us. we're sending our jobs to mexico, china is taking our jobs, japan. they're all taking our jobs. folks, that's all going to change very rapidly, i promise. [applause] mr. trump: but the miners do not want to leave anyway. is that right? you want to stay here. you want to open the mines. we are going to open the mines. i see over here, "trump digs coal." look at that. "trump digs coal." that's true, i do. so, i've always been fascinated by it. i have been fascinated by the whole sequence of doing it. it is incredible the engineering now that is involved, and the safety and all that has taken place over the last number of years, especially over the last 10 years. and all of it's getting safe and, as it gets safe, they're taking it away from you in a different way. and i just think you are amazing people. and you watch what happens if i

win, we are going to bring those miners back. you're going to be so proud of your president. you are going to be so proud of your country. you watch. and the other night, we had a big night. we won indiana. and that was a great night. and i had so much help. bobby knight. boy, did he help me. wow, bobby knight. and we had lou holtz. the great coach from purdue. digger phelps. but i'll tell you bobby called me like a year ago and bobby won 900 games, won three championships, won the olympics. won the pan am games. a year ago, before i made up my mind, i get a call from bobby knight, w ho i've never met but i have known bobby knight. he's tough any smart and he knows how to win.

that is a good combination, right? by the way, that is what the country needs. and he calls me up, and i recognized his voice immediately, because -- he goes, mr. trump. this is bobby knight. i hope you run. i said, bobby, run for what? ok? i was three or four months ag away. i hope you run, mr. trump. you run for president you're going to make this country great and i've been following. you know what he is? he's an expert on talent. and he said, i hope you run. well, i said, i have not made up my mind yet, but i'd love your number and let me call you back if i decide to run. he said, you have my support. call me back. you know, a lot of time goes by. the races i'm winning and doing really great but you've been hearing me say it is a rigged system. but now i do not say it anymore because i won. ok?

so, now i don't care. i don't care. the only way i won is i won by such big margins because it is a rigged system. the only way you can do it, it is like a boxer, you have to knock them out and then you cannot worry about the judges. it is true. i tell that story. you knock them out and you do not have to worry about the judges, right? and i won by so much, and what happened with bobby, is a friend of mine from indiana, i said, who would be a good endorsement? this was so long ago that bobby called. he said, well, bobby knight would be the greatest endorsement you can get but i doubt you could get bobby knight. i said, i think i can. so, i'm sitting at my desk and i'm looking through all the stuff. i did not put it on iphone. right? i like the notes. the old-fashioned, put it under a pile of stuff, and i'm sitting at my desk and i look and there it is, bobby knight. and i call him up and he takes

up the phone and we are just about ready to go to indiana and he goes, i've been waiting for you to call. i said, that's right. bobby, you going to endorsement? he said, i'll see you next week. and we went into an arena like this and i will tell you the place went crazy. so, about a month and a half before, i was 10 points down. and then i went once, without bobby. we had tremendous receptivity. and by the time, just for one day. and i left. and we were two points up. and then i went for the final four, five days. i stayed there. and all i did was watch bad ads. i watched these horrible, phony ads, done by people who in my opinion are not honest people. but they were really -- some of them weren't so wrong.

a couple of them were. for the most part. but bad ads. one of them was club for growth. they came to my office. they asked me for $1 million. i said i'm not interested. and then they advertised against me. i mean, can you believe that? it is called welcome to the world politics. i'm looking at one ad after another. i said to my people, there is no way we can win. they had spent $9 million. they had thousands of these ads. in indiana, i said, there is no way. i just watched a program and it information that had four ads, all negative ads. my guys said, no, you are going to win. we won indiana in a landslide. it was amazing. amazing. it was amazing. and bobby and all of the guys, they were incredible. that endorsement was an amazing endorsement because he is revered in indiana. and outside of indiana, they know who bobby knight is because he is generally speaking, be at your basketball teams.

it is one of those things. so that was great. a couple weeks before that i won new york in a landslide. and new york is good. and the nice part about new york is they know me well. and the same thing with the ads, negative ads. negative ads. you know that thing, never trump. do you know why it's never trump? because i am going to stop the gravy train for all these consultants and all these people ripping off our country, the gravy train. so, never trump. by the way, a lot of these are calling up, mr. trump, i admire you greatly. sir, we would love the join a campaign. i said, didn't you do a horrible ad? two weeks ago? how do you pivot from that to saying you think i am a wonderful person. he said, no problem, sir. you know why? politicians. they can do that. i have a hard time.

so, now it's really caught on and everyone is happy. then we had, as you know, two weeks ago we had five -- we had maryland, which was unbelievable. all victories, by landslides. we had maryland, pennsylvania, where the miners there are just absolutely, they are dying to work. they're dying for work. and they're great people. they're great people. i do not know if they are as good as the west virginia miners. what do you think? i do not know. i don't know who's better. i don't know. they're damn good, but they are great people and dying for work. and i was in pittsburgh and i was around pennsylvania. so we won pennsylvania. we won connecticut. and in connecticut in won everything from greenwich of the poorest areas. they said, he won greenwich, we have very wealthy people. and he won the poorest areas. i won with men, i won with women. very important.

these people, you know, the media is the most dishonest group of people. but boy, they're killing me with the women. and i think i am doing great. you know, every state i've won with women, big -- i've won with men and women, rich and poor, highly educated, less than highly educated. white, african-american, we have won with every category. so i won the five states. and then, i won indiana. so, we won all of the stuff, and then it was all of a sudden like they just had enough. the could not stand trump winning. and they could not stand the fact that a person that has never done this politically before, and a person that is self funding his campaign -- i don't take the contributions -- [applause]

mr. trump: and by the way, for the general election, i am going to help raise money for the party, and they'll work with us but we are going to need -- the democrats are going to raise $2 billion. you believe it? this is politics. $2 billion. and i'm also going to put in a lot of money in the general. but we're helping to raise money. we have a great group and we are raising money for the party. and we're going to get a lot of other people elected with us, i will tell you. so, so, it's been amazing, folks. it has been amazing. and that's when, this was going to be next. and i really wanted to come here. and i just did not have a hard to say, thanks a lot, west virginia. you know, i do not have the heart. i have, by the way, i have a team of people that were so great and they were so disappointed that i won early. they wanted to win like now, so they get a little of the credit. i said, we just picked up all the delegates, we do not have to do anything. right?

but i'm glad to be here because i love you people. real. the real people. you're the real, real people. you made this country great, remember that. you made this country great. they did not have ridiculous regulations that put you out of business, they did not have these ridiculous rules and regulations that make it impossible for you to compete. so, we are going to take all of that off the table and you had better do well and you had better compete and make me proud of you, ok? you will be proud of me. but make me proud of you. so, i got a fantastic endorsement a little while ago. and, you know, your coal association, west virginia coal association just endorsed me. [applause] [cheering] mr. trump: well, let's put it this way. it was between me and hillary.

[booing] mr. trump: and we really affectionately call her crooked hillary. right? crooked hillary. it was between me and crooked hillary. and you know how long i said they were in the room? about like 20 seconds. that is how long it took. but i would like to ask a couple of the guys to come up because they are fantastic people. and if i can had chris come up, and bill. chris is going to represent bill. bill is back there. getting up on the stage is not so easy for him right now. but chris, come on up if you would, please. thank you very much. i love this. see, i come here, i get an award. it is probably a hat. or it is probably a hard hat. i like hardhats.