Trump’s Award Speech for Musk: “First, let us pay tribute to an industrial titan, a brilliant engineer, and one of the greatest technology founders of all time. His name is Elon Musk. Honestly, no one else is like him. Throughout history, few Americans have done more than Elon to advance the national interests of the United States. Again and again, his genius and determination have turned science fiction into reality. In 2002, Elon founded SpaceX with his life savings and, under nearly impossible conditions, created the first privately developed liquid-fueled rocket to successfully reach orbit. No one believed what he was attempting was possible. And in many different ways, SpaceX saved NASA from relying on foreign nations to send our astronauts into space. I want to congratulate SpaceX on the safe return of Crew-12 from the International Space Station just hours ago. A national treasure. Under Elon’s leadership, SpaceX also developed Starship—the largest rocket in history—that can capture and rapidly reuse itself from thin air. This is something no one has ever seen before. They also created the largest communications satellite network ever built: Starlink. And in North Carolina, I want to tell you personally—because I was involved—we experienced a hurricane, one of the most devastating flood hurricanes on record, bringing more water than we had ever seen at any point in recorded history. It was by calling Elon that hundreds of lives were saved. I remember the governor saying, “Sir, is there any way—you know someone named Elon Musk?” I said, “I happen to know him, yes. We need Starlink, because the water was so deep it created countless islands, and people were trapped on them with no communication.” They said no one could help us. I called Elon—it was nearly impossible to get these devices. But within hours, he delivered them there and saved hundreds of lives in North Carolina. So I have never forgotten that experience. It was a terrifying time. What he did—and how quickly he acted—everyone said it couldn’t be done. So thank you, Elon. That was an incredibly special moment. Additionally, Elon founded Tesla—the first successful new automobile manufacturer in 75 years—producing the first commercially viable electric vehicles and equipping them with the first consumer-grade autonomous driving technology. Interestingly, when you mention Tesla, my uncle, Dr. John Trump, was once commissioned by the U.S. government to write a report on Nikola Tesla. They wanted to know: Was he real or a fraud? Was he truly a genius? My uncle concluded within a short time that he was a genuine great genius in every respect. Otherwise, you’d have to change the name of your car company. You wouldn’t want to become—now, if I had written that report, Elon, I might have said he wasn’t that great. But my uncle and I are very different kinds of people. He gave Tesla the highest praise. He said he was a truly great genius. So very good. Through Neuralink, Elon is also restoring vision, speech, and mobility to people who cannot see, speak, or move. He has also transformed SpaceX’s AI into one of the world’s leading forces in the field of superintelligence. Elon is our modern-day Thomas Edison. Elon, I want to congratulate you. You’re my friend and all that. But you are an incredibly, incredibly special guy. Thank you so much, and congratulations, Elon. Thank you.”