The president hosted grieving mothers, Gold Star families, and anti-drug advocates on the South Lawn — then spent a good chunk of the afternoon talking tariffs, fentanyl, and drug prices.

It started as a Mother’s Day event. It ended as something closer to a full policy address — with a Rose Garden tour thrown in. That’s just how things go when Donald Trump has a microphone and a captive audience on a sunny spring afternoon.

The president gathered Angel Moms, Gold Star mothers, anti-drug advocates, and administration officials in the newly renovated White House Rose Garden on Friday — a genuinely moving occasion that also, in true Trump fashion, became a vehicle for talking about border statistics, prescription drug pricing, and why you should consider buying a Dell computer.

First stop: the Presidential Walk of Fame

Before anything else, guests got the tour. Trump has added what he’s calling the “Presidential Walk of Fame” — or Wall of Fame, he polled the crowd and called it a tie — a stretch of black granite portraits running from George Washington to, as he put it, “a guy named Trump.” The stones that were previously cracked and in poor condition have been replaced, and the president was clearly proud of the result.

He also took credit for the roses. The garden, he explained, had been lacking in actual roses for some time. “We cornered the market on roses,” he told guests, “and you deserve them.” The grass, meanwhile, has been replaced with white stone paving — a change he traced back to a very specific problem: Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins ruining her shoes in the mud before speeches. “Her speeches would never be as good as they could have been,” he said, “because she was always concerned about ruining her shoes.” After 150 years, he declared, they gave up on the grass.

WHO WAS IN THE GARDEN

Angel Moms Mothers who lost children to crimes committed by undocumented immigrants, several of whom Trump has known since his first campaign

Gold Star Moms Mothers of fallen service members, including Janice Chance, who lost Marine Captain Jesse Melton in Afghanistan in 2008

Abbey Gate Moms Mothers of the 13 service members killed in the 2021 Kabul airport bombing, several of whom Trump hosted at his Bedminster club

Drug advocates Mothers fighting the fentanyl epidemic, including advocates Trump thanked by name from the podium

The Angel Moms: a decade-long relationship

The most genuinely affecting part of the afternoon came when Trump addressed the Angel Moms directly — mothers like Maryanne Mendoza and Tammy Nobles, whose children were killed by people who had entered the country illegally. Trump has known many of them since his first presidential campaign. He asked each of them, simply, whether time had helped. They both said no.

“Time heals all wounds,” he acknowledged — then stopped. “But it doesn’t when you love somebody that much.” It was one of the more unscripted, human moments of the event, and it landed.

The pivot to politics came quickly after. Trump credited his administration with turning what he called “the worst and most dangerous border in the history of our country” into the strongest in American history, claiming that illegal crossings have effectively reached zero over the past 11 months. He noted that even left-leaning trackers were confirming the numbers — his framing, not theirs.

Gold Stars and Abbey Gate

Trump paid tribute to Gold Star mother Janice Chance, whose son Marine Captain Jesse Melton was killed in Afghanistan in 2008. According to Trump, on the day he died, Jesse had volunteered to take another Marine’s place on duty — so that Marine could be present for the birth of his daughter. He gave his life doing it.

The Abbey Gate mothers — whose sons and daughters were killed in the 2021 Kabul airport bombing during the US withdrawal — were also in attendance. Trump recalled hosting them at his Bedminster club, where what was supposed to be a brief hello turned into four hours of music and conversation under the night sky. He blamed the Biden administration for the attack directly and without qualification. “Gross incompetence,” he said. “Should have never happened.”

Policy, plugs, and prescription drugs

The second half of the address covered a lot of ground quickly. Fentanyl seizures by sea are down 97%, Trump said, and land seizures are trending in the same direction. He signed the Halt Fentanyl Act last summer. The child tax credit has been expanded to $2,200 per child under the new tax legislation. Every American newborn will receive a $1,000 “Trump account” to grow over their lifetime — a program seeded in part by a $6.25 billion contribution from the Dell family, whom Trump praised enthusiastically and suggested everyone go buy a Dell.

On drug pricing, he claimed the most-favored-nation executive order has brought US prescription prices down to the lowest in the world — framing it as something the pharmaceutical industry and the media both tried to prevent. “The fake news doesn’t want to write about it,” he said. “That’s why I talk about it.”

He also acknowledged Susie Wiles as the first woman ever to serve as White House chief of staff, calling her “a legend,” and credited Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins — the same Brooke Rollins of shoe-ruining fame — with doing “a phenomenal job.”

What to make of it

There’s a version of this event that could have been purely ceremonial — a moment for a president to stand with grieving mothers in a blooming garden and simply be present. Trump didn’t do that version. He never does. But there’s also something to be said for the fact that these women — the Angel Moms, the Gold Star mothers, the Abbey Gate families — have often felt ignored by prior administrations. Whatever else is said about the politics, the relationships are real. Several of these women have been in Trump’s orbit for a decade.

The White House event was held ahead of Mother’s Day on Sunday. Remarks have been condensed and paraphrased from the full transcript.