THE VILLAGES, Fla.—President Donald Trump addressed a standing-room-only crowd of approximately 3,000 supporters at The Villages Charter School on May 1, highlighting his administration’s efforts to benefit seniors.

“We’re here to celebrate a policy that benefits every American senior all across this land, and it’s called no tax on Social Security,” Trump said, emphasizing one of his new policies included in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

“So, these are your golden years, but these are really beyond your golden years. This is the golden age of America.”

He informed the crowd about an executive order signed the day before, titled Promoting Retirement-Savings Access for American Workers, that will launch Trump individual retirement account access for the approximately 41 million workers in the country who do not have an employee-sponsored plan.

Prescription drug price reductions were a key topic of his talk, with new developments that include 17 of the largest pharmaceutical manufacturers agreeing to most favored nation status pricing for Americans.

More than 20,000 people requested tickets to the event, and about 7,000 attended, with an overflow room accommodating several thousand and the remainder watching on a screen outside.

The Villages in central Florida is a community spread across three counties and is home to the largest population of senior citizens in the world, with approximately 150,000 residents enjoying the warm weather and abundant amenities.

Trump also touted $210 million slated for rural health care in the state, noting that some of the money came from fraud recovery investigations.

“We’re taking some of the money that they scammed,” he said.

President Donald Trump (R) shakes hands with television personality Phil McGraw at The Villages Charter School in The Villages, Fla., on May 1, 2026. (Roberto Schmidt/Getty Images)

Security was tight for Trump’s first public appearance since suspect Cole Allen was detained while allegedly attempting to assassinate the president at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on April 25.

The president told the crowd that the war in Iran was necessary to prevent the regime from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

“I did something that was I don’t know, foolish, brave, but it was smart,” Trump said, while offering his thoughts on how the bombing affected the economy. “I would do it again, but I thought the numbers would be much worse. I thought the stock market would go down much more. I thought the oil prices would go up much more.”

President Donald Trump speaks to a crowd about benefits for seniors at a rally in The Villages, Fla., on May 1, 2026. (Travis Gillmore/The Epoch Times)

One attendee told The Epoch Times that he wants to see the president maintain an “America First” agenda by countering the Chinese communist regime’s “pervasive” and “elusive” nature that he said is threatening U.S. companies, the economy, and national security.

“You can’t trust anything that comes out of the Chinese Communist Party; none of their data [are] real,” Christian C. Johnson, 62, founder of Emerging Markets Finance, said before the rally began. “They wait for American businesses to innovate, and then they steal the technologies.”

Although senior citizens dominated the crowd, audience members of all ages were in attendance, and several youngsters told The Epoch Times that they are excited about their chance to participate in elections.

During the event, Trump praised Florida gubernatorial candidate Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.), asking him to stand twice and giving the apparent front-runner his full endorsement.

The president then departed for The Forum Club in Palm Beach, Florida, where he delivered a speech.