Trump Cuts Maine’s Federal Funding Over Women’s Sports; Announces Fort Knox Inspection; Border Update

Speaking to the Republican Governors Association in February 2025, President Trump announced that Maine would receive no federal funding “none whatsoever” until it complied with his executive order keeping biological males out of women’s sports. He revealed plans to personally visit Fort Knox to verify America’s gold reserves — “I don’t want to open it and the cupboards are bare” — and delivered a summary of his first-month border accomplishments, including the “largest deportation operation in American history, larger even than that of President Dwight D. Eisenhower.” Trump told the governors he looked forward to “completing the mission of saving America” and joked about wanting to sign a single executive order: “Anything he signed is now terminated.”

Maine: “Not Going to Give Them Any Federal Money”

Trump opened with an announcement that sent a direct message to states resisting his executive orders on transgender athletes.

“I heard men are still playing in Maine,” Trump said, asking the assembled governors: “Is anybody here from Maine?”

When a hand went up — prompting Trump to quip, “I don’t know if it’s fun to find out who that guy is that raises his hand. Maybe he’s just kidding” — the president delivered the consequence.

“Well, I hate to tell you this, but we’re not going to give them any federal money,” Trump said. “They are still saying we want men to play in women’s sports, and I cannot believe that they’re doing that.”

He made the terms absolute: “We’re not going to give them any federal funding, none whatsoever, until they clean that up.”

The announcement was the administration’s most aggressive enforcement action on the women’s sports issue to date. By cutting all federal funding to a non-compliant state rather than targeting specific programs, Trump was creating maximum financial pressure. Maine, like all states, depended on federal funds for education, transportation, healthcare, and other essential services. The threat to cut all of it was designed to make continued resistance economically untenable.

The women’s sports enforcement also served as a broader signal to other states considering defiance of Trump executive orders. If Maine lost all federal funding over this issue, other states could expect the same treatment on the range of executive orders the administration had issued.

”Did Anybody Steal the Gold?”

Trump then pivoted to what had become one of his most attention-grabbing announcements: the planned inspection of Fort Knox.

“You know, all my life I’ve heard about Fort Knox. That’s where the gold is kept, right?” Trump said, playing up the mystery. “I heard Fort Knox, but you know, we’re getting a little bit shaky. We’re getting the yips on this stuff. Like, I want to find out.”

He described his plan in characteristically vivid terms. “So we’re going to open up the doors. I’m going to see if we have gold there. We want to find out. Did anybody steal the gold in Fort Knox?” Trump asked.

He noted the stakes: “We want to make sure that we actually have, you know, 400 tons of gold or whatever the hell it is. It’s a lot of gold.”

Then the line that became the most-quoted: “I don’t want to open it and the cupboards are bare. Could happen.”

The “cupboards are bare” formulation, delivered with Trump’s trademark mix of humor and genuine concern, captured public imagination because it voiced a question that millions of Americans had wondered but that no president had acted on. The gold at Fort Knox had not been independently audited in over seven decades. Trump’s decision to go see for himself was consistent with the administration’s broader transparency agenda and the DOGE-driven accountability ethos.

”The Best Four Weeks Anybody’s Ever Had”

Addressing the Republican governors directly, Trump offered a progress report framed in superlatives.

“I’m thrilled to be with the Republican governors, and they have done an amazing job,” Trump said. “And I look forward to working with each and every one of you as we complete the mission of saving America.”

He acknowledged the inheritance: “They left us a real mess in there, huh? And making our country great again — we’re going to do it.”

Trump cited external validation: “We’re getting credit for having the best four weeks that anybody’s ever had as an opening.” He added with characteristic confidence: “So now, a few hundred more weeks like this and we’re going to be in great shape.”

He then delivered a joke that doubled as a policy wish. “I just want to do one executive order: anything he signed is now terminated,” Trump said of Biden’s executive actions. “It’s easier than, you know, point after point after point. I signed and said, just do one. Everything he signed is no good — because that’s really what basically it’s all about.”

The humor carried truth: the administration had been systematically reviewing and reversing Biden-era executive orders across every policy domain, from energy to immigration to DEI to education. The pace of reversal had been one of the defining features of the first month.

Border: “Largest Deportation Operation in American History”

Trump then delivered a rapid summary of first-month border accomplishments that amounted to a checklist of fulfilled campaign promises.

“On Day One, I declared a national emergency on our southern border,” Trump said. “I sent our military to the border to secure the sovereign territory of the United States of America. We ended catch and release.”

He then placed the deportation effort in historical context: “We began the largest deportation operation in American history, larger even than that of President Dwight D. Eisenhower.”

The Eisenhower comparison was deliberate. Eisenhower’s “Operation Wetback” in 1954 had been the largest mass deportation in American history, and Trump was claiming to have exceeded it. He offered an unexpected historical observation about Eisenhower: “He was sort of a moderate guy, but he was very strong on the fact he didn’t want people pouring into our country from all over the world. He was very tough.”

Trump noted that the scale of the current operation reflected the scale of the problem. “It’s not a record I’m really proud of. You don’t like to do that, but we have no choice,” he said. “They let criminals — many, many criminals, hundreds of thousands, probably millions of criminals — 21 million people, I believe, is the number.”

On deportee acceptance, Trump reported complete compliance: “All countries are taking the illegal aliens back, every single one, even though they said, and strongly: ‘We’re never taking them back. Don’t even try.’”

He drew the contrast with the previous administration: “They said that during the Biden administration. It didn’t work. They’re taking them back. They have no choice. They’re taking them back. They know we’re not playing games.”

The message to the governors — and to the watching public — was that the border crisis that had defined the Biden era was being systematically dismantled in a matter of weeks. Catch and release ended. Deportations at historic levels. Every country accepting returnees. The military deployed to the border. Each item corresponded to a specific campaign promise, and each had been delivered within the first month.

Key Takeaways

• Trump announced Maine would receive “no federal funding, none whatsoever” until it complied with the executive order keeping biological males out of women’s sports.
• He confirmed plans to personally inspect Fort Knox, saying “I don’t want to open it and the cupboards are bare” and asking “did anybody steal the gold?”
• Trump told Republican governors the first four weeks had been “the best four weeks that anybody’s ever had” and joked about wanting one executive order: “Anything Biden signed is now terminated.”
• He described the border operation as “the largest deportation operation in American history, larger even than that of President Dwight D. Eisenhower.”
• Trump reported that “all countries are taking the illegal aliens back, every single one” after refusing during the Biden administration.