Trump Teases “Biggest Announcement in Years”; Houthis “Capitulated — Please Don’t Bomb Us Anymore”; California Train “Worst Cost Overrun Ever”

President Trump delivered three newsworthy announcements in a single press gaggle in May 2025. First, he teased an imminent blockbuster: “Before we go to the Middle East, we’re going to have a very, very big announcement — as big as it gets. One of the most important announcements made in many years.” Second, he declared Houthi capitulation: “They’ve said ‘please don’t bomb us anymore and we’re not going to attack your ships.’ The Houthis have capitulated. We will stop the bombings effective immediately.” Third, he savaged California’s high-speed rail: “A little train from San Francisco to Los Angeles run by Gavin Newsom — the worst cost overrun I have ever seen. They stop 25 miles short of both cities. This government is not going to pay for that thing."

"As Big as It Gets”

Trump built anticipation for an undisclosed announcement.

“Before we go to the Middle East — Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar — I think we’re going to have a very, very big announcement to make,” Trump said. “Like, as big as it gets.”

He teased: “I won’t tell you on what, but it’s very positive. It is really, really positive.”

He set the timeline: “That announcement will be made either Thursday or Friday or Monday before we leave.”

He ranked its significance: “It’ll be one of the most important announcements that have been made in many years about a certain subject — a very important subject.”

The tease — coming before a Middle East trip to Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar — generated immediate speculation. The “certain subject” phrasing and the Middle East travel context suggested the announcement was related to trade, energy, technology investment, or potentially the Abraham Accords expansion that Trump had been previewing.

Trump’s willingness to characterize an announcement as “as big as it gets” before making it was itself a confidence play. If the announcement failed to live up to the hype, he would face criticism. His willingness to set expectations that high suggested he was confident the substance would deliver.

Houthi Capitulation

Trump announced the end of the Houthi conflict with visible satisfaction.

“Can you tell us about the deal with the Houthis?” a reporter asked.

“No, it’s not a deal,” Trump corrected. “They’ve said, ‘Please don’t bomb us anymore. We’re not going to attack your ships.’”

The reporter asked: “Where did you hear about that?”

Trump was coy: “It doesn’t matter where I hear it. Very good source. Would you say, Marco? I would say pretty good, right, JD? Very good source.”

He provided the details: “We had some very good news last night. The Houthis have announced — or they’ve announced to us at least — that they don’t want to fight anymore. They just don’t want to fight.”

He stated the response: “We will honor that. We will stop the bombings, and they have capitulated.”

He made the commitment: “We will take their word. They say they will not be blowing up ships anymore.”

He described the context: “They were knocking out a lot of ships. It wasn’t just a canal — it was a lot of other places.”

He confirmed: “I will accept their word, and we are going to stop the bombing of the Houthis, effective immediately.”

The Houthi capitulation was a military victory achieved through the application of force that the Biden administration had refused to apply. For over a year, the Houthis had attacked commercial shipping in the Red Sea, disrupting one of the world’s most critical trade routes. Biden’s response had been limited strikes that the Houthis easily absorbed.

Trump’s military approach — dramatically escalated bombing campaigns under Secretary Hegseth’s direction — had produced a different result. The Houthis, facing destruction they could not survive, had asked for an end to hostilities. The “please don’t bomb us anymore” phrasing — whether Trump’s paraphrase or an actual communication — captured the dynamic: the Houthis had gone from attacking ships with impunity to begging for relief.

California High-Speed Rail

Trump pivoted to domestic policy with a characteristic demolition of California’s infrastructure boondoggle.

“In California, a little train going from San Francisco to Los Angeles that’s being run by Gavin Newsom,” Trump said.

He assessed: “That train is the worst cost overrun I have ever seen. It’s like totally out of control.”

He described the scope reductions: “Then they said, alright, we won’t go into San Francisco. We’ll stop 25 miles short. And we won’t go into Los Angeles. We’ll stop 25 miles short.”

He cited the cost: “It’s hundreds of billions of dollars for this stupid project that should have never been built.”

He offered the alternative: “They realized that it would have been a lot less costly if we just gave limousine service back and forth and gave it free. They would have saved hundreds of billions of dollars.”

He listed existing options: “They have airplanes that go there for one one-hundredth the cost. They have cars. They have a thing called a highway.”

He stated the decision: “I told our new secretary of transportation, Sean Duffy — we’re not going to pay for that thing.”

California’s high-speed rail project — originally approved by voters in 2008 with a $33 billion budget to connect San Francisco to Los Angeles — had become the most notorious infrastructure failure in American history. The cost had ballooned to over $100 billion, the timeline had stretched from 2020 to indefinite, and the scope had been reduced from a full SF-to-LA route to a segment in the Central Valley that connected no major cities.

Trump’s observation that “limousine service would have been cheaper” was mathematically defensible. At the project’s current cost trajectory, the per-passenger expense of the train — spread across its projected ridership — exceeded what it would cost to provide individual luxury car service for every trip.

Key Takeaways

• Trump teased “the biggest announcement in years” before his Middle East trip — “as big as it gets, really positive.”
• Houthi capitulation: “They said ‘please don’t bomb us anymore.’ We will stop the bombings effective immediately. They have capitulated.”
• California high-speed rail: “Worst cost overrun I’ve ever seen. Hundreds of billions for a train that stops 25 miles short of both cities.”
• Trump told Transportation Secretary Duffy: “We’re not going to pay for that thing.”
• Middle East trip confirmed: Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar — with the “big announcement” to come before departure.