President Donald Trump on Wednesday urged Americans to rediscover the "indomitable spirit" that built the nation amid its 250th anniversary, saying at the dedication of the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library that no one embodied that spirit more than the nation's 26th president.

"This is a time to rediscover the indomitable spirit that built our country and all that will ensure America always remains the most exceptional nation on the face of the Earth," Trump said at the Burning Hills Amphitheatre in Medora, North Dakota, the site of the library.

"There could be no better place to begin this rediscovery than with the life, times, and passions of Theodore Roosevelt," Trump said in remarks that aired live on Newsmax and the free Newsmax2 streaming platform. "He had great passion.

"The colonel, they called him, was an American man ... through and through."

"His chest swelled with American optimism, confidence, enthusiasm, and pride," Trump continued. "His heart beat with an unyielding sense of America's destiny and pride."

Trump arrived in North Dakota on the maiden flight of the refurbished Air Force One jet donated by Qatar.

The jet, which will be used temporarily until Boeing delivers a new one sometime in 2028, features a new red, white, dark blue, and gold color scheme selected by Trump.

Trump then rode on a train bedecked with red, white, and blue bunting and emblazoned with "1776-2026" to the library, which is scheduled to open Saturday.

Trump's motorcade to the library was accompanied by horseback riders dressed as Roosevelt's Rough Riders, the nickname given to the volunteer cavalry regiment Roosevelt led up San Juan Hill in Cuba during the Spanish-American War.

"Abraham Lincoln was the person that he most respected, most admired, most looked up to," Trump said. "He has a beautiful picture of Lincoln that he had in one of his rooms, one of his very important rooms where he lived. And it's at the library.

"By the end of [his] 60 years, TR had transformed his country by the reach of his vision ... and by the force of his will into one of the greatest places, one of the greatest empires, one of the most incredible countries ready to take its rightful place as the strongest and most respected nation anywhere in the world."

Trump said there are five lessons to take from Roosevelt's "extraordinary life": Americans should never give up; a great and free nation must have courage; America works best when it rejects failure and embraces merit; America must think big; and Americans must be united as Americans first.

"Theodore Roosevelt understood that whatever our background, we are all Americans," Trump said. "We're Americans first, united under one flag, and we don't wipe our hands on a flag."

Trump was referring to Darializa Avila Chevalier, the Democrat running in New York's 13th Congressional District.

Avila Chevalier, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, has come under fire over a 2019 social media post in which she reportedly wrote, "I forgot to get napkins so I just wiped my hand on the American flag behind me."

Trump said he toured the library and even had "a conversation with" Roosevelt about the Panama Canal.

"I said, what did you think about the Panama Canal? Do you consider that your greatest achievement? How do you feel about the fact that the Democrats gave the Panama Canal away to Panama for $1?" Trump said, referring to former President Jimmy Carter's implementation of the Torrijos-Carter Treaties, which transferred control of the canal to Panama.

"Teddy Roosevelt ... got in and he did some incredible things. But one of them, I think one of the most amazing, maybe a lot of people would say the parks, you could say a lot of different elements of his success. But he built the Panama Canal."

"We lost 38,000 people building the Panama Canal — our people," Trump said. "It opened and from day one, it was very successful. And we gave it away.

"It was the most expensive thing we ever built. And it was also the most profitable thing we ever built. That's a nice combination."

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