Trump takes to stage again
Cabinet pick named at event
Cincinnati — Donald Trump returned to his campaign roots Thursday in his first major public appearance since election day, resembling the pugnacious, brawling campaigner more than the traditional president-to-be as he held court in front of thousands of adoring fans — and even announced a cabinet pick from the stage.
Trump’s first stop on this “Thank you” tour to salute his supporters was in Ohio and, ever the showman, he made the surprise announcement that he will be offering the post of defense secretary to retired Marine Corps Gen. James Mattis. Trump said he was supposed to unveil that Monday, so he warned the Cincinnati crowd to “not tell anyone.”
The raucous rallies during the Trump campaign road show often had the feel of a rock concert, and Thursday night in Cincinnati had all the hallmarks of a reunion tour: Trump took a veiled swipe at fellow Republicans. He remembered his general election foe by joking, “We had fun fighting Hillary, didn’t we?” He boasted about the size of his victory and repeatedly bashed the media. And the crowd chanted “Build the Wall” and “Lock Her Up.”
The president-elect had eased up on those campaign promises recently, suggesting the U.S.-Mexico border wall could be part-fence and indicating no willingness to pursue criminal charges against Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton.
The downtown arena that Trump packed in October — drawing a crowd that was one of the loudest of the campaign — was only about half-full Thursday night. But the thousands who were there cheered Trump as he vowed to restore American to greatness, saying, “Now is not the time to downsize our dreams.”
“Never again will anyone’s interests come before the interests of the American people. It’s not going to happen,” Trump thundered. “The old rules no longer apply. Anything we want for our country is now possible.”
The rally in Cincinnati was the second stop on a victory lap through the Midwest on Thursday, coming hours after Trump saluted workers, owners and himself at a Carrier plant in Indiana. There he declared that a deal to keep a local plant open instead of moving operations to Mexico was only the first of many business victories to come.
Some questions remain about the extent of the victory at Carrier, which announced this week that it will keep an Indianapolis plant open. In February, the heating and air conditioning company said it would shut the plant and send jobs to Mexico.
“Companies are not going to leave the United States anymore without consequences. It’s not going to happen. It’s simply not going to happen,” Trump said to workers at the Indianapolis plant.